Comments on: Solving the truck driver shortage is an investment in Canada

By: Richard E. Joules

Richard E. Joules — Mon, 26 Dec 2022 01:18:28 +0000

M.E.L.T. 120 HOURS OF TRAINING across Canada MAX.
It’s a start but nowhere near enough. In 97 I did 8 weeks of training. About 50/50 between driving and class. That was followed by four weeks on the road with a coach. We all had an ego that said we had this, knew this and why were we wasting our time. The smart students figured out very quickly that we knew only enough to get into a pile of trouble and not a clue how to get out of it.
After twenty five I love my vocation, I hope to learn something daily. I give back through mentoring and involvement in a number of committees. It’s fun to see the newer versions of me coming up through the ranks. But they are few and far between. Most of the drivers today are trained in a different background and are only driving to get a PR. I truly believe this to be a fact, ask these drivers. This is a short term solution, two year, to a long term problem. As long as companies don’t wish to change, we will continue to use a short term solution to a long term problem. We need to reinvent the wheel.

By: Stephen Webster

Stephen Webster — Thu, 26 May 2022 21:01:28 +0000

In reply to Abdalla Osman. Well said one company that pays $28/ hr plus after 1yrc5% rsb match a good medical plan and overtime off the e logs doing local work has every truck full.

By: Abdalla Osman

Abdalla Osman — Thu, 21 Apr 2022 03:06:34 +0000

Stop advocating for big trucking companies. There is no professional driver shortage. It’s a myth. A way to mislead policy makers in this country. Unless you address the underlying issues. The problem will never be solved. Many drivers who are qualified – Canadain citizen leave the industry because of poor working conditions, not to mention overworked and under paid. I dare to say it, Truck drivers are modern day slave workers in Canada. Who in this industry are you talking to? Its evident you are not talking to driver like me. 22 years ago, when I got my license it was very difficult to go on the road without proper training. Today everyone is hiring and putting new drivers with language periors on the road without hands on training. If you think luring foreign drivers with false promises of making a good living from trucking, they too are leaving the industry as soon as they find out the working conditions. To solve the problem, drivers need better working conditions, such as mandatory overtime after 44 hrs of work. Truck drivers in this country works 60 to 70 hours a week on a flat hourly rate. The cost of living increased dramatically in the past few years. The average hourly rate for a truck driver is $19 – $21. Minimum wage in Ontario is $15 to $16. No wonder why there is a shortage. It’s a broken industry.

By: Stephen Webster

Stephen Webster — Mon, 18 Apr 2022 13:09:55 +0000

In reply to Mark Reuber. Gov and the industry has made truck drivers unable to find safe parking and poor pay compared to other jobs in ont. Too many truck drivers end up sick a d disabled without proper support. A shelter at blyth ont ran out of money to pay to keep running and for transferring those disabled or wheelchairs. No option has been provided for those that use a electric oxygen concentration machine putting these drivers at a very High risk to expire

By: Bernie Tolbert

Bernie Tolbert — Sun, 17 Apr 2022 13:14:21 +0000

Mark – What there is a shortage of, are drivers willing to work long days (14 hours as noted by James Menzies) for the same pay as others make in 8 hours.
We are used to seeing some empty store shelves, but lack of drivers has never been identified as the reason for any empty shelf. There’s always some other company to take the load.
Trucking companies generally do not offer a way for a person who doesn’t have a Class 1 licence to get trained, licensed, and start to work. They all want qualified and experienced drivers.
Unless trucking companies produce and retain the drivers they seek, there will always be a “shortage”.

By: Stephen Webster

Stephen Webster — Sat, 16 Apr 2022 22:33:35 +0000

In reply to Mark Reuber.

90% of the young people are working today. Most have more formal education than 50 years ago
Truck drivers wages in 1981 was the same / hr as public school Teachers pay or a fireman or a M N R conservation person. In 1981 a local drivers pay working 4 nights of 12 hours pay after income tax would buy a house I. Waterloo. 4 months pay would buy a new dodge diplomat or 30 liter of gasoline or diesel in 1 hour or 75 litrs of propane . A factory near Stratford is building a 32 unit building 24 of those 2 or 3 bedrooms units are for staff. They also pay from $25 to $$37.60/ hr based on the job and experience
Many former truck drivers work for them because their partner has a job a d they can spend time with their own family

By: Mark Reuber

Mark Reuber — Sat, 16 Apr 2022 16:38:29 +0000

In reply to Bernie Tolbert.

Bernie – you make some valid points. In my opinion one of the reasons we’re in this mess is because, in the past, we’ve let the government get too involved. The good ole boys who kept this countries goods moving left BECAUSE OF GOVERNMENT. The other side of it is we’ve created a generation that’s never had it so good! Trucking has always been a tough job and todays generation isn’t hungry enough to do it – they don’t have to. Truck drivers have never had it so good – I disagree with your view that if your a good company you won’t have driver shortages. I know lots of good companies to work for – the best, and they all have driver shortages. The companies aren’t the problem, the generation we’ve raised up is the problem.

Depending on government to get us out of a mess they created is not the answer. All the government needs to do is take their hands off…stop printing money, stop paying capable workers to sit on their couch watching TV…stop the erosion of our current financial system and let the chips fall where they may.

Less government – more workers.

By: Bernie Tolbert

Bernie Tolbert — Fri, 15 Apr 2022 13:32:21 +0000

As a retired trucking industry executive, I can’t help but laugh at this article and the mind-set behind it. The CTA’s ongoing whining about the driver shortage coupled with their current industry image campaign are easy to interpret when you step back a little. The working conditions at many trucking companies suck. Trying to mask that with an image campaign, and then expecting the government to find more drivers for companies to exploit, is simply going to cause the situation to fester.
I can imagine company executives saying, “Hey, let’s bring in people from other countries to exploit, the Canadians are on to us.”
There are plenty of Canadian workers willing to take jobs that pay well, provide good working conditions, and offer quality-of-life. Trucking companies with admirable hiring, recruiting, and working conditions, win awards and don’t need the government to help them find drivers.
This is a supply and demand issue. The trucking companies that have trouble getting drivers to work for them should not receive government help. They should instead look in the mirror to decide why they can’t get or keep drivers.
If there is a driver shortage, eventually the companies that treat their drivers poorly will go out of business. Their work will be taken over by trucking companies that treat drivers fairly. Don’t give these bad actors government help to continue the cycle.
And, don’t expect an image campaign to mask what drivers in the industry say about their working conditions.

By: Stephen Webster

Stephen Webster — Fri, 15 Apr 2022 05:19:32 +0000

Maybe we should look at why disabled people including veterans and truck drivers were living in homeless shelters like the one in blyth that was being heated with portable electric heaters and 20lb propane tanks with camp heaters
We have a lot of truck drivers that come to Canada and only drive truck long enough to get their P R then go into another line of work
Too many sick injured drivers have not got proper medical supplies or proper food in shelters in the past 2 years in ont
We need to make a investment in bringing these drivers back to productivity before spending taxpayers money on training new drivers or imported drivers from low countries.