Ontario to inspect all career colleges offering truck driving within 6 weeks, following scathing audit | CBC News

"All Ontario career colleges that offer commercial truck driver training will have been inspected by the end of next month, the province's minister of colleges and universities said Wednesday. Nolan Quinn said the province has already inspected 14 colleges that offer the transport truck driver training and is set to look at the rest in the next six weeks. The action comes after a scathing audit of the transport trucking industry revealed a slew of problems."

"In a report released Tuesday, Ontario's auditor general concluded the province was not effectively monitoring commercial truck driver training, inspection and licensing regimes. Shelley Spence and her office came across career colleges that have cut corners on training hours and skills and found there was little oversight from two provincial ministries, leaving many unqualified transport truck drivers on the road. She found that Quinn's ministry never inspected 25 per cent of the career colleges that offer commercial truck driver training."

"Spence also found that six unregistered private career colleges that were previously investigated by the province were still booking tests and handing out driver training certificates despite not being allowed to do so. Some colleges found falsifying training records: auditor The minister said the issue of trucker training has been on his radar, and he expects the superintendent of career colleges to inspect every institution on an annual basis."

""We're going to continue going after the bad actors," Quinn said. "Since we have taken office we have closed 19 career colleges, 11 of those are trucking colleges." The auditor sent several people undercover as driving students at six training providers over six months last year. They found two private career colleges delivered significantly fewer training hours than required, raising concerns about the rest of the system, s"

Ontario will inspect every career college offering commercial truck driver training by the end of next month. The province has already inspected 14 such colleges and will inspect the remaining ones over the next six weeks. The inspections follow an auditor general report concluding the province was not effectively monitoring training, inspection, and licensing regimes. The report found career colleges cut corners on training hours and skills, with limited oversight from two provincial ministries. The report also found the ministry never inspected 25 per cent of eligible colleges. It identified unregistered colleges still booking tests and issuing certificates, and found falsified training records. The minister expects annual inspections and said the province has closed 19 career colleges, including 11 trucking colleges.

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