Incorporating Federally or Provincially?

If you incorporate it will only be federally, as far as I know you cannot incorporate provincially.

 

Provincial corp is fine. Picking up and delivering has more to do with your operating authority and some provinces don't even have that any more (Manitoba for one).
Federal incorporation may be required if you actually set up terminals in several provinces.

 

Federal incorporation is not required. The primary reasons for incorporating federally are:

Protect your business name across Canada

If you set up TT11 Transport Canada Inc., no one else in any other province can use that name, regardless of whether you actually do any business in any other province. If you incorporate provincially your name is only protected in the province of incorporation and any others you may register in. This means another company can register an identical name in a different province--important if you are FedEx, but probably not for TT11 Transport.

Of course a lot of companies function as "doing business as" (DBA) where they are incorporated as a numbered company, but register a business name.

Use of "Canada" in your corporate name

Allows you the "prestige" of using Canada in your corporate name and being considered a national corporation--mostly important if you have customers outside Canada or wish to project a national presence.​

You can do as much business as you like inter-provincially as a provincial corporation. Whether you need to register your business in any other province will depend on the rules for that province and the amount and type of business you do there. Generally speaking, trucking businesses don't have to register their business in other provinces (Meaning the requirement to file business returns, etc. There can be other requirements like BC's Financial Responsibility filing).

 

I actually didn't know most of this, I just figured incorporating was the best way to go to help avoid issues if you ever went bankrupt.

 

That is one reason... sort of. While incorporation offers certain financial and legal protections, they are not absolute. The "whys" and "hows" of going out of business can invalidate such protection (eg. purposeful fraud).

 

It's better to register federally than just provincially. You don't have to protect your name for any extra large fee. The mega carriers do, same with Ford and McDonald's etc. Their name is their brand. But if you're a small owner/op or just have one truck, just get the regular federal incorporation. At least that way you have status across Canada and not just in one province.