I was speaking to our local transport training company yesterday and they said that since the MELT (Mandatory Entry Level Training) programme started March 1st, they have had not one trainee booked for training and no future bookings.
It is now a 113hrs course made up of 3 modules with a cost of approx $10,000.
Classroom-40.5hrs
In Yard-15.5hrs
Driving-57hrs
Anybody that passed their Class 1 & 2 between Oct 11 2018 & Feb 28 2019 has to go back and take an enhanced knowledge & road test at no expense to themselves except the hire of the truck.
Any driver relocating Provinces from a non-MELT Province to a MELT Province (of which there are 5 at present) will have to take the enhanced knowledge & road test, not just a straight swap of licences.
If they fail either part first time, they will then be required to take the full MELT programme to gain their licence.
Sooner or later all Provinces will have to have this MELT programme.
There is no mention of what experienced Immigrants will have to do to get a licence.
All of this could mean a real shortage of drivers in the not too distant future.