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A local trucking industry leader is urging Ottawa to clean up what he calls a growing safety and tax problem in Canada’s transportation sector.
Recently, Caledonia-based Kim Richardson, Founder of Kim Richardson Transportation Specialists and Senior Advisor with the Professional Truck Training Alliance of Canada (PTTAC), testified before the federal Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities after being invited by Haldimand–Norfolk MP Leslyn Lewis.
Richardson warned that the controversial “Driver Inc.” model—where companies classify drivers as incorporated contractors rather than employees—has become a serious concern.
“The driver industry is the number one contributor to tax evasion and is growing every day. The misclassified model encourages drivers to use trucks as cash registers with road safety not being a priority,” Richardson said. “It is time to legitimize the profession. It is time to clean up our mess, and it is time for the federal government to step to the plate.”
Lewis commended Richardson’s leadership and said fair, compliant carriers “must not be driven out of business.”
Written by Jeremy Hall