The province says the action was taken following inspections, audits and targeted investigations of driver training schools and carriers.

“It was a targeted crackdown. We saw an alarming increase in the amount of bridge strikes and calls and letters coming into the department of unsafe trucking incidents. This was a bigger, broader audit of the driver training schools that we took the initiative to try to crack down on this disturbing trend,” said Devin Dreeshen, minister of transportation and economic corridors.

“Our families’ safety won’t be put at risk by reckless operators who ignore the rules. Anyone cutting corners or operating unsafe trucks will be removed from our roads. Alberta truckers have earned a reputation as some of the most trusted drivers in the country, and we will not allow a few bad actors to undermine that trust.”

Thirteen commercial trucking companies have also been removed from Alberta’s roads due to poor on-road performance, unsafe equipment or failure to meet mandatory safety standards. Of those, seven were identified as “chameleon” carriers – companies that try to avoid regulatory oversight by changing names, creating new entities or relocating operations across jurisdictions.

The provincial government said it is working with federal and provincial/territorial partners to strengthen enforcement across jurisdictions. Work is also underway by the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators to develop a national database to address the loophole that carriers currently use to exploit gaps in inter-provincial data sharing and enforcement.

“We’ve developed a made-in-Alberta change for a Class One learning pathway,” Dreeshen said.

“Eventually we want trucking to be a Red Seal. You look at a Red Seal certification for a chef, we think obviously there should be that point of pride in the trucking industry, but it takes five other provinces to recognize it as a trade. That’s something we’re still working with other provinces to be able to officially have trucking as an apprenticeship.”

This would include requiring 125 to 133 in-truck training hours, well above the national mandatory entry-level training minimum.

“Elevating driver training standards to align with the established benchmarks of a designated trade with the ultimate goal of achieving Red Seal designation for the transportation industry represents a significant and positive step forward,” Don MacDonald, interim chair of the Professional Truck Training Alliance of Canada, said in a press release.

“This initiative is supported by the (PTTAC) and will not only contribute to safer roadways but also foster greater professionalism and integrity across all sectors of the industry.”

Alberta is also targeting the misclassified driver scheme known as Drivers Inc., in which companies hire drivers as independent contractors to avoid payroll taxes and benefits.

These drivers often lack proper training and oversight and are vulnerable to exploitation. In July 2025, a week-long commercial driver status and classification check stop revealed that 20 per cent of the 195 drivers who were stopped were suspected of being misclassified, including several temporary foreign workers.

To further strengthen the trucking industry, the Alberta government is looking to changes in its Traffic Safety Act. One regulatory change would be requiring the driver’s driving record to follow the individual instead of the carrier with which the driver is associated .

“If it’s an issue with the vehicle, it’s obviously not the driver’s fault. Those types of incidences should follow the carrier. But, if it is driver error, we’re seeing drivers jump into other carriers without the new carrier knowing the past driving record of that driver. We’re making sure there’s more accountability in the trucking industry.”

Dreeshen said these measures will benefit the agriculture sector.

“Maybe I’m a little biased because I am a (fifth-generation) farmer. Truckers used to have the reputation of being the best out on the road. You’d have people that would be following semis because they know … the trail that the semi is blazing in the middle of winter is good. Hats off to the amazing truckers that we have doing the work that they do every day to put put food on store shelves and to make sure that we have such a high quality life that we have.”

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CBSA on Wednesday said charges have now been laid against a 38-year-old Calgary resident after a semi-truckload of produce was referred for further inspection on Dec. 25, 2020 at the port of entry at Coutts, Alta., about 100 km southeast of Lethbridge.

While examining the produce shipment, CBSA officials said, they found 228.14 kg of methamphetamine, the street value of which was estimated at about $28.5 million.

The truck’s driver was arrested and turned over to Alberta RCMP, who have since charged Amarpreet Singh Sandhu of Calgary with importation of a controlled substance and possession for the purpose of trafficking, CBSA said.

Sandhu was released from custody Jan. 14 and is next due in Provincial Court in Lethbridge on Feb. 11.

The discovery amounts to CBSA’s largest meth seizure ever at a land border crossing anywhere in Canada, the agency said Wednesday.

The previous reported record was for about 200 kg of meth seized almost exactly a year earlier, at the Ambassador Bridge port of entry at Windsor, Ont., on Dec. 24, 2019.

“It is because of CBSA officers’ diligence while screening essential goods that this record amount of methamphetamine did not reach our streets or cause harm to our communities,” CBSA southern Alberta and southern Saskatchewan district director Ben Tame said in the agency’s release Wednesday. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Brooks RCMP said Monday they’re investigating after a transport truck that was subcontracted to haul a full load of beef from the JBS plant to the U.S. “failed to make its delivery” on Aug. 30.

It’s since been found that the truck was allegedly operating not only under fraudulent documents but a “fraudulent name,” listed as “Transport Pascal Charland” out of Chateauguay, Que., RCMP said.

Police described the truck as a burgundy semi with a large bunk, pulling a white refrigerated trailer.

Their suspect is described as a “slightly balding” Caucasian male with short brown hair, tall with a heavy build and wearing blue jeans, a black T-shirt, yellow fluorescent vest and a surgical mask.

The same trucking company name and location were alleged to have been given in a separate case involving disappearing hot tubs, Thorsby RCMP said in a separate release on Sept. 4.

A numbered company name, 10036218 Canada Inc., was also given in that case, RCMP said.

A flat-deck trailer, hitched to an unmarked white Volvo semi, is alleged to have been loaded up on Sept. 2 with seven Arctic Spas hot tubs “without legal authority” and driven off from the Arctic Spas manufacturing plant at Thorsby, about 50 km southwest of Edmonton.

Thorsby RCMP described their suspect as a Caucasian male aged 30-40, about five feet six inches tall with a heavy build and short brown hair.

Anyone with information on the vanishing beef is asked to call Brooks RCMP at 403-794-4400 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477. Anyone with information on the missing hot tubs is asked to call Crime Stoppers at the same number or call Thorsby RCMP at 780-789-3613. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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The provincial government in late 2018 announced it will require a minimum of 121.5 hours of training before a driver can obtain a Class 1 commercial driver’s licence, effective in mid-March 2019.

A Class 1 licence is required for any operators of power units, semi trailers and other vehicles towing a trailer or vehicle where the gross weight of the towed unit exceeds 10,000 lbs.

But the province at that time also said it would exempt people who wanted to drive a semi in farming operations. Those drivers could get an “F” endorsement — limiting them to driving semis within Saskatchewan’s borders — by passing Class 1 tests, without the mandatory training.

Under a regulatory phase-out announced Wednesday, however, effective March 1, 2020, anyone wanting to get an “F” endorsement on a driver’s licence will have to take 40 hours of commercial driver training.

The “F” endorsement after that date will also include a new restriction. The license holder may drive a farm vehicle normally requiring a Class 1 driver’s licence, only within Saskatchewan’s borders — and also only within a 100-km radius of the address on the vehicle registration.

Effective March 1, 2021, the province said, the “F” endorsement will be eliminated.

After that date, anyone wanting to operate a semi, farming or otherwise, will require a Class 1 driver’s licence — and that will require the full 121.5-hour mandatory training program.

All “F” endorsement holders will also need to complete the training program, the province said Wednesday. Drivers who will have taken the 40 hours’ training toward the “F” endorsement will get credit for those hours.

Thus, the province said Wednesday, “in 2021, mandatory training programs across the Prairies will be completely aligned.”

The province said last year it wanted to consult further with the ag industry on mandatory training, “recognizing that vehicles used in farming operations are — in most cases — not on the roads as much as commercial semis; they also tend to travel shorter distances, and through areas with lower traffic volumes,” Joe Hargrave, the provincial minister responsible for Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI), said Wednesday.

“The majority of people we consulted in the agriculture sector agreed training was necessary to improve safety for everyone travelling on our roads.”

Drivers who held Class 1 licenses in Saskatchewan before March 15, 2019 were grandfathered in at that time and are allowed to continue to drive semis. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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The province announced Monday it will require a minimum of 121.5 hours of training before a driver can obtain a Class 1 commercial driver’s licence, starting March 15 next year.

A Class 1 licence is currently required for any operators of power units, semi trailers and other vehicles towing a trailer or vehicle where the gross weight of the towed unit exceeds 10,000 lbs. For now, that includes those registered as farm vehicles.

The province has been working to improve standards for training curriculums and testing for semi drivers since mid-2017, Joe Hargrave, the provincial minister responsible for Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI), said in a release.

However, the province added Monday, it “continues to consult” with Saskatchewan’s ag industry on the impacts of possible mandatory training for that sector.

Power units and semis used in farming operations “generally travel less frequently, shorter distances, and through less densely populated areas,” the province said.

For that reason, starting March 15 next year, anyone wishing to drive a semi used in farming operations will instead only need to obtain an “F” endorsement on his or her existing licence. Those drivers will also be restricted to operating within Saskatchewan’s borders, the province said.

To get the “F” endorsement, an eligible driver must be at least 18 years old and not a “novice” driver, an SGI spokesperson said. An “F”-endorsed driver must also submit a report of a medical exam and pass all written and road tests.

Trip inspections — that is, the vehicle inspections required at least once in every 24-hour period in which a commercial truck is in use — will still also be required for “F” endorsed drivers, the spokesperson said.

The “F” endorsement won’t be required for farm semi truck drivers who already have Class 1 licences or have taken the mandatory training. Existing Class 1 drivers will also be grandfathered in when the new training requirement takes effect, the province added.

For new Class 1 semi drivers subject to the mandatory training, the curriculum beyond March 15 will include instruction “in a classroom, in the yard, and behind the wheel,” the province said.

“Priority” curriculum areas are to include basic driving techniques, professional driving habits, vehicle inspections and air brakes, the province said.

“Training schools will receive instruction and training on the new curriculum, and the people who deliver training will be held to higher standards.”

Also starting March 15, Class 1 road tests will be undertaken with SGI examiners only, the province added.

Furthermore, the province said Monday, a 12-month safety monitoring program is now in effect for all new semi drivers, meaning SGI will monitor semi drivers “more stringently” for a year, post-testing, to allow for “remedial action” if safety concerns arise. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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