Dear Editor:

In your May 2008 edition, in reference to speed limiters, Joanne Ritchie, executive director of OBAC, states that:”MTO is pandering to a handful of carriers who are either too cheap, too lazy or too greedy to compete fairly. Rather than pay their drivers a decent rate, invest in training, and anti-idle technology, and implement internal safety and compliance regimes, these carriers have bamboozled government into taking these responsibilities off their shoulders.”

Such insulting comments do nothing to advance the pursuit of constructive debate on speed limiter activation or any other issue, nor do we believe they reflect the views of the vast majority of the thousands of employees and owner/operators who collectively work for our companies. It is obvious that Ms. Ritchie is upset because she has failed to convince most people that her arguments against the mandatory activation of speed limiters hold water.

We are not asking MTO to take responsibility off of our shoulders, as Ms. Ritchie suggests. Rather, we are asking them to help us to ensure that everyone in the industry takes more responsibility for highway safety and the environment. For many years we and other carriers have, under the banner of OTA, carried the burden of responsibility for the actions of the entire industry.

Stooping to tactics that are better left in the gutter is easy, but it is not an effective or constructive way of advancing one’s cause. We will not stoop to that level. Instead, we will continue to partner with those people who are prepared to work with us in building a better trucking industry for all.

Written on behalf of:

Gary Babcock, Quik X Transportation; Dave Belley, Hyndman Transport; Jeff Bryan, Jeff Bryan Transport; Mark Bylsma, Spring Creek Carriers; Robert Casarsa, RIMS Transportation; John Caseley, Trendway Transportation Services; Craig Cottrell, CSI Logistics Canada; Dave Deshane, HBC Logistics; Peter DiTecco, Armbro Transport; Dan Einwechter, Challenger Motor Freight; Dennis Forsythe, Transfreight; Gord Foss, G. A. Foss Transport; Rick Gaetz, Vitran Corporation; Gord Grant, Grant’s Transport; Willie Hamel, Trimac Transportation; Harold Heffernan, Celadon Canada; David Hunniford, Compass Rose International; Paul Kingma, Empire Transportation; Paul Leader, Atlas Van Lines; Rodger Leslie, Canada Cartage; Gerry Lodwick, Lodwick Transport; Norm Mackie, Mackie Moving Systems; Evan MacKinnon, MacKinnon Transport; Ron Martin, Bridgeland Terminals; Louisa McAlpine, Snowbird Transportation Systems; Michael McCarron, MSM Transportation; Rob McDonald, Apps Transport Group; John McKevitt, McKevitt Trucking; Evan Meyers, Meyers Transport; Robin Miller, Ram Contract Carriers; Doug Munro, Maritime-Ontario Freight Lines; Jeff Odway, L. Hansen’s Forwarding; Steve Ondejko, Onfreight Logistics; Jason Peers, Rapid Delivery; Rob Penner, Bison Transport; David Pogue, EG Gray Transport; Ellen Poll, Drumbo Transport; Claude Robert, Robert Transport; Mark Seymour, Kriska Transportation; Bill Shannon, Shandex; Gord Smith, Manitoulin Transport; John Smith, Bruce R. Smith; Scott Smith, J. D. Smith & Sons; Norm Sneyd, Highland Transport; James Steed, Steed Standard Transport; Julie Tanguay, L. E. Walker Transport; Brian Taylor, Liberty Linehaul; Steve Thibert, Tibbs Transport; Jim Thomson, Thomson Terminals; Scott Tilley, The Tandet Group; Rolly Uloth, Rosedale Transport; Randy Veinotte, Harland Veinotte; Kirk Zavitz, Zavcor; Doug Coleman, Doug Coleman Trucking; George Ledson, Cavalier Transportation; and Uwe Petroschke, Totalline.