🚨 When trucks stop, the country stops. So why are we forcing experienced drivers off the road over a language rule that’s more about politics than safety? Let’s talk about what’s really behind this policy.
On April 28, an executive order signed by President Donald Trump was put into effect. The order alters the penalty for violating a longstanding rule that requires commercial motor vehicle drivers to “read and speak the English language sufficiently to converse with the general public, to understand highway traffic signs and signals in English, to respond to official inquiries, and to make entries on reports and records.”
Under the Obama administration, the penalty for noncompliance was relaxed — violators received citations instead of being taken off the road. Now, the Trump administration is reinstating a harsher stance. As one official stated: “We are issuing guidance that ensures a driver who cannot understand English will not drive a vehicle in this country. Period. Full stop.”
Let’s call this what it is — blatant racism. This isn’t subtle. The order will impact truckers across North America. The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA), which includes Canada, the United States, and Mexico, provides guidance for enforcement across all three countries. Yet, you don’t see Mexico mandating Spanish fluency for foreign drivers operating within its borders. Consider places like Laredo, Texas, which are fully bilingual. And in Canada, bilingualism is enshrined in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms — just ask our French friends.
We welcomed these drivers through immigration programs to address a critical driver shortage. Now that the economy is struggling, freight rates are down, and profits are tight, the solution is not to push these workers out. As Canadians, we have a moral obligation to do the right thing.
If language truly is a safety issue, then why does Alberta offer its Class 7 (learner’s license) knowledge test in 25 languages? These include Amharic, Arabic, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), French, Hindi, Italian, Korean, Oromo, Polish, Portuguese, Tagalog, Ukrainian, Vietnamese, and more. If safety starts with comprehension, why not enforce language standards from the very first licensing step?
Currently, there’s no standardized test for “sufficient English.” It's up to each officer’s judgment — a recipe for abuse of authority, especially at a time when the U.S. Department of Transportation is undergoing a workforce reduction plan with DOGE.
Do some of these drivers need to be off the road? Absolutely. But the answer isn’t unemployment and potential deportation — it’s education. Teach them basic English. Put them through a commercial driver refresher. Alberta’s new Red Seal driver program would be a perfect starting point, put your money where your mouth is. If safety is the goal, invest in training. Personally, I’d feel safer sharing the road with an experienced driver who can drive rather than a brand-new driver who speaks the King’s English.
This directive will reduce the number of drivers on the road, creating less competition for what little freight is available. That should drive rates up — and hopefully, that revenue will go toward better wages, not just corporate profit. If drivers earned a living wage, they wouldn’t be forced to speed, drive tired, or risk dangerous weather just to make ends meet.
Poverty wages are a greater safety hazard than limited English. And when the economy rebounds, we’ll be right back in a driver shortage — especially with 48% of Canada’s truck drivers now over the age of 50. The industry isn’t attracting enough young Canadians because the pay simply isn’t worth the risk. Who wants to risk their life on icy highways for $1.00 per kilometre? Canada should not do this, be an example of basic human decency.
There have been lots of news stories recently of trucking companies abusing the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) and Labour Market Impact Assessments (LIMA). It’s not a new problem but, it's a problem that has worsened in tough economic times, with blame often unfairly falling on immigrant workers, rather than the structural flaws within the programs themselves.
The reality is that foreign workers were invited to Canada because their skills were needed to fill gaps in critical industries like trucking, where there are not enough domestic drivers to meet demand. Therefore, it’s both unethical and immoral to penalize these workers by revoking their status when they were invited here. History tells us rounding up people for mass deportation never goes well. The core issue lies in the flaws of the programs under which they entered, as well as the lack of enforcement and oversight of these programs.
The government needs to allocate sufficient resources to enhance oversight. After all, if millions of dollars can be spent on projects like ArriveCan and the two Randy’s, surely the Federal government can afford more resources to monitor how these foreign worker programs are being administered. At the heart of the issue are “closed work permits,” which tie workers to a single employer, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation. Workers facing abuse are unable to leave their employer without jeopardizing their immigration status, creating a near-hostage situation where they cannot access basic social safety nets like employment insurance or welfare.
The Saskatchewan government’s contradictory policies illustrate how misguided approaches to foreign worker licensing can worsen the problem. The Saskatchewan government in 2021 prohibited all non-residents, including foreign workers, from driving on out-of-country Class 1 licences. This same government in 2024 is allowing foreign agriculture workers from 40 countries to drive on their home country's licence for up to a year, until May 21, 2025. Those countries include European countries, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Portugal and Taiwan. Similarly, federal investments, such as the $46.3 million allocated to Trucking Human Resources Canada for driver recruitment and training, exist because there is a critical shortage of truck drivers, not because immigrant workers are displacing Canadians.
The question then becomes: how do we fix this? One answer lies in closing the loopholes that allow unscrupulous trucking companies to employ foreign drivers who may not meet Canadian driving standards. At roadside inspections, it’s assumed that a driver with a valid Canadian license is working legally, but if they present a foreign license, there is no seamless mechanism for immediate enforcement or detention, as immigration issues are beyond the scope of provincial transportation roadside enforcement departments. The solution is for the federal government to crack down on these employers, rather than the workers themselves, through sanctions and more aggressive investigations. Why not give these drivers a legitimate path to citizenship or work permit and put them through the Red Seal driver training programs that are being developed?
In 2024, the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology released a paper calling for an end to closed work permits, marking a step in the right direction, but this remains only a recommendation. The Government of Canada has announced plans to overhaul the TFW program, though concrete reforms may take years to be implemented.
The bottom line is that immigrants are not the problem—broken immigration programs with little to no oversight are. It’s time to stop vilifying foreign workers and hold the government accountable for managing these programs. Big problems need big solutions that involve co-operation between Transport Canada, Canada Revenue Agency, Canada Immigration and Citizenship and Canada Border Services Agencies. Without this collaboration, Canada will continue to face a fractured system that leaves workers vulnerable and fails to meet the demands of key industries like trucking.
