The CPCA Alberta Chapter’s annual Trade Day set a new attendance record on May 28, 2025, welcoming 187 registered participants to the BMO Centre in Calgary — up from 141 the previous year. The event brought together polyurea applicators, raw material suppliers, equipment manufacturers, and end-user clients for a full day of networking, demonstrations, and education.
Live Equipment Demonstrations
The exhibition floor featured seven live spraying demonstrations running in rotation throughout the day. Equipment vendors showcased the latest generation of proportioning equipment, with notable interest in new digital control systems that allow real-time monitoring of component temperatures, pressures, and flow ratios through smartphone-connected dashboards.
“The technology in this equipment is remarkable compared to even five years ago,” said Calgary-based applicator Jim Patel, who has been in the industry for 15 years. “Being able to log every parameter of every application job automatically — that’s going to change how we do quality documentation.”
Keynote: The Alberta Opportunity
Alberta MLA for Calgary Southeast (Infrastructure portfolio) addressed the group in the morning keynote, noting that the province’s $8.2 billion infrastructure plan includes significant investment in water infrastructure rehabilitation — much of which will specify protective coatings. “We want Alberta contractors doing this work,” he said. “Local expertise, local jobs.”
The CPCA Alberta Chapter board used the opportunity to announce a new apprenticeship initiative in partnership with SAIT (Southern Alberta Institute of Technology), which will include a polyurea coatings module in SAIT’s Building Construction Technology program starting in Fall 2025.
Technical Session: Equipment Maintenance Deep Dive
One of the most popular sessions of the day was a three-hour equipment maintenance clinic run by a senior service technician from Graco. The session covered: proportioner pump maintenance, manifold and mixer cleaning protocols, heated hose care in cold climates, and gun disassembly and rebuild procedures.
Participants particularly appreciated the focus on Canadian-specific challenges: what happens to check valves at -30°C, how freeze-thaw cycling affects heated hose connections, and strategies for winterizing equipment during storage.
Networking and Business Matching
The afternoon featured structured business matching sessions connecting applicators with potential clients — including representatives from the City of Calgary water utility, several oilfield service companies, and a major agricultural operation seeking secondary containment solutions.
Three of the applicator-client matches resulted in immediate project discussions, with contracts expected to be awarded in Q3 2025.
Awards and Recognition
The Alberta Chapter Applicator of the Year Award was presented to Courtney Lefevre of Apex Protective Coatings (Lethbridge) for an outstanding secondary containment project at a southern Alberta potash mining operation. Courtney is the first woman to win the award in its seven-year history.
Mark Your Calendar
The next Alberta Chapter event is a Technical Breakfast Briefing on August 7, 2025, focused on polyurea applications in the oilfield sector. The full schedule of CPCA events is available on our Events page.
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