PDF - Chemistry Industry Association of Canada

Catalyst
THE MAGAZINE OF CANADA’S
CHEMICAL PRODUCERS
Spring 2007
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
Why Lobby?
The War on Drugs
CCPA Survey Results
From the germ of an idea to a garden of products, chemistry is a part of everyday life.
Life is a delicate balance…
A grant from Imperial helped a wetlands society in Bonnyville, Alta., build a 10 kilometer
walking trail and viewing stands where hikers can take a break while reading about the flora
and fauna of the surrounding wetlands.
When we manufacture and sell our products, we work to avoid
upsetting that balance. It’s part of the Responsible Care Program. It
includes our commitment to develop products that minimize risk to
people and to educate them on their use. Energy and petrochemicals
are essential to economic growth; however their production and
consumption need not conflict with protecting health and safety or with
safeguarding the environment.
CHEMICAL
ISO 9000/14000
Responsible Care®
Beyond what’s required.
*Trademarks of Imperial Oil Limited. Imperial Oil, licensee. ®Trademark of the Canadian Chemical Producers’ Association. Used under license by Imperial Oil.
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Value beyond chemistry
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CCPA
Editor
Michael Bourque
Vice President, Public Affairs
Assistant Editor
Nancy Marchi
Public Affairs Co-ordinator
President & CEO
Richard Paton
Association Office
Canadian Chemical Producers’
Association
805-350 Sparks Street
Ottawa, ON K1R 7S8
Tel.: (613) 237-6215
Fax: (613) 237-4061
Web site: www.ccpa.ca
NAYLOR
Publisher
David Ritter
Editor
Janine Strom
Project Manager
Kim Davies
Senior Sales Manager
Steve Urias
Sales Manager
David Giesbrecht
Sales Representatives
Robert Bartmanovich, Andrew
Arlukiewicz, Pat Johnston,Wayne Jury,
Cheryll Oland, Drew Petursson, Dawn
Stokes, Norma Walchuk, Ken Hodgert
Research
Heather Zimmerman
Layout & Design
Kayti Taylor
Advertising Art
Allan S. Lorde
Editorial Office
Naylor (Canada), Inc.
2 Bloor Street West, Suite 2001
Toronto, ON M4W 3E2
Tel: (416) 961-1028
Fax: (416) 924-4408
Catalyst is published four times per
year by Naylor (Canada), Inc. for the
Canadian Chemical Producers’
Association (CCPA).The CCPA
represents over 70 chemical
manufacturers, which collectively
produce more than 90 per cent of all
chemicals in Canada. Responsible Care®,
an initiative of Canada’s Chemical
Producers, is an ethic for the safe and
environmentally sound management of
chemicals throughout their life cycle.
Invented in Canada, Responsible Care is
now practiced in 47 countries.
Copyright by the CCPA. All rights
reserved.The views expressed in this
magazine do not necessarily reflect
those of the publisher or the CCPA.
The contents of this publication may
not be reproduced by any means, in
whole or in part, without the prior
consent of the association.
Published March 2007
CDC-Q0107/5718
Contents
volume 4, number 1, SPRING 2007
FEATURES
12 THE WAR ON DRUGS
The RCMP helps the chemical industry recognize
suspicious clientele.
Harvey F. Chartrand
15 NARROWING THE GAP
Ontario seeks to narrow the gap between R&D and
product commercialization.
By Hank Reardon
17 AND THE SURVEY SAYS…
A Look at the CCPA’s Year-end Survey Results
By David J. Shearing, PhD
12
COLUMNS
?7 Edifications
Why Lobby?
By Michael Bourque
?9 Responsible Care®
A Panel with Punch: 20 years of CCPA’s National
Advisory Panel
By Francis Gillis
DEPARTMENTS
17
18 Catalyst Speaks To…
CCPA’s Richard Paton
20 Corporate Profile
The future looks bright green for Fielding Chemical
Technologies.
22 Fun Facts
22 Buyers’ Guide and Index to Advertisers
22
Canadian Publications
Mail Agreement #40064978
Postage Paid at Winnipeg
Catalyst Spring 2007 • 5
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Edifications
WHY LOBBY?
IN THIS ISSUE we feature a timely
interview with CCPA’s president
and CEO, Richard Paton. With the
passage of new accountability legislation and its new rules and restrictions for advocates, this goes some
Michael Bourque way to answering a question we get
all the time: “Why do chemical
companies belong to a trade association like CCPA? This
new legislation will not restrict the activity of lobbying, but
instead makes it clear that we cannot operate in the shadows, or the ‘lobby’.” Registered lobbyists must conduct
their business with added transparency and be subjected to
additional scrutiny by the public and competitors.
So what are the reasons for having trade associations?
Well, lobbying is part of it. We liken membership in our
organization to belonging to a team. In a team environment, individual egos are checked in favour of the team.
Common goals are pursued for the greater good of the
team, and not just one member. Of course, players have
their own objectives, but they can only achieve them by
contributing to the team effort. Individual effort and
improvement contributes to team improvement.
Longtime members of CCPA understand very well how
much they have gained from working in this collective.
While a lot of the visible work by the association is done
in Ottawa and provincial capitals with regulators and policy makers, our leaders are able to find value right down to
the plant level by learning how to address community
expectations, learn best practices and network with their
peers. I was in a leadership group meeting once when an
executive shared a pamphlet that his company created for
its franchise operators on a safety issue. He was practically
mugged for copies as colleagues realized the value of the
work that went into this document.
As we press ahead in these lean times for manufacturers
in Canada, the question really becomes: “How can companies not belong to an association and still understand their
legal and regulatory obligations, and meet their responsibilities in process safety and security while influencing
governments?” Fortunately, we are not asked this more difficult question too often. A
Michael Bourque is Vice President, Public Affairs, Canadian Chemical Producers’ Association. He can be reached at
[email protected].
Without CCPA membership how do I?
> Stay on top of impending laws across all
levels of government?
> Get free access to the best practices of
leading companies?
> Ensure the development of regulations are
compatible with my company’s interests?
What other organization looks after my industry in these areas:
Community Expectations
Emissions
Energy
Environmental Regulations
Expansion
edifications.indd 1
Feedstock
Occupational Health and Safety
Permitting
Product Related Issues
Process Safety
Contact Brian Wastle: 613-237-6215 ext. 232, [email protected]
Security
Staff Development
Taxes
Transportation
Workplace Safety Standards and Regulations
Catalyst Spring 2007 • 7
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Responsible Care®
A PANEL WITH PUNCH
20 years of CCPA’s National Advisory Panel
By Francis Gillis
A stakeholder consultation process
unique to the Canadian Chemical
Producers’ Association marked its 20th
anniversary last year.
In this excerpt, Francis Gillis looks
back over the past two decades.
THE CCPA NATIONAL Advisory Panel,
which, at any one time, includes a
dozen or so members from various
stakeholder sectors, held its first meeting in June 1986. The panel’s first task
was to provide public input into the
shaping of a new initiative called
Responsible Care. The issues and roster
of members have changed over the
years, but the group continues to play a
critical role in CCPA decision-making.
Responsible Care remains the
framework and guiding ethic for
almost all panel discussions. Panel
members see themselves as reflecting
public priorities and concerns around
the role of chemicals in society. Their
attendance at meetings indicates a
basic faith in the integrity of the
process – or at least a willingness to
give CCPA the benefit of the doubt –
and the tenor of discussions is constructive. But the group has never
been accused of pulling its punches,
which makes for lively meetings.
For much of its history, the panel
met four times a year. The panel now
meets twice a year, for a total of eight
to 10 hours at each meeting. Various
members are also involved in CCPA
committees and all members are invited to regional CCPA executive leadership group meetings. The current
panel includes community activists,
an NGO leader, a national labour
union staffer, a retail chain manager,
and academics involved in epidemiology, health, risk management, corporate social responsibility and
environmental engineering.
Members are drawn from across
Canada. They serve at least three
years on the panel, and some members
have served considerably longer. John
Vincett, who has facilitated the panel
since its inception, maintains a
healthy mix of experienced and new
members from a wide range of stakeholder categories.
The panel does not vote on recommendations or explicitly seek consensus on issues, though there will often
be a definite thrust in one direction or
another in panel comments. But there
is a diversity of viewpoints on the
panel which is, says Brian Wastle,
CCPA’s vice president of Responsible
Care, “a remarkable strength.” He
refers to the book The Wisdom of
Crowds, which holds that the wisdom
of the collective goes far beyond the
sum total of its individual members.
The non-consensus approach makes
the role of the panel facilitator especially challenging, he says, “but we are
blessed with a facilitation process that
distils (panel discussions) down to key
messages to be taken to companies
and the association board.”
CCPA president Richard Paton
describes the group as an “independent panel of critics” who were “key
players in the development of the
Responsible Care codes” and who
have “acted as CCPA’s conscience in
continually reviewing how CCPA is
progressing in implementing the
Responsible Care ethic.” Paton
emphasizes the panel’s independence.
He notes that it is chaired by an independent consultant who selects panel
members.
In practice, Vincett recommends
potential panel members to CCPA. To
date, the association has never
attempted to veto recruitment of anyone so recommended. Panel members
themselves suggest stakeholder categories that should be represented and
potential members.
Catalyst Spring 2007 • 9
governance structure of CCPA, and
that is unique to this association,” says
Wastle. “Our benchmarking indicates
no other such structure in the chemical or other industries anywhere in the
world.” He speaks of three directions
of input on any key issue at CCPA: an
expert committee (a mechanism commonly used by associations); regional
Leadership Groups that include executives from all member-companies that
meet three times a year (unique to
CCPA); and the panel (unique to
Paton adds that the panel plays a
key role in helping to determine
whether CCPA advocacy positions on
environmental or economic policy are
consistent with Responsible Care.
“CCPA has committed, as part of its
governance process, to ensure that the
views of a wide variety of stakeholders
are considered when making policy,”
he says, “and one of the key inputs to
decision-making are the views of
panel members.”
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CCPA). “In most cases, the input does
not widely vary,” Wastle says. “I don’t
think that is accidental, given that
Responsible Care is the underpinning
of everything our members do. But
there are nuances and subtleties that
arise from one avenue and maybe not
the other.” Now, he adds, panel members are also permanent invitees to
Leadership Group meetings, “hence
contributing input from other
sources.” He notes that the Responsible Care verification steering committee includes representation from the
panel, and “we are finding ways to
incorporate panel members into other
association committees.”
Wastle notes that it took many
years for some departments within
CCPA to actively seek panel input as
they moved forward on various issues.
Now, whether it is CCPA’s position on
climate change, chemicals testing,
major environmental legislation or a
host of other matters, panel input is
eagerly sought by various committees
and staff. This is “a huge testimony to
the value of the panel. In addition to
committees, you would expect to be
interested in panel input, such as public affairs and Responsible Care verification, business and economic
committees. Government policy committees are now interested. Others
who in years past said, ‘We know what
the critics are saying,’ are now saying,
‘We’d better find out. When is the
next panel meeting?’ This is strong
evidence of the panel’s value. From
board to members to committees, they
are saying, ‘This is information we
need to get, and the panel is the obvious route.’ ”
Wastle adds that CEOs, Responsible Care coordinators and other company people who attend panel
meetings always say the experience is
not what they expected – the advice is
wiser than they would have obtained
from external sources, and discussions
are emotionally and intellectually
stimulating.
Ironically, it took a budget crisis at
CCPA to bring the value of the panel
into sharpest relief. In 2003, as the
association reassessed its every activity,
the question arose: can we afford the
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panel any longer? A conviction began
to grow among member CEOs, Wastle
The membership of the Nationgroups of which they may be memrecalls, that perhaps CCPA did not
al Advisory Panel will comprise 12
bers. The experience of panel memneed the panel after all, that the same
to 16 individuals who have the
bers will likely include involvement
input could be obtained from one-onbackground and experience to
with the community, the academic
one dialogue. But after Paton and a
enable them to assist CCPA in
world, business, consumer environnumber of CEOs attended two panel
obtaining a broader understanding
mental and other special-interest
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of the needs and concerns of the
organizations.
and other issues were on the table,
general public, especially at the
For more information on
“they came away with the absolute
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CCPA’s National Advisory Panel,
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panel members serve as individuals,
visit: www.ccpa.ca/Responsible
(and the totality of its input) was
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greater than the sum of its parts.”
They concluded that the panel was
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“was not perhaps recognized by the
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That companies are “willing to get279966_Rohm.indd 1
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out their chequebooks,” he says,
“means they are getting a tangible
company value.” A
Part 2, available on www.ccpa.ca,
features comments from a number of
panel members, past and present.
Reprinted from Careline: Global
Responsible Care News by arrangement with the publisher. Careline is a
quarterly magazine that tracks Responsible Care developments around the world.
For further information, send an email to
[email protected].
Francis Gillis works on the panel with
John Vincett, president of Public Dialogue Alternatives, and provides meeting
reports. He is North American editor of
Careline and a senior associate of PDA.
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Catalyst Spring 2007 • 11
Feature
WAR ON DRUGS
THE
The RCMP helps the chemical industry recognize suspicious clientele.
By Harvey F. Chartrand
CLANDESTINE
DRUG LABORATORIES are operating in middleand-upper-class
neighborhoods
across Canada, and their threat (both
criminal and environmental) is spreading. The diversion of chemical precursors to these illegal drug labs is
increasingly common. A precursor is a
substance that, following a reaction,
becomes an intrinsic part of a chemical
product – in this case, dangerous “recreational” drugs such as ecstacy and
methamphetamine.
Despite the best efforts of health
experts and legal authorities, the
demand for synthetic drugs continues
to rise. These drugs are produced at
makeshift labs hidden in ordinary communities – usually in nondescript suburbs and even in high-rise apartment
buildings. Illegal drug labs pose a serious
threat to the safety of the public and
emergency first responders such as
police, fire and ambulance workers.
“Drug cooks” – usually not accomplished chemists – are often unaware of
the dangerous consequences associated
with the toxic chemicals they are using.
Mixing the wrong chemicals may lead
12 • Catalyst Spring 2007
to tragic results such as explosions, fire
and environmental pollution. Hundreds of pounds of chemical wastes are
usually produced in these clandestine
labs. These toxic byproducts are routinely dumped into city sewers, a large
inflow that is more than most municipal water filtration systems can handle.
Every pound of “meth” produced
results in five to six pounds of toxic
waste. Every pound of ecstasy produced
results in 12 to 13 pounds of toxic
waste.
Some residential properties used for
drug labs are so badly contaminated
they have to be torn down – and quite
often, when the labs are found in townhouses, the neighbouring units must be
demolished as well.
Thick clouds of corrosive vapors
may emanate from these drug labs,
killing surrounding plant life. Royal
Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP)
drug enforcement officers must wear
chemical-resistant suits and selfcontained breathing apparatus when
raiding clandestine labs. Other chemicals like lithium or sodium react incandescently to moisture. If the house
blows up and firemen hose water onto
containers of lithium – these will conflagrate as well.
Recognizing this mounting threat,
the RCMP established the National
Chemical Diversion Program in 2001.
ChemWatch is a partnership between
this program and concerned chemical
producers, distributors and retailers,
aimed at raising the level of awareness
of the clandestine drug laboratory problem across Canada. ChemWatch teaches people in the chemical business to
recognize the telltale signs of synthetic
drug traffickers intent on obtaining
chemical precursors for the production
of controlled substances. Limiting the
accessibility of these compounds to illegal drug manufacturers is the name of
the game.
“Where there is easy profit to be
made, there is organized crime, and it is
gaining a steady foothold in the clandestine drug lab business,” says Corporal Brent Hill, the RCMP’s Ontario
coordinator for the National Chemical
Diversion Program. “We know that the
production and distribution of methamphetamine and ecstacy are not always
independent operations, but quite often
are directly linked to organized crime.”
“Smaller ‘addiction-based’ labs producing mainly methamphetamine are
still common,” notes Sergeant Doug
Culver, national coordinator for syn-
thetic drug operations with the RCMP
in Ottawa. “These are labs fueled by an
addict’s desire to have a ready supply of
the drug; however, larger ‘economicbased’ laboratories or ‘super-labs’ are
becoming more prevalent. These labs
can produce five-to-10-kilogram batches of an illicit drug at any given time.
They are technologically more sophisticated and always controlled and operated by organized crime, sometimes in
league with narco-terrorists, who use
the proceeds from the illegal drug trade
to finance their terrorist activities.”
“ChemWatch is set up as a voluntary program,” Cpl Hill explains.
“That’s why we came up with the
ChemWatch hotline number (1-800387-0020), which operates 24/7. It’s
kind of like Crime Stoppers, but
focused on the chemical industry. People can report suspicious transactions
without revealing their identity. The
criminals who broker these chemicals
are bad people and it’s vital that we
maintain the anonymity of those informants who give us tips. We don’t
need to know who is giving us the
information. We just need to know the
information.”
“We went out to the industry partners and solicited their assistance,
because a lot of the chemicals we were
finding in the drug labs were diverted
from perfectly legitimate commercial
enterprises,” says Sgt Culver. “When
we first set up ChemWatch, we realized
there was going to be a huge learning
curve. As soon as we started talking
about this to people in the chemical
industry, they gave us feedback, saying
that lately, suspicious customers were
showing up at their sales and distribution offices. They weren’t sure exactly
what these new customers were up to,
so we started a nationwide training
program with the chemical industry.”
Despite the RCMP’s most valiant
efforts, steady growth in clandestine
drug labs is occurring nationwide.
Organized crime is gaining a steady
foothold in synthetic drug operations.
Outlaw motorcycle gangs are heavily
involved in methamphetamine production and trafficking on the west coast.
Asian-based organized crime is very
involved in chemical diversion and
ecstasy production across Canada. Eastern European organized crime groups
also have their tentacles in this illegal
drug trade. An organized crime outfit
might even set up a front company to
do business with a legitimate
enterprise.
“These criminals are not accomplished chemists,” Cpl Hill notes.
“Because they’re not in the business,
they don’t know the legitimate uses for
the chemicals they are purchasing.
They know why they need a chemical
to make dope, but they don’t know
why they would need it for a legitimate
reason. And these folks will pay 10 or
100 times the legitimate cost, because
they need the chemicals to make the
dope and they need the dope to make
the profits. And the profits are so huge
that these guys will pay anything for
those chemicals. They will not question a price or try to negotiate the best
price. To produce a tablet of ecstasy
costs $.50 to one dollar. One tablet
sells for $10 to $15 on the street. The
profits from the drug trade are so astronomical that the dealers will pay top
dollar for the chemicals needed to
manufacture these drugs.”
A Growing Trend of LongDistance Shipments of
Chemical Precursors
As it becomes more difficult for
organized crime to obtain chemicals
from domestic companies, more of
these chemical precursors are being
imported from China and India. The
economic traffic that goes across
Canada’s borders is at an all-time high,
so even though border security is
beefed up, it’s hard for Canadian
authorities to keep up with the illegal
flow of precursor chemicals. Many
deep-sea containers arrive daily and
few of them are screened.
“Delivery by a dubious route” is a
sure indicator of illicit activity. The
operator of a clandestine drug lab in
Vancouver may order chemical precursors from companies in Toronto, paying high shipping costs to bring them
in from halfway across the country.
As many chemical companies are
moving their production facilities to
China, trans-border shipping will only
grow, while domestic chemical production declines.
“The Internet has been very devastating for us, because it’s a great way to
order long-distance chemical shipments with payment by credit card and
no face-to-face transactions,” observes
Sgt Culver. “Sometimes, the address
that the chemicals are being delivered
to is nothing more than a Mail Boxes
Etc. outlet. I’ve seen 45-gallon drums
of chemicals come off the back of
courier vans onto the downtown
streets of Vancouver into a Mail Boxes
Etc.”
“We’ve seen all kinds of interesting
things at the back of a loading dock,”
Cpl Hill reveals. “We’ve seen taxis
show up and load up with chemicals.
Legitimate businesses do not use taxicabs to deliver chemicals! Of course, a
lot of the courier services become very
upset when they find out they’ve been
transporting hazardous chemicals,
which weren’t identified as such to
them.”
When RCMP officers visit member-companies of the Canadian Chemical Producers’ Association, they deal
with senior management first.
“We need the policymakers of the
corporations to have buy-in,” says Cpl
Hill. “Then we need to focus on the
sales department and filter the information through the entire organization. Who is loading the trucks? Who
is working on the docks? Who is in
charge of the warehouse? Due diligence is more than just knowing your
customer. There’s a whole selection of
things to be aware of in protecting
against chemical diversion. Companies
are targeted in many ways, not just
from the guy arriving at the front
counter. We need Responsible Care to
include certain steps from our
ChemWatch initiative. That will help
us tremendously, because the problem
is growing. There are more drug labs in
our communities now than there were
two years ago, and we don’t foresee a
slowdown in this trend in the short
term.” A
Editor’s Note: An expanded version of
this story is available on CCPA’s
MemberLink.
Catalyst Spring 2007 • 13
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2/15/07 9:50:45 AM
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Feature
NARROWING THE GAP
Ontario seeks to narrow the gap between R&D
and product commercialization.
By Hank Reardon
TO WHAT EXTENT will economics and
the profit motive play a determining
role in developing a new industrial
R&D strategy for Ontario’s chemical
sector? And how will that R&D strategy deliver opportunities for commercialization in the province?
John Wilkinson, parliamentary
assistant to Minister of Research and
Innovation (and Premier) Dalton
McGuinty, sees a bright future ahead
for Ontario’s chemical industry and its
R&D component, but it’s up to the
industry to make it happen, with government setting the stage by providing
a competitive business climate, an
educational system that produces the
highly skilled workers the chemical
industry needs, and an environment
that fosters collaboration between
public research institutions and the
private sector.
According to the Ontario Chemistry Value Chain Initiative
(OCVCI), a Hybrid Chemistry Sector
Strategy must be developed to position Ontario as an innovative global
leader in fossil and bioproduct
research and commercialization. This
strategy will increasingly focus on
industrial biotechnology, including
bioproducts, bioprocessing, biofuels
and biomaterials – first through R&D,
then through scale-up and demonstration… right through to commercialization.
Much work is now being done to
make the transition to biofeedstocks
and renewable carbons. Wilkinson
cites the recent opening by Suncor of
Canada’s largest ethanol-production
plant in Sarnia as an example for others in the industry to follow, as well as
DuPont Canada’s stated goal of earning 25 per cent of its revenues from
renewable resources by 2020. “These
companies are forward-looking,”
Wilkinson enthused. “Such initiatives
are very attractive and encourage natural partnerships with our ministry
and the chemical industry.
“This involves a sustained commitment on our part to funding innovation,” Wilkinson adds. “If government
plays its part right, industries will have
the tools they need to transform their
creative ideas into economic advantages. We have to help create those
conditions that allow our industry
base to constantly reinvent itself to
market realities. That’s why we’ve
been working closely with industry
and academia to develop the strategic
plan for our ministry. The Ontario
government must foster a culture of
innovation, so we’re looking at barriers that concern industry, such as regulatory and tax challenges to building
commercialization.”
David Colcleugh, retired chairman,
president and CEO of DuPont Canada, who now teaches engineering at
the University of Toronto, believes
there is a growing interest in the
Ontario chemical industry to renew
itself by starting up new companies
and moving existing companies in different and more innovative directions.
“I have confidence in the leadership of the Ontario chemical industry
– they want to grow,” Colcleugh
asserts. “I am very interested in seeing
that chemical companies in Ontario
begin to understand what green chemistry really means and the scope of its
benefits. This is something that chemical companies need to move towards
as a major strategy, because it is good
for the environment and can create
new wealth. It is a new direction, filled
with opportunities to make money
without harming the environment.”
Commercialization of new technologies developed in research labora-
tories is a very difficult and expensive
process. “Everyone seems to think
that innovation is all about R&D,”
Colcleugh observes. “The research
part tends to be creative and a lot less
expensive than the development part.
Once you have an idea and it is
researched, then comes development
of the idea and commercialization.
Each step of the way from the successful research idea is a step change in
cost and effort, and often people in
government don’t understand just
how difficult that is, although they are
becoming more understanding of that.
The leaders of the chemical industry
in Ontario know how expensive and
difficult the commercialization process
can be. The OCVCI initiatives need
support and are getting it from the
Ontario Ministry of Research and
Innovation. It is an old story, but we
need more collaboration among
industry, government and academic
leaders. We are not as good at this
kind of collaboration as we should
be… other countries, including the
USA, do this better.”
David J. Shearing, outgoing senior
manager for business and economics
with the Canadian Chemical Producers’ Association (CCPA), stresses
that: “We very much want the market
to direct R&D expenditures. We prefer market pull rather than research
push, so that you have tax incentives
which encourage R&D taking place in
Ontario and the rest of Canada, but it
can’t be the government picking winners and losers. The only sustainable
commercialization strategy is one of a
competitive investment environment.
Everything else will fail as soon as
government funding runs out.” A
Editor’s Note: An expanded version of
this story is available on CCPA’s
MemberLink.
Catalyst Spring 2007 • 15
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2/15/07 10:32:42 AM
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16 • Catalyst Spring 2007
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Feature
AND THE SURVEY SAYS…
A Look at CCPA’s Year-end Survey Results
Highlights
STRONG DOMESTIC DEMAND for
Canadian basic chemicals pushed
David J.
shipments from Canadian operaShearing, PhD
tions to $29 billion in 2006 – a
10% increase in sales when compared to 2005. In constant dollar terms (i.e., after
allowance for changes in average selling prices), sales volumes in 2006 increased by 6% over 2005. Export sales,
which represent two-thirds of total industry sales, were up
6% in 2006 to $18 billion. Sales to US markets, which
account for almost 80% of the industry’s business outside of
Canada, were also up by 6%, as were exports to offshore
markets. Supply-demand balances remained tight, allowing
chemical producers to pass on higher feedstock and energy
costs. Operating profits before interest, taxes and special
write-offs in 2006 were $1.7 billion, down 7% from 2005
and down from the peak set in 2004. Despite being at the
top of the business cycle in terms of operating rates, an
important moderating factor for profitability has been the
high Canada-US exchange rate.
Looking ahead, survey respondents expect sales value to
increase slightly by 1% in 2007, while volume is forecast to
be unchanged. Exports are predicted to grow by 3%, with
an increase of 5% in exports to the US. Operating profit is
expected to increase by 18% to $2.0 billion in 2007. Fixed
capital investment is forecast to increase by 17% to $1.3
billion in 2007. (The 2006 estimates are based on Statistics
Canada data and the 2007 forecast is based on CCPA’s
annual year-end survey of business conditions and shortterm prospects.)
Outlook for 2007
Respondents indicate that sales values are expected to
increase by a modest 1% in 2007, driven entirely by a similar change in prices as overall sales volumes are expected to
remain unchanged. Exports are expected to increase by
3%; however, domestic sales are expected to decline by 3%
in 2007. This slowing of growth rates may signal that the
current business cycle has reached a plateau and demand in
other economies will need to be carefully watched as 2007
proceeds.
Looking forward, some of the key concerns for the
petrochemical sector are its ability to remain globally competitive; higher natural gas and natural gas feedstock costs
than offshore competitors; an increase in the Canada-US
exchange rate leading to increased competition from offshore producers, particularly the US market; tight labour
market conditions, notably in Alberta which add to operating and investment costs; decreased rail transportation
reliability in Western Canada; transportation security concerns; new initiatives that could impact the efficient crossborder shipping; and ethylene supply disruptions and rising
electricity costs, particularly in Ontario.
In order to encourage new capital investment in Canada’s value-added resource-upgrading industries, a corporate
tax advantage is needed to overcome some of the disadvantages listed above, notwithstanding the attraction of
investment incentives and less onerous regulatory frameworks in competing jurisdictions. The federal announcement of a reduction of its manufacturing and processing
corporate tax rate and its elimination of the corporate surtax and capital tax are steps in the right directions. Alberta’s recent corporate tax reduction also helps.
Governments need to continue to examine ways to tax
smarter and encourage investments in productive and
environmental technologies. A two-year straight line capital cost allowance would go a long way toward achieving
these goals.
CCPA is advocating on a number of other public policy
fronts that could influence the 2007 outlook and perceptions of the chemical industry. These include development
of a coherent, federal/provincial energy strategy and climate change targets that permit growth and provide policy
and investment certainty. In addition, categorization of the
Domestic Substances List (DSL) of commercial substances
in Canada has determined what substances need further
assessment. Although much work will be required and the
task is challenging, this program, if properly designed and
run, should improve public confidence in chemicals and
their management.
To read the full Year-End Survey and Outlook for 2007,
visit: www.ccpa.ca/files/Library/Documents/Economic/
Yrend2006.pdf. A
David J. Shearing is Senior Manager, Business and Economics at CCPA.
Catalyst Spring 2007 • 17
Catalyst Speaks To…
LOBBYISTS PERFORM A
VALUABLE PUBLIC SERVICE
An Interview with CCPA’s Richard Paton
AS PRESIDENT OF the Canadian Chemical Producers’ Association (CCPA),
Richard Paton leads one of the key
industrial associations in Canada.
CCPA represents 65 chemical-producing companies. Domestic chemical
production is a $28-billion-a-year
industry. CCPA is recognized as a
world leader in the quality of its work
in terms of economic competitiveness
and environmental/community responsibility through Responsible Care.
CCPA works extensively with
many other trade associations and is
part of 10 different coalitions and
groups that work on common policy
issues. Paton is well known for his
leadership in these industry groups and
his ability to develop strategies for policy advocacy.
“I guess I’m probably one of the
longest-serving trade association presidents in Ottawa right now,” Paton
muses. “I’ve been in this job for almost
11 years.”
Prior to joining CCPA, Paton spent
23 years with the Government of
Canada in a variety of departments,
including the Privy Council Office,
Office of the Auditor General and
Treasury Board. In his last eight years
with the federal government, he was
Assistant and Deputy Secretary of the
Administrative Policy Branch at Treasury Board and Deputy Secretary of
the Program Branch.
Paton led the Treasury Board Secretariat in the two program reviews of
1995 and 1996 that resulted in a balanced federal budget. He also led a
variety of management and policy
reforms in regulatory policy, alternative service delivery, governance/
boards of Crown corporations, real
property and information technology.
Paton holds a Master’s degree in
Canadian Studies from Carleton Uni18 • Catalyst Spring 2007
versity, as well as a Master’s in Public
Administration from the Kennedy
School at Harvard University. He has
over 15 years of teaching experience in
postgraduate studies of private and
public sector management at Carleton’s School of Public Administration and Queen’s University’s
Executive MBA Program.
Catalyst spoke to Paton about the
important services rendered by lobbyists to the public and to government,
challenges facing Canada’s chemical
sector in 2007, and the possible impact
on the industry of a rapidly shifting
political scene.
Catalyst: Lobbying has negative connotations, yet it shouldn’t be a “bad
word.” Can you tell us why lobbying
is in the public interest?
Richard Paton: I think lobbying is
misunderstood. What CCPA is trying
to do is bring information to the government that it would normally not be
aware of when making decisions on
the environment, energy, transportation or taxation. There is an Industry
Canada division that has a few specialists who focus on the chemical industry, but it’s two, maybe three people at
best. And certainly the other departments aren’t thinking about the chemical industry to any great extent. So
governments, especially with a lot of
downsizing going on, increasingly need
business sectors to come forward and
say, “By the way, this is how this policy
impacts on us and here are the competitiveness realities that we face.”
Frankly, government is not staffed adequately to be able to understand a particular sector of the economy in such
depth. So if government is not able to
take advantage of that information,
then it will probably come up with
poorer policies.
My job is to represent this business
sector to government and to represent
government to this business sector. I
also help the chemical sector understand the realities of government –
what it can and can’t do, what its
agenda and priorities are…
Catalyst: Is the federal government
taking steps to make the chemical
industry more globally competitive?
Wasn’t manufacturing competitiveness supposed to be one of the government’s top priorities during the
fall 2006 session?
Richard Paton: The federal Conservative government hasn’t made
manufacturing competitiveness one of
its top five priorities, although in the
macro-policy sense, it supports lower
taxation and higher productivity. We
are very pleased with [Finance Minister] Jim Flaherty’s economic statement
in which he talks about Advantage
Canada, which we believe is a great
theme. Canada should be thinking
about how it would be an advantage
for companies to make their products
here and what kind of regime we need
to achieve that – so I think that is a
step forward. And there have been
some movements on the corporate tax
structure front that have real benefits
for us, particularly with regard to the
high dollar, high energy costs and the
incredible competition from India,
China and other Asian countries. But
when you weigh the total threat of
regulation on greenhouse gases against
some of the other adjustments that
have been made, it’s not clear whether
Canada will come out as a better place
to invest or not. So I think there is
some really hard work that needs to be
done by this government and the
opposition parties in taking measures
to sustain a strong economy, especially
in the area of manufacturing. Some of
these issues are addressed well in the
Industry Committee of Parliament
chaired by James Rajotte.
The prediction was that we would
lose 300,000 to 400,000 jobs in the
manufacturing sector from about 2002
to 2008. That’s a huge amount of lost
employment! It isn’t showing up in the
employment numbers today, because
we are doing well with a lot of oil and
gas development in the west, etc., but if
all that activity slows down, it would
create huge pain for a lot of families in
Ontario and Quebec, in particular. People may have forgotten the 1992 period
when industrial plants were closing left,
right and centre and even being torn
down to save on property taxes. Those
were the days that Bob Rae (then Premier of Ontario) had to deal with an
incredibly difficult economy. We don’t
forget about those times and they can
occur again. So I think one has to be
very careful to make sure you have the
economics right and that environmental policies lead to continual improvements in performance. And this should
be done in a way that enables the economy to move forward at the same time.
I don’t see these as mutually exclusive
under our Responsible Care ethic. You
can get a better economy and a better
environment. However, if environmental regulation is not done well, it can
hurt the economy and generate ineffective policies on the environment!
Catalyst: What impact will John
Baird’s appointment as federal environment minister have on the chemical industry?
Richard Paton: By naming John
Baird environment minister, the Harper government is sending out a pretty
clear signal that it wants results. Baird
is what I call a closer, like in baseball –
a guy who is put in to finish off the
team. Baird must take the Clean Air
Act through to conclusion, or see the
government’s approach to environmental policy through to some sort of result.
So I think Baird is a very good choice,
even though he has minimal environmental experience, but he is a very
quick learner and a superb communicator and he has boundless energy.
One of the realities of this portfolio
is that the critics are very nasty. No
matter what you do, it’s never enough.
There is a level of fantasy in thinking
that we can meet the Kyoto targets
without any cost to the economy or
without regulating industry into the
ground.
However, we have to take action and
Baird is a man of action. He will deal
with his critics, who frankly need to be
dealt with. He must tell them to be realistic – let’s start taking action here and
quit dreaming about all kinds of scenarios, like ending our reliance on fossil fuels. The World Energy Council in
Geneva predicts that global energy use
will increase by 70% between now and
2030. China is building a new coalfired power plant every week and about
100 coal-fired plants are planned for
the United States. One can make the
argument that we shouldn’t build coalfired plants in Canada, but don’t think
that they aren’t going to happen somewhere else. And yet the same Canadian environmentalists who are against
coal-fired plants are also against
nuclear, so the nature of the environment debate seems to have a huge
number of dead ends. If you are for
reducing greenhouse gas emissions,
then you must be pro-nuclear. It’s as
simple as that. That’s what France’s
strategy is. That’s what Japan’s strategy
is.
We’ve got to bring some realism to
this debate. And I’m hoping that Baird
is the kind of guy who tells it like it is
and enables us to make some progress
on the environmental front, because
we are really not making much
progress. So CCPA is hoping to work
well with Baird and end up with a policy that’s good for the environment
and good for the economy and is
acceptable to the provinces and other
stakeholders. A
www.haroldmarcus.com
Specializing in
Chemical Transportation
Throughout Canada
and the U.S.
CALL (519) 695-3734
FAX (519) 695-2249
BOTHWELL, ONTARIO
Catalyst Spring 2007 • 19
Corporate Profile
The future looks bright green for
Fielding Chemical Technologies
By Harvey F. Chartrand
FIELDING CHEMICAL TECHNOLOGIES
Inc. (www.fieldchem.com), located in
Mississauga, Ont., is Canada’s largest
solvent and refrigerant reclamation
company.
“No other Canadian solvent recycling company uses a hybrid pervaporation system to dry chemicals – in
fact none that we know of in the
world,” says Fielding’s CEO Ellen
McGregor. “We designed, built and
operate a unique pervaporation pilot
plant. This year, we’re embarking on a
program to build the pervap capability
alongside the fractionation capability.
This will give us an ability to dehydrate chemicals and make us more
competitive. Fielding is the only
Canadian company in its industry that
has fractionation capability or a technology like this to dehydrate thinners
and IPAs (isopropanols). Right now,
in North America, there is a massive
shortage of fractionation capability.
Our biggest competitor is the incinerator, because it is cheaper to burn
than to recover.”
Fielding faces some big challenges
in the current economic and political
climate. “The Ontario government
continues to regulate spent chemicals
as if they are hazardous waste materials,” McGregor says. “For us, hazardous waste is a raw material, so even
when we may purchase chemical
20 • Catalyst Spring 2007
byproducts to perform our services on,
the government insists that these
reclaimed materials be viewed as hazardous waste. This means that the
generator has to complete cumbersome paperwork and arrange for special shipping, requiring time and
imposing costs just to do the right
thing… which is to give new life to
spent chemicals. The provincial government must get serious about legislation to foster recycling. Until it
does, it is creating a barrier to the
growth of the chemical recycling
industry here.”
Effective in 2009, a ban will be
imposed on the burning of spent oil in
space heaters, an amazing policy shift
for the Ontario Ministry of the Environment (MOE), according to
McGregor. “If the Government of
Ontario is prepared to ban the burning of spent fuel because there is an
alternative choice that works for the
environment, then the burning of all
spent organics should be considered as
well. For the first time, I not only see
some change at MOE, but I actually
see it in writing! The ban has been
published on the Environmental Bill of
Rights. So the MOE is coming around
to our way of thinking and should be
applauded for taking this bold step.”
In January, Fielding had a very positive meeting with MOE personnel,
who encouraged the company to consider expanding its capabilities – a
remarkable development, since up to
now the company’s expansion was not
something the Ministry encouraged.
McGregor is proud that Fielding is
the first refrigerant recycler in North
America to be registered to ISO 9001
and the first anywhere to receive ISO
14001 registration. Fielding is also the
first and only solvent recycling company that is a verified member of
Responsible Care. In accordance with
the Montreal Protocol on Substances
That Deplete the Ozone Layer, the
manufacture and recycling of CFCs
(chlorofluorocarbons) is banned in
Canada. In addition to reclaiming
high-pressure, low-pressure and mixed
refrigerants, Fielding is Canada’s
largest player in the collection and
safe destruction of CFCs. Unfortu-
F i e l d i n g
Chemical Technologies Inc.
(CCPA) keep current with legislative
changes affecting the handling of
chemicals.
Fielding Chemical Technologies
Inc. is positioned for growth and
intends to further expand its operations and services in the near term.
“Recognizing the regulatory hurdles
and the costs associated with expansion in Ontario, we are looking for
technology transfer opportunities
where we can help or lead in the
design/build/start-up and ongoing support of like capabilities in newly
developed countries,” McGregor sums
up. “In so doing, we honor our vision:
Providing Cradle to Cradle® Care of
Chemicals.” A
nately, no facility exists in Canada
that can consistently destroy CFCs,
so Fielding can only collect and
arrange for their safe destruction,
shipping them to a facility in Texas.
“We need policy and legislation that
insists on recovery before destruction,
but of equal importance is the need
for regulated facilities that can
receive residuals from recovery efforts
as a fuel or for safe destruction,”
McGregor observes. “To date,
Ontario has been fearful of the political ramifications of permitting such
facilities. Hence the bulk of residuals
from our solvent and refrigerant businesses are shipped to U.S. facilities.”
McGregor is also proud of Fielding’s emergency response capability.
Fielding is the only emergency responder in Canada that is verified by
Responsible Care and capable of recycling chemicals recovered at a spill
site. Offering first-class training and
consulting services, Fielding is helping
other members of the Canadian
Chemical Producers’ Association
Harvey F. Chartrand is an Ottawabased freelance writer. His stories have
appeared in The Globe & Mail, The
National Post, The Jerusalem Post,
The Ottawa Citizen, Filmfax, Penny
Blood and Shock Cinema. Mr. Chartrand is also the editor of Ottawa Life
Magazine.
®
Providing. . .Cradle to Cradle Care of Chemicals
Fielding is Canada’s leader in chemical recycling and refrigerant reclamation. Operating the most sophisticated
chemical recycling plant in Canada, Fielding gives new life to spent chemicals. In so doing, Fielding helps
companies within the automotive, chemical, printing and pharmaceutical industries help protect the environment.
Customers can rely on the supply of quality products that meet or exceed specifications. And they can trust that
Fielding adheres to the highest, internationally recognized safety, environmental and quality standards.
Furthering our commitment to environment protection, Fielding brings a range of Emergency and Risk
Management services to the market. We offer professional 24/7 emergency response services, and are the only
provider with the capability to recycle spilled material. We also offer a comprehensive range of training courses,
from Basic Spill to Incident Command to Confined Space Entry.
Fielding’s extensive permits and 50 plus years of experience enables us to provide a wide breadth of products and
services, Providing...Cradle to Cradle® Care of Chemicals.
For further information, please call 1-888-873-2524.
ISO 14001
3575 Mavis Road, Mississauga, Ontario L5C 1T7
ISO 9001
Tel: 905-279-5122
Fax: 905-279-4130
www.fieldchem.com
Catalyst Spring 2007 • 21
funfacts
CHEMISTRY
IN THE
GARDEN
PULL UP A lawn chair
in the sun, pour a nice
cool drink and watch
the chemistry going
on in your backyard. Right in the green lawn, the flower
beds and the cedar hedge, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium
and sulphur are helping your garden retreat grow.
The easiest way to understand the significance of fertilizers is to view them as food for your garden. Just as people
need an adequate and consistent diet to grow and stay
healthy, plants and crops have to get proper nutrition from
the soil to thrive.
The menu for plants must include a balanced supply of
nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and sulphur. As plants and
crops extract these nutrients from the soil during every
growing season, they must be replenished through fertilizers,
manure and compost added to fields or gardens annually.
The advantage of using fertilizers is that they can be
applied with more control to match crop needs and protect
the environment. Or they can supplement manure or compost to ensure the soil gets an adequate supply of nutrients.
Steps to Remember
Fertilizers are composed of the same ingredients as
manure and compost. Added to the soil, they make nutrients easily available to plants and crops. Nitrogen, which is
essential to plant growth, is extracted from the atmosphere.
Air is about 78% nitrogen, so fertilizer companies have a
readily available supply of it. Phosphorus comes from fossil
remains found in phosphate rock, and potash fertilizers
come from ancient seabed deposits.
Research has shown that the protein, vitamin and mineral content of our food are boosted by the nutrient content of the soil. For example, potash fertilizer improves the
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isoflavone content of soybeans, which has been known to
help prevent health problems such as cancer of the colon,
breast and prostate, and, most recently, the potential to
reduce blood cholesterol.
The following table shows how common nutrients benefit plants and people:
NUTRIENTS ARE FOOD FOR PLANTS AND PEOPLE
NITROGEN (N)
PEOPLE
Essential for vegetative
growth, protein content
and boosting crop yields
PHOSPHORUS (P) Provides energy for
plant growth and
health at all stages.
Important for healthy bones
and teeth.
POTASSIUM (K)
An important contributor
to food quality. Helps plants
use water more efficiently.
Helps regulate blood pressure.
SULPHUR (S)
Improves quality of food and
feed crops. Increases oil content
in oilseed crops such as flax,
soybean and canola.
Synthesizes proteins,
which are critical to
human diets and survival.
Printed with permission from the Canadian Fertilizer
Institute (CFI)—www.cfi.ca A
BUYERS’GUIDE AND INDEX TO
ADVERTISERS
CHEMICAL PRODUCERS
Ciba Specialty Chemicals
Canada Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Imperial Oil Ltd.,
Chemicals . . . . . . . . .inside front cover
NOVA Chemicals (Mktg
Communications) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
Rohm and Haas Canada LP . . . . . . . .11
INSURANCE
AIG Environmental . . . .inside back cover
CHEMICALS - FORMULATING &
PACKAGING
Recochem Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10
REFRIGERANT RECYCLING
Fielding Chemical Technologies . . . . . .21
CHEMICALS & SOLVENTS
Comet Chemical Co., Ltd. . . . . . . . . . .22
CHLOR ALKALI CHEMICALS
Pioneer Companies . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14
DANGEROUS GOODS COMPLIANCE
ICC The Compliance Center . . . . .14, 16
HALON DISPOSAL
Fielding Chemical Technologies . . . . . .21
HAZMAT TRAINING
Fielding Chemical Technologies . . . . . .21
INDUSTRIAL CLEAN-UP SERVICES
Fielding Chemical Technologies . . . . . .21
INDUSTRIAL VIDEO INSPECTIONS
Coatings Inspection Ltd
Div of P.W. Makar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8
INSTRUMENTS
Brinkmann Instruments
(Canada) Ltd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
22 • Catalyst Spring 2007
PLANTS
Plays a critical role in protein
formation, which is necessary
for human physical
development.
PETRO CHEMICALS MANUFACTURERS
Dow Chemical
Canada Inc. . . . . . . .outside back cover
RAIL TRANSPORTATION
GATX Rail Canada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
SOLVENT RECYCLING
Fielding Chemical Technologies . . . . . .21
SPILL RESPONSE SERVICES
Fielding Chemical Technologies . . . . . .21
SPILL RESPONSE/STORAGE TANKS
SEI Industries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14
SPILL SUPPLIES
Fielding Chemical Technologies . . . . . .21
TRANSPORTATION
Harold Marcus Ltd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19
Procor Ltd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
TRUCKING FIRMS
Northwest Tank Lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
VENTING PRODUCTS
Gits Mfg. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19
WASTE DISPOSAL
Fielding Chemical Technologies . . . . . .21
WASTE TREATMENT
Fielding Chemical Technologies . . . . . .21
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Environmental
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THE STRENGTH TO BE THERE.
®
Insurance underwritten by member companies of American International Group, Inc. (AIG). The description herein is a summary only. It does not include all terms, conditions and exclusions of the policies described. Please refer to actual policies for complete details of coverage and
exclusions. Coverage may not be available in all states. Issuance of coverage is subject to underwriting.
After 100 years
of sweating the small stuff, you realize there is no small stuff.
Food. Shelter. Clothing. Transportation. Medicine. When you’re dealing with
the essentials of life, no detail is too small. And the ramifications of just about
everything can be rather big. That’s why, on 5 continents, in over 60 countries,
the people of Dow continually push their mastery of science and technology. A
mastery that has, at last count, produced over 59,000 patents and, more
important, found its way into millions of products and services — improving them
in ways big. And not so small.
www.dow.com
297790_dow.indd 1
® Trademark of The Dow Chemical Company
11/27/06 10:41:43 AM