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35 AND COUNTING
Everyone enjoys an anniversary fête and here at the Private Motor Truck Council of Canada we are about to celebrate thirty-five years of serving the private trucking community in Canada.
The original articles of PMTC’s incorporation were filed in December 1976 and officially recorded in April of 1977, the date we acknowledge as the beginnings of the PMTC.
Six private fleet managers were listed as the first directors. They were the pioneers who saw the need for private fleets to be represented when trucking legislation was being developed. In those days there were severe limits placed on the operations of private carriers, and prior to the formation of PMTC they didn’t have a voice.
In January 1977 the Toronto Star wrote: “Now, for the first time in Canadian truck history, the representatives of a number of major operators of private fleets have formed a non-profit organization.”
In February of that year the Financial Post reported on the creation of the PMTC, quoting Larry Leonard, first Chairman, as charging that the freedom to operate (private fleets was) under attack. Leonard’s view was that “We should be governed by the laws of the highway – but the right to the highway shouldn’t be legislated.”
Those were obviously heady and combative times.
The inaugural meeting of PMTC was covered extensively in industry magazines such as Motor Truck, as well as, Transportation and Distribution Management. As the newest industry association PMTC attracted a lot of press and interest because it really was a first.
Other contemporary associations in the industry had committees to deal with private carrier concerns, but these were seen as fragmented and largely ineffective. The lack of a central body, or a unified source to voice the private carrier viewpoint was a challenge.
Without a doubt, the formative years of PMTC required foresight and determination. The private trucking community has a lot for which to thank the original six, their successors who have served as directors, and of course all the members who have supported the PMTC over its first 35 years.
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