55 Years, Eh?

Dec 17, 2025 - 6 months ago

Supply Post celebrates 55 years of service to the resources industries of Canada.

Supply Post 55 Years

Where to start? Perhaps at the beginning.

1971 was an interesting time. Resource industries in BC and Western Canada were starting to pick up steam. Forestry and sawmilling in BC was exploding. Mining was increasing across BC’s interior and the north as well as other regions of Canada. Transportation infrastructure was starting to take shape through bridges, highways and more. Construction and aggregate equipment needs were increasing, almost by the week.

Supply Post 55 Years - Issue No. 1 — *Supply Post Vol. 1 No. 1*

My grandfather, T.R.C (Ken) Kenward, was 49 years old, raising a family in Vancouver. Life was hard, but they were making their way. He had this idea for a Canadian marketplace for mining, construction and forestry equipment; a grand idea for a printed publication where equipment dealers could all list their equipment in one central place, which could be sent out to equipment buyers across Canada. There were several iterations prior to 1971, all of which were not quite right.

Along came the idea for The Supply Post. The ‘The’ part of the name has long been debated as neither grammatically nor functionally correct to say, but we’ll leave that debate for another occasion.

He would go off for days at a time through to Kamloops, Penticton, Vernon and beyond; a briefcase in one hand, and – speaking of great Canadian brands - a glass of Crown Royal in the other. He’d come back from these trips with solidified relationships with advertisers from across the province who bought into – and trusted – his vision.

The earliest editions of the paper were black and white, printed in Vancouver on locally made paper, and often funded with dollars that were fronted by advertisers – some of whom remain in our pages and online to this day.

Read "From the Archives: Harrison Makes A Comeback" from our January 1986 issue, and "From the Archives: Butler Takes Volvo Line" from our January 1976 issue!

The Supply Post was distributed across BC (at random times, when he could rustle up enough money to print it) and beyond to anyone inside the industry who would read it. To those most special advertisers from the earliest days, you know who you are, and we’re most grateful to you for your early belief in our service, and more importantly, in my grandfather.

Here we stand, 55 years later, Ken Kenward two generations removed from the company (he passed in the late 1990s), and we’re still kicking. But so much more than just surviving like we did in the early days, this 3rd generation, Canadian family owned and operated company is here to continue that trustworthy service.

We will print our pages monthly and will do so as long as there are readers like you looking to buy and sell through us. We publish 12 issues per year across Western Canada, many of which also go Canada-wide to Ontario and Atlantic Canada.

As we look to the future, we also continue to evolve our online presence through our widely trusted website, our Friday weekly e-mail list, our lively social channels and more.

As we celebrate 55 years of trusted service across Canada, we ask you to continue to discover our pages and digital platforms when you’re looking for equipment.

In an online world full of companies from across the globe, remember who’s local. Remember who’s Canadian.

Oh, and please do us a favour and tell our advertisers that you ‘Saw it in The Supply Post’. I think the ‘the’ is still correct wording, I’m just going to ask ChatGPT to clarify that for me. I’ll get back to you.

Submitted by Jeff Watson, President, THE Supply Post Newspaper