A coalition of trucking industry associations is urging the Ontario government to take action and help address problems ranging from road safety and driver training standards to compliance enforcement — issues they describe as causing a critical decline in industry professionalism and public safety.

During the meeting with transportation minister Prabmeet Sarkaria and labour, immigration, training and skills development minister David Piccini in December, the group outlined a range of initiatives, including expanded truck inspections, stricter oversight of driver training schools, targeted enforcement on misclassification and enhanced licensing requirements for Class A drivers.

“As an industry, we are appalled at the pace of deterioration in our sector from a safety and compliance perspective,” the coalition said in a news release. “Public safety is at risk, and good drivers and carriers are being driven out of the business. We have a good plan, and the ministers said they will work with us to correct this situation.”

The coalition — which includes the Infrastructure Health and Safety Association, Ontario Safety League, Ontario Trucking Association, Private Motor Truck Council of Canada, Professional Truck Training Alliance of Canada, Teamsters Canada, Truck Training Schools Association of Ontario, and Women’s Trucking Federation of Canada — plans to meet quarterly with the ministers to monitor progress on their proposals.

Tackling finances, education, training and compliance

Short-term measures proposed include extending truck inspection station hours to 24/7, increasing urban enforcement through joint police and MTO initiatives, and reinstating in-person audits to uncover compliance issues such as the misclassification of drivers. The coalition also called for reforms at DriveTest Centres to ensure testing vehicles align with training standards, such as requiring trailers no shorter than 45 ft. for tandem-tandem testing, as an example.

Other short-term goals include a Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) enforcement blitz on temporary placement agencies that are known in the industry as driver service companies, as well as mandatory instructor certification and combined oversight of training schools with qualified inspectors from both the MCU and MTO to confirm operating status in paperwork and over-the-road and yard training.

The groups also say that Facility Insurance for commercial trucking operations needs to be reviewed, adding that the mechanisms for determining insurance premiums are outdated compared to the private market and do not consider the current climate for liability risks. 

Meanwhile, in the longer term, the industry is pushing for the elimination of the satisfactory-unaudited safety rating category, the introduction of automated speed enforcement on provincial highways, and the creation of a base Class A licence with endorsements for specialized equipment configurations. They also stressed the need for third-party oversight of driver training schools and enhanced screening of companies using the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program to prevent forced labor and pay irregularities.