TMA opens Canadian office

CARLETON PLACE, Ont. (Jan. 27) — The Truck Manufacturers Association, based in Washington, D.C., has opened a Canadian branch office and has added Western Star Trucks as a member.

The TMA’s broad mandate is to work with government on technical regulatory issues, more specifically to ensure that government proposals are technically and practically feasible from a truck-maker’s perspective.

With the addition of Western Star, the TMA now includes all North American manufacturers of medium and heavy-duty trucks.

John Woodrooffe will serve as the association’s Canadian representative. He founded the Road Vehicle Research Program at the National Research Council (NRC) in Ottawa and developed it into an internationally respected heavy-truck research lab. He left NRC in 1994 to launch his own heavy-truck consulting company, Roaduser Research. TMA’s Canadian office will have the same address: 250 Bridge St., Carleton Place, ON K7C 3P4.

“We plan to engage in constructive dialogue, co-operative research, and an exchange of technical information with Transport Canada, Environment Canada, and other Canadian government agencies on issues affecting our business, as we do now with the regulatory agencies in the U.S.,” said Bill Leasure Jr., TMA executive director.

“The Canadian office will provide a logical starting point for promoting the harmonization of North American standards governing the manufacture of vehicles and equipment, which is one of TMA’s fundamental goals.”

He adds, perhaps wistfully, that harmonization amongst NAFTA countries could serve as a first step to global standards.