Greetings to the Membership,
Well folks, they say that in Manitoba, if you don’t like the weather, just wait 15 minutes. We have certainly seen that saying come to life over the past six weeks. From last year’s devastating wildfires to the incredible force of Mother Nature this year, we have experienced some truly dramatic weather events. Extreme rainfall, tornadoes in the south end of Winnipeg, wind gusts north of the city reaching 120 km/h, and over 50,000 hail claims reported by MPI have all had a significant impact across the province.
Many construction projects have experienced delays due to these conditions. Even more surprising, several gravel pits have become inaccessible because of flooding and washed-out access roads. The communities of Stony Mountain, Stonewall, and Teulon, located in the heart of Manitoba’s gravel and limestone reserves, were hit with nearly 10 inches of rain overnight. These extraordinary rainfall amounts have been described by Environment Canada as once-in-1,000-year rainfall events.
Despite these challenges, your Association continues to advocate on behalf of our members. In June, Committee members Gord Bragg, Frank Sousa, Executive Director Shannon Hiebert, and I met with officials from the City of Winnipeg’s Public Works and Streets Transportation Division. Michael Cantor, Jean-Luc Lambert, Frank Stranieri, and Nelson Andrade also participated in these discussions.
We covered several important issues that we believe will provide better value for the City while creating fairer opportunities for our members. One of the key topics was revisiting equipment list rankings and discussing the tender process. We emphasized how frustrating and inefficient it becomes when multiple addendums are issued after tenders have already been released. Tender documents should be accurate, complete, and clear when they are first issued. Many of our members have spent countless additional hours reviewing and revising submissions because of changes made throughout the process. City representatives acknowledged that improvements should have been made during the 2025 fall contract tender process and committed to working toward greater accuracy, clarity, and consistency in future tenders.
We would also like to remind members about our online Best Practices for the Operation & Safe Use of Dump Trailers course. Unfortunately, we continue to see reports of end dump tip-overs, damage to infrastructure, hydro lines, bridges, traffic signs, and other overhead obstructions. Many of these incidents are shared on social media, while others are reported directly to our Association. These events place operators and the public at significant risk and can result in serious injuries, costly infrastructure damage, road closures, and power outages. We strongly encourage all new operators to complete the training modules before performing end dump work. In addition, with our discounted pricing for multiple registrations, we encourage companies to consider refresher training for experienced operators as well.
Remember, incidents can happen to anyone. Should an incident occur, being able to demonstrate that your operators have received recognized training and are properly qualified goes a long way in showing your commitment to safety and professionalism. It also demonstrates to clients, regulators, and investigators that your company takes workplace safety seriously.
Finally, today many of us will be gathering at Rossmere for our Classic Golf Tournament. We look forward to a great day of networking, friendly competition, excellent prizes, food, refreshments, and the opportunity to connect with members from across our industry. The weather has blessed us with a perfect day and we look forward to seeing many of you there!
Take care, stay safe, and enjoy the weeks ahead.
Regards,
Bruce Henley
Stakeholder Relations Manager
Heavy Equipment Aggregate Truckers Association of Manitoba
H.E.A.T.
