NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE, Ont. – Truck News attended this year’s annual Private Motor Truck conference, held June 19 and 20 at the luxurious White Oaks Resort and Spa Niagara-on-the-Lake.

The two-day conference featured a star-studded roster of transportation luminaries, including newly-appointed Ontario Minister of Transport Frank Klees.

Also on the agenda, a preview of a series of state-of-the-industry reports by the Canadian Trucking Human Resources Council Linda Gauthier, a talk on Canada’s newly-proposed Hours of Services regulations by transport Canada’s Mark Schauerte, a luncheon speech by Tom Carpenter, director of corporate logistics for Sonoco Products, and last, but certainly not least, a fleet management seminar by the extremely entertaining Alabama-based George “I’m just a poor country boy” Edwards.

Bruce Richards, Private Motor Truck Council president and the conference’s Chief Cook and Bottle Washer, said he was happy with the results: “I think the educational portion is what it was all about – I thought it was an excellent example of the sort of educational opportunities that fleet operators need and what they’ve come to expect from the PMTC. In just a day and a half we heard about training, and fleet management and got to ask the new Minister of Transport questions from the floor.

“They don’t always like to do that. And on top of that we got a chance to listen to a world class logistics expert like Tom Carpenter from Sonoco.”

The presentation line-up, not to mention the excellent blues band Chuck Jackson and the All-Stars, drew rave reviews all-round.

What follows on the next few pages are several articles detailing the contents of conference seminars, including the speech by Ontario Transport Minister Frank Klees.

Below are just a couple of comments by participants:

“I found this most recent PMTC conference outstanding from the perspective of information which was made available to industry executives, particularly Fleet Managers”

– George Iacono, vice president of Global Driver Services.

“Overall the conference was extremely well organized, the presenters were very knowledgeable and the material was appropriate, insightful and interesting.”

– Kevin Riley, general manager of S-G Transport, a member of Maple Leaf Foods