Transportation Exchange presented by Rush Truck Centres of Canada
Apr 23, 2026 · 30 min · 8 segments
Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Mike Millian, President of the Private Motor Truck Council of Canada, returns to discuss the latest regulatory developments shaping the Canadian trucking industry…
Mike MillianGuestJason CuddyHostYeah, and an interesting part of it, which ties into kind of my next conversation with you, was as far as the economic conditions, it's been challenging, I think, to put it nicely, for everybody, not just the trucking, but everyone.
But obviously, by enforcing the regulations as they're written with regards to driver classification, this then... should level out the playing field for all the fleets as they're competing for business.
Obviously, private fleets structure a little bit differently than for higher fleets.
But in theory, when you have misclassified drivers, obviously, you know, your cost of running is different than if you're following regulations.
So this actually, as we're in challenging economic times and as hopefully gets better, this will hopefully level the playing field with all the carriers as they go forward.
And I mean, the standard number that you hear is that fleets that misclassify their drivers and pay them as independent contractors are saving roughly 30%.
um because of you know they're not playing they don't have to pay vacation time they don't have to play long-term short-term disability they don't have to pay payroll taxes etc etc they don't have pensions etc like some companies do so the 30 is just basically on payroll remittances my arguments would be they're even saving more than 30 because not all of them do this but Most of these fleets that are misclassifying their drivers are also the same fleets that have been found to be underpaying drivers, way below industry standards, withholding pay, not following safety practices that other fleets do as well.
I'm not saying there isn't some misclassified fleets out there that operate safely.
And there's fleets out there who are properly classifying their drivers who aren't operating safely.
So we're generalizing if we're saying at all, but I mean, studies have proven that fleets have misclassified have a higher prevalency of not following safety rules, not keeping their equipment up to date, not paying drivers properly.
So they're probably even saving more than 30% because of all the other practices
We are also seeing, because of what's been going on in the industry and the economy hasn't been good, we're seeing banks pull back.
I mean, they're pulling back big time and basically getting out of this because we've seen some pretty big fleets that have been just walking away from assets.
And now you're seeing in the court system after what happened with with pride group there a year or so ago where a bunch of lenders were left holding the bag and then a federal judge basically let them buy it back for 30 million dollars and go run it again while they never paying their debts off what we're seeing now with rulings is we saw it with light speed logistics you've seen it with a few since then is the um the banks and the courts are coming in and say, no, that's it.
And there's less banks want to do business with fleets that they feel may be misclassifying drivers.
I think that's going to have to change as well as banks or lenders are starting to look more into the whole of your operations, just not safety and compliance, but also labor practices, et cetera, before they're, They're going to lend you money.
Yeah, and an interesting part of it, which ties into kind of my next conversation with you, was as far as the economic conditions, it's been challenging, I think, to put it nicely, for everybody, not just the trucking, but everyone.
But obviously, by enforcing the regulations as they're written with regards to driver classification, this then... should level out the playing field for all the fleets as they're competing for business.
Obviously, private fleets structure a little bit differently than for higher fleets.
But in theory, when you have misclassified drivers, obviously, you know, your cost of running is different than if you're following regulations.
So this actually, as we're in challenging economic times and as hopefully gets better, this will hopefully level the playing field with all the carriers as they go forward.
And I mean, the standard number that you hear is that fleets that misclassify their drivers and pay them as independent contractors are saving roughly 30%.
um because of you know they're not playing they don't have to pay vacation time they don't have to play long-term short-term disability they don't have to pay payroll taxes etc etc they don't have pensions etc like some companies do so the 30 is just basically on payroll remittances my arguments would be they're even saving more than 30 because not all of them do this but Most of these fleets that are misclassifying their drivers are also the same fleets that have been found to be underpaying drivers, way below industry standards, withholding pay, not following safety practices that other fleets do as well.
I'm not saying there isn't some misclassified fleets out there that operate safely.
And there's fleets out there who are properly classifying their drivers who aren't operating safely.
So we're generalizing if we're saying at all, but I mean, studies have proven that fleets have misclassified have a higher prevalency of not following safety rules, not keeping their equipment up to date, not paying drivers properly.
So they're probably even saving more than 30% because of all the other practices
We are also seeing, because of what's been going on in the industry and the economy hasn't been good, we're seeing banks pull back.
I mean, they're pulling back big time and basically getting out of this because we've seen some pretty big fleets that have been just walking away from assets.
And now you're seeing in the court system after what happened with with pride group there a year or so ago where a bunch of lenders were left holding the bag and then a federal judge basically let them buy it back for 30 million dollars and go run it again while they never paying their debts off what we're seeing now with rulings is we saw it with light speed logistics you've seen it with a few since then is the um the banks and the courts are coming in and say, no, that's it.
And there's less banks want to do business with fleets that they feel may be misclassifying drivers.
I think that's going to have to change as well as banks or lenders are starting to look more into the whole of your operations, just not safety and compliance, but also labor practices, et cetera, before they're, They're going to lend you money.
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