The Alberta Motor Transport Association (AMTA) is welcoming the 2025 federal budget as a major step toward ending the Driver Inc. misclassification scheme. For years, some trucking companies have avoided taxes, workers’ compensation, and labour standards by forcing drivers to incorporate while still controlling their work like employees. Budget 2025 changes this by committing new funding, restoring T4A enforcement, enabling formal data-sharing between the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), and embedding misclassification as a core federal enforcement priority.
These measures arrive as Federal and Provincial inspection blitzes continue to reveal widespread non-compliance. Nationally, ESDC is finding misclassification in roughly 40% of commercial transportation employers inspected, with an Edmonton blitz recently showing about 50% non-compliance. Alberta’s own roadside checks have found about one in five drivers operating under Driver Inc-type arrangements. This undermines safety, workers’ rights, and fair competition, especially for compliant fleets that invest in proper training, benefits, and payroll practices.
Alberta is already emerging as an early enforcement partner, with joint operations involving provincial commercial vehicle enforcement, Alberta Sheriffs, provincial labour officials, and federal ESDC teams using inspection stations to identify misclassification in real time. With Budget 2025 unlocking CRA and ESDC’s full enforcement toolkit, AMTA sees an opportunity for Alberta to lead in coordinated tax, labour, and safety action. Upcoming federal and intergovernmental work—such as the House of Commons TRAN Committee’s 2025 report and CCMTA’s National Safety Code modernization—will further shape the national framework.
AMTA plans to support this transition by working with Federal and Provincial partners on practical enforcement strategies, expanding joint inspections, and providing carriers with guidance on compliant employment models, new T4A expectations, and procurement best practices.