TORONTO — It may be moving painfully slow compared to other provinces, but Ontario is expanding its Provincial Nominee Program. The bad news? Unlike most other jurisdictions with PNPs, truck drivers are still not allowed to participate in that province.

Still considered a pilot program, the PNP is now named Opportunities Ontario. Like similar programs across the country, its goal is to help companies recruit and sponsor foreign workers to come to Canada in order to work in industries that face serious shortages.

It has been expanded to welcome 1,000 applicants — twice as many as before. But while the government boasts that there’s now a broader range of qualifying categories (up from only 20 occupations previously), truck driving still isn’t recognized as a "skilled" profession under the program.

Ontario only accepts skill types 0, A or B from the National Occupation Classification (NOC), which includes supervisors for construction and transportation — as well as butchers, bakers, and arts performers — but not truck drivers.

Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and the Atlantic provinces have PNPs for long haul drivers. It’s been rumored for close to a year that Ontario may do the same at some point, but that remains to be seen.

With the trucking industry experiencing its biggest slump in a generation, there doesn’t seem to be great demand for a slack pool of foreign drivers in the short-term. However, given the demographic landscape in Canada and the fact that many young Canadians are less interested in truck driving than their parents were, it’s likely that PNPs will one day play a big role in carriers’ recruitment strategies.

Meanwhile, the Toronto Star has uncovered that PNPs across the country are exposed to a high risk of fraud.

Sources say visa offices where fraudulent applications have become a big problem include Beijing, New Delhi, Islamabad and Kiev.