2009 Forum

We are now accepting registrations for the 2009 Canadian Utility Fleet Forum, hosted by Hydro Québec, May 25 and 26 in Québec City. Complete the registration form to register. See below for highlights of the 2008 forum.

55 Centre Ave.
Suite 2303
Toronto ON M5G 2H5
Canada

Phone (416) 258-9150
Fax (416) 977-8761

cufc@rogers.com

2008 Forum Highlights

The 2008 CUFF was held at the River Rock Casino resort in Richmond BC, hosted by B.C. Hydro. Fleet Manager Donna McMinn assisted by Ron Coleman and Jonathan Knowles, did a fabulous job organizing the venue and events for Forum attendees and their companions. Many thanks for the efforts of these BC Hydro employees.

CUFC President, Jack Abraham of Nova Scotia Power, welcomed the more than 130 utility fleet associates from across Canada and the US, in attendance at the Forum. The environment was an underlying theme in many of the presentations and discussions.

Keynote speaker, Gary Rodford, Senior V.P. Field Operations of BC Hydro, described how they are using their fleet to help reduce green house gases and achieve a goal set by the province to be carbon neutral by 2010.

There were numerous presentations on hybrid vehicles, including plugin hybrids, that dealt with new and existing technology and user experiences. The presentations were made by Brian Schilling of Eaton, Joe Dalum of Dueco, David Bryant of Freightliner Trucks, Alex Tsang of BC hydro and Ken Thomas of Manitoba Hydro. Ken also gave a presentation on the Hybrid Electric Utility Truck working group’s progress to date and future plans.

Terry Robert of E3Fleet presented Canada’s only independent, non profit managed system for “greening” and rating Canada’s fleets. One of our member companies, Enbridge Gas was Canada’s first recipient of their gold award. Fleet Manager, Evelyn Thompson accepted the award and went on to give a presentation of their program to convert most of their light duty vehicles to natural gas and the benefits that were derived. This no doubt was a contributing factor in the rating and subsequent gold award. Congratulations Evelyn.

Calvin Stewart of Davies Consulting gave a very interesting presentation on incident management systems when dealing with disaster recovery efforts and the role that fleet operations plays.

Don Moore of the Canadian Transportation Equipment Association gave an eye opening presentation on the importance of properly specing trucks and what’s required to remain compliant with the Canadian Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. (CMVSS).

The equipment show, managed again this year by Don Barclay of Commercial Equipment, was a big hit again, with many of the 24 exhibitors also taking part in the vendor “one on one” presentations. In addition to some of them mentioned above, they are;

• Michel Ratté of Altec Industries
• Tim Stephens of ARI Financial
• Jeff Harris of Hycotec for Bronto Skylift
• Amine Khimjee of Camoplast
• Josh Lapage of International Truck and Engine
• John Gully of OMNEX
• Christien Poudrier of Posi-Plus Technologies
• Dan Brenden of Terex Utilities
• Jared Hodgson of Powertraxx
• Sean Puchalski of U-CON
• Rod Hill of Time Manufacturing

Update on CSA, ANSI and ISO standards that are pertinent to utility fleets were given, Bob Borer made a presentation on the changes to CSA-C225. Jack Abraham briefed the attendees on CUFC’s technician certification program.

Out going President Jack Abraham thanked Gary Brinston from Newfoundland Labrador Hydro for his efforts over the years as a member of the CUFC Executive and Ken Thomas for his contribution as President for 3 years and Past President.

He welcomed new Executive members Donna McMinn, Evelyn Thompson and Cam Daviduck of Atco Electric as well as new President for 2009 Doug Reilly of Hydro One.

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