The Alberta Government introduced a province-wide legislation based on legislation approved earlier this year by Calgary to deal with predatory towing.

Minister of Transportation and Economic Corridors, Devin Dreeshen, announced new rules to protect Albertans against predatory towing during a press release on Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2025.

Minister Dreeshen said, starting Friday, Aug. 8, there will be a 200-metre exclusion radius around a collision scene that would prevent tow truck operators, or anyone affiliated from offering their services.

“The last thing someone needs at a collision scene is to be harassed by dishonest tow truck drivers, pressuring them to agree to towing services,” Dreeshen told reporters.

Minister Dreeshen said the province is matching the 200-metre radius introduced by Calgary earlier this year and making it province-wide.

According to a medial release, anyone who enters the zone without being invited, as well as dispatchers or others instructing drivers to cross the zone, will be subjected to a $1,000 fine.

Calgary approved bylaw changes earlier this year introduced a much higher fine of $10,000.

Minister Dreeshen said the new rules are a baseline standard established across the province, but any municipality could increase the fine or the radius to whatever they wanted.

“This is a first step. Obviously, we’re looking at what other provinces have done when it comes to predatory towing,” said Dreeshen.

“These changes penalize bad actors in the tow truck industry and shield Albertans from unethical practices.”

Ward 14 Coun. Peter Demong, whose office brought forward the initial motion to clamp down on predatory tows, had said previously that he’s heard that emergency services personnel have been verbally harassed by predatory tows at crash scenes.

“It’s rapidly become a problem for emergency services personnel, mostly because they’re the ones that have to deal with these energetic tow truck operators that are trying to do their best to earn a living,” Demong said last November.

“Absolutely, I get that, but it also is a problem for constituents who are basically just trying to get over having been in an accident and then being accosted to have their vehicle towed in a manner that they’re not quite ready to accept but are under the impression that they have to. So, this is to give them some kind of solace as well as let emergency services do their job.”

AMA educating drivers on tow situations

In December last year, the Alberta Motor Association (AMA) launched its Know Before the Tow campaign to help fight predatory towing in Alberta–educating Albertans of their rights and raising awareness about this growing issue.

AMA vice president of advocacy and operations Jeff Kasbrick said they are pleased to see this day come since they have been advocating for these changes.

“These predatory towers are an offense, and we support these clear rules that send a very strong message that predatory practices have no place within our province,” said Kasbrick.

“They exploit Albertans who are already in stressful enough situations into handing over their vehicles when they simply do not have to.”

Kasbrick said it’s difficult to have hard data on predatory towing because of the scope, but over the past year, they have been hearing increased incidents of one or multiple towers approaching individuals involved in incidents or broken down on the roadside.

“This is now becoming something that we’re hearing on a daily basis,” he said.

Kasbrick said the AMA is working closely with their partners in law enforcement and the provincial government to make sure what they’re doing is unlike the other provinces.

“We are addressing this as proactively and as quickly as we can.”