2016 Presidents Report

OPCA VP Phil Hughes
OPCA VP Phil Hughes

PRESIDENT’S REPORT – Phil Hughes

Unfortunately, our President Gord Thompson couldn’t be here today, and after over 20 years has decided to retire from the Board. Hopefully he will be here next year so we can thank him all together for his many years of service. He will continue on as past-president so he’s not leaving us completely. In the meantime, on behalf of the Board I would like to thank Gord for his service to the association.

On behalf of Gord, I would like to present the President’s report, mainly reporting on OPCA’s involvement with TSSA

The OPCA Board represents the association on various TSSA councils and committees

  • Terry represents the OPCA on TSSA’s Petroleum Advisory Council – the council meets a few times per year
  • Ken Jamieson and Elson Fernandes sit on TSSA’s Risk Reduction Groups whether it be for Liquid Fuels or Fuel Oil. Most meetings are ad hoc based on need or initiatives and meet throughout the year.
  • Michelle Rae and Henry Gruyters sit on TSSA’s Training & Certification Advisory Board (TCAB). The advisory Board meets to discusses issues pertaining to Petroleum Mechanic Certification, reviews policies and makes relevant recommendations such as process improvement or needed program updates.
  • Phil and Elson sit on the ULC committee. The responsibilities of a ULC Standards Technical Committees include the review of the need for new standards and the updating of existing standards; the development of the full text of the standards; the consideration of proposals or requests for revisions or amendments to existing standards; and the interpretation of the requirements of specific standards.
  • Ken and Elson also participated on the CSA committee in developing the updated B139 series 15 standard.
  • Last fall, OPCA attended the TSSA Annual General meeting
  • Last year TSSA launched their Annual Safety Awards. The major oil companies nominated OPCA for our POST initiative. Unfortunately, we were not selected this time around but will try again this year.
  • Last Spring we provided a cathodic protection information session for TSSA staff. Thank you to Elson Fernandes for providing the sessions.
  • We have also been monitoring the issue with respect to TSSA’s northern Ontario compliance strategy which is basically TSSA’s initiative to work with service station owners in Northern Ontario who are struggling to meet compliance within standard timelines. We have voiced our concerns on the impact this may have on contractors and have had some insightful discussions with TSSA and hopefully will continue to work together to bring these stations into compliance.

Pension Plan for members

We have been trying to get an association pension plan off the ground for members but unfortunately do not have enough members signed up at this point so we do encourage you to contact us if you are interested. An association pension plan would exempt companies from the mandatory Ontario Retirement Pension Plan which is being rolled out next year. There are also some FAQ’s on the OPCA website if you would like further information.