TRAN Committee Report

Bloc Québécois Complementary Opinion

The Bloc Québécois supports the report but with serious reservations:

Under the proposed system, a trucker could drive five 14-hour night shifts and then take 36 hours off (including just one night of sleep) before beginning a new cycle of five 14-hour nights of driving, which could represent a total of 84 hours a week. This would be an improvement over the existing system, but it must be seen as only a first step toward lowering the number of hours that truckers drive every week.

In the United States, the maximum length of a driving day is 10 hours. Canadian legislation should in due course be harmonized with that of our neighbour to the South, considering the extent to which the North American economy is integrated. Contrary to what might be thought, higher safety standards have not affected the American road transport industry, in large part because of road transport’s strategic advantages. This being so, there is every point in strengthening the rules and increasing safety on our highways. Most unions endorse a reduction in hours of work for truckers.

If a broad public consultation were undertaken, it would quickly become apparent that road safety is a high priority for Quebeckers and Canadians. As noted above, one of the key points of Canadian legislation will have to be possible harmonization with the United States. In its brief to the Committee, the Canadians for Responsible and Safe Highways (CRASH) said:

The establishment of workload limits for truck and bus operators involves drawing a line between business objectives and the protection of public safety.

One of the most significant factors relating to the proposed Canadian workload rules for truckers is the differences with the current American workload limits and the major differences with the new U.S. hours of service plan.

The Canadian Automobile Association (CAA) said with reference to consistency among North American policies in this area:

Harmonized North American standards based on science would help to improve public understanding of fatigue issues related to commercial vehicle drivers. Canadians may not understand why regulations in Canada are different from our NAFTA partners and others around the world.¹

The Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP) represents 150,000 private sector workers, including 1,000 truckers. It is critical of the agreement between the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators (CCMTA) and the Teamsters, and raises a number of important points for discussion:

The regulations proposed by Transport Canada and now under consideration by this Committee will do nothing to improve the situation and may make it worse. (…) The 36 hours’ rest time is a particularly disastrous proposal. It does not give anything like sufficient time to recover from the long hours worked and would further undermine the family life of truck drivers.²

It would also seem that the consultation process could have been more inclusive, so that the truckers’ perspective could be taken more fully into consideration. Rick Beckwith, of the Canadian Owner-Operators’ Cooperative , said in a letter to the Committee dated April 2002:

Our opposition to the proposed extension of permissible driving hours is solidly based on the experience of our members who work as independent truck owners and drivers. They tell us that stress and fatigue are already major concerns under the present regulations, and warn that the incidence of accidents involving heavy vehicles is bound to increase proportionally with the increase of hours behind the wheel.

The importance of establishing an acceptable level of hours of service will thus have to be the subject of further studies and investigations.

The Committee's report is probably too timid because of the concerns expressed by the trucking industry, which fears a possible future shortage of employees and the threat of intermodal competition. However, it seems reasonable that by improving working conditions, the industry will be able to attract more new drivers. Concerns about the competitiveness of road transport should be alleviated by the structural advantages that are already its strength -- speed and flexibility. This efficiency must not however be given priority over road safety, and the report should recommend the harmonization of commercial drivers’ hours of service with the system in effect in the United States: maximum 60-hour work weeks and 12-hour days. This arrangement would suit the drivers, and the industry would in due time find that it was profiting from it as well.

Other issues must be dealt with more directly:

-         the rules must be stringently enforced, and it should be possible to look into options such as the phasing in of electronic on-board recorders;

-         as an integral part of a safer system, the mandatory break must be increased to 48 hours to ensure that truckers get enough rest.

These measures are not part of the Committee's recommendations. They should be included in the report, because they constitute important elements of a safe, efficient and fair system of commercial drivers’ hours of service.

Mario Laframboise,
MP for Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel and
Bloc Québécois Transport Critic