TORONTO, Ont. – The Canadian Trucking Alliance claimed that Canada has no more excuses when it comes to mandating ELDs now that the US has revealed its final rule regarding the matter.

The Alliance claims that for more than a decade it has been lobbying the Canadian governments to introduce a mandate that would require all trucks where the driver is currently required to produce a paper log book in order to monitor compliance with the hours of service regulations to be equipped with an ELD.

“This is a matter of principle for us,” said the CTA’s CEO, David Bradley. “Safety and fair competition is compromised by the continued reliance on an archaic and inefficient paper-based system for monitoring and enforcing what is arguably the single most important of the National Safety Code standards.”

Earlier this year, the previous federal government announced its commitment to moving forward with a Canadian mandate. However, there has been no indication the new Trudeau government will change course on that direction. In addition, Ontario is still the only province to state its commitment to introducing an ELD mandate.

The new US final rule is set to be put into effect by the end of 2017.

“With the publication of the US rule the Canadian governments can no longer claim they need to see what the Americans do before getting down to business here,” said Bradley. “Now we are under the gun and in the situation where we have about 24 months to introduce our own mandate. It’s time for all Canadian governments to declare their support for a Canadian ELD mandate at both the federal and provincial level and to work together, along with industry, to make it happen.”