SNOBELEN: Canada’s trucking industry rolling into a dangerous era

Our laws, and punishments, need to be much more rigorous to deal with those who value avoidance over compliance.

Published Jul 10, 2026  •  Last updated 5 minutes ago  •  3 minute read

Two trucks parked in a yard. Photo by Arlen Redekop /Postmedia Network

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There is a pattern to building a respectable business.

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Small family businesses mark milestones along a growth trajectory that builds over time into a mature, stable and sometimes profitable business.

Our little trucking business was like that. The first new truck. A bigger rented yard and shop. The first big company party. And finally, our first, heavily mortgaged and built-to-spec. truck yard.

Buying the land for that project wasn’t cheap and the process of acquiring the permits to build was eye-opening. I have a hazy memory from all those years ago of needing to make a “parks” donation to the city in lieu of having acres of land in a commercial area left in a “natural” state.

My younger self regarded the parks contribution as a shakedown, which, of course, it was. That cost got added to the pile of fees demanded by the city for the right to build a trucking facility in a properly zoned industrial area.

The good news was that all our competitors in the industry faced the same costs in domiciling and repairing heavy trucks. Compliance was just a cost of doing business, particularly for a reputable company. And the zoning issue wasn’t entirely negative. Trucks operate more safely in industrial zones specifically designed for their size and weight.

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I think about those times when the occasional news story about the state of the trucking industry in Canada breaks through the news cycle. The ongoing problems the Town of Caledon has with illegal truck depots are a case in point. Caledon is the home of farms (a good thing), rich people (a mixed blessing), gravel pits (handy if you like roads and basements) and illegal truck yards.

Turns out Caledon has hundreds of these illegal truck yards. The process is simple: A company buys a small acreage of agricultural land, dumps a lot of stone on it and, just like that, you have a cheap place to park trucks and trailers.

Just what rural neighbours want — big trucks on country roads and a parking area with no oil interceptors or traffic controls. Nice.

This has been going on in Caledon for years and the town has responded with inspections, task forces, citations and fines. And the illegal truck yards keep springing up.

There are other news stories. Trucking companies with serious safety infractions get shut down in one province, only to be resurrected with a new name in another. Companies with a history of not paying legal wages to foreign workers still seek and get permission to hire more foreign workers. The trucking business is a mess and government regulators, despite increased efforts, don’t seem to be able to control it.

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The big question is why? Caledon enforces plenty of bylaws but is stymied in trying to clean up the truck-yard problem. Provincial and federal transport regulators have enforced stringent safety rules for a generation, but they now appear inadequate. What has changed?

Canada’s regulatory framework is designed to work in a culture that respects the law. Think peace, order and good government.

Lots of cultures don’t share that respect. For a couple of decades, Canadian culture (and particularly the trucking industry) has been shifting to a new, reckless era.

And we aren’t going back. Our laws need to be much more rigorous to meet the demands of people who value avoidance over compliance. Think jail time instead of fines.

Heck, even Prime Minister Mark Carney knows nostalgia is not a strategy.

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