More producer groups are urging the Alberta government to hit pause on implementing mandatory training for new Class 1 and 2 trucker licenses.
Team Alberta, representing the province’s canola, wheat, barley and pulse commissions, said Feb. 7 that it wants the government to extend the March 1 training deadline, arguing it could hinder farmers’ abilities to hire seasonal workers before seeding begins.
“Team Alberta supports safer and more highly skilled drivers operating on our roads and highways,” Hannah Konschuh, Alberta Wheat Commission vice-chair, said in a news release.
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“But the timelines and lack of consultation with farmers would make it virtually impossible to comply with new regulations by the deadline. Additionally, there doesn’t seem to have been an increase in the training capacity to accommodate this big change.”
The new rules would require all new drivers to take mandatory training of at least 125 hours for Class 1 and 2 licenses. Class 1 licenses allow people to drive semi-tractor trailers while Class 2s are for commercial buses.
The growing calls to extend the deadline follow the Alberta Canola Producers Commission annual general meeting Jan. 30, where delegates voted in favour of requesting an extension.
“We ask the government to work with us so we can seed our crops and comply with necessary training requirements,” Alberta Pulse Growers chair Don Shepert said in the news release.
The province is implementing the rules to bolster safety on highways and said in an email Jan. 31 that it is sticking to the March 1 deadline.
