The enforcement community and the Ontario Trucking Association (OTA) are working to bring heightened legal consequences for carriers who do not embrace a culture of safety, environmental and taxation compliance.
Last week the Waterloo Regional Police Service, laid criminal charges against a former employee of a maintenance facility in Waterloo Region for stealing safety certificates and providing carriers with fraudulent vehicle safeties. Waterloo Regional Police were aided in their investigation by the Ministry of Transportation and the Ontario College of Trades.
“It is appalling that some fleet operators would allow such vehicles to share the road with the motoring public,” said OTA president Stephen Laskowski. “The sad reality is that a small percentage of our industry has been allowed to engage in non-compliant behaviour in a number of areas without fear of reprisal. OTA will continue working with all levels of enforcement in 2018 to bring consequences to non-compliant behaviour.”
In November 2018, OTA issued a five-point action plan to raise the bar of truck safety for all operators in the province of Ontario. Since issuing the plan, OTA, the Ministry of Transportation, the Ontario Provincial Police, Teamsters Canada, the Private Motor Truck Council of Canada, and the Owner Operators Independent Drivers Association have formed a committee to increase truck safety and ensure carriers and drivers play by the same rules. OTA expects this committee, which will also include representatives from regional and municipal police forces to look at ways to better identify ‘bad actors’ in the industry and focus enforcement on those that need it.
“OTA is encouraged with the leadership and commitment the Waterloo Regional Police, MTO and the College of Trades have displayed on this project. But this is not the only focus of our association’s mandate to level the playing field for compliant carriers – we are working hard with environmental and tax officials to bring compliance in these areas as well,” said OTA Chair Steve Ondejko. “We expect more news on these fronts as 2018 moves into the summer.”