Sure. It's referred to as a personal services business. It's a technical term for what is really a misclassification scam. It allows trucking companies to organize drivers.... It's not allowed now, but they misclassify them so as not to pay them overtime or give them holiday pay and severance. These companies are then void and allow themselves to be carved out of payroll taxation. It also allows companies and drivers to skirt income taxes. It becomes a black hole in our sector, and it's not a small black hole. It's estimated to be between 20% and 30%.
CTA commissioned a study, using Statistics Canada data, which showed that our sector, in cities like Calgary, Winnipeg, southern Ontario, Montreal and Halifax, has the fastest growth in what's called zero-based employee companies of any sector in Canada. Anybody second to us is not even close. This is Driver Inc., and it has to stop.
What it's doing to other companies is that over 50% of drivers are going to companies across Canada and saying, “I want to be paid the incorporated model. I don't want to be on your payroll.”
If CRA doesn't step up soon, we have a big problem. We are going to have a major, major problem. Our industry wants this stopped. The compliant drivers want it stopped, and the drivers who are being abused want it stopped. We need the assistance of the Government of Canada, particularly CRA, very quickly on this issue.
Minister O'Regan has already said that he will step up. He has disavowed this in the House, but we need action, and we need it quickly.