The Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) wants the federal government to scrutinize employers who employ international students and temporary foreign workers to ensure labor standards and laws are upheld.

The CTA was responding to Prime Minister Mark Carney’s first post-election press conference, in which he announced a plan to cap the number of international students and temporary foreign workers. 

The CTA advised the government — and its future cabinet — that immigration reform policy shouldn’t just be based on the number of immigrants, but also how newcomers are brought to Canada and which sectors they work for. 

“The CTA has said repeatedly that immigration is one of the key pieces of the puzzle to address chronic driver shortages in our country,” Stephen Laskowski, CTA president and CEO, said in a news release. “But we need to prioritize the protection of workers and weed out abuse and forced labor that we know is taking place.”  

Call for known employer program

CTA believes it’s time the government works with the trucking industry to introduce a mandatory known employer program that will match labor demand to legitimate, compliant trucking operations while protecting foreign workers from immigration consultants, truck driving schools and fleet owners that continue to exploit these workers within a broken immigration system.   

The CTA said in the release that it will be working with the Canadian and U.S. governments to address these labor abuses in the domestic and international trucking supply chain.