The Alberta government is extending a deadline for farm workers to get new mandatory truck driver training.
A coalition of the province’s agriculture producers had expressed concerns about the timeline.
Starting March 1, drivers of semi-trucks and commercial buses will be required to take more extensive training, including work in the classroom and on the road, to qualify for a licence.
Team Alberta — representing pulse growers, wheat and barley producers and others — said it is worried the change will affect their operations.
The group said a lot of seasonal work relies on truck drivers, and it would be difficult to get them tested in time for this year’s growing season.
The government said it consulted with the agriculture industry and has decided to extend the deadline for farm drivers to March 1 of next year. Eligible farm workers must apply to Alberta Transportation to get approval for an extension.
The changes were introduced last summer in response to a horrific crash in Saskatchewan in April involving an Alberta-registered truck and a bus carrying the Humboldt Broncos junior hockey team.
Sixteen people were killed and 13 injured when an inexperienced truck driver blew through a stop sign and into the path of the hockey team’s bus in rural Saskatchewan.