The following is a report on the Provincial Board Meeting held June 21 in Milton.
President’s Report
Bob Tubby welcomed board members and introduced Mark Bradley, the new Snow and Ice Commodity Group representative and Liz Klose from the Niagara Parks Commission School of Horticulture. Liz will be a non-voting member of the board representing the Ontario Horticulture Education Council (OHEC).
Presentation
Wayne Clancy of the Mind Suite outlined his company’s services — the company helps business owners communicate with customers and validate the service and value they provide. The Contractors Commodity group contacted Mind Suite looking for ways to get feedback from property managers on why they did or didn’t get a project. The program would provide cost-effective access to a service that will help benchmark best practices and develop new business. The board will be kept up-to-date on the project’s progress.
Finance Committee
The Lawn Care Commodity Group was given $50,000 to support its government relations and communication plan. Monies were set aside in the event that legal defense is required with regard to union issues in the industry. FireFly (a division of Ag Energy) was endorsed as a supplier of natural gas and energy.
CNLA Representative
Bill Stensson reported that CNLA has assumed responsibility for administration of the International Garden Centre Association (IGCA). The IGCA tour will be held in Vancouver in 2008. Victor Santacruz will replace Chris Andrews as executive director in August. The CNLA annual meeting is August 16-19 in Collingwood. The focus of the meeting will be human resources issues and how to attract more qualified people to the industry.
Canada Blooms
Gerald Boot reported that the Feature Garden Committee of Canada Blooms will now be part of the LO Contractors Commodity group. There will be a better link between designers, contractors and growers.
LO archives
Lee Ann Knudsen advised members of the industry pioneers project. LO would like to interview industry pioneers and capture their experiences. Members are invited to suggest potential pioneers by contacting LO. Members are also invited to donate material to LO’s archives for preservation. $5,000 was set aside to hire someone to interview industry pioneers to create an archive of information that will be available to all members. A Heritage Committee will be formed.
Ministry of Labour update
LO is in discussion with the Ministry of Labour regarding employees in retaining wall and irrigation sectors not considered “landscape gardeners.” A subcommittee was formed to review the definition of landscape gardening with respect to labour legislation. Members are advised to review all job descriptions and include landscape gardening in wording.
Chapter updates
Georgian Lakelands: Members attended four career days at local high schools. The MTO seminar at the trade show was a success.
London: Wendy Harry has been hired as part-time administrative assistant for the London and Windsor chapters and is working on plans to replace the cancelled Perennial Symposium with gardening seminars for the public and industry. London has passed an anti-cosmetic pesticide bylaw.
Ottawa: Golf tournament is scheduled for August 24. Working on plans for the renovation of Ronald McDonald House landscape in September. Will be using the Ronald McDonald House project as an opportunity to provide hands-on training for students at Algonquin College.
Toronto: The golf tournament is scheduled for July 14. All proceeds will go to TBG. Plans are in the works for a public seminar in November — Janet Rosenberg will be the speaker. The chapter is holding a BBQ for its past presidents at Oriole Landscaping.
Golden Horseshoe: The annual Chicken Roast will be held September 15 in conjunction with the Growers Auction and Connon Nurseries’ 100th anniversary celebration.
Commodity Group Updates
Designers: CLD seminars in Alberta and the Atlantic provinces were well attended. The group is working with the Interiorscape group to design a garden at IIDEX show.
Garden Centres: Garden centre symposium will be held the day before Garden Expo. Articles for newsletters are being sent out by the LO Publishing department to help retailers market to the public.
Grounds Maintenance: The group will hold a symposium March 26-27, 2007.
Growers: The growers summer tour, July 11-12, will have 55 participants.
Interiorscape: The group will participate in the IIDEX show September 28-29. The CHT manual is in development and will be published this fall. Interiorscape annual conference and tradeshow is October 27 at the TBG.
Landscape Contractors: The group participated in planting at TBG.
Snow and Ice: The group is developing a risk management policy with Sinclair Cockburn and is working with SIMA to share resources. SIMA is hosting a seminar at LO on September 11, followed by LO’s Snow Symposium on September 12.
Lawn Care: Pesticide issue is ongoing across the province.
Building Management Committee
Negotiations are ongoing for the sale of the pond. Work on the front gate is nearly complete.
Program
PLANET’s new CHT promotional DVD was distributed. Beverly Benjamin noted the 10-minute presentation is an excellent promotional video for customers and lets employees know what to expect at the CHT test. Members can contact the LO office to receive their free copy. Liz Klose advised the board of the new CHT test site at the Niagara Parks Commission School of Horticulture. This is a permanent location — the school has made a commitment to the program. To support the program, the school has made in-kind contributions, financial assistance has been received from the Ontario Horticultural Trades Foundation and Gateman Milloy will provide $10,000 every year. The NPC School of Horticulture will be the first Canadian school accredited by PLANET for the CHT test.
Roundtable
Judges are needed for the CHT tests. Looking for company owners and/or staff.
LO is helping to organize a trade mission to China in September. So far, six companies are participating.
LO supported a 10-city Healthy Lawns public education tour with speakers Denis Flanagan and Charlie Dobbin.
Glen Lumis is retiring from the University of Guelph — he has provided a great service to the horticulture industry and LO.
