Before 1998, things were embarrassing for the trucking industry. There were poorly maintained, dangerous trucks. There was no framework requiring owners and operators of heavy vehicles to comply with regulatory standards or face the risk of banned from operating.
Then came Bill 430, a direct consequence of the bus accident that killed 44 people in Les Éboulements, Que., in 1997. This law put mechanisms in place and gave the Commission des transports du Québec the power to get offenders off the road.
It didn’t take long for fleets to appear that were rejuvenated, trucks that were more orderly. In very little time, a business registry and an effective control system with teeth capable of shredding a trucking company’s right to operate had been set up. It was capable of imposing a penalty that hurts, not a ridiculous fine.
Twenty-six years later, it’s more embarrassing than ever in the trucking industry, but for different reasons. We hear about accidents involving unregistered and uninsured trucks. Hundreds of thousands of dollars in tow bills that never get paid. Truckers literally running away after “tipping” a truck on the highway. Driving schools taking bribes to issue Class 1 licences and listing false driving experience on drivers’ records.
It feels like the Wild West with cowboys who don’t give a damn about anything. We’ve gone back in time with new delinquents to the power of 10 who transport at a discount and illegally, those we in Quebec call Chauffeurs Inc., a misclassification scheme by unscrupulous companies that evade taxes. The pirates of modern times.
Is this really the world we’re living in now? What’s going on?
Year after year, successive governments have let things get worse. We published our first article on the subject in 2013 and, since then, the scheme has spread, crossing the borders of Ontario and invading Quebec, from Lac-Saint-Jean to the Gaspé Peninsula, transporting at a discount the cargo formerly hauled by trucking companies that pay their payroll taxes, insurance and income taxes.
Who are the shippers who hire them, happy to save on their delinquent transport while gargling environmental, social and governance virtues in their annual reports? Do they even know to whom they entrust their goods?
Anything that hangs around gets dirty, and the Chauffeurs Inc. scheme has been going on for a ridiculously long time. It’s spreading everywhere and faster than ever. It’s causing phenomenal economic harm to legitimate transportation companies, but also to all taxpayers – we’re talking billions of dollars in unpaid payroll taxes. And it’s causing enormous harm to safety with its fake licences and uninsured trucks.
Government after government has been watching this go on without saying anything for 11 years. Even if government bodies say that things are moving forward, well, they are not moving forward.
It is time to call for a commission of inquiry into the trucking industry, as has been done in other industries, such as construction. It is time to expose to the public the corrupt situation that prevails in the industry, a situation that costs it billions and threatens its security. It is time to call to testify the actors and victims of this scheme, including shippers.
It’s time to clean up.
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