Evidence of meeting #151 for Industry, Science and Technology in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was regard.
A recording is available from Parliament.
9:50 a.m.
Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, CPC
What is your equivalent U.S. organization saying to this?
9:50 a.m.
President, Canadian Trucking Alliance
With regards to the carbon tax registry?
9:50 a.m.
Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, CPC
We're a month away, and they've inquired about it? It doesn't sound as if this is ready to go.
9:50 a.m.
President, Canadian Trucking Alliance
No, they've inquired as to what they need to do, and have educated their membership on it.
9:50 a.m.
Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, CPC
All right.
You also talked about the need for trained workers and perhaps to have some of the gaps made up through immigration. My understanding is that there are some changes to the residency requirements, so that when someone has put in their application they're required to be in Canada for a certain amount of time. Some truckers are choosing to no longer go north-south across the Canada-U.S. border, because now when people exit the country, it's recorded and can be used to say they weren't in the country long enough for residency.
What does that do to the industry and should that not be studied further? These people have already made a commitment to Canadian citizenship.
9:55 a.m.
President, Canadian Trucking Alliance
Yes.
We have inquired into that and how that is being enforced. As you pointed out, the rule is whether you're in the United States for 10 minutes, an hour or a full day—an hour is equal to a day. To be honest with you, I have not heard of any issues on that front. It does not mean that they can't come.
February 26th, 2019 / 9:55 a.m.
Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, CPC
I have trucking firms in the Okanagan that have specifically said that this has dissuaded some of them.... They are currently forced to work for other companies, because the orientation of their company is north-south. I think some of the smaller ones are there.
It does sound to me, sir, as if your organization should be called the “Canadian trucking inquiry alliance”, because you seem to be inquiring about a lot of information and the government isn't getting to you. Is that not creating uncertainty?
9:55 a.m.
President, Canadian Trucking Alliance
The issue here is more the American enforcement of this issue, and are they going to require taxes to be paid? Is the Canadian government going to enforce this requirement back home? We have asked the government for exemptions for truck drivers on this issue, because they are in the United States for so long. If you are a Toronto to L.A. truck driver, you are in the United States well over 100 days of the year.
Is this is a challenge for our sector? Yes. Has it become a problem? No. Could it become a problem? Yes.
9:55 a.m.
Liberal
9:55 a.m.
Liberal
Majid Jowhari Liberal Richmond Hill, ON
Mr. Laskowski, you seem to be bearing the brunt of all of the questions today. I'm going to use my five minutes to ask some specific questions—no disrespect to the other witnesses.
You talked about the price on pollution. It seems there's money to be gained on diesel as of April 1. You suggested it could be reinvested, either into new technology or some incentive programs. You also highlighted the fact that there is no alternative right now to diesel fuel for you to be able to make that transition.
What would some of your suggestions be vis-à-vis your suggested reinvestment incentive program and alternative technologies?
9:55 a.m.
President, Canadian Trucking Alliance
Sure.
Right now the Province of Quebec has what we refer to as a green fleet program. Money gained from their carbon tax allows for rebates on the different trucking technologies on the trucks: trailers, fairings, tires and wings.
Our point on the carbon tax is that if this public policy statement is about to send a message to the economy and those in the economy that you need to go green, if we do not have an incentive to switch fuels—because we don't, as we have no alternative fuels available—then we're saying to those who are taxing us that we want the money back to us to green our equipment to reduce carbon emissions, as opposed to going into general coffers.
9:55 a.m.
Liberal
Majid Jowhari Liberal Richmond Hill, ON
When you talk about greening our fuel, do you mean that you're going to make the design of the truck such that, because it's more aerodynamic, it's going to—
9:55 a.m.
President, Canadian Trucking Alliance
Correct. There are returns on investment on that equipment, but you need the money to make those investments.
9:55 a.m.
Liberal
Majid Jowhari Liberal Richmond Hill, ON
The trucking industry is not unique to Canada. Especially in Europe and other parts of the world, they use trucks. Are there other technologies or alternative fuels being used in other jurisdictions that are all focusing on—
10 a.m.
President, Canadian Trucking Alliance
It's diesel. Diesel is king right now, and diesel will be king for the foreseeable future. There was an article—
10 a.m.
President, Canadian Trucking Alliance
They're testing it, but in the short term, especially if you're a small business....
Think of yourself as a small business in trucking. We're hyper-competitive. Do you really want to introduce whatever technology it is that's high risk and jeopardize your whole business structure? The answer is that you're not going to do it.
Therefore, until there are certainties with regard to whatever the alternative is—
10 a.m.
President, Canadian Trucking Alliance
To be honest with you, because of the hyper-competitive nature of the trucking industry, it has to be a certainty. You don't compete based on your equipment; you compete on other factors. Therefore, your equipment has to be certain.
If you leave from Toronto to go to L.A., you need to know that you're going to be able to fuel that run with complete certainty and that you're going to be able to maintain that vehicle with complete certainty. Until those certainties are on board with other fuels or other technologies, which we do not have currently, that's not going to happen.
10 a.m.
Liberal
Majid Jowhari Liberal Richmond Hill, ON
Thank you.
I have about a minute left and I want to go back to your comment about legislation. You were talking about the CRA misclassification and lack of a level playing field, and you touched on enforcement. Can you expand on this CRA misclassification?
10 a.m.
President, Canadian Trucking Alliance
Sure.
We have a significant issue in our industry. We have thousands of small trucking companies and drivers who are misclassifying themselves to gain tax advantages that should be given to small businesses.
Jane gave a great speech today about the challenges of small business. She probably loses a lot of nights' sleep over a lot of issues as she takes on these challenges.
There's a risk-reward—
