OTTAWA, Ont. — Research from the Canadian Trucking Human Resources Council (CTHRC) says that licensing standards for commercial truck drivers vary greatly from province to province – and many jurisdictions have already responded with steps to address these gaps.

National options are being investigated by a working group of the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators (CCMTA), which includes representatives of provincial, territorial and federal governments.

CTHRC officials say individual provinces and territories have also committed to addressing some of the differences between their existing standards and those recommended by the National Occupation Standards for entry-level drivers, which include National Safety Code standards and provincial highway codes.

The research was part of a national collaboration known as Closing the Gap, which emerged in 2005 to address the trucking industry’s shortage of skilled drivers.

“Representatives of the CCMTA and other government officials across the country should be applauded for taking proactive action to address the variations that our research has discovered,” notes CTHRC executive

director Linda Gauthier. “By raising the bar on the licensing standards for commercial drivers, they also raise the bar on training standards.

“This is an important step toward ensuring that newly licensed drivers meet the same basic requirements, and it enhances the commitments that provinces and territories have made to highway safety,” she adds.

A separate report on the inventory of licensing requirements identified several existing differences in licensing issues, including the minimum age at which candidates can apply for a Class 1/A commercial licence; the length and subject matter of knowledge tests; the length of practical road tests; the frequency of medical re-examination; and the type of training required for driver examiners.