OTA was very pleased today when Ontario Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney dropped into our Etobicoke offices for a visit and to talk shop.
OTA staff, as well as OTA chair James Steed (Steed Standard Transport); vice chair Mark Bylsma (Spring Creek Carriers) and Co-Chair of the OTA Leadership, Education and Development Committee (LEAD), Stacey Large (Trailcon Leasing), hosted the minister and discussed several prevailing issues in the trucking industry.
OTA and the board executives thanked the minister, the MTO and the Ford Government for their leadership on many industry issues, namely Ontario’s unwavering commitment to enforcing electronic board recorders (ELDs) on time on Jan. 1. Both OTA and MTO report that transition to full ELD enforcement to start 2023 has been near-seamless.
OTA also had the chance to applaud the minister in person for the recent proposal to streamline the air brake testing system and introduce air brake learning modules as an additional alternative to the current air brake renewal knowledge test. The move would ease some burden on truck drivers and will help combat the driver shortage in Ontario.
The minister also heard that OTA was content with the ongoing process to tackle climate change and truck emissions tampering by modernizing annual vehicle inspections and integrating emissions testing for commercial vehicles in Ontario. When implemented, OTA believes Ontario will have arguably the most robust engine emissions and tampering prevention system as well asannual inspection compliance regime and in North America.
