Transport Committee on Oct. 5th, 2022

[Dan Muys, Conservative, Flamborough—Glanbrook, ON]

I'm going to cut you off so that my colleague can use the balance of the time.

[Lianne Rood, Conservative, Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

I heard from many trucker groups recently that there's a cross-border issue. When the government imposed the federal mandates and people chose to exercise their medical autonomy to not be vaccinated, there was a shortage of truck drivers for cross-border runs. I saw this in the springtime with getting food from California into Canada, and with produce.

I'm just wondering if you can comment on whether or not those federal mandates were part of the reason we have a labour shortage in this sector currently, and whether that damaged Canada's supply chain.

Mr. Laskowski.

[Stephen Laskowski]

Those mandates were bilateral. They were introduced by both Canada and the United States. They had the impact of reducing by approximately 10%—some areas of the country were higher, but on average it was about 10%—the driving force in the U.S.-Canada market. That's not insignificant. As of last week, Canada rescinded that. Unfortunately, the United States has not. We still have an impact in Canada of approximately 10% of drivers out of that driving pool.

[Lianne Rood, Conservative, Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON]

Thank you very much for that.

Mr. Rodgers, was there an impact in your sector, as well, with these mandates?

[Bruce Rodgers]

There was, initially, but it quickly recovered. We are not experiencing those types of problems at the present time.

[Lianne Rood, Conservative, Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON]

Thank you very much.

I'll close by saying thank you, Mr. Laskowski, for that information.

What I heard from the industry was that the competitiveness over not having drivers actually drove the price up for freight. People were looking to get trucks when they couldn't get somebody to come across the border, or they secured a trucking company to bring their load across. If somebody else bid higher, they were dropping the other loads and taking the higher bid, because they could. They could get the money, because they're in the business of making money, as well.

I'll close with that.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I know my time is up.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Thank you very much, Ms. Rood.

Lastly, we have Mr. Badawey.

Mr. Badawey, the floor is yours. You have five minutes.

[Vance Badawey, Liberal, Niagara Centre, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'm going to concentrate on a dialogue we can have outside the box—not looking at what was, but at what can be. What I mean by that is, we completed two interim reports on the establishment of a Canadian transportation and logistics strategy. I'm sure you folks have been part of that process. Some of you have, at least, or you know the reports I'm referring to.

The second comment is this: If we're going to strengthen our trade corridors and, in fact, integrate our distribution logistics, the human resource element is a big part of that. The infrastructure, policy legislation and partnerships are big parts of that. It's not just here, domestically, but binationally, if not trinationally.

The fact of the matter is that, at the end of the day, to strengthen our overall global trade performance, we have to have all the boxes checked off. With that said, the dialogue we're having today is important. Let's discuss this outside the box.

When we look at the need for operators in trade corridors, it's not just operators on the road. It's also operators on rail, in the air and on the water. As much as the industry on the road is talking about the need for operators, the marine industry is saying the same thing. Whether it's a cook, engineer, captain or mate, it's the same situation—a dire situation. Rail is the same, and air is somewhat the same, especially within the supply chain and among those working with luggage or on the gates in airports and things of that nature.

My question, Mr. Rodgers, is going to be to you, as a freight forwarder.

Do you feel there may be an opportunity to bundle a branding exercise that looks at operators as this relates to trade corridors, including road, marine and airport operators—rail, water, road and air? It's to bundle the resources, which means working with the provinces to bundle training and harmonize provincial program training across the country. As we know, those training exercises, for lack of a better word, can differ from province to province, so it's to harmonize the training program nationally.

I'd like to hear your thoughts on that.

[Bruce Rodgers]

I believe that would be beneficial and would simplify the process for our community and the community we represent. Again, in the freight forwarding sector, a lot of these organizations are national and multinational-type organizations. They have staff in multiple provinces across Canada, and when we have inconsistencies in training, it creates significant problems overall.

To bundle it up to deal with the supply chain issues and labour shortages would be a significant first step in solving this issue.

[Vance Badawey, Liberal, Niagara Centre, ON]

I'll take it a step further and look at the integration of distribution logistics internationally.

When an investor or company comes in from out of the country, most of which are going to be aligned with the trade agreements we've established and ratified within the last four years, whether it be CUSMA, CETA, the CPTPP or others, it's a new way of doing business in the new global market we find ourselves in within the last few decades. Do you find that, to do this, it's going to be a new age as we integrate our distribution logistics systems of transportation, and therefore a new age of operators?

Going back to my earlier question, it's about the bundling not only of training, but also of branding and the overall need to get the word out about trade corridor operators, regardless of what sector they might find themselves in—rail, road, water or air.

[Bruce Rodgers]

I think that's essential, but I'm going to take this in a somewhat different direction. It's along the lines that you're referencing as well. From our perspective, we have a national trade corridors fund, but we don't have a national trade corridors strategy. I think we have it backwards. We put the money out there, and then we go out to the interested parties and say, “Okay, who wants it? Everybody put in a bid.”

You do it that way. Nobody is looking at the infrastructure. The labour component, as well, goes hand in hand with the infrastructure issues that we have and that we're challenged with today. We talked earlier on in our presentation about the challenges with the congestion at the rail yards. Who wants to be a driver when you're sitting in line for five hours? How many weeks on end are you going to do this before you decide you don't want to do this anymore?

We have the same issues at our ports. They are landlocked. We have infrastructure projects that have been sitting in additional studies going on for 15 or 20 years now. We need quicker decisions. We need a national trade corridor strategy, and the labour component should be part of that as well.

[Vance Badawey, Liberal, Niagara Centre, ON]

If I can refer to the analysts, we want to underline and bold that comment with respect to a trade corridor and transportation strategy.

Thank you, Mr. Rodgers, for that comment. This is my last question.

I'm sure you read the Emerson CTA report and the recommendations that came out of that.

Do you feel strongly that as part of establishing a Canadian transportation and logistics strategy...? What Mr. Emerson talks about in his report is that it's not just the obvious investments and/or attention that we have to give to infrastructure, whether it be the St. Lawrence Seaway, the Welland Canal or roads in terms of the hard end of infrastructure, but that the human resources we're speaking about today are a great part of that as well?

[Bruce Rodgers]

I'm going to quite simply say that we agree. The labour component has to go hand in hand with the infrastructure strategy we're talking about. We have to get the proper infrastructure in place, and it has to support the supply chain challenges we're faced with today. If it's not tied to the labour component, we are not solving any of the issues overall, so the labour component has to be a significant part of that as well.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Thank you very much, Mr. Badawey.

If it's agreeable to members, I would like to ask one brief question to the witnesses.

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Thank you.

There was a study that came out recently where they asked the next generation—younger workers entering the work force—what they were looking for in employment. The number one thing they were looking for was a sense of fulfillment, something whereby they felt they were contributing to something positive. The second was work-life balance, so quality of life. The third was a positive impact on the environment. They wanted to make sure that what they were doing didn't have a negative impact.

The trucking industry, for many younger workers, is seen as an industry that is not environmentally friendly. I'm wondering about greater efforts being put in—perhaps support from the federal or different levels of government—to help the industry transition to technologies such as electric vehicles: trucks, for example. Not only would that help with the bottom line for the trucking industry, obviously, with regard to savings in fuel, but I'm wondering what your thoughts are on that transition helping attract younger workers to the sector and putting it in a more positive light.

I'm looking for reflections from any of you.

[Stephen Laskowski]

Very similar to some of the questions around the technology and driver-assist or driverless vehicles, it's the same thing with electric vehicles.

The number one cost next to labour is fuel. If our members could move to electric vehicles, they would. The reality is that the technology is not there for our long-haul economy, nor is it there for the standards in the weights and volumes that are moved in these vehicles.

The Canadian Trucking Alliance is extremely supportive and is working with the Government of Canada towards this. However, in short, the technology is just not there to move the economy that is in our customer base, both in Canada and the United States, on electric vehicles at this point.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Thank you, Mr. Laskowski.

Does anybody else want to chime in?

[Omar Burgan]

Just quickly, labour believes in a just transition. We don't think workers should find themselves without work as a result of transitioning, but we do have a climate crisis. When workers are taken into consideration by government programs for greening the economy, everyone wins.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Seeing no other responses, I want to thank you all on behalf of this committee for your testimony today in contributing to this very important study for all Canadians.

With that, the meeting is adjourned.