Evidence of meeting #38 for Transport, Infrastructure and Communities in the 41st Parliament, 2nd session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was training.
A recording is available from Parliament.
President and Chief Executive Officer, RTL-Westcan Group of Companies
It would not be efficient. You think about some of the rail or pipeline movements today. Rail is going from western Canada to Saint John, New Brunswick, and that's just not feasible by truck.
Conservative
Wai Young Conservative Vancouver South, BC
What about coming west, where I'm from? I'm from Vancouver. Is going west more feasible?
President and Chief Executive Officer, RTL-Westcan Group of Companies
It would be more feasible, but there are still economies of scale. A rail or a pipeline that distance certainly makes more sense from an economy of scale perspective.
Conservative
Wai Young Conservative Vancouver South, BC
Now I was very intrigued to hear about your two, it sounds like state-of-the-art—what did you call them?— transfer stations that you built.
President and Chief Executive Officer, RTL-Westcan Group of Companies
The driving simulators? We had them custom made for our operation.
Conservative
Wai Young Conservative Vancouver South, BC
You say that this exists for all of the other trucking companies that we have across Canada.
President and Chief Executive Officer, RTL-Westcan Group of Companies
The technology is available.
There are a few others we aware of that have driving simulators. But to our knowledge they are not widespread.
President and Chief Executive Officer, RTL-Westcan Group of Companies
I think a lot of the traditional training avenues for professional drivers are still adequate for the plans of many carriers. They have their own training programs that they're comfortable with. This was an enhancement to our current recruiting and training program that we have, and it's something we feel is working very well for us.
Conservative
Wai Young Conservative Vancouver South, BC
Very quickly, yes or no, is that simulation program only available to your employees? It's not something that's available across the board to truckers associations, etc., from across Canada.
President and Chief Executive Officer, RTL-Westcan Group of Companies
Currently it's only available to our employees, and one customer we work with who has smaller units that they use.
Conservative
Wai Young Conservative Vancouver South, BC
Right.
We have a comment from Mr. Picard.
Mr. Picard, do you want to respond to that?
Executive Director, Atlantic Provinces Trucking Association
A simulator is made to add on to the live training. With most companies that have simulators, it complements the actual training.
The technology is fantastic and it's great, but it can't take away from the real training. I mean, we have a couple of members who do have a simulator. We have a couple of driving schools that have simulators. However, in the outline of the training, it's only a portion of it.
We have to remember that the live training is also very important, as Grant mentioned. The cost of the simulator is quite expensive, so a 20-truck operation can certainly not afford a simulator.
Conservative
Wai Young Conservative Vancouver South, BC
Now in the presentation made by Mr. Mitchell, he indicated that we need to have a more comprehensive, certainly a more detailed, level of professional drivers.
Is that correct? I'm paraphrasing what you said.
Mr. Picard, would you say that's accurate?
Executive Director, Atlantic Provinces Trucking Association
It's accurate.
We need to look at mandatory entry-level training. As an industry, we need to make it a skilled trade. Never mind dangerous goods, the driver has a lot of responsibilities, a lot of regulations to worry about. Therefore, we feel that those two items, training and becoming a skilled trade, would be key for our industry.
Conservative
Wai Young Conservative Vancouver South, BC
We heard from previous testimony that there is a small percentage of trucking companies, I guess that's drivers, that have the majority of the accidents.
Let me just be clear about that. The majority of truckers and trucking companies have very safe systems, but it's a smaller minority—15% to 20% is what they were saying—that have the most accidents.
Would you say that's accurate?
Executive Director, Atlantic Provinces Trucking Association
I didn't see the stats. I'm not sure whether that's accurate or not.
It's up to each province to audit their carriers to make sure they're following the safety procedures and that they get audited when they reach a certain threshold in their safety percentage.
Conservative
Wai Young Conservative Vancouver South, BC
Right.
Mr. Warnock, in a province like Alberta, where a lot of it is rural—I mean, there are a couple of big cities, and B.C. is very similar to that—what are your thoughts around the idea that many truckers are loading and unloading in very rural places where there is no oversight, etc.?
What is your view on that?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Head Office, Alberta Motor Transport Association
That is true...[Technical difficulty--Editor].
That's where the rigorous training comes into play, and the emergency response plan being there so...[Technical difficulty--Editor] is an incident. But the incidents...[Technical difficulty--Editor] are there. They're a small amount, but they do happen, and the drivers need to be specially trained for that.
I would like to also reply to the driver simulators that the Alberta Motor Transport has...[Technical difficulty--Editor]. You can see merit in that. We've invested in the..[Technical difficulty--Editor] one, and a mobile one, which we can take out to the 20-truck companies for driver training and so on.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Head Office, Alberta Motor Transport Association
[Technical difficulty--Editor]...if I got off track—
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Larry Miller
Mr. Warnock, we cannot hear you. It's intermittent, it's breaking up and the translators can't follow. Is there anything on your end, a button you're having to push, or is it only a microphone?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Head Office, Alberta Motor Transport Association
It's just a microphone button that I push down. If I hold it closer to me, does that work any better?
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Larry Miller
It seems to be better, if you could do that.
Okay, hold it closer. Could you repeat the latter part of your answer?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Head Office, Alberta Motor Transport Association
I was saying in regard to the truck-driver simulating, that the AMTA, the Alberta Motor Transport Association, has invested in two one...[Technical difficulty--Editor] and one mobile, so we can get our members and even non-members in the rural communities with the simulated truck-driver training that would certainly benefit the...[Technical difficulty--Editor]. The end result facility is...[Technical difficulty--Editor] that training is required for the drivers and that they have a safety... [Technical difficulty--Editor] if there is an incident, so they can call the first responders immediately.