CALGARY— A Calgary company says the driver of its oversize tractor-trailer, which collided with a bus carrying a junior hockey team last week killing 16 people, only had a year’s experience as a commercial driver and just over two weeks of training from his new employer.

“I do my best. I give the training within 15 days,” Sukhinder Singh, owner of Adesh Deol Trucking Ltd., told reporters.

“I can train for the straps, secure the load — everything. But the guy has already a licence one year ago.”

Singh may have been confident of his employee’s readiness, but the country’s trucking lobby reacted with surprise to news that such a novice was operating a two-trailer vehicle — a configuration known in the industry as a B-train — on wintry Prairie roads after just a month on the job.

Because B-trains are longer and heavier than single-trailer configurations, they’re usually piloted by more experienced drivers.

“At a company with a culture of safety, it’s difficult to imagine someone with that little experience getting behind the wheel of regular tractor, let alone a B-train,” said Steve Laskowski, president of the Canadian Trucking Association.

“The industry and the public want answers on what happened here and whether this tragedy might have been prevented,” he said.

Aerial footage shows the site of a bus crash near Tisdale, Saskatchewan, involving the Humboldt Broncos junior hockey team. The crash killed 16 people. (The Canadian Press)

Police said the westbound truck loaded with peat moss collided with the northbound bus carrying the Humboldt Broncos team at the intersection of Highway 35 and Highway 335 just after 5 p.m. on April 6. The bus had the right-of-way, while the truck would have had to halt at a stop sign with a flashing red light.

Adesh Deol Trucking, which began operating last fall, had its safety certificate suspended in the wake of the crash, forcing its other trucks off the road pending an investigation by Alberta Transportation.

Laskowski said the investigation into the crash may also point to the need for mandatory training for commercial drivers across Canada, a measure his organization has long lobbied for but that only Ontario currently requires.

As of last July, new truck drivers in that province are required to complete a 103.5-hour course in the classroom and behind the wheel at a licensed school before they can be tested for a licence to drive a commercial vehicle.

“Just like in every other sector, we have a small percentage of operators who don’t embrace the culture of safety,” Laskowski said. “Mandatory entry-level training raises the bar, but it’s still a floor.”

Ontario’s new requirements came after a Toronto Star investigation, which found the lack of required driver education had allowed the growth of dozens of unregulated truck-training schools that taught just enough for students to pass the road test.

Those schools, known as “licensing mills” by trucking industry insiders, evaded government detection by charging students just under $1,000 — the price threshold the province set for regulated courses at private career colleges and other schools.

People across Canada are wearing jerseys today to pay tribute to the Humboldt Broncos. (The Canadian Press)

A spokesman with Alberta Transportation, which regulates the province’s trucking industry, says department officials met with driver-training stakeholders last June to discuss a program like Ontario’s, but no decision has yet been made.

“When it comes to driver training policy, we are examining the initiatives of other jurisdictions as part of comprehensive government research,” Wayne Wood said in an e-mail reply to questions. “We are always looking at ways to improve public services.”

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Ken Cameron, owner of an Edmonton truck driving school that is the oldest in the province, says mandatory training for commercial drivers is long overdue. He said he’s mystified as to why successive Alberta governments have refused to act.

Cameron said he knows of some schools in Alberta that tell prospective students they can get their Class 1 licences after as little as 10 to 20 hours of training behind the wheel.

“The worry is they are driving a vehicle that weighs 40 tons minimum, and a car weighs two,” Cameron said.

“The public needs to be assured the person behind the wheel can operate that truck safely.”

— with files from The Canadian Press

Matt McClure is a senior investigative reporter based in Calgary. Follow him on Twitter: @mattmcclure2

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