File Photo (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By Jill Sperling

KAMLOOPS CHAMBER

Mandatory entry-level training for commercial truck drivers among policies Kamloops Chamber is bringing to provincial AGM

May 17, 2019 | 4:40 PM

KAMLOOPS — Chambers of Commerce from across British Columbia will gather in Burnaby next week to debate and vote on policies at the BC Chamber of Commerce Annual General Meeting.

According to Executive Director Acacia Pangilinan the Kamloops Chamber is bringing seven policies forward at the AGM, including six expiring policies to keep them on the books, two of which have to do with commercial trucking.

“Mandating electronic logging books and entry level training for truckers,” Pangilinan said. “So, the federal government has already done work on the transportation file using parts of this policy but we see a lot of fatalities with commercial drivers. So, as a public safety issue I think this one’s really important for us to bring back and to have it move forward.”

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Munden Ventures initially brought the Mandatory Entry Level Training (MELT) initiative forward to the Chamber around two and a half years ago.

“It really stems from I guess some association work that I do as well as my experience in the industry just not seeing necessarily a high caliber of entry-level person coming to the industry,” said Greg Munden, President of Munden Ventured LTD. “There currently is no minimum standard for truck driver training, so you can literally get someone from no experience all the way up to veterans who have been in the industry for a long period of time.”

The federal government plans to have mandatory entry-level training in place by January 2020 and from there it becomes the responsibility of each province to develop and implement their own program, which is what Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario and Quebec have already done.

“I think they’re seeing in Alberta and Saskatchewan particularly, they kind of have the cart before the horse,” Munden said, “they mandated a minimum standard, but they didn’t have a curriculum developed, they didn’t have training schools on board, and as important as anything, they didn’t have a funding mechanism to allow students to get funding for any other form of education.”

The Kamloops Chamber of Commerce will be pushing for the MELT program to meet national standards by January 2020.

It is also bringing forward one new policy regarding the global development strategy the Belt and Road Initiative.

“We are asking the levels of government to create a working group to monitor and advise the positive and negative impacts, whatever they may be, of the Belt and Road Initiative so that Canada’s poised to take advantage of the opportunities that come throughout it,” Pangilinan said.

Kamloops will also be bringing forward resolution for a permanent Daylight Savings Time for B.C. and changing B.C.’s sales tax model.

The BC Chamber of Commerce AGM will be Pangilinan’s third, and first as executive director.

“I’m really excited to see Kamloops shine. We have a really strong policy process, so to go forward and bring policies that our members think are really important is exciting and it’s fun, and that’s really what the Chamber is here for to do. I’m really looking forward to it.”