What does a Class 1 licence actually cost?

This page is about cost only. For the required training hours by province -- what changed in Alberta on April 1, 2025, and what Ontario and BC each require -- see our licensing hub. Below, every dollar figure is cited to the province's own transport ministry or insurance corporation where one publishes a number, or to a named driving school's own posted tuition where (as is normal) the province leaves pricing to the market. Where this page could not confirm a figure from either kind of source, it says so plainly instead of guessing.

Alberta -- the one province with a government fee cap

Alberta is the exception here. Since April 1, 2026, the province caps the total price a licensed driving school can charge for the full Class 1 Learning Pathway at a minimum of $10,000 and a maximum of $12,000. Within that total, Alberta's own program page breaks the fee down further: the standalone online Entry Program costs $250 on its own, or a fixed rate of $700 if you take it with in-person support at a school; the Core Learning phase is capped between $8,300 and $9,500; the Competence Building phase is capped between $1,000 and $1,800; and the separate Experience and Equivalency Program (for drivers using prior experience) is capped at $4,000.

Alberta also runs a Class 1 Learning Pathway Grant Program. This page could not confirm the grant's current dollar amount or exact eligibility rules from the program's own page as of 2026-09-07 -- check the program page directly (linked in Sources) before assuming any specific amount.

Ontario

Ontario's Ministry of Transportation sets the required MELT hours (103.5) but does not publish a price -- Ontario's own truck-training industry association has said as much publicly, proposing a $6,500 minimum fee in a November 2025 industry submission specifically because some schools were charging as little as $3,000-$4,000, which the association argued wasn't enough to actually deliver the required drive-time hours. A named school's own posted pricing gives a sense of the real range: Canada Heavy Equipment College (Cambridge, ON) advertises a starting price near $6,995, with total cost commonly landing between $7,000 and $12,000 once medical exam, testing, and licensing fees are added on top of tuition.

British Columbia

BC's government page for Class 1 MELT funding states plainly that training providers set their own costs for the 140-hour program -- there is no set price. Two ICBC-approved schools' own posted tuition: Valley Driving School lists a program price of $15,400 (GST and ICBC fees not included), and Taylor Pro College lists $15,500 for its 10-week, 140-hour program. BC also runs funding programs that can help: WorkBC Centre services list a tuition maximum of $7,500 toward training costs, and the BC Employer Training Grant will cover 80% of training cost to a maximum of $10,000 per participant per year -- through your employer, not paid to you directly.

Saskatchewan

SGI sets Saskatchewan's required training at 121.5 hours (47 classroom/online, 17.5 in-yard, 57 behind the wheel) but does not publish a training price. Two named providers' own posted pricing: Great Plains College lists $1,195 for the theory-only portion of the course (not the full program), and Class 1A Truck Driver Training (Saskatoon, Swift Current, Melfort, and Prince Albert) lists a full program price of $12,900, noting the price can move with fuel surcharges. Saskatchewan also runs its own Class 1 Truck Driver Training Rebate: the government's own program page describes a total rebate of $5,000, paid out at $1,000 a year for five years to eligible graduates who remain working in the province, with eligibility running from October 1, 2024.

Manitoba

MPI's own MELT page states directly that "training providers set their own price for students to take the MELT course" -- MPI itself does not publish a figure for the 121.5-hour program (40 hours in class, 40.5 in-yard, 41 in-cab), mandatory since September 1, 2019. Two named Winnipeg schools' own posted pricing: Perfect One Driving School lists a full-time fee of $5,000, including classroom supplies and textbooks, for the 121.5-hour MELT program; National Truck Training Centre lists a total cost of $8,899 for its own longer 244-hour program, which covers more than the province's minimum requirement, so it isn't a like-for-like comparison with the 121.5-hour figure above.

Quebec

Quebec's mandatory Class 1 training rules changed recently: as of December 15, 2025, the SAAQ requires either its new Class 1 Road Safety Education Program (PESR) through an SAAQ-recognized provider, or the Trucking vocational program leading to a Diploma of Vocational Studies. SAAQ's own page on the change does not publish a training price. A named Montreal school's own posted pricing: École de conduite camion lourd (classe1.com) states its Class 1 truck training runs between $6,500 and $10,000, depending on the number of hours and options chosen.

Sources

• Alberta.ca -- Class 1 Learning Pathway (fee cap, Entry Program cost, program breakdown) — accessed 2026-09-07.
• Alberta.ca -- Class 1 Learning Pathway Grant Program — accessed 2026-09-07 (dollar amount not confirmed from this page; see unconfirmed note above).
• Canada Heavy Equipment College -- AZ License Cost Ontario: Full Breakdown (2026) — accessed 2026-09-07.
• Truck News -- Ontario truck driver training school group proposes $6,500 minimum MELT fee (2025-11-28) — accessed 2026-09-07.
• Government of British Columbia -- Class 1 MELT funding and grant options — accessed 2026-09-07.
• Valley Driving School -- Class 1 MELT program pricing — accessed 2026-09-07.
• Taylor Pro College -- B.C. Class 1 MELT program pricing — accessed 2026-09-07.
• SGI -- Class 1 licence (required training hours) — accessed 2026-09-07.
• Great Plains College -- Class 1 MELT theory-only program pricing — accessed 2026-09-07.
• Class 1A Truck Driver Training -- program pricing — accessed 2026-09-07.
• Government of Saskatchewan -- Saskatchewan Class 1 Truck Driver Training Rebate — accessed 2026-09-07.
• MPI -- Mandatory Entry-Level Training, Class 1 licence — accessed 2026-09-07.
• Perfect One Driving School (Winnipeg) -- MELT training pricing — accessed 2026-09-07.
• National Truck Training Centre (Winnipeg) -- Class 1, 244-hour program pricing — accessed 2026-09-07.
• SAAQ -- Mandatory Class 1 training (effective date, program structure) — accessed 2026-09-07.
• École de conduite camion lourd (classe1.com) -- Class 1 truck training pricing — accessed 2026-09-07.