July 2012 Issue

Incorporating St. Thomas & District Chamber of Commerce

Business Beat:Business Beat:

diSTRICTLY delightfuldiSTRICTLY delightful Social media:Social media:

Facing FacebookFacing Facebook Your health:Your health:

Lower your back painLower your back pain

Business Beat:

diSTRICTLY delightful Social media:

Facing Facebook Your health:

Lower your back pain

Glenn and Sherry ForresterGlenn and Sherry ForresterPets 4 Life Pets 4 Life Cover story: page 3Cover story: page 3

Glenn and Sherry ForresterPets 4 Life Cover story: page 3

Volume 2, No. 11 July 2012 FREEVolume 2, No. 11 July 2012 FREE

2 E L G I N T H I S M O N T H July, 2012

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July, 2012 E L G I N T H I S M O N T H 3

Carroll Publishing Inc.President

Terry CarrollSecretary-TreasurerNancy Kelly Carroll

Elgin This MonthPublisher & EditorTerry CarrollAssociate EditorAnita LaRueSection EditorBusiness Beat – Bob Hammersley

Graphic Design / ProductionJim McHargSales RepresentativeGreg MinnemaOffice ManagerLaura Bart

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

Goodbye to big corporate lifeHello to long hours, and more fun at work

For most of his working life, Glenn Forrester was a controller formajor American corporations. But as those positions began drying upin this area, he became very interested in going into business for him-self.

His wife Sherry was happily retired after a career working in groupbenefits and, later, the restaurant business. It took a little friendly per-suasion, but Glenn convinced her to join him in a new venture.

In July of 2010, they purchased Pets 4 Life, a manufacturer of raw,holistic pet food. Later that year, they relocated the business from OwenSound to a larger, more modern facility in St. Thomas. In the fall of2011, the company purchased the assets of The Ultimate Diet andadded organic pet food to its product line.

Glenn says with a chuckle, “I work lots of hours, make less money,but I enjoy working more than I have for years . . . something aboutthe entrepreneurial spirit in your gut.”

Pets 4 Life takes restaurant-grade raw meat, fruits, vegetables and othernatural ingredients, and combines them to produce an exceptionallynutritional food for dogs and cats.

Glenn and Sherry changed the product from an unformatted tub offood to producing one-ounce medallions in a re-sealable stand-uppouch. The final product, in seven protein varieties, is sold frozen atspecialty pet food stores.The company is soonlaunching an eight-ouncepatty for large dogs. Petowners thaw the food asneeded, and feed themedallions raw – a healthy,natural diet for pets. Forcats, Glenn and Sherry cre-ated a format of groundbits, which appeals to felineeating habits.

Growth has been strong,from about 112,000 lb. offood in the first year undernew ownership to over140,000 lb by June 30 ofthis year.

Cover Story

by Terry Carroll

Cover photo by Philip Bell,Shutter Studios

PUBLISHER’S LETTERAn expression of gratitude by Terry Carroll ..............................page 4BUSINESS/COMMUNITYTechnologyFacing Facebook by Peter Atkinson ............................page 5Working in St. Thomas ElginA program for going green by Bruno Castellani ........................page 6Personal HealthSocial media, not too tough by Ryan Huffman ............................page 7AgricultureFarmers get-aways? by Janine Lunn ................................page 8

BUSINESS BEATThe Front PageMP MPP Luncheon returns ............page 9Member NewsdiSTRICTLY Business ..................page 10Chamber NewsEmployerOne ................................Page 11Legal BusinessTips for home buyers by Monty Fordham ........................page 12Member NewsAwards thanks ................................page 13Positive ExposureSome people see this by Allan Weatherall ........................page 14Pro TextGetting value by Joanne Fisher ............................page 15New MembersBe seen, be heard, belong ..............page 16

FINANCING A NEW BUSINESSTwo ways to goWhat’s your style? by Terry Carroll ............................page 18Transferring a farmFamily matters by Ellen Luft ..................................page 19Your credit ratingIt does make a difference by Kim Coaker ..............................page 20Great questionsSeven to ponder by Shane Wyler ..............................page 21Capital financingEquipment and vehicles by David Van Dither ......................page 22

BUSINESS/COMMUNITYLeadershipOptimize what you do by Bryan Vine ................................page 23

HOMESTYLEDecoratingSoft, comfortable by Renée Carpenter ........................page 24Self developmentAttitudes are important by Sharon Lechner ........................page 25

DINING & ENTERTAINMENTSavour ElginGuiding you anew by Kate Burns ................................page 26Wine & FoodGo figure by Jamie Quai ................................page 27

HEALTHY LIVINGEveryday HealthLower back pain by Dr. Greg Johnston ....................page 28

LIFESTYLESThat’s Life!Summer freckles by Elizabeth VanHooren ................page 29Time On My HandsA real throw-back by Duncan Watterworth ................page 30

Elgin This Month is a monthly magazine focusing on business andlifestyle issues and includes BusinessBeat, the St. Thomas & DistrictChamber of Commerce newsletter.The publication is available forpickup at no charge at news standsand other locations around ElginCounty, as well as distribution tobusinesses and selected households.

S P E C I A L F E AT U R E


P U B L I S H E R ’ S L E T T E R

This is a revised version of a speech I made at the St. Thomas and District Cham-ber of Commerce Free Enterprise Awards Dinner June 20. Dianne Buckner fromthe Dragon’s Den was the keynote speaker. We were presentedwith the Free Enterprise Master Award at that event. (Thejoke I didn’t make that evening is this: Now that wehave won, the name of the award really should bechanged to the Masters of None Award).

My wife Nancy and I would like to thank BobHammersley and everyone at the Chamber forthis honour. We deeply appreciate it. And wewould like to congratulate the other award win-ners. Your stories are inspiring to everyone in theroom.

We would like to acknowledge a few people. First, andforemost, our staff, most of whom are able to join us tonight,and who believe in doing the impossible almost as much as we do. Althoughwe don’t use the term around the office, this is a team effort, and these arethe members of the team.

Along with our wonderful staff, we would like to thank Dorothy Gebertwho was our editor until recently and helped shape and grow The WeeklyNews and Elgin This Month. We are happy she is able to join us tonight.Also, Bryan Vine, of The Growth Coach who is with us. His work ties in wellwith the thinking of Michael Gerber, in the book The Emyth Revisited, abook that has been important to our business. We’d like to thank anotherformer editor, James Todd who introduced us to that book and inspired thepaper in the early days. We are grateful to the staff at Elgin Business ResourceCentre who are an excellent resource, and also, John Scott from Graham ScottEnns . . . and it’s time to stop naming names before we acknowledge everyonein the room.

We want to pay tribute to our clients. We are constantly inspired by thework you do and the examples you set for us in business and the community.St. Thomas and Elgin are without parallel in this regard.

This being our Academy Award moment, we would like to thank our par-ents, our families and God. In the early months of 2009, when we were losinggobs of money a month, and nothing seemed to be changing in a hurry, Iturned to God when there seemed to be nowhere else to go. In retrospect, Isuppose it was either God or Kevin O’Leary from the Dragons’ Den. Whatdo you think, Dianne? To Kevin, that might have been close to the samething?

Speaking of the Dragons’ Den, we want you to know, Dianne, that we area small business in St. Thomas and Elgin. We’ve grown sales by 67 per centsince we opened. We’d like to offer the Dragons 10 per cent of our companyfor $50,000, and we’d like Arlene as a partner so we have help in the market-ing area. We need it badly, now that Rob and the myFM team are in town.They know how to market themselves like nothing we’ve ever seen!

Again, thank you very much everyone. Give yourselves a round of applausefor helping us on this journey, and enjoy the rest of the evening.

An expression of gratitude to our staff, clients and mentorsWith a pitch to the Dragons’ Den thrown in

“

“

by Terry Carroll

it’s time to stop naming names

before we acknowledge everyone in the room

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


Let’s talk about latest the 500-pound gorilla of the online world:Facebook. Its 900 million users - in-cluding half of all Canadians - gen-erally accept how Facebook works,trading some personal informationin exchange for the excellent job itdoes of letting them communicatewith friends and familiy. Facebook isfree and it makes communication be-tween an organization and its cus-tomers very, very easy. But is it rightfor your business?

Businesses work with Facebook intwo ways: through advertising andby posting content to their ownFacebook ‘pages’. (People get ‘pro-files’ on Facebook. Organizations get‘pages’).

With a Facebook page, people‘Like’ the page and become ‘Friends’,giving you permission to communi-cate with them through your page.To do this effectively, two things be-come very important: a communica-tions plan, (including how you’llhandle any negative comments andat least three months worth of whatand when you’ll be posting – thoughyou can create additional posts as op-portunities arise), and, if you haven’talready, spending some time reallyunderstanding your brand.

This is extremely important onFacebook because of the endless op-portunities to communicate. Itwould be rude to make every mes-sage a sales pitch, but every messagecan and should reinforce your orga-nization’s brand.

One of the great things about on-line content is that you don’t have tocreate it all yourself. It’s perfectly ac-ceptable to link to an article, photoor video on another website or Face-book page. In fact, a recent wrinkleto Edgerank, Facebook’s contentscoring tool, makes links to other

content very effective.The higher the Edgerank score, the

more people see your content, whichalso builds your list of ‘Friends’. Andthis is the power of Facebook; whenyou post something, it’s seen by yourfriends but, depending on their ac-count settings, it can also be seen bytheir friends; an organization with200 friends could reach over100,000 people.

Facebook also lets you create adswhich can link to your Facebookpage or website. The adage that ‘halfof all advertising dollars are wasted,

but no one knows which half ’doesn’t apply here; you set yourbudget and a target profile of peoplewho will see your ads. You also havethe option to pay per click, meaningyou don’t pay a cent until you get re-sults. (Google Adwords works simi-larly but Facebook has the addedadvantage of ongoing communica-tion with the people who also likeyour page).

The target profile can be very spe-cific, including gender, age, locationand interests. So you can advertiseacross Canada if you want but you

can also advertise only to, say, fe-males over 50 located within 20 km.of your postal code who enjoy gar-dening. Or to foodies in France aged20 - 25 or any other group thatmight be interested in your business.

There’s been some debate abouttheir effectiveness – GM recentlystopped advertising on Facebook –but the most recent data suggeststhat these ads do drive purchases. Ofcourse, there’s really only one way toknow if they’re right for your busi-ness.

Facebook is also slowly rolling out‘Offers’, their shot at GroupOn, let-ting companies offer special incen-

tives to their Facebook friends. Andmany companies are even transactingon Facebook, using tools like Payv-ment and Wix to turn a Facebookpage into an online store.

Even if you’re a local business, thereare almost 300,000 Facebook userswithin 40 kms of us here in ElginCounty. It’s worth investing the timeto do some research and a bit ofplanning to understand if Facebookshould be a part of your organiza-tion’s marketing plan.

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

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Have a

Happy and Safe

Canada Day

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

by Peter Atkinson Facing the ever-changing reality

of FacebookPerspectives on whether or not it’s

right for your business

GM recently stopped advertising

on Facebook“

“


The ProgramThe production of energy using re-

newable natural resources such aswind, sunlight, biomass, geothermalheat etc., has gained global acceptancein recent years. The new RenewableEnergies Technician diploma levelprogram at the St. Thomas ElginCampus of Fanshawe College repre-sents a response to the increasing needfor quality training in the RenewableEnergies sector.

The Renewable Energies Technicianprogram will be focused on the pri-mary applications of Renewable En-ergy in our province. The programwill appeal to individuals seeking for-mal training to enable them to enterthe Renewable Energies field as em-ployees or entrepreneurs.

The program will give the student asolid foundation in the science as wellas the design and installation tech-niques required to work with variousRenewable Energy solutions. In-cluded components will be Solar En-ergy, Wind Turbines, Biomass Energyand Geothermal Energy Systems. Thebest industry practices of health,safety and environmental conserva-

tion will play an integral role in all ofthe courses delivered within the pro-gram.

Graduates will possess an in-depthworking knowledge of current prac-tice in the installation, commissioning

and routine maintenance and repairof Photovoltaic and Wind Turbinegenerating systems enabling them tofunction effectively in the utility scaleWind Turbine and Solar Photovoltaicindustries.

RationaleOur province has embraced the Re-

newable Energies sector for environ-mental and economic reasons. Assuch our communities have changedtheir views toward Renewable Ener-gies. Escalation of energy costs and aninordinate reliance on fossil fuels hasresulted in a much greater interest insustainable energy technologies at fed-eral and provincial government levelsas well as at the individual citizenlevel. Government incentives havealso created increased interest in thesector. As a direct result, the relatedutility and construction industries areundergoing a radical change in oper-ating practices that has ushered in nu-merous renewable energy projects

based upon utility scale wind turbine,large and small (MicroFit) solar pho-tovoltaic installations, biomass, smallscale hydroelectric as well as a greateremphasis on building conservationsystems.

Our program will be uniquely posi-tioned in the training marketplaceand will provide the region with grad-uates skilled in the application, instal-lation and maintenance of the mostimportant Renewable Energy tech-nologies.

Target StudentThe Renewable Energies Technician

program will appeal both to displacedworkers seeking to enter a new andexciting job sector as well as to directentrants from local secondary schools.Our target student will be one seekingpractical functional skills designed tofacilitate direct entry into one of theemerging Renewable Energies tech-nologies.

The production of electrical energyproduced by the Renewable Energiessector is projected to increase to ac-count for 20 percent of North Amer-ican electricity production by 2030.

The Renewable Energies Technicianprogram will provide a fast track tohigh demand, well paying jobs.


TECHNOLOGY

by Bruno Castellani

JOE PRESTON, MP.

ELGIN-MIDDLESEX-LONDON

24 FIRST AVENUE, UNIT 2

ST THOMAS, ONTARIO N5R 4M5

[email protected]

WWW.JOEPRESTONMP.CA

PH: 519-637-2255

FX: 519-637-3358

Bruno Castellani is the Program Coordinator at Fanshawe College

Renewable Energy Technician Program set

to launch this September

St Thomas Elgin Campusof Fanshawe College

The program will appeal to individuals seeking

formal training to enable themto enter the Renewable

Energies field as employees orentrepreneurs...

““



Achieve Your True Potential in Business and in Life

Each office is independently owned and operated

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Lunch and Learn Programs CASO Station 750 Talbot St., St.Thomas 1130am to 1pm $20 each or 5 for $80 (tax included) Growth Coach to provide coffee and treats, R.S.V.P. to either Bryan or GordonDates and Topics:

July 11 – What is Holding Your Business Back?

August 15 – Five Winning Ways to Improve Your Customer’s Experience

Sept 12 – Work, Life and BalanceOctober 10 – Employee Appreciation November 14 – Managing Change

in Your BusinessDecember 5 – Marketing 101

More and more organizations thesedays are figuring out how social mediaapplies to them and how it can bringthe greatest benefit to their clients andstaff. The experience at Elgin St.Thomas Public Health (ESTPH) re-flects this, and we are happy to reportthat implementing social media wasnot as challenging as you might think.This is a good news story about howwe at ESTPH managed to achieve thegoal of using social media successfullyin the workplace.

Our story begins with the assemblyof a team of committed and enthusi-astic people. While forming the rightteam was a great start, the ball reallystarted rolling once the project's mainobjectives were in place. It was soonclear that social media would be agreat way of increasing the public'sawareness of what we do at ESTPH.

Although Public Health has beenonline via www.elginhealth.on.ca for

years, developing a social media pres-ence was a completely different expe-rience. Our goals were similar tothose of many organizations; wewanted to share information betweenESTPH and the community, to en-gage in discussions and we wanted tobe able to respond to questions fromclients as they came up. Using Face-book, Twitter and LinkedIn platforms(the most popular already in use byElgin County residents), we wantedto improve access to quality healthand emergency response information.

Not everything went smoothly.Leaping right into the online worldquickly changed to taking carefulsteps to plan thoroughly for the use ofsocial media. We had concerns aboutusing this new public and everlastingmedium to communicate health in-formation. How should we governthe platforms for users? What shouldwe do when we receive negative com-ments? Who and how will we set upaccounts? While these concerns were

legitimate, they were based alot on perception. In reality, withcommitment, dedication and a lot ofresearch these fears could all be over-come.

While resources are plentiful online,careful internal planning has beencrucial. To develop a social mediaplan for Public Health, gatheringinput from everyone involved at alllevels of the organization was essen-tial. Having the opportunity to pro-vide feedback encouraged interest inour plan and built confidence amongthose who would be using it. Thegood news is that getting started wasas simple as asking these two ques-tions:

1) What are our goals?2) Who is our audience?Feedback from our staff illustrated

their current understanding of socialmedia and highlighted any develop-ment opportunities. The responseswe received to those questions gave usthe baseline knowledge of social

media at our organ-ization. Fromthere, we estab-

lished a plan for usebased on the needs, goals,

and knowledge gaps of our team.Social media is not a fad and it hastremendous potential for communi-cation when used correctly. The les-sons we learned while implementingsocial media have been invaluable andwe hope you will come and see it foryourself at facebook.com/ESTPH ortwitter.com/elginhealth.

by Ryan Huffman

Ryan Huffman is the Manager ofStrategic Initiatives for Elgin St. Thomas Public Health. He coordinated the planning and implementation of its new socialmedia strategy.

Developing asocial mediapresenceIt may be easier than you think

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FARMING

As the spring days got warmer, ourchildren began counting the daysuntil summer. With visions of camp-ing and water parks dancing in theirheads, we turn our eyes to the calen-dar. How can it still look so blankwhen we have so many ideas of howto fill it? Our kids don’t realize thewhole concept of ‘summer vacation’is based on our heritage as an agrar-ian population. School children wereneeded as extra hands to help withthe busy seasons of growing and har-vest, so the timing coincided withthe needs of busy farm families. Andwhile our crew are not put to workstacking sheaves of wheat like theirpioneer counterparts, we can thinkof plenty of jobs do, to make themost of every sunny day for thewhole two months, and then some!When you’re in the business of grow-ing food in this climate, you reallyneed to ‘make hay while the sunshines’.

But of course we know that getting

away is good for us all. Children areonly young once, and summer tripsare what memories are made of. Thewish list is long, but weekends ‘off’are not in great supply. Being a nat-ural planner, I gently broach thetopic of summer plans with thethought of cornering some of thoseprecious days on the calendar. Myresident farmer replies, “Good luckwith that.”

The list of reasons not to leave isendless: it’s going to be a busy sea-son; we don’t know when wheat har-vest will be; the garden will needweeding; if it’s sunny we’ll have sec-ond and third cuts of hay to do; if it’srainy we’ll have office work to do.This could be our year to really getahead.

It’s hard to get farmers away fromthe farm. They pour so much heartand soul and work into this land;these animals. Sometimes it seemsthat the closer a proposed getawaycomes, the more panic sets in: What

if we miss an invasion of armyworms that needs spraying? What ifit something breaks down and ouremployee can’t fix it? It’s tempting tojust postpone again, and take thetime off in the winter when thingsare slower again. Easier said thandone.

Some farmers consider it a badge ofhonour to count in decades the lasttime they truly got away. And de-spite their pride in sticking with thefarm through it all, you can sensethat they (and their families) mighthave enjoyed a change of pace nowand then. Perhaps a lot of it is justthe burden of the to-do list thatevery entrepreneur lives with. It’shard to turn off the drive, and theworry, and responsibility of it all. Butsometimes, no matter how much thefarmer loves this chosen life, there’sthat glance across the way, seeing the9-to-5 way of life, and wonderingwhat it would be like to just punchthe clock and be truly ‘off’.

As it stands, we have our usual mixof day trips to mix in amongst theweather and the crops, and one fam-ily vacation, in pen, on the calendar.But in the end, I’m willing to betthat some of our best memories to-gether will include that timelessmini-vacation, dripping ice creamcones on a Sunday drive. What bet-ter way to get away from the farmthan to take the family on a drive sowe can check on the neighbor’scrops!

by Janine Lunn

Getting thefarmer awayfrom the farm

Getting thefarmer awayfrom the farm

It’s tempting to postpone vacations indefinitely

Janine Lunn hoststhe Belmont CornMaze, and liveson a sheep farmwith her family.


• KEY CONTROL SYSTEMS • SAFES• ACCESS CONTROL • LOCK HARDWARE

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Business Beat Table of ContentsdiSTRICTLTY Business,

yahoo! ......................page 10

EmployerOne for youpage 11

Home buying top tenpage 12

Huge thank you........page 13

First impressions ......page 14

Insuring to value ......page 15

New members ..........page 16

Take part in our August featureRunning a Succesful Small Business

To take advantage of excellent advertising opportunities

give me a call at 519-633-1640 (ext. 22)

or email me at [email protected] Edition Advertising Deadline is July 16th

Greg Minnema,Advertising Sales

Wednesday July 11, 2012

Sponsored & Hosted by:Quai du Vin

Estate Winery45811 Fruit Ridge Line,

St. ThomasDoors open at 5pm.

Sponsor remarks and prizedraws start at 6:15pm.

Free admission for anyonefrom a business

organization that is a Member of the St. Thomas

& District Chamber ofCommerce.

Complimentary hors d’oeuvres and yourfavourite beverages.

• JULY 2012 •

Chamber Member Services RepresentativeLinda Crawford, right, does ambassador dutieswith Rachel Larmer from London’s Lovers atWork at the regional Chamber event diS-TRICTLY Business in June. More on page 10.

June diSTRICTLY Business Event

Business After 5

The Chamber is pleased to announce a re-scheduleddate – Tuesday August 14 – for our MP / MPP Lunch-eon. With events of May 24 making it impossible for usto complete our program as planned, Member of Parlia-ment Joe Preston and Member of Provincial ParliamentJeff Yurek have been working with us to agree a newdate, and both are enthusiastic about this face-to-faceopportunity for dialog with the Chamber and our Mem-bers.

Tickets purchased for our May 24 function will be re-issued to all buyers. For those who had not previouslypurchased them, tickets are now available through theChamber office at $25 per person (plus tax), with re-served seating on single orders of 4 tickets or more. Ad-mission by advance sale only. Doors open at 11:30 a.m.and our program will start at 12 Noon with remarks byboth speakers, followed by a question-and-answer ses-sion. The Chamber will welcome questions from allMembers via email in advance of the event, or from thefloor during it. The event will conclude by 1:30 p.m.

Lunch is included in the same “bistro” style format usedfor our event with the Mayors in February and will beavailable to everyone attending as soon as they arrive.

Information about on-line ordering for tickets will ap-pear in our weekly Green Mail email broadcasts, alongwith links to order forms that can be faxed or broughtto the Chamber. Orders can also be made by telephoneto the Chamber office at 519-631-1981.

Save this date – Tuesday August 14MP & MPP Luncheon re-scheduled

Plan now for National Small BusinessWeek and our annual Business SampleShow at St. Anne’s Centre. The Cham-ber’s Sample Show happens WednesdayOctober 17 and is always a sell-out onexhibitor space. Pricing and the fullevent agenda are to be completed soon,but the Chamber staff can accept boothspace reservations now at519-631-1981 or via email:[email protected]

National Small Business Week will in-clude various local events, and hundredsmore across the country, between Oc-tober 14 to 20 this year.

The St. Thomas & DistrictChamber of Commerce is lookingfor volunteers. We’re committed toa vision and mission “to serve as theVoice of the business communityand to work to ensure economicsuccess in the St. Thomas District.”Our Member Services Committeeis looking for ambassadors to con-nect on Members’ needs and expec-tations plus help plan and deliverspecial events. Our Public SectorLiaison Committee is involvedwith government, legislation,health, education and advocacy.Both committees are welcomingnew members now.

If you’re part of a business or or-ganization that is a Member of the

St. Thomas & District Chamber,and you’d like to make a difference,call us for more at 519-631-1981.

Team building?

Another date – October 17

MEMBER NEWS Events and News of Interest to our MembersBUSINESS BEAT

1.59% 1.64%6.9¢

President & CEO Bob HammersleyAccounting Coordinator Susan MundayMember Services Wes BaileyMember Services Linda CrawfordOffice Assistant Julie Forrester

Chair: Jason White Steelway Building Systems1st. Vice-Chair: Paul Smith P.J. Smith & Associates2nd. Vice-Chair: Laura Woermke St. Thomas Elgin Art CentreTreasurer: Mark Lassam, CA Kee, Perry & Lassam Chartered AccountantsPast Chair: Linda Sawyer BMO Bank of MontrealDirector: Beth Burns K & K LocksmithsDirector: Renee Carpenter Jennings FurnitureDirector: Pete Charlton Charlton’s Quality MeatsDirector: Monty Fordham Monty Fordham Law OfficeDirector: Jeff Kohler Presstran IndustriesDirector: 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: Rob Mise myFM 94.1

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:115-300 South Edgeware Rd., St. Thomas, Ontario N5P 4L1Telephone: 519-631-1981 Fax: 519-631-0466E-Mail: [email protected]: www.stthomaschamber.on.ca

2012 Board of Directors


diSTRICTLY Business eventa complete success

Our first-ever “diSTRICTLY Busi-ness” event on June 14 was a com-plete success by every measure.Hosted jointly by five area Chamberoffices (London, Strathroy, Ingersoll,Tillsonburg & St. Thomas), ourgoals to attract 200 exhibitors andover 1,000 attendees were met andexceeded.

Staff from the St. Thomas & Dis-trict Chamber used the show as am-bassadors on a mission to market ourcommunity and our Members to allparticipating businesses. We meteach exhibitor and provided copiesof our current BusinessDirectory/Buyer’s Guide, copies ofour district street map, and contactinfo for Chamber personnel.

Chamber Office Assistant Julie Forrester connects with Kate Burns from Elgin County’s EconomicDevelopment & Tourism department.

Ian Pryce and R-Safety, one of 20 St. Thomas-based exhibitors at diSTRICTLY Business.

Photo credit: All photos by Mark Girdauskas, Photos by MG

[left] Staff from Libro Financial Group’s areabranches staffed their exhibit including, right, Jesse Brown from the St. Thomas branch.

[above] Starwood Hotels & Resorts Customer Contact Centre team, on-site to promote theirbrands and employment opportunities.


CHAMBER NEWS Events and News of Interest to our MembersBUSINESS BEAT

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Research by the Ontario Chamber of Com-merce, among many other agencies, continues toconfirm that a key problem faced by Ontariobusinesses of all types and sizes is compliancewith “red tape” – the bureaucracy and paper bur-den of dealing with government.

The EmployerOne Survey is a project of theWorkforce Planning and Development Boardand is funded by the Ministry of Training, Col-leges and Universities. The St. Thomas & Dis-trict Chamber of Commerce is one of severallocal partners supporting and promoting theproject. Our support is based on the concept ofthe project making reducing the paper burdento our Members, and in the knowledge that weneed to look at local workforce and labour mar-ket data in new ways, especially in terms ofproductivity and job creation.

We are forced to think differently aboutproductivity and growth because:

1. Globalization is expanding more thanever creating a highly competitive mar-ket

2. Incredible movements in technol-ogy are ushering a new technologicalage

3. There is a demographic shift in apopulation that is aging rapidly

For the past year a collaborationof Workforce, Economic and BusinessGroups have brought together a number ofpartners in order to provide a way for employ-ers to receive reliable local labour market informa-tion. The EmployerOneSurvey is designed to get thisinformation while respect-ing employer's confidential-ity and limited time. TheEmployerOne survey allowsemployers, once a year, achance to communicate anemployer's workforce needsdirectly to stakeholders who provide solutions.

Direct benefits to our Members will include a timely and dependable re-flection of workforce needs will assist in human resource decisions and bettercontrol of turnover rate by communicating the needs of business the mar-ketplace and agencies that deliver planning, training and skills developmentservices.

There will be no cost to any local business to participate or use data ob-tained in the study. The survey, taken once a year in January, should only beabout 15 minutes to one hour to complete, depending on the size of your

organization! The survey can be taken anytime within themonth of January and can be done progressively by savingthe answers.

The EmployerOne Survey was created with consultationof key individuals and organizations in both the public andprivate sectors to ensure the survey meets its purpose. Thesurvey will start with a three-year plan that has been devel-oped to give the survey the time it needs to establish itself.The following items have been put in place to ensure itssuccess:

1. A Memorandum of Understanding to ensure all part-ners will work, to the best of their abilities, towards the suc-cess of the survey

2. A sophisticated survey software program is being usedto collect all responses and break down data

3. All the aggregate data and the labour market intelli-gence that comes of it will be shared with the partners whowill in turn use it in ways that ultimately serves the needs

of the region's labour marketThe EmployerOne Survey aims to take the initative in de-

mand local market information. The survey needs participationof employers in the Elgin, Middlesex and Oxford region in orderto ensure this outcome can be reached. The potential benefitsthat come with the EmployerOne Survey ore than outweighits cost and will provide much needed data to produce qualityinformation on workforce needs of our regions employers.

Less work,more resultsReducing the paper burden toour member

we need to look at local workforce and labour market data in new ways“

“


St. Thomas and Elgin has seenan influx of many newcomersover the last couple of years andthe most recent 2011 census dataconfirms our population continuesto grow. The following are my topten tips for new buyers.

1. Engage the services of a rep-utable real estate broker early in thehunt. If you are new to real estatepurchasing, your own real estate rep-resentative can provide insight intomarket trends and favourable loca-tions. If you are new to the area per-haps your home town real estate salerepresentative can make a referral toa local realtor.

2. Get involved with your lendinginstitution through which you in-tend to arrange your mortgage, ifany. At this stage a professionalmortgage broker can be particularlyhelpful in finding the lowest interestrate and most favourable terms.Mortgage brokers do the “leg work”and their commissions are mostoften paid by the lending institution.At this stage, you may obtain a “pre-approval” for a mortgage. However,in reality, this is only a “rate hold”,pending the formal mortgage ap-

proval process. (See#7 below)

3. Through discus-sions with your real-tor you will nowdetermine the local-ity in which youwish to focus, yourprice range, style ofhome, proximity toschools, etc. Try notto look at too many

homes duringtoo short a

period oft i m e .Realtors

tell methis only serves to confuse you (andannoy them) and often the details ofspecific properties become blurred.

4. Once a suitable home has beenidentified, thoroughly review the“vendor disclosure statement” if it isavailable. Often (but not always) thedisclosure reveals items which limitthe value of the property or indicatesignificant future expenditures.However, disclosure statements don’treplace thorough inspections .Aswell, the disclosure is only to “thebest of the knowledge” of the seller.That, and a nickel... oh you knowthe rest.

5. You should now thoroughly in-spect the property from top to bot-tom. Get the stars out of your eyes.This is your chance for a completelycritical review of your future home.Take whatever time you need. Ifsomething appears to be hidden byfurniture or other objects, speak toyour realtor and be satisfied there areno hidden defects; at least, any thatwould be visible upon a reasonableinspection. (See #8 below)

6. If you are now ready to submit aserious offer to purchase the prop-erty, bear in mind this is likely to bethe most significant single purchaseyou will ever make. You might con-sider reviewing the proposed offerwith your lawyer. Contrary to popu-lar opinion, lawyers generally preferto put out fires before they becomeraging infernos. In my experience,clients usually prefer this as well.

7. The offer to purchase shouldcontain a number of conditions,which if not satisfied will cancel thepurchase. These will include arrang-ing satisfactory financing ( in otherwords, getting a written commit-ment from a lending institution tolend you the amount of money yourequire to buy the specific property.)Other conditions may require satis-factory home inspection, satisfactoryenvironmental tests, etc. Generally,any outstanding question after in-spection should be the subject of a

condition in the offer. Once again, itis wise to review such conditionswith your lawyer.

8. At this point, I would like tomake a special note regarding homeinspections. Some people insert acondition requiring a satisfactoryhome inspection and then proceedto remove the condition without theinspection. Don’t do this. An inspec-tion performed by an experiencedhome inspector may point out seri-ous mechanical and physical issueswhich can seriously affect the mar-ketability, value and insurability ofthe home. ( Ref:: knob and tubewiring, asbestos, urea formaldehyde,blue mold, old oil tank, etc.)

9. If you have a home to sell, ofcourse your offer to purchase a newhome should be made conditionalupon a binding agreement to pur-chase your home. Once you havesold your old home, the closing datesof the two transactions should be co-ordinated. The closing dates do not,however, have to be identical. (See“bridging” below)

10. In situations where people aremoving from out of the area, often“bridge financing” is arranged inorder to allow the purchase to closeahead of the sale. I have personallyobserved several clients (especiallyones with small children) manage tokeep their sanity during a move byutilizing this simple technique.Bridging also allows for some repairsor renovations to be completed with-out the interference of furniture.Talk to your banker about this one.It’s worth it.

Welcome to St. Thomas and happyhunting.

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]

Ten toptips forhousehunters

LEGAL BUSINESS Legal News and Issues for BusinessBUSINESS BEAT

by Monty Fordham


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How do we stop it?It’s more than just fake money.The Canadian Intellectual Property Council

(CIPC) concludes that Canada’s intellectual prop-erty rights (IPR) regime continues to have seriousweaknesses that undermine our country’s innova-tion capacity and economic prosperity.

The CIPC is an organization of businesses underthe banner of the Canadian Chamber of Com-merce focused on improving and protecting intel-lectual property rights in Canada.

“The problem of counterfeit and pirated prod-ucts infiltrating the traditional and on-line marketplace continues at an unabated pace. Canada’s sys-tem is outdated and unfortunately, no progress hasbeen made on the creation of IPR institutions oran Intellectual Property crime task force,” said Per-rin Beatty, President and CEO of the CanadianChamber of Commerce. “This is impacting ourcompetitiveness on many fronts, and it is criticalthat the Canadian Government take a proactivestance to allow Canadian businesses to fully par-ticipate in the global economy.”

The RCMP produces intellectual property crimestatistics on a quarterly basis. In the most recentupdate, the value of infringing goods continues togrow at an alarming rate. China continues to ac-count for 80% of counterfeit goods found inCanada. 30% of counterfeit goods seized posedrisks to the health and safety of Canadians. Andfinally, pharmaceutical counterfeits are now at 7%of all products seized, up from 4% in 2011.

A newly published report titled “Counterfeitingin the Canadian Market” exposes the extent of theworld’s current counterfeit problem and illustratesthe risks associated with counterfeit products andtheir illicit distribution. To view the 31-page re-port, please visit our website to read or downloadit at www.stthomaschamber.on.ca

Canada has a number of weak spots with respectto intellectual property rights, leaving it vulnerableand hindering its ability to fully participate in theglobal economy. The report examines interna-tional best practices in hopes of better understand-ing how to combat IP infringements andhighlighted five areas where urgent action is re-quired to modernize Canada’s current system.

Canada has no tools to trackand report on the instances ofcounterfeiting that are de-tected. For example, the Cana-dian Border Services Agency(CBSA) does not have a man-date for reporting on IP crime atthe border. This lack of clear andcredible information poses a realproblem for decision makers.

The Chamber’s position on thisissue is that action is needed – now.

The Canadian Intellectual Property Council(CIPC) is a coalition of business groups workingtogether under the banner of the Canadian Cham-ber of Commerce to improve Canada’s economiccompetiveness by ensuring the adoption of world-class intellectual property protection.

The Canadian Chamber of Commerce is thevital connection between business and the federalgovernment. It helps shape public policy and de-cision-making to the benefit of businesses, com-

mu-n i t i e sand fami-lies acrossCanada with a network of over 420chambers of commerce and boards of trade, rep-resenting 192,000 businesses of all sizes in all sec-tors of the economy and in all regions.

Counterfeiting in the Canadian market: MEMBER NEWS Events and News of Interest to our MembersBUSINESS BEAT

THANK YOUThe St. Thomas & District Chamber of Commerce

sincerely thanks our event sponsors for supporting our36th Free Enterprise Awards Program

36th


I received the paragraph below inan e-mail. Most of us have seensomething similar with letters out oforder, but this is the first time I'veseen it with numbers included. It isa good example of a Brain Study. So,if you can read it you have an inter-esting mind!

7H15 M3554G3 53RV35 7OPR0V3 H0W 0UR M1ND5 C4ND0 4M4Z1NG 7H1NG5!

1MPR3551V3 7H1NG5! 1N7H3 B3G1NN1NG 17 WA5H4RD BU7 N0W, 0N 7H15 LIN3Y0UR M1ND 1S R34D1NG 174U70M471C4LLY W17H 0U73V3N 7H1NK1NG 4B0U7 17, B3PROUD!

BU7 0NLY C3R741N P30PL3C4N R3AD 7H15.

If you are one of those who can ac-tually make sense of what is writtenI say ‘well done’!.

The whole issue of communica-tions comes down to ways andmeans of getting your thoughts ormessage out in a variety of ways.

I have been involved with musicmy whole life and many years agosomeone told me that people listenwith their eyes as much as with theirears. If you are a performer, peoplewatch you walk on stage and the waythey first see you is a major part oftheir impression of how you will ul-timately perform. For example, ifyour shoes are not polished, you willbe communicating how much prideyou take in what you will present.

We have been told, too, that in ajob interview the first few momentsare absolutely critical in making that‘first impression’ which could, and

often does, have a huge bearing upongetting the position or not. It takesjust a quick glance, maybe three sec-onds, for someone to evaluate you ata first meeting. In this short time, theother person forms an opinion aboutyou based upon your appearance,body language, demeanour, andmannerisms.

With every new meeting withsomeone, you are evaluated and yetanother person's impression of you isformed. These first impressions canbe nearly impossible to reverse or

undo, making first encounters ex-tremely important, for they set thetone for all the relationships that fol-low. So, whether they are in your ca-reer or social life, it's important toknow how to create a good first im-pression. Here are some useful tipsyou’ve likely heard before but withthe thought that a little reinforce-ment can be good.

Be on timeSomeone you are meeting for the

first time is not interested in your‘good excuse’ for running late. Planto arrive a few minutes early thus al-lowing flexibility for possible delaysin traffic or taking a wrong turn. Ar-riving early is much better that arriv-

ing late and is the first step in creat-ing a great first impression.

Be yourself, be at easeIf you are feeling uncomfortable

and on edge, this can make the otherperson ill at ease and that's a sure wayto create the wrong impression. Ifyou are calm and confident, so theother person will feel more at ease,and so have a solid foundation tomake that first impression a goodone.

First impressions are a very impor-tant part of any society. We all judge

others on first impressions and manytimes the conclusion or ruling ofthese judgments are totally out of ourcontrol. However, this should nottake us away from understandinghow we are being judged, as well asthe process that goes on in the mindof others

Making a good first impression isimportant for building relationshipswith other people. In business net-working (i.e. the Chamber’s monthlyBusiness After 5 events). A positivefirst impression is crucial for creatingprofitable, sustainable, long-termpartnerships to help build your busi-ness and keep it thriving.

Be it face-to-face, over the phone,

e-mail or video conference, it is veryimportant to come across positively,especially the first time around.

SO 7HA7 IS MY ME55AG3FOR THI5 MON7H C U atBU5SIN355 After S!

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This article has been prepared for theChamber and our Members by AllanWeatherall, B.A., CFRE, APR – Executive Director of the St. ThomasElgin General Hospital Foundation.He received accreditation (APR) fromthe Canadian Public Relations Societyin 1993 and a CFRE (certifiedfundraising executive) in 2000. He welcomes your comments via emailto: [email protected] or telephone519-631-2030 extension 2247.

by Allan Weatherall

POSITIVE EXPOSURE Doing Public Relations RightBUSINESS BEAT

F1GUR471V3LY 5P34k1NG? F1R57 IMPR355ION5


Insuring to value is an issue the in-surance industry deals with regularly.Many consumers are unwilling or un-able to understand that insurance val-ues are not a reflection of what theproperty was purchased for; rather itis what it will cost to replace. Of con-cern, recently, is the fact that over thepast number of years the cost of build-ing materials and labour have in-creased 4% - 7% annually. In 2008,there was an increase of over 20% inthe new housing construction costindex (1). Not only did the cost ofconstruction on new homes increasebut so did reconstruction/replacementcosts. This means your most valuableasset needs adequate protection to re-flect today’s costs and values.

A residential/commercial buildingvaluation by your insurance broker isyour first step.

Brokers rely on experts in the esti-mation/appraisal field to help deter-mine replacement cost. This is donethrough computer software providedby a numbers of companies such asMarshall & Swift Boeckh. The pro-gram requires that certain construc-tion details of the home or buildingbe inputted to determine costs associ-ated with material, labour, debris re-moval etc.

Not only is it important that yourhome or building be insured to accu-rately reflect replacement cost, it’s alsoa prudent to re-evaluate the replace-ment cost every few years to ensureany changes in the cost of construc-tion, building materials and labour inyour region are accurately reflected inthe insured value of the building. Ifany renovations, upgrades or alter-ations are completed at any time, it’swise to re-evaluate the building costalso.

The purpose of Insurance to Value(ITV) is to determine what the “re-

placement” value is, if your home orbuilding was severely damaged or de-stroyed. This value is NOT whatsomeone would pay if your home orbuilding was listed for sale or builtnew, but the costs (labour, materialsand equipment) that an insuranceclaim would incur to “replace” theproperty.

Replacement cost is very differentfrom market value, actual cash valueor tax assessment value. Insurancepremiums are not based on the cur-rent resale value of your home orbuilding, but on the cost to replace it.Market value is based on a number offactors that have no direct associationto your home or building’s replace-ment cost. Some of those factors in-clude location, land value and marketvalue of surrounding homes or build-ings. Replacement cost factors, on theother hand, can include materialcosts, fuel and energy costs, the costand availability of skilled labour, de-bris removal, site accessability, winterheating of the construction site andchanging construction codes.

Your insurance policy may also con-tain a “co-insurance” clause. Com-mon co-insurance limits are 80%,90% or 100%. This is the percentageof the replacement value that yourproperty must be insured to in orderto be fully reimbursed for a loss. Ifyou don’t insure to the minimumvalue determined by your broker bythe “Replacement Cost Valuation”,you may be penalized in the event ofa claim. Really, this means that if youinsure your property for less than thedetermined “Replacement Cost”amount, then you might only get aportion of your claim paid.

Regardless of a properties age, whenrebuilding a home or building withsevere damage, there are costs associ-ated with reconstruction that are notpart of the original construction costs.As a result, these additional recon-

struction costs need to be consideredwhen determining the amount of in-surance needed for your home orbuilding.

A reconstruction firm purchasessmaller quantities than a general con-tractor and does not receive volumediscount from building suppliers.These firms have to factor in theirprofit and overhead (20 - 30%) basedon building one home or building, asapposed to many.

Before any reconstruction can beginon an existing property, debris fromthe damages must be removed. Whenremoving debris, reconstruction firmsmust work without damaging existingdriveways, landscaping, utilities, sewersystems and any undamaged portionof the building that may be remain-ing. The time and expense to workaround these obstacles add to the costof the overall project. The site mayalso have to be extensively cleaned asthe soil may be contaminated.

When rebuilding, you may need tomeet the newer and more demandingbuilding codes. Building Codechanges can add thousands of dollarsto the cost of restoring a damagedbuilding.

Reconstruction includes the cost tore-construct at current prices, an exactreplica of your dwelling, using likekind and quality materials particularto your home or building. Olderstructures are more difficult to matchand include extra costs. Rebuildingolder properties often require manyindependent specialists which can addto the final price.

A broker’s commitment to you isgetting you back into your home assoon as possible. This “urgency” usu-ally costs more in materials, deliveryfees and contractor’s fees.

Remember, you are protecting yourmost valuable asset! Insurance toValue does not cost, it pays.

• Source: Statistics Canada, CapitalExpenditure Price Statistics – Octoberto December 2008

Insuring your home or building to its proper value

Gail Dennis

www.accountingwithyou.com • [email protected] South Edgeware Rd., St. Thomas, ON N5P 4L1

519-633-7597 (Ext. 405)

Prosperity Coach for Your Business and You

What Makes Your MoneyMake Money!

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PRO TEXT Business Management News & IssuesBUSINESS BEAT

This article has been supplied to theChamber by Reith & Associates Insurance and Financial Services.Joanne Fisher RIB (Ont), is a BusinessServices Broker/Advisor with the firmand welcomes your comments or questions on this column at her officeat 462 Talbot Street, St. Thomas; bytelephone at 519-631-3862; or viaemail: [email protected]

by Joanne Fisher


The St. Thomas & DistrictChamber of Commerce ispleased to welcome the follow-ing businesses and individualsas our newest Members. Thestaff and management of the or-ganizations shown below wereaccepted as registered Membersfrom May 16 to June 15, 2012.

The Princess Banquet Hall andConvention Center Inc.18 Princess AvenueSt. Thomas, ON N5R 3V3Phone: 519-633-9527Email:[email protected] Contact: Ms. Laurie Price, General ManagerBuyer’s Guide Categories: Ban-quet Facilities; Halls & Special

Event FacilitiesProducts & Services: ThePrincess Banquet Hall (formerlythe Elgin Labour Temple) offers 2banquet halls in one site, withadjacent parking in their own lotand a large municipal lot besidethe building. The main hall holdsup to 400 people, and the upperhall up to 100. 3 licensed barson the premises and capacity tohost a wide range of social, busi-ness, community and specialevents.The Fitness Definition658 Talbot Street, Upper LevelSt. Thomas, ON N5P 1C8Phone: 519-777-6164Email:[email protected]: Mr. Russ Hicks, Per-

sonal TrainerBuyer’s Guide Categories: Per-sonal Trainer; Sports, Recreation& FitnessProducts & Services: The FitnessDefinition offers personal train-ing, and owner Russ Hicks willwork closely with you through acustom designed program to getyou started in the right direction.Call Russ anytime to find outmore about the many fitnessprograms and find out what hecan do for you and your family.Rail & Traction Canada113 Gaylord RoadSt. Thomas, ON N5P 3S3 Phone: 519-633-1222Fax: 519-633-6888Email: [email protected]: www.railtraction.ca

Contacts: Mr. StephaneClaveau, Vice President/GeneralManager; Ms. Michelle Carroll,Accounting / Office ManagerBuyer’s Guide Categories: Dis-tributors; Manufacturers; Rail-way TransportationProducts & Services: Rail & Trac-tion Canada (RTC) is St. Thomas’newest manufacturing and distri-bution business. RTC is a lead-ing manufacturer and distributorof rail parts and has designedand manufactured traction mo-tors and related components,used in over 30 countries, forover 15 years. Their distributionnetwork is strategically central-ized to enable quick distributionto the end user.Your Advantage Home Inspections2 Confederation StreetSt. Thomas, ON N5P 3N9Phone: 519-207-0889Email:[email protected] Contacts: Mr. Jeff MacIntyre,Home Inspector/Owner; Mr.Mijo Ilic, Home Inspector/OwnerBuyer’s Guide Category: HomeInspection ServicesProducts & Services: Your Ad-vantage Home Inspections(YAHI) is a home inspectioncompany focusing on thoroughand detailed inspections of prop-erties based on education andexperience. The owners aregraduates of Fanshawe Colllege’sHome Inspection Certificate Pro-gram. At YAHI they believe that"two sets of eyes are better thanone", so every inspection hastwo Home Inspectors present.

Save 3.5¢/litreChamber members qualify for Esso’sDirect Billing Program; you pay3.5¢ off the posted retail pump pricewhenever you fuel up.You may also get a convenient, detailedmonthly invoice and also qualify forSpeedpass®. For an application, contact:

Wellington Roadat St. George St.519-633-0002

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be heardbe seen

belong!St. Thomas and District Chamber of Commerce


“ “

I like the Chamber because it’s about people.

Allan HughsonOwner, Williams Funeral Home45 Elgin StreetSt Thomas519-631-0850www.williamsfuneralhomeltd.comWilliams Funeral Home has been a registeredChamber Member for 118 years.

It brings together people whoshare our desire to build business

and improve our community.

“ “I like the Chamber because it’sabout personal connections.

George FischtnerOwner, Sparkle CARSTAR Collision15 Queen StreetSt [email protected] CARSTAR Collision has been a registered Chamber Member for 13 years.

The Chamber provides a greatforum to network and build long-

term business relationships.“ “It's all about networking for us.

Ginette MinorSuzanne EdwardsCo-Owners, Genuine StitchesSt Thomas519-494-0787www.genuinestitches.comGenuine Stitches has been a registeredChamber Member for 4 years.

We have met so many peoplefrom so many different types ofbusinesses, that we are able to

get any of our questions answeredeasily at any time...and we are able

to answer their's as well!

“ “

I like the Chamber because ofthe Community involvement.

Phil JamesOwner, New 2 You Auto175 South Edgeware Rd.St Thomas519-631-6420www.new2youauto.caNew 2 You Auto has been a registered Chamber Member for 7 years.

The Chamber is very active in theCommunity to build and promote

our area.“ “

The Chamber helps keep ourname in front of our customers.

Kim MarcottePresident and C.E.O, Quantum RBS154 Fifth Avenue, Unit #6St Thomas519-633-8903www.QRBS.caQuantum RBS has been a registered Chamber Member for 1 year.

With over 700 businesses and organizations included as

Chamber Members, the pool ofresources, ideas and energy

is incredible

“ “

It’s not who you know, it’s who knows you.

Ann Marie PerryPartner- Kee, Perry & Lassam15 Barrie BoulevardSt Thomas519-631-6360www.kpl-accountants.caKee, Perry & Lassam has been a registeredChamber Member for 29 years.

The Chamber events are a greatnetworking opportunity to meet

new business colleagues and re-connect with others.

be heard

Joining the chamber provides you one of the best opportunities to de-velop your business. You can take advantage of the great benefits weoffer to help you not only grow your business but also to grow your net-work, increase your exposure, build your customer base and make a

direct impact on the business community. You will be entitled to some of the best savings, but in addition to savings programs, monthly newsletter, and special offers, your membership will entitle you to enjoy many more learning and networking opportunities. Call Membership coordinator Linda Crawford at 519-631-1981 to talk about how you can join over 700 community business in growing business and community.

be seenbelong!

St. Thomas and District Chamber of Commerce


Are you a bottomfeeder or do you payyourself first?

There are several criteria for receiv-ing financing from Elgin BusinessResource Centre, and one is that youmust be turned down by at least twobanks. Here’s the standard joke thatfollows: “And that’s not hard.”

The beginning, struggling years canbe frustrating for a business ownerwho feels like calling out in frustra-tion, “The only people who getmoney from banks are the peoplewho don’t need it.” The basic realityis that banks generally want a busi-ness start-up loan secured by a tangi-ble asset they can seize if necessary:land, equipment, a vehicle. Or theywant to see positive cash flow. Sincethat may be hard to come by, thestruggling entrepreneur has to getcreative if her ship is going to stayafloat.

Business owners approach thisquestion in two different ways, de-pending on their personal style.Some owners believe it’s importantto have an impressive presence rightfrom the get-go, and to “pay yourselffirst.” Typically, this type of ownerbelieves the business exists to supporta substantial lifestyle. To do that,sales must be strong right from thebeginning. And since marketingdrives sales, a big marketing budgetis important. After all, you never geta second chance to make a good firstimpression.

This requires considerable start-upcapital, but the banks are still goingto want to see a great business planand positive cash flow before advanc-ing a substantial business loan.Where to turn?

Often the “pay yourself first” indi-vidual will go to high net worth fam-ily members, wealthy people in thecommunity or even venture capital-ists who expect high rates of returnin exchange for the risk they are tak-ing. Several credit cards may be in-volved and personal property securedto the hilt in order to obtain line ofcredit approvals.

At the other end of the spectrum isthe bottom feeder. This business

owner will make sure that all loansare secured, just so she can sleep atnight. If the business fails, the housemay be lost, but at least the bank willbe paid back. Additional financingmay come from family memberswho are loaning more with theirhearts than with their heads.

Bottom feeders tend to pay them-selves last while they work very hardto turn the business into a profitablesituation. They are credit card ad-verse and sometimes spend so littletime or money on marketing thatthey may be all but invisible. Theterm “sweat equity” applies to theirentire theory of operation.

The risk for the “pay yourself first”

operator is that his reach for the starsmay come crashing to the earth ifsales do not materialize and fast. Therisk for the bottom feeder is that hewill starve before enough potentialclients even know he is in business.Or he will get so accustomed to feed-ing at the bottom that he can neverenjoy material things if they begin tocome his way.

Few entrepreneurs are purely oneor the other – most are somewhere inbetween. But it’s a good idea to knowyour style before opening for busi-ness. That style is a big factor in de-termining how much financing youwill need, and where you will needto go to find it.

Business Growth Startswith a ConversationRBC has Advice you can bank onCall Barbara Beechey today!

Barbara BeecheySenior Account Manager, Business and PersonalRBC Royal Bank1099 Talbot St. E., St [email protected]

® / ™ Trademark(s) of Royal Bank of Canada. RBC and Royal Bank are registered trademarks of Royal Bank of Canada. ©2011 Royal Bank of Canada.

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S P E C I A L F E A T U R E

P E R S O N A L S T Y L E

Financing A New Business

by Terry Carrol

Two styles of financingTwo styles of financing


Transfers to a ChildOrdinarily, when property is trans-

ferred to another person or entity,the Income Tax Act (ITA) assumesthat the transfer is a deemed disposi-tion at the Fair Market Value at thetime of transfer, regardless of the pro-ceeds received. This will typically re-sult in the realization of capital gains(or losses) by the transferor depend-ing on the Adjusted Cost Base(ACB). However, pursuant to Sec-tion 73 of the ITA, where the trans-fer consists of farm property to achild, the capital gain or loss for thetransferor can be reduced or elimi-nated. This provides definite tax ad-vantage through tax deferral. Beforediscussing the process, some impor-tant terms need to be defined:

Farm property in regards totransfer to a child includes:

Land Depreciable property (equipment

for example) Eligible Capital Property (a dairy

quota for example) Interest in a farm partnership Shares in a family farm corporation The farm property must be located

in Canada and must have been usedprincipally in the business of farmingimmediately before the transfer.

Farming Business in regards to thetransfer of a child is not clearly de-fined in the ITA and the CRA refersto certain guidelines when makingthat determination. Some of the cri-teria considered are:

The nature of the farming opera-tion in relation to other farming op-erations in the immediate area,particularly size. If the farm is toosmall to provide any expectation ofprofit it will probably not be consid-ered a farming business. Even if thefarm appears to be large enough tobe profitable it would probably notbe considered a 'business' if the landis not actually being utilized, partic-ularly where the individual has othersources of income - in other words,a 'hobby farm'

The property will probably not beconsidered a business if the ownerspends a substantial amount ofhis/her time in other income produc-ing pursuits and not tending to pro-ducing crops/ income from theproperty

How much time and investment

the owner has directed towards theproperty such as machinery, build-ings etc.

The eligibility of the owner for var-ious types of provincial farming as-sistance which assumes some sort ofeligibility tests

As with any financial decision, yourfinancial advisor should be part ofthe planning process. With theirguidance you will be assured that

your decision will be the best finan-cial decision.

This article was prepared by Ellen Luftwho is an Investment Advisor with DWMSecurities Inc. a DundeeWealth Inc. Com-pany. This is not an official publication ofDWM Securities Inc. The views (includingany recommendations) expressed in this ar-ticle are those of the author alone, and theyhave not been approved by, and are not nec-essarily those of, DWM Securities Inc.

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P L A N N I N G


Ellen Luft is an Investment Advisor withDWM SecuritiesInc. in St. Thomas.The views expressedare her own.

Making a farm transfer to a family member while aliveThe tax challenges and opportunities

by Ellen Luft



S T A Y F O C U S E D


We help customers by providing practicaladvice and relevant financial solutions.

Kim Coaker is a Small Business Advisor with Scotiabank, Elgin County

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If you’re going into business for thefirst time, you may be wonderinghow a bank decides to give you aloan.

Entrepreneurs who have startedbusinesses before already have atrack record, and banks can use thatrecord to decide if they’re good can-didates for financing.

But what if this is your first com-pany? Even without a long businesstrack record, a strong personal credithistory and a good business plan canhelp you qualify for financing.

Your credit history is comprised ofinformation gathered from financialinstitutions, utilities, retailers, andother lenders about how you’ve han-dled credit in the past, so it can helpprove that you are financially re-sponsible. If you have a mortgage,

car loan, credit cards, or studentloan, your credit history will showwhether you regularly pay your billson time—key things a lender looksfor when deciding whether to extendcredit.

Besides your personal credit his-tory, you’ll also need a well thought-out business plan that tells the bankhow you intend to use the loan, andprojections of cash flow that willallow you to repay the loan. Getstarted on developing your businessidea by working through the ScotiaStarting Line for Business, a toolthat gives an overview of what’sneeded for business startups.

And can I get a loan without a

business history?

And can I get a loan without a

business history?by Kim Coaker

Does your personal credithistory matter?



I D E A S A B O U N D


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]

We’d like to introduce David VanDinther as your Small Business Advisor.

David understands the unique characteristics of owningand operating a small business or farm in St. Thomas and iscommitted to helping you by providing services, productsand advice tailored specifically to your needs.

Drop by the branch to talk to your Small Business Advisorand discover how we can make your business banking easier. We look forward to seeing you soon.

David Van Dinther, B.A. (Hons)Small Business Advisor378 Talbot St. & 417 WellingtonSt. (Mondays)St. Thomas(519) 631-7070 ext. 231 (Talbot St.)(519) 633-4640 (Wellington St.)[email protected]

Shayne Wyler, CEO of Seven, works withpeople and organiza-tions that needclarity. By asking theright questions, Sevenclarifies your direc-tion, giving you theclarity you need.

Seven questions to ask yourself

There are several key questions to ask asyou explore the right financing options foryou and your organization. Let's explore thetruth about financing using the followingseven questions to bring you the clarity youneed.

What is financing?Financing is to provide funding for a per-

son or enterprise. In discerning why youneed financing, when you need it and whatthe right type of financing is for you, muchof the process depends on you and yourplans.

Why is financing needed?It is important to know your reasons for fi-

nancing. Understand your reasons and findout how the financing will work into yourwhole strategy. You may be able to financeyour business with resources you already have. Perhaps raising your pricesor serving a new market is all you need. Be creative and take a look at all theoptions you have. Whatever option you choose you want to make sure thatit increases your profit and profitability, empowering you to gain the effec-tiveness and efficiency you need.

When is financing needed?To answer this question, look at your projections. Detailed projections will

go a long way for you. In detailing your projections, you will gain the clarityyou need to assess and determine if financing is the best tool to use. Considerall the options and opportunities you have before you.

Again, you may be able to raise the funds you need using the tools you al-ready have available.

How do you gain access to financing?You will need a plan and strategyThe plan and strategy are first and foremost for you. A plan is what you are

going to do and the strategy is how and why you are doing it that way. Sim-

ply plan your work and work your plan. Asyou work your plan you will gain new in-sight. Allow this new insight the room it de-serves and if you need to adjust, do soaccordingly. Be sure to share your plan withsomeone you trust and that has experiencein the strategies you are exploring.

Once you have your plan and strategy youwill need to seek out the right financing foryou.

What is the right financial tool for you?To answer this, you will need to know your

options and all the details of those op-tions. Do your research so that you have theknowledge to make the wise decision. De-sire without knowledge is not good. Ask thehard questions now before you commit.

Who is the right person to manage your fi-nances?

It may not be you.What systems do you need to manage

your finances?This is key. The right person will empower

you with the right systems bringing the ef-fectiveness and efficiency you need to manage your financial strategies. Youalready have some financial systems in place. Analyze these and find out howthey are working. Will they be able to handle the financial load you are goingto be putting on the them?

Take the time now to answer these questions and know your options in de-tail. With your financial plan and strategy in hand, proceed with your eyesopen and be available to the new insights that will come as you move for-ward.

The truth about financing


MARK A WALESCHARTERED ACCOUNTANT

Mark A. WalesJENNIFER WHALLS TAMMY SLOTA

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

- Your trusted business and tax advisor -• Personal Tax • Corporate Tax •• Estate Tax • E-File Services •

Free Initial Consulation

Occasionally small businessesstruggle to get off the ground becausethey can’t secure the funds needed formodern equipment or vehicles. Ora more established business has topass up on an opportunity to expandto a bigger location because it hasdifficulty financing the new prem-ises.

Small businesses are essential to theoverall prosperity of Canada. Assuch, the Federal Government estab-lished the Canada Small Business Fi-nancing Program (CSBFP) in 1961.This program is designed to helpsmall businesses secure the fundingthey need to update, expand or inno-vate their operations, and is one ofthe tools financial institutions canuse. The CSBFP programs main ob-jectives are to:

• Help new businesses get started orestablished firms make improve-ments

• Provide improved access to loansthat would not otherwise be availableto small businesses

• Support economic activity andjob creation in the small business sec-tor

While supported by the FederalGovernment, the program is actuallyadministered by leading financial in-stitutions. The Federal Governmenthelps make the loans possible bysharing the risk with the FinancialInstitution.

The CSBFP is open to small busi-nesses operating for profit in Canada

that have annual gross revenues ofless than $5 Million. The loansrange from $10,000 (minimum) to amaximum of $500,000 and can beused to finance:

• The purchase or improvement ofbuildings or land

• Commercial vehicles• Purchase new equipment• Production equipmentSmall businesses create most of the

jobs in the private sector and are a di-rect contributor to Canada’s overallprosperity. But they face many chal-lenges – one of which is accessing fi-nancing to support growth. Makingit easier for Small businesses to ob-tain financing to start-up, expandand even modernize helps the econ-omy and benefits Canada as a whole.

To apply for a CSBFP loan, contacta Small Business Advisor at a partic-ipating financial institution. YourSmall Business Advisor will discussyour financing needs and help youunderstand the application, rates andthe other terms of the CSBFP pro-gram. Both fixed- and variable-rateoptions are available, with amortiza-tion periods of up to ten years.

For more information on theCanada Small Business FinancingProgram, contact your local SmallBusiness Advisor, or visit the FederalGovernment website.


I D E A S A B O U N D


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Get expert help on:• saving time and money• operating your business more effectively• managing your personal and business

banking seamlessly

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Funds for modernequipment or vehiclesOne financing option for small business

by David Van Dither

David Van Dither is a Small BusinessAdvisor with TD Canada Trust in St. Thomas


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

LEADERSHIP

As a CEO, you need to elevate your mindset and obsess about getting morefrom your current resources and efforts. You must ask yourself and othersbetter questions. You must start to ask yourself, “How can our business getgreater results from every action we take, every expenditure we make, everyeffort we expend, every relationship we have”? Avoid status quo like a deadlyvirus. You must embrace fully the philosophies that, “good enough never is”and “we can always do better”.

Optimization (also known as leverage) is a mindset of maximizing your re-sults while simultaneously minimizing the amount of time, effort, risk,money, and energy you expend. It’s all about getting greater productivity,performance, profitability and payback from your ideas, assets, knowledge,systems, processes, practices, people and opportunities. Overlook nothing;leverage opportunities are everywhere.

Optimization is all about using your mind and limited business resourcesin new and better ways. It’s about using your creative intelligence as an in-credible force to increase your sales, customer satisfaction, profits, quality,etc. Optimization is about freeing yourself and your organization from lim-iting beliefs, the “we’ve always done it this way” attitudes, and established in-dustry practices. Optimization is searching for opportunities within andwithout your company where the application of focus or force will yield sub-stantially multiplied results. For example, if you start using telephone callsto follow-up your direct mail campaigns, you may multiply your sales resultsby staggering amounts.

Just as a tire jack can lift the tremendous weight of a car for a tire change,so too can the strategy of optimization help you significantly lift your com-pany’s revenues, improve operations, and lighten your daily load. A lever,fulcrum and slight force can lift significant weight if you know how to usethese tools. Learn about leverage so you can begin to elevate and optimizeyour business results.

To master the art of optimization, you need to adopt an opportunity mind-set. To leave the status quo behind, you need to ask continually the followingtypes of questions:

• What is the best and highest use of our time, talent, and treasures?• What resources are we underutilizing?• How can we maximize our returns/output and minimize our input?• How can we work smarter, not harder?• Which strategies will give us super-sized results?• What processes or departments within our business are

under-performing?• What past or current relationships could we more fully leverage

(i.e. customers, employees, vendors, suppliers, advisers, etc.)?• What other industries could provide us with some innovative

best practices?• Where are the hidden opportunities within our business, our

employees, our suppliers/vendors, our business partners, our customer base, our competitors, and our business processes?

• How can we get a greater return/payoff using the least amount of money, time, risk, etc?

• How can we be more effective, more productive?• How can we get better every day in every way?• What suggestions from our

customers should we pursue first?

Expand your mind and your lead-ership potential and your businessand opportunities expand exponen-tially. The more you grow as a leader,the more your business grows as amarket leader. Think optimization,not status quo.

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by Bryan Vine

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

Adopt the mindset of

optimization

Ask yourselfand others

better questions...


Once upon a time padded head-boards were only found in grand ho-tels. But today this lush hot trend isin our personal bedrooms, cus-tomized to fit any budget, whethersimple or elegant. And what a state-ment they make! Their mere exis-tence adds a softness and comfort to

a room that otherwise can feel quitestark with all the wood pieces.Colour, texture, pattern, or whateverdesign element the décor needs canbe provided with a padded head-board, often making it the focalpoint in the room.

Styles and fabric or leather optionsare endless. A wide range of designlooks, from Hollywood regency to

tailored masculine are showcased inmagazines and model homes. Thereally tall headboards are ‘in’, alongwith tufting and nail heads. The factthat padded headboards are availablein any size, style, colour or fabric tofit the room make them very desir-able. Not all rooms can handle reallytall. The room dictates the piece.

An upholstered headboard can bemounted to the wall or attached tothe bedframe. Or, the entire framecan be upholstered. Narrow downthe options by first asking yourselfthe following questions:

• What style or shape? Traditional, contemporary, etc…

• What type of bed? Padded with posts, platform bed, daybed, etc.

• What size of bed? Twin, full, queen, king…

• Wall mounted, attached to a metal bedframe, or a complete upholstered bed?

• How big can it be? Wide, high, shaped, framed, the focal point, etc.

• Does the room need texture, pattern, or leather?

• What colour do you have in mind?

• Will it be tufted or panels? • Do you want nail heads? If so,

what colour or size? Double row or single?

• A framed or a wrap-around style?

When choosing a style, such as tra-ditional or contemporary, many op-tions exist within this one decision!For instance, if you like the moresimple, neutral colours, a contempo-rary headboard with its clean linesprovide the added touch, whether

tufted or not. They can be mixedwith metal or wood that havestraight or gently curved lines.

For a more traditional look, thesleigh bed is a classic that has sur-vived. Whether leather or cloth, it isstill very popular, although leatherseems to be the most common withthis style. The graceful lines of an up-holstered sleigh bed provide a luxuryin any room. When going the tradi-tional route, the completely paddedbed tends to provide a more com-plete look.

Just as wingback chairs have stoodthe test of time, the same goes forpadded wingback beds. And as wesee today, they can surprisingly bemodern or quite traditional, depend-ing on the treatment. The samecomfort from the chair carries overto the bed. Wingbacks are availablein both tufted and plain styles.

And last but not least is the canopybed. I remember as a child the shel-tered and almost cocooned feelingthey provide. When upholstered itcan be even more comforting.

When dealing with the elephant inthe room, you want it spectacular.Have an expert interior stylist helpyou with the selections to bring theroom to life and enjoy it for manyyears to come. It’s called a BEDroomfor a reason, so make it the focalpoint. And, don’t forget the bed-ding! It’s the icing on the cake.

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Adding softness and comfort to the bedroomPadded headboards


H O M E S T Y L E

SELF DEVELOPMENT

This week I made several trips to anearby retailing centre. Like all ofthem, it had temporary employeesworking in the centre. On the threedifferent occasions that I shoppedthere, I was assisted by four differentemployees. Three of the employeeswere women of varying ages but allthree of the women had body lan-guage that told me they wouldn’t bereturning to work next year. The old-est of these three women actuallysighed continually as she rang up mypurchase, clearly annoyed that theitems I was purchasing weren’t regis-tering on the scanner. Only thefourth employee who waited on meseemed to have a remote sense of lik-ing his work. He offered to carry mypurchase to the register and then tomy car. I left the place feeling verysorry for the three women working inpositions that clearly didn’t bring

them happiness.Yeah I know, we don’t all have the

luxury of working in positions that welove but surely there must be some-thing to make every work experiencea more pleasurable one. If employeesenjoy their work, this will result inhigher productivity and thus higherprofits for the company. It’s a win-win situation so what can we do tomake workplaces more enjoyable?

Why not start with surveying theemployees and asking them whatwould make coming to work a morepleasant experience?

Money is tight for a lot of employersright now but there are lots of lowcost things employers can do to rec-ognize good performance. Instead ofgiving an employee an increase in paywhy not consider the following re-wards for good performance:

• A gift card for pet grooming• A cleaning person for six months• One day at the spa

• Enrollment in art classes• A coffee per day for one month• Dinner for two for the employeeand his/her partnerI read an article on LinkedIn this

week where Richard Branson spokeabout seeing a group of uniformedstudents walking down a street inLondon and several of the studentshad cut off the bottoms of their ties.Apparently, they were protestingwearing ties but in keeping with theschool’s procedure that they wearthem, they cut them shorter sincethere was no mention in the policy re-garding the length of the ties. Bran-son went on to say that he loved thefact that he hardly ever has to wear atie and has only recently started wear-ing jackets and that is only because ofthe climates he works in.

On Wednesday I was in a local storeordering some printed materials andI said hello to a colleague of mine.She said she didn’t recognize me be-cause she was used to seeing me weara suit. Wow did that feel good. Oneof the greatest pleasures in being self-employed is the ability to choose whatyou want to wear to work each day. Itruly believe being comfortable on thejob is linked to productivity as well.

I encourage employers to look

around their work spaces and allowemployees some flexibility in design-ing their own personal spaces. I onceworked with a girl who had minilights on her cubicle and lots of per-sonal memorabilia spread about herspace. She was by far the happiestperson I have ever worked with.

There are lots both employers andemployees can do to make the work-place a better place to be but as al-ways, if you are an employee whosebody is giving you signals that some-thing isn’t right, maybe it’s time to ex-plore a new career. You spend way toomuch time at work not to be happywith what you are doing. I thinkNick Williams said it best when hesaid “if all of the hidden talents andpotential in this world were un-leashed, imagine what kind of worldwe would live in.”

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Keith A. Hunt 519-765-2666C.E.T., P.Q.S. President 20 Harvey St., Aylmer, ON

www.keithhunt.ca43993 Talbot Line, St.Thomas 519•631•0836 • 1•866•696•0266Located 1km. east of Centennial Ave...on Hwy.3

Homeowner or Contractor

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• Windows and Doors• Siding and Roofing• Kitchen Cabinets• Cabinet Hardware• Bathroom Vanities• Countertops and Faucets

Sharon Lechner isa certified masterlife coachand owner ofReach for the StarsEmpowerment in St. Thomas.

Employeemorale

shows incustomerserviceLow-cost ways to recognize good

performance

by Sharon Lechner


D I N I N G & E N T E R TA I N M E N T

SAVOUR ELGIN

www.savourelgin.caWith three successful years, win-

ning awards for marketing andbranding at the provincial, nationaland international levels, the NEW2012 Savour Elgin Guide is sure tobe another winner.

The new guide features recipes forevery taste bud including; Bull’s EyeOnion Burgers using Railway City’sIron Spike Amber Ale, Rush CreekWine’s Summer Peach Smoothie,Harbourtown Marshmallows andWindjammer Inn Lake Erie PickerelCakes to name but a few.

New to Savour Elgin in 2012 isHarboutown Fudge in Port Stanley.Beyond the popular maple andchocolate fudge, Jon and VicciCouglin are always experimenting,with creations such as Cran-Rasp-berry, Pineapple Rum and Cappuc-

cino Cream fudge. From fudge tochocolate fish, local honey and maplesyrup, there is something to satisfyeven the most discerning sweettooth.

Howe’s Family Farm Market is alsoa new addition for 2012 in the mar-ket section. The Howe familyopened the doors in June 2010 totheir new facility located on the cor-ner of John Wise Line and RogersRoad. This is where the word freshwas invented, from strawberries tobeans, beets, peppers, tomatoes andmore, the produce is from the sur-rounding fields and onto your plate.

In addition to new members,Savour Elgin has partnered with theElgin Arts Trail, combining bothprograms into one handy tour guide.Separated with a joint map with allthe locations conveniently plottedand suggested travel routes, the new

combined guide is sure to keepeveryone busy throughout the year.

Savour Elgin launched in August of2010 with sixteen members and amission to celebrate local food, wine,and agri-tourism in partnership withquality restaurants and has grown totwenty members for 2012. To ex-plore Savour Elgin visitwww.savourelgin.ca with memberprofiles, recipes and an interactivemap.

The Elgin Arts Trail was launchedin the fall of 2011, and features four-teen studios and galleries exhibitingdiverse collections of artwork. Rang-ing from original painting to pottery,fibre art, candles and more there is atype of art for everyone to enjoy. TheElgin Arts Trail can be discovered byvisiting www.elginartstrail.ca withfull program information, events,workshops and more.

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

Savour Elgin is a program with agoal to promote and enhance

culinary tourism in ElginCounty and St. Thomas. TheSavour Elgin trail is a route

through Elgin County that visitssome of the best restaurants,

farms, wineries, and other culinaryattractions that focus on food and

drink that’s local and unique toElgin County and

St. Thomas.

by Kate Burns

Savour Elgin: A new guide,

new experiences


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Have you ever wanted to know how big the On-tario wine industry is? Ever wonder how much tax,fee, and levy money is added to the cost of a bottlebefore you buy it? We want to know we’re gettingthe value for our money, but where does thatmoney go when you buy a bottle of wine?Canada’s per capita consumption on the rise, buthow much do we go through every year? Thismonth, I’ve chosen ten trivia numbers that mightbe of interest to wine lovers. Enjoy!

6.1 per cent is the tax rate added to bottles ofOntario wine by the Alcohol and Gaming Com-mission of Ontario. This is in addition to the HST.The additional tax rate is raised to 16.1per cent ifthe wine is an import, or blend of foreign and do-mestic wines. This tax rate is only applied to pri-vate stores and at wineries. The LCBO have

different rates . . . 58 per cent markup is the standard number that

the LCBO adds to the wineries price for every bot-tle of wine. This would amount to approximately$2.65 on a $10.00 bottle of wine. This markup isthen subject to HST. Ontario wineries are able toapply for some of these funds back if they chooseto be VQA. This rebate was designed to help On-tario producers compete with low cost imports.There is also a $1.13 per bottle LCBO Levy addedto each bottle before taxes.

When a licensee, like a restaurant or bar, buys abottle of wine to serve in their establishment theydon’t pay the same price an ordinary consumerwould – they pay 90 per cent of the regular price.Only businesses with a liquor licence are able toget these discounts.

8.93 cents of the cost of every bottle sold in On-tario is a levy referred to as the EnvironmentalLevy. This is applied to every non-refillable bottleand was originally introduced to help subsidizecurbside recycling programs. This levy is in addi-tion to the 20 cent return deposit consumers arerequired to pay on all wine bottles sold. Unlike thereturn deposits, the 8.93 cents is not refundable ifyou recycle the bottles through a collection depotlike the Beer Store.

VQA is a voluntary seal Ontario grape wine pro-ducers can apply for to demonstrate to their cus-tomers that what is in the bottle is Ontario-onlyproduct. As of 2011, the VQA market share is 9.2per cent of total wine sales by volume.

The total amount of wine sold last year in thisprovince topped 155 million litres. This numberaccounts for all domestic, foreign, u-brew, andmulti-national blended wines. Since a standardbottle is 750ml, this means the equivalent of over200 million bottles of wine were sold.

311 is the number of the Federal Government’sBill to ease up a Canadian law from 1928, calledthe Importation of Intoxicating Liquors Act; thatsays it is illegal to move any alcohol across provin-cial borders without going through our govern-ment sales channels. Most Canadians don’t realizethat not declaring wine or cider brought homefrom Quebec, for example, is as illegal as bringingit from the United States without declaration. In-dividual provinces are already drafting conditionsto limit how much wine a person could bring. Theprovinces will also move to ensure it will still be il-legal for wineries to ship out of province.

And finally, grape growers in the province har-vested 64,495 tons of fruit this past vintage. Thetop five grape varieties by tonnage, in order, were:Vidal, Chardonnay, Riesling, Cabernet Franc, andMerlot.

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

by Jamie Quai

Ten Numbers for every Ontario

wine lover

What’shappeningin the wineindustry?

D I N I N G & E N T E R TA I N M E N T


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

EVERYDAY HEALTH

The concept of maintenance is not an unusual concept in the everydayworld. Most of us accept that investing some time and/ or money to maintainthings is generally a good idea. Most people accept that they should taketheir car in for an oil change every five thousand kilometers or have a tech-nician check out their furnace or air conditioner before the appropriate up-coming season. The idea is to catch small minor problems and correct thembefore they lead to larger more serious problems.

Although most people accept and follow the concept of maintenance inmany facets of their lives, somehow people become more skeptical when dis-cussing using a maintenance program for their health. “Health maintenancecare” is a concept familiar to most chiropractors conceptually aimed at re-ducing recurrence of a particular condition and/or enhancing general health.It is important to realize that such care can involve a range of interventionsincluding offering physical treatment or rehabilitation or perhaps just simplyexpert advice.

In a recent edition of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Med-icine a new study showed some promising preliminary results supporting theuse of chiropractic maintenance care in the reduction of recurrent lower backinjuries and in the reduction in the associated disability due to chronic re-injury. This study is one of the first of its kind offering supportive data froma work related low back pain perspective.

In this study an analysis was conducted of 894 patients suffering work re-lated low back pain from their first episode of disability through their subse-quent return to work. The subjects were followed for a one year period. Theauthors of the study discovered that receiving chiropractic care during boththe initial disability (injury) period and subsequently after recovery during ahealth maintenance care period (preventative) was associated with lower dis-ability recurrence. In general those who saw chiropractors utilized fewer opi-oids, underwent less surgery and had lower medical costs and shorter periodsof initial disability than those who consulted other providers.

The advantages of the above seem reasonably clear however the concept of

maintenance care remains controversial across the spectrum of differenthealthcare providers. Although theoretically the concept of maintenance careseems reasonable in actuality there is relatively little research in this area. Somepractitioners feel that it may not be proper to treat seemingly asymptomaticpatients and to do so often rely on tests and or observations that have notnecessarily been found to be scientifically validated. The exciting part of thisnew study is that we now have the preliminary evidence to justify further re-search but more importantly there is now supportive evidence that may infact practically help patients.

Although the concept of maintenance care may not be generally acceptedit is generally accepted that many musculoskeletal injuries, perhaps the mostnotorious being lower back pain, have their origin in cumulative small mi-crotraumas that build over time eventually resulting in an injury. This ex-plains why so often the genesis of an acute episode of lower back pain oftenis a seemingly benign activity such as bending over to tie a shoe or to pick upa piece of paper off of the floor. We do these activities literally hundreds oftimes with out incident yet somehow on that unfortunate time we hear thatnotorious click and feel that inevitable spasm in our lower back which signalsan acute bout of lower back pain.

It appears logical that if some type of intervention were to be employed be-fore things had degraded to such a point that the next bend or twist was goingto cause a bout of back pain then the bout could be avoided entirely. Previ-ously, we had only theory and anec-dotal evidence to suggest that thisconcept was valid. Make no mistakethat more research needs to be done tocompletely validate this idea but in themean time perhaps many should con-sider the possibility of using chiroprac-tic to not only treat current episodesof back pain but to also help preventpossible future episodes.

Health Maintenance Care is the key

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

Reduce disability

recurrence inwork related

low back pain

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


L I F E S T Y L E S

THAT’S LIFE

Nothing says “healthy,” “cute,” and“summer,” like a smattering of freckleson your nose, unless you truly are aGinger. And I am by definition a Gin-ger; red hair, pale skin and freckles.

The fire in my hair has faded. Alucky few have seen my Grade Fiveschool picture as photographic evi-dence that it once existed. I don’tknow what my mother was thinkingwhen she dressed me that day in a redcheckered blouse. It accentuated mypermed red hair and literally made myfreckles explode off the page.

Over the years, my red hair andfreckles have proven to be a source ofpride and embarrassment. Red haironly occurs in 1 – 2% of the popula-tion. Indeed, I was the only one inthirteen grandchildren to inherit thegene, which granted me special recog-nition from my grandmother whoshared the same Ginger traits.

A speech on my speckled skin wonme top honours in the regional ora-tory contest in public school. I stillhave the trophy.

Nevertheless, a life with red hair andfreckles can make you feel like you areon display. My sister once tried tocount the freckles on my arm. She lostinterest when she hit 100 in an area

the size of a quarter. I’ve had youngchildren stare at my face and declareemphatically, “You have a lot of freck-les.” Even a Walmart clerk couldn’thelp but marvel at the freckles on mylips declaring, “I’ve never seen any-thing like it.”

In a cruel twist of genetics havingfair skin just compounds the freckleissue every time you step into the sun.

I don’t tan; I burn. I’ve never had atan line, just a permanent tattoo offreckles outlining my bathing suitlines that got more pronounced witheach burn. For the most part, it wasmy own fault. I often forgot the sun-screen or neglected to reapply afterswimming.

In a perfect storm of genes, my hus-band (who is also a Ginger) and I are

are raising two fair, red-haired des-tined to be freckled-faced boys.

And without being too biased, thesmall bridge of freckles forming acrosstheir noses is “healthy,” and “cute,”and “summer.” Still, in their shortlives they have not stepped a foot out-side without a hat and a layer of sun-screen.

At times applying sunscreen to atoddler is like trying to grease asquealing piglet. But in our householdit is a necessary evil of summer. I willraise my boys to be proud of their car-rot-tops, deflect mean taunts abouttheir dotted faces and value the pro-tection of a good sunscreen.

by Elizabeth VanHooren

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ElizabethVanHooren is general manager of the Kettle Creek Conservation Authority.

the small bridge of freckles forming

across their noses is healthy, and cute and summer.

Lifewith redhair andfrecklesIt can makeyou feel likeyou are on display “

“


I am no techno-geek. But sometechnologies do intrigue me, and aresuch game changers for humanitythat they deserve to be celebrated.Let’s start with the atlatl.

And let’s start at the Stone Age andPrimitive Arts Festival, held annuallynear Sopchoppy, Florida. My bucketlist got shorter at this stone and bonefest last winter when I finally had achance to put an atlatl through itspaces.

Being interested in cave men andsuch, I had occasionally read aboutatlatls, but had never gotten myhands on one. In fact, the closest I

had come to seeing one was gazing ata picture carved into a red sandstonecliff – a centuries old aboriginal pet-roglyph – in the Nevada desert.

The atlatl, fans of the Stone Agewill know, is a spear throwing devicethat allows a person to propel a spearmuch farther and faster. The atlatlacts as an extension of the throwingarm. Its invention was a great leapforward for us. Consider this: If youwanted to feed your family somewoolly mammoth, or other Ice Agemegafauna, would you rather run upclose and toss a spear, or stand wayback and rocket a few spears frombehind a tree?

Our ancestors have been reaping

the benefits of atlatl technology sinceUpper Paleolithic times, the earliestevidence going back 17,500 years inFrance. Of course, there have beenrefinements along the way, such asfinger holes (version 2.0), and smallstone weights (version 3.0). Atlatlswere used on every continent butAntarctica, and, though mostly sup-planted by bow and arrow technol-ogy, are still used by some Inuit, andAborigines in Australia.

My kayaking buddy Jim told meabout the atlatl opportunity inFlorida, and we waited a year to at-tend the Festival and its atlatl con-test. We soon learned it’s not easy tofling a spear by its back end. My firstspears thudded right into theground, or arced skyward, but finallyone sunk deep into the target. I’mnot saying the centre of the target,but at least I hit the pile of hay bales,which was about the size of a mam-moth. Start the campfire!

After the atlatl contest, we took indemonstrations of other milestonetechnologies. Buckskin clothing – sofunctional that European settlers inNorth America adopted it - wasmade by tanning deer hide using apaste made from the deer’s brain.Flint knappers were also workingtheir primitive magic. Their stoneknives were marvels of utility and art.

Back home on the internet, Iquickly learned that atlatl technologyhas attracted all sorts of paleo-techno

freaks. They are a colourful mosaic ofacademics, kill-what-you-eat sur-vivalists, craftsmen, and regular folks.Several American universities fieldcompetitive atlatl teams for distanceand accuracy contests. Atlatl huntingis recognized in some states, includ-ing Alabama and Missouri. TheWorld Atlatl Association (whoknew?) stages an annual spear throw-ing event in Nevada, close to whereI saw the atlatl petroglyph. And thenthere’s the techno-leaping, time-warping Facebook Page for “AtlatlWarriors Reincarnated.”

My favourite internet find was theAnchorage Atlatl Day. Show upthere, and you can fire a few spearsat a full size, 3-D woolly mammothor woolly rhinoceros target, or evena six-foot carrot target “for vegan at-latlists”. Or you can try using an at-latl while seated in a kayak, as someInuit seal hunters still do.

The kayak – now there’s anothergame changing technology that de-serves celebration.

L I F E S T Y L E S

TIME ON MY HANDS

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

by Duncan Watterworth

The early days: A mammoth undertaking

Spearheading new technologiesSpearheading new technologies


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July 2012 Issue