CTA told MPs the driver shortage threatened Canada's economic recovery
In October 2022, the alliance told a Commons committee the industry was short nearly 30,000 drivers and asked for help with immigration, training and Driver Inc.
In early October 2022, the Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) told the House of Commons Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities that the shortage of professional truck drivers was one of the biggest threats to Canada's economic recovery.
CTA president Stephen Laskowski said the industry was short nearly 30,000 commercial truck drivers. He said that during the pandemic, and still at that point, some people had not received the goods they needed when they needed them, largely because of that shortage.
"If we want to help solve the supply chain crisis and help address inflation, we must deal with the truck driver shortage," Laskowski said.
What the CTA asked for
- Better access to immigration for the trucking industry.
- Training funding for drivers.
- A crackdown on Driver Inc. fleets, which misclassify employee drivers as independent contractors.
Geoff Wood, CTA's senior vice-president of policy, said the proposals would not require new legislation or special treatment. Instead, he said, they would give trucking access to programs, tools and funding already available to other sectors.
Weeks earlier, in August 2022, Immigration Minister Sean Fraser had confirmed in a letter to the CTA that truck drivers would become eligible for Express Entry, the online system for managing permanent residence applications from skilled workers.