This move comes as part of Canada’s attempt to mitigate driver shortages in the busing and transport trucking industries across the country.
Canada’s school bus driver shortage
Within the busing industry, Canada has long dealt with a lack of school bus drivers in several parts of the country. Many communities across the country are struggling to find transportation for students.
Also in October 2022, Global News reported that a school bus driver shortage in Montreal forced the cancellation of several bus routes in the first week of 2023. Transportation via school buses is vital for many children across the country, over 2.2 million children in this country “travel to and from school [on buses] every day.” Therefore, labour shortages in this industry can have a significant impact on the lives of many young Canadians, who rely on these methods to get to and from school daily.
Canada’s truck driver shortage
The truck driving industry is integral to the progression of the national supply chain across Canada. A high number of vacancies in this industry — reported at 18,000 in Q2 2021, a number that has risen to 20,110 as of Q2 2022 according to Trucking HR Canada — “has a heavy impact on the national economy when there are disruptions and labour shortages.”
Due in part to issues ranging from “safety concerns [and] high upfront training costs” to work-life balance and retirements, Trucking HR Canada estimates that over 34,000 truck drivers will leave the industry annually. This means that the trucking industry, where the job vacancy rate among Transport Truck Drivers (NOC 2021: 73300) was 9.1% in Q2 of 2022, will continue to hinder the Canadian economy if nationwide labour shortages continue to rise.
Recent Changes to Express Entry aimed at mitigating labour shortages in the transportation industry and
added transport truck drivers and bus drivers to the list of targeted occupations.
Targeted Express Entry draws, which are expected to begin as early as Q2 2023, will allow IRCC to conduct Express Entry draws that place less priority on a candidate’s Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score and instead seek out prospective immigrants based on specific target attributes such as their language skills, educational backgrounds, or work experience. Further details regarding the specifics of targeted Express Entry draws will become available as Canada gets closer to implementing the new procedure.
Beyond Express Entry, foreign nationals looking to come to Canada have several immigration options.
