Juno News - Alberta tackles trucker training scams

00:00:00.000 Hi, Juno News. Alexander Brown here back for another episode of Not Sorry. Thank you for

00:00:07.920 joining us. I'm the director of the National Citizens Coalition. I'm a writer, a contributor

00:00:13.420 on campaigns, and I'm thrilled to be a part of this audience. And I have exciting news that

00:00:19.020 starting with this episode, we are moving to three days a week. You're going to get Not Sorry

00:00:22.740 three days a week. It means a lot. And we're starting with a good one. We're starting with

00:00:27.200 an important one because we know that this shared national identity issue in Canada, we're

00:00:34.960 seeing diminishment on so many levels. Coming out of those post-national Trudeau years with

00:00:40.920 so many concerns still surrounding temporary foreign worker abuse, abuse of the LMIA, the

00:00:47.180 International Mobility Program, these diploma mills and students. This is a moment to really

00:00:54.100 reclaim our Canadian identity, to be proud of it, to make sure we don't lower the flag

00:00:57.920 for a few years and tomb our great monuments and statues again. And one thing that's driving

00:01:03.520 people nuts today is, I don't know if you've seen this, but at Toronto's Nuit Blanche Art

00:01:09.640 Festival, this all-night famous art festival, Toronto City Hall has been emblazoned with a

00:01:16.000 marquee that boasts, English is a foreign language. So this is more of the kind of post-national,

00:01:25.540 needlessly divisive, left-leaning posturing or government failing that is driving so many

00:01:32.440 common sense Canadians, so many in this audience nuts, because we know that there's nothing wrong

00:01:39.860 with being proud of your country or your language. English is one of the two official languages of

00:01:45.860 this country. Evidently, it is now a foreign language. So which languages do they mean instead?

00:01:51.140 And I think of how this relates to further the impacts on trucking, where Gord McGill and I had this

00:01:59.960 great episode where he blew the whistle on all these issues in the trucking industry, where it is now

00:02:04.720 largely become a kind of immigration fraud network, another LMIA fraud network, where scammers are

00:02:11.060 taking advantage of Canadians' good nature. Oftentimes, these drivers are insufficient in English

00:02:17.300 and documentation, and their employers are too. They're working exploitation hours, and they're

00:02:22.860 making all of our families safe. We, of course, know how tragic what happened in Humboldt, Saskatchewan,

00:02:29.220 that terrible crash. That was related to a driver who, part of this increasingly sketchy program and

00:02:36.840 some of the chaos on our Western roads. And so I am thankful to see that the Alberta government on

00:02:42.700 Friday announced sweeping changes aimed at cracking down on what is and are unsafe commercial driving

00:02:49.420 training schools and bad actors in the trucking industry. They join Ontario in starting to get there,

00:02:55.400 you know, and starting to really get it together on this file. The province said that the ramped up

00:03:00.600 enforcement includes more oversight of driver training schools and carriers through inspections, audits,

00:03:06.360 and targeted investigations. The transportation minister who joined us on the show, Devin Dreesen,

00:03:11.920 said the province is going after reckless operators who ignore the rules. Anyone cutting corners

00:03:16.900 or operating unsafe trucks will be removed from our roads. Alberta truckers have earned a reputation

00:03:23.220 is some of the most trusted drivers in the country, and we will not allow a few bad actors to undermine

00:03:28.620 that trust. So far, the province has said it has ordered the closure of five driver training schools.

00:03:35.240 We know that there are more than just a few bad actors. It is great that they're doing this. It's

00:03:40.340 great that this program is going to expand because it has to expand. There are more training schools.

00:03:46.180 There are more scummy employers. Our families are unsafe out there. It has to end. Join us for this chat.

00:03:53.060 And while you're here, take advantage of our promo code at junonews.com slash not sorry for 20% off.

00:04:01.360 All right, we're happy to welcome on Alberta Transportation Minister Devin Dreesen. Devin,

00:04:06.180 thanks for joining us from the truck. Hey, thank you so much for having me on. I really appreciate it.

00:04:10.960 So this is an incredible topic. You know, Alberta's crackdown on what we know to be some dodgy

00:04:17.660 trucking practices that have been greatly impacting the country the last few years.

00:04:21.780 Voters are concerned, you know, families are concerned about safety on the roadways.

00:04:26.320 To me, the big news of the day is the signing of Connor McDavid. You're riding, you're sort of

00:04:31.200 smack dab in the middle between Calgary and Edmonton. What are your thoughts on that?

00:04:35.320 Well, the Oilers and Flames in Alberta divides families, businesses, friends. So you're either an

00:04:41.140 Oilers fan or a Flames fan. And Wednesday is going to be game one between those two. So it'll be

00:04:46.100 interesting. But as an Oilers fan, I am happy to see that McDavid signed a two year deal for the

00:04:50.900 Oilers. It's great news. It's great news. And what is also great news is why you're here, Alberta

00:04:55.600 cracking down on unsafe, reckless commercial trucking practices. Tell us a little bit more

00:05:01.100 about this moment for change, about this crackdown and why it's so important to your government.

00:05:06.340 Well, there was a two pronged approach that we did at Transportation Economic Corridors,

00:05:10.720 where we looked at the 60 driving schools that we have in the province, and we did an extensive

00:05:15.700 audit on almost all of them. And we actually found to see fraudulent behavior in five of those schools.

00:05:22.740 And we pulled their license, we shut them down, we canceled them. And that was a big first step

00:05:28.180 of cleaning up the industry. And we also looked at commercial carriers, so trucking companies,

00:05:33.680 and we actually shut down 13 across the province. So obviously, the trucking industry is so important

00:05:39.520 to the province of Alberta, there's so many good actors and good people in the industry.

00:05:44.260 But to clean up these trucking schools and these commercial carriers to make sure that

00:05:48.280 we have the best on the road and not fraudulent individuals is a good step in the right direction.

00:05:54.460 It is. And I know Ontario is presently starting to do that as well. I mean,

00:05:58.500 there have been recent reports of hundreds of guys getting pulled off the road.

00:06:01.700 Now, I know, in my work here with Juno, I had a whistleblowing episode with a famous writer and

00:06:10.640 trucker by the name of Gord McGill, who's writing a book about what's happened to his industry. And

00:06:16.100 we were talking last night, he was really pleased you were coming on. And we're going over sort of

00:06:21.860 different questions to ask of you. And one that came to mind is, you know, although it is official

00:06:26.760 policy in Alberta to take class one license and airbrake testing in English, we know that the

00:06:32.020 number of drivers obtaining their class one who do not communicate effectively in English

00:06:36.080 is noticeable and increasing. Does the ministry have any plans such as with what has taken place

00:06:41.620 in the United States, where President Trump reversed an Obama era waiver on enforcing English

00:06:46.740 language proficiency regulations to enforce that Alberta truckers and those perhaps passing through

00:06:52.500 or delivering loads in Alberta communicate effectively in one of Canada's two official

00:06:57.180 languages?

00:06:58.360 Well, I think obviously, as you mentioned, to take your class one, you have to be proficient

00:07:03.040 in English. And that's obviously very important. So you're taking the test, you have to be able to

00:07:06.780 understand English. But something that we are looking at is our class five. Right now that can be done,

00:07:12.700 have translation provided. So that is something that we're looking at changing here. But we think the

00:07:17.280 English proficiency requirements that we have is adequate. Something that we're also looking

00:07:22.480 you mentioned, the United States, but their H2B visas, essentially our TFW program, we're looking

00:07:28.680 at some changes that we can make there as well. So I'm obviously working with my counterpart,

00:07:33.900 Minister Scal, our immigration minister, to see if there's some provincial streams and some changes

00:07:37.740 we can make here in the province to make sure that we have the proper people behind the wheel.

00:07:43.900 That's terrific. And now, not just working with your counterparts, you're planning to work with other

00:07:48.040 ministries within the province to tamp down on the practice of what's known as a

00:07:52.140 chameleon carrier, chameleon characters, who often move equipment and drivers between various

00:07:57.420 entities to avoid accountability or enforcement action. How are you going to best, you know, let's

00:08:03.120 say working between departments and the government, like how could you best embolden, equip, enable

00:08:09.780 roadside inspection officials to be able to, say, cross-reference these trucks and trailers and pull

00:08:17.420 people out of service if they're deemed to be unsafe for Albertans on the road?

00:08:23.200 So it takes a lot of effort. Of those 13, a lot of them were chameleon carriers where working with

00:08:28.840 other provinces, we found out that the ownership and the structure of them was essentially the exact

00:08:33.680 same. And they were obviously, they had their license canceled in other provinces. We did a deep

00:08:38.720 investigation. We found out that they shouldn't have been allowed to operate here in the province.

00:08:43.340 And that's why we shut them down. So it does take a lot of work. And we have a team within

00:08:48.220 transportation that works with public safety, as well as other provinces, departments to make sure

00:08:54.180 that we can find out who has been canceled and who's had their license canceled and who obviously

00:08:59.860 shouldn't be operating because of a myriad of bad things. That's terrific. That's good to hear. Now,

00:09:06.540 Alberta in recent months has announced steps taken to recognize trucking,

00:09:10.620 either as a skilled occupation or a trade. And with that, implementing much more sort of thorough

00:09:17.220 training standards. This is Alberta looking at the kind of graduated, a potential graduated trucking

00:09:24.100 license system, which exists in say, New Zealand and Australia as a model to sort of further help

00:09:30.660 slow down dangerous amateurs who are progressing seemingly like, you know, too far too fast.

00:09:36.300 Yeah, we've done two things. One, we led on an Alberta made solution when it comes to getting

00:09:42.220 your class one in the first place. So we changed the hour requirement to make sure that there's more

00:09:47.740 hours actually done in Alberta than any other province of in cab hours. So you're actually behind

00:09:53.180 the wheel, you're getting trained up in a truck that you'll most likely be using, because obviously,

00:09:57.740 for a trucker, that's your workplace. So you can have all the hours in a classroom. But if you're not

00:10:02.620 actually out on the roads behind a wheel with an instructor, you're obviously not getting trained

00:10:07.020 up as well as you could. And another thing that we're looking at is a Red Seal certification.

00:10:11.660 Obviously, there's so many registered and certified trades across the country, but trucking isn't one

00:10:16.540 of them. And I think a lot of people would be surprised that of all the different journeymen and

00:10:21.020 trades that we have in the country, trucking isn't a Red Seal certified trade. So that is something that

00:10:27.100 we have to have five other provinces sign off on. Every time we meet at our federal provincial

00:10:31.660 territorial meetings, I always push it, we're close to getting five provinces to sign on. And

00:10:36.700 I think that'll go a long way of just increasing the professionalism and the training in the entire

00:10:42.300 country, actually, not just Alberta. So when might folks expect that next meeting? Because

00:10:49.180 I, for example, just as a writer, nonprofit director, Juno host, I worry greatly about how,

00:10:57.340 for example, we think about some of the crime and chaos in our streets. And the federal government is

00:11:01.580 always saying they're going to get to maybe bail reform, but it's not happening. When is the next

00:11:06.220 chance you get to sit down with these folks and say, I want the Red Seal, I want us all on the same page?

00:11:11.580 So they haven't said the next meeting yet. There's obviously been a new transportation

00:11:15.740 minister that just got appointed a couple of weeks ago with Chrystia Freeland moving on. So obviously

00:11:22.060 have to be able to reach out. But I know there's lots of support with the existing provincial

00:11:26.460 transportation ministers of addressing the Red Seal certification, as well as chameleon carriers,

00:11:32.620 as well as driver Inc., which has been another issue in the trucking industry where you're having

00:11:37.180 certain carriers that are just hiring contract workers, not actual employees, and being able to

00:11:43.020 to go under the radar on a lot of the reporting requirements that are required. So these are all

00:11:49.100 big issues. And hopefully with the new federal transportation ministry, they take it seriously.

00:11:53.740 Good. Yeah, big issues. And also, Drivers Inc., almost like a version of our temporary foreign

00:12:01.900 worker or LMIA abuse, by keeping these employees just as contractors, they're denied benefits, they can

00:12:08.540 work all kinds of sketchy hours. And so it can often speak to the quality of the practitioner who

00:12:14.140 may already have dodgy paperwork. So Drivers Inc., that's a good crackdown. Now, would Alberta consider

00:12:19.580 not recognizing commercial driver's licenses issued in other jurisdictions such as BC or Ontario? Not

00:12:26.460 because we don't all want to get along, but because those provinces, their truck driver training systems

00:12:31.980 have been sort of thoroughly and utterly compromised by some bad actors. The crackdowns are starting, but

00:12:38.380 to such a point that even the CBC program marketplace performed an investigation into them last year.

00:12:43.820 I mean, do you have any worries about your your your fellow provinces being on the same page of

00:12:48.940 Alberta's sort of raising standard here? Well, I think there's always the debate of harmonization

00:12:55.740 versus equivalency. So obviously, if you have a harmonized standard, you know, whether it's high or low,

00:13:02.220 and then obviously you can go above it is something that a lot of people push for. But I am of the

00:13:07.260 belief that if you have an equivalent equivalency standard where we could recognize Ontario or BC

00:13:12.380 or Saskatchewan trucking rules that are put in place that are made in Ontario and BC and Saskatchewan

00:13:17.020 for their own specific reasons, that makes sense. But obviously, on some of these issues that we know,

00:13:21.820 whether it's chameleon carriers or driver Inc. or people that are fudging their their log books,

00:13:27.900 we need to be able to clamp down. And that to me is an enforcement rule or an enforcement issue,

00:13:31.820 not so much a rule issue. So I think just, you know, tighter enforcement and more collaboration

00:13:36.700 amongst the provinces is probably the best way forward.

00:13:39.260 Sure sounds like it. Now, your premier has been fighting for fair treatment for Alberta,

00:13:45.260 your entire government, in particular, repealing anti resource development laws to allow a new West

00:13:51.580 Coast pipeline. With all that's going on in the news, with some of maybe the unhelpful comments

00:13:56.540 we've seen recently from from BC's premier, do you think it's possible for the Liberals to see the

00:14:01.500 light and change their ways on these issues so Alberta gets a fair shake?

00:14:05.180 I hope so. It was I was happy to see that the the Federal Conservatives were putting together a bill

00:14:12.060 that actually would repeal the nine bad laws that Premier Smith has talked about. So so regularly,

00:14:17.820 that really, then those nine bad laws essentially harm a lot of resource development and a lot of just

00:14:23.420 big projects being built in Canada, we see global capital going to other countries around the world,

00:14:28.300 we see jobs being created in other countries around the world. And the Liberal government,

00:14:32.940 these nine bad laws are really holding us back as Canadians. And I think it's it's unhelpful to see

00:14:38.620 premiers support those nine bad laws. It's unhelpful for the federal Liberals to to not repeal them.

00:14:44.860 So obviously, that's that goes, that will go a long way if those laws get repealed to see investment

00:14:50.620 and job opportunities come back into into into Canada. So I'm hopeful. Obviously, before session had

00:14:57.260 started in Ottawa, we were in a wait and see mode. Now that session is there, the Liberals could

00:15:02.220 obviously repeal their nine bad laws, because that's what they do now. Right? Yeah. So I think

00:15:08.140 that time time is running out for for the Liberals to do the right thing, or else, essentially,

00:15:12.940 Prime Minister Carney is no different than Prime Minister Trudeau. That's the worry. And and, you know,

00:15:19.420 another worry has been dodgy trucking practices. Minister Driesian, I thank you for your time. I thank you for

00:15:25.500 for stepping up on this issue. And you have a good day. Thank you and take care.

Juno News - October 07, 2025

Alberta tackles trucker training scams

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