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We are Canada’s chemistry industry
The Chemistry Industry Association of Canada’s members create solutions to the world’s toughest problems, while adhering to Responsible Care® – our association’s internationally-recognized sustainability initiative. Our members and partners produce essential building-blocks for Canadian manufacturing, and provide innovative technology, marketing, research and development, transportation and other services to the Canadian chemistry industry.
Find out more about us, here.
CIAC− Celebrating 50 years as the voice of Canada's chemistry industry
As CIAC enters its 50th year, it’s fitting to reflect on the origins of our association and what we have achieved over the past five decades.
CIAC started in 1962 as the Canadian Chemical Producers’ Association, with a small group of companies located in Quebec and Ontario. Like most business associations, CCPA’s exclusive purpose was to deal with economic issues. However, as the chemistry industry evolved over the next two decades, it faced a number of domestic and international safety incidents, (including the infamous Mississauga train derailment) which forced the association to rethink its “raison d’être”.
The reality was that the public did not trust the chemistry industry. Recognizing that, in 1985, Canada’s chemistry CEOs began developing Responsible Care®− an industry-led responsibility initiative. CCPA became the first Canadian business association to require its members to commit to a set of principles as a condition of their membership. Responsible Care required members to do the right thing, and ultimately, to be seen to be doing the right thing through public verifications.
Read CIAC President Richard Paton’s complete message here.
To Bee or Not to Bee: Chemistry solution key to protecting Canada's endangered honeybee population
Bees are the world’s primary pollinators. Without them, Canadian crops — everything from Alberta’s canola fields to Ontario’s orchards — would be at risk of extinction. From an economic perspective, they are critical to Canada’s economy; bee pollination contributes an estimated $750 million of value to Canadian agriculture, and honey production is a lucrative industry in its own right (in 2010, Canadian beekeepers produced close to 82 million pounds of honey, valued at $146 million).
However, in the last decade, beekeepers the world over have been dealing with catastrophic losses to their honeybee colonies. According to a survey conducted by the Canadian Association of Professional Apiculturists, 30.9 percent of Canada’s 600,000-plus honeybee colonies either died over the 2010-2011 winter, or were deemed too weak to be commercially productive the following spring.
Scientists point to a number of culprits, including the Varroa destructor mite — a tiny bloodsucking pest from South Asia which transmits a number of fatal viruses to bees. Fortunately, Canadian chemistry is providing a sustainable solution to the Varroa mite problem. Read the full story here.