The Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO) has once again extended the deadline for truck driver training schools to incorporate detailed lesson plans in their mandatory entry-level training (MELT) programs. The timeline has been pushed back by another nine months to July 1, 2026.
In a bulletin issued Sept. 23, the MTO announced the new deadline to resubmit an updated curriculum. This is the second extension provided to driving schools in the province. The earlier deadline had been on Oct. 1.
Initially, MTO had sent out a bulletin on Dec. 24, 2024, to all MELT providers clarifying existing requirements for lesson plans in all programs conforming to the Commercial Truck Driver Training Standard (Class A). The bulletin mentioned that the driving schools had until July 1, 2025, to submit the minute-by-minute lesson plans to the ministry.
The MTO explained why it decided to extend the deadline. “MTO has received feedback from stakeholders expressing concern about fulfilling curriculum resubmission requirements within the current deadline given the economic downturn they are currently facing,” the bulletin stated. “The new deadline will provide course providers and developers with more time to update their curricula.”
The Ontario Commercial Truck Training Association (OCTTA) said that the move responds to repeated requests from the industry but added that the process must align with the ongoing review of MELT standards.
OCTTA supports deadline extension
“OCTTA supports any initiative that improves training quality,” Narinder Singh Jaswal, OCTTA president said in a statement. “But requiring lesson plans now, before MELT standards are updated, risks wasting time, duplicating work, and placing unnecessary financial burdens on schools.”
The association noted that a series of stakeholder meetings is still underway to evaluate and potentially revise MELT standards. The next session is scheduled for Oct. 10. Training providers fear that if they are required to file lesson plans before the review is complete, they may be forced to revise and resubmit them once new requirements are finalized.
“This would mean duplicate administrative work and extra costs for schools that are already dealing with industry slowdowns,” Jaswal noted.
The association also questioned the need for the requirement given that MELT standards have not been changed since they were introduced in 2017. Schools have been using approved lesson plans built on those standards for more than eight years without issue.
School owner warns of public safety issues
Not all truck training schools welcomed the extension. One school owner, who asked not to be named, called the decision “deeply disappointing.”
This extension provides yet another reprieve to schools that continue to exploit the system, delaying long-overdue reforms and allowing substandard training practices to persist, the school owner warned.
They said they invested time and resources, following MTO directives and now feel their efforts have been undermined. “This is not just a matter of fairness or competition; it is a matter of public safety. Every delay risks enabling another preventable tragedy on our roads. For those of us committed to quality training, the repeated postponements send the wrong message that compliance is optional, and that those who stall are rewarded while those who prepare are penalized,” they said.
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