Provincial transport minister wants suspension or cancellation of a carrier's safety certificate to apply across Canada
The British Columbia transport minister is calling for a unified truck safety system that would hold trucking companies accountable for their violations across provinces.
In a letter to federal transport minister Pablo Rodriguez on Monday, Rob Fleming noted as an example a company involved in an overpass crash on Highway 99 last month, according to a CBC report.
Fleming promised to levy "the toughest fines in the country" on the company following that incident, according to a separate CBC story.
Chohan’s B.C. fleet was taken off the road. The company’s trucks have struck overpasses six times in two years, according to Fleming. That accounts for nearly one in five of the province's 31 overpass crashes recorded since December 2021.
These crashes are "a supreme source of frustration," Fleming said.
"We have 100,000 truck movements every day, about 3 million a month, 36 million a year in B.C., so 31 crashes with a high impact, we ought to be able to get this down… close to 0."
However, because it's part of a group that also has a fleet in Alberta, those trucks are still allowed to work in B.C., he noted. That’s because the suspension or cancellation of a carrier's safety certificate in one jurisdiction doesn't affect their operations that are based in another.
"Because if the company is headquartered in another province and they haven't committed those kinds of offences in that particular province, [other provinces] can take note of it, but we can't co-ordinate with other provinces and we wish to do that," Fleming said, according to the CBC report.
He wants that to be discussed in the next meeting of transport ministers.
The letter follows a series of incidents involving commercial trucks or their cargo slamming into highway overpasses.
Rodriguez’s office, meanwhile, showed some interest in the issue.
"Safety is always our highest priority," press secretary Laura Scaffidi said in an email to CBC. "We have great collaboration between our two governments, and Minister Rodriguez looks forward to meeting with the province on this issue."
