MPs launch probe of trucking sector after Bloc calls out labour standards

A House of Commons committee is set to launch a study of labour standards in the trucking sector today after the Bloc Québécois called on the government to end what it calls exploitative practices.

The transport committee is launching a study of an industry business model which sees transport companies classify drivers as independent contractors rather than employees.

The Canadian Trucking Alliance has called the model the "largest tax, labour misclassification, safety and human trafficking scheme in Canada," arguing that it manipulates the tax base and jeopardizes the health and safety of Canadians on highways.

The study will include at least six meetings and the committee is expected to ask the minister of transport and the secretaries of state for labour and revenue to testify.

Bloc Québécois MP Xavier Barsalou-Duval, the party's critic for transport, held a press conference with representatives of the trucking industry on Monday to speak about what he called unfair labour practices.

They presented ten recommendations to the federal government which include launching an official inquiry into driver exploitation and prohibiting temporary foreign workers from operating as incorporated drivers.