The Province has launched the second phase of their Driving Back to Work grant program.
Transportation Minister Rajan Sawhney says this will help unemployed Albertans get a Class 1 driver’s licence for jobs in the trucking industry.
“We have projected that we’re going to have quite the shortage in qualified truck drivers in the next couple of years. Anybody who wants to be a commercial driver has to pay quite a significant amount of money to get through the driving program and we know that there’s lots of unemployed Albertans out there who would potentially love to have a career as a commercial driver.”
Sawhney was on the Trending 55 Hot Seat and says this will help in addressing truck driver shortages.
“30% of Alberta’s GDP comes in on the back of a truck. So it’s important that we have enough drivers, it’s important that the supply chain is kept going to the best of our abilities and it’s also important for people who are not working right now to have opportunities to pursue different exciting and interesting careers.”
$5 million in funding is available to provide 500 unemployed Albertans with the opportunity to obtain a Class 1 driver’s licence.
More info on the grant and how to apply for it can be found here.
You can listen to our full interview with Sawhney below.
– Kyle Moore, Trending 55 Newsroom
