The Quebec truck drivers’ association says hiring drivers to work in Montreal has become a struggle for many companies, with factors including road conditions and closures contributing to the problem. “Our cost of operation has dramatically increased,” said Marc Cadieux, president of the association. “The road conditions, we break a lot of equipment, suspension, tires.” “The construction, the narrowing of many streets, I don’t despair of the City of Montreal, the lack of space for our trucks to park on the street corners to perform those deliveries.” Taken together, Cadieux said the challenges are enough for many drivers to reconsider working in the city. Fifteen years ago, he said a driver could realistically complete five or six deliveries in a single day. Today, that number is closer to three. “We deliver seven days a week to Provigo, IGA and Metro. They are 53-foot trucks that deliver to Metro and IGA, even in the Plateau-Mont-Royal,” Cadieux noted. Cadieux said he often hears people suggest using smaller trucks or making deliveries at night, but added that neither solution is realistic if the city’s needs are to be met. “You would need six or seven little trucks to do the same performance of a 53-footer. So no, these stores need a lot of inventory. You don’t deliver to a Canadian Tire. You’re on a rotten old street, with a cube. We’re not set up to receive goods at night,” Cadieux said. “There are no staff in those stores to receive the merchandise. And now when there’s traffic at night, our streets or the highways are narrowed from nine or 10 to one lane.” Cadieux’s comments paint a picture of the challenges facing one of the backbone industries of the local economy.
