The Ontario Trucking Association (OTA) is calling on the provincial government to expand enforcement efforts beyond driver training schools and introduce mandatory safety inspections for trucking companies.

This comes days after Ontario’s auditor general released a report that uncovered egregious truck driver training shortcomings, including the fact that 25% of Ontario’s 216 truck driver training schools had never been inspected by the province. Since then, the Government of Ontario has promised to strengthen oversight of the 54 uninspected truck driver training schools identified.

OTA welcomed the pledge, but its president, Stephen Laskowski, added that the province must also address carriers already employing poorly trained drivers. OTA said in a news release that about 80% of trucking companies in Ontario have never undergone a Ministry of Transportation’s safety inspection.

“The Ontario government’s decision to launch inspections across all commercial driving schools is a landmark victory for highway safety…However, while we work to block the pipeline of uncertified drivers entering the workforce, we must also collaborate on a solution for the thousands of drivers who received substandard training and are already operating on our highways,” Laskowski said.

He also argued the lack of oversight allows non-compliant carriers operating under the Driver Inc. model to avoid taxes, labor standards and safety requirements while employing inadequately trained drivers. “To fully secure our roads, we must address the root cause of who is employing these operators. This issue is deeply tied to the illegal Driver Inc. underground business model… These are also the bad actors that threaten to put Ontario’s responsible and professional trucking fleets out of business.”

OTA is urging the province to deploy 24/7 truck inspection scales along major freight corridors, like Highways 11 and 17, and eliminate the “Satisfactory Unaudited” carrier designation and introduce proactive carrier safety audits.

The association is also advocating for transitioning the standard commercial license and training framework to require drivers to be accredited based on the specific type of equipment they operate, such as tankers, flatbeds, or twin trailers. 

“This is the only way to raise the bar of public safety, intercept poorly trained drivers already embedded in the system, and protect all families traveling on Ontario’s highways today before more harm is done,” Laskowski said.