february, 2013 issue

February, 2013 E L G I N T H I S M O N T H 1

2 E L G I N T H I S M O N T H February, 2013

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LOW RATES AND FREE PICKUPFor Reservations please

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1 WEEKEND...

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3RD WEEKEND

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175 SOUTH EDGEWARE ROAD • St. Thomas 519-631-6420Mon- Fri 8am-6pm • Sat 8am-3pm

ON THE SPOT FINANCING • PREFERRED RATES www.new2youauto.caPhil James Joan McGregor

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Elgin This MonthGeneral ManagerTerry CarrollSection EditorBusiness Beat – Bob Hammersley

Graphic Design / ProductionJim McHargSales RepresentativeGreg MinnemaOffice ManagerLaura Bart

Elgin This Month is a monthly magazine focusing on business and lifestyle issues and includes Business Beat, the St. Thomas & District Chamber of Commerce newsletter. The publication is available for pick-up at no charge at news stands and other locations around Elgin County, as well as distribution to businesses and selected households.

Published monthly by Metroland Media Group Ltd., 15 St. Catharine Street, St. Thomas, ON N5P 2V7 519-633-1640 www.theweeklynews.ca/etm

The full name of the organization is quite a han-dle – Pearce Williams United Church Christian Centre. Locally, people usually shorten it to Pearce Williams Christian Centre, or most commonly, Pearce Williams. Under the leadership of executive director Joe Richards and the Board of Directors, Pearce Williams has developed a reputation not only for summer camps but also as a retreat facility. The organization serves upwards of 10,000 people a year. That puts it solidly in league with other so-cial enterprises, where business goals and social or spiritual objectives meet. It’s never just about the money, but it also has to be about the money, or the organization will not survive.

Interestingly enough, at Pearce Williams, they don’t just want to survive; they have developed an ambitious plan to thrive.

After going through a planning process that in-cluded a feasibility study, Pearce Wil-liams launched a $4.5 million capital campaign in 2012 to re-

furbish and make better use of existing buildings, redo some of the infrastructure and grow the sum-mer camps and retreat facility from there. It’s all being handled in a fiscally responsible manner, the heritage of the camp in recent years.

When Joe Richards was hired at Pearce Williams in 2005, he brought with him a solid background in private youth camps. “The Board was very clear about fiscal responsibility,” he says. “They wanted to be sure we didn’t lose money, and one of my jobs was to get the finances under control.” That spirit is being continued with the fundraising campaign. “Our policy is that no money gets spent on a proj-ect until all the money comes in for that project.”

Some of the early projects in the $4.5 million campaign include $200,000 on improvements to current buildings to bring them up to code and make them more efficient, and another $200,000 on two cabins to winterize them for year-round use and increase their revenue-generating potential. An

additional $650,000 needs to go into basic in-frastructure, including septic systems, water

lines, data lines and telephone lines for a modern, interconnected camp.

The leadership at Pearce Williams realizes that the campers who came in droves in the 1980s and 1990s were the children of Baby Boom-ers. It’s a demographic cycle that is not likely to repeat itself. While Joe and the Board have “grown the busi-ness,” one driving question for the adults who loved the camp in the 1900s and 90s was, “Do you want it to be around when your kids are

ready to come?” The answer was “Yes.” From that point on, people began rei-

magining the camp and retreat centre for the 21st century.

Along the way, Joe developed a job description, striking in its

simplicity, for every-one who works

at Pearce Wil-liams camps:

“To do what needs to be done to show the campers the most amazing camp experience.” That philoso-phy spills over to the retreat centre.

The $4.5 million campaign is dedicated to a beautifully designed and maintained facility that will keep people coming back while attracting new customers. As Joe points out, the camp and retreat centre on the Iona Road in Dutton Dunwich is “within a three hour drive of a quarter of the popu-lation of Canada.” Its clientele is 70 percent from outside Elgin and 50 percent from Toronto.

A remarkably diverse cross-section of people of many faiths (or none) experience Pearce Williams without batting an eye over its religious affiliation. The fact that a Christian connection is stated front and centre may actually contribute to the success of the operation on the 180-acre site in the west part of Elgin. Everybody should have some idea of what to expect. But Pearce Williams is clearly not “in your face” about religion. The Ontario Trillium Foundation, for example, has responded to its in-clusive nature by providing funding for a site audit.

The mission of Pearce Williams Christian Centre is “to welcome all who come, to teach all those who wish to learn, and to serve God in all we do.”

Three main programs will inform the “future of summer camps as an industry,” Joe says. Farm camp program will help people to learn to grow their own food, and to see how easy it can be. Environmental change program will help people to move beyond the general awareness of the im-portance and fragility of the environment so they can bring environmental change home with them and do something. And world camp program is designed to teach participants about poverty and increase cultural awareness. For example, certain buildings or structures may be modeled after oth-ers from around the world: Mozambique, Peru, Nepal, anywhere. “The idea is that you could do a mission trip without the expense of a mission trip,” Joe says.

The fundraising campaign, still in its infancy, has raised just under $200,000 in gifts and pledges. Conversations are happening with donors at all levels, from under $1,000 to $50,000 or half a million. The Board of Directors is expanding, and there is room on the Board or the fundraising side for committed people in Elgin and St. Thomas to join. Interested? Give them a call at (519) 764-2317.

They “welcome all who come.”

byTerryCarroll

Church camp and retreat centre means business


It was my third trip to Niagara Falls in the last few months. This time it was for my son’s hockey tournament. As I took yet another cold walk alongside the falls, I noticed, for the first time, the flight of the many seagulls.

Over and again they circled ahead of the icy mist drifting off the pounding wa-terfalls. Deftly they glided deep into the brisk gusts, entering and then reentering the fray. They were blown about excit-edly. It seemed a very intentional merri-ment, like a playful dance to a tune only the birds could hear.

Their dripping wet festivities were mesmerizing to watch; and, for me, on that particular day, a cause to pause. It reminded me of the book Jonathon Liv-ingston Seagull. An excellent coming of age story about a gull that passionately sought to fly further, higher and faster then he was told he could (by the elder gulls that gave leadership to his flock). I imagined that the birds I was watching by the falls were consciously challenging themselves to an ever deepening lark into the mist.

Of course, and unfortunately, reality is much less romantic then the adventures of Jonathon Seagull. Consequently, I drifted into the question of what might prompt the gulls to frolic in the falls. Giv-en what we know of animal psychology, we can, at the very least, assume a bird’s flight behaviour is a visible expression of a genetic predisposition. However that

info doesn’t explain the triggers behind those behaviours nor explain how many predisposed behaviours a bird may have. For example, one might ask (as I do) that knowing birds will naturally seek food, could they also be predisposed to seek the physiological stimulations triggered through pleasures and challenges, such as flying into the fray of a waterfall’s spray?

I’m sure that a behavioural ecologist or a biologist may throw some light on these questions. However, standing alongside the falls (without Google), I instead en-joyed the thought that all creatures, great or small, have in their genes a passion for adventure and fun. Not only do these ac-tivities stimulate pleasure, but when we are engaged in an enjoyable activity our need for food and drink diminishes and time gets lost.

Our central nervous system thrives on these moments of refreshment. When these moments are lacking, we are prone to seek replacement stimulation such as the overuse of alcohol and drugs. Inter-estingly, an increasing number of young people (and many middle age seekers) are turning to ‘extreme’ sports. I would think that for these folk it feels better to jump off a cliff wearing man-made wings (a new form of BASE jumping) than to suffer the intense emotive behaviors con-nected with an under-stimulated and overly taxed central nervous system. A search on Google helped me to appreci-ate that BASE jumping (and other such excursions) produces endorphins (which produce a feeling of well being) and the most common endorphin produced in our bodies is many times more powerful (and more addictive) than any drug.

If all creatures have in their genes a passion for adventure and fun, then is it not in our bodies, minds and hearts to naturally seek activity that stimulates . . . and to do it with intentionality? We may not be face-diving into a cold spray of windswept mist, but we can seek out challenging amusement. We may not be BASE jumping off a cliff with coattails open but we can seek out less dangerous, yet still exciting, activities. This may very well be our predisposed (natural) method by which to wash away our blues.

INNESAs I see It

Reflections during a trip to the Falls

Washing away the blues byJimInnes


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byShaneWyler

Where are you heading?Four main elements of leadership, and seven questions

There are four main elements that I rely on reg-ularly to direct me and help me lead those I am responsible for in my leadership. I’d like to share those with you today.

In staying with my usual style, let’s explore these elements with seven questions.Question One:What is your vision?

The vision is a guiding light for any leader-ship or organization that anchors you and your team. The vision must clearly describe why the organization exists. To do this is a process, but one that need not be complicated. To start, you must define the need you are out to meet in those you serve. To do this, I use this simple question: What need do you recognize in others? In this, I work with our clients to answer this question in one word. Not easy, but simple. If no need exists, there is no need for your organization.Question Two:Where are you needed and wanted?

If a need exists, then the next question must help you determine where the opportunities are to help answer that need. An opportunity as we define it at Seven, is anywhere you are needed and wanted. There are people that need you, but don’t want you. Likewise there are people that want you, but don’t need you. The challenge is to always be where you are needed and wanted.Question Three:How do you go about meeting that need?

At the heart of this question is your mis-sion. The mission is how you go about meeting

that need you recognize in others. For example, I see a need for direction. So by asking the right questions, I help to bring order and clarity to those in need of direction. Your mission must point to the process you use to answer the need you recognize, making your difference in the lives of those you serve.Question Four:Where are you heading?

As we began above, to know where you are heading, requires you to understand the need you answer and how you answer it. Once you understand this, you can then start to set goals to help move you forward. Goals are meant to be firm not rigid. Firm enough on which to stand, but flexible enough to change when needed. For example, I may set a goal to help five people a day realize their value. In this, I can measure my progress and with the right tools be able to determine if the people I serve have realized their value. In setting this goal, it gets me out, in-teracting, making my difference in the lives of those I encounter that day. As well, it opens up a conversation to determine what tools, either products, services, processes, procedures, policies or systems I need to meet the need for direction I recognize in others.Question Five:Why there?

I suggest that the reason to go anywhere is be-cause of an opportunity, where you are needed and wanted, to make your difference in the lives of those you will encounter.

Question Six:What are you doing along the way?

The simple answer here is that you would be fulfilling your vision.Question Seven:What do you use to do that?

In order to fulfill your vision, you need tools that empower and enable you to do what you have promised to do. For example, if I say that I am here to help clarify your direction, I need the right tools to be able to do that.

These tools are the products, services, systems, programs, processes, policies and procedures used to fulfill your vision and realize the answer to the need you recognize in others.

The four main elements I rely on then are clearly:

1. Vision2. Mission3. Goals4. ToolsWith these four elements, one is able to see

where they are going, why they are going there, how they are getting there and what they are us-ing along the way to impact the lives they en-counter to make their difference and answer the need they recognize in others.

Shane Wyler, CEO of Seven, clarifies your direction by asking the right questions.


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Dorothy Gebert is a writer and garden enthusiast in St. Thomas

Indoor heroesThat plant on your desk is doing more for the environment than just looking nice.

In early December 2012, the Toronto Star reported that the Mississauga office of Bell Canada had banned poinsettias from its buildings because a recently transferred em-ployee had an allergy towards these holiday plants.

In response to the story, newspapers and television newscasters interviewed allergists, who said that it was highly unlikely that any contact would result in anaphylactic shock, and Bell Canada was widely criticized as over-reacting to the situation.

However, the office memorandum didn’t just include poinsettias. It said, “Please make sure all personal plants on desks and other office areas are also removed.”

I realize Bell Canada was banning poinset-tias to avoid the possibility of an adverse re-action by the affected employee and thereby to limit liability, but it seemed to me that by removing all plants, the company was put-ting its other employees at risk too. Indoor plants provide benefits to the environment beyond just looking nice.

When I worked at an interior landscaping firm that maintained indoor plants for busi-nesses, I learned that people placed them in their offices because plants act as biologic air filters and contribute to a healthier environ-ment, thus increasing worker productivity.

Indoor pollution problems occur because chemicals such as benzene, trichloroeth-ylene and formaldehyde are off-gassed by electronics, copiers, synthetic fabrics, ply-wood, paints and other substances. The vapours cannot escape because tightly insu-lated buildings don’t allow for ventilation or the exchange of outside air. This can lead to a toxic environment with adverse effects on human health. And, because forced air heating systems remove humidity and cre-ate drier air, the possibility of respiratory ill-ness also increases.

This situation reminded me of a book I read many years ago called Eco-Friendly House Plants by B.C. Wolverton (Weiden-feld & Nicolson, 1996). In it the author describes how NASA tested hundreds of plants in hopes of improving the air qual-ity on spacecraft. The agency discovered many species that removed over 300 vola-tile organic chemicals from the air and, through transpiration, put back water back into the air.

Your home or office may not be a hermeti-cally sealed spacecraft but, considering that in the winter we spend more time in our homes and offices, the quality of the indoor air can be just as toxic. This makes hav-ing plants a necessity, not a luxury.

So what plants benefit the in-terior environment the most? Wolverton suggests 50 indoor plants that do the job, but here are just a few.

The areca palm, bamboo palm, lady palm and dwarf date palm are rated as the best overall plants for re-moving chemical vapours, are the easiest to grow and maintain, are most resistant to insect infestation and have the highest transpiration rate.

The rubber plant, ficus alii and weeping fig tree are all very good at removing formaldehyde (from ad-hesives, caulking, ceiling tiles, draperies and floor coverings).

Dracaenas do well in dimly lit interiors and therefore are the plant of choice for many offices. These include the dragon tree, corn plant, and dracaena “Janet Craig” or “Warneckei.”

Other beneficial plants include the Boston fern, spider plant and peace lily, as well as vines such as English ivy, pothos and heart-leaf philodendron.

If you crave more colour than just green, try flowers such as the gerbera daisy, wax begonia, cyclamen, tulip, moth orchid and kalanchoe.

And yes, (Bell Canada take note), the poinsettia appears on Wolverton’s list too.

byDorothyGebert

Spiderplantsare

verygoodatremoving

chemicalvapoursfromtheair.

Pothosvinestolerateawiderangeofenvironmentalconditions,especiallylowlight.

NorfolkIslandpinesareeasy

togrowandareresistanttoinsect

infestation.

(PhotosbyDorothyGebert)


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Katherine Thompson is Marketing & Communications Coordinator with The County of Elgin

byKatherineThompson

Cutlineforaboveleftphotoandphotoatleftifrequired.

Little Red MittenFibre art with a modern twist

No longer seen as an old-fashioned pursuit, fibre art is gaining popularity among people from all walks of life. This artistic outlet allows for variations in tex-ture, design, and colour offering endless creative possibilities. Little Red Mitten is a haven for those longing to rediscover the lost arts of knitting, sewing, quilting, embroidery and weaving with an added modern twist. To meet the needs of their internet savvy customers The Little Red Mitten offers an attractive website, a regularly updated blog and a monthly e-newsletter.

Owner Joan Janes has been interested in fibre arts since she was a child. As a teenager, she worked at the St. Thomas Parkspin Mill, an opportunity that ig-nited her passion for the peacefulness of spinning at a wheel. An avid knitter for many years, Janes completed courses for the Master Knitting program from The Knitting Guild of America and is a certified Knitting Teacher with the Craft Yarn Council of America.

After nearly 30 years away, Joan re-turned to her hometown of St. Thomas to open Little Red Mitten. Situated in one of St. Thomas’s most historic neigh-bourhoods, the store occupies a spacious and well-maintained 1842 home. The store offers customers yarns from around the world and a variety of fibres includ-ing; cottons, wools, alpaca, and silk. Fi-bre artists from beginner to enthusiast can take advantage of the best selection of knitting tools around. Visitors are in-vited to choose from a wide variety of fibre art classes, join a knitting group, or try a new knitting pattern created by the owner herself. Look, touch, and be

enticed. Little Red Mitten is a woolly inspiring place!

For more information about Little Red Mitten or the Elgin Arts Trail please visit www.elginartstrail.ca.

The Elgin Arts Trail is a program with a goal to promote and enhance arts tourism in Elgin County and St. Thomas. The trail is a route through Elgin County that visits some of the best galleries, studios and artisans in Elgin and St. Thomas. For full trail information visit www.elginartstrail.ca or find us on Facebook

The Parade of Elephants is a travelling exhibition of one-of a-kind elephant sculptures

created by artists on the Elgin Arts Trail in partnership with the St. Thomas-Elgin Public Art Centre. Every month the elephants will

travel to a new location and at each location a new elephant will be added to the collection.

The next exhibit will be on display at:Elgin - St. Thomas Tourism Office

450 Sunset Dr., St. Thomas (1st floor)Feb 1 – Feb 26, 2013

For a complete list of exhibit locations visitwww.elginartstrail.ca/paradeofelephants


BUSINESS & COMMUNITYWorkInG In st. thomAs

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If you ever need to find someone who knows how to adjust to new and, at times challenging, social, economic, cultural, and religious environ-ments, you do not need to go very far. Right here in St. Thomas and Elgin, there are several experts who can provide you with many wise lessons they have learned – and continue to learn – by living in different cultures. Prepare to be inspired!

Dharmishtha Patel, a microbiologist who came to Canada just 5 months ago from India, has al-ready been a speaker for a Networking Confer-ence for professionals in St. Thomas and Elgin and is presently a member of the St. Thomas-El-gin Cultural Diversity Committee. Dharmishtha attends English classes at the YWCA and consid-ers her classmates and staff at the YWCA a source of great support to achieve her dream: To get her Microbiology and Biotechnology studies at a Ca-nadian university and obtain professional accredi-tation.

Dharmishtha has begun her journey to integra-tion by taking the right steps towards her goal. By engaging in community work, she is gaining knowledge and skills related to the Canadian culture, workplace culture and systems, building networks and improving professional and labour market access.

Iffat Farooqui’s life trajectory took her on a dif-ferent path. Iffat was born in England to parents from India, and since her birth, she has been liv-ing in different parts of the world. Iffat completed her elementary education in Kuwait, her second-ary education in New Brunswick, and completed her studies in Physiotherapy in Pakistan. Soon after completing her studies, she got married and came to live in St. Thomas.

Through her extensive experiences, Iffat has been inspired to work with others so that new-comers have a supportive community where they can meaningfully integrate. Iffat’s involvement in the community is known to many. She is the Chair at St. Joseph’s Catholic Secondary School Council, and one of the main organizers of the University/College Information night for stu-dents and parents. In addition, she is a member of the Special Events Committee of The Elgin Community Nutrition Partnership which helped organize the “Heels for Meals” Fashion Show. Re-cently, she became a member of the St. Thomas-

Elgin Cultural Diversity Committee, an initiative of the St. Thomas-Elgin Local Immigration Part-nership (ST-ELIP).

The ST-ELIP was established in 2011 as a fol-low-up to The Elgin St. Thomas Labour Force Development 2010 Strategy. This collaborative community initiative is designed to strengthen the role of local agencies, stakeholders and service provider organizations in serving and integrating newcomers in St. Thomas and Elgin.

Although Dharmishtha and Iffat came to Cana-da at different times, separated by 25 years, these two exemplary women share a very significant similarity: their commitment to build welcom-ing, caring and inclusive communities. It is no surprise, then, to find them both volunteering their time and energies at the St. Thomas-Elgin Cultural Diversity Committee.

To celebrate and learn more of the achievements and ongoing work of the ST-ELIP and the net-work of newcomers in the community, everyone is invited to “Moving Forward: Building Wel-coming, Caring and Inclusive Communities” on February 26, 2013 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the CASO Station in St. Thomas.

Shelley Harris is the manager of Education and Employment at YWCA St. Thomas-Elgin.

byShelleyHarris

Quite different paths converge in St. Thomas / Elgin

newcomers have a supportive

community


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

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Rob Burns - Owner

519-631-4110 ELGIN MALL

Take part in our feature on Income TaxIn the March edition of Elgin This Month

To take advantage of excellent advertising opportunities like this, give me a call at 519-633-1640 (ext. 22)

or email me at [email protected] Edition Advertising Deadline is February 13th

Greg Minnema,Advertising Sales

• February 2013 •

Business Beat Table of ContentsBusiness awards to the next level .................. Page 10Thinking about visiting China? .......... Page 11Legal Business with Monty Fordham ........ Page 12Uncorked and web weaving .................... Page 13Social media marketing.................................. Page 14A 2013 crystal ball .... Page 15Welcome new Members.................................. Page 16

Wednesday February 13

Boston Pizza, 860 Talbot StreetSponsored jointly

by The Great Lakes International Air Show

and Boston Pizza

Doors open at 5:00 p.m. Complimentary hors d’oeuvres plus your

favourite refreshments. Great door prize

draws, too!

The St. Thomas & District Chamber of Commerce will host St. Thomas Mayor Heather Jackson, Central Elgin Mayor Bill Walters, and Southwold Mayor Jim McIntyre in an event we’re billing as our “State of the Municipalities” luncheon on Wednesday February 20.

This annual event is always well-attended, and one that our Members continue to rate highly in our post-event evaluations.

Later this spring, we will also bring to-gether our Elgin MP & MPP in a similar luncheon fo-rum.

Our February 20 event will be held at St. Anne’s Centre, 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Tickets are available by advance sale only from the Chamber office at $25 per person. Reserved seating will be provided for anyone placing a single order of four tickets or more. Until February 8, tickets to this event will be available exclusively to people from businesses and organizations that are Members of the St. Thomas & District Chamber. Remaining tickets, if any, will be available to the public February 9 to 15.

Food service will include a “bistro” lunch placed at each table with assorted sand-wiches and salad plus hot/cold beverages. Some might refer to it as a ‘working lunch’ as attendees will be invited to enjoy their meal while our local Mayors speak.

Each Mayor will have 10 minutes of indi-vidual speaking time to comment on plans and projects in their municipality for the year ahead. Once their remarks conclude, the focus turns to questions from the audi-

ence. Anyone purchasing a ticket to attend is welcome to submit a question or questions to the Chamber office in advance of the event (email us at [email protected]). We will also entertain questions from the floor as the event proceeds.

The State of the Municipalities luncheon is made pos-sible through the generous support of sponsors. Steelway Building Systems, the Elgin Business Resource Centre & ICE (Innovation Centre for Entrepreneurs), and the Workforce Planning and Development Board are our main sponsors.

The mayors are coming!

St.ThomasMayorHeatherJackson

SouthwoldMayorJamesMcIntyre

CentralElginMayorBillWalters

Each Mayor will have 10 minutes

of individual speaking time to

comment on plans and projects in

their municipality for the year ahead.

Lucky winnerSt. Thomas RBC manager Mike

Cole (left) accepts Classic Touch gift certificates from Chamber CEO Bob Hammersley and Jeff Sheridan in Chamber Member Services at the monthly Business After 5 at The Roadhouse in St. Thomas January 16.

More photos inside.


Chamber News Events and News of Interest to our Members

President & CEO Bob HammersleyAccounting Coordinator Susan MundayMember Services Linda CrawfordMember Services Je� Sheridan

Chair: John Regan Elgin Business Resource Centre1st Vice-Chair: Laura Woermke St. Thomas Elgin Public Art CentreTreasurer: Mark Lassam, CA CA Key, Perry & Lassam Chartered AccountantsPast Chair: Jason White Steelway Building Systems Director: Beth Burns K & K LocksmithsDirector: Renee Carpenter Jennings Furniture Director: Monty Fordham Fordham Brightling & Associates, LawyersDirector: Je� Kohler Presstran IndustriesDirector: Rob Mise myFM 94.1Director: Debra Mountenay Workforce Planning & Development BoardDirector: Darren Reith Reith and Associates Insurance & FinancialDirector: Allan Weatherall Elgin Military Museum – Project Ojibwa

Published by Metroland Media Group Ltd., 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

2013 Board of Directors

There’s a change coming in the way we recognize success and excellence in business. In December, the Boards of Directors of the St. Thomas & District Chamber of Commerce and the Elgin Business Resource Centre agreed to combine resources and review how our organizations recognize success. Instead of multiple organizations run-ning different programs on a variety of days over the calendar, the new St. Thomas – Elgin Business Awards pro-gram will bring it all together. More details on the format and agenda of the program will be released over the next few weeks. And please keep this date open: Thursday April 25.

From a Chamber perspective, our annual Free Enterprise Awards remain as they have in the past.Calling for Nominations

The Free Enterprise Awards are the cornerstone of the Chamber’s work to celebrate success. Each year since the 1970s, we have welcomed nomina-tions of businesses, organizations and individuals who deserved to be recog-nized for their excellence in business and community service. There are three award categories.

Chair’s AwardsThis presentation reflects service

and contributions, including volun-teer activities, that have assisted the St. Thomas & District Chamber of Commerce. Presented at the discre-tion of the Chair of the Chamber’s Board of Directors when events or circumstances reflect service or con-tributions of an extraordinary nature.Free Enterprise Award of Merit

Recognition of those businesses and/or individuals whose recent or specific accomplishments are signifi-cant. There is no limit to the number of times that an individual or business might receive a Merit Award. Entre-preneurial success is the primary focus of the Merit Awards with consider-ation of other desirables reflecting on community, civic and/or social bet-terment. No more than three winners may be named in any year.Free Enterprise Master Awards

Our major award. This honour rec-ognizes businesses and individuals making significant, all-encompassing contributions within St. Thomas, Central Elgin and/or Southwold. The recipients are proven leaders, as

evidenced by repeated success in en-deavours that relate to entrepreneur-ship along with community spirit and social well-being. No more than three winners may be named in any year.

As mentioned above, the awards will become part of a larger county-wide program called the St. Thomas – El-gin Business Awards with presenta-tions to be made on Thursday April 25 at St. Anne’s Centre in St. Thomas. Submit a nomination?

Success, innovation, leadership, community betterment and concern for social issues are all attributes of our award winners in every category. Choose from the three categories de-scribed above and tell us why your nominee should be selected. Our Awards & Recognition Committee, under the leadership of the Immediate Past Chair of the Chamber’s Board of Directors, will review all submissions. Chamber staff may conduct addi-tional research. Self-nominations are welcome. Individuals and businesses nominated must be active in serving the communities of the City of

St. Thomas, Municipality of Central Elgin, and/or the Township of South-wold

A new celebration of excellenceThe following points and questions may be helpful in writing a nomination:

• Describe the nominee’s relation-ships with staff, clients, suppliers, etc.

• Growth, changes or improve-ments that have enhanced perfor-mance?

• Are there any innovation, trail-blazing or risk-taking initiatives and strategies that have been developed or undertaken?

• Describe any situation where the nominee has created new jobs or successfully fought to sustain jobs in our market.

• Describe successes and achieve-ments in community service, work with civic or charitable/non-profit agencies, or volunteer activities

• Has the nominee utilized conser-vation and stewardship techniques, advanced technologies, or devel-oped programs to save, protect or enhance or environment?

• Name something that makes this nominee stand out above all others.

• Describe the time, energy, re-sources dedicated to professional growth and continuous learning.

• Details on measurement, prac-tices and internal processes for cus-tomer service.

• Coaching, mentoring, assistance to other businesses, individuals or organizations?

• How has new technology helped?

• Marketing successes and strat-egy?

• Growth beyond local service to regional, national and/or interna-tional levels?

2013 nominations close Friday March 8, 2013 at 4:30 p.m.

For additional information, contact Bob Hammersley at the Chamber office at 519-631-1981 Ext. 524, or send your nomination to us: St. Thomas & District Chamber of Commerce115 – 300 South Edgeware RoadSt. Thomas, ON N5P 4L1CALL: 519-631-1981 FAX: 519-631-0466E-mail: [email protected]



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The St. Thomas & District Cham-ber of Commerce will be among dozens of Chambers across Canada offering a very unique and special op-portunity to our Members and our community this year – a group tour to China for eleven days, October 23 to November 2.

Our plans will be of interest to Members looking at business oppor-tunities, and to anyone interested in seeing and learning more about this fascinating destination.

Our travel package is exclusively offered across the Chamber network through Citslinc International, based in Monterey Park, California. Locally, our plans are being developed in a partnership with our neighbours at the Strathroy & District Chamber.

Our itinerary includes visits to Bei-jing, Shanghai, Suzhou and Hang-zhou and accommodation exclusively in 4 & 5-star hotels. All airfare, tours, food, land transfers and taxes are included in one exceptional pack-

age price of $2,399 per person for Members, or $2,599 per person for people not affiliated with the Cham-ber through a Member business or or-ganization. Elgin Travel & Cruises is our exclusive local travel agent for the tour and will handle all arrangements in co-operation with Citslinc.

Find out more in a special informa-tion presentation we are hosting on Thursday February 28. Citslinc In-ternational’s President, Leo Liu, will be our guest to answer questions and

provide complete information on this exclusive and unique opportunity. Admission is free, but advance regis-tration is required. Our presentation will be held at the Elgin Business Re-source Centre, 300 South Edgeware Road on February 28 starting at 5:30 p.m.

To register, use the events calendar on the Chamber website at www.stthomaschamber.on.ca or call us dur-ing business hours at 519-631-1981.

Business mission & tour to

Happy guy[Left] Brad Bedford of Bedford Financial roars with laughter when he learns

he’s the winner of a new iPad presented by Chamber CEO Bob Hammersley at January’s Business After 5. The winning ticket was drawn by Roadhouse owner Sam Aboumourad, Special thanks to Staples’s St. Thomas location for providing support on our prize offerings at this event!

Full house at The Roadhouse[Bottom, left] January’s Business After 5 at The Roadhouse Bar & Grill

brought a large crowd to meet the Roadhouse’ new owners, brothers Sam and Dan Aboumourad. Sam and Dan were raised in St. Thomas and attended Central Elgin Collegiate. Sam is also known to dozens of local folks as a for-mer teacher at Southwold Public School. The pair has returned to St. Thomas to invest here and became owners of The Roadhouse last fall.


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I have noticed it has been more com-mon lately for increasingly younger people to have their wills and powers of attorney prepared, and I suspect this is, in part, due to the greater so-phistication of consumers in general. I cannot emphasize the importance of an up-to-date will. For while dying without a will does not carry the dire consequences some would have you believe, the lack of guidance to family members and friends at a time of such emotional turmoil can be devastating.

A common misconception is that if a person dies without a will their estate somehow passes to the govern-ment. It does not, except in the case of a deceased with absolutely no liv-ing relatives. There are what are called the rules of intestacy which provide that certain people within certain pa-rameters receive the estate of a person who dies without a will. For example, the spouse of such a person receives a “preferential share” amounting to the first $200,000 of the estate. He/she is also entitled to a proportional share

in the balance of the estate, assuming there are children. However, this di-vision may not be what the deceased wanted, and, moreover, it may create serious legal and practical problems in administering the estate depending on the size and composition of the estate.

When drawing a will, you choose who will handle your affairs when you are gone. The choice of an “Estate Trustee” (formerly an Executor) is ex-tremely important. The Estate Trustee must be an individual who is trust-worthy, organized and intelligent. The work of the trustee is onerous and sometimes complex. They must be able to work with accountants, bankers, investment advisors and, yes, lawyers. It also helps if they are famil-iar with the estate as a whole, as well as the beneficiaries of the estate. Some people, particularly with large estates choose an institutional trustee such as a bank, brokerage or trust company. In any event, the trustee is entitled to compensation for their work, the amount of which is subject to review of the court.

If you have younger children you

must consider the appointment of guardians for them in the event both you and your spouse die before they are old enough to conduct their own affairs. The guardians can be, but don’t necessarily have to be, the same people as the trustees. The roles are quite different, and a person with outstanding parenting skills may not possess the business acumen required of a trustee.

Within your will, you can designate certain persons to receive monetary gifts. Examples of such beneficia-ries include grandchildren, favourite neighbours, charities or other orga-nizations. These “legacies” are paid out first by the Estate Trustee after debts and expenses are paid. As well, many people designate beneficiaries

of personal items such as family heir-looms. (For example: My mechanics tools to my daughter Mary; my Royal Doulton collection to my son Harry). These types of “bequests” can be made within the will or by reference in the will to a separate list or memoran-dum.

The very act of instructing and drawing a will involves a thorough review of your assets, liabilities and long term obligations. In many cases, personal planning tools can be set in place to minimize Income Tax conse-quences, Probate fees and legal costs. These include, in larger estates, the use of primary and secondary wills, (to be more thoroughly discussed in a future column), the establishment of holding companies and family trusts. In more modest estates, assets may be placed in joint ownership with children, although this must be care-fully structured in most cases. In some cases, gifts may be made of personal items and evidenced by documenta-tion, while the item remains in the possession of the testator.

Whether we like it or not our lives are finite; the clearer the instructions we leave to our loved ones, the easier it will be for them to get through the difficult times.

Willing and able byMontyFordham


Member News Events and News of Interest to our Members

Wednesday, February 6, 2013 is...

Make the world a little better ...one kind act at a time

We live in a truly amazing community where so much kindness happens every day. Let’s take a moment to recognize when someone does something nice for us. In return, do something nice for them, not just for one

day, but every day of the year.- Co-chair Al Hughson

Randy Gordon

Randy Gordon

Brought to you by:

Share your story on The Weekly News Facebook Wall: or email it to [email protected] or [email protected]

For more details, see the back page of this magazine

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We’re always interested in seeing and hearing the progress of our Members in developing and designing online and electronic marketing tools, includ-ing websites. Over the past month, several Members have drawn our atten-tion to new and 2nd or 3rd generation websites developed on fresh under-standings of customer needs and expectations. Here are some of the latest we recommend for a look:

Genuine Stitcheswww.genuinestitches.com

Reith & Associates Insurance and Financial Services

www.reithandassociates.com

Allsource Depotwww.allsourcedepot.com

Elgin Transmissionwww.elgintransmission.ca

While we’re on the subject of websites, some news from the Chamber about our www.stthomaschamber.on.ca site, too. A reminder that our events cal-endar has been expanded and that many of our events listings now have on-line booking capacity to reserve seats or order and pay for tickets. Whenever you’re curious about a Chamber event, or a function we’re a partner to, check our listings for location, date, time and all event information.

A sell-out!!!

Web weaving

The Chamber, and all of the volun-teers on our Member Services Com-mittee, extend huge thanks to ev-eryone who attended and supported our sold-out “St. Thomas Uncorked”

wine taste/art appreciation event Saturday, January 26. Your support and interest guarantee that we will explore similar events in the months ahead.

Special thanks to our event sponsors:TD Canada Trust

P.J. Smith & AssociatesJennings Furniture

Talbot PromoMyFM 94.1

St. Thomas – Elgin Public Art Gallery

Our food sponsors & contributors:Braxton’s Tap & Grill

Farmgate Markets Deli & Fresh MeatBriwood Farm Market


Pro TexT Business Management News & Issues

DON’T LET YOUR CAR LET

YOU DOWN!

The risks of social media:How third party marketers can pose a liability*

Brand promotion and customer development are becoming ever more reliant on social media. Com-panies and not-for-profit organiza-tions are learning to embrace this marketing tool as a necessity and not just a passing fancy. Many organi-zations, however, lack the requisite resources to build an audience of fol-lowers on Facebook and Twitter. En-ter the third party marketing agency

to provide this service. As evidenced in recent legal headlines, the liability for passing off this responsibility can be enormous.

A recent article in the International Business Times cited the case of a non-profit organization that used a third party marketing agency to establish and maintain the nonprofit’s social media presence. When the nonprofit was late on a payment to the agency, it found that the passwords to the nonprofit’s Facebook and Twitter account had been changed. It was a simple message: if you don’t pay up, you lose your account. Further, there are several examples of third party marketing agencies not complying with laws and regulations regarding advertising, yet the legal responsibility falls back on the organization that hires them.

When considering the inherent legal risks associated with marketing through social media and the utilization of a third party marketing agency to carry out this work for your business or not-for-profit, it is necessary to ensure

certain arrangements are made and that the marketing company is positioned to protect your interests ahead of theirs. Companies that have relationships with third-party affiliate marketers should en-sure that those affiliates comply with ad-vertising and marketing laws in market-ing the companies’ products or services through social media. Businesses should have agreements with affiliates requiring the affiliates to comply with all applicable federal, provincial and local laws. It may be prudent to include specific representa-tions and warranties by the affiliate with

respect to compliance, with specific references to significant laws. The agree-ments should also have a provision whereby the affiliate agrees to indemnify the company (either through a mutual indemnification or otherwise) from liability arising out of the affiliate’s conduct – preferably with a provision re-quiring that the affiliate carry sufficient insurance to fund the indemnification should it be triggered.

On a related note, confidentiality provisions and related provisions ensur-ing data security have become increasingly important in the current legal en-vironment, particularly in agreements involving cross-border activities where consumer personal information is collected online. Additionally, businesses should, to the extent it is feasible, monitor the advertising and marketing prac-tices of affiliates and review their marketing materials before they are dissemi-nated. A company should take similar measures with respect to third parties who market through social media outlets operated by the company.

Further, social media marketing risks can be found in-house, too. Take the case of blogger Noah Kravitz and the tech blog named PhoneDog. When Kravitz began work at PhoneDog, he created a Twitter handle, @Phonedog_Noah, which eventually amassed 17,000 followers. Kravitz left PhoneDog on good terms in 2010, changing his handle to @NoahKravitz but keeping the password and, hence, his followers.

Things turned ugly when he filed suit over back pay. PhoneDog then coun-tersued, claiming the followers of @Phonedog_Noah make up, essentially, a corporate customer list — their corporate customer list. In a remarkable move, they also demanded $2.50 for each of the followers over an eight-month pe-riod, which adds up to $340,000.

The PhoneDog v. Kravitz case ended in negotiation in early December. So, without a legal ruling on this modern matter, we are still left with the question of who actually owns certain Twitter accounts. That’s a question will undoubt-edly be answered in the future.

But for now, during this legal limbo of social media laws, there is a large amount of helpful information on the web that companies can use to analyze social media marketing and create their own social media policy, such as So-cialMediaGovernance.com, which offers a section with 218 different social media policies. But the most important things to remember when putting your company’s social media marketing efforts in the hands of someone else, either in-house or outsourced, are:

1. Will the third party/employee do a better job than your staff/yourself? 2. Does the outsourcing company/employee understand your brand com-

pletely? 3. Do you have a thorough and specific contract in place? One other point to note is that any action brought against your company

or not-for-profit can draw in the directors and officers of the organization for their tacit approval of the hiring and use of outside marketing agencies. Here is where these individuals can be held liable, jointly, severally and personally. Here is a clear reason for the directors’ and officers’ insurance.

When developing your social media policy, include your insurance pro-vider in the conversation to ensure the insurance program developed for your organization meets the inherent risks associated with modern activities such as social media advertising.*Some content material provided by: Risk Management Monitor, December 2012 edition

byDanReith

This column appears regularly in Business Beat and has been submit-ted by Dan Reith BA (Hons) CAIB, a principal of Reith and Associates Insurance and Financial Services, 462 TalbotStreet, St. Thomas. Questions and com-ments on this column are welcomed by the writer at 519-631-3862 or via e-mail: [email protected]


ViewPoiNT Events and News of Interest to our Members

WE HAVE IT ALL.RENTALS & SALES

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DON FERGUSON• Real Estate• Corporate Law• Commercial Law• Wills and Estates

SANDRA DIMEO• Motor Vehicle Accidents• Slip and Falls• Wrongful Dismissal• Contract Disputes

What are we looking at for 2013?Chamber President & CEO Bob Hammersley takes a look at two industries2013 Auto Sales Predicted to Climb

Good news in the auto industry is something everyone in the St. Thomas area has been looking for, and it appears 2013 might see our wish come true.

On January 3, the Toronto Star published an article suggesting a healthier economy and more new model introductions should push Canadian and U.S. auto sales toward the 17 million mark this year. The Star quoted auto industry expert Dennis DesRosiers as saying “The Canadian market still hasn’t reached its potential.”

Auto industry research and analysis firms have reported that 2012 finished as the second-best on record for new vehicle sales in Canada with 1.67 million new cars and trucks on the road, an increase of 5.7 per cent over 2011. 2013 sales could climb within reach of the record 1.7 million units sold in 2002.

In late December, the Detroit News reported The Polk research firm project-ing U.S. auto sales should continue to lead that country’s economic recovery, rising nearly 7 percent over 2012 to 15.3 million new vehicle registrations.

Polk expects 43 new models to be introduced this year, up 50 percent from last year. New models usually boost sales. The company also predicts a re-bound in sales of large pickups and midsize cars.

Polk predicts a handful of other trends for 2013. Sales will grow for big pick-ups, which are very profitable for automakers. Demand has been depressed for five years due to the weak economy, but should get a lift in 2013 thanks to redesigned trucks from GM, Toyota and Ford.

Polk also said the midsize sedan segment will continue to lead the industry. It’s now at 18.5 percent of the U.S. market, 2 percentage points larger than any other type of segment.

U.S. auto sales peaked at about 17 million in 2005, but dropped to 10.4 million in 2009, the lowest level in more than three decades.Hospitality predictions

When it comes to conversation topics, food ranks right up there with the weather for most Canadians. That fact, along with new market research re-vealing that 2 of every 5 consumers want to spend more time dining out in 2013, suggests you might find a recent report from Nation’s Restaurant News (NRN) to be as interesting as we do.

NRN is a US-based publishing & information company established in 1967. On December 28, it released a collection of opinions and predictions about what 2013 will see as trends in dining and hospitality service. Here are some excerpts from their findings:

Locavore concepts: We’ll see rising numbers of farm-to-fork concepts that offer regional craft beers and wines and regularly changing menus of upscale comfort foods made with local produce and culinary customs in mind.

Restaurant nutrition: Growth in menu labeling will increase nutrition awareness among many restaurant users, compelling some operators to add

vegetable entrees and appetizers; expand their use of whole grains, such as buckwheat and quinoa; or use salts less for cooking and more as dish-finishing components or customer-applied garnishes.

Meal time: The growth in snacking will continue as around-the-clock din-ing moves closer to the mainstream and operators look for ways to meet Mil-lennials’ hunger for group grazing.

Customer expectations: In 2013, as in 2012, customers aren’t just going to go for the cheapest thing. They’re going to judge “value” as the best quality they can get for their money, meaning that consumers will expect to get what they pay for. Successful restaurants will be the ones that can provide quality food to consumers at affordable prices.

Consumer demographics: A lot of restaurants have been focusing on mar-keting to Millenials, but it’s those younger folks who have cut back on visiting restaurants. Restaurants would be wise to begin marketing more heavily to Baby Boomers in 2013 since they’re continuing to work longer, aren’t cutting back as much and have a greater need for convenience than ever before.

Restaurant sales: There is substantial pent-up demand for restaurant ser-vices, with two out of five consumers saying they are not using restaurants as often as they would like. Continued growth in employment and consumers’ disposable income in 2013 is likely to turn that demand into sales.

Customer-facing technology: Technology is becoming an expectation rather than a novelty. Consumer interest in technology remains strong and will keep growing, spurring restaurant operators to dedicate more resources to customer-facing technology such as smartphone apps, ordering kiosks and mobile payment options.

Menu trends: A couple of burgeoning food trends will have an increasing impact on restaurant menus throughout the next year. Greek cuisine is com-ing into its own in the mass market, with the extraordinary success of Greek yogurt opening the door to wider experimentation. Feta cheese, tzatziki and lamb will get more play. Salads will get a new lease on life as consumers seek healthful foods that are tasty and attractive. The use of kale will increase by leaps and bounds, along with specialty grains as salad toppers.



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The St. Thomas & District Chamber of Commerce is pleased to welcome the follow-ing businesses and individuals as our newest Members. The staff and management of the organizations shown below were accepted as registered Members from December 16, 2012 to January 15, 2013.

Algoma University50 Wellington StreetSt. Thomas, ON N5R 2P8Phone: 519-633-6501Fax: 519-633-0795Email: [email protected]: www.algomau.caContact: Donna Rankin, Support Services Co-ordinatorBuyer’s Guide Categories: Education Products & Services: Algoma University is offering programming in St. Thomas and the surround-ing area from the new Welling-ton Street facilities. Algoma at St. Thomas is an opportunity for

students to earn their first two years of university while living at home, without incurring the extra cost of student housing. Algoma University is excited to of-fer students in St. Thomas a unique educational experience like no other in Ontario. Students benefit from a more focused and engaged curricu-lum, they call Block Learning.Once students have completed the program at St. Thomas, they have the opportunity to continue their education at Algoma University`s main campus in Sault Ste. Marie.

Van Pelt’s Print Plus800 Talbot StreetSt. Thomas, ON N5P 1E2Phone: 519-631-4407Fax: 519-631-4281Email: [email protected]: www.print-plus.caContacts: Michael Van Pelt, CEO and Sarah Van Pelt, CEOBuyer’s Guide Categories: Printers & Publishing, Graphic Design, Mail-ing/Shipping Services, Photocopy-ing, Postal Services, and Promo-

tional ProductsProducts & Services:The next phase is about to begin as Van Pelt’s transitions to the third generation. Floyd Van Pelt is step-ping down to allow his children to assume new roles. The brother/sister team of Michael Van Pelt and Sarah Van Pelt are spinning off the service part of the operation and will be running a separate business under the name Van Pelt’s Print Plus. Both Michael and Sarah have strong backgrounds in printing and finishing services and have been part of the family business for many years.Van Pelt’s Print Plus services a large and diverse customer base. Print orders are shipped from coast to coast, and even to some interna-tional customers.

Van Pelt’s Design Plus800 Talbot StreetSt. Thomas, ON N5P 1E2Phone: 519-631-4407Fax: 519-631-4281Email: [email protected]

Website: www.design-plus.ca Contact: Sarah Van Pelt, CEOBuyer’s Guide Categories: Graphic Design, Advertising/Promotion, Photocopying, Printers & Publish-ing, Promotional Products, Web Design ServicesProducts & Services: Sarah is passionate about art and design and has built a solid reputation in the commercial design world. Experienced in branding, logo design, web design, marketing and variable data printing, Sarah’s team is currently serving customers across Canada. With over a decade in design experience, she’s excited to now learn the ropes about run-ning the design and printing busi-nesses with her brother Michael.

Van Pelt’s Safety Plus800 Talbot StreetSt. Thomas, ON N5P 1E2Phone: 519-631-4048Fax: 519-631-4281Email: [email protected]: [email protected]: David Van Pelt, CEO and Ryan Van Pelt, SalesBuyer’s Guide Categories: Safety Products, Building Products & Sup-plies, Business Equipment & Sup-plies, Cleaning Products & Supplies, Fire Protection Equipment - Sales & Service, First Aid Supplies, Indus-trial Equipment & Supplies, Office Furnishings & Supplies, Transporta-tion Services, Welding Services & SuppliesProducts & Services: Safety Plus has many different product offerings in the safety in-dustry. Ryan and David are happy to help out with any safety related items you need, from first aid kits, eye/face protection, fall protection, hearing protection, janitorial/saniti-zation, protective clothing, respira-tory & gas monitors, welding safety, and much more.


Maybe your idea of retirement is having a second career or working part time, volunteering or indulging in your favourite hobbies. Doing the things you want to do is what retirement should be about.

Before you make your retirement investment decision this year, let’s talk about:

Whether you’re saving enough

Whether your retirement plan needs some adjustments to help you reach your retirement goals

How much you want to spend in retirement

How you can reduce your taxes*

To see if your retirement plan matches your idea of retirement, call for a personal retirement review.

*Edward Jones, its employees and Edward Jones advisors do not provide tax or legal advice. Review your situation with your tax advisor or legal professional for information regarding, or issues concerning, the tax implications of making a particular investment or taking any other action.

the Ideal Retirement Is Your Job. Helping You Get There Is Ours.

Dreaming Up

www.edwardjones.comMember – Canadian Investor Protection Fund

Kelly Ruddock584 Talbot St.,

St. Thomas 519-633-7824

Kelvin Saarloos 310 Wellington St.,Unit 5, St. Thomas

519-637-0305

Scott Carrie 534 Elm St., St. Thomas

519-631-4282

Ray Bosveld 300 S. EdgewareUnit 2, St. Thomas

519-633-4334

Paul Bode287 Talbot St. W.,

Aylmer 519-773-8226

Direction can be invaluable when preparing for the journey

A map can be invaluable when you’re preparing for a journey, espe-cially one you’ve never taken before. It can help you avoid wrong turns that can cost precious time and cause needless headaches.

This common-sense approach to travel also applies to planning your retirement – which itself is quite the journey. Although the word “retire-ment” may mean something differ-ent to everyone, the better the road map, or strategy, the more likely you can live the retirement lifestyle you’ve dreamed of.

As a starting point, you might want to write down answers to two basic questions that will underpin your strategy: What do I want in re-tirement? And how will I pay for it?

In answering the first question, you need to take a careful look at not just the day-to-day expenses you expect to incur, but other retirement goals you may have, such as fund-ing your grandchildren’s education, helping support other family mem-bers or paying for a long vacation or a second home.

Then you need to see if your fi-nances will get you where you want to go. It helps to detail all your sourc-es of income, including government retirement benefits, pensions and annuities. You also need to consider whatever part-time employment in-come you may expect to earn. And of course, you’ll have to tally up your assets. This encompasses all of your savings and investments, including stocks, bonds, mutual funds and GICs, within both your registered and non-registered accounts.

Then you need to itemize your re-tirement expenses. These can be bro-ken down into two categories: ne-cessities and discretionary expenses. Necessities include your mortgage, utilities, groceries and taxes, while travel and entertainment are consid-ered discretionary.

This analysis can help determine if your sources of income can cover your retirement needs or whether there are shortfalls that must be ad-dressed. For example, you may de-

termine that you can pay for your necessities with outside sources of income, such as pensions, which might give you more flexibility with discretionary items. On the other hand, you might determine that working part time or delaying retirement is needed to boost your income so you can pay for those dis-cretionary expenses while in retire-ment.

Remember, if you don’t know where you’re going, you could end

up going nowhere or, even worse, heading in the wrong direction. A written strategy can start your re-tirement on the right path and help keep you there.

Speak with your financial advisor for help in crafting your retirement strategy and to see if everything is

on track, or whether you should consider taking some actions now before it’s too late. byRaymondBosveld

Raymond Bosveld is a financial planner at Edward Jones in St. Thomas.

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Your RRSP investment for your 2012 tax return can be designed to maximize your

tax deduction?

Last month I wrote about e-books and how they’re redefining what a book means. When a book can in-clude photos, video and music, is it still a book? The different types of media blend into one. And this is just one area where the digital mon-key wrench is getting thrown into

the physical works. I keep catching myself thinking

of things in ways that are limited by their physicality: I have it so you can’t; it’s here so it can’t be there. But these limitations don’t exist in the digital world. If you have an image or document on your computer, you can make unlimited copies. The li-brary’s e-books can be downloaded multiple times to multiple devices

by the same person. And portable devices like tablets and smartphones mean that you’re never without it; you can access and store copies on the device or free up space and use a cloud storage system like Sugar Sync or Dropbox. If you’re really stuck, you can access your data on your home computer from another device using remote access tools like Join.me, LogMeIn or TeamViewer.

Things are now portable and cus-tomizable. And reproducible.

Not just images and documents, but things. Optical scanners convert a physical object to a set of instruc-tions. Upload those instructions to a 3-D printer like Printrbot or Cube and you can reproduce the object anywhere. So why make, store and ship physical goods when you can just sell the instructions? Someday you’ll be customizing and down-loading the data to make your pur-chases instead of trying to fit one more box into the trunk of your car.

So how do we think of this digi-tal world? There have been studies claiming that ‘the Internet is making us dumber.’ While 20 minutes surf-ing YouTube may support this claim, I think that we’re learning what’s important and not wasting mental energy remembering the line-up of the ’94 Maple Leafs or the lyrics to ‘Werewolves of London.’ It’s all just a couple of clicks away.

The only phone numbers in my phone’s contact list are the ones that I really need, because all the others are a Google search or a Yellow Page app away. Interestingly, I actually could store the phone number of every person and business in Elgin County if I wanted. It wouldn’t cost me anything and the information is easily searchable. The traditional

barriers to information, and lots of it, crumble in the digital world. From social media helping to orga-nize revolutions to a proposal for new point values for scrabble tiles based on modern day word frequen-cy, information is available and di-gestible like never before.

And so Big Data – massive amounts of detailed information on everything from consumer be-haviour to traffic patterns – is a big thing in business as a result. Not only can we easily store lots of infor-mation, but we can sort through it to analyze it and improve. Statwing is a site that lets you easily upload a data set and use its own algorithms to sort through. How empowering is that? And more and more govern-ments are moving towards Open Data, posting, (non-personal), in-formation for their citizens to mine through.

That openness is part of what the digital world brings: the value of information is no longer in being locked away for a select few; it’s in sharing it for others to enrich and improve.

That’s a very different way to think not just about information, but about how we work, manage, govern and play in this world. We can cer-tainly fight it, focusing on the some-times painful changes, or we can embrace it and learn how to use it to make our lives and our communities better. As with any technology, we have a choice to make.

byPeterAtkinson

Peter Atkinson is E-Services Consultant at the St. Thomas Public Library

...there have been studies claiming that ‘the Internet is making us dumber...


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Solid foundations are essential• A business plan guides your en-

tire path to success, from concept to start-up and even expansion, by clearly outlining vital details and the direction you wish to take.

It helps you budget appropriately and identify potential risks you may not have otherwise considered.

Details interest funders• A solid business plan is a great

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Investors won’t take a risk on your business if you don’t have a credible plan.

Managing becomes easier• It saves you time. Your crucial

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Robust plans also keep you on track for meeting your current obligations to funders, suppliers, etc.

Use the online resources available to you to clearly state your path and guide you, rather than gamble with your future.

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Plus leave a legacy for your family

Investing and keeping your money invested today has become quite the challenge. All the turbulence we have had to endure over the past de-cade has left investors facing many hurdles and pondering several ques-tions. It began just after Y2K, then 911, followed by the economic melt-down of 2008 only to be told that all of our current financial troubles are because of the financial situation in Europe and expanding to China.

It’s as if the world has the financial flu. Unfortunately rest and plenty of fluids won’t take the pain away.

Frankly speaking it has not been a fair shake for any of us. Especial-

ly those who have been relying on their investments as income. Retir-ees’ accounts have plummeted, and their incomes may have dropped as much as half or even worse. Many retirees have been forced back into the workplace to put food on their tables.

There are ways to protect your in-vestments, and your income, and still enable you to ensure growth and a legacy for your families.

More and more people are attract-ed to the kind of rock solid guaran-tees that life insurance companies can offer. When there are financial downturns, the financial institutions

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As a financial advisor over the past 28 years in St. Thomas I have been helping to provide people with ways to get their money protected. Life insurance companies offer:

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Retirees’ accounts have plummeted, and their

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Are you 65 or older?Save money at tax time!

(NC)—A lifetime dedicated to your career has finally paid off in precious retirement years. You’ve worked hard, and you deserve to enjoy your future. But while retirement is often referred to as the golden years, living on a fixed income can be stressful and requires some smart financial planning. Here are a few ways that seniors can stretch their retirement dollars by saving money at tax time:

Public transit saves money that you might have otherwise spent on rising gas prices, parking, and car maintenance. Not only do seniors typically pay less for public transit, but the cost of transit passes can be claimed on your tax return.

You may be able to split your eligible pension income with your spouse or common-law partner, allocating up to 50% of your pension to him or her, to lower your taxes.

• If you or your spouse or common-law partner has a severe and prolonged impairment in physical or mental functions and meets certain conditions, you might be eligible for the disability tax credit.

• If you care for a spouse or other family member who has a physical or mental illness that makes them dependent on you for care, the new family caregiver amount could save you money.

• If you receive the Guaranteed Income Supplement or Allowance benefits under the Old Age Security program, you can usually renew your benefit simply by filing your return by April 30. If you choose not to file a return, you will have to complete a renewal form. This form is available from Service Canada.

• Applying for the goods and services tax/harmonized sales tax (GST/HST) credit helps to offset all or part of the GST or HST that you pay.

Other helpful tax-time information for seniors can be found on the Can-ada Revenue Agency website at www.cra.gc.ca/seniors. To make it easy on yourself this year, why not consider filing online? It’s simple, secure and will save you time. Information to get you started is available at www.cra.gc.ca/getready.

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Retire as a millionaireIt may be easier than you think

(NC)—Reaching retirement with $1 million in your RSP portfolio is not just for the wealthy. The reality is that if you are decades away from re-tirement and have good discipline, with the right financial plan and smart investments, retiring a millionaire can be an achievable goal.

“For young people with a steady and growing

income, the amount that you need to start put-ting away to retire with a golden nest egg later in life may be smaller than you realize,” says John Tracy, a senior vice president at TD Canada Trust.

Tracy provides his top tips on how to get you on your way to retiring comfortably - and maybe even a millionaire:

Start now –The biggest advantages you have when you are young are time and the power of long–term growth potential and compound in-terest. When combined with the tax-deferred growth within an RSP, these are effective wealth building tools.

Make saving regularly a habit – It can be

daunting to find a chunk of money to contribute to your RSP before the annual March deadline. Instead, set up a regular pre-authorized transfer of a portion of your paycheque into your RSP.

Move from saving to investing – One easy way you can invest in your RSP is with mutual funds. Mutual funds offer a wide variety of options aligned to your personal investment style. An au-tomated plan allows you to buy more units when prices are low and fewer when prices are high to take advantage dollar cost averaging. While it doesn’t guarantee a profit, or help protect you against a loss, it can result in a lower average unit cost over time. www.newscanada.com


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Let’s take a 23-year-old, who has fin-ished her education, and started a job in the workforce. She probably doesn’t have any savings to date, and will like-ly have a low income in the early years as her career gets started. She is proba-bly looking to start saving for a home. Most of us probably know someone in this situation. What advice would you give her? What’s the best way to save a down payment for a home? I would argue that a TFSA (Tax Free Savings Account) is an ideal fit for this scenario.

Many young peo-ple gravitate to an RSP for their early savings and towards the HBP (Home Buyers Plan) for a down payment, but since TFSAs en-tered the financial scene in 2009, we have reason to look in another direc-tion.

The annual TFSA limit for 2013 has just been raised to $5,500. This means, if you have never opened a TFSA and you were at least 18 in 2009, you now have $25,500 of cu-mulative room in your TFSA.

The young individual in the scenario above has $25,500 of available TFSA room, which in 2013 has now sur-passed the $25,000 withdrawal limit in the HBP and comes with far fewer strings attached. The HBP, if you are unfamiliar with it, is a program to

withdraw RSP funds to purchase your first home and then re-deposit the funds back into your RSP over a 15 year period.

Over the years, the HBP has found its way into the financial plans of many young people, and though it has worked for many people, it comes with a series of rules, qualification cri-teria, payback schedules, and possible tax implications for failing to meet the 15-year minimum repayment sched-ule.

Actually, I have never been a fan of the HBP for a vari-ety of reasons and in my experience, I have probably steered more young people away from it than towards it. And now, with a few years under

its belt, and cumulative contribution room on the rise, the TFSA emerges as a more flexible solution for the first time home buyer.

A few TFSA considerations for a young home buyer saving for their down payment are:

• The TFSA offers flexibility not available in the HBP because of the HBP rules around withdrawal limi-tations and payback rules. With the TFSA, there are no payback require-ments and no limit on the amount you withdraw from your TFSA.

• There are no rules to be deemed an eligible “first time homebuyer” for a TFSA. In practice, you can withdraw

the TFSA at any time, for any purpose tax free.

• There are no tax deductions for TFSA contributions; however, many young people are in a low tax bracket. A low income means your RSP con-tribution results in a lower tax refund. Similarly, a high income means your RSP contribution results in a higher refund. Why not save your refund for

a few years when you could benefit from a higher tax break?

Everyone’s personal situation is unique so it is important to consider your own variables before you make any firm financial decisions, but for young people looking to save a down payment for their first home, I would certainly urge them to consider the benefits of saving inside a TFSA.

Stephanie Farrow, B.A., C.F.P., is a Certified Financial Planner and co-owner of Farrow Financial Services Inc., in Belmont

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A remarkably diverse group of 32 teenagers has formed two companies this season in the Junior Achieve-ment (JA) program in St. Thomas. That’s right – they’ve created not just one, but two businesses.

One is called Simple Fortunes, and the directors are producing and selling Designer Duct Tape Wallets. These wallets have been designed for, and manufactured completely from, duct tape, which comes in dif-ferent colours. I was offered a choice between Radical Red and Purple Fu-sion. I chose the purple.

The other company is called Fes-cura, and these teens are manufac-turing and selling Jabreezy, an air and fabric freshener. It’s an easier to manufacture than duct tape wallets, since Jabreezy is produced by mix-ing three ingredients, and then bot-tling, labeling and selling it. But that doesn’t mean the company is a com-plete breeze. Much work still has to be done . . . marketing and selling a product at $5 can be a lot of work.

Junior Achievement literature is very clear on one point. “All deci-sions affecting the operation of the company are made by the students. As a result, the participants in the JA program have an opportunity to fail.”

Of course, success is very much on the minds of the adults who men-tor the program: Gene Ryan, Barry Fitzgerald, Scott Patterson, Tara Mc-Caulley, Brandon deVries and Dan Kelly. The Monday evening I at-tended a working session of the two companies, Barry and Dan delivered a well-reasoned wake-up call mes-sage to the directors of the Fescura company. A few problems with bot-tling needed to be addressed. There was a lot of product that needed to be marketed and sold to make this a success. Some directors of the com-pany were wandering around, if they perceived that there wasn’t a direct task to be done. The message from Barry and Dan? Everyone in Junior Achievement is a business owner, and wandering around doesn’t work for a business owner. Directors who found themselves without much to do should check in with the man-

agement team.The message seemed to be well re-

ceived . . . from what I could tell, kids went to work with renewed dedication.

Participants in the program are at the high school level. They meet Monday nights at Elgin Business Resource Centre in St. Thomas from October until April. Directors put in $10 to purchase shares in the company, they work on the prod-uct and are paid 50 cents an hour. The management team consists of a president and vice presidents of areas such as production, sales, mar-keting, finance and so on. Manage-ment team members are paid two

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byTerryCarroll

Thirty-two teens are operating two companies

Adult mentor Dan Kelly (left) assistsDeirdreNudds,CaseyMurphyandBradWrightwiththefinancialsforFrescura,aJuniorAchievementcompanyproducingJabreezy.

Continuedonnextpage


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dollars for their Monday evening work. At least at the one company, participants receive 10 percent com-mission on sales.

Tyler Whitney from Arthur Voad-en Secondary School is the president of Simple Fortunes. It was a little overwhelming for him at first, he said. This is his first year in JA, and he found himself in the position of boss after he made an impressive

speech at the start of Junior Achieve-ment in October. He quickly discov-ered that he “definitely had to dele-gate the work.” He adds, “And don’t put too much pressure on yourself.” In the ensuing months, he learned the value of good communication. Without that communication, or-ders slow down, quality suffers and confusion begins to take over. Now, Simple Fortunes is aggressively

marketing and selling their wallets. Their goal? They’d like to sell a little over 200 units. If they do, the direc-tors will achieve a final share value of $25 on their $10 investment.

Paolo Santiago, in Grade 10 at Central Elgin Collegiate Institute and a first-timer with JA, says he has learned a lot as a director working with Fescura on the Jabreezy prod-uct. He spoke with me as he was la-

beling bottles for sale. “I’ve learned a lot about the financial side. And JA also teaches you responsibilities. You’ve got to be here every week, and you have to do the job you’re given.” He agreed with Tyler that learning people and communication skills was very important.

Jade Lynch, also in her first year with JA, told me she became in-volved after a school presentation. She’s in Grade 10 at Voaden.

Junior Achievement is currently working with the Chamber of Com-merce, inviting business people to attend an elementary school for a day to introduce kids to business ba-sics. Of course, some of these young students may be attracted to JA once they reach high school.

Curtis Rohl, in Grade 12 at Voad-en, is vice president of sales for Simple Fortunes. His sales training includes the advice to “not go into cold calls thinking the sale is lost.” And he recommends persistence, but not to the point of being abra-sive.

Are there long-term benefits of all this Junior Achievement effort? Ap-parently so.

Tyler Whitney has applied to business and commerce programs next year, and he’s hoping to go to Queen’s. “It’s a big, exciting world to me,” he said.

(Clockwisefromleft)RhiannFleming,BrandenMiller,TylerWhitney,CalvinHuybersandCurtisRohltakeabreakfromtheproductionofDesignerDuctTapeWalletsatSimplyFortunes,aJuniorAchievementcompany.

Continuedfrompreviouspage


DINING & ENTERTAINMENTWIne & Food

I found myself at a wine and grape growing conference back in 2005 where the keynote speaker, an icon of modern wine research and policy, told the crowd in attendance that the global wine overproduction was in the order of ten to fifteen percent above demand. There was a figura-tive lake of wine out in the world. Jump ahead to present day, and most world wine observers agree: the lake has dried up. 2012 was, by volume, the lowest harvest in over three and a half decades. This loss of potential volume comes on the heels of sev-eral lacklustre vintages in France, Italy, Germany, Spain, and Califor-nia. These places represent the larg-est producers in the world. So what does this mean for the average wine drinkers? As any economist will tell you: when demand continues to rise and supply does not keep pace, prices will rise.

The most price-sensitive part of the wine market is the lower end of the spectrum. This includes the generic bulk wines, and the concentrates used in most wine kits. It is all but a foregone conclusion that the prices

will have to rise rather substantially. The vineyard acreage that would have been needed to compensate for the potential increases in demand was never planted because of the re-cession. The past year and a half has seen a resumption of new plantings but they are still several years away from bearing any substantial fruit. The vineyards that supply grapes for the lower end of the wine world are also farmed to their limits. Of-ten vines are pushed to produce the maximum volume, even if it means a loss of potential wine character. The point is – the current deficit cannot be fixed by simply pushing the vines

to produce more grapes. What most wine lovers do not real-

ize about their choice beverage is that big bulk wine is a commodity that is traded in global markets. While there isn’t a Bay St. or Wall St. of wine, there are brokers and wholesalers who derive their livelihood from moving vast volumes around the world at the lowest prices possible. As the wine lake dried up this past year, brokers began to scrambling to secure supply in order to satisfy their buyers. The prices have inched up accordingly. There is speculation that the wine lake will stay dry until about 2018. I have heard stories of brokers hold-

ing off on the sale of volumes of high demand varietals like Malbec and Muscat until the price for bulk wine jumps. Big wine corporations make their money from moving bottles en mass. A price increase on their bulk wine often puts the company into a financial loss situation with every bottle they sell.

Because cheap wine market is truly global some of your favourite big name wines are loaded onto freight-ers in their home country, shipped across the ocean, and bottled very close to where you buy it. It’s actually one of the most cost effective ways to move wine. This is one of the most common ways to save money in pro-duction in an effort to keep prices down. Australia, a country that has tried very hard in the last decade to shake its cheap/value wine image ac-tually crossed a milestone in 2012. More wine was exported in freight container than as bottled wine. The reason is two-fold: even with huge improvements in changing consum-er perception of Aussie wine, the vast majority of their wines are compet-ing in the lower end of the spectrum, and with the rising costs from supply shortages, savings had to be found in packaging. Additionally, the Austra-lian dollar is currently trading above parity with the United States dollar and a lot of bulk wine producers only see profit in the favourable ex-change rates of yesteryear (when it was closer to sixty cents on the dol-lar). The price of cheap wines has to rise.

You may never have heard of the company Casella Wines but no doubt you’ve tried their flagship brand – Yellowtail. It has been wide-ly reported that Casella posted loss-es of almost 30 million dollars this past year. Casella produces almost 15 million cases of wine annually in the generic wine category. They are so price sensitive that the increased costs of production and poor ex-change rates have forced them into the red for the foreseeable future. They are reluctant to raise their prices because of a fear they will lose critical market share. This is a scary position to be in but I would ven-ture that Casella is the first of a lot of big producers who, very soon, will have to act and raise their prices to save their enterprises. As long as the wine lake is dry, we are looking at the end of cheap wine.

Ranked in Top 50 Courses in Canada in 2012

Where will you hold your important event this year?

St. Thomas Golf and Country Club 2013

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Jamie Quai is head winemaker at Quai du Vin Estate Winery in Elgin County

byJamieQuai A dry lake and the end of cheap wine


HEALTHY LIFESTYLESseLF dIscovery

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Thomas Palmer is an eighteen-year-old high school student who attends Parkside Collegiate. In May 2011, while attending a school assembly, Thomas, an otherwise healthy and active teen, suddenly felt weak, dizzy and nauseous. He collapsed and was unconscious for approximately 30 seconds.

This event began a series of medi-cal appointments which left Thomas and his mother Debbie frustrated at doctors’ inability to diagnose what was wrong with Thomas. He contin-ued to be plagued with symptoms, with the most consistent being a feel-ing of fuzziness in the forehead area accompanied by numbness of the hands and feet and ongoing panic attacks. After many appointments, there was no clear diagnosis. Several doctors told Thomas that there was nothing wrong with him.

On June 23, 2012, Debbie arose one morning and went downstairs where her little dog seemed to be upset by something. A few minutes later, she heard Thomas calling for her and discovered him on the bath-room floor unable to move his arms or legs. 911 was called and Thomas was taken to the St. Thomas-Elgin General Hospital and subsequently transferred to University Hospital where they discovered one of his four ventricles was filled with blood. It was here that Thomas was diagnosed with Arteriovenous Malformation or AVM, a sometimes fatal condition which involves a tangle of abnormal and poorly formed blood vessels. Essentially it is one little vein that doesn’t lead anywhere located in your brain. While people who have this condition can remain asymptomatic all of their lives, in Thomas’s case, the vessel had broken. After an eight-day stay in the hospital, Thomas was sent home to rest and regain his strength.

On October 31, surgery was sched-uled to embolize the vessel, located

deep within Thomas’s brain. Deb-bie was informed that there was a 20 percent chance once they got into the brain that there might be nothing they could do to correct the condition or that Thomas would be permanently disabled. At one point Thomas told his mom, “If I lose my mind, I want you to know how much I love you.”

Two days after the surgery, Thomas was sent home from the hospital to begin a lengthy recovery. He some-times slept 20 hours per day. He suf-fered from excruciating headaches, but close to Christmas, Debbie final-ly saw the glimmer return to her son’s eyes. On January 2, she felt positive he was back to normal.

I asked Debbie what she would rec-ommend to anyone experiencing a health crisis, and she recommended the following three things:1. Don’t give up. Keep pushing for-ward and question doctors and test results. 2. Don’t lose faith. Pray for guidance and strength.3. Educate yourself. Find other peo-ple who have gone through the same thing you are going through. Deb-bie credits her ability to get through this situation largely to being able to connect on the internet with other people who have survived AVM.

On February 1, the date this article will be released, Thomas Palmer turns 19. He looks forward to a bright fu-ture including a college education.

Just before I submitted this article on January 14, I received a call from Debbie Palmer telling me that she had received the results of Thomas’s final MRI. Based on his experience, the doctor felt that Thomas had made a full recovery. Debbie told me she was going to celebrate by taking a long nap, the first sleep in the past 20 months she planned to enjoy with-out fear.

bySharonLechner

Faith and Courage when FaCing a health CrisisA teenager’s struggle to get well again

Sharon Lechner is a certified master life coach and owner of Reach for the Stars Empowerment in St. Thomas


HOMESTYLEdecorAtInG

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Call Marilyn:519 633 7597 ext 327 Renée Carpenter is the Owner

of Jennings Furniture & Design in St. Thomas

Colour is king in any décor and is usually the first thing someone thinks about when redecorating. Yet pulling togeth-er the right colours can be challenging for most. If you are beginning with a clean slate, the options are limitless. But if there are existing pieces already in the room, you are obligated to work within the boundaries of what you have. This doesn’t have to be boring or even difficult as there are so many colours to coordinate and pull out.

My personal decorating style involves bold versus subtle. Think of paint as a complementary background instead of what knocks you down upon entering a room. I want fabrics and furniture to be the stars and the wall colour to quietly tie it all together. Everyone thinks of walls first when they think of colour. But using colour in furniture and accessories -- rugs, pillows, art – makes an amazing impression without going crazy on the walls.

Consider the big picture to give a home flow. Weave the same colours throughout main spaces, but make the dominate colour in one room an accent in another. You’ll be surprised at how different the rooms will look, yet how easily they flow.

Think of hallways as palate cleansers – the sorbet that’s served before diving in to the next course. Keeping them neu-

tral allows you to branch into any colour in rooms that flow off them.

Failing to think of wood as a colour can ruin an otherwise thought-out scheme. Oaks and rusty oranges can look too similar, and mahogany can make a dark room even darker. Break up a room of matchy-matchy wood furniture with one painted piece. It doesn’t have to be a bold colour. I like to combine natural wood tones with black.

Choosing the right colour combination is an art. The key here is samples, samples, samples! Even the most skilled de-signers often need several tries to find the perfect shade. Al-ways test paint colours before diving in. Paint large sample swatches by the window, next to the trim, in the darkest cor-ner, in the lightest corner. Let the samples dry and give them a second coat so you can accurately assess the colour. Place paint samples at least three feet away from each other when you are testing them on a wall. The farther apart, the better so your eyes don’t blend the colours together. Paint colours will look darker on the walls than they do in the can. When debating colour on colour chips, focus on the less-saturated colours. The muted version – one that looks almost too muted on a chip – usually will work best on your walls. To tell if a colour has a pinkish, grayish, bluish, greenish cast, look at similar colour swatches side by side. It’s all about comparison. Give yourself permission to use lots of samples and even make a mess of your walls until you find the perfect colour!

When putting it together, remember the Rule of Three. When you pick a colour, use it at least three times in a room. When spreading colour around a room, think about propor-tion. If you’re using three colours, try a 70/20/10 distribu-tion: Use the lightest colour for 70% of the room’s décor, the second lightest for 20%, and the boldest for 10%. For two colours, go with 70/30.

Watch for Part 2 next month.

Coloureasymade

Part 1 of 3

byRenéeCarpenter


HEALTHY LIVINGeverydAy heALth

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byDr.GregJohnston B.H.K.,B.Ed.,D.C.

Dr. Greg Johnston is a Chiropractor and partner in Family Health Options Treatment & Resources Centre in St.Thomas

February is “Heart and Stroke” month. There are many important health issues, but it is important to re-member that heart disease and stroke are still the biggest killers in our soci-ety. Especially during this month but also during the rest of the year be sure to remember how important it is to keep your heart and cardiovascular system healthy.

In consideration of this topic, I thought it would be important to in-troduce people to an important heart healthy supplement called Coenzyme Q10. Numerous clinical studies have demonstrated improvements in heart function in patients with congestive heart failure and other heart related issues after supplementation with Co-enzyme Q10.

Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) is also known as Ubiquinone. It is a natu-rally occurring compound found in every cell in the body. It plays a key role in energy production in the mi-tochondria. If you remember back to high school biology class, you may recall that the mitochondria is the cel-lular organelle responsible for energy production. Due to this important role, there has been research that in-dicates that coenzyme Q10 may be helpful in the treatment of many con-ditions including heart failure, car-diomyopathy, heart attack prevention and recovery, high blood pressure, diabetes, gum disease, kidney failure, Parkinson’s disease and in counteract-ing the side effects of certain prescrip-tion drugs.

With regard to heart and cardiovas-cular issues, people with heart failure have been found to have lower levels of CoQ10. Over the past several years, several research studies have found that supplementing with CoQ10 can be very beneficial for patients with heart conditions. The findings in-cluded a reduction in symptoms like shortness of breath, difficulty sleep-ing and swelling. CoQ10 is thought to help increase energy production in the heart thereby increasing the heart’s ability to pump blood.

One of the interesting discoveries to come out of the research on Co-enzyme Q10 involves so called Statin drugs. Statin drugs are a class of drugs

used to lower cholesterol and are also known as HMG-CoA reductase in-hibitors. Some research indicates that these drugs may actually interfere with the body’s production of CoQ10. Since many patients with heart condi-tions will usually be prescribed choles-terol lowering medication, the effect of decreased CoQ10 production from the medication may have negative ef-fects on the heart muscle. It is becom-ing more common for patients being directed to take Statin drugs to also be directed to supplement with Coen-zyme Q10.

Coenzyme Q10 is available in a supplement form so it can be taken like a vitamin. There are also natural sources of CoQ10 that we can obtain in our diet. Cold water fish such as salmon, mackerel and sardines are all good sources of the nutrient. These foods also are good sources of essen-tially fatty acids that are extremely beneficial as well. Lower amounts of CoQ10 can also be obtained in foods such as beef, chicken, peanuts, broc-coli and spinach. Soybean and canola oil also contain CoQ10.

As with any supplement or medica-tion one must always be concerned with the possibility of side effects and interactions. Everyone taking other medications should always discuss this possibility with their medical doctor and/or pharmacist. There are some circumstances where Coenzyme Q10 might decrease the effectiveness of some medications. It also may ac-tually decrease blood pressure so those already on hypertensive medications may have their blood pressure drop too low. There is some indication that CoQ10 might also increase blood clotting which might be of concern in some individuals.

Coenzyme Q10 can be an impor-tant supplement for a variety of health conditions including heart and car-diovascular disease. People with these conditions should be encouraged to investigate the many options that are available that might prove beneficial. As always, people with known con-ditions who are already undergoing treatment should first discuss any nu-trition or supplement changes with their doctor and specialist as well as their pharmacist.

Supplementing for your heartHeart and stroke are still the biggest killers


HEALTHY LIVINGthAt’s LIFe

There is a scene in the classic movie “A Christmas Story” where Ralphie’s little brother Randy, after being bundled by his mom, in sweaters, a snow suit, two hats and a scarf, cries out frantically, “I can’t put my arms down!”

I think of this scene every time I dress my two-year-old son for any winter excursion. There is, after all, a fine line between appropri-ate winter protection for children and sending them out looking like astronauts on their first moon landing.

All in all, winter is a frustrating season for toddlers and their mothers.

Before we can even head outside, I have to convince my youngest son to go to the bath-room – a necessary first step before dressing him in the required layers. In the midst of toi-let training, this is interpreted as an unsched-uled and therefore, unfair demand.

His whimpering, only briefly silenced after the bathroom negotiations, resurfaces when he faces the mound of bulky clothes he knows I am going to wrestle him into. A neck warmer, a hat and then the snow pants which rob him of any sensation in his legs. By now, a complete melt-down is just a moment away; because af-ter the third attempt, his thumb still isn’t in the right hole in his mitten, and, with all the added layers on him and my frustration, we are

both overheating. A quilted jacket and big black boots finally

tip the scales, and his winter attire has now doubled his body weight.

Even at two years old, I can sense his embar-rassment at having his mother lift him down the back steps and outside. I try to convince him to stay in the snowplowed driveway where

it would be easier to walk. But, eager to gain some distance from his mother, he strikes out to the backyard.

He rounds the corner of the house and pauses seemingly surprised by the drifts of snow me-andering across the yard like waves. It’s a long walk. With his arms stuck straight out trying to maintain his balance, and unable to lift his feet more than an inch off the ground, it’s not long before his feet become locked in the snow. He falls, in slow motion, to his knees.

In a logical attempt to push himself up, he plunges his hands down into the snowdrift ex-pecting to find the resistance of hard ground. Instead he loses his arms in the white stuff, and I know by the startled cry his nose has touched the drift’s icy surface.

Now, unable to push himself up with his arms he does the next best thing and rolls over to his back. He looks like a kid making a snow angel. Except his arms and legs aren’t moving and this angel is sobbing, “Mom. Mommm. Help.”

Yes, winter is a season better enjoyed when your knees are higher than most snow drifts, your body weight is greater than the gear need-ed to protect you from the elements, and you don’t need your mother to carry you across the backyard.

Elizabeth VanHooren is General Manager of Kettle Creek Conservation Authority

Moon landings and winter outing

byElizabethVanHooren


HEALTHY LIVINGeverydAy heALth

JOE PRESTON, M.P.ELGIN-MIDDLESEX-LONDON

• Passports • Revenue Canada • Seniors’ Issues •• Citizenship & Immigration •

• Employment Insurance •24 First Ave., Unit 2, St. Thomas, ON N5R 4M5

519-637-2255 • 1-866-404-0406www.joeprestonmp.ca

Jessica Lang is a Health Promoter for Elgin St. Thomas Public Health, coordinating the Smoke Free Ontario Strategy.

byJessicaLang

Effects of second-hand and third-hand smokeProtect your entire family

The New Year is often a time when people start thinking about changing their lifestyle habits, one of those being quitting smoking. Smoker or non-smoker, by now you have likely heard about the harmful consequences of exposure to second-hand smoke and the 4,000+ toxins that exist within that smoke. Second-hand smoke can cause the following symptoms:

• Irritation of the eyes, nose, and throat• Feeling dizzy• Headache• Nausea (feeling like you might throw up)• Trouble with mental focus• Increased heart rate • An irregular heart beat

Long-term exposure can lead to more serious health effects such as heart disease and COPD and even death. Children and adults can both be affected by second-hand smoke; however chil-dren are more vulnerable to the effects because they are still growing and they take in more air for their body weight.

The effects of second-hand smoke exposure are likely not new information to you, but have you heard about third-hand smoke? Third- hand smoke is the off-gassing and residue left by second-hand smoke and can last up to weeks or even months after active smok-ing ceases. It can penetrate or embed into upholstery, carpet, walls, clothing, hair, skin, toys and even dust. Babies and young children who crawl on the ground

and put objects such as toys into their mouths can actually ingest third-hand smoke. For these reasons, it is important for parents to strongly consider making their homes and vehicles smoke-free. Doing so will protect the whole family from exposure to both sec-ond-hand and third-hand smoke.

With Family Day ap-proaching on Monday February 18, why not do something meaningful that will help protect the health of your family? Make your home and vehicle 100% smoke-free. Discuss the im-portance of this with your family and friends. Ask visi-tors to take the smoke out-side. It may prevent your child from starting to smoke or having future health problems related to second or third-hand smoke.

If you are a smoker who is interested in quitting, there are resources available to help you quit. Contact Elgin St. Thomas Public Health at 519-631-9900 or email [email protected] to book an ap-pointment for one-to-one counselling. Subsidized nic-otine replacement therapy is available. The Smokers’ Helpline is another resource available free of charge from the comfort of your home. Just call 1-877-513-5333 or connect online at www.smokershelpline.ca. Quit Specialists are ready to assist you!


LIFESTYLEStIme on my hAnds

Duncan Watterworth is recently a retiree and empty-nester in St. Thomas

About 30 years ago I bought – for laughs – a picture book on yoga. It was full of photos of a skinny, old, Indian contortionist demonstrating poses. His long hair and beard reminded me of the Sadhus – Hindu holy men – I have seen on the banks of the Ganges River in India. In the back of the book were some startling photos – cleans-

ing activities like swallowing a fifteen foot strip of cloth and pulling it back up, or running a string into a nostril and out the mouth.

I never imagined that one day I would be trying to mimic that Indian (the poses, not the cleansing), and envying his abilities. But now I have joined the yoga craze, doing the warrior poses, the downward dog, and all sorts of delicious limb-twisters.

The roots of yoga go back 5,000 years in India. The initial goals were mostly spiritual: maximizing the flow of prana – the universal life force – within the body, or even achieving the bliss of Samadhi. But modern Western yoga leans heavily toward Hatha yoga, which focuses on the physical practice – flexibil-ity, balance and muscle tone – perhaps more than the spiritual side.

Anything 5,000 years old, and Hindu, is bound to have had a few reincar-nations. Recently, yoga has received the full free-enterprise makeover, with franchises, celebrities, designer fashions, and over-priced water bottles. Most of the gurus today are marketing gurus. In addition to the physical and spiri-tual benefits, yoga is touted for stress relief, medical cures, removal of those nefarious toxins, and pretty much everything else.

But none of that is yoga’s fault. I need regular stretching to maintain joint flexibility as I get older, and also

balancing exercises. As I mentioned in a previous column, flexibility is the third leg of the fitness stool, together with cardio exercise (like running), and weight training to keep muscles, bones and joints strong.

I thought yoga could fit the bill. So when my wife and our neighbour, Con-nie, signed up for a “core yoga” series of classes at the Enjoy the Journey Yoga Studio in town, I tagged along.

The studio is sparsely adorned with two Buddhas, some unlit candles, an amethyst crystal, and a small statue of – if I am correct – the Hindu god Shiva the Cosmic Dancer. “Love and Light,” says a wall plaque.

Brenda welcomes us with a warm Namaste – a greeting honouring the di-vinity within each of us. We are then guided through a series of poses, arms and legs going in all directions. They range from easy, to strenuous, to tippy. We stretch in ways I had never imagined. Brenda somehow seems to know just when to remind us to “smile”, and “breathe.” And since it is a yoga + core class, we do abdominal exercises.

When the work is done, we clear our minds by lying in the dark on our backs, bathed in soft music. The class ends with a communal chant of Om-mmm, to connect with the primordial sound of the universe, and there are smiles all around.

Now, I’m a fan of yoga. I’m getting the stretching and balance I need, it’s fun, and it feels good. And if I achieve the bliss of a Sadhu – bonus!

And Aylmer offers much more than theatre

Because of its location in East Elgin, the Town of Aylmer experiences sunrise a bit ear-lier than St. Thomas, and I think it’s that early start that gives the residents of Aylmer a bit of a head start on the rest of the county. With a population of a bit more than seven thousand, Aylmer is a hive of activity on all levels, with many heritage buildings, a good museum and the East Elgin Com-munity Complex, which is home to all levels of hockey and other gatherings.

As a theatre critic, I was drawn to the happenings in the Old Town Hall, a magic building that was erected in 1874 and began its vital connections to the community with an appearance from our first Prime Minister, Sir John A. MacDonald and the famous poet/per-former Pauline Johnson. There has always been something happening there, even after the city administration left the building for new quar-ters on Talbot Street. Now, a good library is on the ground floor and the upper level is given over to a lively selection of concerts chosen by Aylmer Performing Arts Council, and by three or four annual plays presented by the lively Ay-

lmer Community Theatre.I have ascended into the theatre on a few

occasions and have been delighted to see that performers from several other amateur compa-nies have come to Aylmer to share their tal-ents. Players from Ingersoll, St. Thomas and even London have taken the short trip for a series of rehearsals and performances. Veteran Aylmer actor/director Barbara Warnock has been joined on several occasions by long-time thespian Ron Sawyer and the wildly comic An-drew Gibbes. Theatre has been such a success that they produced a Mystery Dinner Theatre

experience and moved it to the Le-gion Hall for the sit-down dinner and show. This cross-pollination infuses the kind of energy that has brought this group to the Western Ontario Drama League in compe-tition with other groups.

The performing arts are not the only special thing about Aylmer. Several art galleries are within a short distance, and a number of potters deliver merchandise of high quality. The town has one of the best bakeries in Ontario, and residents have dedicated such energy to their gardening that Aylmer has won top honours from Communities in Bloom. Its service clubs are highly committed to the town and its needs. With its variety of shops, and its flourishing Mennonite population, Aylmer remains one of Canada’s most pleasant places.

Yoga – the third leg of fitnessCan we also find bliss in the long stretch?

Old Town Hall is a magic building

...a hive of activity on all

levels...

byRicWellwood

byDuncanWatterworth


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Wednesday, February 6, 2013 is...

Make the world a little better ...one kind act at a time

Ways that you can get involved!• Send an e-card to your employees letting them know how much you appreciate them.• Share your “to die for” chocolate chip cookies with co-workers.• Offer to make the morning coffee run for everyone.• Make a point of thanking a co-worker for their help on a recent project.• Gather up your gently used clothes, toys, furniture, and books and donate them to the appropriate organization.• Carry groceries to the car and return the cart for a parent with a child, or a senior, etc.• Say something nice to everyone you meet.

We live in a truly amazing community where so much kindness happens every day. Let’s take a moment to recognize when someone does something nice for us. In return, do something nice for them, not just

for one day, but every day of the year.- Co-chair Al Hughson

Randy Gordon

Brought to you by:

Random Acts of Kindness cards will be available at Tim Hortons in

St. Thomas, or cut out this Weekly News/ myFM “Pay It Forward” Card,

do a good deed and give it to the recipient on February 6

Share your story on The Weekly News Facebook Wall: or email it to [email protected] or [email protected]

february, 2013 issue

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