TORONTO, Ont. — The Ontario Trucking Association (OTA) says the province of Ontario should be partnering with the trucking indusry to help encourage investments in green technologies.

OTA president David Bradley took that message to the Legislative Standing Committee on Finance yesterday, in hopes of influencing the upcoming provincial budget.

Bradley’s two main messages were that the industry supports the HST initiative and wants to see the transition to the HST made smoothly, and that the trucking industry would like to see some incentives to invest in clean transport technologies.

“The OTA has championed a harmonized sales tax system for over a decade,” Bradley said, “because it replaces the current unfair and inefficient provincial sales tax regime with a fairer, simpler system for taxing business inputs.” 

But Bradley also said “It is imperative that the provincial government provide all businesses with details of the terms and rules for the new HST, so companies can begin making the transition now in order to be ready on July 1, 2010.”

Bradley also invited the province to work with the OTA to create a coordinated program that would include super-accelerated CCA rates, tax incentives and funding programs to encourage fleets to invest in green technologies that are included in the Canadian Trucking Alliance’s enviroTruck program.

To see the OTA’s submission in its entirety, click here.