Transport Committee on Oct. 17th, 2022

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

You mentioned border issues and that there's been action on the U.S. side of the border but not on the Canadian side of the border. Is that exacerbating the problem? Can you elaborate a bit on that?

[Michael Millian]

FAST is the free and secure trade program, and a lot of drivers and companies and their shippers are part of that program. It expedites shipments and getting them cleared when they cross the border.

In March 2020, we shut down the FAST processing centres on both sides of the border. What is happening now is they extended people who already had their FAST cards, but the issue is that some people left the industry. When you hire new people to get into the industry, they have to be FAST certified to haul automotive. If you're a Canadian driver who goes onto the U.S. side, you can't haul dangerous goods on the U.S. side without a FAST card.

With these interview centres being closed for over two and a half years on this side of the border, we have a backlog of drivers waiting to get interviews completed, which means they can't cross the border or it takes them longer to cross the border, or they simply can't haul certain products. It is something that needs to be addressed in a short period of time.

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

Really, the government needs to act on this much more quickly than they're doing right now.

We have a couple of agriculture organizations—the Canola Growers Association, Grain Growers of Canada and Fertilizer Canada—and a comment was made a couple of times about the importance of harvest 2022. The fact that it's the most important in generations is pretty significant.

I want to ask about the impact of high fuel costs, because that has been mentioned. The inflationary impact of that has been mentioned as well. We have, of course, the proposal from the government to triple the carbon tax.

I want to get the perspective of Grain Growers of Canada, the Canola Growers Association and the fertilizer institute. What impact is that going to have, and is it going to exacerbate the labour shortage we already have and jeopardize harvest 2022?

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Unfortunately, Mr. Muys, your time is up, but you do have another spot at the end if we can get to it. I encourage all our witnesses to hold their thoughts on that.

Next we have Mr. Badawey.

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

[Vance Badawey, Liberal, Niagara Centre, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I want to make it very clear from the start that what I'm going to try to drill down on is the business of good government versus the business of good politics. With that said, I appreciate some of the questions by Mr. Muys. I want to elaborate on them and, frankly, get a bit more granular with respect to specific recommendations that you all, who are in business, could give us.

As you know, the testimony that you give today—not what we say, but what you say—goes to the analysts, and it is part of the report that we then present to the minister. What I need to hear from you are very specific recommendations that all of you would like to see in that report.

We understand from past studies and reviews.... We had the CTA review back in 2015, the Emerson report. We had the transportation logistics strategy and both interim reports that this committee completed in 2018 and 2019. We also have the ports modernization review that was just done and the supply chain report that we were just handed. Of course, with that, the expectation is that a strategy is going to be forthcoming based on the report.

Although we have heard a lot about trucking today, we recognize that this is not just about trucking. It's about the multimodal side. There are many challenges you folks are seeing in your individual areas. The marine sector is experiencing the same challenges. The railway sector is experiencing the same challenges, and so is the airline sector. Anybody who goes into an airport these days will recognize that.

That's all I'm going to say. What I need now is to hear from you. What are your specific recommendations with respect to what you want to see in this final report?

I'll start off with you, Mr. Millian, because you were the one who came out with some recommendations already, and I want to give you the opportunity to expand on them. I'm going to each and every one of you if time allows.

[Michael Millian]

Thank you for the question.

The one I touched on recently is that we need the funding dollars. We need them opened up. We need them dedicated. We need them there now. We need people to get in and access the trucking industry, and many of them can't afford to do it if we don't have the dedicated funding available to allow people to get in and train. That is the first key thing.

We have to deal with the issue of insurance, and Angela touched on it a bit. There is a specific problem in provinces that don't have the government-funded insurance. I'll use myself as an example. I started in the transportation industry as a professional truck driver when I was 18—33 years ago. It was a very small trucking company in an agriculture area with 10 trucks. That wouldn't happen today. It would not happen in the province of Ontario today, simply because they can't get insurance.

A lot of these individuals are getting trained, in some cases to work for a small family operation, but they can't get insured to work for that family operation. They then end up having to go to a big carrier and move into long haul. That's great, but not everybody wants to do long haul, and we're losing those candidates at the start. If we wait until they're 25, 26 or 27 years old, they've already made a career choice. We need to be able to give them access to this industry at 18, and many of them are going to do it through family businesses. Those avenues are being closed right now because of the issues we're having with insurance.

I don't want to take up everybody's time, so those are two key recommendations I would put in place to get people trained and allow them to have access to jobs.

[Vance Badawey, Liberal, Niagara Centre, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Millian.

Go ahead, Mr. Carey.

[Dave Carey]

I think the first would be the establishment of an industry-government labour council, as indicated in the report, with strong representation from agriculture.

The second, before I ask my colleague Steve to weigh in, would be more timely data and transparency from the railways. Currently we have to source the data, so this is key to maintaining our international reputation.

Maybe Steve Pratte, our rail expert, will have one more.

[Steve Pratte, Senior Manager, Transportation and Biofuel Policy, Canadian Canola Growers Association]

I think you've hit the major ones there, Dave.

[Vance Badawey, Liberal, Niagara Centre, ON]

Thank you.

Go ahead, Ms. Gowriluk.

[Erin Gowriluk]

To build on Mr. Carey's comments, I would suggest that forming the council of experts under the Minister of Labour is a key priority for our sector, and there should be strong representation from the agriculture sector as part of that council. I would also suggest that the agriculture sector more broadly supports the recommendations that were outlined in the task force report, and I think these recommendations should be taken seriously and should be acted upon with a sense of urgency.

[Vance Badawey, Liberal, Niagara Centre, ON]

Thank you.

Go ahead, Ms. Splinter.

[Angela Splinter]

As mentioned, in the national supply chain task force report, Trucking HR Canada's career expressway program was referenced as a program that can immediately get truck drivers into our industry. This includes, to give a specific example, the youth employment and skills strategy.

We're able to access funds. The number one barrier for getting young people to be truck drivers is the cost of training. As Mike mentioned, it can cost up to $10,000. They have no other avenue to access those funds, and we cover that through this program. We then offer a financial incentive to the employer through a wage subsidy. It is a financial incentive to help them with the onboarding of a driver. We need that program to grow.

[Vance Badawey, Liberal, Niagara Centre, ON]

Thank you.

Go ahead, Mr. Faucette.

[Craig Faucette, Chief Program Officer, Trucking HR Canada]

I have nothing to add to Ms. Splinter's comments.

[Vance Badawey, Liberal, Niagara Centre, ON]

Thank you.

Go ahead, Mr. Julien.

[Luc Julien]

The Government of Canada must give CATSA the funding required to immediately improve screening officers' working conditions.

[Vance Badawey, Liberal, Niagara Centre, ON]

Thank you.

Go ahead, Ms. Frost.

[Nadine Frost]

I would echo the comments made by Mr. Carey and Ms. Gowriluk about adopting the labour-specific recommendations that came through the national supply chain task force. A lot of work went into that report, but it won't go anywhere unless it's adopted and delivered as a strategy. This means ensuring that, at the Minister of Transport's level and throughout, the recommendations are really upheld, especially given the urgency and immediacy of some of these issues, recognizing that labour is not an anticipated challenge. It's already a challenge, and it's anticipated to get more severe.

[Vance Badawey, Liberal, Niagara Centre, ON]

Thank you, Ms. Frost.

Thank you all for your testimony.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Thank you, Mr. Badawey.

Mr. Barsalou‑Duval, go ahead. You have six minutes.

[Xavier Barsalou-Duval, Bloc, Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'm going to start with Mr. Julien, from the United Steelworkers union.

Mr. Julien, I was especially intrigued when you talked about the use of subcontractors, and how it could lead to poorer working conditions and make CATSA airport screening jobs less attractive. Obviously, the system is broken.

What needs to change in order to fix the system?

[Luc Julien]

In an ideal world, screening officers would be Government of Canada employees. That would make a huge difference in their working conditions. If that change in policy doesn't happen, at the very least, worker representatives should be allowed to negotiate working conditions with CATSA on behalf of those workers.

Currently, we have to negotiate with the subcontractor, which in turn asks CATSA for its mandate. As you know, under the existing bargaining process, we can't speak with CATSA. We can't deal with CATSA; we can deal only with the subcontractor. I would say that hurts screening officers' working conditions.

[Xavier Barsalou-Duval, Bloc, Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC]

Are screening officers all unionized?

[Luc Julien]

As far as I know, they are, and they're divided among a number of unions.