Rotary Club of Burlington Central
25th of January 2018
Robbie Burns Day
Presiding: Janet Canavan
Guests: Keith Williams; guest of Joe Watson
Keith Hoey, today speaker, guest of Jamie Edwards (Abraham is writing an exam today and we send him our good wishes.)
Roy Cooper presented four Paul Harris pins.
Mike Molloy received his first Paul Harris pin.
Joe Watson received his first Paul Harris pin.
Bernie Hanna received his third Paul Harris pin.
Randy Reeves received his fifth Paul Harris pin.
Roy reminded us of the tremendous good that the Paul Harris foundation does to make the world a better place, a foundation so well worth supporting.
Sgt. at arms: Terry Sedore presented a slideshow of a number of members in incriminating situations garnering large fines from René, Rod Collard, Janet Canavan, and Bryce Leggatt.
Janet noted that the Club’s visioning indicated a desire for more community involvement. In April and May on the first Saturdays there will be volunteers helping at the Seniors’ Breakfast and René will be organizing this. An email will follow. More community projects are planned.
Rod Collard has been trying to support local restaurateurs who have been supportive of Lakeside à la Carte. Tonight’s meal at the Water Street Cooker is the first of these. They have been tremendously good partners for our club and it's good to be able to return our support for them.
Peter Thoem, just prior to making his announcement, noted that there were four bald eagles flying over the Hamilton Harbour. Peter who is on the Royal botanical Gardens Board has been in conversation with the head of horticulture around developing a planting project that was started in the last year or so where organizations have been coming to plant trees and shrubs, but not just shoving them in the ground but being coached on how to do this most effectively to ensure their longevity and learning about pruning, maintenance, fertilizing. This is an enjoyable and valuable exercise that families can enjoy and learn from.
On February 8 there will be a re-gifting auction and we are encouraged to bring gifts that we wish to "move along" appropriately wrapped and preferably "not too tacky" this will be a good fundraiser that will reduce the draw on the donations committee’s funds through the year.
Lawrence Leung's Board for next year has been partially announced before today but in addition Bob Martin will be on the board and David Roscoe will be the Pres. elect. Also on the board will be Nancy Penny and Anthony Ford-Jones. The club is encouraged to support these Board members and to speak to them to bring forward ideas that they might have for the board. Mike Molloy was thanks for chairing the Board selection committee.
On Feb. 17th our first Guess Who's Coming to Dinner for some time will be kicked off with three dinners in all. February 8 is the deadline for registering for this excellent tradition, a wonderful way for members to meet each other on a more intimate social basis including their families.
Janet noticed noted all the activity in the club and that this will improved further with more community service activities. There will be and a Rotary International Treeplanting event in the spring to fulfil RI Pres. Ian Risley's desire to have one tree planted for every Rotary member over the next year. There will also be the Hike for Hospice on May 26. The The Toronto RI Convention is coming up with a plan for a Hosting event. The presidential induction will be coming up in the early summer. More classification talks have been planned to the end of June. On June 25 the RI dinner is scheduled and sign up is requested soon with a deposit towards the $100 per person.
Our guest speaker was introduced by Robert Martin: Keith Hoey and he have been BDDA buddies for a long time and Keith has represented the Chamber of Commerce (COC) since 2004 and was the recent recipient of a national award. He is in EX Rotarian from the Hamilton a.m. Club and very sympathetic to Rotary ideals. His primary work with the Chamber of Commerce’s is networking, education and advocacy. Today he wanted to talk about advocacy and policy writing. The Chamber of Commerce is a not-for-profit organization that is not a charity but definitely not for loss! Any such organization that shows losses three years in a row will close down. This is not a good business model! They have unpaid directors. Jamie Edwards was the first president in 1985, the youngest ever in that role.
Policy is written by the Chamber of Commerce only after a survey of businesses, the Barriers to Business Survey which is designed to ensure that the voice of its members is fully heard. It's intended to serve the needs of members. Official Burlington policy is delivered to the Mayor and the Council and then on to the member of Federal Parliament or of Provincial Parliaments as indicated. The Ontario Chamber of Commerce actually works for the Burlington Chamber of Commerce and will take policies developed locally, to government along with similar policies from other chambers of commerce making for a strong collective voice coming essentially from volunteers, a concentration of opinion presented to government. Keith told us of the strong impact this has on governments and has been highly successful in causing a change or development of government policy.
He gave us some examples: the International Medical Graduate (IMG] program. Not long ago, Burlington was 22 doctors short. This is an important factor in prospective companies’ and employees’ decisions as to whether to set up in Burlington. The program at the time only allowed for 100 IMG positions in Ontario. The health advocacy committee asked why and pushed for removal of the cap. The proposal became policy which went to government and ultimately to the Ministry of Health and the Premier and as a result the number was raised to 200 and then to no cap and as a result we are only two doctors short. This is quite an achievement and came directly from the COC members.
When there are disputes with the CRA, for a small business to challenge them is very difficult as compared to a large company and it was recommended that the CRA should have a staffer who would take the business side and as result of this policy a CRA liaison officer was created.
Bill 148, the bill that establish minimum wage was, as Keith described, a "long sad story”; there were more phone calls and complaints than any other that he can recall in the prior 14 years. A letter writing campaign was developed bringing local business people's grievances together and this resulted in legislative change in some of the details although not the actual minimum wage. After a town hall meeting with Karina Gould and one in Oakville with Bill Morneau, this led to a backing off with even greater reduction in the corporate tax rate to 9% and a number of changes that were beneficial to the business community.
The the goal of the COC, as is to try to effect change not just to complain about changes that have already happened.
There are 972 companies or proprietors in Burlington. All related employees can benefit from membership especially through networking events. 65% of Burlington companies have 10 or fewer employees. Cogeco is the largest. Community-based organizations such as Rotary are members of the Chamber of Commerce.
15 to 20% of employees of manufacturers in Burlington live outside the city demonstrating a major problem with availability of affordable housing. These people need rental accommodation all condos less than $300,000 and this has been advocated by the COC.
Membership is inexpensive at $300 for 1 to 2 members for the maximum of $1000. The benefits of membership can easily offset these fees: e.g. the Esso gas program with a three cents per litre discount. Networking is the number one reason for people's interest in the organization.
Jamie Edwards thanked Keith for his is very valuable work in the COC advocating for an organization that has been of tremendous benefit to him and other small businesses over the years.
Anthony Ford-Jones
