April 2010 Volume 21, Issue 4 Delivering daily news to Canada’s trucking industry at www.trucknews.com
Vision 2030 Future of Trucking Symposium offers a glance ahead
she had followed him into the cab. Irene met Wayne Friesen at an interdenominational Bible school on an island off Chemainus, B.C., during what she describes as the toughest year of her life.
By Lou Smyrlis WINNIPEG, Man. – Predicting the shape of the future is a considerably less than perfect science, littered with predictions so off the mark they are laughable. Consider the famous assertion back in 1899 by Charles Duell from the US patent office that “everything that can be invented has been invented.” Or the statement made in 1895 by Lord Kelvin, president of the Royal Society, that “heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible.” Nevertheless, transportation companies do require a vision of the future and the various factors that could shape their business in order to strategize for future growth and protect against possible threats. And that is exactly what a panel of experts at the Future of Trucking Symposium in Winnipeg attempted to provide. The panelists – Antonio Benecchi of Roland Berger Strategic Consultants, Bill Van Amburg, senior vice-president with CALSTART and Rick Whittaker, vice-president investments with Sustainable
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NO PUSHOVER: Irene Friesen has learned a thing or two about holding her own with the guys in a male-dominated world. The driver and driver-trainer has earned the respect of her peers during a rewarding career in the trucking industry.
Just like one of the guys Alberta driver-trainer proves trucking can be ‘women’s work’ By Jim Bray KATHRYN, Alta. – Growing up in Golden, B.C., Irene Friesen didn’t want to be a truck driver, ever. Yet the Kathryn, Alta., resident is not only a veteran driver now, she helps others become better driv-
ers as well. “When I was about 15 I worked in a truck stop,” she says seriously, “and there was no way I was going to have anything to do with those guys.” Yet within a few years she had not only married a truck driver,
A new Class 4/5 player emerges See page 25
Mark Dalton O/O
Inside This Issue... • Life after trucking: A professional driver struggles to come to terms with a new lifestyle after his trucking career was cut short Page 10 by a tragic loading accident.
• Report card time:
The real-world performance of EPA07 engines was candidly discussed at the recent Technology and Maintenance Council meetings. Page 17
• Funding fight:
Does B.C.’s new EI funding formula favour Page 22 low-end driving schools?
• Pilot takes flight: B.C. is attempting to raise entry-level driver training standards with a new pilot project.
Reach us at our Western Canada news bureau
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E-mail Jim Bray at jim@transportationmedia.ca or call 403-453-5558 PAP Registration No. 11065
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