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President Tom called our meeting to order today at The St. Catharines Golf & Country Club. Joining the President at the head table:
- Speaker Introducer: Walter Sendzik
- Speaker: Hillary Dawson
- Sgt-at-Arms: Jim Denham
- Member: Terry McDougall
- Registrar: Karen Mazier
Grace: Betty-Lou Souter
O Canada: Don Shaw
Toast to the Queen and Canada: by President Tom
Terry McDougall
George Darte introduced Terry to the Club March 5, 1998.
Terry is married to Peter McDougall and has two sons, Colin and Cameron. She was born in St. Catharines and graduated from Brock University with a B.A. in Political Science. She has worked as a fundraiser for Amity Goodwill of Hamilton, the Art Gallery of Hamilton and the Greater Niagara General Hospital. Terry is the Executive Director of the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Foundation.
Terry was a Director of our Club from 2004-2006 and served as membership chair 2000-2001. She has served on the following committees: Communication/Bulletin, Program, Fellowship & Sports, Youth Exchange, Dinner & B Registration, Public Relations, Easter Seals, Charitable Trust, Membership/Attendance and Membership/Classification. Terry is a member of the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy, VP Niagara Chapter of he Association of Gift Planners, Niagara Fundraisers Network, and the National Society of Fundraising Executives. Her other interested include hockey, Internet, music and reading.
Ryan Carson sponsored by Rob Reid. Ryan is a lawyer with Lancaster Brooks Welch. He studied Kinesiology at Acadia, Law at University of Windsor and articled with LBW (125 years old this year). He is married to Jen who is expecting their first child.
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Tom Arkell, Ryan Carson, Rob Reid
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Paul MacDonald sponsored by Doug Foss. Doug was born in 1964 in Toronto. He completed high school at De La Salle College. His post secondary education was in Spain (his mother’s home). His background includes point of purchase
software and hardware systems in Canada, gas stations and real estate in Florida and a pub in Toronto prior to opening “The Right Stuff” in St. Catharines. He is interested in SCUBA diving, cycling and antique cars.
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Tom Arkell, Paul MacDonald, Doug Foss
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Karen Mazier
Visiting Rotarians included Willie Heidbuechel and Bruce Timms from Lakeshore Club
- Paul McDonald - guest of Doug Foss
- Sheila Gillies and Hadie Lehmuskumpu – guests of Eugene Gillies
- Anne Finley – guest of Bill Finley
- Ryan Carson – guest of Rob Reid
- Kent Hepditch – guest of Gregory Bodough-Darte
- Cindy Mewhinney – guest of Walter Sendzik
- John Boot – guest of Rick Vanderkuip
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Rick Evans and John Snowling
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September 4: Rick Evans
September 4: John Snowling
President Tom announced with sadness the passing of Barbara Gosen, wife of Peter.
President Tom also announced that Les Groves is not well.
Hadie spoke briefly about her life’s experiences since her exchange to our Club from Finland. She thanked her hosts including the Gillies, the Finleys, the Evanses and the Banghams. She has a Masters in business and works internationally.
Norma Medulun informed us that the Auction Intake would be open next week – get cracking!
President Tom asked all committee chairs to have their reports in by next week.
President Tom reminded us that the Classification committee would like us all to confirm our present classifications so that new badges can be ordered.
President Tom announced that the Lakeshore Rotary Club’s 19th Annual Lobsterfest will be held Saturday September 15 form 6:00 pm to 1:00 am at the Bill Burgoyne arena. Tickets are $75 per person or $600 for a table of 8 at this all-you-can-eat event. Call 905-934-5400 for tickets
Guest John Boot had the winning ticket but drew the 2 of Hearts in his bid for the $807 pot.
Ross was happy to have a great Rib Fest over with and is looking forward to another better one next year. He is also anticipating a vacation in Bermuda for the Mid Ocean Grand Slam Golf event.
John Snowling is happy to have achieved 60 years.
Peter Banwell is happy to be a new proud Grandfather to Erin and a new Labrador puppy.
Roger Segalin was happy to share his table with Peter Banwell and that he will be in France for the next few weeks.
Larry Iggulden was happy to correct Doug Herod’s column – he is under-caffeinated, not over-caffeinated!
George Darte was happy to announce in his new role as Co-Chair (with Phil Jones) that St. Catharines and Rowing Canada Aviron will host the world here in 2010 for the FISA World Rowing Masters Regatta. He expects 3,000 to 3,200 athletes over 27 years who will bring scads of $$ to Niagara.
Bill Finley was happy to see “the Finnish Flash” at the meeting. He was happy to have Anne with him and to show off his new “TUK U” sweatshirt, a souvenir from their recent trip to the Canadian Arctic.
Eugene Gillies was also happy to see Hadie again and to have Sheila with him today. Sheila is now President of the Association of Maycourt Clubs of Canada.
Vicky Rudachuk was happy to have her kids back in school. She is also very happy that her Uncle Joe is celebrating his 101tst birthday at his own home in Florida!
Liz Palmieri was happy to report that she caught Tim Rigby in a liquor store in New Hampshire. They both forgot to take a gift bottle of wine to their hosts.
Betty-Lou Souter is happy to have the new Hospital RFP published – a major step in the journey to our new hospital.
John Crossingham was happy to ask if anyone would be interested in taking in a 5 year old mixed breed dog. It was his daughter’s dog (before she moved) and the Crossinghams have found that having 3 dogs at home is just too much.
The Wine Council of Ontario - Hillary Dawson
Walter Sendzik introduced our speaker, Hillary Dawson, the President of the Wine Council of Ontario. Hillary is an expert on Public Policy who was a partner at Strategy Corporation. She has worked as Executive Assistant for David Kaplan and Gerard Kennedy. She has 6 years experience in senior roles in the Liberal Party. She was part of Dalton McGuinty’s team. Hillary has an Honours Degree in Economics and Political Science. She has a 6-year-old son.
illary believes that the Ontario wine industry is on the cusp of greatness. The 2007 harvest is looking to be very large and of great quality. Our industry is attracting celebrity partners (Mike Weir, Wayne Gretzky etc) when they could be partnering with California or international vintners. Over the past 7 years, 44 new wineries have been established in Ontario with an average investment of $5M each. Many of the older wineries have been renovating their facilities; Hillebrand for example recently completed a $6M renno. Ontario’s Sustainable Wine Making Program is now 3 years old with 25 wineries involved.
The economic impact of wine making is approximately $4/litre. For each 600 cases of wine sales, one new acre of vineyard can be sustained. The Wine council’s website is receiving 1.2M hits per month. The industry recently donated $300,000 to their foundation dedicated to industry research.
The Council’s recent activity is working very hard in conjunction with the VQA Ontario to market Ontario wines. They have been partnering with local tourism agencies and the wine writers associations. They have been working with the Ontario Government – 9 Ministries and 3 permitting agencies are involved in the industry. They have been successful in the creation of a Wine Secretariat and Jim Bradley is the first Minister.
Hillary believes that the Ontario Wine Industry is poised for greatness both nationally and internationally.
Bill Finley asked what they are doing for all of the wineries that do not have listings at the LCBO. Hillary said they are studying options and have a goal of increasing Ontario’s share of spirit sales at the LCBO from 44% to 50%. They are also focusing on export sales.
George Darte wanted to know if the LCBO’s biggest customer is France. Hillary admitted that France was very big but that Australia was also a very significant supplier.
Liz Palmieri thanked Hillary and remarked on the industry’s significant growth she has witnessed since moving to Niagara in 1977.
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Hillary Dawson and President Tom
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President Tom thanked our speakers and presented them with a dictionary that is being donated in their names.
• ROTARY District Newsletter for June is now available at http://www.rotary7090.org/pdfs/districtnews/DN0706.pdf
• Niagara Suicide Prevention Coalition, Community Solutions Conference, Four Points Sheraton, Schmon Parkway, Thorold, ON. Evening of November 6 and all day November 7, 2007
• The 9th annual FACS Fall Gala is being held at White Oaks on Friday October 12th . For more info, or to book tickets, call 905 937-7731 ext 3304
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