Alberta Forces Shutdown of Trucking Firm Tied to Fatal Manitoba Collision

The Alberta government has shut down a trucking business tied to a deadly crash in Manitoba after an inquiry uncovered intentional and extended non-compliance with provincial regulations.Alberta took measures against Conquer Transportation in June, after one of the company’s trucks was involved in a crash that killed a 49-year-old Brandon woman the previous month, Transport Minister Devin Dreeshen said in an Aug. 6 statement.The Brandon Police Service said the semi-truck failed to stop at a stop sign, resulting in a collision with the woman’s SUV at “highway speeds.” She was the sole occupant of the vehicle and the only fatality.The 35-year-old semi-truck driver, Brijpal Panwar, was subsequently charged with dangerous driving causing death.Dreeshen said Alberta’s investigation into the trucking company “identified wilful and sustained non-compliance that posed serious and ongoing risk to the public.”“It was further determined that the carrier was engaged in chameleon practices to evade compliance and enforcement,” he said.The transport minister did not detail the violations found during the course of the probe but said Conquer Transportation is now facing $16,500 in administrative penalties. The carrier’s Safety Fitness Rating has also been downgraded to “unsatisfactory,” forcing an immediate shutdown of the company’s operations, Dreeshen said.The Epoch Times was unable to reach Conquer Transportation for comment.Conquer Transportation first established operations in Alberta in late 2021 after Manitoba withdrew the safety credentials of an affiliated company earlier that same year, provincial authorities have confirmed.Manitoba authorities have confirmed they previously revoked the certification of a related trucking firm—Conquer Transport—due to ongoing safety concerns.Manitoba Transport Minister Lisa Naylor has called for the creation of a national trucking registry to better share safety data in response to the May collision that killed one of her province’s residents.“This fatality underscores the urgent need for a national database so all jurisdictions can better track and flag any issues related to safety, particularly when a company has had their certification rescinded or [has] a history of repeat bad behaviour,” she said in a June 4 media statement.Federal Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon later addressed her proposal directly during an Ottawa press conference, saying Ottawa supports the creation of a national database.Drivers Inc.Dreeshen noted in his statement that work is currently underway by the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators to develop a national database to address the loophole that he said carriers currently use to “exploit gaps in interprovincial data sharing and enforcement.”“Alberta is also targeting the misclassified driver scheme known as Drivers Inc., through which companies hire drivers as independent contractors to avoid payroll taxes and benefits,” he said. “These drivers often lack proper training and oversight and have fewer protections.”Drivers Inc. is a contentious practice within the Canadian trucking sector that is often tied to the hiring of foreign drivers and involves driver misclassification.Trucking firms using this model also classify their drivers as independent contractors, enabling them to reduce expenses by evading payroll deductions such as for the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and Employment Insurance (EI).The Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) has described the Drivers Inc. system as a crisis of “fairness, safety and long-term stability” that fuels labour abuse and creates an uneven playing field for compliant carriers.Dreeshen said a three-day commercial driver status check stop in Alberta in May revealed that 20 percent of the 81 drivers stopped were suspected of being misclassified, including several temporary foreign workers.The province has shut down five fraudulent Class 1 trucking schools so far, and 95 percent of licensed Class 1 driver training schools have been inspected since last spring, the minister said.“Alberta is working with other provinces to advocate for Red Seal certification for commercial drivers to elevate driver training standards, and it is the first province to begin work on a trade designation for commercial drivers,” he added. “We will continue to work with industry partners to build on this progress and ensure that only safe, qualified drivers, carriers and training schools operate in the province’s trucking sector.”