The Ontario Trucking Association (OTA) is applauding the joint enforcement action of Ontario’s Ministry of Transportation (MTO), Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) and Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) for raising awareness among truck drivers and identifying potential carriers who are robbing workers of their rights and the public of tax revenue needed for social programs and infrastructure like heath care.
These provincial and federal agencies came together in March at the Whitby scale to enforce vehicle and driver safety, while also ensuring drivers and their companies were obeying labour laws, which are being ignored by a growing majority of trucking companies.
The results were:
- MTO conducted dozens of level 3 inspections, where introductions were made between all parties to educate, inform, and gather information.
- ESDC had interactions with truck drivers at the scales, handing out information informing them of their rights, and identifying companies for potential audit.
- WSIB also interacted with many drivers, providing education, handing out QR code stickers to the drivers to raise awareness of their rights, as well as identifying companies for potential audit.
These actions at the scales complement federal efforts made by the Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) to support the development of the federal misclassification team now active at provincial scales. These efforts also support the new Information Sharing Agreement established by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and ESDC in early March.
As the Federal Ministers of National Revenue and Labour note in their March 7 announcement the ISA aims to “facilitate inspections and enforcement in the federally regulated road transportation sector…this arrangement allows the CRA to receive relevant information from the Labour Program to support CRA’s existing compliance activities in this sector.”
OTA president Stephen Laskowski said the announcement was timely, following a Canadian Trucking Alliance survey showing how over a third of truck drivers applying for jobs demand to work illegally and how the BC Employment Standards Tribunal recently shined a light on how the Canadian trucking industry is home to one of the largest underground economies and international human trafficking rings in Canada.
Laskowski is hopeful the increased efforts should serve as a warning to companies operating in the underground economy.
“When you consider the establishment of the ESDC misclassification team, their increased audit activities, interventions at roadside, increased coordination with provincial authorities – along with the new CRA-ESDC information sharing agreement –the stakes for companies and drivers participating in Driver inc. and associated illegal activity are as high as ever,” he said. “Governments are taking an interest in the underground economy, road safety issues; and are concerned about tax evasion, worker abuse, and crime. They are also sharing information and working together like never before. If companies don’t abandon this model now, after many years of education, they won’t be able to say they didn’t know about the consequences.”
As CRA and ESDC stated: “the Government will fight against unfair labour practices to help workers receive the protections they are entitled to under the Canada Labour Code, and we will enforce compliance with tax obligations under the Income Tax Act… (the agreement) between the CRA and the Labour Program marks a significant step forward in maintaining a fair and equitable trucking industry that provides dignity to workers,” their news release stated. “By sharing data effectively, we are not only upholding integrity but also reinforcing our commitment to fostering a level playing field for all businesses.”
OTA Chair Mark Bylsma thanked ESDC for joining our provincial authorities at the scales to show the trucking industry that persistent noncompliance will not be tolerated.
“We remain optimistic they will remain committed to upholding our nation’s laws and that fair competition will be restored to the industry,” he said. “While this is a good start to cracking down on the underground economy, we will continue to hold governments at all levels accountable to enforcing the laws they have on the books.”
These efforts by ESDC follow years of targeted enforcement within Ontario by the WSIB, which has already seen hundreds of trucking companies assessed and tens of millions recovered in premiums.