This year’s COSTHA Forum was held in Long Beach, California from March 29 – April 1.

Some of the speakers were:

• Geoff Leach, Civil Aviation Authority, UK
• Janet McLaughlin, Divisions Manager, US DOT FAA
• Duane Pfund, Director International Standards, US DOT PHMSA
• Robert Richard, Deputy Associate Administrator, US DOT PHMSA
• Brendan Sullivan, Manager, Cargo Standards, IATA
• William Schoonover, Federal Railroad Administration
• Dave Madsen, Hazmat Analyst, AutoLiv, Inc.
• L’Gena Prevatt, Delta Air Lines, Inc.
• Josefine Gullo, Swedish Rescue Services Agency
• Chen Zhegcai, Director of Transport and Safety, Ministry of Transport, China
• Sean Broderick, Regulatory Compliance Manager, Procter & Gamble

and the list goes on. But in looking at the list, someone is missing.

There were two federal agencies from over the pond—UK and Sweden—plus one federal agency from half way around the world – China.

The federal agency that was conspicuous by its absence, Transport Canada, is right next door to the host country. Where were they? In this time of harmonization of regulations, it would have been nice to have representation from Transport Canada to give the Canadian perspective on this issue.