Conference focuses on driver training

OTTAWA, Ont. — Driver trainers and other fleet managers from across the continent will be heading to Toronto in June looking for help in “building a superior workforce”. That’s the theme of the second annual North American Driver Training Symposium, set for June 11-13 at the Wyndham Bristol Place Hotel on ‘airport row’. Organized by the Canadian Trucking Human Resource Council, the conference employs a workshop approach to one of the industry’s most daunting challenges.

Ontario Minister of Transport Tony Clement will deliver the keynote address on the morning of June 12, followed by a panel discussion entitled “Linking Human Resources Issues to Your Carrier Strategy”. Panelists include Stan Dunford, president and CEO of Contrans Corp. in Woodstock, Ont., which owns Laidlaw Transportation among other carrier subsidiaries. Also on the panel: Bob Baldwin, vice president quality and training at Mullen Trucking in Aldersyde, Alta., and Ted Loewen, manager of linehaul operations at Reimer Express Lines in Winnipeg and president of the Manitoba Trucking Industry Education Advisory Committee.

Workshops follow, with five topics on offer: driver trainer teaching techniques; coaching and mentoring to support your existing workforce; driver evaluation techniques; emerging driver training technologies; and relations between drivers/owner-operators and their dispatchers.

The conference wraps up on Sunday the 13th with a presentation by representatives from two respected fleets — Roy Craigen of Economy Carriers in Edmonton and Dave Rempel of Kleysen Transport in Winnipeg — on how training and education policies have had a positive effect on their operations.

Full program registration is $375 before April 1 and $450 after that. Call the CTHRC at 613-244-4800 for more information.