by wtfcanada2015@gmail.com | Jan 31, 2025 | Announcement, BLOG
We are excited to announce the rescheduled dates for the Bridging the Barriers Western Conference! Join us on May 26th for our Networking Evening and May 27th for a Full Day Conference. This is our first time bringing this seminar to western Canada.
Event Highlights:
– Diverse Keynote Speakers & Panellists: Hear from industry leaders and front-line professionals as they dispel myths and discuss industry challenges.
– Inclusive Networking: Bring together all areas of the industry, from front line workers to senior decision makers, including government officials.
– Educational Goals: Educate from all vantage points, facilitate collaboration, and bridge gaps for a better understanding of industry challenges.
Event Details:
Networking Evening: Monday May 26th, 2025 5 pm – 8 pm
Full Day Seminar: Tuesday May 27th, 2025 7:30 am – 5 pm
For more information or to register, please visit: Bridging The Barriers Western Conference
Sponsorship Opportunities:
– Contact Samantha Clarke: samanthac@wtfc.ca
– Contact Fiona Stone: fionas@wtfc.ca
Thank you to our Media Sponsors
by wtfcanada2015@gmail.com | Dec 21, 2018 | BLOG
‘Twas The Run Before Christmas By Ted Light
‘Twas the run before Christmas, in the cab of my truck, A hundred miles from home, I’m in need of some luck.
The kids hung their stockings, but are feeling quite sad, They must go to bed now, and they wonder, “Where’s Dad?”
With a kiss and a hug, all will be right, But alone in the kitchen, Mom grows more uptight.
Earlier that day, the children were grinning, As they speckled the tree, with bright balls and trimming.
Then sipping hot chocolate, and playing Christmas songs, And talking about Daddy, who’s been gone too long.
And now I can see her, her brow creased with fret, As the children start dreaming, there’s no presents yet.
Curled on the couch, running a hand through her hair, In the glow of the tree lights, hoping I’ll be there.
Then I imagine the morning, with my love at my side, In tumbling our children. I must finish this ride.
Howling winds, blowing snow, and ahead all is white, Doubts creeping in. Will I make it tonight?
Beside me in the cab, with the wind unforgiving, Pretty packages sit waiting, for sweet Christmas giving.
I’ve a truckload of wishes, and I must deliver, But the storm keeps on roaring, as my old engine shivers.
It’s hardy and stubborn, and it’s taken me miles, And I’ll need it tonight, to see my kids’ smiles.
Rolling over the drifts, rubber gripping the snow, My big rig keeps moving, but ever so slow.
I’m gripping the wheel, and grinding her gears, And that fierce wind’s just whistling, and I can’t hardly steer.
And great gusts are blowing me, to the side of the road, And I’m fighting my fear, as I steady my load.
What was that I noticed, with a glance to the sky, Could the weather be clearing, did a star catch my eye?
And then, in a heartbeat, not a moment too soon, The night sky emerges, twinkling stars and bright moon.
With clear road ahead, I quickly arrive, The children peek from the window, as I pull in the drive.
I pat the door of my rig, as my feet touch the ground, For on this special night, it brought me home safe and sound.
With a heart full of joy, and a smile on my face, I open our door, to a loving embrace.
The gifts round the tree, make a beautiful sight, Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!
From all of us at WTFC we wish each and everyone of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Shelley, Sylvie, Joanne , Margaret, Carol , Caroline, Jennifer, Samantha, Sud, Johanne, Kimberly
We hope you enjoy this new song by our friends The Danny Thompson Band
It’s a Small Town Christmas
by wtfcanada2015@gmail.com | Jul 28, 2018 | BLOG
My name is Nick MacKenzie and I am based out of Cape Breton, NS. I have 20+ years involvement with the transportation and construction industries. My fascination with this industry actually began when I was 15 years old working part time with a fuel company and hasn’t left me yet. I began working part time with a local fuel company as a summer student, keeping up the connection while studying Business Administration at St FX. After graduating University, I had various jobs with financial and accounting companies, but my love of the transportation industry was always in the back of my mind.
A few years later, I was fortunate to meet up with a partner and became involved with a family business having existing start-ups in the construction and transportation industries in and around Cape Breton Island – which I helped them grow and found few additional lines of business, allowing the company to expand over to construction services, waste removal, hauling dry aggregate, liquid bulk, dangerous goods – all servicing an area throughout the Maritimes. During this time I worked with so many insightful contractors, suppliers, employees, subcontractors and owner operators.
Fast forward 15 years later and a lot of changes – children, moving to a new home, a new school, and I now have an amazing partner to remind me of how important care and support is, positively kept me focused, encourage me through all of these ups and downs and reminded me I shouldn’t give up on what I love and want to do – who I must share in turn, also has an amazing career driving truck. So its from there, I decided to found my own company Catou Consulting because I became aware there is such a need for so many diverse drivers, owner operators and individuals with so much potential that just needed that little bit of extra help/advice how to get things rolling in order to make their dreams become a reality. So I currently work on incorporation assistance, book keeping, financing proposals, Business number registrations, safety paperwork, carrier set up … top to bottom – anything you would need to get the ball rolling to accomplish a start up in the industry and if I can’t do it, I have many contacts that are glad to assist the type of projects!
M & M Truck
I am an advocate in supporting SME start-ups and support to family, small and medium businesses . I understand the challenges of running a small business as well as the availability required to supply support out of hours of regular operations as when you own your own business, it is your livelihood, and no one should be bogged down with phone calls and red tape therefore, I understand flexibility and availability are crucial and integral to the succession and growth of business.
I believe small business is the backbone of our economy and the spinoffs are directly incurred from supporting each other. My passion and bulk of my experience comes from the trucking and construction industry as well as family businesses. I help set up/support/grow many owner operators, family businesses and understand the requirements, dedication, long hours and circumstances it takes to contribute to your family, economy and trade’s well being. I have extensive work history in working with budgeting, financial reporting, staffing, human resources, compliance with all levels of government, equipment analytics, variety of specter of customer relations and operations management to a widespread operational jurisdiction on an on call basis.
I have witnessed start-ups start, fail, rebrand, grow and also restart. I have experienced families start, grow but the one thing I have witnessed is that every driver, owner operator, supplier, vendor, office administrator, employee all have one common goal – to better themselves and the well being of their families in the attempt to succeed and do what they love the most – the love of the trucks, open road, and supply a customer all at the same time.
Nick & Danielle
I myself do not hold a class 1 license but I have been there, dispatching and trying to coordinate the customer’s crazy idea of loads so everyone is happy, on the side of the road with the driver waiting for a repair in the middle of the night running out parts during a break down, that contractor from out of area that blindsides a bidding process and takes away local work, the phone call that your main contractor has decided to buy his own equipment and try it on his own, as well as that dreaded incident call in the middle of the night and every kind of audit/paperwork request you can imagine all while raising children.
But on the flip side, I have also had the opportunity to be a part of spin offs, the look of pure love the look in someone’s eye when they pick up the keys to a unit of their own, the excitement of being the main hauler to that one particular customer that everyone’s been talking about, the joy in a driver’s eyes when a customer feeds back they only want that particular operator on their job site because they’re so good, the feeling when you leave a customer site after a pickup/delivery knowing that because you arrived with their goods, they can ensure a happy customer, a finance deal for a truck that ended up happening because the unit you dreamed about fell through. The positives always outweigh the negatives if you are patient, even though you don’t always understand why you are going through the hardships.
So, here’s why I do this every single day, I have an 11-year-old daughter, Danielle and my main goal in doing what I do, not only because I love the industry but because it’s important to me that maybe one day, one of the businesses that I work with will hire someone like her and provide them with the opportunity to better themselves while doing something she loves. My only wish for her is that she has all available options open to her and she be accepted in the industry for the career choice of her choosing – whether it be in a traditional trade or a non-traditional role.
When I started as a “newbie” back in 2003, I was ready to conquer the industry head on, but quickly learned it was a male dominated industry and not every problem you encounter has a text book solution on all levels which was an eye opener for me, as this is not what we were taught in school. I do not regret having the opportunity to attend University and I did learn a lot with regards to the management aspect in school, but the bulk of my experience is hands on and direct interaction with the employees, business owners, vendors and customers – all things school does not prepare you for – real life interaction, issues and resolutions.
I feel as though my involvement and continuous persistence in wanting to work with this industry has not only helped myself grow personally and professionally but has brought awareness to much of my network that the ability of that particular individual working with should be measured and determined by their skill and ability in whole, not a gender.
Times are changing, and I have had the pleasure of dealing with so many inspirational and determined women, men and gender-neutral individuals taking on a more non-traditional roles and that is something not only to be proud of, but in my opinion to celebrate the recognition of the changing of times. Positivity can only help it to make it better and therefore, therefore I’m sharing my story – if I can inspire just one person to pursue a career in the transportation industry that they’ve always dreamt about, I will be grateful, it is an amazing industry.
You are not alone, you don’t have to do this by yourself, this is to encourage awareness that there are so many support systems, companies, groups, associations including myself that are out there wanting to assist someone in reaching their goal.
…And if you have children, you’re not alone, this industry career path in whatever aspect you are thinking about – is doable if that is what’s holding you back! Think of this – would you rather see your children watch you work at a job every single day doing something that you don’t love to do and not come home with that spark of positivity in your eye …..or would you rather inspire independent little people showing them that hard work, determination and courage pays off? Because in my opinion, those are the skills they will need to acquire to have later in life to purse and succeed in accomplishing their dreams and aspirations.
So, in conclusion, if a career of any kind in the transportation industry is what you’re thinking about and you’re on the fence – don’t wait! If it’s in your blood, don’t fight it, you can try to stay away from it, but you’ll always come back to it one way or another. It might be overwhelming to think about making that change but step up to make yourself happy and just know you’re not alone. There is much support available in so many aspects – Trucking is not only an industry, it’s a family of support in so many ways you can’t imagine. So, if you’re ever down in Cape Breton, don’t be shy to message anytime for a coffee & a chat if there’s anything I can help with or if even just want to swap a “you wouldn’t believe what happened to me on the road today” story! ????
Nick MacKenzie
Email: catouconsulting@gmail.com
Phone: 902-295-0369
by wtfcanada2015@gmail.com | Jul 5, 2018 | BLOG
As a child, on those numerous occasions when I thought that a task was too large or too complex for me, my father had one response that he used without fail, always phrased in the form of a question: How do you eat an elephant- answer: one bite at a time.
Much has been published in the last seven months in both industry publications and mainstream media outlets about the ongoing capacity shortage an elephant sized issue if there ever was one- particularly as it relates to the limited supply of trucks. In many ways, the solution to this industry challenge is no different than that of perceived challenges of my childhood. We need to simply start to fix the parts of the supply chain that we have allowed to break – one bite at a time.
I was thinking of this universal truth in light of an experience I have repeatedly experienced over my two decades in this industry- yet another typical example of the myriad ways that this industry attempts to diminish the value of drivers limited on duty hours.
We had a driver scheduled to load for a 3PL this morning- 6 am Pickup appointment with strict instructions for the driver to be on time. As often happens, the driver arrived at 6 am only to find out that the brokerage dispatcher on the order had neglected to provide us with the correct pickup number and trip number needed for loading, even though they were in her custody. After 90 minutes, the confusion was finally clarified at the cost of 90 minutes of the drivers on duty time.
Assuming that we have this issue happen once per day with half of our trucks, for a duration of 30 minutes per event – it means that in a small fleet like ours- 12.5 hours per day are being wasted with delays that are entirely avoidable. Most of us are aware that preventable delays are one of the main sources of driver frustration and exodus.
However, the other thing I would like us to think about is this when we think about our elephant eating challenge: that’s more than one 11 hour driving shift- so by extension for every day of operation, we have one truck running free of charge because simple things like pickup numbers are not provided – simply because people do not care enough to think about the downstream effects of their inaction.
In essence, this means that we have one truck that could be moving freight but is not- taking one trucks capacity completely out of the market, even though all of its associated expenses are there. If that’s true for a small 50 truck fleet like ours- imagine the number of trucks wasted if that math holds true industry wide?
Perhaps, instead of complaining about shortage of capacity and rising rates, forward thinking shippers and receivers can look internally at simple cost and efficiency improvements. I hope to explore a number of these themes over my next few posts.
However, with this challenge – there is also a call to action for those people responsible for operational decisions at asset based carriers. As an industry we need to stop saying “this is part of Transportation”- there’s no need for inefficiencies like this- and no need for the same folks who cause the inefficiencies to be complaining about rising costs. It takes true collaboration and partnership to drive inefficiencies out of a supply chain- the picture is much bigger than pure Transportation cost. It takes everyone’s proactivity and effort to improve conditions for everyone.
How do you eat an elephant: To solve our capacity crisis, we all need to be serious about one bite at a time!
Bio: Tony Gerber has been one of the Managing Directors at Flash Freight Systems of Guelph, ON since 2004 – an asset based provider of crossborder and domestic transportation and warehousing solutions. He’s passionate about operational excellence, the application of the lost art of common sense, coffee, and reimagining the status quo in the supply chain to improve everyone’s quality of life and service levels.
by wtfcanada2015@gmail.com | May 11, 2018 | BLOG
Abbotsford, BC (May 10, 2018) – Please join OBAC and the Women’s Trucking Federation of Canada (WTFC) at the first Western Canadian Salute to Women Behind the Wheel at Truxpo on Saturday, May 12, co-hosted by the British Columbia Trucking Association (BCTA).
The event, organized in the U.S. by Women In Trucking (WIT) to honor female commercial drivers and recognize them for their service, has been held annually at the Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, Kentucky since 2009. OBAC and WTFC have partnered with WIT and hosted three previous Salutes in Canada, with a view to bringing the popular celebration to Canada on a regular basis.
A hallmark of the event is a group photo of all the women dressed in the signature red Salute T-shirt.
2018 Canadian Salute to Women Behind the Wheel at Truck World
Photo Credit : Niko Charalambous
Join us for the celebration and refreshments at 1:00 pm in The Loft at the Northlands Tradex Centre, 1190 Cornell Street in Abbotsford, BC.
For more information, contact Joanne Ritchie at jritchie@obac.ca
