Canada to require ELDs by 2020

by Truck News

BRAMPTON, Ont. – On the day the U.S. electronic logging device (ELD) mandate went into effect, Canadian Transport Minister Marc Garneau gathered with trucking industry leaders bearing a gift, in the form of a law that would by 2020 require ELDs be used in Canada as well.

“We’re constantly looking at how technology can improve road safety, and electronic stability control and electronic logging devices fit the bill,” said Garneau. “These new measures not only make trucks and buses safer, but they also have a trickle-down effect of making the roads safer for all Canadians.”

It was a long-awaited and welcome announcement for many in the trucking industry, but a contentious requirement that is still loathed by many owner-operators, drivers, and small fleets. Garneau was accompanied at the launch, hosted by Trailcon Leasing, by Ontario Transport Minister Steven Del Duca, the only provincial transport boss who has yet to publicly endorse the mandate.

“Ontario has a strong record of adopting and supporting initiatives that further improve road safety. Three years ago, our government became the first in Canada to publicly endorse the use of electronic logging devices,” said Del Duca. “I commend Transport Canada for taking this important step toward making these devices mandatory.”

“Minister Del Duca has been a great partner for OTA in improving truck safety. ELDs are going to reduce fatigue in commercial drivers, which will have a positive impact on reducing distracted driving collisions and increasing safety for our sector,” added Ontario Trucking Association (OTA) president Stephen Laskowski.

The OTA and the CTA have been pushing for an ELD mandate in Canada for years, and OTA said after the announcement that it wants to see the regulation enforced as soon as possible. That wish was echoed by CTA chairman Gene Orlick.

“CTA knows Minister Garneau wants to see enforcement of this important safety regulation as soon as possible. During the comment period of the Canada Gazette I process, our sector will be working with all provincial stakeholders to support Minister Garneau’s safety vision,” said Orlick, who is owner and president of Orlicks Inc. in Calgary, Alta.

“The U.S.’s experience in implementing ELDs has shown us that even with two years to prepare, there will be some in our sector that never choose to comply in time. While we need to be respectful of the transition-time requirements of ELD implementation to businesses and governments, we also must not manage to the lowest common denominator and ensure everybody is fairly complying with the rules.”

However, the Canadian mandate won’t require ELDs to be used until 2020, with existing devices permitted until 2022.

In addition to Orlicks, other carriers were also represented at the announcement, including Kriska, Onfreight Logistics, Arnold Bros. Transport, and Kenan Advantage Group. The Private Motor Truck Council of Canada (PMTC) also welcomed the announcement.

“The PMTC and its members are extremely pleased about this announcement,” said PMTC president Mike Millian. “Our membership has been involved in the consultations with the department and are firm believers that this regulation will benefit the entire industry. Electronic logs will make compliance easier to verify, ensuring all carriers are following the hours of service rules. This will result in a leveling of the playing field within the industry and improved road safety for all.”

The regulation was posted in Canada Gazette 1 and can be viewed in its entirety here.

 

 


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  • ELD’s are about safety? Thats such a load of b.s its not even believable. Want to make things safer? Remove the 65mph limit law to allow trucks to safely pass and get back into right lane instead of having 2 lanes constantly jammed while 2 guys try and pass each other for 5 miles. And just inforce the actual speed limit. Novel idea aint it. Then maybe actually get the mto to start actually inspecting vehicles, instead of just cherry picking paper work for ticketing purposes…….go after the junk ( and hey, everyone knows the trucks im talking about and the people that are typically driving them) and pull the plates off, and levy fines to put them and their garbage outta business.
    There is real safety things that can and should be done. But no one has the stones to call it like it is. You put 3rd world drivers into a first world environment……..well they have brought the 3rd world to here…..
    Maybe the OTA and CTA should go on a bus tour of the 401 and hwy 11 and 17 through northern ontario and then maybe see whats really going on and whos involved

    • ya if the people that don’t no anything about trucking should go for a ride in a big truck. an see the B/S going on out here all over. we need way more places to park,

      • I have 34 years behind the wheel. I’m glad I’m retiring because the BS drivers out there makes it very scary . I’ve also been involved with ELD’s and that has nothing to do with safety. It wouldn’t have helped in Sask last year. Why don’t the government pull their head out off their ass.

    • Exactly eld not about safety just about being able to quickly scan and ticket you for all your violations easily.
      and all new Canadians drivers don’t have experience to plan a trip or even have knowledge of where they actually are if they ever were to look up from the GPS and out the window of their truck.
      Now if you take a drive on the Canadian highways at say 1-5am any night you will see all the drivers that are in perfect compliance with HOS rules but sadly are causing a huge physical safety concern as hundreds of trucks parked on highway emergency parking only zones on the shoulders because thier eld told them to stop there. Am I supposed to smash into them on the shoulder if I have a brake supply line blow or a steer tire blow or need to pull over for an actual emergency in the ice and snow none the less.
      How come the smarter they call the technology the more stupid people become and the suits just sit back and marvel at thier creation …. What a bunch of retards.
      If mto wants to do something about safety maybe they should do as jb says take the junk and garbage off the road !!!
      It’s really easy to see them they are usually running highbeam lights around other traffic or no lights or they have off-road LED light bars running even mid day they are practically begging to be pulled over but nothing is done sadly.
      Maybe its time for a class action law suit to the bill makers by the actual safe and compliant drivers and general public being harmed by having thier safety on the roads in jeapordy because a smart machine is instructing dumb drivers where to stop illegally and not in compliance with bylaws or HTA regulations of emergency stops.

  • I’ve been in Safety for 35 years in various functions. The OTA CTA all jump on the ELD band wagon of course sounds great let’s get one thing straight it’s not about safety it’s called compliance. It will not reduce distracted driving last time I checked drivers don’t fill out the pre-trip or logs while driving? Of course government all cheer and slap each other on the backs about being progressive? So where are all these trucks going to pull over at 14 hrs on the Trans Canada? Small towns and local malls all have no parking signs and enforcement by local police. Don’t dare park at a snow plow turn around that’s $180.00 by OPP? I suggest the government and OTA CTA start really figuring out how’s this really going to work? Oh I forgot about the lovely cell reception in the north or mountains that will really work for transmitting data? Or we might have to carry paper logs as back up? When the OPP and MTO get real serious about bad carriers and repeat offenders nothing will change here not even ELDs

    • I totally agree with what you said and what JB says as well, I have been in safety for over 10 years. First off the ELDs tell the driver when he/she is tired and suppose to sleep, well not all drivers are the same or need to sleep at same time as other drivers, drivers should be able to determine when they are tired and need to sleep, they know their own bodies. Also your point about where to safely pull in and park is going to be a huge issue, unless they allow drivers to use personal conveyance or yard move in order to move their trucks to a safe pace to park without putting them into a violation, which they won’t. The rules really need to be changed across the board here and in the U.S. as all my drivers are expedite owner operators and we have lost many owner ops to the ELDs who have sold their trucks and retired from trucking. There is going to be a huge shortage of trucks and drivers. The BIG SUITS have no idea how the trucking world works and should take a ride with a driver and see what they encounter on a daily basis. Paper logs are suppose to be kept in all trucks with ELDs so that they can use them if a unit breaks down.
      ELDs are so NOT about safety at all, its about grabbing more money for the small business owner and to look good like they are combating safety on our roads. All the trucks that are pieces of junk should be taken off the road along with the bad drivers – why penalize the good drivers for all the bad ones and lump the good ones in with the bad ones, as trust me there are bad ones out there that run their truck as cheap as they can with no regard for safety at all and I think we all know who those are, the ones who undercut their prices to bid on loads as cheap as they can to get more loads, but don’t put any money into the upkeep of their trucks.
      This is just a viscous cycle and it is going to get a lot worse and it is not going to stop all the accidents on the roads or get rid of the bad apples, its going to cause the small carries that have good safety ratings to go under.

      • Wendy, the ELD DOES NOT! tell a driver when they are tired or when they are supposed to sleep, it tells the driver when they are out of hours.
        As for safety… the regulations are about safety, the ELD is about making sure that drivers comply with regulation. I would hope that the people fighting the ELD regulation would start fighting the HOS regulations as they are, in Canada, they are very flexible, yet some driver still feel the need to falsify their logs, in the US, the HOS are very strict, they need to do away with the 14 hour rule, allow more flexibility to split the sleeper berth, in Canada, they need to do away with the 16 hour rule, however, with the flexibility that we have in Canada in splitting the sleeper berth, that rule doesn’t actually come into play much.
        As for the people that complain about the extra cost, you can get a devise for $15 per month, if you can’t afford that, they you shouldn’t be in business.

  • They’re not fooling anyone.
    It’s all about profit margins,eliminating the competition,working drivers harder and nothing more.
    If these companies really cared about safety they’d be pushing for mandatory training instead of hiring anyone with a pulse to drive their gadget mobiles down the road,causing carnage and chaos everywhere they go.
    Cutting hair is considered a trade in Canada but driving a truck on congested highways isn’t? You wouldn’t need millions of dollars worth electronic junk in trucks to police the steering wheel holders if Canada treated their professional drivers more like professionals instead of slave labour and criminals.

  • Mr Garneau had the good idea to introduce a gift to the transport industry because we all know elections are coming and by doing this ELD mandatory only in 2020 it is a polluted gift.
    As far as safety on the highway , well put more third world country driver on the highway in this winter and see how many will be upside down in the wilderness.
    Amazing how politicians are working.

  • I’m in agreement that it is more about enforcement and compliance than safety. I had an elog put on my truck when I was leased on to a carrier a year and a half ago, and it did absolutely nothing to make me a safer driver. What it did do was stress me out as the time ticked down and the machine beeped at me that I needed to stop. Now the proponents of ELDs will say I should’ve planned my day better, pre-booked a place to park, or not driven so close to the end of my shift. Well even in the world of office jobs I’m sure they’ve had things pop up or accidents happen that lay waste to plans. Guess what that’s what happens every single day on the road and until there is something with common sense and flexibility built into it, these machines and regulations will just be a further burden on drivers. One more thing pushing the experienced qualified people out of the industry. I know the quality of new drivers and the nonsensical nature of the legislators in charge of “making the roads safe” have ensured me and my 2 million safe miles won’t be driving truck again. No log book at all behind this desk!

  • Better Compliance of HOS will equal an increase in Safety. I agree there terminology in not accurate. Just think if it wasn’t for the cowboys out there who are still running Toronto to Winnipeg in 1 shift then this would not be an issue. We find that the ELD is more of a time management and trip planning tool. All of our drivers are in the system and like how it works. We are not a large company either. How the ELD issue was handled in both sides of the border was poorly managed. Thus is just technology catching up in an industry that is way behind the times. HOS rules are and will be the issue until they can figure them out. You want to increase safety? Driver training is the key. Too many new drivers out there who do not have a clue.

    • Trip planning NOT. Drivers cannot do a damn thing if their is weather conditions or highway shutdowns and construction. You can plan all you like but it does not always go to plan especially Canada winters . Even USA the on duty time some days outweighs the driving and other day it is you need more driving then on duty. It is mostly when you are on load and pick times are killer. This ELD is useless a tool for profit. Driver is the only one getting taken for a ride and hosed. Even with the new driverless semis come in another wreck for people driving on roads . Bad enough I have to drive with immigrants who have no clue to drive in winter conditions and mountains I have to put up with a talking machine.

    • E L D s do not work trucking companies cut back on personal conveyance for truck drivers to get their shopping banking done post office done will chase out more truck driver s we end up renting cars at least once per week after doing this 2 or 3 times. The drivers get another job. We have lost 30% of our owner operators since March 1 2018 I am quitting as receivers are expecting us to leave with no hours. The insurance company says that we can not use personal conveyance to go to bank Costco or lawyers office or farm show. The O.T.A has done little for truck drivers despite the large number using the homeless shelter system in Canada. 226 889 9299.

      • The ota is paid for by the province. Dont ever think they are in your corner. They will never bite the hand that feeds them. They are nothing but 2 faced propaganda spewing back stabbing pigs

  • It would seem to me all the above arguments are misdirected at ELD’s.
    What is changing with the implementation of ELD with regard to hours? NOTHING.
    What is changing is our ability to ‘colourize’ our hours to fit our needs. ELD is a recording tool. Nothing more.
    Fighting them is a misdirected argument.
    HOS is everyone’s beef…along with associated parking woes, shippers etc etc.

  • I remember a time when you did not require a log book in Canada, deregulation was not in….. Truck drivers were professional and curtious.
    The accident rates were less then…… So, this is progress?

  • I have read some of the comments. they are all true. safty has nothing to do with having a ELD. all the questions of where are we supose to park, what if we can’t make it to where were going because of what ever hold up we had on the road. what about the late night shipping and receiving schedules and our time don’t permit it or having to make it to a parking area after sitting at a costumer for several hours. you ask these questions to law enforcement or anyone else with more power. all there going to tell you is…… plan your time better. that’s the only excuse they have. i was in TN. i pulled in a closed scale for the night because what ever other stops the next 30 miles were full. i got woken up after 7 hours by a scale person telling me I have to leave. they have to open for business. i told them my down time isn’t over yet. he didn’t care. i had to leave. so they make me break the law so they can pull over other drivers that breaks the law. and you know what he told me…… plan your time better. i should have stoped before here. news flash. there wasn’t anything for 60 miles back and why would I cut my driving time to 9.5 hours when I’m alloud to go for 11

    • Why would you even be concerned about elogs in a 160km radius anyway? Push start in the morning and at night enjoy your bed

  • Pull it over do what the machines say. When you got thousand trucks blocking highway streets driveways and dot scales all these companies start paying fines for parking illegaly maybe they will rewrite the rules this electronic log it is only going to make some drivers race the clock like they do in the small towns in northern towns like these 3rd world drivers who do not even slow down. 30 years and i have seen it all. just another government screwup. I hope to see 40 feet of snow in one night because them paper Canadians from the 3rd world have no boots

  • The way I look at it, if you can’t make a living with elogs then you should switch companies or find another job.