As your newly appointed chair, it will be an honour representing all of you over this term. Together, we will bring effective change to an industry that is, frankly, being ravaged by an underground economy that is built on willful non-compliance and outright cheating.
As we know, this behaviour has gone unchallenged by many of our elected officials and bureaucrats.
Although OTA staff has made many inroads on the so-called Driver Inc issue, we face stiff headwinds in these politically charged times: and it is clear staff and the OTA executive can’t bring an end to this growing problem alone.
Furthermore, our adversaries and those who seek to gain an illicit advantage from Driver Inc. are emboldened and extremely politically and financially active.
I am calling on every board member and every member to also get involved politically. Please join me on November 25 when Premier Ford and Transportation Minister Sarkaria will be hosting a small, relatively exclusive fundraiser. I am imploring all of you to attend and raise our concerns with the minister directly.
Our goal is to sell at least 50-60 tickets to our industry for this upcoming event. We need to turn this event into an OTA member trucking event to deliver one clear message: “Our industry supports your government, and we need your government to bring order to our sector.” However, if you can’t attend, please still consider purchasing a ticket and sending a colleague.
We understand these are difficult times. But we need to come together as an association and collectively make our presence felt at these events. Participation should be viewed as an investment in our industry and for our own businesses.
Please register here https://ontariopc.ca/events/3072-24-1125/?referral=e7bd36fbb1fad659d36e558304bfd93b (Additionally, you can write this off your personal taxes but you must pay for it personally, not through the company).
An OTA staff member will follow up with you in the coming days. In the meantime, once you’ve donated or purchased a ticket, please send an email to otaevents@ontruck.org, so that we can tally up what our association has raised and present to the minister.
This is the only way to win this battle – and that’s exactly what it is. Everyone must engage.
The OTA has moved the needle forward significantly in our industry for almost a hundred years. Please join me in making sure the Ontario trucking industry is even stronger for the next 100 years.
Mark Bylsma
President
Driven To Be Your FIRST Call, for more than a Quarter Century.