The Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) is warning that while the U.S. suspension on new visas for foreign truck drivers won’t have much, if any, impact on Canadian drivers, it should be seen as a warning to industry to clean up its act.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted on X last week that the U.S. is immediately pausing the issuance of all visas to truck drivers which require them to operate in the U.S.
The visas being suspended don’t apply to drivers in Canada, but in a subsequent release, CTA said “Canada must view these events as a wakeup call to clean up the issues within our system or risk potentially facing similar restrictions in the future.”
The visa suspension followed a Florida wreck in which three people were killed after running into the side of a trailer in the midst of an illegal u-turn. The truck driver was allegedly in the country illegally but had obtained a commercial driver’s licence in California.
Here at home, CTA says more oversight of driver licensing regimes is needed. It pointed to a June 2025 CBC investigation that suggested “bribes, forged documents … rigged testing and ‘buying’ of licenses” is not uncommon.
The alliance says it has provided government with a step-by-step plan to improve truck safety and oversight which must be enacted right away “to reverse the escalating trend of deteriorating truck safety and lack of truck driver professionalism on Canadian roadways.”
The CTA is also calling on the feds to close immigration loopholes that allow Canadian carriers to exploit temporary foreign worker programs.
“Among many other recommendations, CTA has repeatedly called on the Government of Canada to introduce a Known Employer Program at the front end of the immigration process. Done properly, this would cut off access to immigration programs for the unscrupulous ownership groups and restore integrity to the regime,” CTA said in a release.
Otherwise, it points out, the Canadian trucking industry – including safe, reputable carriers — could be caught up in the U.S. visa reforms.
“Government inaction on revamping trucking immigration programs, federally and provincially, has led to this situation we are in today. It is not acceptable that those who follow the rules and operate legally be caught in the net the U.S. is casting,” CTA stressed.
“The announcement by Secretary Rubio should be the clearest signal yet the non-compliant segment of the Canadian trucking industry which erode the integrity the driver licensing, training, safety compliance and immigration systems, must be dealt with immediately.”
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