Vol. 101 No. 06
Brian Street, President
Joan Posivy, Secretary
Next meeting: Tuesday August 14, 2018 Jamie Houssian, Principal, Elemental Energy Corp. The Future and Present of Renewable Energy in Canada
Mr. Jamie Houssian is responsible for discovering new business and investment opportunities and setting the strategic direction of Elemental Energy. He has been in the renewable energy business since 2009. He has worked for Elemental performing a variety of roles since 2010 and worked at Chrysalix Energy Venture Capital before that. His first career was in the film business, where he was President and Co-Founder of The Collective Films, an award winning documentary and commercial film production company.
Elemental Energy Corp. is committed to projects that generate long term financial returns, environmental benefits for the planet, and positive social impacts for the communities in which we work. They accelerate the transition to a clean energy economy by investing in, developing, and managing renewable energy projects that generate long-term value for our shareholder, our partners and the planet.
Upcoming meeting: Tuesday August 21, 2018 Club Day!! Membership is a Focus for August
Upcoming social: Monday evening August 27, 2018 Club Visit to W&A Farms, Member Adriana Zylmans' Family Farm 17771 Westminster Hwy (corner of #8 Rd & Westminster Hwy) Richmond
All are welcome for an enjoyable evening at the farm. Please RSVP as soon as possible to Carolyn (admin@rotaryvancouver.org) so that Adriana is prepared.
PLEASE READ BELOW AND CONSIDER HELPING IN ANY WAY YOU CAN
Sponsorship is one of the key elements to this being a successful fundraiser. Is there anyone you know we can approach? As we know, personal relationships go a long way in securing support and funding. Contact Franco Gallo if you can help in any way -- providing contacts, sponsoring yourself (all amounts, no matter how small are welcome), or perhaps being on the team to contact potential sponsors.
We are looking for individuals or businesses to sponsor:
catering
beer service
wine service
dance floor
lighting
and more
We are looking for experiential items for the live auction. Suggestions: event tickets, limo rides, hotel stays, restaurants, sports (skiing passes, snowshoeing, zip lining), airline travel, exotic holiday vouchers, etc., etc. Only one's imagination is the limit. We will bundle items to provide fantastic auction items so don't think anything is too small.
Contact Carolyn (admin@rotaryvancouver.org).
Many volunteers are needed from now right through the evening of the event. People to:
help contact potential sponsors
help log & organize auction items
help distribute marketing materials, e.g., posters, and spread the word
help the night of the event with registration
be a member of the organizing committee
Contact Carolyn (admin@rotaryvancouver.org) if you can help in any way.
President Brian Street chaired the meeting and gave the invocation.
Don Evans accompanied us on the piano for the singing of O Canada.
Joe Lopushinsky, Sergeant-at-Arms, introduced visitors and guests.
President's announcements:
Red Carpet Ball
promotional postcards were available to all to take and share with friends. Note that so far the following have purchased tickets and will be receiving some of Rose's delicious shortbread c/o Wayne Fraser: Barbara Welsh, Franz Gehriger, Parisa Adrangi, Michael Woolnough & Mark Busse. The next 5 members who order will also receive this enticing treat as a way of saying thanks.
On Sunday August 5th at the Pride festivities on Sunset Beach, I [Brian] met a woman who happened to be a former Rotary Exchange Student. Small world! Chatting about our event to people is the best way to promote it, please do so. Let your friends know, your kids, your grandkids, your colleagues.
If every member is responsible for 6 people purchasing tickets, then we are more than 2/3 of the way to our goal of 800 attendees.
Note that there is a donation only option on Eventbrite for those who'd like to support our causes but are not interested or able to attend.
The event is now listed on Tourism Vancouver and Georgia Straight websites event listing pages.
A past speaker update: Mary Kitigawa who came and spoke to us about WWII Japanese Canadian Internment Camps will be one of 14 recipients of the 2018 Order of British Columbia. She will be joining the ranks of some other very special people including our own Anne Lippert who was a 2014 recipient.
Two new member applications have now been fully approved, both will be inducted on August 14th.
Brady Carpenter, Financial Planner
Robert Costigan, Financial Planner
This being membership month in Rotary, RI President Barry Rassin provided a two-minute message. CLICK HERE to see it.
Milton Kiang, filling in for Joan Posivy, provided the secretary's announcements:
reminders of upcoming events/meetings (see above);
birthdays: none this week
member anniversaries: none this week
wedding anniversaries: none this week
Special announcements; presentations, and members' moments:
Michael Woolnough invited all International Service Committee members to the annual summer dinner at the Granville Island Hotel on the last Thursday evening in August (the 30th). Please contact Michael if you are interested in attending so they can have accurate numbers for reservation.
Michael also provided a quick update regarding the latest international container loading on August 4th. This container was the 11th container sent to Kiev. Kaz Kadono should be recognized for the extraordinary work he does at these container loadings. He is always there, right inside the container, pulling, stacking and securing the medical beds and all the other, usually very heavy. Thank you Kaz, your help is appreciated!!
Thomas Miller, President of the Rotaract Young Professionals, spoke about how impressive the North America RYLA in Washington DC was. There were people from all around the world in attendance. As a result of connections made there is a group of Rotaractors who are working on organizing a Canadian National RYLA. Thomas finished by thanking the RC of Vancouver for their continued support of the Rotaract Young Professionals.
Program:
Katherine Copeland introduced speaker Dr. Maxwell A. Cameron and his presentation, "Politics and Practical Wisdom".
Dr. Cameron started by thanking RC of Vancouver for the invitation to speak and he expressed his admiration for the ethos, aims & work of Rotary.
There are schools for virtually all professions, but not for politicians. Would you fly with a pilot who has not had training? Would you go to a doctor who has had not training? And yet we trust politicians with some of our most important agencies and budgets.
A single question was the catalyst for a conference: Why don't more good people enter politics? UBC and the political science group were approached by Preston Manning to start a school to train people to be politicians. This was followed by a study that looked around the world for anything similar. Not one school was found.
A test model was developed whereby a couple of boot camp weekends followed by mock parliamentary sessions. Things learned include:
how to talk to the media
how to support party vs constituents
reflection: why do you think you'll be good in the role; what is your story
As an example, one of the students was a First Nations woman who worked with at risk youth for over 10 years, fighting addictions, had a father who was a residential school survivor. She certainly had a resiliency and was working to find her voice. A simulation of city government was help where raising taxes to cover opiod response costs was to be discussed/debated. A leader of the opposition was to be nominated - this lady was however when others also stood for the position she pulled back. She was talked into standing and did win the role. Afterwards, she was asked why the hesitation; she 2nd guessed herself as she believed others had more experience. However she had the passion, and ultimately won.
Councillor Ryman said, It is a choice to either step up or support someone else who will. We need to re-frame what it is to be a leader: it needs to be someone who builds a team to get the work done in the best way possible. Leaders should have practical wisdom, and the knowledge & skill to do the right thing at the right time. Aristotle said, find a wise practitioner and do what they do.
Good mentoring for young politicians is critical. Learning practical wisdom by finding a balance between extremes. Being courageous -- real courage is a balance between rashness and cowardice.
Politics is a profession that is learned through doing, trial and error. This doesn't mean there can't have a school to provide a framework and teach practical skills. Some intangible skills can be learned through practice. A school will provide a safe space to make mistakes and learn.
We want to inspire good people to get involved in politics for the right reasons and train them for the betterment of democracies.
If you, or you know someone who would enjoy exploring the possibility of being involved in politics, please contact Dr. Cameron for more information (max.cameron@ubc.ca).
Meeting adjourned with a toast to empowering future politicians.
