Stephen Harper

: The idea involved the customs services of the two countries working more closely to eliminate duplication under the notion of "cleared once, accepted twice." The Montreal pilot was one of four projects initiated under the Integrated Cargo Security Strategy, a pillar of the Canada-U.S. deal signed by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and U.S. President Barack Obama, according to CTV. The countries agreed to share information on in-transit containers through the strategy to allow for early detection of security threats, illicit goods and items posing possible health hazards. The marine-to-highway project began in January 2013 with the aim of easing the entry of cargo into the United States through the Port of Montreal. The Montreal project targeted high-risk cargo arriving in Montreal by sea that was ultimately bound for the U.S. by truck. A heavily censored version of the memo was released under the Access to Information Act. Early last year, the Canada Border Services Agency vice-president for programs, Richard Wex, recommended in a memo to agency president Luc Portelance that the pilot effort be discontinued before the scheduled end date of March 31, 2014. "Based on preliminary findings, there is little value in continuing the pilot," Wex wrote. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.