Alberta's Transportation Minister is demanding urgent action from the federal government to address dangerous immigration abuses within the commercial trucking sector, warning that continued inaction is putting lives at risk on Canada's roads.
Minister Dreeshen Puts Onus on Ottawa
Alberta Transportation Minister Devin Dreeshen stated that the cross-provincial nature of the trucking industry makes it a federal responsibility to tackle so-called 'fly-by-night' trucking companies. These operations are accused of exploiting poorly trained foreign drivers, often recruited from abroad.
"Fraudulent trucking companies doing bad things in other provinces and then moving to Alberta is, unfortunately, something that's been happening," Dreeshen told the National Post. He emphasized that because trucks inevitably cross provincial lines, the onus to act falls squarely on Ottawa.
Alberta's Crackdown and Troubling Patterns
Minister Dreeshen had a busy 2025 targeting fraud within Alberta's trucking industry. His efforts led to the shutdown of five substandard driver training schools and 13 chameleon carriers. These 'chameleon' companies frequently change their identities to conceal past safety violations and regulatory penalties.
Investigations revealed a notable pattern among the closed operations. A web search indicated that at least eight of the 13 shuttered chameleon carriers had ownership ties to the South Asian community. Furthermore, one of the three named shut-down schools was the Edmonton-based Indo Canadian Driver Training School Inc. The names of the other two schools were not released as they are appealing the government's decision.
Calls for Stronger Federal Vetting and Oversight
While acknowledging that the federal government has improved reporting to help provinces track chameleon carriers, Dreeshen argued more must be done. He stressed the need for better federal vetting of migrant truck drivers and clearer communication of Canadian standards.
"There's more we can all do… to make sure that, if there are people from India who want to move to Canada, and want to get involved in the trucking industry, for them to know the expectations of the training that we have here in Canada," Dreeshen said. This call for oversight comes as roughly one in five of Canada's truck drivers have South Asian backgrounds.
The minister's comments align with other federal actions, including steps announced in November's 2025 budget to crack down on the 'Driver Inc.' scam, where truck drivers are intentionally misclassified as independent contractors to avoid regulations.
To improve data, Alberta recently began tracking the safety records of individual drivers as of December 1, 2025, a shift from the previous system where incidents were recorded only against the driver's company. However, Dreeshen noted these new records do not yet include driver nationality.
This push for federal action comes just before the release of a Friday report from the Alberta Next Panel. The panel recommended the province hold a referendum in 2026 on exercising more provincial control over immigration, highlighting the growing political focus on how immigration programs are managed and their local impacts.
