DIGGING IN

Dispatches
(Photo: Peter Power)
Laskowski Leads
Canadian Trucking Alliance taps VP for senior staff roles
By John G. Smith
Stephen Laskowski will lead the
Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) as
president and Chief Executive Officer
when David Bradley retires from the
positions in January 2018.
Laskowski, who was recently named
Bradley’s successor at the Ontario
Trucking Association, is currently
CTA’s senior vice president and second
in command.
“It’s a great honor to represent this
industry and do it on a national basis,”
he told a room full of CTA board members
in Vancouver, after being named to
the roles. “I love this industry. The CTA
staff and I are very privileged to represent
you. Moving forward, the staff and I
are eager to work together as an alliance,
with the provincial associations, and
with each provincial board to represent
carriers from coast to coast.”
Stephen Laskowski (left)
had been championed by
David Bradley for the role.
Bradley has held the leading staff
position since the national alliance was
first formed. While the CTA once had
a separate office in
Ottawa, operations
are now based in the
Ontario Trucking
Association office in
Etobicoke, Ontario,
where employees
and other resources
are also shared.
“We are excited,”
said CTA chairman
Gene Orlick. “Steve has been groomed
for the job and he is the ideal person to
lead CTA into the future and maintain
the outstanding level of service to the
industry which CTA is known for.”
Bradley had openly championed the
22-year association employee to fill the
“ It’s a great honor
to represent this
industry and do it
on a national basis.”
— Stephen Laskowski
top staff job, but Laskowski’s appointment
was hardly automatic. Four of the
alliance’s seven provincial associations
initially pushed for a broader search,
suggesting that their national voice had
become too Ontario-centric.
Orlick believed it was better to follow
Bradley’s succession plan, and turn
to the most qualified person in front
of them. “I came from a frugal environment.
Every penny we save is what
we’re earning,” he said, referring to what
would have been a costly process. He
also refers to the economies of scale that
are realized when the CTA can share
employees and office space with the
Ontario Trucking Association.
It was the approach that ultimately
won the day.
Laskowski says that he hopes a commitment
to ongoing communications
with provincial association boards will
help to ease any concerns. “Provincial
association boards should feel a key part
of the CTA team,” he said.
Orlick offered similar thoughts when
calling for the alliance to unite during
opening remarks at the Vancouver meeting.
All seven associations are stronger
when “pushing the machine” in the same
direction, he says.
Of course, it hardly means an end to
any disagreements. “CTA is unique in
that it is an alliance. It’s a partnership of
seven separate associations that make
up one,” Laskowski said. “You are potentially
going to start certain conversations
from different perspectives.”
Now it’s on to the
business of lobbying.
Immediate items on
the agenda include a
move toward mandated
Electronic Logging
Devices, the second phase
of regulations to reduce
Greenhouse Gases, and
weights and dimensions.
“You have a number of
labor issues as this federal government is
far more active on the labor file,” he says.
“I feel we got the right guy – his
knowledge, his experience, his contacts,
his passion,” Orlick says, reflecting on the
decision. “I’ve never seen it before in anyone
else who serves our industry.” TT
NOVEMBER 2016 15