The U.S. trucking industry will be facing a tightening driver pool as regulators move forward with English-language proficiency and new drug testing requirements.
“There are a lot of attacks on the CDL right now,” warned Dave Heller, senior vice-president of safety and government affairs for the Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) during Fleet Safety Council’s 34th annual educational conference in Brampton, Ont.
He highlighted federal initiatives including language testing, visa-linked commercial driver’s licenses and hair follicle drug testing that could sideline hundreds of thousands of truck drivers, thus tightening capacity.
On the Canadian side, Mike Millian, president of the Private Motor Truck Council of Canada (PMTC), said enforcement and compliance gaps continue to distort the market, especially through the misclassification of drivers.
Misclassification of drivers in Canada
He noted that companies misclassifying drivers have an unfair 30% cost advantage by treating them as independent contractors rather than employees. “People that break one rule generally don’t stop at one,” he said, adding that such operators often run unsafe equipment, undertrain new drivers, and misuse temporary foreign worker programs.
Millian urged governments to prioritize enforcement over creating new rules. “We don’t need more regulations — we need to enforce the ones we have,” he said, noting that compliant carriers face higher costs while non-compliant operators continue to cut corners.
He pointed to Ontario’s hiring of new enforcement officers as a positive step, with unannounced roadside blitzes revealing out-of-service rates approaching 50%.
License validity
TCA’s Heller said that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) interim rule aligning visa expirations with driving license validity could affect tens of thousands of drivers. The measure seeks to ensure that non-domiciled license holders cannot continue operating beyond the term of their work authorization.
Coupled with a pending requirement for English-language proficiency testing, Heller said the combined impact could sideline 300,000 or more drivers.
Adding to the pressure, new congressional proposals — such as the Protecting America’s Roads Act — would terminate any FMCSA-level reciprocity agreements recognizing foreign CDLs unless explicitly authorized by law. While Heller noted the bill has limited prospects of advancing, it underscores growing political scrutiny of licensing standards and cross-border credentials. U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (CUSMA) provisions still protect trade-based cross-border operations, but the industry is watching closely for ripple effects.
Hair follicle testing
Heller said a flurry of related measures — including the Commercial Motor Vehicle English Proficiency Act and Connor’s Law — seek to formalize existing regulatory expectations around English proficiency and CDL issuance.
Heller also said that hair follicle testing, which detects substance use far more effectively than standard urine testing, could compound the problem. According to data he shared, major carriers found that follicle tests detected 25 times more opioid users and up to 23 times more cocaine users than urinalysis. If regulators permit the results to be uploaded into the federal Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse, as a pending bill would allow, drivers could be disqualified or delayed in returning to duty.
Carrier safety rating system
Meanwhile, PMTC’s Millian called for a national overhaul of Canada’s carrier safety rating system, which currently allows federally regulated carriers to hold separate safety fitness certificates in multiple provinces. He said the system leads to inconsistencies that make it difficult for enforcement and shippers to assess true performance. A federally regulated carrier could have 13 different scores, and Millian demanded a single score from a national database.
The lack of uniformity has led to cases where unsafe carriers — suspended in one province — resume operations under another jurisdiction’s authority. A federal task force under the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators is reviewing the issue, but Millian said that incremental changes are not enough.
Truck parking
Heller also addressed other policy flashpoints — from truck parking shortages to the stalled speed limiter rule. He said the U.S. infrastructure system, which received a D on the national report card, remains a weak link in supply chain reliability. Truck parking shortages, particularly along the East and West Coasts and in the Chicago region, cost drivers an estimated US$7,000 annually.
Meanwhile, the safe driver apprenticeship pilot — intended to attract 18- to 20-year-olds into interstate trucking — has fallen flat, with only 59 carriers and 36 drivers participating against targets in the thousands.
Emissions enforcement
Millian also highlighted ongoing gaps in training and emissions enforcement. Three jurisdictions — Quebec, Nova Scotia, and Yukon — still lack mandatory entry-level training, creating inconsistencies that complicate license reciprocity. Alberta, while leading in oversight and apprenticeship initiatives, recently introduced a provincially restricted license with reduced training hours — a move Millian said undermines national standards.
He also pointed to provinces that do not fully enforce emissions systems during annual inspections, allowing deleted trucks to pass safety checks. Ontario and most other provinces require emissions compliance, but Alberta’s exemption continues to attract operators seeking leniency.
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