The year is finishing up and we are all looking forward to 2009. 2008: Well it will certainly go out with a bang, or more like a THUD. WHAT A MESS, THE ECONOMY. We saw Trucking companies disappear, we saw Amalgamation of Trucking Companies, we saw new PIP initiatives, we saw NEW Customs initiatives on both sides of the border., We saw, or almost saw, the collapse of the BIG THREE automakers in North America. HOW DO WE COPE WITH IT ALL AND STILL MAKE MONEY? 1) Work smart (er) ! 2) Communicate 3) Deal with Reputable companies 4) Deal with companies that pay their bills on time, all the time. 5) Diversify your (our) customer base. 6) Quit undercutting rates for the sake of keeping business you already have. 7) Train, Train, and Train again. NO, NOT JUST THE DRIVERS, THE DISPATCHERS, THE MANAGERS, THE OWNERS, THE WAREHOUSE STAFF, THE ADMINISTRATION STAFF, EVERYONE FROM TOP TO BOTTOM. All of us are working and for the most part enjoy what we do. In order to feel we are legitamately making a contibution, to the company's bottom line, we all need to feel just as important as our next colleague. To do this it is up to The OWNER's and MANAGER'S, to train everyone and retrain everyone. To communicate what it is we do and how we intend to do it. THe Owner's have the responsibility, from top down, to ensure all staff members, are patted on the back once in a while. This will always go further than them always receivng a KICK IN THE PANTS. We have to be open to new ideas, We have to be open to new concepts, We have to be open to New Customers needs and wants, We have to be open to Progressive thiking. All of this has to be done PROACTIVELY, NOT REACTIVELY. If we are reacting it is already to late. LET'S ALL FIND A WAY TO GROW, PROSPER, THRIVE, COMMUNICATE, DEAL WITH EACH OTHER HONESTLY, EFFECTIVELY, AND FINALLY TREAT EACH OTHER WITH THE RESPECT WE HOPE TO RECEIVE IN RETURN. I WISH EVERYONE A HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS 2009.

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What will it hold in store for those of us in this business? We are never really sure. Some customers, when signing contracts, want everything slanted in their favor, and then still want to renogiatate the so called CONTRACT. Fuel and FUEL CHARGES: Who knows where this will end up. Since no one has a crystal ball that really works, everyone has to be flexible in chaging and paying Fuel Surcharges. I am always amazed that when shipping by Airfreight and Ocean Freight you do not have a choice this is the surcharge, pay it or don't ship it. Yet we in the Trucking Industry continue to shoot ourselves in our own foot (OR FEET FOR THAT MATTER). More and more drivers want to start their own companies. I am all for the Entreprenurial spirit. At what cost though. Chasing the same freight we already carry. Thinking undercutting rates is the only way to obtain business. Those that know me, have often heard me say, UNTIL WE ACT LIKE PROFESSIONALS WE WILL NOT BE TAKEN PROFESSIONALY OR FOR THAT MATTER SERIOUSLY. We are also looking to the Government to work with us, and for their support! Let's all work together for the PROFESSIONALISM of our industry and for everyone invovled in the Transportation industry as a COLLECTIVE GROUP.

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Professional drivers are some of the most creative people. With seemingly endless hours spent in the cab, there's plenty of time to ponder new creations and maybe even some prose. This poem was submitted by Rose-Marie Lundy Berard of Whiteline Trucking. Her husband, Roger, runs team for the company, making a twice weekly run hauling tridem reefers between Ontario and Manitoba.

Following a recent run, Rose-Marie was inspired to write this Christmas poem. Enjoy!

The Dream Team

The Dream Team on 045
A Western Star, a 2005
The LED’s are shining bright
To light the path on a dark cold night
A run they both know so well
But can also be a trip from hell.
The switch was done in Parry Sound
Now they are Sault Sainte Marie bound
The XM is on but very low
Playing a song the driver knows
It must be Hank, Willie or Waylon
He says this is what keeps this star sailing
The RPM’s are holding well
The damn old Montreal River will easily tell
The moon has gone behind the cloud
He hopes that this long hill is plowed
I guess we’ll switch in the coldest town
They call it White River, we’re westerly bound
A Christmas tune comes across the air
It’s Tammy & George, a duet they were!
The axles are slid, the jaws are tight
The load is scaled and the weights just right
We look at the miles we try to add
The number is great, no accidents had
The years on the road have shown the toll
These two men have given heart and soul
The total adds up to 132
The number of years between the two
As the wheels keep turning
Moving on in the night
The lights of the ‘Peg
Will soon be in sight!
The jake comes on as they make that turn
The looks they get can be pretty stern
We’ve just come over the railroad tracks
But we know we will have to double back
The freight will be off and the tanks we will fill
In hopes that we will not be sitting still.
The Christmas lights are starting to appear
The drivers’ start thinking Christmas is so near
For their little lady, so patient and true
A special gift we will get for you!
These men are righteous and I know that
Because we had our late night chats
The road ahead can be lonely at times
And I know because I dispatch at Whiteline!

- By Rose-Marie Lundy-Berard

If that doesn't put you in the Christmas spirit, what will? Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all our readers!

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I’ve received a call from one truck driver and have heard anecdotal reports of other motorists being charged under Ontario’s impending cell phone law. The law, which will make it illegal to use cell phones and other devices while driving, was announced Oct. 28.

Fines of up to $500 will be levied by police, as part of the new law. However, this law still has not gone through the required legislative hurdles and it’s premature for police to be enforcing the rule.

I called the MTO’s communications department and received confirmation that the Bill is still before the House. Therefore, any tickets would likely be defeated in court. Of course it’s a hassle many drivers would rather not have to deal with. It should be noted, police do have the power to charge distracted drivers under other provisions of the Highway Traffic Act.

While Ontario’s cell phone law is not yet on the books, it may be a good idea to hang up early to avoid trouble altogether.

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Bobby was his name and bashing my face was his aim.

I was the awkward immigrant kid, literally less than a year off the boat. Still mangling English with my Greek accent and showing up to school in a buzz cut and Honest Ed’s specials, which was all my family could afford for clothing at the time. I was an easy mark for ridicule for my jive-talkin’, long-haired class mates in their “cool” 1970s-era duds.

He was an athlete and a favourite with the girls. If there was an election, he would easily have been voted one of the most popular kids in the school, and he knew it. And boy did he have the moves. Punch, counterpunch, hook and upper cut – he could perform them in quick succession, weaving in and out like a pro, thanks apparently to some boxing training he’d had and was always keen on showing off during recess.

We were both 11. And clearly headed in different directions during that early stage of our lives.

There was no need on that cold December day in 1974 for Bobby, one of the most popular kids in the school, to pick on me, firmly entrenched as I was at the bottom of the social ladder in our school. I was already licking my wounds from the beating I received from one of his friends just a few days earlier.

But Bobby was a bully, I was easy pickings, and I guess he couldn’t resist the temptation.

In the late afternoon I was informed by his buddies that “3:30 I was dead” – the usual message one received at our school when there was to be a fight after school. I had come to know the drill well. When school was out I would try all four of the possible exits. I would find each of them blocked by some of his buddies. Not able to escape I would be escorted to the back of the school, forced into a circle of jeering kids and the fight would start. It wouldn’t end till I was on the ground, kids all around celebrating my latest humiliation.

And so it went this time around. I was pushed into the circle to find Bobby already dancing around showing off his boxing moves, a big smile on his face. He already knew how this would go.

Except this time, after a year of beatings as the new immigrant kid, something in me finally broke. I stood there amidst all those eager to experience my certain pounding and cried. But these weren’t just tears of fear; they were also tears of pent-up frustration.

Bobby started dancing around me then showing off his fancy boxing moves, still laughing. I didn’t know how to fight so I just started swinging my arms around wildly like windmills, so many tears stinging my eyes I could hardly see Bobby.

Bobby was as incredulous at my ridiculous attempt at defence as the rest of the kids.

He was confident. He was fast.

THWACK. I can still remember the sound as my left fist arching downwards from a weird and wild angle caught him smack on the nose, knocking him to the ground. I remember his eyes wild with pain and disbelief. Blood streaming from his nose he couldn’t get up, the realization of what had just happened quickly hitting him harder than my fist had – he had just been beaten by the class whipping boy in front of all his friends. His status as one of the “cool” kids had just evaporated.

Why am I telling this personal story, so long in my past? Because it’s the best, and obviously most personal way, I can find to describe what’s happened to Stephen Harper of late.

You see Stephen Harper, like Bobby, is a bully. No matter what you think of his political ideology, he’s regularly acted as such. And Stephane Dion has certainly been the whipping boy in Ottawa, leading the Liberals through a disastrous election and now forced to relinquish his leadership of the party.

There was no real reason for Harper to pick a fight with either the Liberals or the NDP by pushing to pull public funding for government parties. In fact, considering the economic situation, there was every reason for Harper to reach out to the opposition parties to forge a bipartisan approach to dealing with the economic crisis, as US president elect Barack Obama has done.

As the Globe & Mail pointed out in a recent editorial both the Liberals and the NDP “busy licking their election wounds, were not out to pick a fight in the new Parliament. Mr. Harper gave them one anyway, turning his government’s economic update into a partisan document aimed less at strengthening Canada’s economic position than at undermining their ability to compete in the next election.”

As the Globe & Mail editorial pointed out: “Mr. Harper is ultimately responsible for this unhappy state of affairs. It is the byproduct of his machinations, and the product of a failure of leadership.”

In my own words, Harper is a bully, who like Bobby back in that schoolyard in 1974, committed the ultimate mistake all bullies make: He picked one fight too many. And so, like Bobby, he should face the consequence of his overreaching and step down to save his government.

As for Stephane Dion leading a new coalition government, I’m afraid he’s no more ready to do that than I was to suddenly become one of the “cool” kids after knocking Bobby to the ground.

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It’s been a wild and wacky week on Parliament Hill, culminating yesterday when Governor General Michaelle Jean agreed to prorogue Parliament until Jan. 26. In my estimation, in doing so she rightly defeated any chance the coalition has at forming a government.

That’s because for six weeks, MPs on both sides of the aisle will step outside of their bubble in Ottawa and return to their ridings where they’ll be dealt a hefty dose of reality from their constituents. Liberal and NDP MPs will learn, in no uncertain terms, that there’s absolutely no appetite among Canadians for a coalition government involving separatists.

Tory MPs, meanwhile, will also learn that the antics of leader Stephen Harper has left many conservative voters with a sour taste in their mouths. His partisan games may not have directly caused the formation of the coalition, but they nonetheless served as an accelerant.

Over the next few weeks, as Liberals return to their home ridings, they will learn that to truly serve the constituents who voted for them, they must abandon the coalition. Cracks are already beginning to appear after an embarrassing national address by their so-called leader, Stephane Dion. Dion demonstrated how ill-equipped he is to be PM when he and his cronies delivered a fuzzy and at times incoherent video to national TV networks Wednesday night – and delivered it late, to boot.

But at the same time, the Conservatives must realize that they are not blameless in all of this. I believe it would be best if Harper were to step aside and turn the reins over to Jim Prentice or another capable Tory. I wouldn’t have said that a week ago. But Harper’s televised address was also disappointing. It lacked passion and substance and there was no sign of what many of us wanted to see – a humbler Harper, maybe even an apologetic Harper.

The bad blood that exists between Harper and the opposition parties has caused irreparable harm. There’s not an ounce of trust on either side, and we’re dealing with an economic crisis that, like it or not, will require parties on both sides of the aisle to work together to some extent. That’s not likely to happen with a Harper-led government. Of course, Harper will not step aside. He’s too proud, maybe even too arrogant.

So what does it all mean? It means that not a whole lot will change when all is said and done. The coalition will erode over the coming weeks and the Liberal Party will continue to implode after another failed attempt to gain power under the leadership of a laughable loser. The Tories will retain their minority government position and will stand unified behind Harper, for better or for worse. When all is said and done, all that will have been accomplished by this coalition (besides providing us with some entertaining TV news clips) is to have stalled the political process for several weeks. Several weeks that should have been spent coming up with ways to tackle the economic crisis that confronts our country.

But there is a silver lining in all of this. The activities in Ottawa over the past couple of weeks have reignited Canadians’ interest in politics. It seems everyone has taken an interest in the events on Parliament Hill, and everyone has an opinion. When was the last time you could say that? Speaking of opinions, I’m interested in hearing yours. Feel free to post a comment in the space below.

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The Stephen Harper Conservatives returned to power last month in convincing fashion, forming a stronger minority government than they previously held and trouncing the Liberals in the process. One campaign promise that undoubtedly won some votes in this industry was Harper’s promise to slash the federal excise tax on diesel in half – from four cents per litre to two.

However, one must wonder if that promise will ever come to fruition. The promised fuel tax hike is in jeopardy, not entirely because of the Conservatives’ own doing, but because of a shameful move by the just-defeated Liberals and NDPers to form a coalition and attempt to overthrow the government we just elected.

If the Liberal/NDP coalition should successfully overturn the Conservatives, it will be a dark day for Canada, especially if Stephane Dion is chosen to act as PM. (Bob Rae’s not a better option either – as Ontario Premier, the NDPer-turned-Liberal proved he can plunge an economy into recession even without the global pressures faced today).

Canadians made it clear on election day last month that neither the Liberals nor the NDP are the right choice to lead this country through the rough waters ahead. However, due to backdoor politicking, it appears Canada’s decision to re-elect a Conservative government may be for naught. It’s embarrassing really. What kind of message does that send to Canadians? That our vote really didn’t matter, after all?

An unelected Liberal/NDP coalition government would make a mockery of Canadian democracy. Harper himself must share some of the blame for the situation he now finds himself in. His decision to slash federal funding for political parties really shook up the hornet’s nest. (Learn to pick your battles, man!)

But despite his recent missteps, I still feel Harper and his team are best-suited to lead us through this recession. We may never find out if the Conservatives will come good on their promise to slash the excise tax on diesel. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is slated to release the federal budget in January – let’s hope he has the chance.

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