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By battlefordsNOW Staff

Trucking

Lack of provincial, federal funding for training could lead to more challenges in trucking industry

Apr 4, 2025 | 5:38 PM

The owner of a truck driver training school is hoping a proposal she submitted to the government will help reinvigorate interest and safety in the commercial driving industry.

Melissa Bohse of MTS Training School in North Battleford felt compelled to come up with a solution after funding cuts by both levels of government.

Bohse said for years, there were training grants available that helped split the cost of the program, which is around $13,000, among the federal and provincial governments and the employer. The employer initially covered the full amount and later received reimbursement for two-thirds of the cost.

Brent Sommerfeld, who is an instructor at MTS said now without the funding, most can’t afford it.

In August 2024, the federal government cut $17.6 million from Saskatchewan’s Labour Market Transfer Agreements. The province temporarily covered the shortfall — kicking in approximately $14 million — but that support ended with the year.

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“When the budget was released, we found that the provincial government did not include any funding towards any grant training for anybody in the commercial driver training industry,” Bohse said.

Instead, the province introduced a $5,000 rebate program, paid out over five years, but Bohse said it doesn’t help with the immediate financial burden.

“My cost is $13,500 per student right now,” she said. “That’s greatly affected by inflation, cost of fuel… wages, there’s a lot of cost that’s involved in us doing our training program.”

So, Bohse submitted a proposal to the Ministry of Immigration and Career Training outlining a Saskatchewan Triad Training Grant Program. Under the plan, the province, employers and employees would each contribute a third of training costs, with the student’s portion covered by a forgivable loan from the province.

The idea is to attract more people to the program and provide incentive for new employees in the province to stick around.

Sommerfeld said a driver shortage in the Saskatchewan is only going to get worse if more people don’t consider the career because of the training costs.

“It’s just going to cause a chain reaction… eventually, within a few years anyway, there’s going to be a huge driver shortage unless something changes.”

A quick search online shows Saskatchewan has hundreds of positions available for drivers who hold Class 1A licenses right now. The province’s economy is heavily reliant on trucking. Roughly 80 per cent of goods in Saskatchewan are transported by truck, according to the Saskatchewan Trucking Association. That includes grain, oil, medical supplies and groceries — and disruptions to the sector can raise costs and delay shipments across agriculture, retail and health care.

In a statement, the Ministry of Immigration and Career Training confirmed it had received Bohse’s proposal and said it is currently under review.

“The Government of Saskatchewan is disappointed that the federal government has significantly cut labour market transfers to the provinces,” the statement read.

“Last fiscal year, the Government of Saskatchewan backfilled the sudden cut in funding to ensure no layoffs in the job training sector occurred while we pushed for the cut to be reversed.”

The ministry added that neighbouring provinces have also wound down similar programs and that “the federal government unfortunately has not reversed the cuts.”

As part of its 2025-26 budget, the Saskatchewan government introduced the $5,000 rebate for individuals who complete Mandatory Entry-Level Training (MELT) for a Class 1 commercial driver’s licence and continue to work in the province.

MELT was introduced in Saskatchewan in March 2019 following the Humboldt Broncos bus crash, which killed 16 people and drew national attention to training gaps in the trucking industry. The province became one of the first to mandate a minimum 121.5 hours of safety-focused training. Other provinces soon followed, including Alberta and Manitoba.

Bohse supports MELT’s safety goals but said the financial burden is overshadowing them.

“The government brought this program in, raising the cost of training, but now took away any opportunity for anybody to be able to afford the training.”

Bohse said there are currently 35 training schools for truck drivers in the province, which is the most per capita in the country, and not all of them operate to the same high standards.

“If the employers can’t afford $13,500 for my training, they may start going to less quality schools to get it done for cheaper. But then we’re only going to see the schools that are charging much less, who are training with less technique and skill involved and that’s going to create a bigger problem.”

Bohse said she’s holding out hope that the provincial government will realize they ‘missed the ball on this one’ and either reinstate the funding, or seriously consider her pitch before it’s too late.

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