CTA urges Carney to tackle underground economy, enforcement failures
The Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) has urged newly elected Prime Minister Mark Carney to address what it describes as a “state of lawlessness” in Canada’s trucking sector and to prioritize productivity reforms as the country faces economic and trade challenges.
In a letter congratulating Carney on becoming Canada’s 24th prime minister, CTA president Stephen Laskowski called on the federal government to act on long-standing enforcement issues and labor violations in the industry — problems the alliance says have gone unresolved for more than a decade.
“The tariff threat from the US is exacerbated by severe domestic economic headwinds and a stagnant, unproductive economy,” Laskowski wrote. “There is much work to do to reshape and redirect the path towards achieving a brighter economic future.”
Laskowski pointed to a growing underground economy in trucking, driven by tax evasion, labor misclassification, and a lack of enforcement around human trafficking and employment laws. He said the federal government has known about these issues for years but failed to act: “There has not enough political motivation by any party, at all political levels, to seriously address the problem.”
He also criticized the Canada Revenue Agency for walking back its 2022 commitment to reform enforcement. Specifically, CTA is asking the prime minister to direct CRA to reinstate the T4A system, suspended since 2011, and to increase oversight of the Personal Services Business model, which the group says is being abused in trucking to misclassify employees.
“CTA hopes your fresh perspective on such matters and vision will change the government’s lack of urgency on widespread enforcement,” Laskowski added.
Misclassification remains the backbone of the underground economy in trucking, according to CTA, and the group says it is the largest misclassification scheme in any federally regulated sector.
“The minister responsible for labor will need to utilize all available resources to crack down on misclassification in the trucking industry,” Laskowski said. “
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The only solution to the underground economy is for all people being paid to a Corp account is to take $200 per week off the top and send into the gov .at the end of the year they can apply for it back like people do on income taxes and U I ans CPP deducted
The second part is a audit of all cross border freight companies and take away the exemption on overtime pay and require all those drivers hauling certain hazard class over 900 kg or cross the border Tobe red seal certified. I think.the C T A is hoping that it will make it easier to hire truck drivers on payroll cheaper if drivers Inc goes away
That will cause a shortage like in the U K 5 yrs but I think every trucking company that does cross border freight or more than 20 trucks should be audit for the 2024 and 2025 yrs