CCSA Moves Forward on Key Issues
The voice of the Canadian C-store industry, the CCSA is working on several key issues to advance the cause of its members. Alex Scholten is fighting hard to create greater understanding and drive support for his group, an association that is among the most familiar in the country. Scholten is president of the Canadian Convenience Store Association (CCSA), an organization that together with its four regional affiliates (the Western Convenience Stores Association, the Ontario Convenience Stores Association, the Quebec Convenience Stores Association and the Atlantic Convenience Stores Association) represents more than 25,000 C-store retailers across the country. He points out that there is a lot of benefit to membership and affiliation. For example, he shows how the group is one with very real political clout that few associations can muster. Indeed, there are 70 retailers on average per Parliamentary riding that can be engaged to address regulatory issues, a critical mass of support that would have any politician sitting up ready to listen. “The purpose of the CCSA and its regional affiliates is to ensure an economically viable and sustainable business environment for the convenience store industry in Canada by serving the best interests of our retailer and supplier members through advocacy, advice, education and training,” he says. Towards this end the CCSA has 6
September | October 2011
worked to create valuable linkages between its constituents. For example, the CCSA is in the process of forming a government relations (GR) committee made up of retailers, industry suppliers and distributors to get as close to the ground as it can. “In this way we are the most responsive to the needs of our members because with this committee we get right to the core of our mission with the people that are best placed to examine and report. With the GR committee we can discover the issues and challenges facing our membership and develop solid workable responses that are meaningful to our membership and the industry at large.” The CCSA GR committee will have at its disposal such tools as industry strategy planning sessions, research and industry-data publications and references, press conferences involving media-trained retailers and public awareness events. “We look to our members to participate by helping the CSSA prioritize legislative issues and by helping to review and develop strategies to promote positive legislation or remove restrictive government policies.” In order to further strengthen the position to be made by the C-store industry when facing restrictive government policies, the CCSA will also be reaching out to other trade associations including the National Convenience Store Distributors As-
sociation, Food and Consumer Products of Canada and the Canadian Beverages Association. By working together with these other associations, Scholten firmly believes the mutual interests of all who benefit from the c-store industry (retailers, manufacturers and distributors) will better represented and protected. “United we stand and by working together we can be a very powerful force for change for the betterment of the industry.” Currently the CCSA is closely watching the regulatory moves by government in regard to its actions on childhood obesity, sodium levels in Canada’s diet, and onerous fees for things like food handler exams. According to Scholten the efforts of the CCSA seeks a middle way on these topics that doesn’t result in hardship for the thousands of workers and owners of Canada’s C-stores as well as the companies big and small that supply the industry. Scholten and the CCSA are actively seeking out national associate members. Here the opportunity is for companies to provide industry input and network. “This is a great way for those who supply the industry to get involved and create change from within,” he says, inviting those involved in the C-store sector to contact the CCSA to see what membership can do for them.