The Canadian Trucking Alliance is imploring trucking companies to let the next federal government know that industry competitiveness issues, like the tax avoidance scheme known as Driver Inc., needs to be dealt with by Ottawa.
Following the fall election this October, the elected Prime Minister will issue “mandate letters” to the new cabinet outlining the priorities for each minister. Basically, mandate letters are ‘to-do’ lists the Prime Minister’s Office wants completed by the end of each minister’s mandate. CTA has submitted a policy paper to all federal political party leaders, which outlines industry priorities that should be included in future mandate letters. Solving the Driver Inc. issue is front-and-centre in the CTA submission.
“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 are employed by hundreds of small trucking businesses from coast-to-coast. Yet these jobs are at high risk, as their employers are under attack by fleets engaged in the tax scam known as Driver Inc,” said CTA President Stephen Laskowski. “Whoever forms the next Government of Canada must make the enforcement of Driver Inc. a top priority.”
The CTA submission also provides examples of other competitive fairness, level-playing field issues the industry is grappling with in areas of environmental compliance, labour and truck safety that should also be included in future mandate letters. The issues were identified as top priorities by Canadian fleets of all different sizes across the country in a 2019 Nanos Research poll.
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.
“We understand there are a lot of demands put on all parties by all sectors of the economy. But as an industry, we need to make sure our voice is heard loud and clear,” said Laskowski.
To assist the membership, CTA has prepared some read-to-use talking points to include in a company letter or e-mail to the leaders of the four political parties. Click here: CTA Call to Action-Mandate_public
Additionally, to read CTA’s submission to all political parties, click here: CTA Pre-Election Discussion Paper_public