CPIA’s Quebec executive committee resigns; new Quebec organization proposed (February 04, 2008)
Canadian Plastics
Canadian PlasticsAn ongoing debate within the Canadian Plastics Industry Association (CPIA) has taken a new turn with the CPIA's Que...
An ongoing debate within the Canadian Plastics Industry Association (CPIA) has taken a new turn with the CPIA’s Quebec executive committee resigning from the organization amid efforts to form a new, unaffiliated Quebec-based plastics association.
In a January 29 open letter from Bernard Poitras, president of Plastiques Micron and a past chairman of the Quebec regional executive, Quebec members and associates were called on to cancel their memberships.
The former executive committee, meanwhile, has invited the Quebec CPIA members to attend a special general assembly, scheduled for March 2008, in order to vote on issues pertaining to the proposed new Quebec organization.
Poitras’ letter of January 29 accused the CPIA of being hostile to efforts to find a new governance structure for the Quebec region, as well as being overly focused on the Ontario region.
“The letter proposes a course of action which is totally unnecessary and which will ultimately be destructive to the many years of cooperation and collaboration that our industry has enjoyed,” said Serge Lavoie, president and CEO of the CPIA, in his own open letter dated February 1. “The association’s national board remains committed to finding a governance approach that will meet the needs of members in Quebec as well as those in the rest of the country.”
The Quebec executive committee was composed of representatives from MAC Closures, Mouleurs de Beauce Inc., Lefko Plastic Products, Recyc RPM Inc., Glopak Inc., Duchesne et Fils, Sigma Ventures Inc. and Micron Plastics.
The committee’s resignation is the latest in a series of disturbances between the CPIA and its Quebec office. On December 10 2007, the managing director of the Quebec regional office, Pierre Fillion, was terminated from his position and temporarily replaced by former president Pierre Dubois.
The full text of Lavoie’s open letter can be found on the CPIA’s website, at http://www.cpia.ca/files/files/01Feb2008_open_letter_EN.pdf
