The Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities (TRAN) concluded its first week of hearings examining the detrimental impact of the Driver Inc. scheme on the trucking industry. 

Over two days, 10 industry witnesses testified to the committee how Driver Inc is the root cause of the rampant lawlessness destroying Canada’s trucking industry, abusing workers and engaging in human trafficking, threatening the safety of the travelling public, and costing Canadians billions of dollars.

The hearings gave committee members a rare opportunity to view the trucking industry through the lens of experts from across the sector – and it was not a reassuring picture.

“There is no doubt the committee was left with a clear image of a sector in crisis — one that urgently needs federal and provincial governments to show political leadership in addressing the growing problems of highway safety, labour misclassification, and tax evasion stemming from the unchecked rise of Driver Inc,” said Stephen Laskowski, president and CEO of the Canadian Trucking Alliance. 

At the hearing, Laskowski told committee members how CTA has been sounding the alarm with the federal cabinet and provinces for nearly 10 years, with little political response. 

“The problems identified then have been allowed to grow unchecked and have now evolved into a full-blown crisis – a crisis of compliance, road safety, drug trafficking, human rights abuses, and rampant labour law avoidance and tax fraud. It has been allowed to spiral out of control. We are hopeful this study sheds light on this issue and why it has been allowed to persist for nearly a decade,” Laskowski said. 

The CTA delegation appearing before the Committee this week included:

• Stephen Laskowski, President and CEO
• Geoffrey Wood, Senior VP, Policy
• Jonathan Blackham, Director, Policy
• Mark Seymour, Former CTA Chair and Executive Board Member
• Mark Bylsma, OTA Chair and CTA Board Member
• Chris McKee, APTA Executive Director/CTA Board and Executive Member

In addition to CTA Board representatives, other groups that presented included: Teamsters Canada, Toronto Police Service, Women’s Trucking Federation of Canada, Trucking HR Canada (THRC), Truck Training Schools Association of Ontario (TTSAO), and the Fraternité des constables du contrôle routier du Québec. 

See below for comments made by some of the CTA-member expert witnesses. The full hearings can be viewed here. CTA’s full submission to the committee can be accessed here. 

The Committee is expected to resume its hearings during the week of October 20.

As the committee hearings were underway, CTA launched a new public campaign to help bring an end to the lawlessness stemming from Driver Inc. crisis. Supporters can visit stopillegaltrucking.ca to learn more and demand the federal government work to end the crisis.

Testimony Excerpts:

Our business was built by abiding by the laws of the land, honesty and accountability. This is what our nation was built on, but the new culture of corruption that is being allowed to proliferate within our industry is what my businesses and this country will die from. Our government is complicit in this. By not doing anything, by not enforcing your own laws, you are continuing to say Driver Inc is okay and it is acceptable to break the laws of our land.” 

“While every province shares responsibility in keeping our roads safe and ensuring compliance with driver training and licensing standards, it is the federal government that is ignoring oversight over the financial engine that powers the entire Driver Inc scheme in the form of labour misclassification, immigration fraud and tax evasion. All levels of government have an important role to play, but we are calling on Ottawa to show leadership in cooperating with the provinces and the law-abiding carriers – and use the tools that are already at their disposal – to put an end to this rampant lawlessness once and for all.”

-Mark Bylsma, President Spring Creek Carriers 

“I’m not here looking for a hand-out. Competition is important and I support fair and equal competition where choice is based on trust and service, price is based on compliance and efficiency. Winners and losers should not be separated by lawlessness. 

I am here to tell you, that if you don’t step into this underground economy, it will displace companies like mine. It’s out of control. Regulation, without enforcement, is like no regulation at all. The penalties need to fit the crime. The penalties need to be punitive, not soft. They have no teeth and no consequence.

Besides all the frustration and the fraud, this is a major public safety concern. It’s a national crisis on the roads we all share. It must be stopped and must be treated as the crisis it is.”

-Mark Seymour, CEO, Kriska Transportation Services

“Many (carriers) are generational family businesses, both large and small that are now facing an existential crisis. Our members are being punished for doing things the right way, for being good corporate citizens. In Atlantic Canada, we are witnessing carriers downsize fleets, reducing truck count, we are seeing them pause or scale back employee benefits such as health and dental and RRSP contributions and in worst case scenarios, lay off staff just to stay afloat against these bad actors that are flooding the marketplace.

“It’s time for Canada to take the same elbows-up approach on this issue that we’ve taken in trade and competitiveness—defending those who play by the rules, standing up for fairness, and refusing to let law-breakers elbow their way to the front of the line.”

-Chris McKee, Executive Director, Atlantic Provinces Trucking Association