The Need for CEDA Current — 1973

 February 25, 2021 

The benefit and financial viability of CEDA Current continued to be an issue. At the April 1973 Board meeting, those directors who advocated its continuation pointed out that “CEDA Current had brought needed attention to the electrical distributor, the magazine is an excellent vehicle in promoting the industry and establishing a favourable public image.”

Despite the financial loss the magazine was incurring, the directors were overwhelmingly in favour of continuing to publish CEDA Current. They sought to increase its advertisements to 20 pages from 10, and to achieve this end they authorized hiring an assistant to help editor D. Swinton.

Photo: Nova Scotia Premier Gerald Regan presents the Order of Good Times to the CEDA delegates (Halifax, 1973).

At the annual conference that year, marketing was a major topic:

• how many distributors should a manufacturer be represented by in a given marketing area? 

• how many manufacturers of the same product line in a given market area should a distributor represent? 

It seems that the concerns have not changed over the past decade and the answers are equally elusive.

In the March Board meeting the Directors took time to define “what is a committee.” They agreed: “A committee is the delegation of authority and responsibility to a smaller group — to study a specific subject and to take action within the scope of the mandate given.”

And an old friend acquired a new name… Westinghouse Canada’s construction and industrial sales division became WESCO… Westinghouse Sales and Distribution Company with John (Jack) Nairn as its first president.

Source: CEDA: Fifty Years of Service – An Historical Review of the Canadian Electrical Distributors Association, 1934 to 1984, Kerrwil Publications. Please feel free to reach out to us any time if you have great photos, historical anecdotes or perspectives. We would love to hear from you; linegoyette@kerrwil.com.