It’s my pleasure to introduce you to an important new addition to Truck West: Derek Clouthier. Derek is taking over the reins of Truck West and we are very excited to have him join our growing team.

Derek, who has penned his first column above, comes to Truck West after five years learning about business in Western Canada while working for the Athabasca Advocate and the Cochrane Eagle newspapers. He ran the entire editorial department at the Cochrane Eagle.

We have made the investment in a full-time editor based in Western Canada for Truck West because we believe trucking in Western Canada is large enough and important enough to deserve its own magazine with its own editor.

Trucking in Western Canada is a crucial and vibrant part of the Canadian trucking industry – even when low energy pricing is taking its toll on the Western Canadian economy. Almost four in 10 of the nation’s owner/operators, small for-hire carriers and courier operations call Western Canada home.

One quarter of the nation’s largest carriers have chosen to place their headquarters in Western Canada. Perhaps more importantly, many of these carriers are most often considered amongst the best managed in Canada; you often see their names associated with best practices in safety, sustainable practices, human resources and adoption of new technologies.

Expect to see a lot of Derek in the time ahead as he attends industry events and visits with industry leaders. His job is to seek out and address the unique set of issues faced by Western Canadian carriers and owner/operators and he’s eager to get started. Have a story you want to share? Don’t be shy about reaching out to Derek. He can be reached at 403-969-1506 and at derek@newcom.ca.

Derek is one of several investments we have made in Truck West. Delon Rashid, sales and marketing consultant – Western Canada, has hit every province in Western Canada since the fall. Last issue you saw the fruit of his labour: our new retail advertising section, TruckandTrailer.ca Marketplace. Look to this section every month for heavy trucks, trailers and other equipment in Western Canada.

Many of you have commented about our Inside the Numbers monthly statistical report, which provides research data specific to Western Canada. We launched that a few years ago and I want you to know we intend to continue growing our research efforts in Western Canada with more research projects.

We intend to keep on growing Truck West; the importance and dynamism of Western Canada’s trucking industry demands it and deserves it.