The process of establishing a Canada-U.S. trade corridor in southeast Saskatchewan has taken the first step forward.

A meeting was held in Weyburn on January 16, with about 38 people in attendance. Saskatchewan South East Enterprise Region (SSEER) CEO Edie Spagrud said the crowd was engaged through statistical information about highways, trade, commerce and transportation between the U.S. and Canada.

They also broke off into focus groups to discuss questions on what they thought about the concept of a corridor, and the potential challenges that it presents.

"Those that were there seemed very keen," said Spagrud. "It was just a matter of 'we have to be aware of the obstacles, and we have to work through them.'"

Twinning of Highways 39 and 6 from North Portal to Regina would be part of the corridor, Spagrud said, because all trade corridors are twinned. Saskatchewan is the only province that doesn't boast an international trade corridor.

"Twinning is one aspect, but there are so many other things directly linked with planning, economic development, land development, land planning, communications and permits," said Spagrud.

The southeast is the logical location in Saskatchewan for such a corridor, Spagrud said. North Portal is home to Saskatchewan's busiest border crossing with the U.S. About 1,100 vehicles use the border crossing daily. The southeast also provides direct access to the Global Transportation Hub in Regina.

"Right now, a lot of our goods coming into Saskatchewan are going in through other provinces first, because there isn't a highway corridor development suitable for major transportation of goods," said Spagrud.

The next action step will be to assemble a task force that will ensure that the corridor concept evolves.

"It's good if it evolves from an economic development perspective," said Spagrud. "We have to build a business case, and show the transportation industry that this makes good, economic sense to have an international trade corridor throughout southeast Saskatchewan, through North Portal, and, of course, we have to build the support in North Dakota as well, because it means highway improvements from the interstate up to North Portal."

Spagrud said there are a lot of people who are very supportive of the concept. They represent a variety of stakeholders on both sides of the border, including trucking companies, municipalities, governments, agencies and chambers of commerce.