Trucking company involved in deadly Manitoba crash among 20 carriers 'eliminated' in Alberta

Conquer Transportation started operating in Alberta after losing safety certification in Manitoba

The company whose truck was in a fatal crash in Brandon, Man., in May — after it had its safety permit pulled in Manitoba — now can't operate from Alberta, the province said Thursday.

Conquer Transportation is one of the 20 unsafe carriers "eliminated" in Alberta since October, Alberta Transportation Minister Devin Dreeshen said Thursday.

"We are trying to clean up the industry," Dreeshen told CBC. "It's the bad actors that are giving the industry a black eye."

Police say a Conquer truck driver went through a stop sign at a Brandon intersection and hit an SUV on May 27, killing a 49-year-old woman in the Manitoba city 200 kilometres west of Winnipeg.

Brijpal Panwar is charged with dangerous driving causing death after Xiaoyun Zhang died in the crash near Brandon Packers, her workplace.

Her son Jay has described her as "just a really hard-working woman and a really powerful person."

Conquer Transportation registered in Alberta in 2022 after Conquer Transport — owned by the same family and using the same trucks — had its safety permit pulled in Manitoba in 2021 for "deficiencies in safe operation and non-compliance," a Manitoba government spokesperson previously said.

In April, weeks before the fatal crash in Manitoba, the company was assessed as among the highest-risk transportation companies based in Alberta.

That province downgraded the trucking company's safety fitness rating to "unsatisfactory" in June, "effectively shutting down its operations immediately," Dreeshen said in a statement Thursday.

The 20 trucking companies that are no longer permitted to operate in Alberta included 13 "chameleon carriers," the statement said, referring to companies that start operating from another jurisdiction when they're forced to shut down, like Conquer.

The Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators — a joint provincial, territorial and federal organization that regulates the industry — is working to develop a national database to deal with carriers that exploit gaps in interprovincial data sharing and enforcement, Dreeshen said.

In Alberta, 40 chameleon carriers were prevented from getting safety fitness certificates through document review, he said in his statement.

Alberta has also shut down five "fraudulent" Class 1 trucking schools, the statement said.

With files from Michael King