In April 1997, four Canadian companies represented by Murray Farmer of Commercial Crane in Victoria, B.C.; Rob Magee of GWIL Crane in Vancouver, B.C.; Bruce Margetts of Crane Force Sales, in Nanaimo, B.C.; and David Snyder of Sterling Crane, in Edmonton, Alberta, met and decided that a Canadian Association should be established and that a further meeting was in order.
On November 12, 1997 the Canadian Crane Rental Association was created. At this meeting, it was decided to proceed with organizing the first convention to be held in Victoria, British Columbia in May of 1998. David Snyder agreed to dedicate the services of Murray Farmer (who had sold Commercial Crane to Sterling Crane in May of 1997) to be acting Chair and convention organizer. Bruce Margetts supplied the staff to man the registration desk along with many other duties. Sharon Magee organized the ladies program and invitations were sent to numerous crane rental companies and crane manufacturers to join the newly created Crane Rental Association of Canada (CRAC).
Many new members rallied around the idea and pitched in with countless hours of volunteer time to make the first convention held in Victoria, BC in May 1998. This first convention was a monumental success with 138 attendees.
Subsequent conventions have been held in Halifax, Ottawa, Jasper, Windsor, Kelowna, La Malbaie, Regina, St-John’s, Victoria, Québec City, Banff, Toronto, Whistler, Montreal, Calgary, St. Andrews, Winnipeg in 2018, and Charlottetown in 2019.
It should be noted that the Crane Rental Association of Canada would not be where it is today without the efforts of countless volunteers, in particular the present and past Directors.
