Surface Transportation

Laskowski said the issue is tied to broader concerns involving driver safety, immigration fraud, forced labor and organized cargo theft, but Tejpreet Dulat, spokesperson for the Canada Truck Operators Association( CTOA), said many immigrant drivers prefer being an independent contractor because it allows them to choose when to work, which loads they haul and which carriers they serve. This argument echoes the debate in California surrounding AB5, which reshaped the rules governing employee versus contractor status.

“ We see the gig economy now; the new generation is taking over the trucking industry,” Dulat said.“ The gig economy workers want to manage their own schedules. Some truck drivers have young families. They prefer shorter routes because they want to be back home on the second or third day. If they work on the payroll, they don’ t have this luxury.”

“ Whether you are an immigrant driver or are Canadian born, you have to follow the same driving rules.”

The CTOA supports lifting the moratorium on issuing T4As but is concerned that many small carriers need additional time to establish payroll systems required under the new rules. As of March 2, carriers paying more than $ 500 to an independent contractor must issue a T4A or face financial penalties. The CTOA also supports stronger safety and training standards across the trucking industry.

“ Whether you are an immigrant driver or are Canadian born, you have to follow the same driving rules,” Dulat said.“ There should be no compromise on strong safety standards. Road safety is very important.”

There are also political dimensions to the dispute between the two trucking groups.

Dulat, who joined the CTOA last December, is a donor to Canada’ s Liberal Party and to Carney, according to the Journal de Montréal. Xavier Barsalou-Duval, a Quebec member of Parliament who has raised concerns about the“ Driver Inc.” model, questioned in a December letter whether Dulat’ s position could influence the pace of reforms.

Canada’ s House of Commons Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities last month concluded a series of hearings examining the“ Driver Inc.” matter. The committee is preparing a report, entitled The Changing Landscape of Truck Drivers in Canada, that is due to be published this spring and will propose policy recommendations to Parliament.

Canada’ s Council of Ministers Responsible for Transportation and Highway Safety, which includes Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon, agreed last month to stricter enforcement of driver classification, tax compliance, and safety and training standards in the country’ s commercial trucking industry.

email: ari. ashe @ spglobal. com

Capacity cuts, fuel shocks provide openings for trucking and rail

By Ari Ashe

The tightening of truckload capacity and a sharp rise in diesel prices are beginning to reset surface transportation rates in the US, giving carriers renewed leverage while opening a potential growth opportunity for intermodal rail.

Crackdowns on non-domiciled commercial drivers and stricter English-language enforcement are constraining truckload capacity after a four-year freight recession. Meanwhile, diesel prices have surged to their highest level since late 2022 amid the war with Iran, lifting transportation costs for all and forcing shippers to reassess their budgets.

It has started a cascading effect across domestic US transportation, as brokers and asset-based truckload carriers reject freight and insist on renegotiating contract rates, while shippers facing blown transportation budgets consider cheaper options such as intermodal rail.

“ In the overall dry-van market, you’ re seeing 14 %, 15 % tender rejections coming out of the slowest freight month of the year.”

Early signs of that repricing are already evident. Spot truckload rates are up between 15 % and 20 % from a year ago, according to DAT Freight & Analytics, even as freight demand remains muted amid elevated interest rates, a lackluster housing market, and mixed signals from the US industrial sector.“ Not only are you seeing elevated rates across other modalities such as flatbed, but in the overall dry-van market, you’ re seeing 14 %, 15 % tender rejections coming out of the slowest freight month of the year,” said Jared Weisfeld, chief strategy officer for RXO, a non-asset broker, speaking at the March 17 J. P. Morgan Industrials Conference, and added that, as recently as last year, tender rejections were at or less than 5 %.

The supply side could tighten further as new federal regulations take hold. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration( FCMSA) enacted a rule mid-March restricting non-domiciled commercial driver’ s licenses( CDLs), a move the agency estimates could remove up to 194,000 drivers over five years.

A few days later, the US House of Representatives advanced“ Dalilah’ s Law,” which would accelerate enforcement over non-domiciled CDLs by retroactively invalidating certain licenses, rather than waiting for a non-domiciled CDL holder to interact with state licensing agencies.

30 Journal of Commerce | April 6, 2026 www. joc. com