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Ontario scraps Drive Clean to focus on trucks
TORONTO, ONTARIO
Ontario scrapped the Drive Clean pas- senger vehicle program last month. Starting April 1, 2019, drivers will no longer need to get Drive Clean emis- sions tests for their passenger vehi- cles. The government of Ontario says this move is saving taxpayers up to $40 million a year. In lieu of Drive Clean, a new program that will focus on the biggest polluting vehi- cles, like commercial trucks, will be put in place.
The provincial government also said the reason behind this cancella- tion was that “auto industry standards have significantly improved since the program was created in 1999 making this program no longer necessary.”
Owners of vehicles will still be required to make sure their vehi- cle emissions systems are operating properly. The ministry added that it will be strengthening its on-road inspections to ensure owners are properly maintaining their vehicle emissions systems.
The Ontario Trucking Associa- tion (OTA) is welcoming the govern- ment consultations on anti-tamper- ing enforcement and environmental incentives.
The province of Ontario recently announced a consultation process to redesign a heavy truck emissions control program, which will include stronger roadside enforcement of anti-tampering regulations, as well as potential incentives for purchasing trucking environmental equipment.
The Environmental Registry Notice says the objective of the review is to develop an effective heavy truck test- ing program, while balancing the need to reduce the regulatory burden on impacted transport industries.
“The (Doug) Ford government has established an excellent tone in policy and direction for how this review is to be conducted,” said OTA president Stephen Laskowski. “The outcome of a fair and level playing field program that reduces regula- tory tape for the trucking industry is very much in alignment with the objectives of OTA.”
The OTA plans to work with the province to determine how current MTO enforcement policies and pro- grams can be better utilized with regards to environmental matters. It would like to see emissions system tampering be eliminated.
“Getting this technology out of our industry would be a significant vic- tory for competitive fairness. OTA looks forward to working with the Ministry of Environment on tack- ling this important issue through the development of an effective program that levels the playing field without introducing an unnecessary regula- tory burden for the vast majority of compliant carriers,” said Laskowski.
Heavy trucks will be targeted once Ontario scraps Drive Clean for pas- senger vehicles.
The association says it is also encouraged about a potential incen- tive program that woud reward fleets that buy leading-edge environmental equipment technologies. TN

November 2018 • Truck News 15