It’s no secret that the transportation industry has its challenges:

• finding disconnects and gaps in proper education and training practices;
• misconceptions about MELT;
• having a lack of jurisdictional authority/communication to effectively audit and establish regulations and compliance measures; and
• seeing inconsistencies in regulations, province-to-province (to name a few).

These challenges aren’t even localized to a specific region – they are happening daily in every province and territory across Canada. This article is dedicated to calling direct attention to them and how we can all play an active role in preventing them from continuing onward in our industry.

Disconnects in Education & Training
Unfortunately, there is an overwhelming challenge when it comes to the quality of education and training throughout the industry, which directly affects the quality of drivers entering the workforce. With reference to the PMTC’s 2024 Benchmarking Survey, 76% of private fleet owners cited driver recruitment as their top issue. The issue is not being able to find drivers, as currently there is no driver shortage in our view, however finding a qualified driver is more of a challenge than ever.

As a result, we’re seeing an increase in private fleets investing in more thorough mentorship programs to bridge skills gaps, retain drivers and reduce accidents. We’ve also heard feedback from some in the industry that are hesitant to invest in programs like these because they’re worried about investing time and money into a driver who might leave. My message to them is simple, Investing in the proper education and training is prudent to the driver, your team, and every person connected to them – on and off the road. As a friend of mine says all the time, “What happens if you don’t train your drivers and they stay?

Misconceptions about MELT
While on the topic of education and training, we need to adjust how we view the Mandatory Entry-Level Training (MELT) program. MELT is an entry-level program – done right, from a proper school, it will equip you with the basic skills and open the door to a career in trucking; however, the education and training doesn’t stop there. At the beginning and throughout their careers, drivers need to be provided with the proper education, training, mentorship and professional development to operate (and evolve with) your fleet’s operations.

To compare: you wouldn’t ask a doctor, who just graduated from medical school, to perform open heart surgery on their first day on the job. You would work with them to ensure they’re equipped with the proper training and resources within your hospital. This pivotal step gives them the opportunity to naturally grow and thrive as professionals within your work environment.

Lack of Oversight and Enforcement
Our industry is heavily structured by rules and regulations; however, there isn’t enough enforcement around them… which leads to a simple question: what’s the point of having a rule if resources are not applied to ensure it is followed.

For example, using Ontario as an example, roughly 85% of carriers have a satisfactory-unaudited CVOR rating.  This means the vast majority of carriers operating have never even been looked at to ensure they are following rules and regulations or have the proper oversight and training in place.

Proper enforcement needs to be a top priority – from the highway to fleet offices and throughout all facets of documentation. To overcome this challenge, the PMTC proposes implementing a mandatory third-party audit system that is approved and overseen by the government. Carriers would be audited via this system every two or three years; meanwhile, new carriers would undergo an initial, mandatory audit within their first 12 months of operation.

The auditing system would be funded by carriers using a fee-based structure that’s based on fleet size. This system would create a fair, competitive environment that will naturally weed out non-compliant carriers.

Another example is the saturated market of truck driving schools that offer entry-level training. Recently, we learned that there are over 280 schools that offer MELT in Ontario (alone); prior to MELT, there were only 80. Meanwhile, there are only eight auditors overseeing 600 private career colleges across the province (and trucking isn’t even their expertise). The lack of oversight has led to a decline in the quality of training being provided to new drivers by to many schools.

 

Inconsistencies in Regulations
In Canada, even if federally regulated, each province and territory is responsible to enforce the regulations, and how they are enforced, unfortunately is not always consistent.  This unfortunately  creates an opportunity for non-compliant carriers to go ‘jurisdiction shopping’ and find loopholes they can easily work around.

Here are two real-life examples of what carriers have done in this regard:

• Over 200 fleets were found registered to 2 addresses, one in Dartmouth and one in Halifax. A check of the addresses showed no trucking operations at either one. This was done to gain access to cheaper insurance and more lenient rules, while never actually having any base of operation in the Province.
• Another carrier got shut down in B.C. for safety violations, however had another fleet set up in Alberta, which enabled it to continue to operate into B.C. with it’s Alberta based fleet, effectively by passing the suspension.

The reality is that there are unsafe, non-compliant carriers bypassing enforcement and operating throughout the country. We need to look closely at what the U.S. is doing – their country uses a centralized, national system that tracks carrier safety and compliance – and follow suit with a standardized system that’s recognized across Canada, rather than navigating through different systems province-to-province. While we recognize Canada is a federation, which will make this difficult to do, at the very least we must ensure that the way each province enforces for federally regulated carriers, and audits federally regulated carriers, is done with an agreement to ensure it is the same!

In addition, the motion to make professional truck driving a Red Seal trade in Canada is more pertinent than ever. Our industry needs to have standards in place that raise the bar – in education and throughout the workplace. This standard (alone) will help reshape our industry for a better future on the road.

Your National Ally
As we navigate through these challenges together, know that the PMTC is your national ‘boots on the ground’ ally and we are your voice and advocate across the country. If there are other issues happening in your province/territory, please let us know – and we’ll work together to call ‘a spade a spade’ and drive change. To contact PMTC President Mike Millian, please email trucks@pmtc.ca; to contact PMTC Western Canada Business Manager Marcel Pouliot, please email marcel@pmtc.ca.