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Canada issues hours-of-service exemption for COVID-19 relief

Directive from Transport Canada has similarities to the U.S. HOS waiver — but with more rules, including a requirement for carriers to provide notice in advance.

Canada's hours-of-service exemption applies to specific kinds of freight directly supporting COVID-19 relief efforts. (Image: Nate Tabak/FreightWaves)

Truck drivers moving essential freight through Canada’s provinces for COVID-19 relief will be exempt from hours-of-service (HOS) requirements provided that carriers give advance notice, according to a directive from the Canadian government.

The exemption, issued by Transport Canada on Tuesday, applies to federally regulated carriers operating outside of their home province. It has similarities to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration HOS waiver in the U.S. but with comparatively strict rules about how it can be applied.

“From our perspective, we don’t expect it to be used that often. This is an emergency measure,” Steve Laskowski, president of the Canadian Trucking Alliance, told FreightWaves.

The temporary exemption came into effect Tuesday as the number of confirmed or likely cases of COVID-19 continued to climb rapidly in Canada, reaching about 2,600. Meanwhile, Canada’s largest provinces, Ontario and Quebec, ordered the temporary closure of nonessential businesses by midnight Tuesday — with transportation and logistics firms exempt.


Freight covered by the exemption includes medical supplies and equipment related to the diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19, supplies for community safety such as hand sanitizer and gloves, and food and other goods for the emergency restocking of stores and distribution centers. It does not apply to mixed loads.

A key difference is that carriers must notify their home province’s HOS director in advance of any operations that do not comply with the existing regulations. Carriers must also disclose the vehicles involved and their license plate numbers in addition to the names of the drivers and their license numbers.

The directive requires that carriers keep detailed records of the operations exceeding HOS as well.

The exemption only applies to federally regulated carriers. The Canadian Trucking Alliance said provinces may introduce exemptions for carriers that operate within their borders.


8 Comments

  1. Noble1

    And so it begins in Canada ! More draconian measures being implemented . No surprise , but it’s taking them time to do so ,IMHO

    Quote :

    Border Restrictions for All Travelers from Outside New Brunswick

    Beginning Wednesday, restrictions will be implemented for all travellers arriving in New Brunswick from outside the province. Interprovincial travellers, like international travellers, will need to self-isolate for 14 days.

    All unnecessary travel into New Brunswick is prohibited, and peace officers are authorized to turn away visitors when they attempt to enter.

    “We must do all we can to prevent and reduce the spread of COVID-19 in New Brunswick,” said Premier Blaine Higgs. “We are implementing screening at interprovincial borders. Regardless of where you are, we urge you to avoid any non-essential travel.”

    Travellers entering the province from Quebec, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia will be stopped by peace officers and required to produce identification. Contact information and intended destinations are being collected and tracked for all travellers, including those travelling through New Brunswick to another province.

    Like measures at the Canada-United States border, commercial traffic and essential employees will be exempt so that services are maintained and critical supplies can continue to move across provincial boundaries unimpeded. Police officers, firefighters, paramedics and members of the military will also be exempt from these measures.”

    1. Noble1

      Now check out what this grocer is doing due to their ill management concerning an increase in consumer deliver service demand .

      Quote: Grocery deliveries delayed as demand surges amid COVID-19 pandemic

      ” Metro is trying to hire more staff to meet the surge, she said.
      Meanwhile, the company is asking that people who are capable of shopping at stores to do so.”

      Then we have Loblaw CEO Galen Weston that states , quote :

      “He asked “healthy, mobile and symptom-free” shoppers to come into stores.”

      Wow !

      In other words due to their lack of organization to meet increased grocery delivery demand by the isolated , sick , and PRUDENT consumers , they’re asking for “healthy consumers” to PUT THEMSELVES AT RISK and go to their stores physically to shop for their “essentials” !

      What should we respond to such negligence ?

      These grocers still send out flyers every week to consumers at their door which advertises their weekly specials .
      In response to the COVID-19 outbreak and government asking people to stay home in order to prevent being infected and or infecting others , these BIG BOY essential corporations didn’t think to send out a note along with their flyers indicating , ie: that to contribute to such preventive matters for the public’s safety and theirs they will now organize deliveries to residences by postal codes and deliveries will be grouped on a particular day during the week per area ? Then also indicate that people should only displace themselves to their stores for an urgent need that cannot wait until a weekly delivery day/date along with their weekly order .

      No ! Now we’re being asked if we’re healthy to go to their stores in person for our essential needs in order to help them due to their mismanagement concerning their lack of capability to handle and cope with an increase in demand for deliveries during a pandemic that can infect us and potentially lead to our death , LOL !

      WOW !
      Told you , 2020 will be one hell of an eye opener on all sorts of levels involving all sorts of people , issues, businesses , and governments etc .

      COVID-19 has unfortunately became a worldwide pandemic . Are you still wondering why ? Look at how people lack reasoning ! This has nothing to do with their social class . Whether they are in the 1% or mixed throughout the 99% . Some at the top can be just as ignorant as the one’s at the bottom and vice versa .

      In my humble opinion ………….

  2. Noble1

    Quote:

    “From our perspective, we don’t expect it to be used that often. This is an emergency measure,” Steve Laskowski, president of the Canadian Trucking Alliance, told FreightWaves.”

    From your perspective ??? Did your perspective envisage that Driver inc was going to spread as bad as the coronavirus did and is ?

    Did your perspective envisage Motor Carriers teaching and a lot forcing drivers to cheat log books ?

    Did your perspective envisage a bear market ?

    Did your perspective envisage poor truck driver treatment ?

    Did your perspective envisage a glut of truck drivers ?

    I could go on and on ad nauseam with your flawed perspective . Give carriers an inch and they’ll take a mile that’s what I envisage .

    In my humble opinion …………

    1. Stephen Webster

      I would like to see the C T A have plan to make sure all their drivers have a spot to get medical treatment and a hotel room if needed until this C 19 is over. We do not need to have more hours to run in Canada. Many trucking companies have recently reported a large drop in freight in the last 4 days. The Federal Government is going to do nothing when truck drivers get sick. The Ontario government is also sending people back out of the hospitals and told to self isolate on the street or in the truck. I know of 3 truck drivers who had to return the O T A members truck waiting for testing.

      1. Noble1

        Due to the 2 most populated provinces in Canada obligating ALL unessential businesses to shut down completely for 3 weeks during this coronavirus atrocity and management fiasco of it , you’ll see more transportation curtailment in the industry within those provinces which will affect other provinces as well .

        The way Canada has mismanaged this coronavirus outbreak is a complete farce ! As they increase their testing , infected cases will keep on escalating .

        This tells us that there are a lot more infected people than we can imagine at this time . Infected people are no longer simply the one’s that have brought it into Canada from across borders . They are now spreading the virus among one another in the Country . How come ? Because the country wasn’t put in lockdown from the get go . They allowed and still allow people to circulate to buy “essentials” . They “asked” them to self isolate rather than obliged them . A little like asking people who drive to respect the speed limit and remain at safe distances from one another like social distancing . How well has that worked ? LOL !

        Furthermore , Japan stated that they detected the coronavirus on a ship 17 days after it was vacated . Hello remaining on surfaces for only 72 hours as has been reported to the general public .

        That means that each time people go to the grocery store they increase the risk of getting infected due to the virus remaining on surfaces for much longer than what is generally being reported .

        Example:

        Let’s assume that I were to be infected without showing any symptoms . Let’s also assume that I work at a grocery store and place goods on shelves . If the virus is on my hands , then it’s also on the package surface of the goods I placed on the shelves .

        Now let’s assume you come into that grocery store and you touched a contaminated package . Now you definitely have it on your hands .

        Let’s also keep in mind that people will still scratch an itch etc. A while ago I saw someone cough in their inner arm near their elbow as is being taught to do . That person saw an acquaintance of theirs and decided to be preventive and rather than shake hands , tapped elbows , LOL ! The germs from that cough were spread to the other person’s arm .

        Back to the grocery store example : Let’s assume that you are infected with the virus without showing any symptoms . You walk in the grocery store and are interested in X product . So you pick it up and look for the expiry date . You notice it and it doesn’t appeal to you . So you put it back in its place . Now you contaminated the surface of that packaged product . Then someone else comes along and picks it up and puts it in their cart . Voila virus just spread from one to another that fast .

        Now this person decides they’ll go to the pharmacy and pick up some other essentials . Do you see how fast that can spread ? Nobody coughed , simply touching product surfaces .

        So is the current lockdown allowing people to circulate in public places to shop for essentials going to curtail the virus from spreading from one person to another ?

        I’m not paranoid , I’m aware . Whatever the government is doing and has done thus far is not working . The numbers of infected keep on escalating .

        In my humble opinion …………

  3. Peter turner

    Funny how you guys got this .I still haven’t received my notice . I have 40 000 members in canada. And still they don’t invite me to the table or include us in talks.
    I just to take them court to challenge half the crap they put out there.
    It free for because they always lose!
    Lol

  4. Canada secrets

    Cover sheet, ACI, custom’s invoice, bills .paps or pars bar code stickers on them, Your passport , transaction number from customs broker to write on ACI . The shipper is supposed to give you most of this stuff to get into Canada or out of Canada. Your supposed to have your own cover sheet

Comments are closed.

Nate Tabak

Nate Tabak is a Toronto-based journalist and producer who covers cybersecurity and cross-border trucking and logistics for FreightWaves. He spent seven years reporting stories in the Balkans and Eastern Europe as a reporter, producer and editor based in Kosovo. He previously worked at newspapers in the San Francisco Bay Area, including the San Jose Mercury News. He graduated from UC Berkeley, where he studied the history of American policing. Contact Nate at [email protected].