Employment
Eastern Report
Maintenance Conference Gears Up for September By George Fullerton
T
he Associate Trades Council’s working committee, the Vehicle Maintenance Council, has lent their efforts to designing the Transport Technology and Maintenance Conference which will be held on September 14-16 at the Hilton Hotel in Saint John, New Brunswick. The Associate Trades Council is a working committee in the Atlantic Provinces Trucking Association (APTA) that represents product and supply services to the trucking industry. The 2014 Maintenance Conference was organized on a new model in an attempt to be more responsive to the indus-
try’s technical knowledge needs, according to Associate Trades Vice Chair, Charlie Taylor. “In the past it has been challenging to attract attendance to our technical conferences, so the associate trades went to trucking fleets to ask their staff to come together to outline subject content they wanted and to provide input on how the conference could best be organized”, Taylor said. The result was a gathering of about twenty representatives from some of the region’s major fleets to a meeting that resulted in the formation of a Vehicle Maintenance Council which identified the industry’s most pressing technical issues facing carriers.
To further narrow the subject list, the council organized a survey that was dispatched to trucking fleets. The results of the survey essentially morphed into the agenda for the technical conference, with the Council’s proviso that high calibre expert speakers make the presentations. As an example, Taylor pointed out that a seminar on ‘Corrosion in Atlantic Canada’ will be delivered by Darren Harmon, an engineer and business development expert with Grote Manufacturing’s (wiring) harness department. “Darren is a very talented engineer, a leader in the field, with an in depth knowledge of the environ-
mental (road) chemical elements that impact transport equipment. Darren deals with corrosion issues every day and is tasked with development of products that tolerate the increasingly complex assortment of chemicals used in highway maintenance.” The Monday luncheon speaker will be Caroline Ouellette, Captain of Canada’s Women’s Olympic team and four time Olympic gold medalist. Caroline will be able to share her experience in team building and motivation, a background which dovetails with a preceding presentation on recruitment and retention. The afternoon sessions will be launched by Cum-
mins’ Adam Whitney who will focus on engine regeneration and Eaton’s Brent Talbert automated transmissions. The last spot on the afternoon’s agenda is a town hall format where OEMs will discuss their biggest challenges as well as emerging technologies. This session will be moderated by a trucking industry representative specifically tasked to keep speakers challenged and on subject. As of press time for this issue, Volvo and Peterbilt had committed their participation, while organizers anticipated other OEMs will participate as well. Following breakfast the following morning a number of trade show partici-
pants will deliver several hands-on demonstrations and expert commentary on disc brakes, trailer couplings, ABS, bearing preload and roadside inspection. The roadside inspection will feature a working truck in the Saint John Trade and Convention Centre which will undergo inspection by a commercial enforcement officer. This demonstration will give attendees a comprehensive understanding of the procedure and detail that roadside inspections cover, providing fleets with knowledge that helps ensure they are in compliance with regulations. For more information contact www.apta. ca.
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Maritime Pro Stock Tour
Maritime Racing Community Saddened by Passing of Riverside Speedway Owner
J
ohn “Nova” Chisholm, legendary entrepreneur, philanthropist and mover of dirt, died in the early hours of July 4th at the age of 68. Born in Antigonish on January 5th, 1946, to Donald and Margaret L. Chisholm, John co-founded with his father Nova Construction, one of the largest road building companies east of Quebec. When it came to the business of moving dirt and building roads, John was a natural from the start. The Chisholm clan, whose centuries-old motto was I am fierce with the fierce, was a family of farmers, loggers and earth-movers. Mechanical competence was considered a necessity of life. So at age 4, with his father looking on stoically, John Nova learned to drive tractor. He bought his first D4 dozer at 17 and won a contract to dig the basement of the Angus L. MacDonald Library at St. Francis Xavier University,
happily cutting classes to do so. Later that year, following the assassination of John F. Kennedy - a watershed event for his generation, John Nova quit school for good and founded Nova Construction. One of the company’s first major jobs was building a large section of highway on Newfoundland. For John, landing in preTransCanada Newfoundland was “like getting dropped on the moon.” But he loved the work: the camaraderie of his crews, creating smooth, straight, well-built roads where there were none before. Most of all, he loved beating the pants off the competition - a passion for which he would never lose his appetite. In 1975, at age 29, John and his team started construction on what is still considered to be among the largest and most successful industrial projects ever completed in Nova Scotia - the Wreck Cover
Hydroelectric Plant. For the next three decades, John lead Nova Construction’s expansion into ever larger and more successful industrial projects: the development of Porcupine Quarry, considered to be among North America’s finest sources of quality aggregate; the construction of the Cobequid Pass, and the establishment of Pioneer Coal, a reclamation mining company with operations throughout Cape Breton and Pictou County.
He also played an instrumental role in the conception of Confederation Bridge. His son Donald has succeeded him as President of Nova Construction. John played as hard as he worked. A lover of NASCAR racing, he travelled to Tennessee in the mid-1960s to scope out the legendary Bristol Raceway, and ultimately created a replica, the Riverside Speedway, upon which his son Donald races today. Quiet and old-fashioned,
John believed that actions spoke louder than words. While he was well-known for substantial gifts made to a number of organizations including the Coady Institute at Saint Francis Xavier University, many people around Antigonish were touched by his kindness and generosity. In 2011, he was recognized for his significant contributions to Nova Scotia’s economy with an honourary degree from St. FX. And so, 48 years after dropping out of high
school, he finally graduated. What an awful pile of dirt it took to make that happen. John will be mourned and deeply missed by his wife, Anne; his son and daughter-in-law Donald and Kellie Chisholm; his daughter and son-in-law Julie Chisholm and Aly Mawji; the delights of his life, his grandchildren, Emily, Shelby,Nahla, Kieran; and the many loyal and committed employees of Nova Construction, past and present.
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