The Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) has informed the feds that the scarcity {of professional} drivers represents one of many largest threats to Canada’s financial restoration.
Addressing the Home Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities this week, CTA president Stephen Laskowski implored the feds to intervene.
“There may be an previous saying in our sector you might be acquainted with, which works again many years – should you acquired it a truck introduced it,” mentioned CTA president Stephen Laskowski. “However, the reality is that throughout the pandemic – and even nonetheless as we speak – there are individuals who didn’t ‘get’ what they want or once they wanted it. It’s largely as a result of we’re quick almost 30,000 business truck drivers in Canada.”
Laskowski continued: “The truck driver has at all times been probably the most essential, however unsung, contributors, to our nationwide financial system. With out drivers, vans sit idle. If we need to assist remedy the availability chain disaster and assist tackle inflation, we should take care of the truck driver scarcity.”
The CTA provided a number of methods the federal government might assist alleviate the pressure on the availability chain, specifically bettering entry to immigration and coaching funding for drivers and cracking down on Driver Inc. fleets, which misclassify worker drivers as impartial contractors.
“CTA’s method is affordable and entails commonsense options that require no new laws or particular remedy for our sector, however is quite an extension of present practices, entry to applications, instruments and funds supplied different sectors,” added Geoff Wooden, CTA’s senior vice-president of coverage. “CTA stands able to work collaboratively with the Authorities of Canada as our sector enters a really tenuous and significant time in its historical past.”
