DUTIES FOR THE MONTH OF AUGUST:
Front Desk: Kim and / or Sandy on Aug 29
Greeter/Bulletin Editor: Dave Andrews Aug 29
DUTIES FOR THE MONTH OF SEPTEMBER:
Front Desk: Janice Coupland and Sonya Thompson
Greeter/Bulletin Editor: Hilda Finnigan
(Editor’s note: If you cannot be present , please find a replacement)
SGT AT ARMS REPORT: Conducted tonight by our Sergeant at Arms Bob Koski (Thank you very much, Bob, always fun !!!)
ACE OF SPADES DRAW:
Past Pres Kris drew the 7 of Hearts and won a consolation prize - a gift bag from Janice from DeStefano Funeral Home Services. .
HAPPY TOONIES
Past Pres Bob K – found a hornets' nest in a tree on his front yard. The town said they would take it down, and sure enough they did. And Happy to be playing golf with his grand daughters 10 and 13 yrs old.
Pres Ted- Happy to get an appointment with the surgeon for his knee in early Sept and also happy for a great BBQ and special thanks to Devon and Linda for hosting
Shawn - Happy to have had a great time when he recently went to a bachelor party in Niagara Falls and stopped first at the go cart track in Hamilton.
Past Pres Hilda – Thank you to Devon and Linda for a great BBQ.
Janice – Thank you to Devon and Linda for a great time at the annual BBQ and a very special thank you to Hilda for putting it all together.
Sonya – Since she has joined Rotary, she looks forward to every Tuesday night and the wonderful sense of fellowship which brings such great foundation to her life.
Past Pres Kris – Happy that he won the consolation draw tonight and thanks you to Devon and Linda for a great BBQ
Tim – also said thanks to Devon and Linda , Such good hosts for our annual BBQ
Sandy – Grandson's first Birthday. So special.
Past Pres Dave – Thank you so much to Lorne Coe, our MPP for coming to be our speaker tonight.
ROTARY MOMENT
None tonight.
GUEST SPEAKER :
Past Pres Dave introduced guest speaker, Lorne Coe, our MPP for Whitby-Oshawa and a member of the Rotary Club of Whitby-Sunrise. Lorne and his family have called the Town of Whitby home for over 30 years. On February 11, 2016 he was elected the Member of Provincial Parliament for Whitby-Oshawa Riding. Here are the various positions Lorne has held at Queen's Park: Associate Critic for Education - February 07, 2017; Critic for Post-Secondary Education -
February 07, 2017; Member, Standing Committee on Social Policy - February 23, 2016; Critic for Advanced Education, Skills and Development - June 29, 2016 — February 07, 2017; Critic, Training, Colleges and Universities - March 11, 2016 — June 29, 2016 .
Prior to his election, Lorne served Whitby residents as their Durham Regional Council for thirteen years while working in senior positions in the private sector and as a civil servant within the Ontario government. As a Regional Councillor Lorne represented Whitby residents on several Regional, Town, and Provincial committees/boards:
Chair, Health and Social Services Committee, Region of Durham
Chair, Local Partnership Council on Diversity and Immigration, Region of Durham
Chair, Advisory Committee on Homelessness, Region of Durham
President, Ontario Association of Local Public Health Agencies
Board of Directors, Durham Region Non Profit Housing Corporation, Region of Durham
Board of Directors, Central Lake Ontario Conservation Authority
Chair, Planning and Development Committee, Town of Whitby
MPP Lorne Coe also served the community by volunteering his time with a number of different organizations including the Whitby General Hospital, Whitby Chamber of Commerce, Whitby Sports Hall of Fame, and the Whitby Sunrise Rotary Club. Through his work with the Local Partnership Council on Diversity and Immigration, he has helped make new Canadians feel welcome and at home in the Durham Region.
Lorne was glad to see so many friends in our Club as Lorne has been a member of the Rotary Club of Whitby Sunrise for over 20 years. As a Member of Provincial Parliament for Whitby-Oshawa, he is also part of the Official Opposition. Lorne talked about what he does at Queen's Park. As the Critic for education, Lorne travels the entire province and during his travels he listens intently to many of its citizens. Ontarians are concerned about the financial state of the province. With a $300 billion deficit, $1 billion per month, goes to paying interest on the debt. And Ontario has the second highest tax burden in Canada. And energy rates are a huge deterrent to doing business in Ontario. Over 30% of the businesses in Ontario have lost confidence in our province.
Lorne says that it is not all gloomy as Durham Region has much success with its diverse and advanced economy, and its state of the art education particularly at UOIT, Durham College, and Trent University, with lots of innovation, especially in the skilled trades education. There is also a great deal of foreign investment in Oshawa and Oshawa is near the top of the list as a City of the Future in North America. He noted the growth in the nuclear energy industry right here in Durham Region and he is very pleased that the Province has given funds for the Grandview Children's Centre - a great support for the families and the children. He is also proud of Ontario Shores and their creation of an eating disorder program (the only one in North America).
One issue he hears so much about from the citizens is the difficulty of doing business in Ontario with energy costs with the highest rates in North America with the fastest increases as well, causing serious harm to the Ontario economy (according to BMO) and crippling businesses all over the province. In the last 14 years, Ontario has created 380,000 regulatory requirements to do business in Ontario, more than double that of any province. He says Ontario need less paperwork. An autoparts firm owner told Lorne this week that there are 1,500 government regulations in his business alone.
Lorne talked about the skills mismatch in Ontario and the need for more skilled trades education at all levels. It is estimated that it costs Ontario $23 billion for this skills mismatch. Ontario is short 364,000 skilled workers today. And yet, Ontario graduated 9,000 teachers to fill 5,000 jobs.
Lorne has been to every University and Community College in Ontario , as part of his job. At Algonquin College, they have more jobs available than they have students. Lorne says that colleges need more advisors from the business community to assist . There are currently 3 jobs in agriculture for every graduate of the Guelph agriculture program. The Ontario Chamber of Commerce reports huge lost revenue because there are no jobs in the skilled trades. He is pleased that Durham College is doing its part to graduate skilled students to fill some of those jobs. Durham College meet regularly with local businesses and develop programs to fill their needs. And local Boards of Trade connect with Ryerson for providing the skills of today and tomorrow.
Having worked many years at the Regional level with Roger Anderson, Lorne says the conditions are right for businesses in Oshawa , in Whitby and in all of Durham Region.
Lorne said that the skills mismatch must be narrowed to help with youth unemployment.
He wants Durham Region to be a place families want to be. He travels the province at his own expense and goes to many Rotary Clubs along the way. Between now June 7, 2018 (the next election) he will continue to listen to all of the people of the province, at the ground floor level, to tackle some of the province's issues. He notes that the solution does not necessarily lie with the government and its civil servants.
He asked everyone in the room to send their concerns and ideas, and suggestions to him directly.
Lorne remembers being sworn in on Feb 11, 2016, and just prior to entering the legislature, he reflected on all of the people (some of whom are Rotarians and were in the room tonight) who got Lorne to where he is today. Lorne says that service for others and public service defines Lorne.
During the Q and A session, Lorne also talked about the health care system and understands how MD's have been treated especially with the 37 health units being amalgamated down to 14 , and on a second issue, the minimum wage increases with no impact analysis on local businesses yet available for viewing.
He noted that there have been 17 policy committees from his party, traveling the province, listening to people and getting the info required to develop their platform by November of this year.
He is still very concerned about the $1 billion a month needed for interest payments on our debt and he is also very concerned that the wait times for subsidized housing are 7 years in Durham Region and even worse in York Region.
Lorne was thanked by Sandy McDowell for his excellent talk.
Meeting adjourned by President Ted.
IF YOU CAN’T MAKE IT, MAKE UP : Go online at www.rotary.org go to the club locator and find a club or clubs near your destination. Or you can add the free App Rotary Club Locator to your phone for instant look up of any club in the world. Please mail or fax your make-ups to Secretary Robbie Larocque, or give your make-up card to the attendance/registration officer at the next club meeting.
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