{"id":2891,"date":"2020-05-06T20:11:47","date_gmt":"2020-05-06T20:11:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cantruck.ca\/editorial-supply-chain-needs-to-come-together-to-keep-canada-moving\/"},"modified":"2025-01-10T16:45:25","modified_gmt":"2025-01-10T16:45:25","slug":"editorial-supply-chain-needs-to-come-together-to-keep-canada-moving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cantruck.ca\/fr\/editorial-supply-chain-needs-to-come-together-to-keep-canada-moving\/","title":{"rendered":"EDITORIAL: Supply Chain Needs to Come Together to Keep Canada Moving"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Stephen Laskowski, Scott Smith & David Carruth<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s only been two months since COVID-19 grabbed the full-time attention of our country but it feels like a lifetime ago. There was surely some genuine anxiety back in March when it started to become very clear this pandemic was not just an Asian-European crisis, but one that was on the verge of sweeping North America as well. If just for a brief moment in those uncertain early days, it looked like there would be a real possibility many of us would spend weeks or months without certain food products and household items like toilet paper. You\u2019d be forgiven if you admitted to making at least one Walking Dead reference when the media sensationalized isolated incidents of panic buying and mass hoarding.<\/p>\n

Surely, by now, we\u2019ve all noticed that grocery store shelves are staying filled and other than, perhaps, hand sanitizer and sporadic availability of disinfecting wipes, many essential products are reappearing pretty much overnight. Really, for a society fighting a pandemic, we have plenty of just about everything. The apocalypse will have to wait.<\/p>\n

And we all know why that is: Because the hard-working women and men who drive truck for a living have dutifully answered the call, even at their own risk, to continue delivering the essential products and food Canadians desperately need right now.<\/p>\n

Perhaps for truly the first time in our lives, we all got an alarming glimpse in those first anxious weeks just how fragile the line between chaos and civility can be. And it became pretty clear that it\u2019s the supply chain \u2013 with trucking at its core \u2013 that keeps that fine line intact.<\/p>\n

Listing everything moved between suppliers, manufacturers and retailers by trucks would exhaust everyone\u2019s attention. So, for simplicity\u2019s sake \u2013 as the saying goes \u2013 if you got it, a truck brought it. Those life-saving medical supplies we\u2019re all reading about? Trucked. Parts for new ventilators? You got it. They rolled in on big wheels.<\/p>\n

The country has taken notice. Although truck drivers deserve our collective respect all year-round, it\u2019s nonetheless heartwarming to see the outpouring of appreciation from the general public and the country\u2019s leading politicians. The #ThankaTrucker social media campaign \u2013 launched by the Canadian Trucking Alliance at the dawn of the crisis \u2013 quickly grabbed the attention of key decision makers and influencers, like Prime Minister Trudeau, Ontario Premier Ford and\u00a0St. Louis Blues goalie Jake Allen, who were among those who used their highly trafficked social media platforms to send truck drivers words of appreciation and encouragement.<\/p>\n

As the national and provincial voice of the industry, we at CTA\u00a0 and the Ontario Trucking Association had an immediate and primary responsibility to also protect all truck drivers. In the hours after Canada and the U.S. closed the border to all travel except essential services, CTA and all the provincial associations sprung into action to mitigate mass confusion and ensure truck drivers wouldn\u2019t get stuck at the border as officials grappled with the new binational order. Other than a few isolated incidents of misinterpretation, commercial traffic continued to flow reasonably well back-and-forth between the two largest trading partners. Since then, there have been various policy updates to travel at the border and at home \u2013 including intra-provincial checkpoints \u2013 and both OTA and CTA stepped up to ensure none of it would negatively impact drivers.<\/p>\n

When reports emerged that some insurance providers were voiding medical coverage for truck drivers crossing the border, both associations rallied the insurance sector and obtained commitments from the Canadian Life & Health Insurance Association and a handful of other independent providers they would not abandon truck drivers during the crisis. At the same time both associations were ensuring that expired plates and licenses would be managed by provinces and states in a reasonable manner. The Province of Ontario stepped up significantly for our sector in this regard.<\/p>\n

While, for the most part, our industry\u2019s supply chain partners were grateful to their transportation partners and behaved honourably during the crisis, there were several who disrespected and shunned drivers, insisting they stay in their trucks. Bathrooms were off limits. As we publicized this bad behaviour, driver mistreatment became \u2013 perhaps for the first time ever \u2013 a national story. Minister Garneau and Minister Mulroney took action to defend our sector, and the public responded.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As the days and weeks passed, drivers found it increasingly difficult to find safe rest areas and food service providers to serve them while on the road. Both OTA and CTA engaged Restaurants Canada and received commitments from some of the largest franchises that systems would be put in place to accommodate truck drivers, curbside. Since then, a host of smaller chains and restaurants have followed suit. While food is easier to come by, the price is soaring. CTA is currently discussing with the Government of Canada the possibility of providing drivers relief by increasing the meal allowance.<\/p>\n

At the same time, carriers are suffering as well. While they answered the call to service Canadians, it came at a cost. To maintain operations during this critical time, carrier companies are reporting a 200-percent\u00a0increase\u00a0in \u2018empty miles\u2019 (the condition when trucks are travelling, but not generating any payload revenue); Nearly two-thirds of\u00a0fleets\u00a0indicate their customers are pushing for payment deferrals or simply not paying the trucking company at all. Simply put, several\u00a0trucking companies say they are\u00a0quickly approaching the ledge of a perilous \u2018freight cliff\u2019 \u2013 which, if true, could put the supply chain at risk. Ottawa so far has introduced several well-designed measures to support the Canadian economy through the COVID-19 crisis, but more must be done and specific measures are required for businesses like trucking which find themselves in a very unique circumstance during these uncertain times.<\/p>\n

Now is the time to pay back the dedicated workers who chose to drive so Canadians didn\u2019t have to \u2013 and for the supply chain and all sectors of the transportation system to come together to keep Ontario and the rest of Canada moving.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Stephen Laskowski, Scott Smith & David Carruth It\u2019s only been two months since COVID-19 grabbed the full-time attention of our country but it feels like a lifetime ago. There…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1149,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,15,16,1493,53,45,28],"tags":[1651,268,21,293,440,736,1625,1134,98,24,1562,1617],"class_list":["post-2891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-admin-tax","category-border-customs","category-business-conditions","category-covid-19","category-editorials","category-industry-image-pr","category-labour-hr-driver-shortage","tag-david-carruth","tag-driver-treatment","tag-economy","tag-government","tag-insurance","tag-laskowski","tag-meal-allowance","tag-scott-smith","tag-shippers","tag-supply-chain","tag-thankatrucker","tag-wage-subsidy"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cantruck.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cantruck.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cantruck.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cantruck.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cantruck.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cantruck.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2891\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cantruck.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cantruck.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cantruck.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cantruck.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}