Weekly Bulletin - February 11, 2013
Rotary Bulletin Monday, Feb 11, 2013
by Frank Morewood
Brian Tunstall did attendance. We had a total of 33 present at the meeting; 27 members, 2 prospective members, 3 visiting Rotarians and our guest speaker Kevin Flynn. Our two prospective members were Terry Scott and Dorina Rico. Terry has now signed an application and Dorina was attending her second consecutive Monday evening meeting. The visiting Rotarians were Ian Ferguson, District Governor, Bill Koopman, incoming President of RCOT and Susan Sheppard, incoming President of RCOW..
Susan Howard gave the Grace. Frank Morewood led the singing of O Canada with a big boost from Ian Ferguson. President Ralf proposed a toast to the Queen and Canada.
President Ralf’s then gave us a profile of Susan Howard, Past President, who is now in her second of three years as Assistant Governor. Susan also serves as our club Treasurer and has recently been our website manager. She continues to contribute to the website.
President Ralf reported on behalf of Hajra Wilson that the Gates Foundation has offered a new pledge towards the elimination of polio. The foundation will match in a ratio of two to one the money raised by Rotarians from 2013 to 2018, provided Rotarians raise at least $35 million. Subsequently DG Ian Ferguson commented that The Gates Foundation has already contributed $355 million to the Polio Plus program. He then reported that there were no new cases of polio in the world in the month of January 2013.
President Ralf asked us to mark out calendars for the District Governor’s changeover meeting on July 3, 2013. He then presented birthday greetings to Paul Bannon and mentioned upcoming birthdays for Alistair Yule and Linda Hill
Phyllis Kingsley announced that she is still looking for candidates for RYLA, the deadline for names of applicants is in two weeks. This year’s RYLA will be from April 29 to May 3.
President Ralf announced that Python’s Pit is looking for volunteers. The date is March 23. If you are able to volunteer for this event, please contact Ralf.
Judy Warrington commented on her upcoming trip to the Dominican Republic and circulated pamphlets about the school makeovers her GO-SEE-DO teams have done in the DR. She will attend a reception in the DR with the Canadian Ambassador where she will be recognized for the work GO-SEE-DO has done. She mentioned the contributions GO-SEE-DO has received from other Rotary Clubs across Canada. She thanked Susan and Richard for all the work they have done on administration and thanked Neil and Gary who filled hockey bags with sewing machines on short notice last Saturday. G0-SEE-DO has worked on 40 school makeovers in the DR.
Susan Howard ably handled Happy Bucks and Fines, mostly fines about curling. Puneet was happy that his wife bought a house in Mississauga when he was out of town.
Liz Behrens won the draw for those who had participated in the membership contest. She received a $150 gift certificate to Season’s Restaurant. Seasons Restaurant was chosen because it has been a long time sponsor of MDHIO.
Richard Roberts introduced our guest speaker, Kevin Flynn, Oakville’s MPP since 2003. Kevin has lived in Oakville for 30 years and earned his MBA at Athabaska University in 2011.
Kevin brought greetings to the club on behalf of the first woman Premier of Ontario. He said that he has long been an admirer of Rotary and will probably become a Rotarian when he is less busy. He mentioned having attended a Rotary meeting at which Stephen Lewis was guest speaker talking about AIDS in Africa. He was particularly interested because he had learned about the importance of serving in politics when he was a teenager from Steven Lewis father. Kevin learned about the magic of cooperation when he returned from Nairobi where a man had told him that their village needed a bulldozer. When he returned to Canada he asked questions about providing a bulldozer to Nairobi and the magic resulted in a new bulldozer for this village at no cost to them.
Kevin commented that Kathleen Wynne had picked good people and that Ontario is doing well financially and socially. He stated that Parliament had not been working for the last eight months of 2012. Only one bill was passed. So Kevin was fully expecting prorogation. He believes that the right person was chosen as the new Premier and commented that only 10 parliament days were missed as a result of prorogation.
Kevin told us that Ontario comes second after California as a place in North America for investors, and that it is the number one jurisdiction for the manufacture of autos. He commented that 90% of politicians are good people who want to do good for their community.
Recent accomplishments in Ontario included shortest wait times in Canada, expanding Green belt including expansion in Oakville, extension of Children’s Aid from age 18 to age 25.
Kevin then said that the new Oakville Hospital will “knock your socks off.” The facilities will be state of the art in addition it will have a grand view of the lake.
George How asked a multi-barreled question on prorogation, Ornge, e-health and gas plants, which Kevin responded to in good grace.
George Farrow thanked out speaker.
President Ralf proposed a toast to Rotarians and friends around the world.
Next week is Family Day and there is no meeting,