Lloydminster is a city unlike any other in Canada — a true border town straddling the provincial line between Alberta and Saskatchewan. On the surface, it functions as one cohesive community. But dig a little deeper, and you’ll find it’s a city caught in the crosshairs of inter-jurisdictional red tape.
Take, for example, the recent changes around food regulation. For decades, something as simple as a meat processor on the Saskatchewan side couldn’t legally sell its product across the street in Alberta. Thankfully, in November, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency updated its regulations to allow for the free flow of food within Lloydminster city limits. One trade barrier down. Dozens more to go.
Trucking in No-Man’s Land
One of the most significant ongoing challenges in Lloydminster is commercial transportation. Unlike the United States, where motor carriers operate under a single federal system, Canada allows each province to set its own rules. The result? A logistical nightmare for trucking companies that operate in and around Lloydminster.
Alberta allows two types of operating statuses for carriers: provincial and federal. A provincial carrier can only operate within Alberta, but has fewer regulatory burdens — no Electronic Logging Devices (ELDs), longer allowable driving hours, and fewer rest period restrictions. Federally regulated carriers, on the other hand, face tighter rules, including mandatory ELDs and 70-hour driving limits over 7 days.
This discrepancy creates a clear competitive advantage for provincial carriers. To patch the hole, Alberta and Saskatchewan created a policy allowing Alberta provincial carriers to operate on either side of Lloydminster under strict conditions:
"Services received or provided" include fuel, meals, accommodations, vehicle repairs, or loading/unloading — essentially any business activity. The only exemption? If those services are provided wholly within Lloydminster city limits. In other words, you can drive through the Saskatchewan side of town — just don’t buy gas, unload freight, or grab a sandwich.
This isn’t a policy designed to facilitate trade. It’s a policy for the sake of having a policy.
Enforcement is Here (and It’s Getting Expensive)
For years, enforcement of these complicated rules was minimal. But things are changing. Alberta has ramped up commercial vehicle enforcement, and Saskatchewan has responded with its own measures through the Saskatchewan Marshals Service.
The penalties are no joke. Operating without the correct Safety Fitness Certificate (SFC) in Alberta costs $324 — and that’s just the start. Add on the fine for not having an ELD, possible insurance implications, and violations noted on your carrier profile, and suddenly that “quick job” across the border becomes a costly mistake.
One can easily imagine a newly minted enforcement officer, fresh out of training, parking on the wrong side of Highway 17 and racking up ticket after ticket by stopping Alberta-plated trucks on the Saskatchewan side — or vice versa.
A Real Solution: Cooperation, Not Constriction
The current policy doesn’t help carriers, consumers, or the community. What Lloydminster needs is more than a border exemption — it needs true inter-jurisdictional trade cooperation. Alberta and Saskatchewan should work together to create a registrar’s exemption that allows businesses to operate freely and legally on both sides of the border, especially within the unique context of Lloydminster.
Instead, Alberta Transportation continues to take a reactive approach, crafting policies in response to problems instead of proactively solving them. It’s time for Alberta to step up and lead — not leave businesses stranded in a jurisdictional limbo. In an industry where every hour costs money — especially in oil and gas — these policy gaps aren’t just annoying. They’re expensive, inefficient, and completely unnecessary.
On April 1st, 2025 — and no, this is not an April Fool’s joke — Alberta’s very own Maple MAGA minister Devin Dreeshen announced that the province has officially scrapped MELT (Mandatory Entry Level Training) for Class 1 drivers and replaced it with the new Class 1 Learning Pathway.
Alberta’s move comes without coordination from the rest of Canada, and in doing so, we've now added yet another inter-jurisdictional trade barrier. This, at a time when the federal government is actively trying to eliminate those barriers to better position Canada against rising U.S. protectionism and tariff pressure. It's like watching a team trying to score on their own net.
Let’s rewind a bit. MELT was rushed into place following the Humboldt Broncos tragedy — a horrific crash in which driver inexperience and training were contributing factors. What should have happened after that was a nationwide collaboration. All provinces and territories should have come together to create a standardized training curriculum for Class 1 drivers. What actually happened? Each province came up with their own version of MELT. The result: inconsistent standards and patchwork training across Canada. Sound familiar?
Now Alberta is charting its own course yet again with this new Learning Pathway — which, in theory, follows a Red Seal-style apprenticeship model. Industry has been asking for something like this for years. Great idea, right? In principle, yes. But in practice, it’s a problem.
Why? Because Alberta's Learning Pathway is not a real Red Seal trade.
We absolutely need a Red Seal certification for commercial drivers — but that needs to be federally recognized. A real Red Seal trade would give us access to federal funds for curriculum development, instructor qualifications, and standardized testing. It would also open doors for new drivers to access EI benefits, training grants, and WCB placements.
Better yet, it would legitimize the trade. Driving Class 1 would be a viable post-secondary option at community colleges and something we could actually present to high school students as a career path — a far cry from today’s patchwork model. Journeyperson status carries weight, distinction, and higher pay. When’s the last time you saw a Red Seal plumber working for minimum wage?
Canada’s had a driver shortage for 30 years. Back in the ‘80s and ‘90s, most drivers came from the family farm. Driving a truck was practically an apprenticeship in itself. But as family farms disappeared and trucking remained a tough, low-paying, high-burnout job, younger generations just weren’t interested.
So what did we do? Rather than fixing the job, we brought in foreign labour.
While immigration helped the numbers, it opened a whole new can of worms. Drivers came from countries with vastly different training standards, road conditions, and equipment. Language requirements? CLB 4 — about the equivalent of a Canadian Grade 5 reading level. Enough to follow safety instructions and fill out a logbook, but that’s about it. When the TFW (Temporary Foreign Worker) program expanded during COVID, truck drivers were added — many without language testing — and abuses followed: exploitation, slave wages, no benefits, and a highway safety crisis.
Meanwhile, Ontario’s corrupt driving school scandals allowed unqualified student visa holders to become truckers. That loophole’s closed now, but those drivers? Still on the road.
Here’s the bottom line: Shady trucking companies don’t want a Red Seal trade. Why? Because it would mean better pay, benefits, and protections. And that would end the low-wage loopholes that keep freight rates artificially low. Legitimate companies can’t compete — and the cycle grinds on.
So What Does This New Learning Pathway Actually Look Like?
Let’s break it down:
At first glance, it sounds more comprehensive than MELT — 133 hours compared to MELT’s 113. And it includes training in cargo securement, safety management, and loss prevention. Great. But let’s not forget MELT graduates still needed extra employer training to actually be road-ready — training in cargo securement, Hours of Service, weights and dimensions, daily inspections, etc. Why wasn’t that part of MELT in the first place?
So is the Learning Pathway better than MELT? Technically, yes. But is it good enough? Still debatable.
Also: Who exactly is “industry”? According to the Alberta government, curriculum input came from “industry stakeholders” and the insurance sector. Notably absent? New drivers and the companies that actually hire them. I’m not sure why we’re trusting the insurance lobby to shape driver education — but here we are.
And let’s talk about that “restricted” Class 1. It’s giving big graduated licence energy — which we tried before and abandoned because people simply didn’t bother to finish the process. History, meet repetition.
Final Thoughts: Another Self-Inflicted Wound
Instead of using the existing CCMTA (Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators) framework to build a national program, Alberta went rogue — again.
In an era where we should be removing trade barriers between provinces and working together on a national apprenticeship model, Alberta just made it harder for Class 1 drivers trained in-province to work across borders. Good job, team. We’ve paved the road to nowhere.
Seriously? Canada’s current federal Minister of Transportation has made an announcement that will surely solve everything. The regulations that are often criticized as barriers to trade between Canadian provinces could all crumble within a month, according to federal cabinet minister Anita Anand. Following an announcement at the Port of Halifax on Wednesday, a reporter asked Anand if "interprovincial trade barriers [could] be dealt with, wiped away in 30 days?" "The short answer to your question is yes," responded Anand, the minister of transport and internal trade. Anand suggested her optimism was based on an emergency meeting last week between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the premiers. "We are making incredible, fast-paced progress with all of the provinces and territories," she said.
Really? Yes? That's optimistic—considering the government's track record on this very issue.
For decades, provinces have been hindered by barriers that impede interprovincial trade, costing businesses, industries, and, frankly, everyone in the country. The lack of regulatory alignment has been so bad that in 2017, a push was made to start some sort of interprovincial regulatory cooperation. Fast forward eight years and—surprise!—not much has changed. Many provinces, including Alberta, have resorted to adopting memorandums of understanding (MOUs) to handle region-specific issues. An example would be the New West Partnership Trade Agreement (NWPTA), between Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia to address regional concerns.
Why is it acceptable for the government to do nothing for eight years without delivering any meaningful action? Accountability is non-existent, and there’s no sense of urgency. But why should we expect any different? Just look to the Electronic Logging Device (ELD) regulations—implemented by the federal government in 2020—and still, no interpretation guide from either the federal or Alberta government. The carrier profile enforcement information data transfer system has been broken since 2019, again, nobody cares.
The idea of harmonizing road transportation regulations is old. In the 1970s, we had the Roads and Transportation Association of Canada (RTAC), which was supposed to make life easier for truckers by aligning weight and dimension regulations. These efforts culminated in the publication of the "Pavement Management Guide" in 1977. In 1988 we tried again with the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Heavy Vehicle Weights and Dimensions, RTAC the re-mix. This aimed to harmonize truck weight and dimension regulations across Canada. The implementation process faced challenges because of differing regional preferences which are still in place today.
The fact is that Minister Anand’s objectives sound admirable but, there’s a catch. The reality is the federal government doesn’t have the power to fix this. The feds handed control over to the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators (CCMTA), a body that is supposed to facilitate federal regulations for provincial and territorial governments. But here’s the kicker: the federal government only provides a measly $4.44 million to the provinces and territories for road safety and transport-related initiatives. It’s no wonder things haven’t moved an inch.
So, how can Minister Anand’s bold vision become a reality? Is harmonization even possible? The answer is yes—but don’t get too excited. It’s not going to be easy, and some of the regional differences are never going to disappear. Canada’s geography and diverse terrain mean that some differences are simply unavoidable. What’s needed is clear direction from the federal government, telling the CCMTA that aligning regulations is a top priority. The CCMTA needs to step up and get everyone in a room to hash it out. After all, they managed to implement MELT within a year after the Humboldt tragedy—so surely, they can handle something as basic as truck weight and dimension regulations.
But while the feds and the CCMTA fiddle around with their big ideas, Alberta must address some glaring issues themselves. Here are a few suggestions that could make a big difference:
Let’s not forget the issue of consultation with Indigenous communities. Consultation with Indigenous communities must happen when changes to regulations that impact the weights and dimensions allowed on highways that run through traditional territories. The days of Canada just bulldozing the roads through is over, communities must be involved. This is going to be more important as mining and exploration increases in the north. Those projects involve equipment and people that need to get north on limited road infrastructure, not on a 62,500 kg RTAC highway. If these projects do not include Indigenous consultation, you can bet legal action will follow. This can only delay and increase the costs of projects—something Canada can't afford as industries look to expand.
Government uses the word collaboration freely but rarely practices what they preach. In order for Minister Arnad’s wishes to become reality there must be collaboration. Collaboration by the 14 representatives to the CCMTA without ego, avarice, tribalism or elitism. Regulatory alignment is just one of a few issues facing the road transportation industry. Recently the federal government has limited the manufacture of manual transmission models to 10% of their total heavy-duty truck sales. The decision is driven by the need to comply with stricter greenhouse gas (GHG) emission standards. Certain industries require equipment with manual transmissions, and this will drive up the cost for those carriers to configure equipment. These challenges on top of the Carbon Tax increase in April and the upcoming US tariffs are going to make a difficult industry impossible. If the feds and the CCMTA can’t accomplish alignment this time around the industry will remain in its current unstable condition. The only solution is collaboration, we are all Canadian, on our home on native land. Cooperation makes it happen.
