Fall Newsletter – 2019
Eastern Canada
Earlier this month our eastern director Mike Burstall and Rejean Breton President of the ADPQ attended a meeting organized by Andrew Akers in New Brunswick. The meeting held in the Dineen auditorium at the University of New Brunswick. 
The meeting was held to draw attention to a recent spate of deaths of tow truck drivers and to lobby the government for move-over laws for tow trucks. Andrew Akers co-owner of Capital Towing says he hopes the new Progressive Conservative Government will pass legislation to include the towing industry in the move-over laws. The question then becomes WHY is it taking so long for all of the provinces and territories to adopt a law that saves lives? In Ontario we lost another driver needlessly struck on the side of the road about a month ago. As it is our responsibility to ensure we are safe we must ask, why the police are not doing more in enforcing the Slow Down, Move Over law? Why do we have to lose even one driver, one policeman or one fireman so needlessly?
Ontario
Fire bombings and shootings at a law office, close to twenty tow trucks burned, two tow truck operators shot and killed and multiple beatings and knifings on the roadsides of Ontario’s highways. Even Montreal tow truck companies have been subject to the same treatment. Sound fictitious maybe, but it’s not! Accident chasing and turf wars reign supreme. This is truly emblematic of what’s happening in Ontario and is coming to an area near you!
In Ontario it appears the government is starting to pay attention to our voices that something must be done with Highway Traffic Incident Management and reigning in those that choose to abuse. An ongoing consultation with the many stakeholders is happening and hopefully it will eventually bare some fruit. We will keep our members posted on this issue.
London Ontario has also been the subject of chasing over the last few years and currently the City of London is preparing to enact an Anti-Chasing Bylaw that will allow for huge fines if caught soliciting a tow or parking a tow truck within 200 meters without permission. We will provide more on this once the bylaw is passed.
Central and Western Canada
The Edmonton Tow Show took place at Black
Jacks Roadhouse in Nisku Alberta on August 24th. Over eighty tow trucks and half a dozen antique tow trucks showed up all polished and gleaming. The trucks included light, medium and heavy duty tow trucks plus a large variety of traffic management vehicles. The show and shine was difficult to judge due to the number of fabulous trucks on display.
Doug Nelson Executive Director of the Canadian Towing Association attended from Ontario and presented a computer program developed to calculate the true cost of vehicle storage. A well
attended roundup dinner followed with a fabulous dinner of Alberta Beef. Sunday morning was set aside for a board meeting to discuss the success of the show and other future initiatives.
All in all the show was very well attended and everyone had a great time. Kudo’s to the Alberta Towing Association for hosting such a great event!
The winners of the Show and Shine are as follows:
Antique – Tofield Towing 1954 GMC
Light duty – Cliff’s Towing 2018 Ram 5500
Medium Duty – Trio Towing 2017 Freightliner
Carrier – Tofield Towing 2001 Volvo
Heavy Duty – Cliff’s Towing 2006 Peterbilt
Accident Chasing
The migration of these horrific chasing incidents affecting the towing industry has begun. It has left Ontario and made its way west traveling up the Trans-Canada Highway into North Western Ontario, crossing into Manitoba and proceeded on the Trans-Canada Highway into eastern and central Saskatchewan through to Alberta.
Heavy towing is the costliest of all towing services but make no mistake about it light-duty can be just as expensive due to abusive tactics. Towers chasing these heavy recoveries submit invoices for astronomical amounts far and above the norm and will do whatever is necessary to convince law enforcement or the drivers of the vehicles that they were called or that the police ordered them to perform the recovery. In many cases they commit fraud by falsely stating the vehicle owner requested them. Unfortunately, this dishonest practice pulls the honest operators into the “Guilty by Association” syndrome and affects everyone.
By participating in a National Association we could address this as a nationwide problem.
In Canada we have tens of thousands of not-for-profit associations that employ full time directors to lead the push for sensible regulations. The absence of such for the towing industry has been holding us back for decades. It is time to organize and get our proverbial act together. We need your voice and we need your opinion.
Join our ranks today and be part of the movement. Just watch what we can do to elevate the voices of the tow professional. It is as easy as going to our website at www.ctagroup.ca. Print the application, complete it and email to doug@ctagroup.ca or fax to 705-645-0017.
If you have questions or concerns about joining feel free to contact your local board of director or the Executive Director for more information. Contact information is also on the website.
We look forward to hearing your voice!
Best wishes for a happy and safe holiday season.
Mike Burstall, Joey Gagne, Nick Roscoe, Guy Huta
Doug Nelson, Executive Director