Falsified driving course certificates in Ontario

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An investigation by the show Marketplace revealed that several driving schools offer driving course certificates for a few hundred dollars.

Radio-Canada

Speech synthesis, based on artificial intelligence, makes it possible to generate spoken text from written text.

Ontario driving schools are willing to offer falsified beginner course certificates for a few hundred dollars, reveals an investigation by the show Marketplace.

Driving courses are not compulsory in Ontario, but the beginner's course certification has its advantages: those who have it can pass their road test more quickly and get reductions on their insurance premiums.< /p>

Majority of 20 GTA driving instructors contacted by reporter from Marketplace< /em> claiming to be a future student offered to register her in the register of the Ministry of Transport without having taken the course in question.

The schools explained that the falsified documents would be retained by the institution to prove that the student had completed the courses even if not&#x27 ;was not the case. Schools charge between $150 and $400 for these services.

This is worrying, says Ontario Auditor General Shelley Spence. There are drivers on the roads who are not trained and certified properly, she said.

In a Toronto parking lot, a driving instructor unknowingly demonstrated the modus operandi of schools like his.

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He explains to the Marketplace journalist that he can take her to school so that she can fill out the forms from the provincial ministry. These documents, he said, would subsequently be kept by the establishment in the event of an audit of the province.

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Driving tests are not mandatory in Ontario, but successful completion has benefits for drivers. (Archive photo)

I've done that thousands of times, he confides to the hidden camera. The cost: $385.

Another teacher says the beginner course — which includes 40 hours of lessons and of homework — is a waste of time.

He also suggests that the journalist come to the school to sign the documents. We're breaking the rules a bit, he admits. His school is one of 844 establishments approved by the ministry to offer the beginner's course.

The broadcast Marketplace does not identify the schools and teachers in question since the problem is systemic.

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The Office of the Auditor General of Ontario determined in 2023 that driving schools were violating the rules concerning certificates for beginner courses. As in another report from 2007, the office called on the Department of Transportation to do more to crack down on offending schools.

Between the months of May and October 2023, the Office of the Auditor General undertook an exercise similar to that of Marketplace and presented himself anonymously to 14 driving schools in the province.

The bureau found that 11 schools allowed the mystery shopper to shorten or even abandon their practical training and still issued them a driving course certificate, the report reads. report.

Transport Minister Prabmeet Singh Sarkaria said the government has a zero tolerance policy and that it will crack down on offending schools.