Hi Chaps
Which truck drivers have it better US or Canadian truck drivers across the pond when it comes to pay terms and conditions?
What about cabotage, is it working in favour of US or Canadian truckers?
Would it be better if cabotage was lifted in N America between Canada and the US?
Just curious
Looking at most of the North American topics it looks as though there’s an in balance in traffic in Canada’s favour ?.So it would logically follow that Canada would also gain more from the lifting of cabotage restrictions.Which leaves the big question what about allowing Mexican cabotage operations in both Canada and US and also hauling US-Canadian traffic.Bearing in mind that both were keen enough on us staying in the EU. 
on youtube videos they - canadian and us drivers, all say US pays more and better truckstop services and coverage etc…
It depends what you want in life ? In the USA the pay seems a bit higher and you may be home more often but you have virtually no job security, the health care system is a disgrace, the taxes you pay are astronomical and you get basically nothing in return. I live and work in the USA but have more friends who are British ex pats driving in Canada who seem far better of than me, I find life in the USA a struggle and although my pay is mostly far higher than my Canadian counterpart they seem to far better off financially.
I can’t comment on the USA as Pat is the only driver I know there but here in Canada if you can find the right job you can make good money and also the healthcare is a lot better than the states too. We have a good standard of living but are far from rich, that said, our material goods and housing is of a lot higher standard than we could afford living in the uk
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So, who do you guys think would benefit if cabotage restrictions between Canadian trucking companies and US trucking companies were lifted.
I’ve seen recently an article about Canadian drivers complaining about US taking Canadian loads and delivering them within Canada, and being sent by their companies from the US to do this particular job.
From what I’m seeing on YT it looks like US drivers are better paid per mile, and have more choice of getting the right loads as the US is a much larger country than Canada in terms of population, more densely populated, there would be more jobs that would allow the driver to plan his home time more efficiently, or am I wrong?
@rsjjp Are these good trucking jobs readily available, or are they difficult to find, especially now when the oil patch no longer employ as many drivers and doesn’t pay as well as it used to, due to the low oil prices and all the fires that engulfed Fort Mc Murray a few weeks ago, probably destroying a lot of infrastructure ( I could be wrong here)?
The big thing that is hitting my wage packet at the moment is the exchange rate. $200 US costs me $270 Canadian. So my 44 cents per mile earns me 34 cents per mile in US currency. It hardly makes it worthwhile to go South. Things are a bit cheaper in the US but not that much.
I don’t think I know many who don’t reload in the US for Canada ? I do know that in all the times I have delivered to Canada I have always returned empty.
on the lifting of cabotage rules…that instead of a lot of USA drivers that wander around the country for months on end before getting home ,Canadian drivers just go down south tip and load back for Canada now imo and speaking to Canadian cradles they like this way as they can have a "home"life rather than roaming around north America ,now if you were single you might love this idea but the so called driver shortage in Canada would probably get worse as most young yins don’t want this life and to be honest some “coolie carrier” companies take the p as it is without lifting the rules.
JIMBO47:
on the lifting of cabotage rules…that instead of a lot of USA drivers that wander around the country for months on end before getting home ,Canadian drivers just go down south tip and load back for Canada now imo and speaking to Canadian cradles they like this way as they can have a "home"life rather than roaming around north America ,now if you were single you might love this idea but the so called driver shortage in Canada would probably get worse as most young yins don’t want this life and to be honest some “coolie carrier” companies take the p as it is without lifting the rules.
Been there, done that, away from home for a month at a time, I was self employed, got a call from Foodliner and quit, got out of the truck in Albany NY and the other English guy carried on, I made more money working 5 days a week and getting home all weekend and twice a week than a week self employed.
Cabotage could be useful in some cases, you often have a 500 mile deadhead from delivery to pick up, so a load between those points would bring in extra revenue. However for an employed driver that could be a pain as it would add time to a trip and only pay them the extra for another pick up and delivery as they would be getting paid the miles anyway.
Personally I’d like to see it stay as it is, we all know how bad the UK and Europe have become since the relaxation of Cabotage rules, we don’t want any of that malarkey over here thank you very much.
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newmercman:
we all know how bad the UK and Europe have become since the relaxation of Cabotage rules, we don’t want any of that malarkey over here thank you very much.
It’s not so much the issue of all out unrestricted cabotage ( yet ).It’s more like the analogy of Mexican operations being able to haul USA/Canadian traffic.With that situation then extended to allowing them to do unlimited internal US or Canadian work too in the near future. 
There was a pilot program allowing Mexican trucks to run into the US, the same as Canadian trucks, in and back out.
Only a handful of trucks actually entered the program and none of them were hire and reward operations.
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newmercman:
There was a pilot program allowing Mexican trucks to run into the US, the same as Canadian trucks, in and back out.Only a handful of trucks actually entered the program and none of them were hire and reward operations.
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I’m not surprised I wouldn’t want to upset the teamsters on their own turf either. But there’s obviously more to it behind the scenes than the bs headline government misinformation.
teamster.org/magazine/2015/wint … can-trucks
While to be fair Mexico-US traffic only isn’t exactly the same freedom which East Euros have under EU regs.Which as I said would also include US/Canadian traffic.
A Canadian truck can pick up and deliver in the USA, as long as the load is for a destination outside the USA.
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kin trigger finger lol 
newmercman:
A Canadian truck can pick up and deliver in the USA, as long as the load is for a destination outside the USA.Sent from my SM-G900W8 using Tapatalk
also if the driver is a united states citizen in a canadian truck.,and also status card native American of over 50%bloodline with bloodline card from band (works boths way USA native can do this in Canada.)… this is 100% correct. as I used to team drive with USA citizen ,I could drive Canada -USA drop,but not allowed to be behind wheel on an internal move only the load back north.Was 2 native drivers at firm as well that spent most of the time on USA internal work in Canadian motor.
US trucks are also allowed to do a couple of internal shunts in Canada.
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newmercman:
US trucks are also allowed to do a couple of internal shunts in Canada.Sent from my SM-G900W8 using Tapatalk
Indeed. A US company just over the border from us over in Maine often load at McCains in Florenceville, NB for Portage la Prairie and Carberry, Manitoba.
newmercman:
US trucks are also allowed to do a couple of internal shunts in Canada.Sent from my SM-G900W8 using Tapatalk
My company have run shuttles from Niagara (on the Canadian side) to Toronto for up to a week to keep a bakery supplied with sugar.