CTA takes trucking message to top legislators

OTTAWA — Parliament Hill got a big dose of trucking this week as the Canadian Trucking Alliance continued to drive home its message of the economic importance of trucking.

The CTA combined its bi-annual board meeting with its Lobby Days in Ottawa initiative. The event, as TodaysTrucking.com reported this week, included the presentation of the Trailmobile-CTA National Service to Industry Award, posthumously, to J.R. “Bud” J.R. McCaig the chairman of Trimac Transportation who passed away earlier this year. Mr. McCaig was also a recipient of the Order of Canada, which made the presentation in Ottawa extra-special.

Those in attendance included several cabinet ministers, senior bureaucrats, carriers and provincial trucking association managers from across the country.

“This was our most successful group lobby event yet,” CTA’s CEO David Bradley said. “Our guests from the federal government were genuinely interested and the opportunity to match up carriers, the associations and politicians from the various regions was terrific. These things are not easy to put together, but it was well worth the effort.”

Bradley also gave an informative presentation on current issues and concerns of the industry. The discussion on the major policy issues confronting the industry included not only what government should do to help the industry but also what the industry is doing to help itself.

“We don’t need or want government to solve all of our problems,” says Bradley, “but we don’t want them to impede our ability to compete and meet our societal responsibilities. Of course we also want them to spend our tax dollars wisely.”