I don’t think he’ll have any real problem if he can come on on the IEC route. I know people who’ve come to Canada with only class 2 experience from England and its never been an issue. I know the OP gets about a bit in the UK in his rigid, every bit as much as most class 1 drivers so he’s as long haul in the UK as its possible to be so is on the right path for 2 years experience for insurance purposes and combine that to the experience he’d get while driving in Canada on his two year work permit, he’d satisfy the experience requirement for PR too.
Radar, if you could obtain an IEC visa, what part of Canada and more importantly perhaps, what kind of work would you be most interested in trying first?