Trucking firm involved in fatal collision had safety certificate pulled: minister

BRANDON — Transportation Minister Lisa Naylor said Thursday the trucking company involved in a fatal crash on a highway east of Brandon should not have been operating in Manitoba.

The driver of the semi-truck, Brijpal Panwar, 35, has been charged with dangerous driving causing death in connection with Wednesday’s collision that killed a 49-year-old woman.

Naylor told the Brandon Sun the province removed the company’s safety fitness certificate in 2021, but Alberta issued a certificate to the company, which she wouldn’t name. She called the firm “irresponsible.”

“I believe that when one province takes away a company’s safety fitness certificate, they should not be allowed to immediately open or to immediately get that certificate in another province, while they’re still located in our province and operating here.”

Brandon police said Thursday that an investigation determined a northbound semi-truck went through a stop sign on Highway 110 at Richmond Avenue East at around 3:20 p.m. Wednesday.

The truck collided with a westbound SUV and the force of the collision caused the vehicles to collide with a southbound semi-truck that had stopped at the intersection, police said.

First responders pronounced the driver of the SUV dead on scene. Neither semi-truck driver appeared to have significant injuries.

The highway was kept closed until Thursday around 3 p.m. as police investigated. Police said the victim’s family had been notified.

Canada Packers, which operates its pork processing plant just east of the intersection, said the company and its staff are grieving the loss of a colleague.

“We are heartbroken by the loss of our team member. She was part of our Brandon family and she will be deeply missed,” the company said in a statement.

“Our thoughts are with her husband, her family, and everyone who loved her. We are supporting our team members through this devastating time.”

Naylor said she has been urging the federal government to create a database so provinces can have a transparent view of motor carrier safety performance across the country.

Canada Packers said it supports any measure to improve safety at the intersection. The speed limit on both roads is 90 kilometres per hour, which decreases to 70 km/h approaching the intersection. Stops signs that have flashing red lights are erected on the north and south sides of Highway 110. Drivers on Richmond Avenue East have the right of way and don’t need to stop.

In late 2024, the province approved the installation of traffic lights at the intersection and $10.5 million was set aside for the project. Initial work began in summer 2025, but the lights haven’t been activated.

In February, Naylor blamed supply-chain issues for the delay and said at the time they were expected to be in operation this summer.

On Thursday, the minister said the timeline remains the same. She said there have been two issues that have caused delays. She said one relates to signalling for a nearby rail line, but she didn’t specify the second issue.

“We are focused on the safety of the highways, the safety of that intersection,” Naylor said.

Officials from her department will review the collision from a safety perspective “to ensure that we make our highways as safe as possible,” she said.

She said in February the intersection was considered “safe” and was operating under appropriate traffic controls. The lights, she said, “will make it safer.”

Brandon Mayor Jeff Fawcett called the collision “a massive tragedy.”

“It is still a controlled intersection there and … there may have been human error, and human error has been very difficult to overcome.”

He said traffic experts should review what happened.

“I imagine there’ll be a lot of questions that’ll get asked about semi operations on the roads, and those get looked into very seriously.”

He said he hopes the traffic lights make a difference.

The fatal crash isn’t the first at the intersection on the edge of the city. In 2021, a car went through a stop sign on Highway 110 and three vehicles collided. One person died.

Last year, occupants of a car involved in a crash were described by police as lucky to be alive.

A crash between two semi-trucks in 2014, sent one driver to hospital and caused 10,000 litres of diesel fuel to be spilled on the roadway.

— Brandon Sun