Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'd like to thank this committee for its continued commitment to studying more deeply the issue around the changing landscape of truck drivers in Canada and for including the OTA in this discussion.
The Ontario Trucking Association is a proud member of the Canadian Trucking Alliance and is celebrating its 100th anniversary of representing our members' interests this year.
We support all the comments and submissions provided to this study by the CTA. Eliminating Driver Inc. and all that is associated with it is our members' number one priority.
It's important that we acknowledge two major milestones that this committee has already helped to achieve in the fight against Driver Inc. Number one is the lifting of the T4A moratorium by the CRA. Number two is commitments made by ESDC for widespread compliance blitzes and sustained program funding.
OTA commends both the committee and the ministers for making this happen. These actions have given the responsible segment of our industry a glimmer of hope in these challenging times. It will be critical for both the CRA and the ESDC to follow through on their plans.
The focus of our testimony, which Geoff will cover off for the remainder of our time, will be on the Driver Inc. issue, how it has further manifested itself in Ontario and what still needs to be done to correct the course.