Canada's trucking industry is entering a dangerous era, with illegal truck yards proliferating and safety violations persisting despite regulatory efforts, according to John Snobelen, a former Ontario cabinet minister and trucking business owner. Writing in the Toronto Sun, Snobelen argues that the regulatory framework is failing because Canadian culture, particularly in trucking, has shifted toward a reckless disregard for the law.
Illegal truck yards plague Caledon
Snobelen highlights the ongoing problems in Caledon, Ontario, where hundreds of illegal truck depots operate on agricultural land. Companies buy small acreages, dump stone, and create cheap parking areas for trucks and trailers without oil interceptors or traffic controls. The town has responded with inspections, task forces, citations, and fines, but illegal yards continue to spring 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,” Snobelen writes. Companies with a history of not paying legal wages to foreign workers still seek and get permission to hire more foreign workers.
Regulatory framework inadequate
Snobelen reflects on his own experience building a trucking business, noting that compliance was once a standard cost of doing business. “Buying the land for that project wasn’t cheap and the process of acquiring the permits to build was eye-opening,” he recalls. He describes a mandatory “parks” donation to the city as a “shakedown” but acknowledges that zoning ensures safer operations.
Now, however, “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.”
Jail time needed instead of fines
Snobelen calls for more rigorous laws to meet the demands of those who value avoidance over compliance. “Think jail time instead of fines,” he writes. He notes that even Prime Minister Mark Carney understands that “nostalgia is not a strategy.”
The article concludes that the trucking business is a mess and government regulators, despite increased efforts, cannot control it. “We aren’t going back,” Snobelen warns.
