Governing Road Freight in Eastern and Central Canada

Road freight and decarbonization are currently decoupled in both academic literature and professional practice. As road freight is a major employer of Canadians and one of the nation’s most significant sources of carbon emissions, it is imperative to get decarbonization right. This article contributes to research on road freight, decarbonization, and governance by exploring how public-sector staff perceive their relationships with other levels of government. By employing semi-structured interviews with planners and engineers in Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, we argue that greater attention and deliberate efforts to plan for road freight are needed. We find that across interviewees, the decarbonization of road freight was a minor responsibility across larger transportation portfolios, though there is strong interest in pursuing policies, strategies, and interventions aimed at decarbonizing goods movement.