Keywords
truck, driver, shortage, windsor-essex, legislation
Abstract
North America, and more specifically, Windsor-Essex are currently in the midst of a truck driver shortage. This is happening in a time when more drivers are needed for today’s increased capacity and necessity of trucks on the road. Both the federal government of Canada and the provincial government of Ontario have introduced recent legislation that will have negative effects on the current shortage of truck drivers.
The federal government of Canada is introducing a mandatory Electronic Logging Device mandate to take place in December 2019, that will require all commercial transport truck drivers to install an electronic log that will keep track of their hours of service. The Ontario government introduced legislation for a mandatory entry level training program consisting of 103.5 in-class hours of training for all class-A licence applicants in Ontario. The legislation was put into place in order to improve safety standards on Canada and Ontario’s roads regarding trucking incidents. Although the legislation will improve safety on Canada’s roads, the legislation largely ignores the fact that it creates more barriers for current truck drivers and for prospective truck drivers wishing to enter the field. This will negatively affect the current shortage of truck drivers in North America and more specifically, Windsor-Essex.
The purpose of this paper is to predict how the legislation will negatively affect the current shortage of truck drivers. The question being investigated is: how will new legislation (Electronic Logging Devices and Mandatory Entry Level Training for Class-A licence applicants in Ontario) effect the current truck driver shortage that is being experienced in Windsor-Essex? The paper will then provide possible policy recommendations to minimize these effects and it is hoped this research will inform policymakers and others of the effects of this legislation.
Primary Advisor
Lydia Miljan
Co-Advisor
Joanna Sweet
Program Reader
Lydia Miljan
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Political Science
Document Type
Internship Paper