Page 1 - Newcom

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No new tax
Manitoba scraps carbon tax from its environment plan.
Page 16
Evolve or die
Panel says carriers must diversify and become more inclusive.
Page 22
The W990
Kenworth unveils its W990 as a ‘driver’s truck.’
Reach us at our Western Canada news bureau Contact Derek Clouthier Derek@Newcom.ca or call 403-969-1506
MELT to be
mandated
in Alberta
this spring
By Derek Clouthier
EDMONTON, ALBERTA
The Alberta government announced that mandatory entry- level driver training (MELT) will be mandated in spring 2019 for Class 1 and 2 drivers.
The message was relayed at the Alberta Motor Transport Association (AMTA) office by Transportation Minister Brian Mason Oct. 10.
AMTA president Chris Nash was present during the announcement and threw his support behind
the move.
“The AMTA and industry have developed and delivered training over the years that was optional,” said Nash. “The announcement of mandatory entry-level training will ensure the industry has the funda- mental tools to operate on public roadways by establishing a bench- mark of required education for commercial drivers and carriers.”
The AMTA was a big part of the consultation process on the MELT program. Nash said the association provided feedback on three key areas of Alberta’s MELT program,
Continued on page 6
NOVEMBER 2018 VOLUME 29, ISSUE 10
WWW.TRUCKWEST.CA
Centurion Trucking has been named one of the fastest growing companies in Canada and has long embraced the South Asian driver.
No changing face here
South Asians have long been a part of the trucking landscape in B.C.’s Lower Mainland
By Derek Clouthier
SURREY, BRITISH COLUMBIA
The face of the Canadian truck driver has been changing in recent years, at least in many areas outside of B.C.’s Lower Mainland in Canada’s southwest.
With 60% of the province’s population, the Lower Mainland has been experiencing an influx of South Asian workers for a long time, many of them flocking to the transportation industry.
For most carriers in the region, there has been no “changing face” in trucking at all, and has rather been the norm for as long as many in the area can remember.
“I haven’t actually seen the changing face other than that there’s an older population of drivers
out there who are retiring and with no folks from Canada wanting to (drive),” said David Payne, pres- ident of Harbour Link, a Delta, B.C., carrier with a fleet of 103 and 90% South Asian drivers. “Basically, we’re having to fill these jobs with folks who immi- grate to Canada. This has been ongoing for 25 years...at least in British Columbia.”
Payne said it’s tough finding quality drivers in 2018, a problem that is not unique to Canada, but also in the U.S., where drivers are retiring and no one is coming in to fill vacant positions.
“Trucking has got a stigma attached to it,” Payne said. “If I’m in high school, my aspiration is not to be a truck driver. I want to do post-secondary, college, university, and get a fancy job at Google. So we’re not replenishing.”
Payne said in the Lower Mainland, those from the South Asian community predominantly look
for driving positions with trucking companies, but Harbour Link does employ some in other positions.
Daman Grewal and Harpreet Kalsi own Centurion Trucking, a for-hire carrier out of Surrey, B.C., that specializes in hauling temperature-controlled ship- ments throughout Canada and the U.S.
Grewal, who comes from the South Asian commu- nity, has been in the industry for more than 20 years, and during his time with Centurion, the company has experienced rapid expansion, being among the fastest growing companies in the country.
Despite Grewal’s success – Canadian Business and Maclean’s magazine ranked Centurion number 131 on its annual Growth 500 this year, making it first overall in the transportation and logistics category – he did not always see trucking as his calling.
Initially lured by a friend’s father, who brought him in to do some office work for his trucking company, Grewal admitted he tried to leave the industry several times.
“Somehow, someone would pull me back in and I would be back to helping grow their trucking com- panies,” said Grewal. “There came a point where I started enjoying what I was doing and started finding the jobs rewarding.”
One facet of the industry that stood out to Grewal was the impact he had on driver income.
“It was a place where drivers could be treated equally and be compensated equally as well,” he said. “Whether you were born and raised in Canada or you were a new immigrant, the trucking indus- try didn’t seem to discriminate, but rather pro- vided opportunity to those who were willing to work hard.”
Continued on page 18
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