Ontario extends detailed MELT lesson plans deadline to July 1, 2026
The Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO) has once again extended the deadline for truck driver training schools to incorporate detailed lesson plans in their mandatory entry-level training (MELT) programs. The timeline has been pushed back another nine months to July 1, 2026.
In a bulletin issued Sept. 23, the MTO announced the new deadline to resubmit an updated curriculum. This is the second extension provided to driving schools in the province. The earlier deadline had been on Oct. 1.
Initially, MTO had sent out a bulletin on Dec. 24, 2024, to all MELT providers clarifying existing requirements for lesson plans in all programs conforming to the Commercial Truck Driver Training Standard (Class A). The bulletin mentioned the driving schools had until July 1, 2025, to submit the minute-by-minute lesson plans to the ministry.
The MTO explained why it decided to extend the deadline. “MTO has received feedback from stakeholders expressing concern about fulfilling curriculum resubmission requirements within the current deadline given the economic downturn they are currently facing,” the bulletin stated. “The new deadline will provide course providers and developers with more time to update their curricula.”
The Ontario Commercial Truck Training Association (OCTTA) said the move responds to repeated requests from the industry, but added the process must align with the ongoing review of MELT standards.
OCTTA supports deadline extension
“OCTTA supports any initiative that improves training quality,” Narinder Singh Jaswal, OCTTA president said in a statement. “But requiring lesson plans now, before MELT standards are updated, risks wasting time, duplicating work, and placing unnecessary financial burdens on schools.”
The association noted a series of stakeholder meetings is still underway to evaluate and potentially revise MELT standards. The next session is scheduled for Oct. 10. Training providers fear that if they are required to file lesson plans before the review is complete, they may be forced to revise and resubmit them once new requirements are finalized.
“This would mean duplicate administrative work and extra costs for schools that are already dealing with industry slowdowns,” Jaswal noted.
The association also questioned the need for the requirement given that MELT standards have not been changed since they were introduced in 2017. Schools have been using approved lesson plans built on those standards for more than eight years without issue.
School owner warns of public safety issues
Not all truck training schools welcomed the extension. One school owner, who asked not to be named, called the decision “deeply disappointing.”
This extension provides yet another reprieve to schools that continue to exploit the system, delaying long-overdue reforms and allowing substandard training practices to persist, the school owner warned.
They said they invested time and resources, following MTO directives and now feel their efforts have been undermined. “This is not just a matter of fairness or competition; it is a matter of public safety. Every delay risks enabling another preventable tragedy on our roads. For those of us committed to quality training, the repeated postponements send the wrong message that compliance is optional, and that those who stall are rewarded while those who prepare are penalized,” they said.
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The Ontario government has repeatedly consulted, set revised rules for reform, then delayed and reconsulted over and over. Get on with it. The time to make amendments and begin actual enforcement of the rules to weed out non compliant schools is long overdue.
I personnely think rules and way to do things should have been etablished before these guys had a license for a school now they have been putting thousands of bad drivers on the road and just now they need to have a curriculum course, nobody ever think they need it before they operate a school , kind of late to establish rules
someone is sleeping for a long time,and all the old guys who are in this industry for centurys are paying indirectly for, rate cutting and ……..
kind of weird to do things ,
The schools that have not done their homework and are not going to meet the deadline should be closed or at least not be allowed to train until they can meet the requirements. By allowing them more time only puts more lives in jeopardy on our highways with under trained drivers being allowed behind the wheel of an 18 wheeler. Excuses don’t save lives. I have been trucking for 50+ years and have never seen such a sad state of affairs in the trucking industry.
Asking for minute by minute lesson plans is one of the most ridiculous things I have ever seen in my 45 years of holding a commerical licence and being involved in the commerical truck training business. With today’s technology every student in every truck could be monitored during every in truck session. False paperwork, students signing off on training that they have not received so they can get a quicker road test and start making money is the norm with the “licensing Mills”.
Does John/Jane Q Public know that there over 300 campuses approved to offer truck driver training in Ontario?
The “ Licensing Mills” are corrupt and only interested in the almighty buck.
The system is broke – MELT is melting and the industry is suffering because of the lack of qualified entry level drivers. The problem is not just in Ontario – it is nation wide, it is North American wide. Poorly trained entry level drivers are seeping into the industry everywhere.
But here is the thing, some companies are hiring the poorly trained and licensed and some insurance providers are insuring the poorly trained and licensed. The answer, good school, good carrier, good insurer. The result, people will have long time enjoyable sustainable carriers. Most importantly safer roads.
Time to legitimize the profession – Red Seal is doable for commerical driver in Canada. It is not the silver bullet BUT it could be the greatest recruiting and retention mechanism in the history of our industry.
Most importantly, Red Seal will bring us safer roads.
The rules said get your stuff done by October 1, 2025. How is it now the public’s problem that some schools can’t manage to get their course curriculum done properly and on time?