The Canada Labour Code does attempt to answer the question of whether O/Os are employees or independents.

In the glossary of terms, it defines a dependent contractor as:

“(a) the owner, purchaser or lessee of a vehicle used for hauling, other than on rails or tracks, livestock, liquids, goods, merchandise or other materials, who is a party to a contract, oral or in writing, under the terms of which they are:

(i) required to provide the vehicle by means of which they perform the contract and to operate the vehicle in accordance with the contract, and

(ii) entitled to retain for their own use from time to time any sum of money that remains after the cost of their performance of the contract is deducted from the amount they are paid, in accordance with the contract, for that performance…”

(c) any other person who, whether or not employed under a contract of employment, performs work or services for another person on such terms and conditions that they are, in relation to that other person, in a position of economic dependence on, and under an obligation to perform duties for, that other person;

Now combine this with the definition of employee:

“Any person employed by an employer and includes a dependent contractor and a private constable, but does not include a person who performs management functions or is employed in a confidential capacity in matters relating to industrial relations.”

If not for the bureaucratic double-speak, the issue would no longer be open to interpretation. Unfortunately in its current incarnation, the Code only seems to muddy the waters.

– Source: The Canada Labour Code