BANFF, Alta. — Greg Sokil of Sokil Express Lines is the new president of the Alberta Motor Transport Association.

The election was held at the annual Alberta Motor Transport Association convention, this past weekend.

The new board also include: Gene Orlick of Orlick Transport, as past president, and Richard Warnock of Westfreight Systems as president elect. The regional directors are: Trevor Fridfinnson (Bison Transport), representing Calgary; Rod Shopland (Night Hawk Truck Lines), representing the Northeast Alberta region; Dan Jackman (Envirosort), representing the Central region; Dan Duckering (Duckering’s Transport), representing Edmonton; Jim Daubert (Klassen Brothers Northern) , representing the Northwest, Dean Paisley (Lethbridge Truck Terminals), representing the Southern district.

The AMTA directors at large are: Bob Hill (Hill Bros. Expressways Ltd), Jim Davis (ECL Transportation), Carl Rosenau (Rosenau Transport) and Jean Kipp (Trimac Transportation).

The outgoing president advised the incoming board, to take advantage of the highly-trained and resourceful AMTA staff, which he indicated, has the expertise and ability to guide the elected members.

“We have excellent staff,” said Gene Orlick. “They are highly-trained. They are very good at their job. We don’t use them as a resource enough. That’s what we are going to communicate next year.”

The night before, on the first day of the two-day convention, Alberta Minister of Transportation was a keynote speaker at the AMTA dinner. Minister Luke Ouellette also met with the AMTA board the following day, for a more intimate gathering, according to Orlick.

“This morning we had a meeting with the minister, discussing a few issues as far as load securement, the PIC program, which is very important to our success because we are going to be offering this PIC program across Canada.”

The Partners in Compliance (PIC) program is a joint venture between the AMTA and Alberta Transportation, designed to address the issues of regulatory non-compliance and its potentially costly repercussions. According to the AMTA, the purpose of PIC is not only to assist carriers in developing their own internal regulatory compliance and maintenance program, it is designed to reduce the financial and human costs of incidents through diligent, ongoing self-maintenance practices.

Orlick is hopeful that the AMTA can get other provinces on-board with PIC, and subsequently, the AMTA may appreciate revenue associated with this liaison. The AMTA recently marketed its Transportation Safety Basics, to a neighbour province, which did earn some revenue for the AMTA.

“They’re going to implement our program in Saskatchewan,” said Orlick. “So this is a good thing, we’ve created some good information and instead of reinventing the wheel, we can enjoy some revenues from the other provinces, for the work that our group has done.”

In advising the new and continuing members of the AMTA board, Orlick indicated that involvement can be time-consuming, but not necessarily onerous. Orlick ensured that the AMTA business does not take precedence over private business and family responsibilities. The past president also introduced the president-elect, who is a long-time colleague and a friend of Orlick’s, of whom he encouraged in his new role.

“I think, Richard, you are going to find this is going to be a new experience, being president. Just take it and run with it.”

Orlick also praised the incoming board as a team of excellence: “I think the board is filled with stars. They all have very good information to give and experiences to share, (with) different level of managements, from owners to employees.”