Terry Smith is Canada’s 2006 HighwaySTAR of the year.

MIRAMICHI, N.B. – Canada is home to some of the best truck drivers and here’s proof.

Terry Smith is a Trucker Buddy, a Shriner, an active member of his New Brunswick community and an owner-operator leased to Kingston, ON-based SLH Transport.

In 2006, this cheerful and very articulate long-haul veteran driver was named the Highway Star of the Year. 

And now, only a few miles shy of his 65^th birthday, Smith has been named a finalist in a huge American competition called Driver of the Year, Owner-Operator Division. First prize? A brand new truck.

Meanwhile, Jack Fielding, of McKellar, ON., is a finalist in the Company Driver category of the prestigious competition.

Fielding has been a driver with Winnipeg-based Bison Transport for the past 13 years. He has over four million safe kilometers under his buckle, and was named to the 2011-2012 Ontario Road Knights team. Fielding is a finalist in the Company Driver of the Year Contest.

Bison Transport driver and Road Knight Jack Fielding of McKellar, Ontario.

The contests are part of a larger competition administered by the Virginia-based Truckload Carriers Association (TCA).

According to a statement from the TCA: “The annual Driver of the Year contests identify and honor the best men and women traveling the roads today. They drive safely, give to their communities, protect the environment, and enhance the image of trucking – in other words, they make us all proud to be a part of this great industry”

According to Smith’s wife Roxanne, when they heard the news, she and Terry were “over the moon. It’s an early Christmas and Santa just gave us the best gift ever!”

The finalists and their spouses will all be flown down to, and wined and dined at the TCA convention in Grapevine TX., in March.