I didn’t do an attendance count but the crowd this morning seemed to be on the light side as witnessed by the number of empty seats at the tables. We had 6 guests with us as follows:
Jacqueline Phillipson – guest of Kathleen O’Connor;
Dana Smith – proposed member;
Armin Gitaci – guest of Eric Anderson;
Wiktor Gluszczak – our student exchange student from Poland;
Eleanor McMahan – MPP Burlington and Guest Speaker;
Michelle Cochrane – Constituency Assistant to Eleanor McMahan.
Report from Wiktor
Wiktor reported on his visit to Toronto Island, his first Thanksgiving dinner where he ate lots of turkey, and his visit to Rockton World’s Fair (it was just O.K.). He is enjoying school now that he has started making friends.
Announcements
Gerry Willard had signup sheets on each table for the bi-annual clean up at the QEW/Appleby junction on Oct 29th.
Bryce Leggatt reported on the results of the Nomination Committee’s work in developing a slate of club Directors for the 2017/2018 Board. Owen McElhinney, Rene Papin and Rob Sybersma are returning to the Board ; Peter Thoem will be Secretary; Lawrence Leung is President Elect and Karmel Sakran is a new Director.
Janet Canavan talked up Rotary Leadership Institute Training and suggested that anyone interested could go to the District Web Site and register. There are 3 levels of training that you can Register for this November 5th. She will be sending out an email in the new year with dates for 2017’s program of events.
Lawrence Leung and Wayne Gowan gave a presentation on the Rotary Music Festival and played a video outlining what the festival entailed. This video can be viewed on the website http://www.rotarymusicfest.org/ . The festival runs from October 31st to Nov 12th. The Grand Festival Concert is being held on Nov 19th at the Burlington Performing Arts Centre with Will Pugh as MC. Wayne and Lawrence need volunteers to help out. You can sign up at our meetings or signup online by setting up an account. Last year the festival lost $8000 and this year is projected to be $5000 short so they need your help to get sponsors. The scholarship sponsored by the Late Reg Irish has expired so they are looking for a replacement sponsor for this scholarship.
Andrew Gaydon gave a pep talk on the poinsettias fundraiser. $20,000 worth of poinsettias were sold last year which raised $10,000. This year funds raised will be directed towards the support of children in our area (for example tin the breakfast program). He needs all club members to help sell poinsettias by approaching friends, customers and other contacts . Prices are $10, $20 and $30 incl tax. There is a deadline for ordering and there are 2 delivery dates.
Sergeant at Arms – Rod Collard
Rod started off by fining himself (I like that) to cushion the fact that he is fining others. He fined a number of people and presented books – some written by Ron Lambert. He also fined a couple of members who hadn’t paid for their drinks at the Club party at Jakes Oyster Bar and Dave Beckett was stuck with their bills.
Guest Speaker – Eleanor McMahan MPP
Rene Papin introduced Eleanor who was born in the Windsor area – one of 7 children. Her parents were always involved in community service so she was involved herself as a result. After her election she was appointed as Parliamentary Secretary for the Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry and this summer was appointed as Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport.
Eleanor didn’t talk much about her Ministry but gave her presentation on what her Government was doing to stimulate the economy in Ontario. She spoke of infrastructure spending $160 Billion in the next 12 years for hospitals, schools, roads, bridges and public transit. She also spoke about their Government’s Business Growth Initiative which targeted climate change. The elimination of coal formally used for power generation has resulted in lower smog levels in Ontario. Money collected from carbon pricing will be used towards retrofits to electric power. She feels Ontario is out in front of the curve – ahead of the US in making similar investments. She claimed (I am pretty sure she said this) that our energy costs were among the lowest in the country (I was advised that delivery costs made our hydro bills so high) and that we would be getting an 8% rebate starting in January (PST portion of the HST).
Dick Scott thanked Eleanor for her presentation and presented her with the usual Certificate regarding Polio Plus.
