August 2011 Issue

Incorporating St. Thomas & District Chamber of Commerce

Volume 1, No. 12 August 2011 FREE

Your business:Your business: Running a Running a small business small business Your health:Your health: What is arthritis? What is arthritis? Your home:Your home: Think pink!Think pink!

Your business: Running a small business Your health: What is arthritis? Your home: Think pink!

Three cool businesses at the Three cool businesses at the Innovation Centre for Innovation Centre for Entrepreneurs (ICE) Entrepreneurs (ICE)

Cover story: page 3Cover story: page 3

Three cool businesses at the Innovation Centre for Entrepreneurs (ICE)

Cover story: page 3

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August, 2011 E L G I N T H I S M O N T H 3

Carroll PublishingPresident

Terry CarrollSecretary-TreasurerNancy Kelly Carroll

Elgin This MonthPublisherTerry CarrollEditorDorothy GebertSection EditorBusiness Beat – Bob Hammersley

Graphic Design / ProductionJim McHargSales RepresentativeGreg MinnemaOffice ManagerLaura Bart

Published monthly by Carroll Publishing, 15 St. Catharine Street, St. Thomas, ON N5P 2V7 519-633-1640www.theweeklynews.ca/etm

Three cool entrepreneursTaking their businesses to the next level at theInnovation Centre for Entrepreneurs (ICE)

The Innovation Centre for Entrepreneurs (ICE) in St. Thomas openedin June and four clients are already in place. According to Delia Reiche,ICE business development manager, more applications are pending. “Aclient waiting list is foreseeable by year end.”

The first three clients accepted into Elgin County’s first mixed-usebusiness incubator are excited about being part of a facility that nurturesentrepreneurial companies.

Mike Wood, North America sales director for Rampa Tec Inc., a fas-tener manufacturer, says he came on board because he was inspired bythe people and programs ICE had to offer, including access to resourcesand information. “By quickly getting the answers and contacts we re-quire, it allows me to focus on what matters…our customers and grow-ing our business.”

Darren Connolly, president of Allsource Depot, which specializes inhome health supplies, says he didn’t have all the knowledge required towear the many hats he needed as a business owner. “I saw ICE as a wayto educate myself and the business.” He says networking prospectsabound and he is being connected to other business owners throughoutElgin County.

Jim Semple, president of Saverity, a market research company, camefrom Ottawa to take advantage of the opportunities ICE was offeringin his hometown. “Mentorship from the staff across all business disci-plines has been amazing so far!” he says. “I don’t know any other placewhere you get a one-stopshop for services and team-work.”

To eligible companies,ICE offers coaching, men-toring, business develop-ment, venture assistance,administrative support andmore. Delia says that withthese services in place, ICEcan help accelerate the pos-sibilities for entrepreneurialcompanies to succeed.“This allows them to growand prosper, and createmore jobs in the commu-nity.”

Cover Story

by Dorothy Gebert

Jim Semple of Saverity Corp., Darren Connolly of All-Source Depot

and Mike Wood of Rampa Tec Inc. (Photo by Philip Bell, Shutter Studios)

PUBLISHER’S LETTERThe bad habits of highly unsuccessful people by Terry Carroll ..............................page 4

BUSINESS/COMMUNITYManaging MoneyWant to run a business with your spouse? by Stephanie Farrow ........................page 5Your BusinessManagement 101 – Part 2 by John Regan ................................page 6TechnologyCreativity unleashed by Peter Atkinson ............................page 7EconomicsRebuilding the Great Lakes powerhouse by Serge Lavoie ................................page 8LeadershipThink and act like a CEO by Bryan Vine ................................page 17

BUSINESS BEATThe Front PageChamber launches new map project ........................................................page 9

Member NewsSuccess for Great Lakes International Airshow ........................................page 10Chamber NewsCandidate functions coming ..........page 11Legal BusinessThe cost of doing battle by Monty Fordham ........................page 12Member NewsNew police program ......................page 13Pro TextProtecting your identity by Dan Reith ................................page 14Positive ExposureMisery is a communicable disease! by Allan Weatherall ........................page 15ViewpointHow to be a St. Thomasian… ......................................................page 16

RUNNING A SMALL BUSINESSStrategyThinking and growing your business by Brian Dempsey ........................page 18CustomersFinding the crucial piece of the puzzle by Shayne Wyler ............................page 19ManagingThe many hats of managing a small businessby Jesse Terpstra ............................page 20InsuranceInsurance tips for entrepreneurs ....page 21

HOMESTYLEDecoratingThink pink! by Renée Carpenter ......................page 22

That’s LifeLiving in harmony with nature by Elizabeth VanHooren ................page 23DINING & ENTERTAINMENTThe Play’s the ThingThe Grapes of Wrath and Cat on a Hot TinRoof by Ric Wellwood ..................page 24Savour ElginWhat a to do! by Kate Burns ................................page 25Wine & FoodAn ode to Chardonnay by Jamie Quai ................................page 26

HEALTHY LIVINGPersonal HealthPut communication on your back-to-school list by Jessica Austin and Jacky Allan ..page 27

Everyday HealthWhat is arthritis? by Dr. Greg Johnston ....................page 28

LIFESTYLESSelf DevelopmentWho inspires you? by Sharon Lechner ........................page 29

Time On My HandsThe ancient art of finding beauty in imperfection by Duncan Watterworth ................page 30


P u b l i s h e r ’ s L e t t e r

At The Peterborough Common Press,the second newspaper I worked onand the first one I was involved in asa business, we started writing latestories and laying out the newspaperabout 10am Sunday morning, andwe finished sometime between 5amand 8am Monday morning. TheCommon Press was an offshoot of thefirst newspaper most of us CommonPressers had worked on, the TrentUniversity student paper calledArthur. Masters of procrastination,we trained at Arthur in the art of all-night layout.

Even when she was pregnant withour first daughter, my wife Nancywas part of the all-night layout team.When we finished the marathon inthe wee hours, somebody (and I wasoften that somebody for the firstyear, since my wife Nancy and I hada Volkswagen Beetle) drove the news-paper to the presses in Tweed. Wehauled them back that afternoon inthe Beetle, some people did the mail-ing and store deliveries and some ofus went to the bar Monday night.We didn’t get much done on Tues-day, other than finish deliveries, cleanup and sleep.

It was one gigantic adventure. Ex-cept for the receptionist, everyonewas an aspiring writer, photographeror editor. Nobody really wanted tosell advertising. So we tried to hire asales representative on commission.The Common Press was a paid circu-lation newspaper with a left-leaningslant, and we sold circa 2,000 copies;perhaps not the top of most people’sadvertising buy list.

During the second summer of ouroperation, Ralph Hancock stoppedby. He was the editor of Reader’s Di-gest, he had a cottage in the

Kawarthas, and he had seen thepaper. I remember him asking us (acollection of, well, hippy journalists)who our target audience was. An em-barrassing silence ensued, and thenwe gave him some kind of answerabout people buying our paper. But,really, we didn’t understand the ques-tion.

Over time, we evolved from a co-

operative model of management tohaving an editor, and I sometimes as-sumed the role of the business guy.After 14 months of all-night layouts,in debt and with a daughter to feed,Nancy and I decided that we had tomove on. I got a regular job.

There are some key learnings fromthe experience, things that now seemobvious about running a small busi-

ness, which is the theme of thismonth’s feature in Elgin This Month.

One is that while it’s great to give iteverything you’ve got, working toomany hours is counter-productive.Very few people can keep up thepractice, like all-night layouts, forany length of time. Working toomuch can be almost as bad as work-ing too little.

Another is embedded in RalphHancock’s question. Who is your tar-get audience? Once you know that,you don’t have to care so much aboutwhat the competition is doing, be-cause you know what you’re doing.

A third is that it’s not greedy capi-talism to think that the owners haveto make a buck. If they don’t, noth-ing will last.

Also, somebody (good or bad, tallor short, skinny or fat, male or fe-male) has to be in charge.

And just because you love to dosomething (writing stories, takingphotographs, making widgets, what-ever), that alone does not guaranteesuccess. You’ve got to get up everyday and sell those stories, photo-graphs, widgets, whatever.

Eyeball to eyeball, belly to belly,you have to get out among ’em, asJack Gieg, a later newspaper mentorof mine, liked to say.

The bad habits of highly unsuccessful peopleLearning to run a business the hard way

by Terry Carroll

Terry Carroll isthe publisher ofthe St. Thomas/Elgin WeeklyNews and ElginThis Month.

working too many hours is

counter-productive““


My husband is my business part-ner. We are among the few peoplewho find their spouse to be a partnerin marriage, parenting and yes, busi-ness.

Running a business with yourspouse has challenges and benefits.Just like any other business owner,you put blood, sweat and tears intoyour businesses and work crazyhours. You can benefit from having apartner whose passion is wellmatched to your own, and under-stands the family sacrifices needed(often at a moment’s notice) to dealwith the unexpected.

Before you open shop, there aresome other questions to consider. Doyour skill sets complement eachother? Are you and your spouse wellmatched for business? Will you driveeach other crazy? We completed abusiness and teamwork profile beforetaking the leap. It can be pricey, buta profile can cost you less in the longrun than finding out the hard waythat you aren’t a good business fit.

One of the greatest challenges is afinancial one. Your family’s financialpicture is dependent on the successof one business. You have put allyour eggs in one basket, so to speak,and that carries with it some addi-tional risks. The average double in-come family can generally depend ondrawing from two sources of income.In this case, if something happens to

one source of income, you alwayshave the other to rely on. Not sowith the family run business. It’s allor nothing.

To help manage this risk, there aresome things you can do to buildyourself a safety net as you start yourbusiness endeavour. While you maynot be able to use all of these, youmay wish to consider some variationof them and how they could fit withyour plan.

1. Have a solid business plan. Linkit to your business financial plan.Link that to your personal financialplan. These three plans should workin concert with one another.

2. Don’t jump in with all four feet.If you are able to, have one spousework full time in the business to getit off the ground and have the otherkeep a salary job and work on thebusiness after hours for a while. Thiswill allow your family the safety netyou need to pay the bills.

3. During this time frame, if youare able, try to work your familybudget around the income from thespouse still bringing in a salary. Thiswill allow any profit from your busi-ness to stay in your business to con-tinue to grow your operation and/orbuild equity. Retaining earnings in

your business is a good way to pre-pare yourself for the time when thesecond spouse drops the salary andjoins the business. Personally, we didthis for five years to create more fi-nancial stability, but you can tailoryour timeframe to suit your specificneeds. It will be challenging, but stayfocused on meeting the milestones toyour end date.

4. Consider any benefits thesalaried spouse may have, like a pen-sion plan, group RRSP, medical anddental to be sure this is truly a goodmove for your business and family.

Get a good start to safeguardingyour family’s financial security as youembark on your business venture,and you will need to consider manyother things along the way. Maybe

there should be a handbook on“How to run a business and still staymarried” – ah, but that’s an entirelyseparate topic altogether.

If you are both entrepreneurial bynature, then you won’t be intimi-dated by the risk or the hard work,and the payoff can make it all worth-while.

B U S I N E S S / C O M M U N I T Y

MANAGING MONEY

Want to run a business with your spouse?Build yourself a safety net to helpmanage the financial risks

Stephanie Farrow,B.A., CFP, is aCertified Financial Plannerand co-owner ofFarrow FinancialServices Inc. inBelmont.

by Stephanie Farrow

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“


Are you a lion, lamb or vulturewhen it comes to management? Doyou micro-manage or do you em-power your staff? Are you consistent?Whatever management type you are,being consistent is probably the mostimportant trait you could have, be-cause good or bad, at least your staffknows what to expect.

Micro-managers shouldn’t be man-aging at all. If you micro-manage yourstaff, you’re showing that you have nofaith in them whatsoever. Do you re-ally want to spend all your timechecking on staff to ensure they’redoing their job right? Do you nothave anything to do yourself or doyou just like telling others whatthey’re doing is incorrect? Maybe youlike keeping a close eye on staff be-cause they fail. If this is the case, trytraining them so they can perform toyour expectations.

Vulture managers are similar to

micro-managers. The vulture allowsstaff to work independently, thenwithout warning, swoops in at theeleventh hour to announce that every-thing is wrong and to do it again.Sometimes they even take the projecton themselves or re-delegate it. Thistype of manager does not know howto build a good working team, and in-stead, picks through his staff to leavethem feeling insecure in their posi-tions, questioning their accomplish-ments.

Lamb managers, quite simply, arelead, but they are not leaders. Maybethey’ve moved up the ladder becauseof seniority, and now, without propertraining, they’re just putting in time.This type of manager doesn’t want totake on new projects or pursue newinitiatives, and they are quite happymaintaining the status quo.

Since today’s business world movesat the speed of light, who do youthink is the most effective? Let’s intro-duce the lion! The lion is the go-getter

and easily eats the lamb and vulture.He sneaks up on the micro-manager(don’t forget – micro-managers aretoo busy managing staff’s details) andeats him too to become the teamleader, taking care of the entire pride.The lion is strategic; understandingthere’s time for play and time to hunt,and that every member of the pridehas a job to do. The lion manager pos-sesses a solid plan to use competentmembers of the pride to meet the or-ganization’s expectations and de-mands.

So how are you managing? Notmanaging well means high staffturnover, expectations not met, anddiscord. My advice is to take courses,get a good mentor and ask for help!Take inventory of what you thinkgood managerial characteristics andskills are, and question whether or notyou have them. Let’s face it, we can allimprove how we manage and it doestake time, communications and life-long learning.

Now, if you’re being mismanaged –dodging vultures, avoiding lambs and

being scrutinized by a micro-manager– write down your concerns, ap-proach your manager and providesome non-confrontational suggestionson productivity.

I believe exceptional managers aresuccessful because these lions take thelead and see value in the human cap-ital they manage. These managerswork around staff weaknesses. Noneof us are perfect and we all have faults;but a good manager recognizes thestrengths of staff as well as the weak-nesses, and works to balance and fillgaps with other staff to present a uni-fied working team – an effective,hunting pride.


YOUR BUSINESS

Management 101 - Part 2Your management style can make all the difference in how your team performs

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SUMMER


How can the Internet help creativepeople in Elgin County take theircreations to another level?

For most writers, the writing isn’tthe hard part, it’s how to get a fin-ished product. I talked about e-bookslast month, but for physical books,both Lulu and Blurb offer a print-on-demand (POD) service. With POD,there is no pre-ordering; once you’veuploaded your book to their websiteand set the selling price, these com-panies take a portion of the sellingprice to process the orders you sendthem or sell through their onlinebookstores, printing and shippingship books only as they’re ordered.

And if you’ve always wanted tohave your own magazine, Issuu andPressjack will make that dream cometrue.

For writers looking for some reas-surance, Unbound.co.uk lets youpitch your book idea to readers andeven collect pre-production orders.

Of course, you’ll need a cover.There are design services you can payfor, but you can also invest sometime and learn how to use very pow-erful online tools for making art orediting photos. Sumopaint andAviary are both free but just as pow-erful as software costing $600 ormore.

Artists and photographers will lovethese same products. And they alsohave plenty of choice for what to dowith the finished product.

You can take advantage of POD oruse Zazzle or Cafe Press to create anonline store to sell your designs on t-shirts, coffee mugs, greeting cards,

calendars and more. These compa-nies also just take a cut of the salesprice and handle production andshipping. Or you could use Spoon-flower to turn your artwork into fab-ric.

For artisans and craftspeople, Etsyand Ponoko also let you create an on-line store to sell your handmadeitems.

And for musicians! Tunecore isn’tfree but will get your music intoiTunes, Amazon and eMusic amongothers for a very reasonable fee.Bandcamp asks you to do a bit morework (“it’s so easy even your drum-mer could...well, perhaps not thateasy”), but doesn’t have any up-frontfees and gives you immense controlover how and what you share as youbuild your global audience.

For the performing arts, there’s justno real substitute for a live perform-ance. But the Internet can still cometo your aid with Kickstarter. Thiswebsite hosts pitches for everything

from comics, toys and product ideasto, yes, plays and films. If your ideais good enough, you’ll find investorsin no time. Most projects are under$10,000 but an idea for a watch gen-erated almost $1 million.

If you’re an inventor with an idea,

try Quirky. Like Kickstarter, you canget pre-production commitmentsbut if your idea is selected, the folksat Quirky don’t stop there. Their in-house industrial design team willhelp refine your idea, and then pro-duce it and help you take it to mar-ket.

Of course, there’s no shame usingyour talents to create for other peo-ple; Elance and Guru both help youfind work as a freelancer, with a freeoption to let you see if the processworks for you.

Whatever you’re interested in,there’s probably a website to help youshare it with the world. Of course,you still have to find your audience.But for now, get creating.


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Creativity unleashedWebsites can help writers, artists, musicians and other creative people get their work out there

Peter Atkinson isE-Services Consultant at theSt. Thomas Public Library.

by Peter Atkinson



ECONOMICS

The Great Lakes region, compris-ing two Canadian provinces andeight U.S. states, is the fourth largesteconomy in the world and needs bet-ter recognition as such.

This was the key message deliveredto some 250 delegates at the GreatLakes and St. Lawrence Region Sum-mit held late June in Windsor. Theconference was jointly organized bythe Mowat Centre on Policy Innova-tion at the University of Toronto andthe Metropolitan Policy Program atthe Brookings Institution, Washing-ton D.C.

At 105 million, the region has the12th largest population in the worldand with a GDP of $4.6 trillion(2009) it ranks just behind theUnited States, Japan and China. Yet,with this scale, it has remarkably lit-tle economic or policy coordinationand a weak brand recognition com-pared to other regions around theworld or in North America.

Once an economic powerhousebuilt around cheap and easy marinetransportation, the region is now fa-mous for rapid de-industrializationand massive efforts to transform itseconomy. Fragmented politics and acommon border that has becomethicker and more difficult to maneu-ver since 9-11 have hampered effortsto create a seamless regional econ-omy that could be globally competi-tive.

In addition to plenary sessions set-ting out the scope of the issues, del-egates participated in 10 breakoutworkshops, or Idea Labs, that lookedat the range of challenges and oppor-tunities. These included human cap-ital and post-secondary education;

transportation and infrastructure;water stewardship; trade and borderissues; agriculture; innovation, R&Dand emerging clusters; manufactur-ing; clean energy; the ‘blue’ economy(water); and tourism.

Session after session detailed exist-ing and potential innovative solu-tions to both the challenges andopportunities. What became clear,however, was the perceived lack ofpolitical will and leadership to em-brace these initiatives in a sustainedway. This was underlined by numer-ous references to a proposed newWindsor-Detroit bridge crossingwhich is once again in danger ofbeing rejected by the Michigan leg-islature, even though consensus onthe need is strong and Canada has

committed to it financially.Of interest to Southwestern On-

tario was the clear focus on the bigcity agendas, not surprising given theevent’s sponsors. While our regionembraces its unique mix of rural andsmall to medium size urban, thisconference focused on the need tolink together a series of strong ‘cityregions’ such as Chicago/Milwaukee,D e t r o i t / T o l e d o / O h i o ,Toronto/Hamilton/Waterloo andMontreal/Ottawa.

This model works well when justi-fying the economics of high-speedrail, for instance. A Montreal-Toronto-Chicago line is far more vi-able economically than a QuebecCity-Windsor line. But the focus onbig urban meant that the conference

paid very little attention to the eco-nomic role of agriculture and agri-business in the region, a curiousomission.

Is any of this important to our partof Southwestern Ontario? It shouldbe. St. Thomas and Elgin Countyhave prospered because the regionaround us prospered. There wouldnever have been a Michigan CentralRailway if we hadn’t been a strategiclink between the industrial power-houses of Chicago, Detroit and Buf-falo. Our unique geography clearlyplayed an important role in our pastgrowth and research suggests that itwill continue to do so.

What may come out of this sum-mit is unclear. More than one pre-senter described the event as “thebeginning of a movement.” Giventhat most of the 250 delegates weresenior level and influential from bothsides of the border, there is a real pos-sibility of some sort of positive out-come. At the very least, importantgrass roots connections were madeand strengthened. This will no doubtlead to further small cross border ini-tiatives. In the absence of top levelpolitical leadership, it may not beenough to achieve the vision, but it’sa move in the right direction.

Rebuilding the Great Lakes powerhouseChallenges and opportunities discussed at Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Region Summit

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Business Beat Table of ContentsSuccess for Great Lakes International Airshow ..........................................page 10

Visible inspection reports? ................................page 11

The cost of doing battle................................page 12

New police program ................................page 13

Protecting your identity ................................page 14

Misery is a communicable disease! ....................page 15How to be a St. Thomasian ..........page 16

Business After 5Wednesday

August 17, 2011Grand Central Place

Commercial Plaza AtriumLower Level

300 Talbot StreetSt. Thomas

Sponsored bymyFM 94.1St. Thomas

Doors open at 5pm. Sponsorremarks and prize draws startat 6:15pm. Free admission for

anyone from a business organization that is a Memberof the St. Thomas & District

Chamber of Commerce.

Complimentary hors d’oeuvresand your favourite beverages.

The time has come for theChamber to produce a newedition of one of our mostpopular printed products –the St. Thomas & District‘Discovery Guide and StreetMap.’

The next edition will beproduced in associationwith Impressions Printing.John White, Regional SalesRepresentative with Impres-sions, will be contacting allMembers who supportedour last project by advertis-ing on it. In the event thatspaces open for possible useby other Members, place-ments will be on a first-come/first-served basis.

The administrative part ofthis project, including all adsales, billings and collec-tions, will be handled onour behalf by Impressions,as will printing and assem-bly of the finished prod-uct. The Chamber staff willassist with design and con-tent.

Over 50,000 copies of thenew edition will be createdand distributed through theChamber office. Our staffwill ensure placement of themaps in high-traffic visitorand business locations andwith key agencies we workwith such as City Hall.

As in the previous issues,street maps for all commu-nities within our St.Thomas / Central Elgin /Southwold service area willbe included, along withpromotional and descrip-

tive copy that makes thefinished project useful bylocal businesses and resi-dents, as well as in sup-port of promotion andeconomic developmentwork beyond the localboundaries. We update ourarea maps every two years

and remain proud of thepopularity of our prod-uct. Any Member wishingto know more about adver-tising opportunities shouldcontact John White at Im-pressions directly. He can bereached by at 519-633-1580, ext. 24 [email protected]

A limited number ofcopies of the current ‘Dis-covery Guide & Street Map’remain available to anyMember. If your businesscould benefit by placingcopies on the counter, or ifyou’re in one of those spotswhere folks routinely stopand ask for directions, justlet us know and we will behappy to see copies deliv-ered to you. There is nocharge to any Member tohave maps placed at yourlocation.

How successful was the Airshow? Read aboutit on page 10.

September Edition Advertising Deadline is August 15

Coming in September...Our First AnniversaryEdition: Who’s Who In Business.

To take advantage of this excellent advertising opportunity, give me a call at

519-633-1640 (ext. 22) or email me at

[email protected] Minnema,Advertising Sales

Chamber launches new map project

What about you?Are you interested in community service working

with the Chamber? Our Nomination Committee isnow inviting applications from Members interestedin serving on the Chamber’s Board of Directors orparticipating on one of our Standing Committees.

The Chamber’s Board includes 12 Directors, eachserving 3-year terms. Terms are offset so that no morethan four retire in any one year. Directors are eligibleto serve up to two consecutive terms. Terms start eachyear on January 1 but are confirmed each year in ad-vance of that date at the Chamber’s Annual GeneralMeeting in November.

Preparation to build a slate of nominees for the2012 Chamber Board are now underway and are theresponsibility of our current Board Chair, LindaSawyer. Both Linda and Chamber President/CEOBob Hammersley welcome questions and expressionsof interest from any eligible Member. Bob can bereached any weekday at the Chamber office at 519-631-1981, ext. 24 or you can contact Linda at herBMO office, 519-631-6920.

Over 50,000 copies of the new

edition will be createdand distributed

through the Chamber office.

“

“

John White; Impressions Printing

MEMBER NEWS Events and News of Interest to our Members


BUSINESS BEAT

The Chamber extends sincerethanks to Philip Bell of Shutter Stu-dios for sharing two very impressiveshots of a Canadian Forces CF-18 inaction at the Great Lakes Interna-tional Airshow (GLIAS). The photosare just a tiny sample of the high-speed action and incredible aviationdisplayed to a crowd estimated atover 50,000 during the shows heldat St. Thomas Municipal AirportJune 24-26.

Hugh Shields, Executive Directorof the GLIAS, explained to theChamber that final results, in termsof attendance and earnings, won’t bereleased until September. At presstime for this article, month-end in-voices had yet to arrive and final cal-culations were yet to be made butShields confirmed he expects theshow to be “handsomely profitable.”

Net proceeds from the show are tobe given to the community throughorganizations including the St.Thomas Elgin General HospitalFoundation, the major beneficiary ofthe show.

Given the large contingent of vol-

unteers responsible forthe success of theGLIAS, Shields saysit’s important that thefinal results be an-nounced at an eventdesigned to thank thevolunteers. He told us“Our intention is tohave a volunteer ap-preciation party inearly September (sum-mer is too busy) andmake our formal an-nouncements andcheque presentationsthen. We are so heavilyvolunteer-based it wasmy thought to actuallyhave them presentwhen the fruits of theirlabour are doled out.”

The photos shownhere are of CanadianForces Captain Erick O'Connor.The take-off shot shows his CF-18leaping off the ground into a nearstraight-up take-off, afterburnersfully lit. And that’s not smoke

streaming off thesides near the cock-pit; it’s air vapourcondensing into acloud, a conditionbrought-on by therapid acceleration ofthe jet into humidair.

A Canadian Forcespilot since 1991,Captain O’Connor was signed to theCF-18 Demonstration team last Oc-tober.

Each CF-18 Hornet is valued at$35 million. The aircraft flies at amaximum speed of mach 1.8 (1,127miles per hour or 1,814 kilometersper hour), can reach a ceiling of50,000 feet and can climb to that al-titude in just one minute. Emptyweight of each plane is 23,049 lbs.or 10,455 kg.

1.59% 1.64%6.9¢

President & CEO Bob HammersleyMember Services Coordinator Mike VecchioAccounting Coordinator Susan MundayProject Marketing Sue McKittrickMember Services Wes Bailey

Acting Chair: Linda Sawyer BMO Bank of MontrealVice-Chair: Jason White Steelway Building SystemsTreasurer: Paul Smith P.J. Smith & AssociatesDirector: Pete Charlton Charlton’s Quality MeatsDirector: Monty Fordham Monty Fordham Law OfficeDirector: Frances Kennedy P3 StrategiesDirector: Jeff Kohler Presstran IndustriesDirector: Mark Lassam Kee, Perry & Lassam Chartered AccountantsDirector: Debra Mountenay Workforce Planning & Development BoardDirector: John Regan Elgin Business Resource CentreDirector: Darren Reith Reith and Associates Insurance & FinancialDirector: Allan Weatherall St. Thomas Elgin General Hospital FoundationDirector: Laura Woermke St. Thomas Elgin Public Art Centre

Published by Carroll Publishing Inc. and delivered to businesses in St. Thomas and Elgin County

For complete information on the St.Thomas and District Chamber of Commerce, reach us at:555 Talbot Street, St.Thomas, ON N5P 1C5Telephone: 519-631-1981 Fax: 519-631-0466E-Mail: [email protected]: www.stthomaschamber.on.ca

Photos courtesy of Shutter Studios

Success for Great Lakes International Airshow


CHAMBER NEWS Events and News of Interest to our MembersBUSINESS BEAT

Candidate functions comingThe Chamber’s Public Sector Liaison Committee will be arranging a unique

new information event for our Members and the entire community prior tothe upcoming Ontario election.

Tuesday, September 27 we will join with Rogers Television and myFM 94.1radio to broadcast an all-candidates program. The show will be aired live onthe Rogers cable system and the audio portion simulcast live by St. Thomas’new myFM radio station. This format represents a first for us, made possiblethanks to the willingness of local media to work together with the Chamberfor community benefit. The program will include a question period withrepresentatives of all local media newsrooms invited to join in a panel.

Start time, duration and other program specifics were still being negotiatedas this issue of Business Beat went to press. Members should watch theChamber’s weekly Green Mail and next month’s Business Beat for furtherinformation.

We’re also aware that another local St. Thomas all-candidates event is beingplanned for Wednesday, September 21, hosted by the St. Thomas/ElginWeekly News at Fellowship Christian Reform Church on Elm Street in St.Thomas.

Got a good book?Distribution of the Chamber’s latest business directory, the 2011 Mem-

bership Directory & Buyer’s Guide, was completed to over 700 local Mem-ber-business locations in July by our colleagues at Aylmer Express and theChamber staff. If your business could use additional copies of our new 268page directory, just let us know. Contact Member Services Coordinator MikeVecchio at 519-631-1981, ext. 23 during business hours or send him a noteat [email protected]

The Chamber’s annual business directory is a partner product to our onlinedirectory on the Chamber website and is the most comprehensive source forbusiness contact information in our region.

Sample Show setThe Chamber’s Member Serv-

ices Committee has confirmedplans to again host our popularBusiness Sample Show duringNational Business Week.

The 2011 event will take placeWednesday, October 19 at St.Anne’s Centre and can accom-modate displays and exhibits by up to 70 Members. As the name implies,we focus this event on samples or anything from food to products and serv-ices. Exhibitors are asked to include take-away items in the displays or, forthose that can’t provide hundreds of free samples, we ask a contribution toour door prizes.

Space sells out quickly on this event. For details, contact Mike Vecchio orWes Bailey at the Chamber office at 519-631-1981 [email protected]

Visible inspection reports?Elgin St. Thomas Public Health is asking for feedback on what type of in-

formation should be made public about health inspections on local restau-rants and inspected food-service / hospitality businesses.

Over 50 local businesses that, together, employ over 2,000 people areChamber Members that could be affected by action taken.

Currently, inspection reports are only available upon request. The City ofLondon and the Middlesex London Health Unit recently adopted a colour-coded system indicating the type of rating a restaurant or food-service op-eration is given. Ratings appear on pages that are posted at restaurantentrances and can also be viewed online.

Before deciding local policy, Public Health is asking for feedback in a sur-vey on their website. Input from the general public as well as those in localfood-service / hospitality businesses is welcome. You can take part by visitingwww.elginhealth.on.ca. The survey is open now to Friday September 2.

Tourism – what’s it worth?Ontario tourism business data has recently been reorganized to provide

comprehensive info on inbound and outbound traffic, spending and em-ployment.

Have a look at this web site: www.mtc.gov.on.ca/en/research/historicalstats/historical_statistics_tables.shtml

45 Metcalcalfe Street, , St. Thomhomas 5s 519.631.9393 3 Fax: 5x: 519.631.256345 Metcalfe Street, St. Thomas 519.631.9393 Fax: 519.631.2563

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LEGAL BUSINESS Legal News and Issues for BusinessBUSINESS BEAT

In a decision of the Superior Courtof Ontario released on May 30, anOttawa lawyer has been ordered bythe judge to personally pay $72,000in costs to the Township of Russell,the successful defendant in the maincourt case. The case involved theconstitutional challenge by two indi-viduals, Jean-Serge Brisson andHoward Galganov, of a local bylawthat required that all commercialsigns be in both English and French.

It could be said that the case wascomplex, as are all cases involving ar-guments under the Charter of Rightsand Freedoms. After finding againstthe plaintiffs on all Charter grounds,it seems that the judge hearing thecase felt that the lawyer acting for theplaintiffs had unnecessarily pro-tracted the litigation, thereby puttingall parties to additional inconven-ience and expense. It also appears,however, that the lawyer at all timeshad the confidence and continuedengagement of his clients.

The issue of costs in litigationsometimes takes on more impor-tance than the substance of the caseitself. In other words, the expense ofthe action is far more than it is worthto either party, win, lose or draw. Itwould be nice to be able to deter-mine this at the outset of the case,

but, as any litigation lawyer will tellyou, cases often seem to take on a lifeof their own.

Costs are generally awarded to thesuccessful party in a lawsuit and arepayable by the unsuccessful party.Ontario law recognizes three levels ofcosts: partial indemnity, substantialindemnity and full indemnity. Inmany cases, however, the judge hear-

ing the case will award costs in afixed amount. Sometimes the judgewill order no costs payable where cir-cumstances warrant.

The Rules of Practice of the Supe-rior Court allow a judge to order thatcosts of the successful party be paidpersonally by the lawyer acting forthe unsuccessful party, where he has“caused costs to be incurred withoutreasonable cause or to be wasted byundue delay, negligence or other de-fault.” The key words would seem tobe “reasonable,” “undue” and “otherdefault.” These are words law profes-sors often refer to as weasel words;they sound clear enough until youtry to apply them to individual cases.

Case law has generally held that inorder for a lawyer acting in a case tohave costs awarded against him theremust be “serious misconduct.” Againthe words are not entirely definitive.The Supreme Court of Canada, inthe case of Young v. Young, had thisto say: “Courts must be extremelycautious in awarding costs personallyagainst a lawyer, given the dutiesupon a lawyer to general confiden-tiality of instructions and to bringforward with courage even unpopu-lar causes. A lawyer should not beplaced in a situation where his or herfear of an adverse order of costs mayconflict with these fundamental du-ties of his or her calling.” (Emphasismine)

In the Galganov and Brisson casethe judge awarded costs to RussellTownship in the amount of$180,000. The lawyer was ordered topay 40 percent, so it is not as if Gal-ganov and Brisson got out un-scathed. As well, they would have topay their lawyer in accordance withhis retainer. Moreover, Russell Town-ship, which asked the judge for$300,000, would be obligated to itslawyer as well.

It seems the judge in the case grewweary of the tactics of the plaintiffs’lawyer and seems to have drawn theconclusion that, while she found thematter an important one, there wasno public interest served by the liti-gation. The problem raised, however,by her award of costs, is that lawyersmay feel compelled to second guesstheir clients, and, while it is always alawyer’s duty to point out the weak-nesses and likelihood of success in aclient’s case, he or she should not bedriven off the case by the risk of anadverse costs award.

In all likelihood the costs order willbe appealed; the decision will be im-portant, and not only to lawyers.

Lawyer Monty Fordham prepares thismonthly column for the St. Thomas &District Chamber of Commerce andour Members. Monty is also a volun-teer serving on the Chamber’s Boardof Directors. Questions, commentsand suggestions for future columns arewelcomed by Monty at his Law Office,4 Elgin Street, St. Thomas. Telephone519-633-4000, FAX 519-633-1371or e-mail: [email protected]

by Monty Fordham

The cost of doing battle

costs in litigation sometimes takes on more importance

than the substance of the case

“

“

Summer networking

Bryan Vine of The GrowthCoach, Suzanne Edwards andGinette Minor of Genuine Stitchesand Paul Corriveau of the RailwayCity Brewing Company chat at theSt. Thomas & District Chamber ofCommerce Business After 5 eventheld July 14 on the patio at ME &Suzie’s Restaurant in Port Stanley.


MEMBER NEWS Events and News of Interest to our MembersBUSINESS BEAT

New policeprogram

The St. Thomas Police Service(STPS) is part of a new programcalled the Youth in Policing Initiative(YiPI). The initiative is designed toprovide summer employment oppor-tunities for youth to work with PoliceServices to help mentor them and de-velop relevant work-related skills.

In order to be chosen for the pro-gram, youths applying must be resi-dents/students who demonstrateinterest in making a better life forthemselves and working to improveour community. Staff Sergeant ChrisHerridge from the STPS SupportServices Unit told the Chamber, “Wehave the opportunity to mentor andinfluence these youth in a way thatvery well may help determine their fu-ture direction in life.”

Braden Hellems is a Grade 11 stu-dent at Parkside Collegiate. He re-cently signed with the St. ThomasStars Jr. B hockey team and is an avidsportsman (hunting) and referee. Hehas been hired by STPS for eightweeks.

Now through August 26, Bradenwill be involved with Support Servicesand assigned a variety of duties thatinclude taking an abbreviated CadetOrientation Course, observing vari-ous functions and Units within thePolice Service, attending and assistingat Community events, and learningabout all aspects of the Police Service.

The Chamber and police have en-joyed a positive working relationshipin the past and will work together

again to provide some meaningful ex-periences for Braden. Graffiti clean-upis one initiative that could be a wayfor Braden to interact with our Mem-bers and help the way our communitylooks. The Chamber can arrange spe-cial pricing on paint and supplies andMember Services Coordinator MikeVecchio will be pleased to co-ordinatecontact and scheduling with STPS.Call Mike at 519-631-1981, ext. 23.

YiPI (Youth in Policing Initiative) student BradenHellems (right) is shown with St. Thomas PoliceConst. Brian Kempster as the pair identify one ofthe downtown St. Thomas graffiti targets to becleaned and removed.


PRO TEXT Business Management News & IssuesBUSINESS BEAT

Sometime ago I wrote about theissue of identity theft. Since thattime the issue has become evergreater as technology has evolved tobetter aid hackers and our society isdrawn evermore into social network-ing and therefore the global publica-tion of our personal information.

There is a certain irony in all this.Government legislation exists to pro-tect our personal and private detailsyet there are those who think noth-ing about sharing aspects of it withthe world through Internet time.More than 21,000 victims were re-ported in Canada in 2009. It is a se-rious issue. Advancements intechnology, all of which are intendedto bring us closer and make our liveseasier have opened the door to awhole new world for those of the lessthan honest and reputable ilk toprofit from the theft of personal in-formation. This includes, but is notlimited to, driver’s license numbers,credit card information, social insur-

ance numbers and other private per-sonal data. This column will notserve to recommend and advise allthe ways one can preserve and pro-tect from identity theft. That shall beleft to our local law enforcement andcommon sense. What this columnwill serve to provide is a solution tothose who may fall victim to thecrime of identity theft. Do not waituntil you discover you suddenly owefor credit cards, car loans and mort-gages before you do something. It isbest to be proactive rather than reac-tive.

Apart from taking the prescribedsteps to protect your person, yourname, your credit and your identity,look no further than your house in-surance policy. For those who rent orhave a condo, identity theft insur-ance can be added to these policies aswell. Quite simply, identity theft in-surance provides protection in theevent that you are a victim. Such in-surance will reimburse for basic ex-penses related to identify theft andfraud: time off work, legal costs etc.The basic expenses are however lim-

ited to set dollar amounts and timeperiods. As far as what it costs, theyvary but a quick survey tells us someinsurers are tossing it in for nothing,at present, while others are chargingas much as $50. This price is annualand simply added to your policy.Some insurers have even gone so faras to require, as a condition of yourpolicy, that you register all householdcredit cards with them.

Those who have taken advantage ofthe Chamber of Commerce grouphouse insurance program throughNovex can purchase this coverage for$30 per year. It is free if you havebeen insured with Novex for morethan 5 years. The twist with this in-

surer’s program is that they include ahost of legal and other services tohelp policyholders repair the damageto their credit rating, deal with po-tential lawsuits, prevent harassmentby creditors and restore their goodname.

If you have embraced technologyor even toss out old bills and per-sonal documents without shredding,you may want to consider the reali-ties of personal identity theft. Speakwith local law enforcement on waysto protect yourself and then speak toyour insurance provider to learnwhat you can do even if you are avictim. While personal identity theftinsurance does serve to assist in pick-ing up the pieces, it is not a cure-allfor a lack of good judgment or care-lessness; it is intended only to protectagainst the unexpected.

2011 KOHLERCLASSIC GOLFTOURNAMENT

September 10/2011 9:00am shotgun start$90 per person Includes:

• 18 holes of golf @ Kettle Creek Golf & Country Club

• Golf Cart/per two people• Lunch to follow tournament• Fantastic prize for each player• Only 144 spaces available-register early!.Over the last 12 years, we havehosted the Kohler Classic GolfTournament to raise money forvarious charities throughout ourcity. We have raised more than$100,000, which we were able todonate back to St. Thomas. Thisyear’s proceeds will be donated tothe St. Thomas and Elgin GeneralHospital Campaign, the Talbot TeenCentre and the Elgin Theatre Guild.

Sponsorship Opportunities:Gold - $2500 : includes 1 foursome, four holesigns and company logo on dinner placemats.Silver - $600 : includes four hole signs.Bronze - $300 : includes two hole signs.Community Sponsor - $200: includes one hole sign

Contact: [email protected] or 519-631-6401

Protecting your identity

This column appears regularly inBusiness Beat and has been submittedby Dan Reith, BA(Hons) CAIB,Principal Broker, Reith & AssociatesInsurance and Financial ServicesLimited. Questions and comments onthis column are welcomed by thewriter at 519-631-3862 or viaemail: [email protected]

by Dan Reith


POSITIVE EXPOSURE Doing Public Relations RightBUSINESS BEAT

I believe that effective communica-tion is 20 percent what you knowand 80 percent how you feel aboutwhat you know. In other words, at-titude is everything.

If you’re miserable, and othersaround you sense it, there is a ten-dency to drag them down with you.Attitudes are contagious. Are yoursworth catching?

One man I would have loved tomeet was Sir Winston Churchill whoonce said “Attitude is a little thingthat makes a big difference.” Anotherman who would have been special tomeet was legendary NFL CoachVince Lombardi who stated “If youaren't fired with enthusiasm, you willbe fired with enthusiasm.”

I have lived in a big city, Ottawa; asmall community, Huntsville (popu-lation 18,000 year ‘round) and, since2005, here in St. Thomas. I can trulysay that people are people every-where. No matter where you are, youcan find those with such positive at-titudes that you wonder where theyget their energy. Then you have thosewho tend to drag everyone down.People who say things that are nottrue, bend the truth, or misrepresentthings to fit circumstances. I evenhad an experience with one man inOttawa who would change his ver-sion of a story from one person toanother to see what reaction hewould get. And this was a personwho was in a senior administrativeposition! I had little respect for him.It’s unfortunate but, of course, wehave all met these types of people.

I love to keep up with what is hap-pening in news from around theworld or maybe just across the street.Therefore, I have read many newspa-pers and watched many, many TV

programs in my life. Communication through the

media can be one of the biggest chal-lenges faced by businesses and organ-izations. Getting the story you tell tobe the story that’s told isn’t as easy asit appears. Over the years, throughgood rapport with journalists innewspapers and radio and televisionoutlets, I have had varying degrees ofsuccess with having a story run theway I hoped or wished it might. Itwas fun to deal with some media, yetothers left me wondering where they

got their information. Their reportedstories didn’t attain my content ex-pectations and some even bent thetruth out of all proportions.

One of my recent and favourite ex-amples of media communication hasbeen the generally positive coverageon the activities of Prince Williamand Kate as they visited just a coupleof weeks ago. Imagine being in frontof 300,000 people on ParliamentHill – as Prince William was – whilehaving the wrong attitude. It wouldhave been a disaster for sure. Withover 1,400 journalists from far rang-ing countries present and focused onevery moving detail, the potential forattitude and behaviour to mix wasstrong. Whether it was somethingnew, something different or even ahumorous incident, the attitude ofthe media showed they were readyfor anything that came along.

My best advice is to remember thatthe only difference between a goodday and a bad day is your attitude.We all discover, sooner or later, thatone of life’s greatest discoveries is the

ability to alter one’s life by alteringattitude.

Wernher von Braun, who was in-strumental in putting a man on themoon, said “I have learned to use theword impossible with the greatestcaution.” Again, his attitude madehim pursue what was deemed – atthe time – technologically impossi-ble.

Positive anything is better thannegative thinking, so I hope youhave the right attitude. Look for theanswers before you form a final opin-ion and move forward with enthusi-asm once you know all the facts.The only thing we can do is changeour attitude! I am convinced that lifeis 10 percent what happens and 90percent how I react to it. Or did I say20 percent and 80 percent at the be-ginning of the article? You may haveto read this whole thing again. Nowthat’s the attitude!

This article has been prepared for theChamber and our Members by AllanWeatherall, B.A., CFRE, APR - Director of Development at the St. Thomas Elgin General HospitalFoundation. He received accredita-tion (APR) from the Canadian PublicRelations Society in 1993 and aCFRE (certified fundraising executive)in 2000. He welcomes your commentsvia email to: [email protected] or telephone 519-631-2030 extension 2247

Misery is a communicable disease! by Allan Weatherall

116 Edward St. St. Thomas www.disbrowe.com 519-631-7960116 Edward St. St. Thomas www.disbrowe.com 519-631-7960

The Team at DisbroweChevrolet, Buick, GMC,

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Welcome Todd Wait

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Attitudes are contagious“

“


VIEWPOINT Events and News of Interest to our Members

Stats Can says 12 percent of St.Thomas and area residents move inan average year. Some upsize homes,some downsize. Some move acrosstown, and others move from rural tourban or urban to rural. And aboutone third of all address-changerscome from places out of the provinceor out of the country. Over even ashort period, say five years, thatmeans a whole crop of folks have ar-rived who really have minimumknowledge of our area and the busi-nesses and places within.

Because local names of people andplaces in the St. Thomas area baffleboth newcomers and permanent res-idents alike we have built a quickguide to making it easy.

First, some history that sets therules. The early settlers here weremostly English and Irish. We canthank the English for lots of unnec-essarily long and peculiar spellings(yes, the same folks who gave us‘draught’ when a simple ‘draft’ woulddo it), and we can thank the Irish forsome odd ways to pronounce wordsand emphasizing last syllables insteadthe customary first ones.

Say these with ease and you’ll be anofficial St. Thomasian. Yes, that’scorrect – not a St. Thomasite!

Aylmer – Elmer and/or Almer is acommon local mistake, but it’s prop-erly said Ale-mer, with a long ‘a.’Think beer. Think ale. Say Ale-mer.Same goes for the place in Quebecand when reading those cannedgoods labels. The local mis-speak asElmer or Almer seems unique toElgin. If you’re from Embrun, Rus-sell, Manotick or anywhere in theOttawa area, no problem. They sayAylmer as it should be.

Aldborough – Many locals some-how think this has something to dowith actor Alan Alda. Not so. It’s notAlda-boro... Just simple Ald-boro. Ifyou head to the west end of Elgin, be

prepared for people who can’t say theletter ‘d.’ All-boro is their way of slur-ring, er, saying it.

Alma – We have Alma Street andused to have Alma College. It’s Al,like a guy’s name, not oll like doll.Say Al-muh.

CASO – It’s not really a word, it’san abbreviation for ‘Canada South-ern.’ One of St. Thomas’ best historicsites is the CASO Railway Station.Say Kay-so.

Cowan – Cowan Park is a niceplace. No cows there, except in howyou say it.

Currah – Easy, just like it looks.Don’t growl, but remember Currrhymes with the sound an angry dogmakes: grrrr.

Daugharty – English overspellingagain. It’s door-tee, not dogerty. Em-phasis on the door.

Detroit – Being so close, we oftenuse this place to cross on the bridgeor the tunnel to the US, we canwatch their TV stations, and liketheir baseball, hockey, football andbasketball teams. It’s Dee-troyt, notDee-troy-it. Detroit was founded in1701 by a French explorer namedCadillac. Detroit (say Deee-trwaa inFrench) translates to mean “strait” inEnglish and was named by Cadillacfor its position along the DetroitRiver.

Elgin – This one’s a great word to

start a fight with a US citizen. Startwith gin, as in the drink. The Amer-icans go with El(drink)gin in placeslike Elgin, Illinois or when talkingabout a brand of wristwatch. His-tory, we think, is on our side. We sayit with a hard ‘g.’ Apparently, LordElgin of Bruce (UK royalty that goesway back) does, too. And so do ourfriends in the military known as TheElgins. If a US citizen disagrees toomuch, just remind them that our El-gins have guns and they know howto use them.

Emslie – Say Emms-lee, not Elms-lee. Bob Emslie was a pro and semi-pro baseball player and umpire whoretired to St. Thomas in the 1890s.He was named to the CanadianBaseball Hall of Fame in 1986. Hedied here in 1943 and the ballpark atPinafore Park has been named in hishonour as Emslie Field.

Elysian – ell-eee-zhunErmatinger – Erma could have

been a winger, but somehow was atinger. Erma – tinger with emphasison the Erma.

Fingal – Think gall, as in gall blad-der. Say Fin-gall, with slight empha-sis on the gall. It’s Irish.

Formet – Don’t say format or for-mit. Formet Industries is a MagnaInternational factory, and one of ourregion’s largest employers. The nameon the door is Magna’s self-styled ab-

breviation for what the factory does.It forms metal. Equal emphasis onboth syllables makes Formet soundas they intended it.

Idsardi – Ever see the Wizard of Idcartoons? Id-sar-dee. Short ‘I’ tostart.

Kopic – No cops here. Long ‘o,’ asin co-operate.

Lake Margaret – No challengehere, but a lot of people wonder whoMargaret was. The area Lake M is inused to be a large gravel pit. Margaretwas one of the owner’s daughters.But they used to call her Peggy. We’rebetting Lake Peggy just didn’t makethe cut.

Mondamin – Say Mon-DAY-min.Soft ‘o,’ long ‘a.’ It’s a street namebased on the Ojibwa word for ‘corn.’

New Sarum – It’s a village datingto the 1800s, east of St. Thomas.And, yes, there was an Old Sarum.The old one was Neolithic, datingback to around 3000 BC in England.One catastrophe after another led toa rebuild in the 1200s that the Eng-lish then called New Sarum. Sarumis pronounced like the name Sarahwith an um instead of an ah.

Owaissa – O-wassa, not O-way-sa.Rapelje – Named for a local settler.

Think Jay, as in Blue Jay. Rap-ell-jaywith emphasis on the rap.

Redan – It’s ruh-DAN. Push theDAN and don’t say red.

St. Thomasian – Just to be clear,the last part is said same as Asian(person from Asia). Please do notlabel yourself or others as a SaintTom-ass-ee-an.

Thames – It’s a river around hereand in England. And lots of us livein the Thames Valley, go to ThamesValley District schools or get scoopedup by Thames EMS ambulances. Toobad the English just didn’t make ittems, because that’s how you say it.

Vanier – The influence fromFrench Quebec spills over. Some-times, like the CBC, we try to speaktwo languages at once. It’s Van-yaynot Van-yer.

Yarmouth – There’s no mouth. SayYar-mith and emphasize the Yar.

BUSINESS BEAT

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P.O. Box 511, St. Thomas,Ontario N5P 3V6Phone: 519-633-2670Fax: 519-631-9154

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LEADERSHIP

Before you can fully re-engineeryour business and your life, you mustfirst re-engineer your mindset. Youneed to tame and calm your mind tofree it from reactive, counterproduc-tive habits. You must adopt a strate-gic mindset and focus.

To do this, use this simple changemanagement formula –BE/DO/HAVE. In order to have,you must do, and in order to do ef-fectively, you must be. For example,want to have a better golf handicap?Then you must do certain things:take lessons, practice and play more,get better clubs, etc. However, all thisdoing won’t be optimally effectiveunless you first change your mindset– you must be a better golfer on theinside. You must start to see, feel,think and behave like a better golferin order to be a better golfer.

Similarly, in order to have morefreedom, joy and financial success asan owner, you must do new strategies(i.e. systematize your business, utilizemarketing, etc.). In order to opti-mally do these strategies, you must

first be a more effective businessowner – mind, body and soul. Likean award-winning actor, do not justplay the part, become the part. Youmust change from the inside out be-fore your external realities change.

How do you escape the nauseatingdetails and headaches of your busi-ness? How do you gain greater free-dom? You must make the greatmental leap from that of an em-

ployee to that of a business leader.First, you must acknowledge yourtechnical bias, your addiction tobeing busy, and your uneasiness withdelegation. Next, you must adopt the‘big picture’ mindset of a Chief Ex-ecutive Officer (CEO). You must bea CEO in mind and spirit to get theresults you seek. You must think,feel, see, taste, smell and hear like aCEO.

If you don’t start thinking like aCEO, it will be nearly impossible foryou to start behaving like a strategicbusiness owner and truly working onyour business in a proactive, pur-poseful manner. For many owners,jumping this wide chasm from em-ployee to owner is tough and terrify-ing. However, you will never escapea workaholic existence unless youstop being a detail-oriented techni-cian masquerading as an owner. Stopfocusing on the technical work of thebusiness; focus on the entire busi-ness. The choice is yours. Step upand be a leader, not a micro-man-ager!

B u s i n e s s / C o m m u n i t y

Think and act like a CEOMaking the mental leap from employee to leader is the first step in becoming a strategic business owner

www.iceinnovation.ca

ICE IS NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS!STEP OUT OF THE BASEMENT OR GARAGE & INTO A COOL SPACE TO DO BUSINESS

by Bryan Vine

Bryan Vine is co-owner of The GrowthCoach in St. Thomas.

stop being a detail-oriented

technician

“

“


Improving economic conditionshave many business owners thinkingabout growth. But given the cautiouseconomic climate, what’s a goodstrategy?

Skilled management, a reliableworkforce and a consistent approachto marketing are table stakes forgrowth. But what about those com-panies that are growing at triple theaverage – or better? What’s the differ-ence between businesses that are sur-viving and those that are thriving?

First of all, thriving businesses areinvesting in Research and Develop-ment. R&D leads to innovation thatcan provide opportunities to differ-entiate your product or service fromthose of your competitors. Even amodest investment in R&D can in-crease sales opportunities and im-prove customer retention.

Secondly, thriving companies don’tfocus on a single market or saleschannel: having varying levels of in-vestment in, and exposure to, differ-ent markets is one effective way tobalance risk. And the Internet hascreated at least one alternate saleschannel for many established busi-nesses.

And finally, thriving companiesleverage technology. One inarguablebenefit of technology is that it canhelp improve efficiency – and im-proved efficiency always has positiveimpacts on the bottom line.

If you are contemplating expandingyour operations in 2011 by investingin R&D or by entry into a new mar-ket, make sure you have a plan; with-out a plan you may have a

destination, but not the map of howto get there. Take the time to evalu-ate your business to ensure that youhave the equipment, human capitaland cash flow to support your ambi-tions. It’s one thing to build a bettermousetrap but it’s another to success-fully support its launch into the mar-ket.

To understand the risks, opportu-nities and best practices of exploringnew channels or investing in R&D,many business owners have anetwork of trusted advi-sors that they test theirideas on. Whilemany entrepreneursconsider their lawyersand accountants subjectmatter experts, most don’t includetheir bankers as a key member oftheir advisory council.

This is ironic because a businessbanker’s job is to provide the advice,tools and – if necessary - funds tohelp businesses turn sustainabilityinto profitability. So don’t forget toleverage the knowledge of a businessbanker to help you make the right fi-nancial decisions for your business.

Invite your banker over every sixmonths to see what you do; this typeof familiarity provides your bankerwith a better understanding of yourbusiness, which helps them recom-mend the most appropriate productsand services. And remember, yourbanker lives and works in the samecommunity you do, so the next timeyou are hosting a networking eventor organizing a fundraiser, don’t for-get to invite your banker; chances arethey’re a supporter too.

Productive relationships are built

on mutual respect, trust and under-standing. And regular contact withyour banker gives you the opportu-nity to educate them on your currentneeds and future plans. They mightnot have all the answers but, when itcomes to financial management, cashflow or investing, an experiencedbusiness banker can certainly helpyou make decisions about what’s ap-propriate for your business.

R u n n i n g A S m a l l B u s i n e s s

STRATEGY

Each office is independently owned and operated

Business ownershipshould be aboutmoney, freedom

and fun... Are youon track?

Bryan & Jeannie Vine519-207-4865: Office905-466-0489: Cell

[email protected] • www.thegrowthcoach.com/bvine

Mark A WalesCHARTERED ACCOUNTANT

Helping You NavigateThrough Financial Issues

FREE INITIAL CONSULTATION Mark A. Wales

JENNIFER WHALLS TAMMY SLOTA

www.markawales.ca190 Centre St., St. Thomas 519-637-0700

by Brian Dempsey

Brian Dempsey isa Small BusinessAdvisor at TDCanada Trust inSt. Thomas.

Thinking and growing your businessIdeas to help your business thrive

make sureyou have a

plan“

“



CUSTOMERS

Why does your business exist? Tomeet the specific need of yourclients, I hear you say. Let’s explorehow knowing the needs of yourclients brings effective, efficient andempowered management to anybusiness.

Assessing the needYour clients come to you because

of the difference you make in theirlives. By knowing the need of yourcustomers, you are empowered tostructure your business around serv-icing their need, effectively and effi-ciently in all you do.

For example, counselors at theElgin Business Resource Centreknow that the businesses we workwith have a need to prosper. Inknowing this, we are able to focusour services to ensure that all we doempowers you, the small businessowner, to prosper in your business,strengthening your community inthe process. To have this anchor em-powers us to empower you in whatyou do.

Developing the right systemsBy knowing the needs of your

clients you are able to develop theright systems, bringing efficiency toall you do. With the right systems,you can hand over responsibility toothers, freeing up time and re-

sources. Take the time to develop theright systems and empower you andyour business to make a difference inthe lives of those you serve!

Clarifying your directionThe question begs to be asked, “Are

you going in the right direction?”This is why all things start and endwith knowing the needs of yourclients. Without this vital piece ofthe puzzle, you could be climbingthe wrong ladder, leaning against thewrong house.

Here is how to find the need yourbusiness is out to meet. Think abouthow your clients would fill in thisblank. “If I just had ________, mylife would be better.” (Money and/oryour products and services are notthe answers you are looking forhere.) Think stability, love, compas-sion, direction, time, hope, etc.These are the real needs of yourclients. Pinpoint the one word needthat you hear your clients sharing byfilling in the statement above.

Finding the crucial piece of the puzzleKnowing what your clients need is a big part of making your business successful

Running a small business is hard enough. We can help.

TD Canada Trust

We’d like to introduce Brian Dempsey as your SmallBusiness Advisor.

With over 10 years of banking experience and a localresident, Brian understands the pressures of owning andoperating a business or farm in St. Thomas and iscommitted to helping you by providing services,products and advice tailored specifically to your needs.

Drop by the branch to talk to your Small BusinessAdvisor and discover how we can make your businessbanking easier. We look forward to seeing you soon.

Brian DempseySmall Business Advisor378 Talbot St.St. Thomas(519) 631-7070, ext. 231Cell: (226) [email protected]

make a difference in the

lives of those you serve

Shayne Wyler is aBusiness Counsellor at the Elgin BusinessResource Centre.

by Shayne Wyler

““


Starting and running a small busi-ness is no small feat. There are a lotof hats to wear and as manager youcan be pulled in a lot of directions atonce. Here are some tips for runninga small business and getting the helpyou need to ensure it’s successful.

Be preparedBefore you dive into your business,

or launch a new product line, doyour research. Investigate the indus-try, competition, and what will be re-quired to get to the next step.Industry Canada is a great place tostart your research. The more knowl-edgeable you are, the better yourchance for success.

Make a planA successful business is the result of

careful planning, not luck. Writing abusiness plan will take a lot of timeand work, but will certainly be worthit in the end. Your business planshould include:

• executive summary

• description of the business and itsproducts or services

• marketing strategy • operational plan • financial data and projections• management description • analysis of the market, the com-

petition, and the risk involvedLibro Financial Group has a down-

loadable business planner availableonline.

Build your teamThere’s no need to go through the

stress of running a successful smallbusiness by yourself. You can’t do itall alone, so ensure you have a sup-portive team on board to help yourun your business.

Your team can include supportivefamily members who understand allof the work you’re doing, and at thesame time can help you relax. If youhave employees be sure they’re con-tributing to your business and don’tbe afraid to let someone go if they’renot pulling their weight.

Ensure you have a network of pro-

fessionals you can turn to for advice.This includes an accountant, lawyerand financial coach.

Get a coachYour financial coach will help with

day-to-day business banking, financ-ing, and investing, with advice tai-lored to your business.


MANAGING

The many hats of managing a small businessPreparation, planning and teamwork can help you be successful

RESOURCES

Over 100 years of serving businesses, organizations and individuals throughout Elgin County. Let us discuss your corporate

needs or your next commercial or property transaction.

“ Thorough Service, Effective Representation”Robert F. Cline A. John Sanders David V. Taylor14 Southwick St.,St. Thomas • 519-633-0800

w w w. s a n d l a w y e r s . c a

Business tax specialists who make house calls?

We come to your place to get a better understanding of you and your business. It helps uncover more ways to minimize your taxes and maximize your credits.

We are FBC. For 58 years we’ve been putting more money in the pockets of Canadian business owners. Can we put something in your pocket?

www.fbc.ca

Accountants FBC

For a free, no-obligation

meeting at your place

call 1 877 681 2356

�There are many benefits to joining

The Home Based Business Association

• Provides networking opportunities for members.

• Encourages and assists members in their personal and professional growth.

• Help educate the general public of the positive benefitshome based businesses .

• Bi-monthly meetings at ElginMall’s Community Room; withGuest Speakers.

The HBBA is open to all home based businesses.

www.thehomebasedbusinessassociation.comtel: 519-207-1115

Jesse Terpstra is Branch Manager of theLibro Financial Group in St. Thomas.

by Jesse Terpstra

• For business research, visit Industry Canada at www.ic.gc.ca

• Access a downloadable business planner by Libro Financial Group at

libro.ca/commercial/tools.html



INSURANCE

(NC) The entrepreneurial spirit isalive and well in many small businessowners. And while most of the “i's”have been dotted and the “t's” havebeen crossed, many otherwise astuteand detail-oriented company ownerspay little mind to one of the mostimportant aspects of a successfulbusiness: insurance.

"Having the correct insurance cov-erage for your company is critical tothe operation of a sound business,"says Shelley Toyota, Director, Com-mercial SME, RSA Canada. "By en-gaging the services of a broker thatspecializes in coverage for entrepre-neurs, small and medium sized busi-nesses will be able to operate withconfidence knowing that they haveprotection in the event of an unfor-tunate occurrence."

Obtaining some insurance coveragemay be obvious to most entrepre-neurs, yet there are a number of op-tions available for business ownerswho want to ensure they have themost comprehensive protection aspossible. Coverage options that asmall business owner may not con-sider include Business Interruption,which covers owners from losses re-lated to a temporary shut-down, andCrime and Fidelity insurance, pro-tecting organizations from loss ofmoney, securities, or inventory re-sulting from various crimes such asforgery, robbery and computer fraud.

“Small to medium sized businesseshave many things to consider inorder to assure ongoing success,” saysToyota. “The right insurance policycan provide the piece of mind thatmost entrepreneurs seek.”

Here are a few tips that small busi-nesses should consider when shop-ping for the right insurance:

• Don't be casual about your prop-erty: Make sure your policy providesyou with comprehensive PropertyCasualty coverage that protects youin the event of any damage to com-pany property, including fire, smoke,storms, civil disobedience and van-dalism.

• Ensure a safe getaway: Whetheryou have two vehicles or 20, havinga policy that is customized to yourfleet will assure that accidents willnot result in damage to your bottomline.

• Equip your business successfully:In the event of equipment damage or

breakdown, the right insurance pol-icy will cover the cost of repairs or re-placement parts, as well as the loss ofbusiness income. Be sure to ask yourbroker about your options.

Small to medium size businessowners have a number of considera-tions when choosing their companyinsurance. Call your broker to reviewthe best options for your business.

Jesse TerpstraBranch Manager

Jesse BrownAccount Manager

atrerpsse TJesanch ManagerBr

wnose BrJesount ManagercAc

Insurance tips forentrepreneursMaking the most of your small business coverage

the right insurance policy can provide piece

of mind“

“


H o m e s t y l e

DECORATING

You guessed it – pink is the hotcolour trend for summer 2011. Ac-tually it is honeysuckle, to be exact!Imagine raspberry sherbet or a crossbetween coral and fuchsia and you’llbe close to home. I saw pink cominga few years ago while in England ata tradeshow where they paired greyswith beautiful shades of pink. Ab-solutely gorgeous!

The pink concept moved across theglobe, and even Pantone, the colourexperts that set the standard for theworld of fashion, picked up on it asmentioned in a 2011 press release:“Honeysuckle emboldens us to faceeveryday troubles with verve andvigor. A dynamic reddish pink, hon-eysuckle is encouraging and uplift-ing. It elevates our psyche beyondescape, instilling the confidence,courage and spirit to meet the ex-haustive challenges that have become

part of everyday life. ” Although not a vibrant pink, but

rather, a muddier reddish pink moremuted than a hot pink, honeysuckleis still vibrant and stimulating. It is apink that certainly reflects a cheerfulcharacter and raises the spirit whenwe see it.

Colour forecasters, such as Pan-tone, influence our choices in cloth-ing, jewellery and home décor. In2010, Pantone’s colour wasturquoise, and yes, we saw it creepinto our wardrobes and homes. Farmore lively than turquoise, spring-time brought pink pillows, bed-spreads, glass accent pieces and moreto home décor shops. Hot pink vel-vet chairs adorn our showroom floor,as do pillows in pink, accenting alime green sofa.

Pink is no longer an ‘it’ colour, butrather a new staple. Last year, rosegold began to rise in popularity in

the jewellery world. This year, Ibought a piece of rose sterling silver.

And pink is not just for the ladies!Shell pink, a sophisticated version, isone that both men and women canappreciate. It’s more subtle than purepink, with coral undertones and a lu-minescent feel.

Versatile? Yes, because this particu-lar pink hue has tones of red thatmake it a bold colour, yet the pinktone embraces this boldness withmuch needed grace. While thecolour is sometimes considered easierto use in fashion design, I would pairit either dominantly or subtly withcreams and undertones of gold, blue-greens with undertones of orange, orwith neutrals like grey and brown. If

used with restraint, I see it as a suc-cessful colour trend choice in pillowfabric, glassware and decorative ac-cessories. Add bright honeysucklepink candles, vases, throws, drapes,or even just flowers to any room andwatch the room come alive.

www.HayhoeHomes.com

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Renée Carpenter is the owner of Jennings Furnitureand Design in St. Thomas.

Think pink!Slip on those rose-coloured glasses andtake a walk on the brighter side of life

by Renée Carpenter

vibrant and stimulating“

“


H o m e s t y l e

THAT’S LIFE

“The corn field bit me,” my threeyear-old managed to blurt out amidthe sobs and tears flowing down hisfreckled face. “It bit me on my back!”

Moments earlier I had watched himblow bubbles along the edge of ourlawn just feet away from some wildflowers that border the field. One ofthose idyllic scenes from his child-hood that I wish I could bottle upand uncork when he is a grumpyteenager. He blew bubbles and letthem drift in the wind popping ran-domly as they floated down onto thegrass. The odd one survived the fallonly to be swatted by his one-year-old brother.

I turned my back for a second towater the flowers when the screamingstarted. He threw the bottle of bub-bles down and ran toward me wide-eyed until he fell to the ground in afit of pain. “My back, my back,” wasthe only thing I could understand.When I lifted his shirt I saw thewhite welt of a bee sting. I quickly

grabbed a water bottle and appliedthe cold drink hoping to calm himdown. His screams continued andthat’s when I noticed two more bites.

As a mother, my first instinct wasto annihilate all bees. Armed with acouple of cans of Raid I would killthe insect that did this to my babyand anything else in my way. But ashis wails gave way to whimpers I toocalmed down and realized there wasa much better lesson to be learned.

However heavenly I may think mybaby boy is, the world – especiallythe natural world – does not centreon him. He is in fact just a small partof it.

That’s a difficult lesson for anyoneto learn. Some adults still don’t re-spect the natural world. They buildhomes close to the forest only tocomplain about the deer, mice andfox that may venture up into theirbackyard.

No, the corn field did not bite myson. My son disturbed a bunch ofbees busily collecting nectar for theirown families. For a brief moment my

son got in their way. So how can I teach my sons to em-

brace and respect nature – bees andall?

I was still contemplating this ques-tion when I noticed that he was nolonger crying. He had wandered offinto the flower bed rambling to hisbrother how the corn field bit him.

The two of them were kneeling overan ant hill poking a stick in the holesand marveling at the ants coming up.“Look mom, that one’s name isFred.”

I suddenly remembered that heonly got pecked by the rooster oncebefore he realized he shouldn’t put hishand through the wire mesh of thechicken pen. It may take a little moretrial and error, and a few more insectbites, for him to realize how to peace-fully live with and respect nature. Ascurious as he is, I’m sure he’ll getthere.

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Living in harmony with natureLessons my son has yet to learn about being a small part of the bigger picture

ElizabethVanHooren is general manager of the Kettle Creek Conservation Authority.

by Elizabeth VanHoorenthe cornfield bit me“

“


THE PLAY’S THE THING

Every once in a while, the StratfordShakespeare Festival will step awayfrom classic and light entertainmentand give us epic theatre. It can beheavy, dark and serious, but it isnonetheless, challenging and enlight-ening. General director, AntoniCimolino, occasionally steps awayfrom his administrative duties andgets back to directing plays. ‘TheGrapes of Wrath’ is one such offer-ing. Adapted by Frank Galati fromJohn Steinbeck’s famous novel of theOkie migration to California, it isbig, powerful and compelling.

The play is the story of the migra-tion of the Joad family to a life of dis-appointment, deception andviolence. Worse still is possible star-vation. Along the way they bringalong a disgraced preacher, playedwith skill and passion by Tom Mc-Camus. He and Evan Builing as TomJoad are well established early in theplay because they meet on a sunnyday. Much of the rest of the play is atdusk or in darkness.

Though they go early in the play,Chick Reid and Ian D. Clark givesolid performances as the grandpar-ents. The family is rounded out bythe daughter, Rose of Sharon, playedby Chilina Kennedy in one of herbest non-musical offerings. As herdreamer husband, Josh Young sets agood contrast to the undeniablework ethic of the Joad family. Theydon’t mind hard work, if only some-one will give them a chance.

‘The Grapes of Wrath’ is huge incast, in concept and in efforts tomake the Stratford Shakespeare Fes-tival even broader in its mandate.This is not a bad thing.

D i n i n g & E n t e r t a i n m e n t

The Grapes of WrathDark, disturbing play based on Steinbeck novel is compelling theatre at the Stratford Festival

by Ric Wellwood

Ric Wellwood iscommunicationsadvisor for theCatfish CreekConservation Authority.

Cat on a HotTin Roof Tennessee Williams play atthe Shaw Festival sizzles withinspiring performances

Whenever the Shaw Festival de-parts from the works of GeorgeBernard Shaw, the results can bedeadly dull or dazzlingly brilliant.You can put its production of Ten-nessee Williams’ ‘Cat on a Hot Tin

Roof ’ securely in the latter category. Director Eda Homes leads a gifted

cast into the dark recesses inhabitedby the Pollitt Family of Mississippi.Big Daddy Pollitt is dying of cancerand there is a competition to seewho will inherit twelve million dol-lars and a plantation of huge dimen-sions with the richest soil “this sideof the Nile Delta.”

As Big Daddy, Festival veteran JimMezon gives a performance that willresonate in your mind long after thestanding ovation. He has never beenshy about tackling unpopular char-acters, but he brings a sensitivity andvulnerability to Big Daddy that Ihave not seen before. As his grievingwife, Big Mama, Corrine Koslo givessome chilling histrionics and a sur-prising admission of love for a mostunlovable man.

I have only seen four other produc-

tions of this play, but this one takesthe Tony Award. The cat on that hottin roof is Maggie, the daughter-in-law who is coping with the heavydrinking of her husband Brick, whois swimming in self-disgust. Hedoesn’t seem to want the inheritance,but Maggie is so desperate to escapefrom her childhood poverty that shedecides to do the thinking for bothof them.

This is theatre at its very best.

Evan Buliung as Tom Joad and Janet Wright as Ma in The Grapes of Wrath at the Stratford Festival. (Photo by David Hou)

by Ric Wellwood

Corrine Koslo as BigMama and Moya O’Connell as Maggie inCat on a Hot Tin Roof atthe Shaw Festival.

(Photo by Emily Cooper)

challengingand

enlightening “

“

““

dazzlingly brilliant



Stepping into the Mad Hatters TeaRoom is like walking into a fairytale.Modelled after Lewis Carroll’s classic‘Alice In Wonderland,’ the Tea Roomfeatures delicious treats served onthemed china. You can enjoy yourtea at the Mad Hatter’s table, onAlice’s couch, or, for those who preferto dine al fresco, outside in theQueen of Hearts Garden. If you arelucky, the Mad Hatter himself mightmake an appearance – in full cos-tume!

Owners Amanda and David Terrycompleted the fairytale feeling bycreating a façade for the shop in Eng-lish Tudor style, which includesbouillon glass shipped directly fromEngland for an authentic look.

On the menu are teas, desserts andsandwiches prepared from old recipebooks, both British and NorthAmerican. Home baked scones, pre-serves and a selection of delightfulminiature desserts including rasp-berry almond mini cakes and doublechocolate brownies, are just a few of

the items you can expect to savour.Guests of the Tea Room can enjoyhigh tea by reservation, as well as adaily Devonshire Cream Tea.

For visitors wanting to recreate thewhimsy of the Tea Room at home,there are 20 different varieties ofloose leaf tea for sale along with giftsand collectibles and framed prints of

the classic 19th century storybook. After tea, a stroll through The

Queen of Hearts Garden will leadguests to the outdoor market at therear of Quaker Barrel Unique An-tiques & General Store. This marketfeatures crafts made by local artisans,as well as plants and produce fromlocal growers.

SAVOUR ELGIN

What a to do!The Mad Hatters Tea Room welcomes youngand old to experience a bit of whimsy

1063 Talbot Street St Thomas 519-6

Lunch - from

Dinner - from $11:00-3:30 Monday to Friday

4:00-9:30 Monday to ThursdayCannot be combined with any other discounts or promotions. Valid at participating Kings Buffet locations. *Not including taxes.

Every Every Wednesday!

Buy One Buffet & Get One

FREEFREE• Offer valid on equal or lesser value• Offer valid on equal or lesser value• No VIP Card necessary • Limited time only• No VIP Card necessary • Limited time only• Starts July 20th • Good for Lunch or Dinner • Starts July 20th • Good for Lunch or Dinner

1063 Talbot Street, St. Thomas 519-633-6500

NEWCHEFWith purchase of a drink

Lunch - from $9.99*11:30-3:30 Monday to Friday

Dinner - from $15.99*4:30-9:30 Monday to Friday

Kate Burns is thebusiness develop-ment coordinatorat the County ofElgin.

by Kate Burns

The Mad Hatters Tea Room is amember of Savour Elgin. Savour Elgin

is a program with a goal to promoteand enhance culinary tourism in ElginCounty and St. Thomas. The SavourElgin trail is a route through ElginCounty that visits some of the best

restaurants, farms, wineries, and otherculinary attractions that focus on food

and drink that’s local and unique toElgin County and St. Thomas. For

full trail information visitwww.savourelgin.ca.

[Above] Amanda Terry invites you to take a spot of tea. [Top] The Mad Hatters Tea Room is locatedat 47272 Talbot Line in Orwell between Aylmer and St. Thomas.


WINE & FOOD

Talking to wine lovers everyday, Iget a sense of what people are drink-ing and what they love about theirfavourite wines. I also notice certaintrends emerge. Over the last decadethere has been a vocal trend againstChardonnay. There is actually an ab-breviation for this trend: ABC (Any-thing But Chardonnay). I use theterm ‘vocal trend’ because the statis-tics on acreage, fine wine productionand sales don’t sync with the ABCmovement. Considering thatChardonnay is the most widelyplanted grape in Ontario, the largestvarietal sold in North America andthe core grape in some of the mostcelebrated wines in the world, I feltI had to write an ode to Chardonnay.

Chardonnay is called the wine-maker’s grape and for good reason.The way it is handled in the cellarwill determine its final taste profile.Chardonnay can be grown almosteverywhere. Ultimately the qualityof the grapes and the growing seasondetermine the final wine’s potential.Stylistically, Chardonnay falls intoone of four categories: Classic Bur-gundy, Ripe/Toasty, Bone-Dry Neu-tral and Champagne.

Classic Burgundy is the pinnacle.This style is dry, rich, full-bodied andintense, with notes of oatmeal andnutty flavours. While not typicallyassociated with fruit, Classic Bur-gundy is the only style that can trulyshowcase tropical fruit. Oak plays acentral role in this wine and, of all

the incarnations of Chardonnay, thisone has the best ageability. Wellworth the prices!

Ripe/Toasty Chardonnay is madein a similar vein to Classic Bur-gundy, but with a slightly less oak-

driven influence. This is typical Cal-ifornia to me. Flavours of apricot,peach, vanilla, butter, oak, toast andbutterscotch are characteristic. Thisstyle is relatively easy to make butsurprisingly difficult to make well.There are too many Chardonnays onthe shelves that use this category asa default in an attempt to pleaseeveryone. The best examples showremarkable balance, with not toomuch of one flavour over another,are dynamic in their pairing withfood and are able to truly expresstheir origin. A lot of Canadian pro-ducers excel in this category; look formore fresh fruit flavours relative toother New World producers. Thisstyle is definitely worth stocking inyour cellar!

Bone-Dry Neutral Chardonnaysare generally unoaked. They are ex-emplified in regions like Chablis or

the Alto-Adige. The style tends to beassociated with flavours of lemon,lime and mineral. Tastes are de-scribed as crisp, lean, green and re-freshing. These wines tend to bearomatically reserved (hence theneutral characterisation). Europeanconsumers tend to prefer little to noaromatics, where Canadian con-sumers want expressions of fruit.These are versatile food wines thatare unmatched when it comes toseafood and are best drunk young.

Chardonnay is also an integralcomponent of Champagne. Thegrape tends to contribute structureto a cuvée and is often associatedwith the bready, apple and yeastycharacters in well-made sparklers.

Over the last 50 years, Chardonnayhas been at the forefront of theglobal wine revolution. It was widelyplanted from England to China,from Canada to South Africa. Andbehind all of this acreage was onedriving force – consumer tastes.

The simple truth is that a lot ofpeople (myself included) loveChardonnay! My advice to those ofyou wanting to explore (or possiblyrediscover) this variety in depth is tofind well-made examples of the dif-ferent styles and use those as a basefor exploration. The more you ex-plore the greater the chance you willfind a hidden Chardonnay gem!


Jamie Quai is head winemaker at Quai du Vin Estate Winery in ElginCounty.

Considered the winemaker’s grape, this dry whitewine has many good qualities worth reconsidering

COME PLAY THE VALLEY

Book your Tee Times online: pleasantvalleygolf.on.ca

or call 519-773-2911Hwy 3, 8 kms east of St.Thomas

6 kms West of Aylmer“It’s always Pleasant at the Valley”

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Twilight Rates startat 4pm and include

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“

“


PERSONAL HEALTH

Know that as a parent you matter!Parents are the most powerful influ-ence on their children and teenswhen it comes to drug use. Notfriends. Not school. You! And it’s upto you to be proactive and use thatinfluence early and often. It’s a con-versation that needs to happen sothat your children know where youstand on this critical issue.

A healthy relationship with yourchild starts with communication;children and teens have valuablethings to say and, when a parent gen-uinely listens, it helps self-esteem andconfidence. The most importantthing to remember when it comes totalking about difficult subjects likedrinking and drugs is that it's not afive-minute "talk" — it's aboutbuilding an ongoing dialogue. Asyour children grow up, they will needmore and more information, so start

early and build on the conversationas your child matures.

Children and teens strive to figureout who they are and where they fitin the world. The drive for independ-ence is a dominant force in their livesand as they grow their friends’ advice,thoughts and opinions rule. They

may not be adults yet, but tellingthem that will not benefit either ofyou. Older children and teens wantto make their own decisions, evenwith things they’re not quite ready todo (e.g. drinking and sex). Talking

with your children about risk-takingbehaviours, such as substance use, ina constructive manner takes a lot ofpatience, understanding and respect,especially as they’re growing andchanging, and their hormones, bod-ies and brains develop and strive tofind individualism and balance.

No matter the age, children feelmore secure when they have clearboundaries on issues like drugs andcurfews. But don’t make them up onthe fly. Before school starts each year,hammer out rules well ahead of timeand remember to build in more andmore freedom and responsibility asyour child gets older. Just like whenthey were toddlers exploring theirsurroundings, let them make age-ap-

propriate decisions and mistakes. Youwant to teach your kids grown-upconcepts, but in the end, they needto figure things out for themselves.(Give them the wheel, but hold onthe emergency brake). Let thempractice responsibility to demon-strate and build on their skills, but bethere to provide support, guidanceand boundaries if things start to getout of control.

H E A LT H Y L I V I N G

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76 Talbot StreetSt.Thomas, Ontariocedarhurstsalonandspa@rogers.comwww.cedarhurstsalonandspa.com

519.631.7629

Jessica Austin is a Health Promoter atElgin St. Thomas Public Health andcoordinates the youth engagement ini-tiative. Jacky Allan is a Public HealthNurse who works with schools.

Put communicationon your back-to-school listTalking openly with your children is one of thebest ways to build healthy relationships

Jessica Austin and Jacky Allan, R.N.


H E A LT H Y L I V I N G

EVERYDAY HEALTH

Arthritis is a disease of the joints.It is important to understand thatthe term arthritis refers to a wide va-riety of diseases. Many of these dis-eases are very different from eachother. Two of the most commonforms of arthritis are osteoarthritisand rheumatoid arthritis. I will ad-dress these two forms over the nexttwo months.

OsteoarthritisOsteoarthritis is a degenerative

‘wear and tear’ disease that results inthe breakdown of articular cartilageand eventually involves the sur-rounding tissues, synovium andbone. As cartilage is damaged by ex-cessive or abnormal stress or im-paired nutrition, enzymes arereleased to dissolve damaged cells re-sulting in destruction of the joint.The signs and symptoms of os-teoarthritis rarely begin before age40, usually insidiously, with little orno joint swelling. People with os-teoarthritis begin to feel joint stiff-ness and pain with movement.Often the pain is worse when move-ment is attempted early in the day orafter a prolonged period of immobil-ity. As the joints are moved andwarmed up the stiffness and painbegin to subside and movement be-comes easier.

Osteoarthritis most commonly af-fects the large weight bearing jointssuch as the knees, hips and ankles aswell as affecting the joints of thehand. If you have osteoarthritis inone joint it does not mean that youwill also have it in another. Unfortu-nately, osteoarthritis is very com-mon. Epidemiological studiespredict that approximately 80 per-cent of individuals show some evi-dence of the disease.

Osteoarthritis is commonlyblamed for chronic or recurring back

pain. Often patients are left with theimpression that because they haveosteoarthritis in their spine they will“just have to live with the discomfortbecause there is nothing that can bedone.” This is simply not true. Chi-ropractors successfully treat peoplewith back pain that is caused by a va-riety of conditions including os-teoarthritis. Osteoarthritis in and ofitself is not a contraindication totreatment and many people suffer-ing from osteoarthritis in the spineexperience great relief from chiro-practic treatment.

Treatment of osteoarthritisThe treatment for osteoarthritis in-

cludes a wide variety of options.Some of the more traditional med-ical treatments include the use ofmedications such as NSAIDs (non-

steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs)like aspirin or Ibuprofen, physio-therapy and advice to avoid stressingthe affected joints. It is important tonote that new research is indicatingthat the use of traditional drugs suchas NSAIDs, while effective at man-aging symptoms on a short-termbasis, may actually lead to an accel-eration of cartilage damage therebyincreasing joint destruction in thelong run. Two natural alternativesto traditional medication includeglucosamine sulfate and chondroitinsulfate. These two substances pro-vide the substrate from which artic-ular cartilage is manufactured.Research in the area indicates thatsupplementation of these substancesin the diet can slow down the de-struction of the joint and in some

cases actually repair the destructionthat has taken place.

One of the most useful and effec-tive forms of treatment for os-teoarthritis has been found to beexercise. Both aerobic exercise as wellas moderate resistance training withweights has been found to be ex-tremely effective and safe. In partic-ular, exercise has been found toincrease strength, increase mobility,decrease stiffness and reduce pain.Furthermore, moderate exercise doesnot appear to increase the risk of de-veloping or aggravating osteoarthri-tis.

In relation to chiropractic, it is im-portant to note that two of the mostcommon causes of osteoarthritis in-clude abnormal forces being placedon the joint as well as decreased nu-trition to the joint. The chiropracticadjustment focuses specifically oncorrecting these problems at thejoint. If a joint is fixated or not mov-ing properly then it is not able to ad-equately deal with the forces that arenormally placed on it. When thejoint is adjusted and its natural mo-tion is restored, it is again able toperform its duties as it was designedand it can adequately deal with theforces that are placed on it. Adjust-ing the joint also helps to ensureproper nutrient delivery to the jointas it stimulates the production ofsynovial fluid, which is the mediumwhich delivers nutrients to the cellsof the joint.

Next month we will discuss rheuma-toid arthritis.

Restaurant Inspection Disclosure SurveyElgin St. Thomas Public Health is seeking public inputregarding the disclosure of restaurant inspection reports.

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Dr. Greg Johnstonis a chiropractorand partner inFamily HealthOptions Treatmentand Resources Centre in St. Thomas.

by Dr. Greg Johnston, B.H.K., B.Ed., D.C. What is

arthritis?Part 1 - Osteoarthritis


L I F E S T Y L E S

SELF DEVELOPMENT

Here’s my list of peoplewho’ve had an effecton how I live my life

Just over a year ago, I did a moti-vational workshop on the day of mydad’s funeral. That might sound a lit-tle strange but my dad was one of thepeople who had a major influence onmy life. He had a stroke when he wasin his fifties and went on to live an-other 25 years, and I believe one ofthe secrets to his longevity was hisunfailing positive attitude. He wasnever one to ask “why me?” and so Idedicate this column to my father,Jim McCann.

Alice Cooper was on a CBC talkshow the other night and I was sur-prised to learn that Groucho Marxinspired him because he encouragedhim to always be professional. De-spite Alice’s struggles with alcoholand drugs, he reports that he was al-ways sober during his shows, whichhe was never late for, and today hehas been drug and alcohol free for

more than 30 years. Napoleon Hill in his book ‘Think

and Grow Rich’ writes about beinginspired by people like DaleCarnegie, Henry Ford and ThomasEdison. It’s interesting that we seemto be most inspired by people whofaced tremendous obstacles andmanaged to go on to achieve greatsuccess.

I am very inspired by people likeWayne Dyer, Cheryl Richardson andMarianne Williamson and am goingto hear them speak in Tampa in No-vember. Last year I heard Mike Doo-ley from ‘The Secret’ speak inToronto and I am still pumpedabout all of the great things he spokeabout. He has a great website(www.tut.com) if you have a chanceto check it out. TUT, by the way,stands for Totally Unique Thoughts.

I am inspired by lots of people Iknow locally. Earlier this year I hada conversation with Christine Noblewhom I met through the Elgin Busi-ness Women’s Network. She told methat she decides what work she willdo, how much money she will make,and exactly what she will do every

day. I must say I was very impressedso I asked to meet with her in privateso we could chat more about her be-liefs and values. It turns out that weare both strong believers in the Lawof Attraction. As I got to knowChristine more I learned that she isa Master Hypnotist and teachesmeditation, relaxation techniquesand hypno-birthing. She takes a cou-ple of working vacations each year toTurkey where she teaches conversa-

tional English using games, storiesand songs. At the moment she isworking on an amazing set of guidedmeditation CDs and is having fourchildren’s books illustrated and pub-lished. You can learn more aboutChristine at www.guidedbalance.ca.

Starting this September, I will behosting a new show on Rogers CableTV called ‘Empowering Women.’ Iwill be featuring many talentedwomen from Elgin County and Ihope they will inspire you.

New dentist for St. ThomasMallory Lynch (Bowsher) joins the Dr. Wakulich team

Mallory Lynch has known since high schoolthat she wanted to be in the health care field.Becoming a Dentist and working with fami-lies to achieve and maintain dental health wasthe perfect career path for her. After graduat-ing from Central Elgin, Mallory did her un-dergraduate work at McMaster Universityand went on to take her degree in Doctor ofDental Surgery at the University of WesternOntario. Dr. Mallory Lynch graduated thispast June and is now practicing dentistry with

Dr. Candice Wakulich at 242 Wellington Streetin St. Thomas. It’s a General Family Dental Practice treating patients of allages.

The daughter of Stew and Sandy Bowsher and Sister of Alice and Lane,Mallory looks forward to being established in the business and professionalcommunity and getting involved in St. Thomas, a city with a small-town feel.She regards Dr. Wakulich as a true mentor to her career.

Mallory is married to Kevin Lynch, also born and raised in the St.Thomasarea. They enjoy hikes, with their dog, P. K., named after P. K. Subban of theMontreal Canadiens. And they spend time with their nephew Will and theirnieces Cole and Kaye whenever they can.

Dr. Lynch (she’s still getting used to the title) can bereached at Dr. Candice Wakulich’s office, 519-631-6010.

K. Stewart Bowsher B.A.,LL.B.

Alice J. (Bowsher) Burgess B.A.,(Hon.) LL.B.

Lane E. (Bowsher) Walker B.Sc.(Hon.)LL.B.

112 Centre Street, St. Thomas, Ontario N5R 2Z9(519) 633-3301

Fax: (519) 633-5995

bowsher+bowsherL A W F I R M

CongratulationsMallory on your Graduation andnew position...

Dr. Candice Wakulich; Tammy Harris, CDAII, CDTC; Dr. Mallory Lynch

Sharon Lechner isa certified lifecoach and owner ofReach for the StarsEmpowerment in St. Thomas.

by Sharon Lechner

Who inspires you? My dad was a majorinfluence on

my life“

“


L I F E S T Y L E S

TIME ON MY HANDS

My cottage was old when my par-ents bought it, fifty years ago. It has-n’t changed much since. The insidewalls and ceiling are knotty pineboards, varnished, much darkenedby age and smoke. The floor is hard-wood, even darker, creaky and wob-bly as a ship. The fireplace ismismatched fieldstones, the mantleforever crooked. A dusty deer’s headprotrudes from the wall, hauntingme since childhood with its dead-onstare.

I think the cottage is perfect. Idon’t want to change a thing. It feelsright, like slipping into my oldleather moccasins.

In the last twenty years, new cot-tages have been built on both sides– houses, really – winterized, mod-ern furnaces, even a paved driveway.But my cottage has something price-less, something theirs can neverhave: wabi-sabi. Lots of it.

Wabi-sabi is the ideal of beauty intraditional Japanese culture. ‘Rustic’is the closest English word for it, saysLeonard Koren in his book, Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets andPhilosophers. I read an Utne Readerarticle on wabi-sabi, immediately be-came a fan, and found Koren’s slimbook.

The 16th century Japanese sawbeauty in things made of naturalmaterials, rough-textured, organic,unadorned. They saw beauty in themodest, humble and unpretentious.They honoured the signs of aging,wear and weathering. Think of teacups used in the traditional tea cere-mony, which gain wabi-sabi statureas they stain, wear, and even chipand crack.

As the Utne article describes it,wabi-sabi is the art of finding beautyin imperfection, and profundity inearthiness and authenticity.

Wabi-sabi is the antithesis of ourWestern Modernist aesthetic, whichfavours things shiny, new, straight,steel, concrete and mass-produced.

Our culture reveres the technologi-cal, disposable and uniform. And,increasingly these days, so doesJapan, to the extent that Koren fearsthe wabi-sabi aesthetic ideology is atrisk of extinction there.

Wabi-sabi has some toe-hold inour culture, although we don’t call itthat or see it as a comprehensive aes-

thetic. Our dens feature paintings ofweathered fishing shanties andderelict barns. We may adore a beatup leather coat, the patina on old sil-ver or a garden gone wild. We enjoya flea market over Walmart.

At my cottage I preserve the oldwoodstove too smoky to use, therusted crosscut saw hanging in the

shed, the collection of antique fish-ing lures.

I am sure wabi-sabi holds the leastappeal to youth, in spite of theirpenchant for factory-torn andpatched jeans. They are drawn to thenew and shiny. But as the Utne arti-cle points out, wabi-sabi takes amind quiet enough to appreciatemuted beauty and the ability to slowdown and appreciate things ratherthan trying always to change them.

Further, an appreciation for wabi-sabi involves understanding and em-bracing the simple truth thateverything in this life is imperfect,unfinished and impermanent. ThisZen Buddhist insight underlieswabi-sabi and comes more easilywith age.

My wife has recently suggested,after all these years, that we give thecottage a name. She wants to call it‘Wabi-Sabi.’ That’s certainly betterthan the ‘Dunc Inn’ I came up with.I’m glad she has an appreciation forthings wabi-sabi, things imperfectand unfinished. In fact, I’m damnedlucky, because I’m getting a littlewabi-sabi myself.

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Duncan Watterworth is recently a retireeand emptynester in St.Thomas.

The ancient artof findingbeauty in

imperfectionThe Japanese have a word for my

creaky, crooked cottageby Duncan Watterworth

rough-textured, organic,

unadorned““


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The Livingston

Documents

August 2011 Issue