CTA Launches Stop Illegal Trucking Campaign to End Industry Lawlessness

TORONTO, Oct. 7, 2025 /CNW/ - Fed up with rampant lawlessness throughout Canada's trucking industry and years of disregard from Ottawa and many provinces, the Canadian Trucking Alliance has launched Stop Illegal Trucking – a national campaign to end the illicit schemes destroying Canada's trucking industry, abusing workers and engaging in human trafficking, threatening the safety of the travelling public, and costing Canadians billions.

For too long, the lack of enforcement at all levels of government and coordinated action across jurisdictions have allowed an underground economy to flourish. The engine that fuels this growing illegal activity in the Canadian trucking industry is a scheme dubbed Driver Inc., which allows companies to misclassify employee drivers as independent corporations, avoiding payroll remittances, basic protections, and many other employer obligations.  

The result: exploited workers and unfair competition that is destroying honest trucking companies, and lost public revenue that should be going to support Canadians in these tough economic times.  

Alarmingly, the rapid erosion of truck safety and driver licensing standards and increased truck-related collisions Canadians are witnessing daily across the country are symptomatic of the proliferation of the Driver Inc. scheme. And the data proves it.  

"Essentially, we know that companies that routinely cuts corners when it comes to tax and labour compliance, will most definitely do the same in all areas of their operation, including disregarding public safety by carelessly putting unfit equipment and untrained or poorly qualified drivers on the road," says Marco Beghetto, VP, Communications, CTA. "Canadians are now waking up to what we have been warning about for many years – the industry is in crisis. This lawlessness is an extensional threat to our industry and puts Canadians at severe risk. It must end immediately."  

Much of the crisis can be solved without any new laws or regulations. As CTA has stated for years, law and order can be restored by simply enforcing the laws and standards already on the books that responsible businesses currently comply with.  

"This isn't just an industry fight – it's a public safety and fiscal crisis," says CTA chair Greg Arndt. "When companies hide behind the Driver Inc. model, lives and livelihoods are put at risk and vital public services lose billions. Our federal government needs to end the negligence once and for all and put an end to this systemic lawlessness."  

The campaign has evolved to meet the moment. What began as Stop Tax and Labour Abuse has become Stop Illegal Trucking to better reflect the overall lawlessness throughout the industry and the full-scale threat to road safety, border security, and the public interest. 

Supporters can visit stopillegaltrucking.ca to learn more and demand and end to the crisis from the federal government. 

This week, Canadians will begin seeing social media posts post and videos, strategic ad placements in key regions  

Quick facts about Driver Inc. and the damage it causes:

• Driver Inc. drivers are routinely misclassified as independent contractors to avoid paying mandatory remittances such as CPP, EI, workers' compensation and payroll taxes.
• Misclassified drivers often lack essential protections, including workers' compensation and statutory benefits.
• Carriers that exploit Driver Inc. operate with payroll costs up to 35% lower, giving them an illegal competitive advantage and driving compliant businesses out of the market.
• Driver Inc. schemes cost the Canadian government over $5 billion annually in lost tax and benefit contributions and undermine funding for healthcare, infrastructure and other public services.
• Canada Revenue Agency's moratorium on T4A enforcement essentially allows the illegal practices to spread and has become a de facto permission slip for tax and labour abuse, as well as many other illicit behaviours that stem from the Driver Inc model. 
• Driver Inc. undermines safety and the integrity of the trucking sector by encouraging corner-cutting and evasion, leading to a flood of untrained or poorly licensed drivers and unsafe equipment sharing the roads with the Canadian public. In the most extreme cases, Driver Inc companies aren't trucking companies at all. They are fronts for immigration fraud, human trafficking and other nefarious crimes like cross-border smuggling of drugs or dangerous contraband.
• Driver Inc is an elaborate and organized tax-avoidance and labour abuse scam that has expanded over many years to incorporate immigration fraud, truck driver training and licensing fraud, human trafficking, the movement of contraband and illegal cross-border shipments.

"Responsible carriers and drivers pay their taxes, follow labour laws and prioritize safety – and they are being punished by a system that tolerates cheating," says Arndt. "Canada can no longer afford to stand by and watch. The lawlessness we all see must end now."

SOURCE Canadian Trucking Alliance

Media Contact: Marco Beghetto, VP Communications & New Media, [phone] x 238, [email protected]