441-02242 (Employment and labour)

Whereas:

Safety is the primary concern for every transport driver across Canada;

These professional drivers navigate Canada's road network 24 hours a day, 365 days per year, serving as the backbone of our economy; and

Owner/operators in Canada's Transportation industry find themselves at the mercy of unscrupulous operations across the country. Transport contracts are traded by operations that offer no value to consumers before ultimately being assigned to owner/operators.

Therefore: We, the undersigned citizens of Canada, call upon the Government of Canada to study, amend, and create legislation that will create safer driving, working, and long-term economic conditions for transport drivers;

We call upon the Government of Canada to work with all provinces and territories to facilitate the establishment of a Transport Driver Bill of Rights, which would include:

• The establishment of transparent contracts for industry members including all transaction details;

• Owner/operators right to access load freight rates from brokerage or contractors;

• Establishing minimum rates per kilometer of travel with annual review processes;

• Mandate layover, downtime, and load cancellation fees to be paid to owner/operators by the shipper or broker according to the expenses;

• Mandate access to washrooms at any business where goods are delivered or washrooms are available to staff or patrons;

• Determine the fines or penalties that shippers will incur for failing to firmly secure their cargo in the motor vehicle;

• Determine the fines or penalties that shippers will incur if cargo is overweight on the axle;

• Determine the cap on brokerage fee; and

We call upon the Government of Canada to work with provinces and territories to twin the Trans-Canada Highway and mandate rest stations (with washrooms) across the country for the safety and wellbeing of drivers.