'When you gotta go, you gotta go:' Eastern Ontario truck drivers welcome proposed legislation allowing delivery workers to access bathrooms
A proposed new Ontario law may soon bring relief to those working behind the wheel.
The Ontario government will introduce legislation that would allow delivery workers access to bathrooms at businesses where they are delivering or picking up items.
Roland LaFlamme has been driving a truck for 50 years; but, with businesses restricting access during the pandemic, drivers like him don’t always have somewhere to, 'go.'
"Especially on that highway, here, on (Highway) 17," LaFlamme says. "After Pembroke, there’s no other place we can stop for a washroom."
The legislation, if passed, will apply to couriers, truck drivers, and food delivery workers access to washrooms.
"These workers have been there for all of us during the pandemic; we ought to be there for them; it’s time we give these drivers a break," said Minister of Labour, Monte McNaughton at a press conference Wednesday.
"This is something most people in Ontario take for granted but access to washrooms is a matter of common decency currently being denied to hundreds of thousands of workers in this province," McNaughton adds in a statement.
"When you gotta go number two, you think you can hold it?" says truck driver Howard Boudreau, while stopping at the Antrim Truck Stop in Arnprior, Ont. "When you gotta go, you gotta go!"
Boudreau says the pandemic has made life on the road tougher, and welcomes the proposed change.
"It gets frustrating sometimes, it does. I find it insulting at times when clients don’t let you use their washroom."
Steven Artuso just started driving for Uber Eats.
"Well, actually - yesterday during my first day, it was already a concern,” he says, while picking up an order outside of a west Ottawa McDonalds. "So, I’m sure for people doing it for over a year - yeah, that’s definitely a big concern for them. So yeah, I think it should be allowed."
Officials say the proposed legislation will only apply to businesses where workers are picking up or delivering items, and is not applicable to private residences.
The measures came after consultations through the government’s Ontario Workforce Recovery Advisory Committee, in which officials say they learned that delivery workers, including those who work for online platforms such as Uber Eats, are often denied use of washrooms at businesses.
The Ontario Trucking Association said in a statement that they are "thankful" for the proposed legislation.
Officials say that on average 203,700 people in Ontario were working as transport, bus, taxi and delivery drivers in 2020. During that same year, on average 30,800 people in the province worked as mail, couriers, messengers and door-to-door distributors.
With files from CTV News Toronto Multi-Platform Writer Katherine DeClerq
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Maple Leafs fall to Bruins in Game 3, trail series 2-1
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
New Indigenous loan guarantee program a 'really big deal,' Freeland says at Toronto conference
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
'Life was not fair to him': Daughter of N.B. man exonerated of murder remembers him as a kind soul
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.