[Marketplace theme] ♪ [Asha]<i>
Bad drivers everywhere.</i> <i> Are they cheating
their way onto the roads?</i> <i> We go inside
the world of driver training.</i> <i> Where there are no lessons.</i> <i> But cash is king
and documents are forged.</i> [man]
Come here, come here, come here. [Asha]<i>
Public safety is on the line.</i> The risks are that we have
drivers out on the road that are not trained
and not certified properly. [Asha]<i>
This is your</i> Marketplace. What is your government
doing to take action? <i> We are in a parking lot
with a big flock of pigeons</i> <i>and a handful of hidden cameras,</i> <i> waiting for an instructor
from a driving school.</i> <i> He's paid to teach
the rules of the road.</i> <i> But this guy is
ready to break some rules</i> <i> to help us cheat our
way through driver training.</i> <i> He's here to
sell us a certificate</i> <i> that says we've completed
a driver's education course,</i> <i> even though we haven't taken
a single lesson.</i> <i> He wants us to go with
him to a nearby driving school</i> <i> to sign some forged documents.</i> <i> The forms,
he says, will be registered</i> <i> with the Ministry
of Transportation.</i> <i> And then,
we'll get our certificate.</i> <i> It's against the law,</i> <i> but it sure will save us
a bunch of time and money.</i> <i> The certificate he's selling
is called a BDE,</i> <i> which stands for
Beginner Driver Education.</i> <i> A BDE helps new drivers
get discounts on car insurance</i> <i> and allows them to take
their driving test sooner.</i> <i> The provincial government
has known for years</i> <i> that people buy
and sell fraudulent BDEs.</i> <i> In 2007, the Auditor General
calls for action.</i> <i> So, the province
switches proof of certification</i> <i> from paper to online,</i> <i> but has it helped?</i> <i> We're on our way
to London, Ontario</i> <i> to learn more about
how beginner driving training</i> <i> is supposed to go.</i> -Hey, Ashley.
-Hi. -Ready for your lesson?
-Yes. [Asha]<i> We'll be taking
a ride with Ashley Griffith</i> <i> and her instructor,
Puneet Chadha.</i> -Are you excited?
-Yes, I am. I'm really excited. -It's my first lesson.
-Wow. [Asha]<i> The provincial
government sets the rules</i> <i> for driver education
and that means</i> <i> at least 10 hours
of in-car lessons like this.</i> So, whenever you're ready,
let's put it into drive for me. And go towards that stop sign. [Asha]<i> Ashley is also
taking 20 hours of theory,</i> <i>learning the rules of the road.</i> How are the nerves, Ashley? I've only ever
driven with my parents. Okay. <i> There's another
10 hours of homework,</i> <i> either in-class or in-car,</i> <i> depending on
what might help most.</i> So remember, always keep
your hands on the wheel -at all times.
-Oh, yeah. So, in case
we were ever to get hit, you wanna be able
to control the car. [Asha]<i> The total cost
of Ashley's BDE certification?</i> <i> About $750.</i> <i> And yet, here we are
with no driver training,</i> <i> able to buy
a certificate for half that.</i> <i> As the instructor tells
us how they use fake documents</i> <i> to cheat the online system
set up by the MTO.</i> <i> That's the Ministry
of Transportation.</i> <i> But he's not the only
one doing this kind of thing.</i> <i> Websites like Kijiji and
Facebook are filled with ads.</i> <i> Instructors promising
low prices,</i> <i> nearly perfect passing rates,
early road test bookings,</i> <i> and those coveted
insurance discount certificates</i> <i> that they're not
even supposed to advertise.</i> <i> We call them up.</i> <i> Twenty instructors,
to see what they can do for us.</i> [instructor 1 over phone] -Okay.
-[Asha]<i> Fourteen offer to</i> <i> sell us BDE certification,</i> <i> no questions asked.</i> And is there any test I have
to take for BDE, or course-- [Asha]<i> Another call,
another BDE.</i> <i> This one even cheaper
and faster.</i> [man] Okay, so, if I e-transfer
you-- How much? $150? [instructor 2] [man] And I can get it by today? [Asha]<i> Tens of thousands
of new drivers are looking</i> <i> for actual lessons every year,
right across Canada.</i> <i> But training is only mandatory
in four provinces:</i> <i> Saskatchewan, Quebec,</i> <i> Nova Scotia,
and Prince Edward Island.</i> <i> In Ontario,
lessons are entirely up to you.</i> <i> Unless you want your test
sooner, and insurance cheaper.</i> <i> Then, you need a BDE.</i> <i>And that's what brings us here.</i> [man] [man] [Asha]<i> He makes it clear we've
got nothing to worry about.</i> [man] Yeah, that'd be-- [Asha]<i> He tells us,
like most instructors,</i> <i> he works for many schools,
but is going to take us</i> <i> to one nearby to complete
the deal and the paperwork.</i> [Asha]<i> Truth is, we have
no intention of going through</i> <i> with a transaction
that sure seems illegal,</i> <i> so we tell him
we need to think about it.</i> [Asha]<i> As we back away
from the deal,</i> <i> the instructor
becomes threatening.</i> [man] [instructor] [man] [Asha]<i> He jumps in his car</i> <i> and chases us down
in the parking lot.</i> [instructor] [man] [Asha]<i> We take refuge
in a supermarket</i> <i> while he pulls up out front.</i> <i> He sits in his car
for a good hour.</i> <i> He sends a threatening text.</i> <i> "You won't like how
this is gonna end," it says.</i> <i> But eventually, he leaves,</i> <i> leaving us with a lesson
in the dangers</i> <i> of trying to cheat the system.</i> [instructor] [Asha]<i> Later, we asked that
instructor to come on camera.</i> To get your perspective
on why you tried to sell a BDE
certificate to our colleagues. [instructor] [Asha]<i> We jog his memory
with details from that day,</i> <i> and he says he was
just trying to be helpful.</i> [instructor] What does negotiate mean, then? What does negotiate mean? [instructor] From what I understand,
that is absolutely against the rules. [instructor] No, you can't.
Not if you take this-- Not if you take-- Not if you take this program. You can't.
You're not supposed to. That's the problem here. [instructor] I mean, that's a job as the instructor
or the driving school. Yes, that's what
they're paying for. <i> The instructor refuses
to do a formal interview,</i> <i> and later sends another
threatening text</i> <i> that's too graphic to share.</i> <i> We catch up again
with Puneet Chadha,</i> <i> as he teaches driving theory</i> <i> to high-schoolers
in Clinton, Ontario.</i> All right, let's do a quick
review, first thing first, What is the difference between
a collision and an accident? Does anyone know? [Asha]<i> It's part of their
proper BDE training.</i> Crash stats are showing,
in 2014, there was a collision
every three minutes. [Asha]<i> He lets us step in
to share our findings.</i> -It's all yours.
-I can take over. We just want to show you
a little bit of an instructor
who was trying to sell us a BDE certificate. [instructor]<i> Once we add the
BDE course on your behalf,</i> <i> -it goes like this.
-Yeah.</i> I mean, yeah,
I think it's crazy. That's not fair at all
that they can do that. Like, if they don't
know what they're doing, then they're not
gonna be safe drivers. It's bringing
everybody else's insurance up, and it's...
just sucks for everybody. [Asha]<i> Afterwards, we head out</i> <i> on a little drive test
of our own,</i> <i> to hear how all this might
be hurting Puneet's livelihood.</i> Students have come to me
and basically have admitted that they, Well, yeah, I just paid the guy
and I got a certificate. -Really?
-Yeah. So you've had students come
to you saying that. They have. And I was like,
well, why did you do that? Well, I needed to get this
quicker and faster. Because I needed
to get that job, or I needed to save money
on that insurance. And I was like, well,
what did that get you? They were like, nothing,
because I failed my first test, because they didn't
train me properly. It doesn't shock me. Nothing is shocking me
right now. What you guys have discovered. It must be frustrating, though. It is frustrating,
because it's affecting all of our business, right? And now those kids
are on the road, and they're on the road
with us, my kids, and your kid. And-- it- it hurts.
It hurts because... An accident and a collision
could happen at any time. [Asha]<i> What happens when we go
inside a driving school</i> <i> for a lesson in how
to trick the government?</i> [Asha]<i> Coming up.</i> [Asha]<i> We are inside the world
of beginner driver education,</i> <i> and the biggest
lesson we're learning?</i> <i> It's easy to cheat the system.</i> [Asha]<i> Certificates that say</i> <i> you've taken hours
of instruction</i> <i> can be bought
for not much money,</i> <i> and no actual training.</i> <i> It begins with phone calls
like this</i> <i> to a freelance driving
instructor</i> <i> who's looking to make
extra cash by selling</i> <i> driver education certificates
without the education.</i> [man] So I don't really think
I need lessons that much. I'm actually more interested
in the certificate you can get
for insurance discount. Yeah, so what-- [driving instructor] Oh, okay. [Asha]<i> He sends us here, to a
driving school in North Toronto.</i> <i> We have an appointment
to buy a BDE certificate</i> <i> for $220.00,
with no lessons whatsoever.</i> [man] Hi. [Asha]<i> Seems like a bargain.</i> <i>But we say we're concerned about
forms they want us to sign.</i> [man] [Asha]<i> She then lays out
exactly how this scheme works.</i> [man] [man] [man] [woman] [man] Okay. [man] Ah, okay. [Asha]<i> She makes no bones about
the fact this is cheating.</i> [man] [man] [man] [man] [man] -[woman] Wow.
-[all laughing] [man] All right. [Asha]<i> 15 years of fooling
the government.</i> <i> She tells us
we can think it over if we want.</i> <i> She's got others waiting,
and offers one more detail</i> <i> about the deception.</i> [woman] Okay. [woman] Yeah. [Asha]<i> If the ministry
does check,</i> <i> it will all look legit,</i> <i> just like it must have
when government inspectors</i> <i> found zero infractions
at this school four years ago.</i> <i> That's one of the criticisms
that's repeated</i> <i> in the latest report by
the Auditor General of Ontario.</i> <i> The government is still
not doing enough</i> <i> to catch
this kind of behaviour.</i> <i> We meet up with
Auditor General, Shelley Spence,</i> <i> to compare notes.</i> What are the risks of people cheating their way
through the BDE process? The risks are that we have
drivers out on the road that are not trained,
and not certified properly. [Asha]<i> We show her our footage</i> <i> from that North Toronto
driving school.</i> [man]<i> And you have done
this before, right?</i> [man]<i> Okay. [laughing]</i> Really. Wow. Your first reaction to it? That is a lack of compliance. Of course, you can see
the motivations as to why the people would want to get
a certificate cheaper or faster. But that's not why
we're doing these certificates. We're doing these
certificates to help people learn how to drive,
and drive safely on the roads. -Isn't that concerning?
-It is concerning. And that's why one
of our recommendations was for the ministry to actually
bring back the mystery shopping component
of their compliance work. And it would catch this--
this kind of activity. [Asha]<i> The Auditor General's
Office</i> <i> does its own mystery shops.</i> <i> Like us, it hires a firm to go</i> <i> to 14 high-risk driving
schools across Ontario.</i> <i> It finds 11 of them were
offering BDE certificates</i> <i> with less than the required
10 hours of in-car training.</i> <i> The auditor says
the government hasn't done any</i> <i> mystery shopping of its own
since the start of the pandemic</i> <i> because the government
says they're too expensive.</i> Why do you think the mystery
shopping program is so important? As you could see,
the paperwork is easy to-- to forge, and we use
that technique actually a lot in different audits, because it is the
citizen-facing experience, or the customer-facing
experience. You guys use it
a lot on your show as well to really get
to what is happening. The government can't
tell from that paperwork that this has occurred. [Asha]<i> So when will the province
actually fix things?</i> Public safety is at risk here.
Is that concerning? Well, we're gonna make sure
we come down on-- on bad actors. [Asha]<i> Coming up,
after the break.</i> [Asha]<i> Bad drivers
are everywhere these days,</i> <i> and we're discovering
some of it may have to do</i> <i> with people cheating
their way through driver Ed.</i> [Asha]<i> We call up that school
for an explanation.</i> My name is Asha Tomlinson
from CBC Marketplace. <i>She tells us what we documented
must be a misunderstanding.</i> Well, that's not that's not
what you told our colleagues. You actually show them
how they could sign forms, saying that
they attended lessons and took the training
even though they didn't, and you were
quite cavalier about it. You joked about the fact
that they wouldn't have to do any work and they would
get the BD certificate. Okay, we have
this recorded on video. We thought for sure
the insurance industry would want to
talk about all this since they're handing out
discounts to some drivers... who haven't earned them. But the Insurance Bureau
of Canada will only say they've been in touch with
the Ontario government. <i> We've also been in
touch for weeks now.</i> Thank you very much,
Mr. Speaker. Look, this isn't about truckers. [Asha]<i> But Transport Minister
Prabmeet Sarkaria</i> <i> is refusing to meet.</i> <i> So we look for him
on his way into caucus.</i> Hi, minister. How are you? Asha from CBC Marketplace. People have been buying
and selling beginner driver
education certificates with no actual
training happening. Public safety is at risk here. What is your government
doing to take action? We have a zero tolerance
policy for that and we will make sure that
that is absolutely addressed. CBC Marketplace
called 20 driving instructors. 14 of them were willing
to break the rules and cheat the system. That is unacceptable. We're looking at
increasing sanctions on anyone with respect to contravening
road safety rules, or-- or taking a form
in these type of-- of practices. -Thanks, guys.
-Just one more question. When you say sanctions,
what do you mean by that? Well, we're always looking at--
at-- at least, we wanna make sure
that bad actors are punished for
any type of behaviour that is not in line with
the rules and regulations. And so we will have zero
tolerance for any event. [Asha]<i> Until government does
keep a closer eye on things,</i> <i>the hope is that people learning
the rules of the road...</i> You had already passed
the point of no return, which is that line. [Asha]<i> ...People
like Ashley Griffith...</i> So you gotta look at
what's the best thing for you to do at that point. -Right?
-Okay. [Asha]<i> ...will take a drive
down the straight and narrow.</i>
