May 15, 2025 • 35 mins
In this episode, we welcome back Mike Millian, President of the Private Motor Truck Council of Canada (PMTC), to dive into the evolving challenges facing private fleet operators today. Mike shares how the PMTC is actively educating government decision-makers on the unique needs of the industry and advocating for policies that work for carriers—not against them. From regulatory shifts to workforce development, Mike explains how PMTC is supporting its members through ongoing webinars, networking events, training initiatives, and its upcoming Annual Conference.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hello and welcome to another episode of the
Transportation Exchange Podcastpresented by Rush Truck Centers
of Canada.
I'm your host, jason Cuddy, andjoining us again today is Mike
Million, president of the PMTC.
Mike, welcome back again to thepodcast.
Thank you Thanks for having meagain, jason.
Again to the podcast.
Thank you, thanks for having meagain, jason.
Yeah, I mean, there's always somuch to catch up on and to talk
about.
So it's we're always happy tohave you here and obviously we
(00:29):
will dive into probably one ofthe main reasons we wanted to
have you on at this time of year, which is the conference.
But it's been a while sincewe've talked and you guys have
been doing a lot in the industry, kind of behind the scenes, in
front of scenes.
Maybe give us sort of a statedindustry, as you guys see it,
with within the PMTC.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Yeah, well, I mean, yeah, I mean first of all, I
guess us last week just uh talka little bit about the PMTC and
then I'll move into state of theindustry.
Last week we were in uh, novaScotia.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
We held our quarterly board meeting actually in
DeBear, Nova Scotia.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
Oh yeah, hosted by Home.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Hardware.
We partnered with KellyHenderson and her group,
trucking Human Resource SectorCouncil Atlantic.
We had a joint educationalseminar together and then I
attended her board meeting thefollowing day, which I sit on as
well.
So just wanted to get that outthere.
We're trying to move our boardmeetings.
Instead of having them all inOntario every year, we're going
to have one in Eastern Canada,one in Western Canada and two in
(01:21):
Ontario, since we are anational association in Canada,
and two in Ontario, since we area national association State of
the industry in general inCanada I don't think it's a
surprise to anybody We've beenin a bit of a recession, I'd say
for over a year now.
People were hoping this year itwould get back to normal and
start to peak upwards.
But there's a bit of adisruptor south of the border
(01:47):
who's had a bit of an influenceon that.
So I would say overall we'redown quite a bit, I would say,
and we're starting to see ithappening in the US as well.
So we're seeing companies kindof hanging tight to their
dollars a little bit, I wouldsay, with the uncertainty that's
in the air Now, waiting to seewhat's going to happen with the
(02:09):
on again, off again tariffs.
And then, in addition to thetariffs, we have other issues in
the industry that we've beendealing with for quite some time
now that still haven't goneaway.
Still haven't gone away, I wouldsay at the top of the list of
issues we're dealing with, isstill the misclassified driver
(02:31):
issue that we run into, and foranybody that's not aware of
misclassified drivers is when acompany hires a driver or the
driver comes on and requests tobe incorporated and then they
pay them as if they're anindependent contractor, even
though they are in no way, shapeor form an independent
contractor.
They drive a company truckcompany pays for the fuel plates
(02:54):
, insurance, everything elsecompletely controls the driver's
movement, but they pay them asan independent contractor, which
means there's no sourcedeductions off their paycheck
for taxes, unemploymentinsurance, disability, wsib.
What this does is save acompany about 30% cost.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
And then you have compliant carriers that are
trying to compete on that basis.
And how are you supposed tocompete, excuse me, on rates or
on what you want to pay yourstaff and your employees if
somebody is flouting our taxlaws and saving 30%?
Speaker 1 (03:37):
right off the top Behind eight ball already.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
And it's not just an issue with that.
It's also an issue that ifyou're willing to fracture one
rule, you're generallyfracturing way more than one.
So these types of carriers arealso the ones that we see
abusing temporary foreign workerprogram.
Labor market informationassessment programs maybe aren't
(04:01):
going at the top of the gamefor safety, compliance and
looking after their fleet.
We've seen a number of thesefleets being protested for not
paying their employees andthey're taking advantage in a
lot of cases.
They're not all temporaryforeign workers, but there's a
high amount of them that are newCanadians and I believe it's
because they're taking advantageof their lack of knowledge of
(04:23):
the protections that our systemprovides them.
If they are hired as anemployee, you get laid off under
this model.
Short term you may think you'remaking more because you're not
paying taxes, even though you'restill supposed to file your own
tax return at the end of theyear.
If you get hurt, there's nodisability, no WSIB.
(04:46):
If you get laid off, there's nounemployment, you don't get
vacation pay, you don't get 10sick days, you don't get all the
things that are provided anemployee.
So that's still a big issue.
So that's still a big issue.
And when we're pushing that.
I get one stat we saw come outof Manitoba which lets you know
how much the labor marketinformation assessment has been
(05:07):
an issue as well.
40% of the carriers in Manitobathat use the labor market impact
assessment between 2019 and2023 are no longer in business
Really, which probably shows youthat they were using this just
to float the system, get moneyin, bring people in.
(05:32):
Companies that use the labormarket assessment system that
had less than 15 trucks in theirfleet use the LMIA process to
hire on average, 192% of theirfleet size, which means they are
obviously not bringing thesedrivers in to drive for them.
They're using it as a way tosell them a LMIA, sell them a
(05:53):
permit and use it as a pathwayto permanent residency, and not
actually try to get them in tothe industry, gotcha.
So you look at those numbers.
We don't have a driver shortageright now, but we did during
covid and we will again.
We just don't have it nowbecause we're in a recession,
right, you look at numbers likethat.
The program is not helping ussolve our driver shortage
(06:14):
because they're temporary right,yes, right.
They're coming in, they're usingit as a way to permanent
residence because people are areabusing them.
They're getting a terribleintroduction into the industry
and within a year or two they'reout of the industry because of
the way they've been introducedto it.
So that's it's not good for forthe people that are being
abused as part of it.
It's not good for the truckingindustry as a whole, because
(06:34):
long term it's not helping usout yeah, it's a good point.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
It's not solving the problem it was intended to solve
right, no.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Another thing we're following, which we've been
talking about for years, is theNational Safety Code, safety
Compliance Certificate.
As you know, in this country ifyou have a fleet in Nova Scotia
, one in Ontario, one in Alberta, they're all federally
regulated fleets but you mayapply to Nova Scotia to get your
(07:03):
NSC number out there.
You apply to Ontario to get theone here, apply to Alberta to
get the one out there.
So you basically have threedifferent fleets and each
province scores them differently, audits them differently,
tracks them differently whenreally them differently, tracks
them differently when really itshould.
Be similar to what it is in theStates, where we have one
(07:33):
safety rating that is tiedtogether for a federally
regulated carrier.
It is an issue because, youknow, I'll pull a safety rating
from an Ontario carrier and it'sgoing to tell you they've
accumulated 15% of their CVORrating, right, so they're rated
15% out of 100.
I'm going to pull one fromAlberta and it's going to tell
you they have an R factor ratingof 0.042.
How the hell do I compare those?
(07:54):
Right?
They're completely differentsystems and numbers not scored
the same amount of points.
So that's an issue.
The CCMTA is working on that.
They were directed by theCouncil of Ministers responsible
for transportation to come upwith solutions.
We will be part of the processin reaching out to them and what
(08:14):
they've told us so far is thejurisdictions have agreed to
improve their data sharingprocess, because right now
that's not the greatestsometimes either, and they need
to improve the data sharingbecause some companies have
these three or four differentsafety ratings for legitimate
reasons, because they have toRight, because they have
regional fleets.
The fleet that's in Nova Scotiamay cover the four maritime
(08:37):
provinces Right, they don't goall the way out to Alberta.
Good point.
The fleet in Alberta may run inthe four maritime provinces
Right, they don't go all the wayout to Alberta Good point.
The fleet in Alberta may run inthe prairie provinces, they
don't come all the way out east.
So if you've got a fleet thatnever comes into the east,
that's registered, or nevercomes into the east that's
licensed in Nova Scotia, how areyou plating and licensing and
all that other stuff that?
you need to do so.
There is legitimate reasons todo it, but and all that other
(09:04):
stuff that you need to do.
So there is legitimate reasonsto do it, but we need to share
the data better, to make sure wehave eyes on each fleet,
because some are using it forillegal reasons, and the illegal
reasons are to avoid shutdownand sanctions.
They open a fleet up in threedifferent jurisdictions.
The one in BC gets shut down.
They just move all their trucksonto the safety rating in
Alberta or Ontario and just keepoperating with basically no
penalties.
They just move their unsafefleet from one district to the
(09:25):
other.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Yeah, and you see it on the road just visibly right.
You know vehicles say hererunning, that you know are all
based here potentially with youknow.
Manitoba plates or Albertaplates, right, that kind of
thing.
So there's some, obviously,visibility to it, but clearly
that's what's happening behindthe scenes, yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
And you know we've been screaming about this for
years to the regulators.
I think what finally happenedis a couple of years ago there
was a fleet in BC called CohonCarriers that has an issue with
hitting overpasses and they hitabout their 14th overpass in a
year and their safety rating wassuspended in BC.
They had a fleet in Alberta.
(10:00):
They just moved their entirefleet to Alberta and then still
drove from Alberta into BC.
Oh wow, so the sanction.
But that opened the eyes tosome of the regulators what
we've been talking about, andnow they're looking at it a bit
more seriously than they werebefore.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
And it makes sense right To your point.
You have I mean, the US does itwell from that point of view
and you know, from an insurancepoint of view just regulations.
But even for you would eventhink, from the sake of the
customers who want to work withcertain carriers, you want to
make sure the product's actuallygoing to get there right and if
they are, you know, if they'rethird not third probably, but if
they're, you know, dedicated toyou and you've got your
(10:33):
branding on their equipment aswell, you want to make sure that
you know you're, you're, youare protected visibly.
you know from carriers that youknow are are running properly,
and so having it across theboard would just helps them
choose the right carrier to workwith as well.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
And you, you want a shipper, uh, to obviously be
part of this process and selecta carrier that's safe and
compliant, Right.
Well, if, if the carrier hasthree different safety ratings,
as an insurer, how am I supposedto know?
Or as a shipper sorry, how am Isupposed to know they have
three different safety ratings?
So if I ask them to share withme their national safety code
(11:06):
number, well, if one of them isbad and two of them is good,
which one do you think they'regoing to share with me?
They're not going to share thebad one with me, so it makes it
harder for that as well.
So the data sharing is a stepin the right direction.
Our push with the regulators,however, will be.
Data sharing is a start.
What we need to have here is asystem that is identical in all
(11:28):
jurisdictions and it needs to befed into one database where all
the data if you're registeredin three jurisdictions, all the
data should be fed into onedatabase and we get one score.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
Right, it makes sense , right, and maybe you hope,
like you said, there's reasonsbehind doing it, obviously,
which is clear.
And you know, with the climatecurrently, you know that we're
in right now, we're seeing a lotof interprovincial kind of
trade opening up, or at leasttalks of trade opening up.
So this is, you know, theclimate might be a good time to
(12:03):
know add that I mean you guysare already advocating for it,
but, it again, it's anotherreason to take down some of
these barriers and try and unifycertain things, to make the
country, uh, you know, oneunited whole versus, you know,
every province doing their ownthing.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Yeah, well, exactly in the you know, we just saw
yesterday, uh, ontario, newbrunswick, nova scotia, uh and I
believe I read late last nightpei signed on it onto it too
where those four provinces havesigned a memorandum of
understanding where internaltrade barriers, they're working
towards recognizing each other'sregs, not only in some cases
(12:32):
for wide loads, fortransportation, but the big
thing is they're talking aboutopening up their markets to
alcohol and other products,because a lot of people don't
know this.
But you know, and this reallycame into light from the US
tariffs.
Yeah, but in some cases it'seasier to sell our products in
Europe, in Asia or down into theStates than it is to sell a
(12:55):
product from Ontario into BC orfrom Nova Scotia into Ontario.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
Yeah, I agree, I think that the tariffs have
opened that up because I thinkyou know, you know in our
industry we're a bit more awareof it, because we understand
what a lot of the companies do,move stuff around.
But as the general consumer, Idon't think you realize why
you're not seeing.
You know, say, beer fromAlberta, or you know wine from
the Okanagan Valley, orsomething like that as much as
you should.
And then this really broughtlight into like oh, you didn't
(13:20):
realize that I was assumingthere's trade barriers between
provinces, which seems silly.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Well, and not only don't you see it on our shelves,
if you drove over to aneighboring jurisdiction and
bought alcohol, there's actuallya limit on how much you're
allowed to take acrossprovincial boundaries.
Right, right, which is kind ofludicrous when you think about
it.
Yeah, it's crazy, but theeconomists from the Bank of
Canada estimated that if weloosened up our internal trade
(13:48):
barriers and recognized otherpeople to be able to sell their
products from one jurisdictionto the other, it would increase
our internal trade by about $200billion Wild.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
Right.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
So does that replace the $700 plus billion in trade
that we have with the US?
No, but it replaces some of it.
It helps, and we have toincrease our own internal
balance.
The same economist said thatsome of the trade barriers we
have between our ownjurisdictions is the equivalent
to having about a 23% tariff onthe United States, which is in
line with the 25% 23% tariff onthe economic.
(14:20):
Yeah, which is in line with the25% that we're getting from the
state.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
What do you think If you open it up between to your
point to $200 billion yes, it'snot to $700 billion, but
eventually things will settledown and kind of massage
themselves out over time so thatmarket will pick back up, you
know.
But then if you open up that$200 billion, that won't really
go away, it'll just beadditional, you know.
So that's basically.
Now.
You have growth in the countryright, which, which is even
(14:45):
better.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Yeah, gives us more selection coast to coast.
We're a little more reliant oneach other.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
Yeah, and then in the business we're in with this
industry, it opens up differentroutes and lanes for carriers,
right Different opportunitiesfor them to work within the
province.
You know it might be easier tofind drivers to stay within the
country instead of having tocross the border.
It opens up a whole differentbusiness model that you know
wasn't available to them before,which is great, you know For
sure so it's yeah, so that couldbe a great thing if they get it
figured out At least one otherthing I wanted to touch on too,
(15:12):
is, and this just got signedinto law Monday and we're still
working with the US Embassy,cvsa and the Federal Motor
Carrier Safety Association andTransport Canada to find out
exactly 100% what this new billmeans.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
But the state of Arkansas passed a bill 82-0,
which was then voted in by theiror sorry, written into law by
their governor on Monday, andthere's two parts to the bill.
The first part of the bill thatthey covered pretty heavily in
the media was there's an Englishproficiency part to it, where
(15:49):
when you go through Arkansas,they can actually pull you over,
whether it's the DOT, statepolice.
They can give you a documentthat you have to be able to read
Okay, it's in English andcommunicate.
They will have you write somestuff down to make sure you can
write and communicate in Englishand if you can't, it's a
minimum $500 fine.
The first time a thousand andmoves up from there.
(16:12):
The English proficiency law hasalways been in the US DOT
regulations, so it really isn'tnew.
They used to take you out ofservice for it.
Back in 2016, they changed that.
Where they don't take you outof service, they just fine you.
We don't really have an issuewith the English proficiency
part, to be honest, as long asthey're testing you on a
(16:33):
relative level, like test yourEnglish proficiency, not to a
university master's degree.
It's just general understandingFor sure, Because of the road
signs and stuff are only inEnglish and are operating down
there.
It is a road safety concern,100%.
That makes sense.
But another part of the bill isstating that any driver
operating through the state whodoesn't have a license issued by
(16:56):
one of the US states needs tohave a work permit or a visa and
according to what we've read inthe law, this includes Canadian
and Mexican drivers.
What has always happened in theUS.
It's written right into theirregs and this is on the Federal
(17:17):
Motor Carrier Safety side andUSDOT a Canadian or a Mexican
driver who takes product intothe US, delivers it, picks up in
the US and comes back to Canada, is exempt from having to get
the work permit or the visa.
Right, we just have reciprocity.
We can't pick up a load withinthe states and deliver it in the
(17:38):
states, that's called ansabotage.
There's different rules againstthat Right Makes sense, but
that's always been exempt.
We're getting conflictingmessages right now.
The Arkansas bill says thisincludes Canadian drivers.
So if you're driving throughtheir state you have to have a
work permit or visa.
They're calling it an I-9 or aB-1.
Uh, i-9 is for US citizens only, so you have to get a B-1 visa.
(18:01):
Well, you're a driver that'sgoing to go through.
You don't want to apply forthis today and get it tomorrow.
Right, right, um, like this isa lengthy process which would
throw kind of internationaltrade going through.
Right now it's just Arkansas.
This isn't a federal law, so itdoesn't affect anybody else.
(18:22):
We're getting some indicationfrom Transport Canada and
communications with GlobalAffairs that they think the
federal law overrides the statelaw for interstate commerce, but
the state's kind of giving usconflicting evidence and it's
the state that's going toenforce this Gotcha.
So we're still trying to flushthat out.
But obviously this is a bit ofa concern.
(18:43):
Our advice to members right nowis if you don't have to go
through Arkansas, don't Right Goaround it, yep.
And we'll keep our membersappraised as we find out.
We haven't broadcast this livethrough all our members yet
because until we get certaintyon this, there's no point in
raising massive alarm bells.
But it's something to be awareof and we've also raised it with
(19:06):
the US Embassy and Consulate,because even though it's a state
law, not a federal law,obviously this is not something
we want to.
If you have a hodgepodge ofrules from one state to the
other, there's a reason we havefederal rules in the first place
.
How are you supposed to do this?
They're saying they're doing itto combat fraudulent licenses.
Texas put in a same bill abouta year ago, but most of their
(19:29):
issue with fraudulent licenseswere coming from Mexico, right,
so they exempted Canada from itand then they concentrated on
the Mexican side.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Gotcha.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
There's got to be other ways we can do this than
changing our whole commerce withtrucks.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
No, I agree.
I mean you get the conceptbehind it, but it's you know for
how trade moves with vehicles.
You know in and out of statesor even just through the state
right, not even necessarily evenstopping or originating from
the state going back to Mexicoor Canada.
You know you're dealing with,you know guys just traveling
through it to get to the finaldestination.
So and then, yeah, this isagain where the value of that
(20:05):
federally regulated part of theindustry can help, right, you
know, like we talked aboutOntario, you know, in the
different provinces, you knowkind of doing one thing from a
safety point of view, but thisis where you know, try and don't
have rogue states or provincesdoing up their own rule.
That messes up.
You know the the trade betweenthe two countries, yeah for sure
.
Well, so, so those are goodthings to keep an eye on and I
guess you know, um, the next bigthing for you, for you guys, as
(20:29):
a pmtc, is is the conferencethat's coming up really soon.
The last year's was great, itwas phenomenal.
You guys had great speakers.
You know it's really well done.
I think that the pace of theday, of the two days, is great.
But yeah, maybe fill us in onwhat we can expect for this year
.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Yeah, so the conference is two months away.
I guess Today's April 17th, Ibelieve.
So the conference starts June17th with our annual general
meeting for members only in theafternoon, from 3 to 5.
After that, one of thehighlights is the kickoff night,
where we have our cocktailparty, sponsored by Truck Right.
(21:06):
This year it's our youngleaders group cocktail party
from 5 to 7.
All our exhibitor spaces aresold out.
We'll have 59 exhibitors in theroom, so that's sold out.
Back in March, anybody that'sinterested could still come on
board.
We have a waiting list.
Some people will decide to giveup their booth space and then
(21:29):
we go to our waiting list to seethe next one on board.
But that's two hours of freebeverages and snacks, which is
always a hit in our sponsor area.
Excuse me, we gave out $300 cashdraws at that one, two of them
for fleets that are inattendance to kind of encourage
(21:50):
them to be there.
So that's the fun part ofthings, I guess.
And then on the 18th we moveinto the educational sessions.
There'll be nine educationalsessions over a day and a half,
okay, plus our awards program.
Obviously we kick it off withHeather Devine, who's been doing
her legal update, I think, forsix, seven years now.
(22:11):
It's always one of thetop-rated seminars in our
conference.
So that starts at 8 am on the18th, so people are going to
want to be on their seats forthat.
Another mainstay is Tom Moorefrom the National Private Truck
Council will be doing ourCanadian benchmarking survey and
going over the stats and stuffthat are involved in that
(22:33):
Benchmarking survey is sponsoredby the Ontario Truck Driving
School.
Okay, it's open for entriesfrom private fleets.
You don't have to be a PMTCmember until April 30th, so
that's still out there if youwant to get your dad in.
And then all our membersreceive a copy of the
benchmarking report for nocharge, thanks to the
sponsorship We'll have.
(22:55):
Fmcsa Transport Canada and theCanadian Commercial Vehicle
Safety Alliance will be on sitefor our third session to provide
an update from Transport Canadaand FMCSA on regulatory issues
and oversight and what is goingon within their departments or
any upcoming initiatives.
And then CVSA is going to goover the results of RoadCheck
(23:17):
and BrakeSafe and otherinitiatives that they have
Canadian Council of MotorTransport Administrators.
Their new president, LindaMcCausland, is going to be on as
well to kind of give people anoverview of what the CCMTA does,
what their role is in workingwith jurisdictions in Canada and
south of the border andbringing them together to kind
(23:39):
of work together on commoninitiatives and regulations.
The CCMTA is the one that isthe caretaker and oversees the
National Safety Code and the 16standards that are in there to
bring together the memorandumsof understanding for federally
regulated carriers.
We'll then have our lunch onthe first day, which is always a
(24:01):
highlight.
We'll have the Dispatcher ofthe Year Award, Rick Austin
Memorial, sponsored by CPCLogistics, and then one of my
favorite ones, I Austin Memorial, sponsored by CPC Logistics,
and then one of my favorite onesI know you're not supposed to
say a favorite one, but theDriver Hall of Fame
introductions, where we'llinduct up to four drivers into
our Hall of Fame.
It's sponsored by TruckRite thisyear, so we have a new sponsor
(24:23):
for the Driver Hall of Fame.
In the afternoon we're going tohave a discussion about Red
Seal.
There's been a lot of talk froma new group called the
Professional Truck TrainingAlliance of Canada.
They're a national associationthat represents truck training
schools.
Okay, I sit on the board ofthat as well.
They've been putting forward aninitiative to have the
(24:45):
profession of a truck driverdeclared a Red Seal Right,
forward an initiative to havethe profession of a truck driver
declared a red seal right.
So we're going to have a panelon that to discuss what exactly
is the red seal occupation,what's involved in making
something a red seal, uh, andwhat are the pros and cons of it
for the industry.
So, thanks, I'll be good.
Yeah, I think it's somethingthat a lot of people don't
understand.
A lot of people just say well,make it a profession, make it a
(25:07):
red seal.
Well, you can't just snap yourfingers and do that there's a
lot involved in the process.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
And it's even good to discuss and understand.
You know everyone just thinksof pros, you know.
But you know there could besome negatives that people
haven't thought of, or justchallenges of okay, if you go
that route, what does thatimpact down the line?
Speaker 2 (25:25):
So give people a lot of information that maybe they
didn't have before.
We then have our EducationBursary Awards Young Leader
Education Bursary Awardssponsored by 10th Street.
We get two winners.
One is a student from ourMohawk Supply Chain Program,
where we've partnered our YoungLeaders Group with five Mohawk
students each year, where weassign them with mentors and get
(25:47):
them out into the industry.
And then we have one from ourregular YLG membership and the
winner gets supplied withroughly the funds of about
$2,000 to complete two logisticscourses from CITT Excellent.
We're then going to have adiscussion on AI as a force for
(26:07):
safety.
Yeah, a hot topic thateverybody talks about all the
time.
We then have our chairman'sdinner.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
Right.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
And that involves a few more awards as well.
We have the KRTS DriverTraining Scholarship and that
program is a person will beawarded.
They have to be nominated bytheir company employees.
They can go onto our website tofind out what's all involved
with it.
Gotcha, but the winner receivesfree training from KRTS, thanks
(26:37):
to the sponsorship of KRTS, toobtain their Class 1 or Class 8
license.
Perfect, that's up to a $10,000value for somebody.
We also have our private fleetsafety awards, sponsored by
aviva, which awards save thesafest large private fleets in
canada large fleet category,mid-fleet category and small
(26:57):
nice.
And uh, we'll also have ourdriven to lead graduation
ceremony.
This year was our fourth classof people that went through the
dale carne Driven to LeadEducation Program.
That wraps up the middle dayand then the next morning we
kick it off with the 3M VehicleGraphic Awards.
Those are always fun.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
Yeah, I like those ones.
It's usually one of thehighlights we have.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
Bruce Outridge puts together a nice video for us.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
Sets it to usually an old country song.
Yeah, so we kick off themorning with that, and then
we're going to have a discussionon heavy duty emissions and
regulations for next year andbeyond.
Right, and hiring people wholast, and then the last one of
the event understandingimpairment and the role of
(27:41):
cognitive testing on reducingrisk.
So Good, lots of good topics.
Again, I think there should besomething there for everybody.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
I think so Sounds like I mean, it definitely
covers what I, like you know,even from our world, is it
covers there's a lot ofinteresting information that you
learn, you know, from us being,you know, supplier to, to a lot
of the carriers.
We don't see all thatday-to-day challenges they have,
so it's very eyeopening for us.
It allows me to see you knowoutside of just a vehicle what
are the other you knowday-to-day issues they face,
whether it's, you know, hiringthe right people, safety
regulation it's just there's somuch being thrown at you at a
(28:14):
different angle.
But then also I love thatthere's recognition you know,
for within the industry and it's, you know, the fleet safety
one's a big one.
I like that right, becausethat's what we talked about
earlier with you know, withreducing costs for some other
carriers, trying to findloopholes.
It.
This rewards, you know, atleast the carriers who have done
everything right and are andare winning.
In that the driver ones aregreat, because I think the story
(28:34):
you get from the drivers isincredible and I think when you
look at how many miles they'velogged, how many years they've
driven, you know it's, it'simpressive.
I remember being there lastyear and just the stories and
they have the family come out,which is great, I think.
I think it's it's really welldone that you not only recognize
them, but you recognize thefamily that supports them doing
their career as long as theyhave as safe as they have.
So there's a lot of greatpieces to it.
I think there's something foreverybody, I agree.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
It's just a great event Some of the companies who
nominate these drivers.
They put together some greatvideos.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
Yeah, there were some great ones last year.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
Tell their stories.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
Some of them put a lot, of, a lot of thought in it,
which is nice, and I think thatalone, I think, tells you you
know how important the driversare and how much, how respected
they are with a lot of thesecompanies right To put that much
time and energy and investmentinto you know the promo reel
that gets shown, it's not justyou know, someone with a camera
sitting there they'll bring acrew in, they'll film them.
you know make like a minidocumentary.
It's incredibly well done and Ithink it's a testament to how
(29:29):
important the drivers are tothat business.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
I think it allows the driver to tell their story a
bit too, Not a lot of driversare comfortable, not a lot of
people.
True.
They're comfortable standing infront of 250 people with a
microphone and saying thanks butdoing a video and putting it
out isn't quite as intimidating.
No it lets them tell theirstory.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
And it shows their story too, which is nice too
right.
You see them in their truck,see them in their house and
their family and like, yeah,it's a really great way to kind
of get a quick glimpse in theirlife, which is nice.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
So that's exciting and, as usual actually you've
got now the Western's kind ofexpanded over the years, I think
, because everybody knows wehired a Western Canada business
manager.
His name is Marcel Poullion,november of 2023.
Right, he lives in Calgary,represents our interests out
(30:18):
west, really trying to expandour presence out there.
And our seminar out there usedto be a half day.
It used to give 40, 50 people.
Now it's a full day event.
Last year we had 92 people atit.
Nice, we're expecting probablyover 100.
This year, we have a cocktailparty the night before for our
speakers and sponsors.
And new this year, ptac, whichI talked about, is having their
(30:41):
first annual conference andthey're going to have theirs the
night before ours oh perfect,october 7th in the same venue,
and they're going to have theirsthe night before ours, on
October 7th, in the same venue.
Yep, that works so you know, ifpeople want to attend both, they
can, and then we're going tohave our board meeting out there
the morning and the night.
So the agenda is still beingworked on.
Okay, it'll be released priorto our conference in June.
Perfect, so we can probably puta promotional material out at
(31:03):
our conference.
Sponsorships are being sold.
We have sponsorships are beingsold.
We have 12 sponsorshipsavailable for it.
That's what we're limiting into, and I believe eight of them
are gone.
Oh, wow, that's good.
So if people are interested,the info's up on our website.
We do have not an educationalend, but we do have our golf
tournament coming up soon too onmay 27th in.
Uh, it's in the milton area.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
I'm drawing I'm drawing a blank on the golf
course right now no worries.
Uh, glencairn Gotcha, glencairnGolf.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
Course Uh, so people are interested in that.
Registration's open on ourwebsite and we're still have
sponsorships available.
Uh, as well.
It's hard to think, uh, springthe way the weather's been.
It was just snowing a couple ofdays ago, but.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
I know we had freezing rain and the next day I
was in t-shirt and shorts.
So it's been spring hasn'tfigured itself out yet.
No, all over the country.
Exactly, and I guess in thelast piece, just to wrap it up
for those who aren't alreadymembers and we don't know why
they aren't, but for those thataren't, maybe just quickly a
quick overview of the additionalbenefits, outside of all the
things today, of becoming amember of the PMTC.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
Well, I guess one of the biggest benefits is we
represent your views andinterests with governments.
We speak to federal andprovincial governments on a
regular basis.
Make sure our members' viewsand interests are heard from.
Also, I tell everybody we'relike a consulting firm.
If you have a question that youcan't find the answer to, a lot
(32:26):
of cases, if you reach out tous, we can get the answer for
you.
Lot of cases, if you reach outto to us, we can get the answer
for you pretty quickly, insteadof you spending hours trying to
google it or yeah, or reach outto a government official and if
we don't know the answer, wehave lots of contacts within the
government to get the answersfor you.
Um communications for ourmembers.
We have newsletters that go outon a regular basis with
regulatory updates to keep youabreast of the changes that are
(32:48):
going on.
And in addition to all thosebenefits, we also have cost
savings for you, where we havean online driver training
academy powered by KRTS andCarrier's Edge, which allows you
to the library of a whole bunchof online training platforms.
Pmtc members get it at areduced price.
(33:10):
Nice Driver licenseverification system powered by
VeriX Direct.
You don't get the wholeabstract.
What you'll get back is withinhours you'll get the status of
your driver's license and theclass of the driver's license.
Okay, and it costs you $2.75per check.
That's down right through ourpartnership with them.
(33:30):
Isb has an identificationverification system where
they'll run criminal checks foryou driver abstracts, cv wire
abstracts, two background checksall that for you for one price
for the PMTC member.
And then we have a job portalwhich is free to all our members
to post any jobs that they haveon there.
(33:50):
And then it's free for the, forthe public to look at Excellent,
that's good to know.
Speaker 1 (33:54):
So lots there, lots to look forward to.
Obviously, the conference isthe big one and we'll definitely
see you there for sure, yeah,thanks, it should be fun.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
Thanks to Rush, as always, you guys.
He's a sponsor in the tradeshowroom and we appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
Yep, no happy to.
We definitely see the value ofit and you know we have a lot of
customers that are there aswell to attend.
So it's a great networkingevent and, just you know, great
exposure all around right.
I'm happy to support it.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
And I will just say to that registration's open on
our website Perfect.
All our awards are open untilApril 30th.
So all the awards.
So please go on our website andcheck it out.
A lot of uncertain times.
To recognize your employeesthrough our awards program costs
you nothing other than someinvestment of your time and I
(34:37):
think the way it is.
Now.
It's important that werecognize and show our employees
that we value them.
So please take time torecognize them and in some cases
there's free training.
Adversaries are involved in it,and I did mention our booths
are sold out.
Sponsorships are stillavailable.
However if people are interested, there's just no booth space
(34:59):
that comes along with it.
We expect 250, 300 people inattendance again, like last year
.
Nice, so it would be great tohave people come in Excellent,
good Well again, like last year,so it'd be great to have people
come in, excellent, good.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
Well, we'll definitely see you there and
thank you for joining us today.
Thank you, so that concludestoday's episode.
We do want to thank Mike fromthe PMTC for joining us and to
catch up on past episodes.
Check outtransportationexchangepodcastca.
Until next time, thanks forwatching.
Hello and welcome to another episode of the
Transportation Exchange Podcastpresented by Rush Truck Centers
of Canada.
I'm your host, jason Cuddy, andjoining us again today is Mike
Million, president of the PMTC.
Mike, welcome back again to thepodcast.
Thank you Thanks for having meagain, jason.
Again to the podcast.
Thank you, thanks for having meagain, jason.
Yeah, I mean, there's always somuch to catch up on and to talk
about.
So it's we're always happy tohave you here and obviously we
(00:29):
will dive into probably one ofthe main reasons we wanted to
have you on at this time of year, which is the conference.
But it's been a while sincewe've talked and you guys have
been doing a lot in the industry, kind of behind the scenes, in
front of scenes.
Maybe give us sort of a statedindustry, as you guys see it,
with within the PMTC.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Yeah, well, I mean, yeah, I mean first of all, I
guess us last week just uh talka little bit about the PMTC and
then I'll move into state of theindustry.
Last week we were in uh, novaScotia.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
We held our quarterly board meeting actually in
DeBear, Nova Scotia.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
Oh yeah, hosted by Home.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Hardware.
We partnered with KellyHenderson and her group,
trucking Human Resource SectorCouncil Atlantic.
We had a joint educationalseminar together and then I
attended her board meeting thefollowing day, which I sit on as
well.
So just wanted to get that outthere.
We're trying to move our boardmeetings.
Instead of having them all inOntario every year, we're going
to have one in Eastern Canada,one in Western Canada and two in
(01:21):
Ontario, since we are anational association in Canada,
and two in Ontario, since we area national association State of
the industry in general inCanada I don't think it's a
surprise to anybody We've beenin a bit of a recession, I'd say
for over a year now.
People were hoping this year itwould get back to normal and
start to peak upwards.
But there's a bit of adisruptor south of the border
(01:47):
who's had a bit of an influenceon that.
So I would say overall we'redown quite a bit, I would say,
and we're starting to see ithappening in the US as well.
So we're seeing companies kindof hanging tight to their
dollars a little bit, I wouldsay, with the uncertainty that's
in the air Now, waiting to seewhat's going to happen with the
(02:09):
on again, off again tariffs.
And then, in addition to thetariffs, we have other issues in
the industry that we've beendealing with for quite some time
now that still haven't goneaway.
Still haven't gone away, I wouldsay at the top of the list of
issues we're dealing with, isstill the misclassified driver
(02:31):
issue that we run into, and foranybody that's not aware of
misclassified drivers is when acompany hires a driver or the
driver comes on and requests tobe incorporated and then they
pay them as if they're anindependent contractor, even
though they are in no way, shapeor form an independent
contractor.
They drive a company truckcompany pays for the fuel plates
(02:54):
, insurance, everything elsecompletely controls the driver's
movement, but they pay them asan independent contractor, which
means there's no sourcedeductions off their paycheck
for taxes, unemploymentinsurance, disability, wsib.
What this does is save acompany about 30% cost.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
And then you have compliant carriers that are
trying to compete on that basis.
And how are you supposed tocompete, excuse me, on rates or
on what you want to pay yourstaff and your employees if
somebody is flouting our taxlaws and saving 30%?
Speaker 1 (03:37):
right off the top Behind eight ball already.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
And it's not just an issue with that.
It's also an issue that ifyou're willing to fracture one
rule, you're generallyfracturing way more than one.
So these types of carriers arealso the ones that we see
abusing temporary foreign workerprogram.
Labor market informationassessment programs maybe aren't
(04:01):
going at the top of the gamefor safety, compliance and
looking after their fleet.
We've seen a number of thesefleets being protested for not
paying their employees andthey're taking advantage in a
lot of cases.
They're not all temporaryforeign workers, but there's a
high amount of them that are newCanadians and I believe it's
because they're taking advantageof their lack of knowledge of
(04:23):
the protections that our systemprovides them.
If they are hired as anemployee, you get laid off under
this model.
Short term you may think you'remaking more because you're not
paying taxes, even though you'restill supposed to file your own
tax return at the end of theyear.
If you get hurt, there's nodisability, no WSIB.
(04:46):
If you get laid off, there's nounemployment, you don't get
vacation pay, you don't get 10sick days, you don't get all the
things that are provided anemployee.
So that's still a big issue.
So that's still a big issue.
And when we're pushing that.
I get one stat we saw come outof Manitoba which lets you know
how much the labor marketinformation assessment has been
(05:07):
an issue as well.
40% of the carriers in Manitobathat use the labor market impact
assessment between 2019 and2023 are no longer in business
Really, which probably shows youthat they were using this just
to float the system, get moneyin, bring people in.
(05:32):
Companies that use the labormarket assessment system that
had less than 15 trucks in theirfleet use the LMIA process to
hire on average, 192% of theirfleet size, which means they are
obviously not bringing thesedrivers in to drive for them.
They're using it as a way tosell them a LMIA, sell them a
(05:53):
permit and use it as a pathwayto permanent residency, and not
actually try to get them in tothe industry, gotcha.
So you look at those numbers.
We don't have a driver shortageright now, but we did during
covid and we will again.
We just don't have it nowbecause we're in a recession,
right, you look at numbers likethat.
The program is not helping ussolve our driver shortage
(06:14):
because they're temporary right,yes, right.
They're coming in, they're usingit as a way to permanent
residence because people are areabusing them.
They're getting a terribleintroduction into the industry
and within a year or two they'reout of the industry because of
the way they've been introducedto it.
So that's it's not good for forthe people that are being
abused as part of it.
It's not good for the truckingindustry as a whole, because
(06:34):
long term it's not helping usout yeah, it's a good point.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
It's not solving the problem it was intended to solve
right, no.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Another thing we're following, which we've been
talking about for years, is theNational Safety Code, safety
Compliance Certificate.
As you know, in this country ifyou have a fleet in Nova Scotia
, one in Ontario, one in Alberta, they're all federally
regulated fleets but you mayapply to Nova Scotia to get your
(07:03):
NSC number out there.
You apply to Ontario to get theone here, apply to Alberta to
get the one out there.
So you basically have threedifferent fleets and each
province scores them differently, audits them differently,
tracks them differently whenreally them differently, tracks
them differently when really itshould.
Be similar to what it is in theStates, where we have one
(07:33):
safety rating that is tiedtogether for a federally
regulated carrier.
It is an issue because, youknow, I'll pull a safety rating
from an Ontario carrier and it'sgoing to tell you they've
accumulated 15% of their CVORrating, right, so they're rated
15% out of 100.
I'm going to pull one fromAlberta and it's going to tell
you they have an R factor ratingof 0.042.
How the hell do I compare those?
(07:54):
Right?
They're completely differentsystems and numbers not scored
the same amount of points.
So that's an issue.
The CCMTA is working on that.
They were directed by theCouncil of Ministers responsible
for transportation to come upwith solutions.
We will be part of the processin reaching out to them and what
(08:14):
they've told us so far is thejurisdictions have agreed to
improve their data sharingprocess, because right now
that's not the greatestsometimes either, and they need
to improve the data sharingbecause some companies have
these three or four differentsafety ratings for legitimate
reasons, because they have toRight, because they have
regional fleets.
The fleet that's in Nova Scotiamay cover the four maritime
(08:37):
provinces Right, they don't goall the way out to Alberta.
Good point.
The fleet in Alberta may run inthe four maritime provinces
Right, they don't go all the wayout to Alberta Good point.
The fleet in Alberta may run inthe prairie provinces, they
don't come all the way out east.
So if you've got a fleet thatnever comes into the east,
that's registered, or nevercomes into the east that's
licensed in Nova Scotia, how areyou plating and licensing and
all that other stuff that?
you need to do so.
There is legitimate reasons todo it, but and all that other
(09:04):
stuff that you need to do.
So there is legitimate reasonsto do it, but we need to share
the data better, to make sure wehave eyes on each fleet,
because some are using it forillegal reasons, and the illegal
reasons are to avoid shutdownand sanctions.
They open a fleet up in threedifferent jurisdictions.
The one in BC gets shut down.
They just move all their trucksonto the safety rating in
Alberta or Ontario and just keepoperating with basically no
penalties.
They just move their unsafefleet from one district to the
(09:25):
other.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Yeah, and you see it on the road just visibly right.
You know vehicles say hererunning, that you know are all
based here potentially with youknow.
Manitoba plates or Albertaplates, right, that kind of
thing.
So there's some, obviously,visibility to it, but clearly
that's what's happening behindthe scenes, yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
And you know we've been screaming about this for
years to the regulators.
I think what finally happenedis a couple of years ago there
was a fleet in BC called CohonCarriers that has an issue with
hitting overpasses and they hitabout their 14th overpass in a
year and their safety rating wassuspended in BC.
They had a fleet in Alberta.
(10:00):
They just moved their entirefleet to Alberta and then still
drove from Alberta into BC.
Oh wow, so the sanction.
But that opened the eyes tosome of the regulators what
we've been talking about, andnow they're looking at it a bit
more seriously than they werebefore.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
And it makes sense right To your point.
You have I mean, the US does itwell from that point of view
and you know, from an insurancepoint of view just regulations.
But even for you would eventhink, from the sake of the
customers who want to work withcertain carriers, you want to
make sure the product's actuallygoing to get there right and if
they are, you know, if they'rethird not third probably, but if
they're, you know, dedicated toyou and you've got your
(10:33):
branding on their equipment aswell, you want to make sure that
you know you're, you're, youare protected visibly.
you know from carriers that youknow are are running properly,
and so having it across theboard would just helps them
choose the right carrier to workwith as well.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
And you, you want a shipper, uh, to obviously be
part of this process and selecta carrier that's safe and
compliant, Right.
Well, if, if the carrier hasthree different safety ratings,
as an insurer, how am I supposedto know?
Or as a shipper sorry, how am Isupposed to know they have
three different safety ratings?
So if I ask them to share withme their national safety code
(11:06):
number, well, if one of them isbad and two of them is good,
which one do you think they'regoing to share with me?
They're not going to share thebad one with me, so it makes it
harder for that as well.
So the data sharing is a stepin the right direction.
Our push with the regulators,however, will be.
Data sharing is a start.
What we need to have here is asystem that is identical in all
(11:28):
jurisdictions and it needs to befed into one database where all
the data if you're registeredin three jurisdictions, all the
data should be fed into onedatabase and we get one score.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
Right, it makes sense , right, and maybe you hope,
like you said, there's reasonsbehind doing it, obviously,
which is clear.
And you know, with the climatecurrently, you know that we're
in right now, we're seeing a lotof interprovincial kind of
trade opening up, or at leasttalks of trade opening up.
So this is, you know, theclimate might be a good time to
(12:03):
know add that I mean you guysare already advocating for it,
but, it again, it's anotherreason to take down some of
these barriers and try and unifycertain things, to make the
country, uh, you know, oneunited whole versus, you know,
every province doing their ownthing.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Yeah, well, exactly in the you know, we just saw
yesterday, uh, ontario, newbrunswick, nova scotia, uh and I
believe I read late last nightpei signed on it onto it too
where those four provinces havesigned a memorandum of
understanding where internaltrade barriers, they're working
towards recognizing each other'sregs, not only in some cases
(12:32):
for wide loads, fortransportation, but the big
thing is they're talking aboutopening up their markets to
alcohol and other products,because a lot of people don't
know this.
But you know, and this reallycame into light from the US
tariffs.
Yeah, but in some cases it'seasier to sell our products in
Europe, in Asia or down into theStates than it is to sell a
(12:55):
product from Ontario into BC orfrom Nova Scotia into Ontario.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
Yeah, I agree, I think that the tariffs have
opened that up because I thinkyou know, you know in our
industry we're a bit more awareof it, because we understand
what a lot of the companies do,move stuff around.
But as the general consumer, Idon't think you realize why
you're not seeing.
You know, say, beer fromAlberta, or you know wine from
the Okanagan Valley, orsomething like that as much as
you should.
And then this really broughtlight into like oh, you didn't
(13:20):
realize that I was assumingthere's trade barriers between
provinces, which seems silly.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Well, and not only don't you see it on our shelves,
if you drove over to aneighboring jurisdiction and
bought alcohol, there's actuallya limit on how much you're
allowed to take acrossprovincial boundaries.
Right, right, which is kind ofludicrous when you think about
it.
Yeah, it's crazy, but theeconomists from the Bank of
Canada estimated that if weloosened up our internal trade
(13:48):
barriers and recognized otherpeople to be able to sell their
products from one jurisdictionto the other, it would increase
our internal trade by about $200billion Wild.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
Right.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
So does that replace the $700 plus billion in trade
that we have with the US?
No, but it replaces some of it.
It helps, and we have toincrease our own internal
balance.
The same economist said thatsome of the trade barriers we
have between our ownjurisdictions is the equivalent
to having about a 23% tariff onthe United States, which is in
line with the 25% 23% tariff onthe economic.
(14:20):
Yeah, which is in line with the25% that we're getting from the
state.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
What do you think If you open it up between to your
point to $200 billion yes, it'snot to $700 billion, but
eventually things will settledown and kind of massage
themselves out over time so thatmarket will pick back up, you
know.
But then if you open up that$200 billion, that won't really
go away, it'll just beadditional, you know.
So that's basically.
Now.
You have growth in the countryright, which, which is even
(14:45):
better.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Yeah, gives us more selection coast to coast.
We're a little more reliant oneach other.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
Yeah, and then in the business we're in with this
industry, it opens up differentroutes and lanes for carriers,
right Different opportunitiesfor them to work within the
province.
You know it might be easier tofind drivers to stay within the
country instead of having tocross the border.
It opens up a whole differentbusiness model that you know
wasn't available to them before,which is great, you know For
sure so it's yeah, so that couldbe a great thing if they get it
figured out At least one otherthing I wanted to touch on too,
(15:12):
is, and this just got signedinto law Monday and we're still
working with the US Embassy,cvsa and the Federal Motor
Carrier Safety Association andTransport Canada to find out
exactly 100% what this new billmeans.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
But the state of Arkansas passed a bill 82-0,
which was then voted in by theiror sorry, written into law by
their governor on Monday, andthere's two parts to the bill.
The first part of the bill thatthey covered pretty heavily in
the media was there's an Englishproficiency part to it, where
(15:49):
when you go through Arkansas,they can actually pull you over,
whether it's the DOT, statepolice.
They can give you a documentthat you have to be able to read
Okay, it's in English andcommunicate.
They will have you write somestuff down to make sure you can
write and communicate in Englishand if you can't, it's a
minimum $500 fine.
The first time a thousand andmoves up from there.
(16:12):
The English proficiency law hasalways been in the US DOT
regulations, so it really isn'tnew.
They used to take you out ofservice for it.
Back in 2016, they changed that.
Where they don't take you outof service, they just fine you.
We don't really have an issuewith the English proficiency
part, to be honest, as long asthey're testing you on a
(16:33):
relative level, like test yourEnglish proficiency, not to a
university master's degree.
It's just general understandingFor sure, Because of the road
signs and stuff are only inEnglish and are operating down
there.
It is a road safety concern,100%.
That makes sense.
But another part of the bill isstating that any driver
operating through the state whodoesn't have a license issued by
(16:56):
one of the US states needs tohave a work permit or a visa and
according to what we've read inthe law, this includes Canadian
and Mexican drivers.
What has always happened in theUS.
It's written right into theirregs and this is on the Federal
(17:17):
Motor Carrier Safety side andUSDOT a Canadian or a Mexican
driver who takes product intothe US, delivers it, picks up in
the US and comes back to Canada, is exempt from having to get
the work permit or the visa.
Right, we just have reciprocity.
We can't pick up a load withinthe states and deliver it in the
(17:38):
states, that's called ansabotage.
There's different rules againstthat Right Makes sense, but
that's always been exempt.
We're getting conflictingmessages right now.
The Arkansas bill says thisincludes Canadian drivers.
So if you're driving throughtheir state you have to have a
work permit or visa.
They're calling it an I-9 or aB-1.
Uh, i-9 is for US citizens only, so you have to get a B-1 visa.
(18:01):
Well, you're a driver that'sgoing to go through.
You don't want to apply forthis today and get it tomorrow.
Right, right, um, like this isa lengthy process which would
throw kind of internationaltrade going through.
Right now it's just Arkansas.
This isn't a federal law, so itdoesn't affect anybody else.
(18:22):
We're getting some indicationfrom Transport Canada and
communications with GlobalAffairs that they think the
federal law overrides the statelaw for interstate commerce, but
the state's kind of giving usconflicting evidence and it's
the state that's going toenforce this Gotcha.
So we're still trying to flushthat out.
But obviously this is a bit ofa concern.
(18:43):
Our advice to members right nowis if you don't have to go
through Arkansas, don't Right Goaround it, yep.
And we'll keep our membersappraised as we find out.
We haven't broadcast this livethrough all our members yet
because until we get certaintyon this, there's no point in
raising massive alarm bells.
But it's something to be awareof and we've also raised it with
(19:06):
the US Embassy and Consulate,because even though it's a state
law, not a federal law,obviously this is not something
we want to.
If you have a hodgepodge ofrules from one state to the
other, there's a reason we havefederal rules in the first place
.
How are you supposed to do this?
They're saying they're doing itto combat fraudulent licenses.
Texas put in a same bill abouta year ago, but most of their
(19:29):
issue with fraudulent licenseswere coming from Mexico, right,
so they exempted Canada from itand then they concentrated on
the Mexican side.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Gotcha.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
There's got to be other ways we can do this than
changing our whole commerce withtrucks.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
No, I agree.
I mean you get the conceptbehind it, but it's you know for
how trade moves with vehicles.
You know in and out of statesor even just through the state
right, not even necessarily evenstopping or originating from
the state going back to Mexicoor Canada.
You know you're dealing with,you know guys just traveling
through it to get to the finaldestination.
So and then, yeah, this isagain where the value of that
(20:05):
federally regulated part of theindustry can help, right, you
know, like we talked aboutOntario, you know, in the
different provinces, you knowkind of doing one thing from a
safety point of view, but thisis where you know, try and don't
have rogue states or provincesdoing up their own rule.
That messes up.
You know the the trade betweenthe two countries, yeah for sure
.
Well, so, so those are goodthings to keep an eye on and I
guess you know, um, the next bigthing for you, for you guys, as
(20:29):
a pmtc, is is the conferencethat's coming up really soon.
The last year's was great, itwas phenomenal.
You guys had great speakers.
You know it's really well done.
I think that the pace of theday, of the two days, is great.
But yeah, maybe fill us in onwhat we can expect for this year
.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Yeah, so the conference is two months away.
I guess Today's April 17th, Ibelieve.
So the conference starts June17th with our annual general
meeting for members only in theafternoon, from 3 to 5.
After that, one of thehighlights is the kickoff night,
where we have our cocktailparty, sponsored by Truck Right.
(21:06):
This year it's our youngleaders group cocktail party
from 5 to 7.
All our exhibitor spaces aresold out.
We'll have 59 exhibitors in theroom, so that's sold out.
Back in March, anybody that'sinterested could still come on
board.
We have a waiting list.
Some people will decide to giveup their booth space and then
(21:29):
we go to our waiting list to seethe next one on board.
But that's two hours of freebeverages and snacks, which is
always a hit in our sponsor area.
Excuse me, we gave out $300 cashdraws at that one, two of them
for fleets that are inattendance to kind of encourage
(21:50):
them to be there.
So that's the fun part ofthings, I guess.
And then on the 18th we moveinto the educational sessions.
There'll be nine educationalsessions over a day and a half,
okay, plus our awards program.
Obviously we kick it off withHeather Devine, who's been doing
her legal update, I think, forsix, seven years now.
(22:11):
It's always one of thetop-rated seminars in our
conference.
So that starts at 8 am on the18th, so people are going to
want to be on their seats forthat.
Another mainstay is Tom Moorefrom the National Private Truck
Council will be doing ourCanadian benchmarking survey and
going over the stats and stuffthat are involved in that
(22:33):
Benchmarking survey is sponsoredby the Ontario Truck Driving
School.
Okay, it's open for entriesfrom private fleets.
You don't have to be a PMTCmember until April 30th, so
that's still out there if youwant to get your dad in.
And then all our membersreceive a copy of the
benchmarking report for nocharge, thanks to the
sponsorship We'll have.
(22:55):
Fmcsa Transport Canada and theCanadian Commercial Vehicle
Safety Alliance will be on sitefor our third session to provide
an update from Transport Canadaand FMCSA on regulatory issues
and oversight and what is goingon within their departments or
any upcoming initiatives.
And then CVSA is going to goover the results of RoadCheck
(23:17):
and BrakeSafe and otherinitiatives that they have
Canadian Council of MotorTransport Administrators.
Their new president, LindaMcCausland, is going to be on as
well to kind of give people anoverview of what the CCMTA does,
what their role is in workingwith jurisdictions in Canada and
south of the border andbringing them together to kind
(23:39):
of work together on commoninitiatives and regulations.
The CCMTA is the one that isthe caretaker and oversees the
National Safety Code and the 16standards that are in there to
bring together the memorandumsof understanding for federally
regulated carriers.
We'll then have our lunch onthe first day, which is always a
(24:01):
highlight.
We'll have the Dispatcher ofthe Year Award, Rick Austin
Memorial, sponsored by CPCLogistics, and then one of my
favorite ones, I Austin Memorial, sponsored by CPC Logistics,
and then one of my favorite onesI know you're not supposed to
say a favorite one, but theDriver Hall of Fame
introductions, where we'llinduct up to four drivers into
our Hall of Fame.
It's sponsored by TruckRite thisyear, so we have a new sponsor
(24:23):
for the Driver Hall of Fame.
In the afternoon we're going tohave a discussion about Red
Seal.
There's been a lot of talk froma new group called the
Professional Truck TrainingAlliance of Canada.
They're a national associationthat represents truck training
schools.
Okay, I sit on the board ofthat as well.
They've been putting forward aninitiative to have the
(24:45):
profession of a truck driverdeclared a Red Seal Right,
forward an initiative to havethe profession of a truck driver
declared a red seal right.
So we're going to have a panelon that to discuss what exactly
is the red seal occupation,what's involved in making
something a red seal, uh, andwhat are the pros and cons of it
for the industry.
So, thanks, I'll be good.
Yeah, I think it's somethingthat a lot of people don't
understand.
A lot of people just say well,make it a profession, make it a
(25:07):
red seal.
Well, you can't just snap yourfingers and do that there's a
lot involved in the process.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
And it's even good to discuss and understand.
You know everyone just thinksof pros, you know.
But you know there could besome negatives that people
haven't thought of, or justchallenges of okay, if you go
that route, what does thatimpact down the line?
Speaker 2 (25:25):
So give people a lot of information that maybe they
didn't have before.
We then have our EducationBursary Awards Young Leader
Education Bursary Awardssponsored by 10th Street.
We get two winners.
One is a student from ourMohawk Supply Chain Program,
where we've partnered our YoungLeaders Group with five Mohawk
students each year, where weassign them with mentors and get
(25:47):
them out into the industry.
And then we have one from ourregular YLG membership and the
winner gets supplied withroughly the funds of about
$2,000 to complete two logisticscourses from CITT Excellent.
We're then going to have adiscussion on AI as a force for
(26:07):
safety.
Yeah, a hot topic thateverybody talks about all the
time.
We then have our chairman'sdinner.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
Right.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
And that involves a few more awards as well.
We have the KRTS DriverTraining Scholarship and that
program is a person will beawarded.
They have to be nominated bytheir company employees.
They can go onto our website tofind out what's all involved
with it.
Gotcha, but the winner receivesfree training from KRTS, thanks
(26:37):
to the sponsorship of KRTS, toobtain their Class 1 or Class 8
license.
Perfect, that's up to a $10,000value for somebody.
We also have our private fleetsafety awards, sponsored by
aviva, which awards save thesafest large private fleets in
canada large fleet category,mid-fleet category and small
(26:57):
nice.
And uh, we'll also have ourdriven to lead graduation
ceremony.
This year was our fourth classof people that went through the
dale carne Driven to LeadEducation Program.
That wraps up the middle dayand then the next morning we
kick it off with the 3M VehicleGraphic Awards.
Those are always fun.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
Yeah, I like those ones.
It's usually one of thehighlights we have.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
Bruce Outridge puts together a nice video for us.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
Sets it to usually an old country song.
Yeah, so we kick off themorning with that, and then
we're going to have a discussionon heavy duty emissions and
regulations for next year andbeyond.
Right, and hiring people wholast, and then the last one of
the event understandingimpairment and the role of
(27:41):
cognitive testing on reducingrisk.
So Good, lots of good topics.
Again, I think there should besomething there for everybody.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
I think so Sounds like I mean, it definitely
covers what I, like you know,even from our world, is it
covers there's a lot ofinteresting information that you
learn, you know, from us being,you know, supplier to, to a lot
of the carriers.
We don't see all thatday-to-day challenges they have,
so it's very eyeopening for us.
It allows me to see you knowoutside of just a vehicle what
are the other you knowday-to-day issues they face,
whether it's, you know, hiringthe right people, safety
regulation it's just there's somuch being thrown at you at a
(28:14):
different angle.
But then also I love thatthere's recognition you know,
for within the industry and it's, you know, the fleet safety
one's a big one.
I like that right, becausethat's what we talked about
earlier with you know, withreducing costs for some other
carriers, trying to findloopholes.
It.
This rewards, you know, atleast the carriers who have done
everything right and are andare winning.
In that the driver ones aregreat, because I think the story
(28:34):
you get from the drivers isincredible and I think when you
look at how many miles they'velogged, how many years they've
driven, you know it's, it'simpressive.
I remember being there lastyear and just the stories and
they have the family come out,which is great, I think.
I think it's it's really welldone that you not only recognize
them, but you recognize thefamily that supports them doing
their career as long as theyhave as safe as they have.
So there's a lot of greatpieces to it.
I think there's something foreverybody, I agree.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
It's just a great event Some of the companies who
nominate these drivers.
They put together some greatvideos.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
Yeah, there were some great ones last year.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
Tell their stories.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
Some of them put a lot, of, a lot of thought in it,
which is nice, and I think thatalone, I think, tells you you
know how important the driversare and how much, how respected
they are with a lot of thesecompanies right To put that much
time and energy and investmentinto you know the promo reel
that gets shown, it's not justyou know, someone with a camera
sitting there they'll bring acrew in, they'll film them.
you know make like a minidocumentary.
It's incredibly well done and Ithink it's a testament to how
(29:29):
important the drivers are tothat business.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
I think it allows the driver to tell their story a
bit too, Not a lot of driversare comfortable, not a lot of
people.
True.
They're comfortable standing infront of 250 people with a
microphone and saying thanks butdoing a video and putting it
out isn't quite as intimidating.
No it lets them tell theirstory.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
And it shows their story too, which is nice too
right.
You see them in their truck,see them in their house and
their family and like, yeah,it's a really great way to kind
of get a quick glimpse in theirlife, which is nice.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
So that's exciting and, as usual actually you've
got now the Western's kind ofexpanded over the years, I think
, because everybody knows wehired a Western Canada business
manager.
His name is Marcel Poullion,november of 2023.
Right, he lives in Calgary,represents our interests out
(30:18):
west, really trying to expandour presence out there.
And our seminar out there usedto be a half day.
It used to give 40, 50 people.
Now it's a full day event.
Last year we had 92 people atit.
Nice, we're expecting probablyover 100.
This year, we have a cocktailparty the night before for our
speakers and sponsors.
And new this year, ptac, whichI talked about, is having their
(30:41):
first annual conference andthey're going to have theirs the
night before ours oh perfect,october 7th in the same venue,
and they're going to have theirsthe night before ours, on
October 7th, in the same venue.
Yep, that works so you know, ifpeople want to attend both, they
can, and then we're going tohave our board meeting out there
the morning and the night.
So the agenda is still beingworked on.
Okay, it'll be released priorto our conference in June.
Perfect, so we can probably puta promotional material out at
(31:03):
our conference.
Sponsorships are being sold.
We have sponsorships are beingsold.
We have 12 sponsorshipsavailable for it.
That's what we're limiting into, and I believe eight of them
are gone.
Oh, wow, that's good.
So if people are interested,the info's up on our website.
We do have not an educationalend, but we do have our golf
tournament coming up soon too onmay 27th in.
Uh, it's in the milton area.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
I'm drawing I'm drawing a blank on the golf
course right now no worries.
Uh, glencairn Gotcha, glencairnGolf.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
Course Uh, so people are interested in that.
Registration's open on ourwebsite and we're still have
sponsorships available.
Uh, as well.
It's hard to think, uh, springthe way the weather's been.
It was just snowing a couple ofdays ago, but.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
I know we had freezing rain and the next day I
was in t-shirt and shorts.
So it's been spring hasn'tfigured itself out yet.
No, all over the country.
Exactly, and I guess in thelast piece, just to wrap it up
for those who aren't alreadymembers and we don't know why
they aren't, but for those thataren't, maybe just quickly a
quick overview of the additionalbenefits, outside of all the
things today, of becoming amember of the PMTC.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
Well, I guess one of the biggest benefits is we
represent your views andinterests with governments.
We speak to federal andprovincial governments on a
regular basis.
Make sure our members' viewsand interests are heard from.
Also, I tell everybody we'relike a consulting firm.
If you have a question that youcan't find the answer to, a lot
(32:26):
of cases, if you reach out tous, we can get the answer for
you.
Lot of cases, if you reach outto to us, we can get the answer
for you pretty quickly, insteadof you spending hours trying to
google it or yeah, or reach outto a government official and if
we don't know the answer, wehave lots of contacts within the
government to get the answersfor you.
Um communications for ourmembers.
We have newsletters that go outon a regular basis with
regulatory updates to keep youabreast of the changes that are
(32:48):
going on.
And in addition to all thosebenefits, we also have cost
savings for you, where we havean online driver training
academy powered by KRTS andCarrier's Edge, which allows you
to the library of a whole bunchof online training platforms.
Pmtc members get it at areduced price.
(33:10):
Nice Driver licenseverification system powered by
VeriX Direct.
You don't get the wholeabstract.
What you'll get back is withinhours you'll get the status of
your driver's license and theclass of the driver's license.
Okay, and it costs you $2.75per check.
That's down right through ourpartnership with them.
(33:30):
Isb has an identificationverification system where
they'll run criminal checks foryou driver abstracts, cv wire
abstracts, two background checksall that for you for one price
for the PMTC member.
And then we have a job portalwhich is free to all our members
to post any jobs that they haveon there.
(33:50):
And then it's free for the, forthe public to look at Excellent,
that's good to know.
Speaker 1 (33:54):
So lots there, lots to look forward to.
Obviously, the conference isthe big one and we'll definitely
see you there for sure, yeah,thanks, it should be fun.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
Thanks to Rush, as always, you guys.
He's a sponsor in the tradeshowroom and we appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
Yep, no happy to.
We definitely see the value ofit and you know we have a lot of
customers that are there aswell to attend.
So it's a great networkingevent and, just you know, great
exposure all around right.
I'm happy to support it.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
And I will just say to that registration's open on
our website Perfect.
All our awards are open untilApril 30th.
So all the awards.
So please go on our website andcheck it out.
A lot of uncertain times.
To recognize your employeesthrough our awards program costs
you nothing other than someinvestment of your time and I
(34:37):
think the way it is.
Now.
It's important that werecognize and show our employees
that we value them.
So please take time torecognize them and in some cases
there's free training.
Adversaries are involved in it,and I did mention our booths
are sold out.
Sponsorships are stillavailable.
However if people are interested, there's just no booth space
(34:59):
that comes along with it.
We expect 250, 300 people inattendance again, like last year
.
Nice, so it would be great tohave people come in Excellent,
good Well again, like last year,so it'd be great to have people
come in, excellent, good.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
Well, we'll definitely see you there and
thank you for joining us today.
Thank you, so that concludestoday's episode.
We do want to thank Mike fromthe PMTC for joining us and to
catch up on past episodes.
Check outtransportationexchangepodcastca.
Until next time, thanks forwatching.
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