Demand for Manitoba truckers driving training overhaul
A driver-training program is getting a major overhaul as it gets ready to train much-needed drivers.
Adrian Bruce, the director of the Arnold Bros. Transport Academy, says its owners have poured in roughly a million dollars to renovate its academy and boost its training program.
"It’s not a matter of people getting their license and getting a job in the industry,” Bruce said. “It’s about creating safer, more knowledgeable drivers that can go out and do their job better and safer."
Trenton Klassen is one of the academy’s instructors helping new truck drivers get comfortable behind the wheel.
"I've been in trucking for 17 years,” Klassen said. "I’ve now been instructing longer than I've been driving."
He says training makes a big difference.
"Usually instructors are ex-truck drivers but I got very little training when I started and I made a lot of mistakes that cost me a lot of money.”
The academy is hoping to become national leaders in driver training.
Bruce says this includes a driving simulator, updated training, and more emphasis on a mentorship program.
It also added more seats to its training program, saying more drivers are needed.
DEMAND FOR DRIVERS
Aaron Dolyniuk, the executive director of the Manitoba Trucking Association, says many truck drivers are close to retirement age.
"The province released a labour market outlook report which outlined that we have a shortage of 4,300 truck drivers over the next four years in Manitoba,” Dolyniuk said, which is a loss of 25 per cent.
He says women are underrepresented in the industry, but the stereotype of who's getting behind the wheel is changing, leading to better representation of people with different cultural backgrounds.
Dolyniuk also says highway drivers can make anywhere from $45,000 to $85,000 a year, but specialized company drivers can earn up to $104,000.
"At the end of the day we need more truck drivers to move freight for you and I – groceries, food, clothing, household products.”
He says a new federal grant called Trucking HR Canada's Career Expressway Program, that Dolyniuk helped create, will help with the costs of training drivers.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Toxic testing standoff: Family leaves house over air quality
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
Decoy bear used to catch man who illegally killed a grizzly, B.C. conservation officers say
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
An emergency slide falls off a Delta Air Lines plane, forcing pilots to return to JFK in New York
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
'I was scared': Ontario man's car repossessed after missing two repair loan payments
An Ontario man who took out a loan to pay for auto repairs said his car was repossessed after he missed two payments.
First court appearance for boy and girl charged in death of Halifax 16-year-old
A girl and a boy, both 14 years old, made their first appearance today in a Halifax courtroom, where they each face a second-degree murder charge in the stabbing death of a 16-year-old high school student.