DIEPPE, N.B. — General Rick Hillier will be a guest speaker at the Atlantic Provinces Trucking Association’s first-ever International Transportation Summit. The event will take place at the World Trade & Convention Centre in Halifax, N.S. Oct. 22.

“We are thrilled that Canada’s former Chief of the Defence Staff has accepted our invitation to give one of the conference’s keynote addresses,” said Peter Nelson, executive director of the Atlantic Provinces Trucking Association. “As the former highest ranking soldier in the Canadian Forces, General Hillier can offer us unique insights on complex logistics and national leadership.”

Recognized as the most prominent Chief of the Defence Staff in decades, General Hillier was born and raised in Campbellton, Notre Dame Bay, Nfld. He was recently appointed chancellor of Memorial University of Newfoundland, his alma mater from where he graduated in 1975.

General Hillier is among the world leaders in transportation trade and logistics the APTA conference will bring to Halifax to exchange information and ideas on global opportunities and challenges facing the multi-modal transportation sector in the 21st century.

The event line-up also includes an afternoon panel discussion led by Stuart St. Clair, Roger King and US Governor Bill Graves, CEOs of road transport associations representing Australia, United Kingdom and the US, respectively.

Maria Luisa O’Connell, president of the Canada-United States-Mexico Border Trade Alliance, will deliver remarks at a noon hour luncheon. Morning events will include a presentation by Peter Vigue, CEO of Cianbro, on his company’s proposed billion-dollar toll road through Maine.