Ontario Premier Doug Ford answers questions at the briefing at Queen's Park in Toronto on June 29, 2020.Two years into a violent turf war between Toronto-area tow truck drivers, Ontario Premier Doug Ford has pledged to increase enforcement and strengthen standards governing the troubled industry.
A Globe and Mail investigation in February reported that the turf war has been playing out across the GTA for two years. More than 50 trucks have been set on fire, at least four men with ties to the industry have been killed and a law firm shut down after two arsons and a daytime shooting as operators compete for bigger slices of a lucrative segment of the industry known as collision towing or accident-chasing.
Towing industry stakeholders have pointed to a system in which police require vehicle owners to take the first available tow as a way to clear the roads quickly as a root cause of the turf wars – arguing that this could be resolved with towing contracts, or a vetted rotation list. Mr. Gagne, who is also president of Abrams Towing, a 200-truck operation in Southern Ontario, has been advocating for reform of the “first-available” system for many years. “That’s the only way you’re going to fix the problem,” he said. “It’s an opportunistic system that exploits consumers and the insurance industry.”
The task force hopes to complete consultations this summer, and introduce legislative or regulatory changes as early as the fall.
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