Following up on our Conference, the committee will be meeting this month to determine a date and location for next year’s conference. Many on the committee feel we have outgrown Lionhead, and that is a shame as we have had many good programs with their help.
The biggest topic of discussion, and application of effort, has been the release of the Insurance Bureau of Canada’s report that mostly focussed on training of drivers in the country.
TTSAO was one of the stakeholders participating in the research and compilation of issues and solutions. The Press Release coming out of IBC noted the comments of TTSAO directly, and this made news in a number of ways.
The newsletter will show a number of articles relating to the study and its findings.
The Association continues to prod the Ministry to allow us input on the possible solutions that can be derived from this report, and from our own hands on experience. This is something we are now working in conjunction with IBC on.
Our joint project to attract business with Driver Verified has been opening a number of successful inquiries and has also delivered a possible opportunity to have IBAO input into our quest to get heard at MTO.
Much of our time has been spent working towards a resolution of training improvements for new and newer drivers that would be spent with our current members doing the training.
A meeting with Charlotte Smaglinski, the Superintendent of PCCs for the Ministry of Colleges and Education established a good rapport between the two organizations, and opened a communication link for troubled schools.
The SERCO update provided a lot of interesting information, mainly categorizing the over 60,000 commercial tests conducted annually. The other surprising number is the total number of truck training schools in the province, now counting 277 campuses requiring tests.
The phrase we use so often is there is no shortage of drivers, just a shortage of properly trained drivers.
Truck World gave a view of the current state of our industry, and where it is now heading. Technology and Green Energy are on a J curve progression and continue to introduce new and exciting products to the end users.
Watch for a few changes to the website and keep an eye out for news items, which we have had quite a few of lately.
Keep watch for new and innovative marketing strategies from the Association to help procure more reliable business.
Philip Fletcher, President TTSAO
Phil Fletcher
President
Phil has served for more than 5 years both on the TTSAO Board and as President. Phil is a Former Board member of the Private Motor Truck Council,
Currently on the Advisory Panel of the Smart Freight Center, U of T Board member of the Hamilton Transportation Club