OTTAWA, Ont. — The Canadian Trucking Alliance has elected a new executive committee for its board of directors for the 2012-14 term.

 The officers of the alliance are:

-Chairman: Don Streuber, president, Bison Transport, Winnipeg, Man.
-1st vice-chairman: Mark Seymour, president, Kriska Transportation, Prescott, Ont.
-2nd vice-chairman: Gene Orlick, president, Orlicks Transport, Calgary, Alta.
-Treasurer: Scott Smith, president, J.D. Smith and Sons, Vaughan, Ont.
-Secretary: Ed Malysa, president and COO, Trimac Transportation, Calgary, Alta.

The at-large members of the executive committee are:
 
-Gord Peddle, president, Altantica Diversified Transportation Systems, Mt. Pearl, Nfld.
-Jean-Claude Fortin, president, J.E. Fortin, St-Bernard-de-Lacolle, Que.
-Gord Smith, president, Manitoulin Transport, Gore Bay, Ont.
-Murray Scadeng, president, Triton Transport, Langley, B.C.       

All former CTA chairmen who are still active in the industry have a seat on the executive committee as do the top staff executive for each provincial trucking association. CTA president and CEO David Bradley is also a member of the executive committee.

Bradley thanked CTA’s immediate past chairman, Paul Easson of Eassons Transport, “for his leadership and steady hand on the rudder over the past two years. After his term in office Paul leaves CTA in as good a shape as it has ever been.”

As incoming chairman, Streuber says he will “continue the work with those that preceded him in pursuing programs and policies which demonstrate integrity within the industry and which confirm safety, environmental stewardship and respect for professional truck drivers and other industry employees as core values of the alliance.

“CTA has pursued an aggressive agenda in recent years aimed at improving compliance and reducing the industry’s carbon footprint,” he says. “We have adopted these as core values at Bison Transport and I believe they serve the entire industry well.

“As the preeminent voice of the trucking industry in Canada, I strongly believe that CTA should continue on this path. It is our responsibility to the communities we live in. We must lead in this area.”

Streuber says he also believes that the single most important challenge the industry faces going forward is a chronic shortage of qualified driver shortage. As a member of the CTA Blue Ribbon Task Force on the Driver Shortage, Streuber says there is no quick fix to the problem and carriers will have to be innovative. But, “at the core of the issue will be to promote respect and regard for professional drivers within all our companies and within the public domain.”

With Bison as member of most of the provincial trucking associations, Streuber also noted that, “strong provincial associations make for a strong CTA. Part of our success has been in finding synergies between the associations; something that will become even more important in the years ahead.”