One Road, One Standard: Why Canada Needs National Driver Training

Article written by John White

If you’ve ever hauled from one end of this country to the other, you already know that what’s legal in one province can get you a ticket in the next.
Today, every province has its own version of the MELT training program — MELT stands for Minimum Entry Level Training — but some provinces tweak the hours, others change the curriculum, and a few are still catching up. The MELT program is widely regarded as a complete failure and is recognized by many in the industry as a band-aid approach that was put in place to placate the unknowing public.  

For an industry that moves freight across provincial borders every day, it makes no sense that we don’t have a single, national standard for how drivers are trained.

Here’s how it’s set up now. The federal government, through Transport Canada, looks after things like vehicle safety standards, Hours of Service, ELDs, and the rules for carriers that cross provincial or international borders.

But driver training and licensing are up to each province or territory. They decide how long your training program is, what it covers, who can teach it, and what kind of test you have to pass. That’s why a driver trained in Alberta may not have had the same classroom or road time as one trained in B.C., Ontario, or Nova Scotia.

The result? We have one national highway system, but ten different training systems feed into it.

When training isn’t consistent, safety isn’t consistent either. Some schools give students real-world time on the road — mountain driving, chaining up, backing into tight docks, and securing loads properly. Others rush through the basics, with their only goal being to help you pass the provincial test as quickly as possible, earning them the reputation of being the place to go to get a quick and often cheap and at times a phony license.

The truth is, the quality of your first training can make or break your career. It affects safety, insurance, and even how the public sees all of us who make a living behind the wheel.

A Red Seal Program is a national standard for tradespeople that lets a qualified worker move from province to province without having to retrain. Let’s make one thing clear — driving a truck has as many variables, skills, and responsibilities as any recognized trade. So why shouldn’t it be treated like one?

A Red Seal for professional drivers would mean one consistent national training program, common testing standards, recognition of skill and experience across Canada, and higher credibility with insurance companies and employers.

When you raise the standard, you raise the pay. A recognized, professional credential gives drivers the bargaining power they deserve. It tells employers, “This person has proven skills.” That kind of respect translates into better wages, steadier work, and improved conditions — something this industry has needed for a long time.

It would also help stop the undercutting we see from fly-by-night operations that pay bottom-dollar wages and cut corners to grab freight contracts. Those outfits drive down rates for everyone — including the good companies that play by the rules. A Red Seal standard would make it harder for unqualified carriers to flood the market with poorly trained, underpaid drivers.

And let’s be honest — most reputable companies would welcome it. Any fleet owner or safety manager will tell you how hard it is to find reliable, qualified drivers these days. Having a national certification system would take a lot of guesswork out of hiring. If a driver walks in with a Red Seal, that company knows they’ve been properly trained and tested to a proven Canadian standard. It saves time, reduces risk, and helps fleets operate more safely and efficiently.

A Red Seal for trucking would do more than improve safety — it would open doors. Right now, young people entering the workforce are told to look at the trades if they want security, benefits, and mobility. But trucking isn’t on that list — and that’s a missed opportunity.

If professional driving were a recognized Red Seal trade, it would suddenly become a real career choice for young Canadians looking for stability and pride in their work. They could train, apprentice, and certify just like a welder, mechanic, or electrician — building a future that includes solid pay, good benefits, and long-term opportunity.

It would also help reduce unemployment by giving more Canadians a clear path into the driver’s seat. Instead of continually importing drivers from around the world to fill vacancies, we could train our own — keeping those paycheques, taxes, and skills right here at home.

We’ll always welcome new Canadians who want to be part of this industry, but there’s no reason young Canadians shouldn’t see trucking as a trade worth choosing.

Being Red Seal certified would mean more than just bragging rights. It would come with real-world advantages: better pay and benefits, mobility between provinces without retraining, career advancement into training and safety management, and recognition that trucking is a skilled trade on par with any other. Carriers employing certified drivers would likely qualify for lower insurance rates and stronger safety ratings — savings that could be shared with drivers instead of spent fighting bureaucracy.

No one’s saying veteran drivers should be forced back to school. A Red Seal program could easily “grandfather” in current drivers. Those with a few years of clean, verifiable experience could earn the credential based on their record. Others could challenge the test — no need for a full course if you’ve already been doing the job safely for years. That way, we don’t punish experience — we honour it.

A Red Seal for truck drivers wouldn’t just make the job safer — it would make it more respected. It would give new drivers a clear path, experienced drivers proper recognition, and the public greater confidence in the people hauling their groceries, lumber, and fuel.

Right now, trucking is one of the few national industries still regulated by the provinces. That might’ve made sense decades ago, but not anymore. Freight moves nationally — and our training should too.

It’s time to get all ten provinces and three territories pulling in the same direction. Because at the end of the day, safety, professionalism, and pride don’t stop at the border — and neither do we.