The democratic process is complete, the House of Commons has a different composition, but for the Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) the issues remain the same. CTA is now calling on the Liberals and the other parties to work together in ensuring trucking issues that are important to the Canadian economy and the safety of all Canadians are addressed in the mandate letters for incoming Minsters.
“The trucking industry is the number one employer of Canadian males, most of whom are truck drivers. A large percentage of these hard-working individuals, employed by hundreds of trucking businesses from coast-to-coast are at risk as their employers – many of which are family-run enterprises – are under attack by fleets engaged in the tax scam known as Driver Inc,” said CTA president Stephen Laskowski. “The Government of Canada must make the enforcement of Driver Inc. a top priority to save these hardworking and compliant Canadians from a trucking industry underbelly bent on making our highways unsafe and shamefully mistreating Canadian workers and new immigrants with regards to labour and basic human rights. Driver Inc. is the primary funding model that is keeping these unsafe and law-breaking firms on the road. If you cut off this illegal financing mechanism, you significantly eliminate these unsafe labour schemes from our sector – it’s really that simple.”
CTA has prepared a document for policy makers in Ottawa that highlights what the trucking industry wants addressed during the next session of the House of Commons and in the future mandate letters of the next cabinet. The CTA submission (CTA-Industry Priorities_Public) also provides examples of other competitive fairness, level-playing field concerns the industry is grappling with in areas of environmental compliance, labour and truck safety – issues that were confirmed as top priorities by the industry in a Nanos poll.
“During the election campaign the Canadian public was reminded by the Globe and Mail and the family members of the victims involved in the tragic Humboldt Bronco collision that the underbelly of our industry is active and that political action must be taken to address this small, but growing, minority of carriers,” said Laskowski. “Now is the time for politicians of all stripes and at all levels of government to make the implementation of the CTA Ten Point Action Plan and the enforcement-eradication of Driver Inc. a top priority.”
CTA would like to recognize the political leadership shown by the previous Minister of Transportation, Marc Garneau, in adopting aspects of the CTA Action Plan and Minister Hajdu’s commitment to dealing with Driver Inc.
In the wake of the election, CTA is calling on its 5000-plus carrier members to send each political party leader a letter or e-mail in support of CTA’s request to include these issues of fair competitiveness in future mandate letters. To assist the membership, CTA has prepared some ready-to-use talking points (CTA Call to Action-Government Priorities_Public) to include in a company letter or e-mail to the leaders of the four political parties.