Mover’s Edge, December 2009

Ontario Proposes Vehicle Weight and Dimension Reforms

Ontario’s Ministry of Transport just introduced Phase 4 of its proposed reforms to its Safe, Productive, Infrastructure-Friendly (SPIF) vehicles regulations. The proposal can be seen on CAM’s website. It provides an overview of proposed changes to Ontario’s allowable weights and dimensions for heavy commercial vehicles.

This is the fourth and final phase of a broader Vehicle Weight and Dimension (VW&D) Reform Project that began in 2000. Phase 4 SPIF proposes standards for straight trucks, truck-trailer combinations, buses, and specialty combinations. SPIF tractor-trailer standards were set out in regulation in previous phases of the program. See Appendix E of the online document.

The Ministry plans to seek industry input over the next several months. It plans to have the regulations in place in 2010 and in effect in 2011.

Conference Review

CAM’s Annual Conference
Benchmarking 101: Your First Step to Profitability

CAM’s 2009 Annual Conference was marked by several successes:

Good attendance
Excellent speakers and topics
Great food
A well-attended Annual General Meeting
Deserving awardees at our 9th Annual Awards Dinner (see our awards page)
And the highest evaluation scores from any CAM conference!

All conference presentations have been posted.

Kathi Albertini’s Profit Enhancement Workshop gave members an opportunity to compare financial measurements with their peers. The results and the original data-entry form that were provided to attendees are posted. For anyone who did not attend or did not submit data, you can submit your data to Kathi before December 15 and receive a listing of how your results compare with Canadian averages.

The general discussion after the conference indicated that all presentations were well received. A few highlights include:

Paul Ferley – Economist from the Royal Bank of Canada – provided members with an outlook for the direction of the North American economy and its return to positive growth.
Andrew Pierce – Senior Vice President at Brookfield Global Relocation Services – discussed some of the trends in the relocation business and provided attendees with a copy of Brookfield’s Global Relocation Trends 2009 Survey Report.
Milena Head – Assistant Professor of Information Systems at McMaster University – showed attendees some of the dos and don’ts for establishing trust on websites.
Herb Huck – Vice President, Advanced Marketing at RBC Life Insurance – demonstrated the need for planning to ensure successful transition of a business in the event that an owner or partner is unable to continue in his or her role or decides to discontinue associating with the business.
Jeff Steele – Director, Military Careers Support Services, National Defence Headquarters – presented a current and future view of relocation in the Canadian forces.

Profit Enhancement Group

Kathi Albertini has proposed establishing a Profit Enhancement Group (PEG) for Canada in which ten CEOs of non-competing moving companies get together and critique each other’s operations. Experience with PEGs indicates that participants can expect significant operational and profit improvements. Several members indicated their interest in participating in a PEG. Watch for further announcements and advise the CAM office if you are interested.

Annual General Meeting

Several important items came out of the Annual General Meeting. Our board of directors was reconfirmed in whole and Tom Finlay of AMJ Campbell Van Lines in Vancouver was confirmed as a director.

The executive committee will be made up of:

Chairman: Tom Filgiano
Vice Chairman: Leonard Hoyt
Treasurer: Michael Johnston
Secretary: Ted LeLacheur
Past Chairman: Rick Taylor

New operating committees were established at the meeting. The plan for the new committees was well received by members.

Education – to consider existing and new training programs and courses.
Conference – to plan the next conference, including the theme, program, speakers, etc.
Government & consumer relations – to consider ways to advance CAM’s role as the voice of the moving industry with consumer protection agencies, Transport Canada, Workers Compensation Boards, Better Business Bureaus, etc.
Membership – to promote CAM membership, through targeting, marketing, etc.

There are openings on all committees for participants. Meetings with be held as conference calls and the time commitment should not exceed an hour or two in a month. We are looking for a few good movers to serve on our committees.

We will continue our conference-call seminar series in 2010 and have a few themes planned. Send us any ideas you have for topics you would like addressed in the program.

There was some discussion about the reporting of damage on moves. Lorne MacInnes, Ferguson Moving & Storage in North Vancouver, provided a Claim Incident Report that might be useful to members. It can be seen in the members-only area along with other useful forms. If you have a form that might be useful to your fellow members and wish to share it, please send it to CAM and we’ll post it.

Canadian Trucking Human Resources Council

At CAM’s 2008 Annual Conference, Jeff Griffiths of Canadian Trucking Human Resources Council reported on the progress toward developing National Occupational Standards for the Professional Mover. Several CAM members participated on the steering committee that developed the guidelines. His presentation included a questionnaire that movers across Canada completed. Attendees at the our 2009 Annual Conference were given copies of the Chart of Competency for the Professional Mover that was developed from the seminars that CTHRC hosted and from the results of the questionnaire.

This document and the related Task Analysis have been posted. These documents can help you to develop programs for recruiting, developing and maintaining a skilled driver force.