Sneath, Douglass join PEP board

By Jamie Rieger

A recent freight transportation study completed by Palliser Economic Partnership has led to one new board member who comes to the table with a wealth of knowledge in the trucking industry.

Ron Sneath, manager of Caron Transport Systems’  terminal operations, was appointed to the PEP board earlier this month and PEP chair, Alan Hyland is pleased to have Sneath’s expertise at the table.

“Each municipality is entitled to two members on the board and Sneath stepped up and wanted to be involved. This all came out of the transportation study we did,” said chair, Alan Hyland.

“We may think we understand what is happening, but he really understands the working of it. He has been in the industry a long time and he brings a lot to the table.”

PEP has long been involved with promoting the transportation of goods throughout the region, as well as the Eastern Alberta Trade Corridor.

Sneath was part of the study that looked at the freight transportation system in Medicine Hat, Redcliff, and Cypress County.

“I was involved with that and expressed interest that I wanted to be more involved and look at what we need to do to move this forward,” said Sneath.

“Something that has always been of interest to me is the traffic patterns that pertain to trucking and the way I see it, we have to look at the bigger picture of the area if we want to attract business and people. I think we need PEP to spearhead this.”

Caron Transport Systems is one of the top 50 transport carriers in the country, transporting dry and liquid commodities for construction, manufacturing, mining, oilfield, petro-chemical, pulp and paper, and water treatment industries. Caron hauls in western, central, and northwest United States. They have terminals in Redcliff, Calgary, Edmonton, Sherwood Park, and Grand Prairie.

County of Newell reeve, Molly Douglass, representing Veterans Memorial Highway 36 Association, has also joined the PEP board.

“We work together for transportation routes. Highway 36 is high and wide and is needed to get the goods moving north and south,” said Hyland, adding that her knowledge and experience will benefit PEP’s long term economic development strategy for southeast Alberta.

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