Driving school enrolments, fees plummet as international student pipeline runs dry
The race to the bottom in new truck driver training is well and truly underway in Ontario’s trucking heartland. Truck driving schools are witnessing a steep drop in enrolments and fees as competition to attract a dwindling number of students has grown increasingly fierce.
After the federal government announced curbs on international student numbers a couple of months ago, some truck driver training schools in Peel Region – comprising Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon – say enrolment has plummeted 40-60%. International students worried about their status in Canada are shying away from investing in a trucking career.
More alarming, many of the scores of schools in the area are reducing fees in a desperate bid to sign up the few aspiring truckers available.
A sign outside a popular coffee chain location in Brampton offers training for $3,500. The number on the sign is linked to Dixie Truck and Forklift Driving School based in Brampton.
The person who answered the phone refused to be identified. When asked to elaborate on how training was provided at the advertised price, he said that he could show advertisements of other schools charging the same or lower fees.
Surinder Batth, director, Global Truck Academy, has reduced his fees to $5,000 for the mandatory entry-level training (MELT) program. Lucky Singh, owner of A1 Transportation Academy, said he’s slashed fees to $4,500. Both Brampton-based schools are Truck Training Schools Association of Ontario (TTSAO) members. The association assures its members provide the “highest quality driver training programs for entry-level individuals”.
Added value training in peril
Batth’s school trains students with a loaded trailer, teaches them to back into a warehouse dock door among other types of backing and mandates a nighttime driving class. These add-ons that are not part of the MELT program are meant to add value to training, he explained.
He’s now in survival mode, keeping the lights on with his personal funds. “How can we provide quality training when there are schools offering to train students for $3,500 and even less than that?” he asked.
Singh said the immigration curbs have been bad for business. He also questioned how proper training could be imparted by low-cost schools in the area.
Cutting costs
Jasvir Chahal, owner of Peel Truck Driving School has also reduced fees to $4,500. He’s also cut down on trainers, trucks and locations in an attempt to stay in business.
“They are cutting corners, and they are cutting training time.”
Philip Fletcher, president of TTSAO
Philip Fletcher, president of the TTSAO, said there are 107 truck driving schools in the Greater Toronto Area. “The over-proliferation of schools is creating a cutthroat mentality, where people are cutting costs in order to try and stay alive,” he said, noting he saw ads for a Black Friday MELT program special for $3,000.
“They are cutting corners, and they are cutting training time.”
He’s had his association members contact him saying they couldn’t continue to offer training in this environment. Fletcher observed that on average, one-on-one training in a truck costs $120 an hour. MELT mandates 32 hours of on-road training, meaning it would cost a school $3,840 per student. “How are they charging only $3,000 or $3,500?” he asked.
Driving school owners Batth, Singh and Chahal told TruckNews.com that once training fees have been lowered, it is impossible to raise them. Students ask them two questions: “How much do you charge?” and “How long will it take?”
They also suggested that some schools are skimping on the in-class training or abandoning it altogether. There is also talk of students getting a few stints behind the wheel before being sent for a road test. They shared stories of students approaching them after failing multiple road tests after learning at low-cost schools.
International students struggle to make ends meet
Jas, an international student training to be a truck driver put things into perspective. After earning two post-graduate diplomas – in business management and supply chain management – he’s stuck in a dead-end warehouse job. Struggling to make ends meet, he’s hoping trucking will be his ticket to permanent residence.
His goal is to start working as a truck driver as quickly as possible, boosting his immigration chances while earning a decent wage.
Steve, a temporary foreign worker, is also pursuing a trucking dream. He shares a room with others in a basement apartment while eking out a living at meat processing facility. He’s taken a loan to pay for his driver training.
Trucking a pathway to permanent residence
Manan Gupta, president of Skylake Immigration, said most international students are coming to Canada to work, not study. “That is why the labor market impact assessment and temporary foreign worker programs are being abused,” he said.
“Nobody joins trucking for the joy of trucking. They are joining it to get permanent residence.”
Jim Campbell, chairman of the Professional Truck Training Alliance of Canada and general manager of First Class Training Centre in Winnipeg, said the malaise of low-cost training has spread across the country.
“Canada needs to have a minimum guideline,” he said. “Some provinces have a cap on the maximum that can be charged, but there’s no minimum cap.”
As training schools grind through the winter months, when student numbers are traditionally low, their owners are optimistic while keeping a close eye on their balance sheets. If things don’t improve, some may hang up their keys and call it a day.
Have your say
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You are putting trash behind the wheel of unguided missles killing innocent people tying up emergency people that are needed some where else.
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That is an incredibly unfair assessment of people, and the industry as a whole.
You, and everyone else that thinks like you do better get used to the fact that the trucking industry is dominated by immigrants, whether they just drive the trucks, or own the fleets, because immigrants are now the backbone of the trucking industry.
I read a post on a well known Canadian based forum that was authored by a Canadian carrier that was incredibly enlightening. I’ll share it here, and maybe, just maybe, some understanding will sink in with the people that think immigrants are just so much trash. Here’s the quote …
“Think about this … Have you ever noticed the vast majority of these ridiculously low rate loads are done by immigrant fleets? Have you ever wondered why?
They simply don’t know any better. It’s not because they are stupid people. It’s because no one ever told them differently, and there are others that take advantage of their ignorance.
I had a customer in the pickle business many years ago. One day I noticed that the little gherkin type pickles were no longer being sourced here where they are grown. They were being sourced from India. Naturally I asked why that is. The answer was flabbergasting; At the time the gherkin size pickle was being sold off the grader for around a $2.00 a pound. Sourced in India, the farmer was getting $1.00 per bushel, or $0.0238 per pound. It would take that farmer and his family all day to find and pick that bushel. ALL DAY !!! The man is feeding, housing, clothing his family and operating his farm on ONE DOLLAR A DAY !!!
Opportunity knocks, and this farmer gets the chance to come to Canada, get a driver’s license, and drive a truck. Yes life is more expensive here than it is in India, but this man is used to living off $1.00 per day, so he’s pretty frugal with his funds, and figures out a way to live in Canada for $25.00 a day. As long as he makes his $25.00 a day, he’s satisfied. Unfortunately the man is completely unaware that he should be making $25.00 an hour and not $25.00 per day. Why? Because no one told him any different.
He’s not fluent in English. He’s not fluent in French. He’s not fluent in Woke. The poor guy never stood a chance of being successful, or of even navigating the “Canadian Dream”. Bottom line is that we (the collective “we”) need to do a much better job of informing and educating immigrants instead of leaving them to flounder on their own and become so much fodder for the grist mill.”
Add to that this country’s broken immigration system that let in an unacceptable number of the criminal element, and you have the complete recipe for the industry’s decline; an uneducated workforce being subverted by the criminal element that runs the Driver Inc. fleets and the Fly-by-Night driving schools.
So, put the blame where it belongs; on the federal and provincial governments, and on the federal and provincial trucking associations. Burying our heads in the sand, and whining and complaining isn’t going to solve the problem. Enforcement and education will.-
Well said that is why many groups are pushing for foreign truck drivers and mechanics to come in the higher wage stream only
Too many foreign students are being taken advantage of in my opinion
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The quality of truck drivers on the road has plummeted in the last 10-15 yrs. The respect for truck drivers has also plummeted. You can’t properly train a person with zero experience to become a professional truck driver for a $3500 melt program. You can barely do it with a $9000 melt program. Temporary workers or new immigrants looking for a fast track to Canadian citizenship have chosen truck driver as a career choice but don’t have this industry as their truly career path. So the least expensive program is all they want. It takes years of experience to become a professional in any trade.
With the reduction in immigration the truck driver industry can hopefully rebuild the respect, the considerate driver who takes pride. Doesn’t litter or use parking lots as toilets. Takes pride in their equipment etc. Maybe our wages and rates will increase. Maybe shippers, receivers etc will start to treat truck drivers better.
In my past 26 yrs in this industry the quality of everything has plummeted. It is now a sh!t career choice. We can do better, starting with better training that $3500 doesn’t provide.
Wow what a shock,,(not). Trucking should have been made to remain a way to make a very good living with pride not a swirling mess of excrement no decent person would want to be involved in. Looks good on ya trucking industry, cheers and Merry Christmas from a former long haul trucker of many years with an impeccable record who wouldn’t get behind the wheel today at twice the price.
Why is it that some people are coming to Canada on a student visa, with no intention of being a student? How are our bureaucrats allowing this? Allowing a person to come to Canada under the Guise of a student, takes away from those who truly wish to be educated and otherwise might not get the chance. Our country needs to implement better screening, with proof provided of an acredited University or College with a course of studies that, are an internationally recognized course, ie teaching, architecture, law. With the Government monitoring Students progress, and if they are not progressing, a discussion, a warning and then revoke the student visa, with them given a short period of time to return home. If the Student is excelling and has a skill or course we need, we offer them citizenship, if they desire. Anyone else who wishes to come here can apply through normal channels on the immigration channel or through a work visa for specific skills again with an eye to them being housed, healthy and happy once they are on the pathway to Canadian Citizenship and being a contributing constructive Canadian, who is proud to call themselves a Canadian.
There’s to many driving schools in the GTA and the quality of drivers are in most cases very poorly trained. This has been a get rich quick scheme by a lot of driving schools and not enough government inspectors of these businesses. All you need to do is get in your car and drive the 401 from Toronto to Montreal and see the type of driver that’s coming out of the schools and how many times you use your defence driving skills because of poor decisions made by transport drivers. There’s a difference driver today than twenty to thirty years ago you don’t feel safe driving around them in most cases they use there size to intimidate smaller vehicles. I do notice this and I no what I’m talking about I make my living with my own transport driving in Canada and the United States for forty years without any traffic tickets or MTO infractions. At one time we were respected and helpful to our smaller vehicles drivers.
Hello ,
I’m a 57 year old driver . I obtained my AZ license in 2000 . Going to a low end school being funded by my government cost $ 4,800 .
After getting my license I returned back to my original job as a shipper & receiver .
Why do you ask ? Wages and responsibilities of driving and the lack of a good driver school .
This is the only job basically that has no protection for the driver . If you make a mistake and depending how bad it turns out ?
You are going to jail loose your license and are subjected to paying higher car insurance !
I took a hard long look at this career . And went back to a job less stressful and better paying .
That was 24 years ago !! That I made better money !?
Fast track in 2010 my plant I work for closed . Along with many other high and low paying plants in my town . I always kept my AZ license just in case something happened with my job .
I started a new career in the waste industry for a prominent company based in Ont .
They paid a bit better than my factory job . And the hours were over the top .
Up at 3:30 am at my truck for 4:30am .
On the road for 5:00am .
For 11 years I worked an average of 10-13 hr days . No family life .
Just another number in the company’s eyes .
I have been pulled over from the MTO and fined for things the company neglected on my truck . Remember you’re not only a driver you better have knowledge like a mechanic also .
I look at AZ driver jobs paying $23 -$25 hr and it makes me ill that this is what are wages are .
Being under bid is all I hear in the industry. Who is bring down the wages you ask ?
A professor in Western Canada tells the truth about new immigrants and what its meaning to the trucking industry and other industries for Canada .
Your article states that the TTSAO ensures its member schools deliver the highway quality driver training programs. Not true. Marketplace on CBC recently aired an episode showcasing how a school called Smart Truck Training Academy (a TTSAO member school) was caught cutting training short by not delivering classroom training or all the required MELT behind the wheel hours. An example of some of the most crooked training practices the CBC could find. So don’t fall for these false TTSAO claims.
We are facing the same issues in BC. I always thought that students would want to learn how to be safe, competent Professional drivers, but I guess I am a bit too idealistic. As a school owner, I was excited to see MELT come to pass in BC but it has actually destroyed the driver training business. The highways are unsafe to travel with the idiots behind the wheel and the Provincial government has no interest in doing anything about it. It is a shameful situation.
Feeling, Angry, Frustrated and Sad in BC
Thank God! maybe some day soon the highways will be safe once again.
There is a need for drivers and the domestic population does not provide enough candidates.
Hi Leo-recently watched W-5 show on trucking in Ontario and would like your opinion regarding lack of skill in the industry, leading to a multitude of commercial accidents over the past thirty years. Look forward to hearing from you on this topic.
I for fitted my AZ license I am able to get my AZ license back because I was the top student in truck driving school transport centers of Canada I should be able to get my license back.please responded to my question please at 6133910354 anytime. I was the best drive in Ontario Canada LLLo my name is Jeremiah Amos web.
This industry is rife with bad companies. With assistance offered to scores of unqualified applicants, the results speak for themselves. Unprepared employees with severe lack of training and knowledge are rejected by most employers. Even Driver Inc. Is drying up (thank God )
The price may continue to drop, but legitimate schools with proper facilities including classrooms, will provide the best alternative.
A number of the better schools across ont have reduced staff by at least 50% I know of at least 5 good schools that were connected with trucking companies that have shutdown in ont and 2 more in Quebec
We need a system of the industry to find and support good schools
In my opinion foreign students using that loophole have caused the current surplus of truck drivers in Ontario and the very low freight and wage rates that will not support a stay at home spouse with 3 children in Ontario or Vancouver. We need to make truck drivers a Red Seal trade and I am so happy that the gov has replaced low wage foreign student truck and Uber drivers with a high wage stream permits for truck drivers of certain types of loads in the oil field and for red seal trades including mechanical people and those that work in it and some office positions.