In addition to advocating for
its members’ interests, CIP-
MA adds value to member-
ship by putting in the effort
to interpret new and coming
regulations, “keeping them
apprised of major market and
regulatory trends and provid-
ing [members] with valuable
networking events.”
Anderson sums up CIPMA’s
overarching vision: “Our goal
is to ensure the continued ex-
istence of a healthy, indepen-
dent fuel marketing and distri-
bution sector at the wholesale
and retail levels.”
CIPMA addresses many of the
concerns of its members and
are invested in helping mem-
bers run their businesses ef-
fectively. One of the major
issues for members is access
to product that are needed to
run their businesses.
“There have been a number
of issues with refinery reli-
ability as well as regulation of
how much product can move
back and forth across provin-
cial and international borders
(Canada-US),” explains An-
derson. Each province has
a different set of regulations
regarding the flow of product
across boundaries. These dif-
ferences between provinces
may be minor, but they affect
how businesses are run none-
the-less. An additional issue
is rateable access to transpor-
tation fuel to run businesses.
“We had a huge reduction in
the number of refineries in
Canada over the last several
decades and there are talks
of further reductions. We are
concerned that further regula-
tion as it stands right now is
very problematic to our mem-
bers,” says Anderson.
There are a number of advan-
tages of becoming a member
of CIPMA. Comprising of 23
members, most of which are
larger independents, CIPMA
has seen a lot of growth in the
last few years.
“Our members represent a
quarter of all petroleum prod-
ucts that are moved and sold
in Canada,” says Anderson.
As an advocacy organization,
CIPMA offers the opportuni-
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