The Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) is expressing extreme frustration that the 2024 Budget released last week missed yet another opportunity for Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) to unequivocally commit to meaningful enforcement of trucking companies who misclassify workers to avoid paying taxes, as well as their employees who wrongfully file taxes as personal service businesses. CTA is immediately seeking an explanation why the Government of Canada has again backtracked from its 2022 promise to provide a plan for CRA  to increase enforcement of misclassification and “foste ..read more

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) announced that the implementation of the CBSA Assessment and Revenue Management portal (CARM) for trade chain partners will be delayed until October 2024. Further details of the CBSA’s decision is available through its news release. The agency has stated that CARM is ready to roll out and will still launch internally on May 13, but part of the decision to shift the launch date for trade chain partners to October revolves around the ongoing uncertainty regarding potential strike action that could be taken by CBSA employees – with a strike ..read more

A recent Globe & Mail article tackled the issue of personal services businesses (PSB) and how many – especially in the trucking industry – operate incorrectly in accordance to rules in our tax laws. The article, special to the G&M, highlighted how CRA has completed Phase 1 of its pilot project on PSBs and found that about three-quarters of PSBs work in three industries: (1) transportation and warehousing, (35 per cent, with 95 per cent of these in general or specialized freight trucking); professional, scientific and technical services (26 per cent); and construction (13 per cent). Fur ..read more

Trucking HR Canada is pleased to announce a brand-new suite of industry resources, based on the newly updated National Occupational Standard, just in time for Truck World 2024 (April 18-20, 2024). The free downloads will help organizations of all sizes train and assess drivers and support driving instructors throughout their careers and are a significant addition to THRC’s already deep resource library. The 16-piece suite will be available for download from truckinghr.com starting Thursday, April 18. “THRC has led the work on creating a consistent approach to truck driver training and developm ..read more

The Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) is aware of the strike vote that is occurring today by Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) employees across the country. The CTA remains in regular contact with CBSA management on any potential impacts that may occur as a result of the strike vote. The CBSA management has indicated the strike vote is only a component of the collective bargaining process and the vote result in of itself will not lead to an immediate impact on border operations. Traffic flow will continue to be monitored closely, CBSA says, and that they will act quickly to address any unwar ..read more

Trucking companies from CTA’s Executive and provincial association executive committees are imploring Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Freeland to honour a commitment the Government of Canada made to end the tax avoidance and labour misclassification scheme in the trucking industry, known as Driver Inc. The carriers, who play pivotal roles on executive committees at the CTA and provincial association level, represent nearly 55,000 Canadian workers, nationwide. “In advance of Budget 2024, we request urgent action in our industry,” stated the letter submitted t ..read more

Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault and the Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities, Sean Fraser, responded to Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) concerns over Minister Guilbeault’s recent comments implying the Government of Canada would stop investing in new road infrastructure. CTA and other stakeholders, including provincial and municipal governments, expressed concern the comments could negatively affect the supply chain and impact future investment in Canada. “Road infrastructure investment is critical to the current and future health of the Canadian sup ..read more

By Stephen Laskowski Driver Inc. is an emotional issue in our industry – and for good reason. The non-compliant behaviour based on tax evasion and manipulation of the Labour Code is destroying the competitive landscape of the trucking industry and distorting the supply chain in ways we have never seen. Driver Inc is not a ‘new’ entrepreneurial strategy to get a competitive edge in trucking; Without a shred of doubt, it’s a systemic scheme based on profiting from skirting legal obligations, including – but not limited to – corporate and personal tax evasion, labour misclassification, misreprese ..read more

Individual CTA carrier members have stepped up efforts to express their concern the federal government has not committed to meaningful enforcement of Driver Inc carriers. The strongly-worded letter below is from Jonathan Neeb, of Kitchener, Ont-based Frontier Distribution Services Inc. to PM Trudeau, Finance Minister Freeland, Minister of Labour O’Regan and Minister of Transportation Rodriguez, and his local MPs, Mike Morrice and Valarie Bradford. CTA urges members to follow suit and send similar sentiments to the PM, Ministers and local MPs: I hope this email finds you well. I am writing to ..read more

As previously reported, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) Assessment and Revenue Management (CARM) system, a major transformative project which will streamline the collection of duties and taxes related to international commerce, will be implemented by the agency on May 13, 2024. Recently, the Canadian Society of Customs Brokers (CSCB) and the Association of International Customs and Border Agencies (AICBA), reached out to the CTA about the potential for border slowdowns once CARM is introduced, and the need to work together to reduce the potential for freight delays by increa ..read more