MTO suspends truckers’ licences after uncovering dishonest testing, training
Tony’s brow was furrowed into a knot as he fidgeted on a chair, knowing that his truck driving career could grind to a halt. The driver, whose name has been changed, received a letter in August from the Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO) ordering him to re-take his knowledge and road tests.
But he considered himself lucky for the opportunity to re-test as news spread about the MTO sending letters suspending licences and ordering truck drivers to “STOP DRIVING” any motor vehicle.
The letters obtained by trucknews.com from two sources state that the MTO believes that “your Class A Ontario driver’s licence was obtained as a result of your dishonesty during the Class A testing and/or training processes. Your failure to abide by the regulatory framework that protects road safety in Ontario has undermined the confidence of the Ministry of Transportation in your ability and your intention to drive safely.”
Licences have been suspended for 90 days and drivers have been ordered to return them to the ministry. “You have a right to appeal this decision to suspend your driver’s licence to the Licence Appeal Tribunal, pursuant to subsection 50(1) of the Highway Traffic Act,” drivers were informed.
Trucknews.com asked the MTO what kind of “dishonesty” was discovered, which driving schools were involved, if any DriveTest staff were discovered taking bribes, what action was taken against them, and at which locations.
“We have zero tolerance for bad actors on our roads …”
Dakota Brasier, MTO’s director of media relations
Dakota Brasier, MTO’s director of media relations, responded in an email, “We have zero tolerance for bad actors on our roads and have suspended the Ontario Class A commercial driver’s licences of individuals who we believe to have obtained them dishonestly during the Class A testing and/or training process.
“The Ministry of Transportation has sent letters to each of these individuals, imposing an immediate suspension of their licence.”
The Ontario Trucking Association (OTA) said the suspensions were a positive step in tackling truck safety issues.
Stephen Laskowski, OTA president, said in a news release, “Drivers who received this letter would never be allowed to drive a truck a few feet in an OTA member’s yard, let alone move loads on public highways; yet there are way too many companies that allow such drivers to share the road with the public. OTA questions how many fleet owners were aware or unknowingly participated in these licensing scams to access low-cost labor at the expense and risk to public safety.”
The OTA also said that its staff members were subpoenaed earlier this summer to an Ottawa court to provide a community impact statement as part of the sentencing process for a case related to truck driver training and testing. The sentencing is expected to conclude this fall.
“It’s time to begin mandatory audits for all driving schools and the trucking industry in this province to end the lawlessness,” Laskowski added.
Shady driving school
Meanwhile, as he digested the news about the suspensions, driver Tony rued the trust he placed in a driving school owner. He had earlier trained for his D/Z licence at the same school and passed the test at a DriveTest center.
The owner told him the private career college had the authority to conduct road tests for the ministry and Tony believed him. He paid $5,000 cash for A/Z manual transmission training and a road test, and no receipt was provided. He said the word MELT (mandatory entry-level training) was never mentioned at the driving school.
Classes in the yard were crowded, and instruction was not in English, as most of the students conversed in another language. He had to repeatedly request the trainer to explain things in English.
Tony passed a road test at the school in 2023 and was issued an A/Z licence at a DriveTest center, the same place from where he had earlier collected his D/Z licence. He noted that a few months later, he was pulled over while driving a dump truck and the police officer sent him on his way after inspecting his licence and paperwork.
Target on driver’s back
He thought everything was above board, and faced no issues until he received the MTO letter. Tony tried calling the school, but the calls did not go through. He went to the facility, and all the trucks and trailers were gone.
Tony has enrolled at a Truck Training Schools Association of Ontario member school and is undergoing training. He has already passed his required vision and knowledge tests. Besides the additional financial burden of paying for training and tests, he is tense about his upcoming road test. He is worried that the MTO letter is a target on his back and that the examiner will be looking to fail him.
“I am so lost and helpless, I sacrificed so much for this, and now my future is in jeopardy,” Tony said.
Have your say
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It’s about bloody time, don’t tell me this guy had no clue something wasn’t right .
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Omg all kinds of TV programs and News articles about dishonest truck schools and now they clue in…
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First of all this crooked licensing has been goin on
For over 25 yrs, the Ministry allowed an interpreter to sit in same room as person writing the test, witnessed first had the interper translating the question, answers in Their language(Punjab).
So i have no sympathy for these drivers who went to a crooked driving school as they knew exactly( the driver) what he or she was doing, wanted a cheap,easy way to get a AZ license.
Its been reported for years to the Government regarding what was going on in these schools, DriversINC, The Government, OPP, MTO all turned a blind eye to these corrupt schools, companies
Running under DRIVERS INC
SO all THREE of these organizations Should have some explaining to do.Period!-
It’s not just the school’s man and don’t get me wrong In my wording but what i watched happen at the drive test center in northbay was seriously a head shaker my spouse was there renewing her Z and I watched a group of obviously younger students all go in and take the same test except they all go in too write on the expense of one credit card they write fail or pass they go back outside discuss there answers and results and going back and writing again and again sure they are remembering the right answers for now and litterly not retaining any knowledge now they have z I aspectialy find it annoying because I have been in fleet management most of my life so I obviously know my way around a truck and have probably been too allot of midland and bendix information and training sessions . I have handled trucks off and on most of my life . I have no problem handling a set of B trains in forward or reverse and I cannot believe the obstacles I face too get my AZ over a hearing impairment
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Well the feds and Doug Ford conservatives are responsible, Ontario allows people coming from foreign countries not to go through the whole graduated license if you drove in the country you came from, well how many of those letters are forged, then they pay driving schools off that school pays the examination people off. Ontario the big scam government, we don’t need foreign drivers there is already to many dumb drivers on the road including truck drivers.
The Canada people have to wake up to this liberal corrupt government , so that born Canadians will have a chance to survive in this country.
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Not sure why you say corrupt Liberal government when license to drive issued at the provincial level. Doug Ford and the Conservatives have been in power for three terms. Lay the blame on them.
Twenty five years ago, this kind of dishonesty in the trucking industry never occurred.
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Your magazine published an article about this about 25 years ago.BC 3000 licenses retaking,all failed.doctor school and examiner charged. We need the ministry to go back to the old testing standards. Government run,not privatization. Also road test should be given for all out of province drivers changing their addresses. This would help some of the fraud.
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We need a fed standard and get rid of private company testing. It has gotten much worse in the past 9 yrs in Ontario. i talked to several truck drivers who may loose their chance at a P R over this. I feel for them and their families they are trying to support their family in another country. When I said 2 yrs ago that we need to pay a driver after they have 8 months exp. $28 per hr on payroll i was told that was too expensive. We got paid sick days despite pushback and another companies using Driver Inc and self insurance . When i exposed a forged letter with the help of some people from India 4 yrs ago I did tell both the gov of Ontario and people in the Industry. I was told i had no reason to push as no one was going to do anything a supply of cheaper foreign driver would be needed to keep freight rates from going up too much during Covid.
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Yes it did maybe not the MELT part. A person from Ontario would go out west to BC spend some money obtain a class 1 licence return to Ontario a couple of months later and surrender it for a AZ Ontario licence. I was a Driver Examiner with MTO and Drive Test for about 40 years. There were a lot of scams.
It’s about time, but the government still has a long ways to go before they stop this . Bureaucrats have little to no knowledge about what is happening on their watch. Commercial driving is much like any trade and must be treated that way. Community colleges can give the technical training and experienced drivers can provide the students with in the cab experience.
The government and private carriers have an obligation to ensure that they are providing the best quality safe drivers for our nation’s highways .
Compensation should reflect the years of service that a driver brings with him to the job, the same as other trades.
Hi Leo-30 years this has been happening, why now such concern?
Yes it did in BC drivers would go buy license, hang with the brothers for a month or so,then come back and flip address to Ontario. I of a guy that did it,about 20 years ago.
Wonderful! Now let’s clean up all the other crap that’s going on in the trucking industry. Like what you ask? Let’s start with this hiring drivers with a corporation number, or IFTA tax cheats that fuel up in the USA and get receipts from their buddy gas station owners.
The faster we get the cheats the faster trucking companies can be on an equal playing field when pricing jobs.
Oh my God people I drove tractor trailer for over 30 years. I’m now 67 and retired by the way if you’re a young person do not get into this industry pay five $10,000 to get a license make $19 an hour anyway this has been going on for years and years and years. I’m not a racist, but I’m telling you Ever since the Indians have taken over Canada and the trucking industry and they have the death the accidents, the drugs coming in over the country through the trucking is absolutely devastating. It’s a fact if I thought the white people were doing it I would say the same damn thing but it’s an absolute fact and it’s getting worse every day. No one of the Americans are scared of their border when it comes to Canada.
I always thought canada was 1 country not just a bunch of governments ….I am a certified senior 1A instructor i have held my license for 44 yrs …now can this country not just have 1 license for the whole country ….weird idea a federal license that everybody has to take not these individual hypocritical province bulletin
As a retired Driver Examiner I fully support the Province of Ontario on this issue. I told my own Registrar that as soon as you make things mandatory such as car/motorcycle/truck courses someone can and will sell courses without it being completed
it took to long comming we lost a lot of lives in the meantime
If this guy had half a brain he would have known it was fake. If you dont know the difference between the proper legitimate trainning places then you shouldn’t be on the rd. Myself I paid $7000.00 to upgrade from my DZ to an AZ this winter, which is way more then this guy’s $5000.00. Its $10000.00 to get it from a G license. So as far as im concerned this guy shouldn’t have a second chance. I was born here and I get zero breaks at all so if you obtain a commercial license by fraud then you shouldn’t be given another chance. Road safety starts with commen sense which this guy and others have zero off. Its people like this guy who doesn’t do his homework nore put the time and effort into legally obtaining a valid driver’s license and especially a commercial license at that. He should no longer be able to drive anything at this point in any country or province or state. FRAUD IS FRAUD and thats exactly who these people are.
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I agree Troy… as said, he should of known. I paid just over $13,000 to train and upgrade from my G to an Az, manual/melt program.
I would be very curious to know how many drivers that were not qualified and were allowed to drive these vehicles over the road across Canada and into the United States? And how many of these unqualified/nonqualified drivers from all provinces were involved in accidents while behind the wheel of these large transports? It’s been a long time coming, and there is a need for thorough investigation not just within Ontario, but across Canada regarding these fraudulent schools and the lack of governance regarding the trucking industry.
About time Canada. Have been witness to a number of instances of poorly trained Semi-truck drivers over the last 30 years both on the road and at truck facilites. I personally went through a 14 week training course at a certified collage in Winnipeg, then months of team driver training all over North America in the 1990s.
As an instructor for Melt here in British Columbia I have had a few students from Ontario with a class 1 that had to re-do the melt program here in BC and they were terrible drivers how they got their license is beyond me.we need to standerize training on the national level. It surprises me how a driving school can charge as little as 3500.00 dollars for 140 hours of training. Also I have seen as many as 5 students pile out of a truck .
Hold all the scammers and people who been paid off liable . See to much of this bs . Any immigrants coming to Canada should be held at the same standards as those of us born in Canada . Start them all after passing tests at graduated license and work your way up . Our overpasses and human casualties deserve better
Looks like OTA’s original agenda backfired on their fine organization , it only took over decade…where was zero tolerance for “bad actors ” then? Seemed a blind eye was turned on some serious issues for quite some time now a new direction because it is not working in their favour.
Canada’s 2 official languages are English and French. Period.
Honestly, I left India for a better life but, this sh…t has followed me here..back home anything you want…..bribe..
Just like Ford says put these guys behind bars and throw away the keys…our justice system stinks, really stinks….
These basta….ds should be put away for a ver long time behind bars, giving licence for greed not thinking about the safety of other people on the road…
I hope these basta…ds rot in hell.
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Well said people like you from any country are welcome here i just not like people who scam or try certain things that get other people hurt often without proper medical care and help housing because of a injury
Don’t just cancel the licenses if the schools but put all the corrupt school owners in jail for 10 years with no parole and take the money from those corrupt school owners to pay all the students who have paid their fees to these corrupt school owners for their on the road training and in class hours plus MELT. Publish the names of these corrupt schools and owners in the newspapers, TV and social media including their pictures. Put a life time ban on these owners for opening another driving school. Please bring back the testing under government control instead of private ownership. We must eradicate the corruption from the ministry of transportation and other related departments. Thanks
The MTO starts and finishes it’s testing in a lot at the wee storage , In the winter if it is snowing or has snowed they don’t do any testing. Should we know whether or not that people that come from a hot climate can drive in Canadian winters.
Perhaps the trucking industry needs to police itself across the country. Here in Alberta, I have seen quite a few incidents that cause me to be concerned. Inexperienced drivers making absolutely stupid decisions while pushing 50 ton loads is a danger. Stricter training is required
I was an Over the Road Truck Driver for 26 years until a 4 wheeler cut me off and I turned my wheels and put my KW into a Mountain, or kill the 4 wheeler, At the Truck Stops I can’t tell you how many Drivers I saw in there that Couldn’t read an Atlas, Couldn’t speak English, So I know Dang Well they Couldn’t read our Road Signs, I’d see 5 and 6 of them get out of 1 Big Truck, And get anywhere down South, And Nobody down there spoke a Word of English. But Again No One Cared, Until Someone Had to Die. Then All of a Sudden, DOT, DOJ, And The President Cares, Where were you 25 year’s ago when these Trucking Companies were hiring all these Illegal Aliens to Drive for them ??????? Where ???
About time they look into that,,government giving out driver licenses like they giving free money to immigrants….highways are dangerous enuff as it is,,,how does one pass a drivers test when one can’t even read of speak English or French,
I’am a retired OTR truck driver, great to see they are finally weeding out these bad schools and drivers, just want to say : NO SPEAK GOOD ENGLISH, NO LICENCE
Well I think trucknews.com should stay hot on the investigation trail and watch to see if Tony’s predictions come true. Obviously if in fact this trucker is correct then let’s have the skinny on it. Thanx for sharing.
It’s about time there is so many shady schools . They should have been investigated 10 years ago
What is unsettling to me is the fact that the driver truck training was in another language.
Road signs in Ontario and all over Canada are in English/French. From this I would think they cannot read the road and traffic sighs. Makes me ponder.
Who are the staff at MTO drive test centers? Who are the truck drivers? Who are the owners of truck driving schools? Who are the duct cleaners? They are scammers in every corner of industry in Canada. Financial fraud insurance fraud real estate fraud legal fraud number one in bankruptcies trade fraud construction fraud…
This is nothing new. I’ve been hearing of things like this happening in Alberta for probably two decades. I don’t know why it’s taking so long for the authorities to grow a brain..
That is excellent what MTO is doing. They should also suspend motor vehicle (G) licenses too. Many schools take foreigners to a DrIve Test Centres out of Toronto where there is not much traffic like Lindsey for an exhobitant fees. When these driver start driving in Toronto, they have no clue. I have been a road test examiner ( now retired) and have taken many foreigners for road tests. Some of these foreigners bring fake documents from their country claiming that they have driven for more than 5 years in their country with a clean driving record. Once they pass the computer aided sign test in their native language are allowed to proceed fo a straight G license test bypassing the G2 license test which Canadians have to go through. These foreigners have no clue on how to merge in heavy traffic. Some of them can’t translate the road signs from their native language to English. This puts the life of the examiner and that of other road users in great danger. Many examiners have been injured including myself.
I drove on the he 403 highway often. Every day ime , I see transport trucks weaving in the lane and going out of the lane, in some areas, spraying dirt and gravel. I have had a ACZ license for ,30 years, in good standing.
This activity is frightening. I will pass trucks as it’s too scary to be behind or god forbid, beside one of these trucks.
I look at the driver and most times see them texting.
Having had my career ended abruptly due to a texting driver hitting my car years ago, I find it unsettling to say the least.
Get these menaces in thier murder machines off if the road!
There should be random visits from.government officials to all private colleges. How are they able to.operate?
This took far too long to implement. The Ministry knew who the bad actors were and they failed to act so they wouldn’t appear racist. This at the cost of public road safety. So sad that people died because of this. The drivers were never named so that the public wouldn’ t profile what was already known. At the weigh scales, may I add, that drivers should be given English proficiency tests and sign recognition tests. Remember, truck drivers wear base ball caps.
Its about time!
You can clearly see the unlawful and aggressive behavior on our roads, presenting a dangerous situation on the Ontario highways. As well, they are crossing provincial borders and most likely USA and Canada borders.
I blame the government of Ontario for allowing this to get this far. As well, the police should also take some blame. Their lack of policing our roads for, dangerous driving and complete disregard and disrespect of rules of the roads have gone on far to long. I certainly hope the government fines and throw the book at all parties concerned. As a driver of of 40 years, I have seen a lot.
I beg of the government to take this very serious an impose the full length of the law.
The only reason this is being dealt with now is because the current administration in the USA is cracking down on all this corruption in the trucking industry. They have the same problem with the “blind eye” policies of ALL previous administrations. One only has to follow the money trail to know why this has been going on in all of North America. I’m sure the beneficiaries of all this corruption are just hoping once there is a change in the US government, they’ll be able to get back to business as usual. They will be able to get back to “that’s just trucking”. Actually it’s not “just trucking”,but it certainly rhymes with it.
More of this needs to be done. This is far from the first time a disreputable training facility has been discovered leaving a multitude of questionable driver’s on our roads. Not to be fooled, many have “purchased” their licenses. Couple that up with not reading, or writing English, sounds like a very viable issue virtually driving around our roads.
Rules are in place because too many before have bent, or twisted them through ignorance and stupidity. I, for one, don’t believe our roads are as safe as they should be!
It might not be a surprise that these schools affiliated albeit loosely with governments and their programs are allegedly dishonest… if they look to the government they will see nothing but alleged dishonesty. How else can we expect them to operate, when officials are flagrant with their impunity for rules and regulations?
No its time to looking into the the driving schools and training one thing for sure is that all training is to be in English and or French. Nothing else
I see to many wrecks in my years of longhaul OTR
The forgniers coming here and starting up driving schools must come with stricken rules they must be tested nd register before they can teach others
This industry is a skilled professional carrier
Any and all trucking companies should have to send in all driver and truck info every year and any deviance or neglect of these regulations should be an automatic disqualification of all drivers and trucks from being on the Canadian roads and if there is intent to deal in bad faith then the owners and drivers involved should be permanently disqualified from any other activity in the industry
Im old enough to remember the scandal in surry british columbia about the driving schools issuing bogus training credentials which all came out of an rcmp investigation when a dumptruck driver dumped a load of hot asphalt onto a convertible at the horseshoe bay ferry terminal. This corruption has been going on for a long time . How do we stop corruption in the training and licensing of commercial drivers in british columbia. Semi accidents are a daily occurrence on our highways
Why do we not have the most critical information regarding these licence suspensions? What type of ‘dishonesty’? Who are the perpetrators involved? MTO? Serco? Drivetest examiners? DCP providers? MELT schools? The drivers themselves? Or, a combination of all?
Enquiring minds want to know…
Just worried using a black guys picture for this article……
I believe a crackdown on these fly-by-night “schools” and testing centres is long overdue, not only in Ontario, but all across Canada. The mayhem that we’ve been seeing on our highways over the past 5-10 yrs seems to be getting worse, and not just with the commercial trucks. There seems to be a bulletproof, me first and damn everyone else attitude on the roads these days. I can’t count how many times I’ve had near misses, brake checks, cutoff etc… and that seems to be DAILY. A real shake up in the industry is needed, and our governments policies to “fill seats” because of a perceived driver shortage is missing the mark, but they don’t care – it’s all about their numbers looking good.
Great Article the government needs to be honest and let the public know how many bogus truck licences out there in Ontario !
Hello Leo,
Is it fair to believe that those carriers using these unqualified drivers are probably the same carriers using fake inspections certificates and probably using the Drivers Inc scheme to reduce their labor costs.
I wonder if this is the picture the Ontario government wants to share across the country?
It’s about time they start doing something about these drivers in the stretch of 401 were I live between belleville and kingston there has been a record number of people killed by truck drivers who have not been properly trained and it’s sad you never seem deaths on the 401 by truck drivers like we have in past few years
From my personal experience working at DriveTest, I believe the system is facing serious problems that put public safety at risk. What I observed showed me how widespread the issues are and how little accountability there is between organizations.
Examiners were often rushed through courses and given their licence within a very short time, even when they did not yet have the proper skills. If examiners themselves are underqualified, how can they fairly and safely assess others?
As a CSA, I saw many fraudulent documents in the system, the majority coming from India. We were not allowed to involve the police, only to mark them as “not meeting ministry standards.” Yet in any other situation, such as traveling with a fake passport, the result would be immediate arrest. That double standard makes no sense.
Another concern is that translators were never verified, yet people who could not read still managed to pass the exams with their help. I also witnessed candidates taking the AZ written test dozens of times without passing, only to come back again the next day as if it were a lottery. This shows how flawed the process is.
I even knew examiners who admitted they were not ready for the job but were kept on regardless, even though they didn’t meet the job requirements. That is another sign of organizational failure.
In my opinion, corruption has become systemic and very difficult to control. But the consequences are serious:
Anyone who gains a licence fraudulently should be banned for life.
Any examiner caught taking bribes should be removed and face legal consequences.
Any school that commits fraud should lose the right to teach permanently.
And if Serco fails to detect corruption within its staff, they should not be allowed to manage contracts that affect public safety.
If small acts of corruption are ignored, they only grow bigger over time. That is what I saw happening, and it is why I believe the system is broken.
I am a supporter of graduated licences for truck drivers new to Canada.
Most have never seen snow or black ice and lack the capability to manoeuvre on these road conditions
Driver awareness on when and where it is safe to pass, using common sense when pulling into or out of side roads, driveways and streets into traffic and especially not taking the time to watch that 65’ trailer behind them which usually ends up in the ditch.
With graduated licenses they will “earn” the right to responsibly drive a full semi unit.
For each infraction be it lack of knowledge on pretrips, usage of electronic logs or speeding they will lose the points needed to move forward.
For many Canadians graduated licenses are nesessary to drive a car so the same standards should apply to new truck drivers.
Leo
Excellent article and research you did
I over heard to their could quite an amount in number of these permits that where issued
Super job
Take care
Marc Cadieux
CEO at QTA