Truckers plan morning slowdowns on Champlain Bridge and Lafontaine Tunnel to protest training

Truckers are planning Monday morning convoys to protest weak training standards and lax enforcement in Quebec’s trucking industry.

Commuters could face delays Monday morning as truckers plan to slow traffic on the Champlain Bridge and Lafontaine Tunnel in protest of what they call lax training standards and weak enforcement in Quebec’s trucking industry.

“This has been approved with [Quebec provincial police] (SQ) and engineers to make sure that we can drive on the road that we are asking for,” said protest coordinator Steve Bourgeois.

“They ask us to do it for security matters, for emergencies. People can still go to work. The left lane will always be available.”

Professional truckers are protesting in reaction to an increase in tragic road accidents involving 18-wheelers. They blame the problem on new drivers with poor training and inadequate licences.

“These drivers were getting poor training and were obtaining their driver’s permit through suspicious channels with the authorities,” said Marc Cadieux with the Quebec Trucking Association.

Truck drivers, he explained, are not required to take driving courses. All they have to do is pass Quebec’s auto insurance board (Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec - SAAQ) driving test.

Requirements can be even lower in other provinces, a problem compounded by a court decision that ruled road inspectors no longer have the authority to stop drivers outside weight stations, leaving the SQ to do a job they were not trained for.

“The absence of control in Quebec, which I would call the sheriff of our industry, has now created an atmosphere — and I’m not happy to qualify it — but it’s like the Far West,” Cadieux said.

These truckers, he added, earn much lower wages than traditional truckers, undercutting their business.

The SAAQ says it is aware of the issue and is currently working on a new legal framework.

“The Sureté du Québec also has the power to intercept heavy trucks and enforce transport regulations (…) In the meantime, the SAAQ is reviewing how it will establish new rules,” the board said in a statement.

Until new safety measures are in place, truckers say they will conduct pressure tactics regularly.

The various convoys are expected to slow traffic in Gatineau, Quebec City, Trois-Rivières, Laval, the North Shore, and the greater Montreal area.