Ottawa wants trade data entered once, and every shipper's systems are about to be asked to agree. Supply Pro reported on Nov. 2, 2026 that Transport Minister MacKinnon announced on Oct. 30 a Trade Digitalization Task Force pursuing a Tell Us Once approach, where trade information is submitted once and shared securely across federal departments.
The table is broad by design. Participants include the Canada Border Services Agency, CN, CPKC, the Canadian Trucking Alliance, Air Canada, DP World, Livingston and the ports of Halifax, Montréal and Vancouver. Rail, road, air and marine operators rarely share data standards today, which is exactly the friction the task force exists to remove.
Enter it once only works if every system can accept it once.
Strip away the policy language and this is systems integration for trade data. Shipper, carrier and plant systems have to produce the same shipment facts in compatible formats, with identity, consent and audit handled consistently. Companies preparing through integration work across operational systems should map where trade data is re-keyed today, because every duplicate entry is a future conversion task.
Count how many times your team enters the same shipment data into different systems this month. That number is your integration backlog when Tell Us Once arrives, and it is cheaper to shrink it now than under a compliance deadline.