The Provincial Towing Associations Mission:

Engage – Engaging those key stakeholders who recognize the changes that need to take place to provide consumer protection

Evolve – We can no longer accept or assume that the Towing Industry will self regulate – intervention is necessary immediately

Elevate – We need to elevate the standards of practice in all aspects of towing, through education, proper safety metrics for tow operations and regulatory compliance

Almost a year ago, the PTAO discussed the need to find greater consumer protection and standards of practice in the Towing Industry in Ontario.

To address this mandate of consumer protection, we saw the need to develop a panel of stakeholders including; MTO, CAA, MGS, Wreckmaster, OPP and government ministries.  The PTAO brought these stakeholders together at our annual Tow Show and Trade Show held last September in Kitchener.

But we didn’t stop there.  Working with the PTAO Board, we reconstituted our Board to include key stakeholders or ‘Public Interest Directors’ to sit on our Board to provide a new lens or perspective of consumer protection and to raise the standards of practice in the towing industry.

We mobilized and convened our first meeting under the banner of ‘PTAO’s Towing Task Force’ in December of 2019.

We have had 2 meetings with the PTAO Towing Task Force and continue to dialogue and will be hosting our third Task Force meeting with the aforementioned stakeholders.  The focus of this next meeting is to better understand each of the individual stakeholders’ challenges, recommendations and potential solutions.  These perspectives will be consolidated to determine how these fit into an ‘Action Plan’ for A New Proposed Towing Licensing Model in Ontario and the necessary requirements of tow operators.

We have also worked with municipalities and government ministries who recognize the need for greater regulation and oversight of the Towing Industry – this is an urgent matter as validated by the criminal activity taking place within the towing industry.

The PTAO is confident that the centralize licencing model is receiving serious consideration by the Provincial Government and related ministries and stakeholders.

I encourage the general public to speak with their local MPs, government officials or send your support and comments to: info@fairtowing.ca.  We also continue to help collect complaints about unacceptable towing practices at https://ptao.org/contact/.

The PTAO recognizes the need for immediate change in the Towing Industry and will continue to work with those Stakeholders who recognize the need for change, substantial change, today to: Engage, Evolve and Elevate the Towing Industry.

At this time, the PTAO is confident that the government will move forward with a Provincial Licencing System. We are working with the stakeholders and government to see which ministry would be the best champion.