TORONTO — As the U.S. Department of Transportation and related agencies continue to investigate and eliminate “bad actors” in the CDL training provider registry, Ontario, Canada appears to be following suit.
On May 12, 2026, the Auditor General of Ontario released a special report on the province’s training and certification process for large commercial truck driver licensing. The report examined whether Ontario’s systems provide adequate oversight of large commercial vehicle driver training, testing and licensing.
The audit found weaknesses in the inspection and oversight of training providers: The Ministry of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security (MCCURES) had never inspected 25% of the registered private career colleges that were actively offering Entry Level Training (ELT).
The report details inconsistencies in road testing practices across driver testing centers, as well as the Ministry of Transportation (MTO) not restricting drivers with past infractions from receiving a license or requiring a waiting period after obtaining a Class G (passenger vehicle) license.
According to the report, large commercial truck drivers make up more than 70% of all commercial vehicle drivers in Ontario. Large commercial trucks represent only 3% of vehicles on Ontario’s roads — yet they accounted for 12% of vehicles involved in fatal collisions in Ontario from 2019-2023.
A summary of the report’s findings and the Auditor General’s recommendations follows. To download the full report, click here.
Key findings
- Some students at registered private career colleges obtained Entry Level Training (ELT) certificates without completing mandatory training.
- MCURES had never inspected 25% of the registered private career colleges that were actively offering ELT.
- MCURES did not routinely share inspection information with MTO.
- Ministries did not monitor training outcomes of ELT providers.
- Students obtained ELT certificates by training at unregistered private career colleges.
- Drivers were not tested consistently on highway driving and reversals.
- MTO did not restrict drivers with past infractions from receiving a Class A or D license.
- There is no mandatory wait period between receiving a passenger vehicle license and a large commercial truck license.
Currently, Ontario’s large commercial truck driver licensing system requires that drivers:
- Be at least 18 years old
- Have a valid Class G (passenger vehicle) license
- Pass a valid medical report
- Pass the knowledge and vision tests
- Complete the ELT: Mandatory for Class A
- Pass the road test for respective classes
Ontario’s ELT standard requires 36.5 hours of in-class training, 17 hours of in-yard training and 50 hours of behind-the-wheel training (total 103.5 hours).
According to the May 12 statement, the audit concluded that MTO and MCURES do not have effective processes and systems in place to:
- Design and oversee the delivery of commercial truck driver training, examination and licensing programs so that the requirements to acquire commercial driver’s licenses are consistent where appropriate, and retained by drivers who have clearly demonstrated safe driving abilities.
- Proactively monitor truck drivers based on their driving risks to road safety, and take timely actions.
- Conduct analysis and evaluation of its commercial truck driver training, examination and licensing programs and make timely updates to them based on the results of evaluations.
- Report performance measurements showing their impact on Ontario road safety.
Recommendations
The audit makes 13 recommendations for MTO and MCCURES, to which both agencies have agreed.
1. MTO, in partnership with MCURES, should strengthen its proactive oversight activities by incorporating routine unannounced inspections or other control activities to assess training providers’ delivery of ELT hours and standard components to ensure the training is being done as required.
2. MCURES, in partnership with MTO, should:
- Formalize a risk-based inspection approach for private career colleges delivering ELT that includes documented criteria for prioritizing inspections and guidance on inspection frequency and type that varies based on risk.
- Conduct risk-based inspections on private career colleges that deliver ELT according to the inspection policy.
- Track and analyze the results of all inspections to identify risk factors and prioritize candidates for future inspections based on this analysis.
3. MTO should:
- Work with MCURES to put in place a formal process for sharing inspection and investigation results regularly.
- Apply appropriate enforcement actions against individual student drivers who obtained their ELT certificates without proof that they met the ELT requirements.
4. MTO, in partnership with MCURES, should:
- Develop processes for approving ELT instructors that are consistent with those used for DCP (Driver Certification Program), for example by reviewing initial applications from qualifying drivers, training and certifying instructors, and monitoring and recertifying instructors over time.
- Enhance its IT system so that it can automatically flag if an instructor teaching at a private career college becomes unqualified due to license suspension, excessive demerit points or outdated training certification, and notify the respective college to suspend the instructor until it is rectified.
5. MTO, in partnership with MCCURES, should:
- Track the vehicle type when driver infractions occur and roadside inspection outcomes by driver ID.
- Monitor training outcome, such as post-training infractions, post-training collision rates and road test pass rates, at individual ELT training providers to better target their inspection and investigation activities.
6. MTO, in partnership with MCURES, should:
- Use Serco’s data to identify unregistered private career colleges that are booking students for road tests.
- Investigate whether these unregistered private career colleges are providing training for Class A and Class D students, in violation of the Ontario Career College Act, 2025, and/or MTO’s ELT standard.
- Use enforcement tools, such as revoking licenses or fining schools that are found to be non-compliant.
7. MTO should:
- Modify its IT system to prevent DCP organizations with safety requirement suspensions from being able to certify students in the system.
- Have staff periodically follow up with organizations to clear the suspensions.
8. MTO should:
- Review the structure and requirements of the large commercial truck road tests to ensure consistent road test routes across DriveTest Centres that frequently assess driver competencies.
- If there are infrastructure or road limitations, assess whether such DriveTest Centres should stop offering Class A and D road tests, and, if possible, refer the road testing to a nearby DriveTest Centre that does not have limitations.
9. MTO should analyze statistics, for example, by comparing new large commercial truck drivers’ at-fault collision rates with distances traveled for their road tests, and determine if further action is needed.
10. MTO should:
- Strengthen its periodic site audits of Serco DriveTest Centres by including procedures designed to test whether Serco’s fraud-control measures are effective.
- Review the fraud-control activities that Serco has implemented to date and explore further measures to strengthen them.
11. MTO should:
- Implement eligibility criteria for individuals seeking a commercial vehicle license (for example, no more than six demerit points within two years prior, and no vehicle-related Criminal Code violations within the past three years), both for new commercial drivers and drivers exchanging from other jurisdictions.
- Require that drivers seeking to exchange their commercial vehicle license from another province provide their official driver’s abstract to show any previous offenses, and ensure they meet these eligibility criteria before allowing the exchange.
12. MTO should:
- Monitor trends in commercial trucking roadside inspection results, and types of infractions, such as not documenting daily inspections and driving hours by driver.
- Incorporate roadside inspection results as one of the variables when determining resourcing levels for the Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Program.
- Update its ELT program and examination requirements to ensure that subject areas linked to high violations are being taught and tested properly.
13. MTO should:
- Enhance Ontario’s ELT standard based on best practices and stakeholder suggestions.
- Require additional experience for new drivers before they obtain full large commercial truck driving privileges based on data analysis.
Linda Garner-Bunch has been with The Trucker since 2020, picking up the reins as managing editor in 2022. Linda has nearly 40 years of experience in the publishing industry, covering topics from the trucking and automotive industry to employment, real estate, home decor, crafts, cooking, weddings, high school sports — you name it, she’s written about it. She is also an experienced photographer, designer and copy editor who has a heartfelt love for the trucking industry, from the driver’s seat to the C-suite.
