The Ontario Ministry of Transportation’s Commercial Safety and Compliance Branch has confirmed to the Ontario Trucking Association in a letter dated March 16 it will begin hard enforcement of the Electronic Logging Device (ELD) mandate on Jan. 1, 2023 for commercial carriers operating within the province.
In the letter to OTA, the MTO stated:
“Ontario will support the federal ELD mandate with an education and awareness period through to January 1, 2023 (without penalties for federally-regulated carriers). Ontario will implement a complementary education and awareness period for the provincial ELD mandate that was set to take effect June 12, 2022, through to January 1, 2023 (without penalties for provincially-regulated carriers) … As a result of the recommended enforcement approach changes, Ontario carriers are advised:
“These measures are temporary – requirements will be enforced following the conclusion of the education and awareness period (January 1, 2023), for commercial truck carriers.”
MTO went on to say that carriers without ELD devices should continue to prepare and adopt certified ELDs. While penalties will not be incurred until Jan. 1, carriers can expect education and awareness of ELD requirements to be raised during interactions with commercial vehicle enforcement.
As provinces and territories are responsible for enforcing the federal Commercial Vehicle Drivers Hours of Service Regulations, carriers operating outside of Ontario should be aware of the regulations and requirements of the provinces or territories where they will be operating.
CVOR holders with email contact information file with MTO can expect to receive a similar letter to what OTA received in the coming days.
For a copy of the letter received by OTA, click here: MTO-ELD-enforcement_public
As details are finalized for the enforcement plan starting in January 2023, OTA will be working with MTO to communicate this information to the membership.
For additional information and resources, please visit:
- Ontario’s ELD webpage
- Transport Canada ELD webpage
- CCMTA website
- Transport Canada’s List of certified ELDs
Earlier this month officials from the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators (CCMTA) announced the educational/awareness period, which was set to expire in June, would be extended nationally for another six months. The Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) expressed disappointment with the decision to delay the rule nationally and questioned the certainty of the new, Jan. 1, 2023 enforcement date based on the lack of preparedness of several jurisdictions.
It strongly disagreed with the CCMTA narrative that the industry is not ready and pointed out the vast majority of federally regulated fleets already have ELD technology; and, at the time, the three certification bodies approved by Transport Canada and the Standards Council of Canada had qualified up to 22 ELD devices from 15 individual ELD vendors – more devices have since been certified.
Consequently, CTA called on all provinces that are ready to begin provincial enforcement to guarantee the Jan. 1 start date, regardless of whether other jurisdictions are not prepared to enforce the mandate by then.