Truckers demand public inquiry into Ontario discount drivers

Truckers are urgently calling for a public inquiry to shed light on the phenomenon of discount drivers from Ontario, who come to slash prices by paying their precarious immigrant workers half as much.

“It’s modern slavery,” goes so far as to say Jean-François Pagé, vice-president of Transport Hervé Lemieux, in Saint-Laurent. The Quebec company of 450 truckers, founded in 1947, wants a public inquiry to highlight this “unfair competition”, which is bleeding its turnover.

“Does it take a commission of inquiry to clean up? We may have reached this stage,” says Marc Cadieux, CEO of the Quebec Trucking Association (ACQ).

Since the pandemic, these Ontario drivers with precarious status have been traveling our roads. They are often paid a fraction of the price, sometimes as little as $10 an hour, says the ACQ. We call them “Les Chauffeurs Inc” (see box below).

Five years ago, The Globe and Mail had lifted the veil on these new arrivals, who are exploited by companies who give them a starving salary while promising them the moon.

However, in recent years, the phenomenon has grown to the point where companies, such as Transport Hervé Lemieux, now fear having to lay off workers because they cannot compete with their prices.

Pots of wine

This cheap labor is also a real public danger on the road, according to several Quebec transport companies consulted by The Journal.

In mid-October, the show Marketplace, from CBC, showed the workings of a truck driver testing system riddled with bribery and cheating.

“We have drivers who have difficulty reversing to get loaded. We are there. Imagine on the road when it snows,” illustrates Jean-François Pagé, of Transport Hervé Lemieux.

“Drivers are afraid to drive on the 401 at night because it has become too dangerous,” he sighs.

“It passes in front of me”

At the Brotherhood of Highway Control Constables of Quebec (FCCRQ), its president, Jean-Claude Daignault, has difficulty understanding why the noose is not tightening around the recalcitrants.

“If we allowed controllers to seize the vehicle, as in the taxi industry, it is certain that the problem would be resolved fairly quickly,” he says.

According to him, the findings are not very effective, because Drivers Inc often work in fictitious companies, which will end up never paying their fines.

“We are asking for the ability to reverse and for the offending vehicles to be seized,” he says.

“I’m on the ground. I see them. I’m not in a government office waiting to get a complaint. It’s ahead of me,” he concludes.

What is a Chauffeur Inc?

• He is an “incorporated” truck driver (he does not buy a vehicle);
• He does not pay social security contributions;
• He does not benefit from social benefits and social protection;
• The client does not make deductions at source (DAS).

Five measures requested

1. Give the CNESST more investigative power
2. Give more teeth to the Quebec Transport Commission
3. Better equipping Quebec road traffic control
4. Check if insurance policies are compliant
5. Verification of worker permits

(Source: Quebec Trucking Association)