There is a timeless axiom that states “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of 100 battles.”
For more than a decade, as president of both the Ontario Trucking Association (OTA) and the Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA), I have observed how both of our boards internalize this guiding principle and consistently apply it in their work.
Fighting escalating lawlessness in our industry has been a long and grueling journey. We have faced periods where the scale of Driver Inc. and the political cover afforded by certain caucus members felt like progress would never come. Still, I have always reminded our teams of the old Napoleon saying: “Impossible is a word to be found only in the dictionary of fools.”
Our boards recognized that while we had not yet identified the right levers or the right timing, both would emerge through sustained commitment to our mission and a willingness to outwork the opposition. Today, those pressures are beginning to yield results. The winds are shifting, and we are moving in the right direction, but our collective vigilance has never been more important.
We did not arrive here by luck or happenstance – though both have their place – but through sustained resolve and the collective board’s foresight, set in motion years ago, to confront a complex web of noncompliance.
Both boards recognized early on that we weren’t just fighting an alternative business approach. Responsible, compliant and professional companies across Canada were facing an insidious, multi-headed enemy of unsafe, non-compliant, and unethical carriers.
Driver Inc. is, at its base, a misclassification scheme; but that’s only a blatant symptom of a larger organized, illegal operating standard – a calculated series of many types of violations. The labor misclassification underwrites tax evasion via the “Personal Service Business” (PSB) shell game, and the hiring of untrained or poorly trained drivers. The battle needed to take on multiple fronts, involving multiple department and levels of government.
Front 1: Restoring integrity to data and technology
This latest wave of lawlessness didn’t emerge solely through misclassification. Our first great battle was over the data that governs our roads and truck safety. During the initial rollout of the federal electronic logging device (ELD) mandate, the CTA team fought a fierce political battle to move beyond the “Gazette I” proposal, which lacked a third-party certification system.
Today, we see why that fight mattered. While no technology is perfect, our third-party certified system gives us direct recourse. It allows us to identify and control illegal equipment far more effectively than in the United States. If our boards had allowed Driver Inc. to operate in a self-certified system, our sector would be in total freefall. Canada’s framework allows us to deal with these bad actors before they destabilize the market.
Front 2: Dismantling the insurance safe havens
By 2019, Driver Inc. fleets were sheltering within the “Facility Association” — the insurer of last resort. It was a system operating in the shadows until the OTA stepped in. Our board exposed the issue and drove the leadership needed to confront a system that had spiraled out of control.
That action has started to change the landscape. Facility insurance is now under regulatory scrutiny, and we are ahead of the game because we acted early. The work continues in 2026, but our position today, and the results moving forward, is the result of the stand we took in 2019.
Front 3: Ending the “lick-and-stick” culture
In 2023, after years of work by our staff and members, the OTA successfully introduced the DriveON program, moving Ontario to a digital-first inspection model, while simultaneously tackling rampant emissions tampering to help balance a growing unlevel playing field in our sector.
While DriveON has yet to reach its full impact, its presence has sent the Driver Inc. crowd into a panic. Last year, desperation was so high that operators were caught impersonating MTO officials to collect stickers – a bizarre attempt to avoid their obligations to invest in equipment safety and air quality requirements.
Perhaps the most staggering reality that DriveON addresses is the historical lack of oversight. Shockingly, about 80% of trucking fleets in Ontario have never received an on-site safety screening or audit by the Ministry of Transportation (MTO). These “ghost fleets” have been allowed to operate virtually unchecked, relying on “Satisfactory-Unaudited” safety ratings that our team is now fighting to abolish.
Front 4: The movement on tax and labor
Beginning in 2018, OTA pushed the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) to focus on misclassification, educating the CRA and ESDC on the depth of the problem.
This effort led to a historic CRA-ESDC data-sharing agreement specifically focused on trucking misclassification. This collaboration culminated in the Budget 2025 announcements, signaling the return of mandatory T4As and aggressive enforcement blitzes to protect vulnerable drivers from exploitation.
Evolving the battle: New fronts for 2026
As the forces in support of illegal activity in our sector adapt to our pressure, so must our pressure points and tactics evolve:
- Cleaning Up Government Supply Chains: We are calling for an immediate end to both provincial and federal governments contracting the services of misclassified trucking firms. Public money must not be used to reward fleets that subvert and undermine our laws.
- 24/7 Multi-Agency Prescence at Scales: We are pushing to have weigh scale locations throughout the province to be staffed by multiple departments and officials to attack every aspect of Driver Inc. simultaneously.
- Eradicating Illegal Truck Parking: We are battling an illegal parking and storage epidemic in Ontario. These fleets have caused severe environmental damage to communities like Caledon, where lawless operators take over communities and refuse to invest in legitimate terminals.
- WCB & Immigration Specialization: We are calling for specialized WCB units and immigration programs tied only to known, audited employers.
- Enhanced Licensing & Training: In Ontario, we are moving toward licensing standards tied to specific vehicle configuration endorsements with strong oversight to end “diploma mills.”
- Ending “Satisfactory Unaudited” Safety Ratings: We are working to eliminate this safety rating category so no fleet can hide from oversight.
- Border Security: We are working to modernize security programs to include screenings for forced labor and organized crime.
- Ending Immigration Abuse: Through the introduction of an ESDC Known Employer Program and expansion of MTA’s Joy Smith Foundation Program
The turning point in 2026
In April 2026, the Council of Ministers responsible for Labour and Transport officially called for a unified National Action Plan to end Driver Inc. Furthermore, the federal Transport, Infrastructure and Communities (TRAN) committee – whose co-chairmen our team has been in constant contact with – is about to release a report providing the crushing evidence required to drive results.
Budget 2025 prioritizes enforcement of worker misclassification in trucking, strengthening CRA–ESDC coordination and reviving T4A compliance efforts, with trucking being the sole sector identified as a key focus for audits and enforcement.
However, the proponents of Driver Inc. are politically savvy, operate in the shadows and strategically conflate issues, which risks creating public confusion. Driver Inc. owners are attempting to rebrand as “gig economy entrepreneurs” under attack by “big business.” Other nasty accusations are also being hurled against those who advocate ending lawlessness. I will not dignify their tactical misinformation and mudslinging.
In short, these arguments are being used in word salads to obscure the underlying issues and provide political cover for the real concerns in the sector. In response, we are increasing advocacy efforts, with the CTA and OTA advancing the next phase of the “Stop Illegal Trucking” campaign to maintain pressure on both federal and provincial governments in Ottawa and Queen’s Park.
The stakes of our shared fight
Driver Inc. operators that evade compliance undermine fair competition, weaken supply chain integrity, and introduce real safety risks on Canadian roads. These practices disadvantage law-abiding carriers and drivers who operate as professionals and uphold the standards that keep the economy moving.
The legitimate industry is unified in demanding decisive action. All political parties must recognize that tolerance of non-compliant business models erodes both safety and fairness. We are actively engaging across all levels of government to ensure enforcement keeps pace with these practices and to secure meaningful, lasting reform.
Credit: Source link
