The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and the Labour Program at Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) have signed a new information-sharing arrangement to enhance enforcement and compliance in the federally regulated road transportation industry.
The agreement, announced Friday by National Revenue Minister Élisabeth Brière and Employment Minister Steven MacKinnon, will allow the CRA to access relevant data from the Labour Program to support its existing compliance activities. The move is aimed at improving oversight in an industry where concerns over worker misclassification, wage theft, and tax non-compliance have been ongoing issues.
“This arrangement represents the first step toward a broader information-sharing framework that will maximize compliance and enforcement efforts by both the CRA and the Labour Program,” Brière and MacKinnon said in a joint statement.
The initiative, introduced as part of Budget 2024, is part of the federal government’s broader strategy to ensure workers receive proper labour protections under the Canada Labour Code while enforcing tax obligations under the Income Tax Act.
Worker misclassification—where employees are improperly categorized as independent contractors—has been a persistent issue in the trucking sector, often leading to denied workplace protections and lost tax revenue. The government said the new arrangement will help address such issues by enabling better coordination between tax and labour enforcement bodies.
The CRA noted that the agreement aligns with its existing compliance efforts, including the personal services business (PSB) pilot project, which examined business practices in certain industries and provided education on tax obligations. Findings from the latest phase of the PSB pilot were recently published by the CRA.
Officials said the agreement will help maintain fairness in the trucking industry by ensuring all businesses operate on a level playing field. “By sharing data effectively, we are not only upholding integrity but also reinforcing our commitment to fostering a fair and equitable trucking industry,” the statement said.
