By Scott Tilley
The Canadian trucking industry has undergone seismic transformations since deregulation in 1988. Among the most critical was the transition of the Canadian Trucking Association into the Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) in the late 1990s.
Thirty years ago, our industry leaders made a visionary decision to change how our industry speaks to power. We shifted from separate provincial and federal memberships to a unified structure where provincial associations pooled their resources to fund a singular national entity.
For three decades, this democratic architecture has given the CTA unmatched credibility. When we sit at a government table, we do not speak for a hollow lobby group; we speak for a deeply rooted coalition of organizations from all corners of the country, including corporations as well as small and medium family-owned fleets – all focused on safety, fairness, and efficient effective governmental engagement.
However, our industry now faces an existential threat that requires our alliance to be aggressively fortified. Today, loud, organized forces actively oppose the CTA’s core mission: ensuring that laws are applied evenly and strict regulatory compliance is the bare minimum requirement for doing business. Instead, a rogue faction has built an entire business model on the premise that “he who can cheat best will win.” Through sophisticated non-compliance, tax evasion, and labor exploitation, they are dragging our proud sector toward chaos.
Frustratingly, these forces thrive in a modern political ecosystem that frequently rewards noise over substance. Despite holding positions that are utterly indefensible in a public policy forum, they excel at exploiting the gaps in our political system. They understand local riding associations and vocal caucus pressures wield immense influence over a politician’s survival. With backroom pressure and aggressive narratives, they successfully manipulate local political machinery. They masquerade as champions of the “small family business,” mischaracterizing such carriers as being too uneducated or burdened by the cost of compliance and red tape to be able properly follow the law. Frankly, it’s an insult to the thousands of small businesses – CTA members or otherwise – who take pride in their responsibility to make the necessary safety investments, properly train their drivers, pay their fair share of taxes to fund social programs and treat workers ethically and lawfully.
When the underground economy of the “Driver Inc.” model threatened the competitive playing field, it wasn’t just the associations that fought back. It was real, hands-on carriers sitting across from political leaders and hammering on parliamentary doors that this unscrupulous business model was eroding the fabric of the industry.
Our collective activation spurred federal parliamentary hearings, forced massive regulatory crackdowns and triggered unprecedented enforcement against tax avoidance, employee misclassification, labour abuse and immigration fraud. There was nothing new or earth shattering here. Just simple requests to do the right thing – apply the law equally and consistently.
We did that to protect lawful fleets, yes, but also to support the people of the industry – our employees. What often gets lost in the rhetorical fray over Driver Inc, is how it cannibalizes vulnerable workers. Misclassified employees suffer while the Driver Inc owners profit on their backs.
While the needle has moved on labour and tax enforcement, this is only the start, because those who break the rules on labour and taxes have found ways to do it in other areas that affects everybody who travels on the roadways. Many also operate unsafe trucks, often callously, and with full knowledge their trucks are grossly unsafe and their drivers woefully untrained to operate alongside our families. Perhaps the only significant instruction some of these drivers receive from these companies is how to avoid detection.
Next time you hear that obeying the law meant to keep Canadians safe is too burdensome and expensive for ‘smaller operators,’ ask yourself who is creating this narrative and why. Legal, ethical operators are demanding enforcement because most Canadians see every day how the status quo is unacceptable, while only illegal (or, at the very least, unscrupulous) operators would ever want less oversight than we have now.
Public affairs is no longer an administrative luxury. Smart business leaders – regardless of the size of their companies – understand a brutal market truth: you can have the most efficient operation in the world, but an unmonitored regulator or an unenforced law can wipe out your efforts overnight to create good jobs for good people. Diligence and holding elected official accountable is required. That is what the CTA must continue to do.
So, what is your choice going forward? With inflation, fluctuating freight volumes, and rising operational overhead, it is a natural business reflex to look at line-item expenses and consider association dues a luxury you don’t need. That is a critical, short-sighted error, which will cost you down the road.
Government policy and compliance impact your bottom line just as heavily as fuel prices. If government allows tax cheats and unsafe operators to run rampant through regulatory neglect or political choice, your business cannot survive, no matter how efficiently you run your fleet.
If you believe that fairness must return to our industry and our people need to be protected, then you must join your provincial association and support the alliance. The cheaters unfortunately have unsung supporters at every level of government. To defeat them, we must speak forcefully, with a unified voice through a strong Alliance.
If you believe law and order and fairness need to be restored to trucking, I am here to say, unequivocally, that sitting on the sidelines is no longer an option. If you choose to be a spectator, you are passively allowing rogue actors to dictate the rules of our industry and continue operating carelessly and unlawfully on the same roads our families use.
By investing your time, voice, and dollars into your provincial trucking association, you are purchasing an insurance policy for your business model. Get involved, protect your investment, and help us drive the compliant change our industry desperately needs.
