It started with a tip. Another province told Manitoba that a company affiliated with Conquer Transportation was operating in Manitoba. Manitoba Transportation and Infrastructure looked into it, and a spokesperson said the investigation found "credible evidence to support the tip." On Oct. 7, the province revoked the safety certificate of Winnipeg-based 7Star Ltd., according to a department document reported by CBC News.

The province says 7Star is no longer allowed to operate regulated vehicles in Manitoba and that its plates have been cancelled. The company has the right to appeal. CBC reported that it was unable to reach 7Star for comment.

Gone are the days when a carrier could simply run in another province and start fresh. Provincial regulators are now comparing notes, and a tip passed from one province to another was enough to start a Manitoba investigation.

The province has not publicly detailed the connection between 7Star and Conquer. The Manitoba Trucking Association, which was not part of the investigation, told CBC it had heard of a possible link through industry channels but did not know what form it takes. No one has said that 7Star was involved in the Brandon crash.

Background on Conquer

Conquer Transport was a Winnipeg-based company until Manitoba pulled its safety permit in 2021 for "deficiencies in safe operation and non-compliance," a provincial spokesperson previously told CBC. The following year, a company called Conquer Transportation registered in Alberta under a slightly different name.

Alberta assessed Conquer Transportation Inc. as one of its highest-risk carriers in April 2026. On May 27, a Conquer truck was involved in a fatal collision at a highway intersection in Brandon, Man. A woman, 49, died, and the driver has been charged with dangerous driving causing death. The charge has not been tested in court. Alberta later downgraded Conquer's safety rating to "unsatisfactory," which effectively ended its operations.

Regulators step up

Alberta says it has removed 20 carriers since last October, 13 of them identified as "chameleon carriers," a term for companies that lose their permits in one jurisdiction and reappear in another, often under a different name. Insurance Business reported that the province also blocked 40 more suspected chameleon carriers from getting safety certificates through document review.

Manitoba has said seven trucking companies recently lost their safety certificates, but that it cannot track whether they resume operations in other provinces.

"It begs the question, what are they not seeing? How many other chameleon carriers are out there right now that the provinces have not caught?" said Aaron Dolyniuk, executive director of the Manitoba Trucking Association.

A national database

Dolyniuk and Manitoba Transportation Minister Lisa Naylor are both calling for a national carrier database that logs carriers, owners and truck VINs the same way in every jurisdiction, so a regulator in one province can see immediately what happened in another. Naylor wrote to federal Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon after the Brandon crash, saying "the urgent need for action cannot be overstated."

Insurance Business reported in August that Ottawa has signalled it is prepared to support a national database, and that the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators is developing a framework. No implementation timeline has been confirmed.

Sources: CBC News (Darren Bernhardt, Nov. 6, 2026); Insurance Business Canada (Josh Recamara, Aug. 24, 2026). Charges are allegations and have not been tested in court.

Image Credit: Illustration by TruckNmore