Trucking issues took centre stage at Friday’s meeting of the Council of Ministers Responsible for Transportation and Highway Safety, with a focus on tackling the chameleon carrier phenomenon, improving infrastructure and addressing key internal trade barriers.
“Canada’s Minister of Transport and Internal Trade, the Honourable Anita Anand and the ministers have been working with CTA and its provincial association partners on these issues, and it’s now time to turn this energy into meaningful action by dealing immediately with competitive barriers and productivity issues that have plagued the industry and destroying compliant companies while allowing those who don’t follow the rules to benefit,” said CTA president Stephen Laskowski.
One of the key initiatives announced will be a full-scale investigation and action plan by the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators to address challenges with the issuance of Safety Fitness Certificates for Commercial Trucking Operations. This is a critical measure that will support the trucking industry’s battle with unsafe carriers, which are exponentially deteriorating highway safety and the unfettered growth of the underground economy; and driving responsible fleets out of business or seeing them leave the Canadian market and move operations south of the border.
“CTA has seen a strong correlation between unsafe trucking companies and illegal activities like forced labour and immigration abuse,” says Laskowski. “We believe if there was better public data between cross border drug trafficking and other criminal activity, we would also identify a connection to the fleets that are causing these safety issues on our roads today.
“It is unacceptable that some of these companies are allowed to stay on the road even after they are caught in these activities The misalignment and lack of checks and balances in provincial safety fitness programs have allowed them to keep moving their operations around the country to avoid enforcement, often aided by consultants who know where the loopholes are in government and insurance regimes,” said Laskowski. “These operations are a menace to road safety, a security threat to our country, to cross border operations, and the very existence of law-abiding trucking fleets in this country.”
The Ministers also highlighted the critical importance of the Internal Trade Mutual Recognition Trucking Pilot Initiative, to explore ways to reduce regulatory barriers and facilitate the smoother movement of goods shipped by truck, improving security of cross border trade and the need to invest in critical economic infrastructure.
“The federal and provincial ministers are showing leadership on the issues that matter to those in the trucking industry that are compliant with the rules and laws,” says Laskowski. “But, again, we must have a plan to act and implement it immediately. CTA and the provincial associations are ready to come to the table to turn words into action and restore law and order in our industry.”