CALGARY — It’s not often a trucker is recognized as one of the most important business people in the country. But Louie Tolaini, founder of TransX Group of Companies in Winnipeg, was recently named the recipient of the Prairies Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year 2007 Award.

Tolaini also received one of nine category awards, for Business-to-Business Products and Services, at the banquet and ceremony in Calgary.

“We are very proud to present Mr. Tolaini with this prestigious award,” said Barry Munro, director of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards program for the Prairies region. “His ambition and courage reveal not only a great entrepreneur, but a great Canadian.”

Starting out as an underprivileged farmer in Tuscany, Tolaini came to Canada at 19, determined to make a better life for himself. His journey took him from a laborer in western Manitoba to the head of a multi-million dollar transportation and logistics empire.

Tolaini purchased a trucking business in 1963, when he had five trucks, seven employees and one facility. Now, more than 40 years later, TransX Group is Canada’s largest privately owned transportation company; the fourth largest total carrier in Canada; and one of North America’s top-50 carriers by revenue.

With five divisions — TransX, TX Logistics, DeckX, Expert Customs Brokerage and CanXpress Distribution — and many terminals and yards strategically placed throughout North America, TransX provides transportation and logistics services that span from single-pallet local deliveries to large-scale international line haul supply chains.

As the Prairies region award recipient, Tolaini will compete with top entrepreneurs chosen from the Pacific, Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic regions for the national honor of Entrepreneur Of The Year, to be announced November 1, 2007, in Toronto.

Tolaini is the second fleet owner to win the Prairie honor. A few years ago, his Winnipeg-based neighbor, Thomas Payne, president and CEO of 160-truck fleet Payne Transportation, won the same regional category.

The Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards honor entrepreneurs who have demonstrated excellence and extraordinary success in areas such as risk taking, company development, innovation and personal commitment to their businesses and communities.

In 2008, Canada’s Entrepreneur Of The Year moves to the world stage, joining more than 40 country recipients participating in the international competition for the title of Ernst & Young World Entrepreneur Of The Year.