A multimodal transportation system developed and integrated to the rest of North America is essential to support Qu+bec and Ontario trade as much with the United States as with the rest of the World. Despite the good performance of this transportation system, Qu+bec, Ontario and Canada will have to rely on a structured and performing system in order to remain competitive in the future. In July 2007, the governments of Canada, Ontario and Qu+bec signed a Memorandum of Understanding stating the framework of a federal-provincial collaboration for the development of the Ontario-Qu+bec Trade Corridor and Continental Gateway in partnership with the public and private sectors. The objective of this Memorandum of Understanding is to establish the Qu+bec-Ontario Trade Corridor and Continental Gateway as a transport system that is strategic, integrated and competitive on a global scale in support of international trade and domestic exchanges supporting foreign trade. The global objective of this tripartite planning initiative is the elaboration and implementation of a global strategy for the short, medium and long term. This will allow a better integration of transportation systems while improving their effectiveness, safety and sustainability. This initiative is comprised in a Canadian initiative for gateways and trade corridors, the two other gateways being the Asia-Pacific Gateway and Corridor Initiative and the Atlantic Gateway. The goal of this communication is to go over the Gateway's objectives and make a quick assessment of results from the infrastructure studies and workgroup activities on non-infrastructure issues (policies, regulations and operations. This paper was originally published in French in the 2009 TAC Conference proceedings, as "La porte continentale et le corridor de commerce Ontario-Quebec: une porte d'entree sure, durable et competitive." The translation was provided by the author. For the covering abstract of this conference see ITRD number E217481.
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