Upper Canada this week: Feb. 8, 2012

Upper Canada Chapter this week
Add the Upper Canada Chapter page and the LO events calendar to your bookmarks

Inaugural squash tournament, Feb. 15

Join the Upper Canada Chapter on Feb. 15 at The Harbour Club
Fitness Centre, 25 Dundas St W., Belleville, starting at 1 p.m. for its
inaugural squash tournament. Don’t miss this opportunity to get active and spend some time with fellow Landscape Ontario members.To rsvp your participation, or to find out more contact, Dan Clost at dan.clost@sympatico.ca.

Seminar preps you for Landscape Industry Certified Manager exams

Improve your profitability, professionalism, productivity and people by
becoming a Landscape Industry Certified Manager. Direct Landscape
Supply, 935 Bloor St. E., Oshawa, hosts two seminars on Feb. 16 that
will prepare you to write two modules of the LIC Manager exam. The first
session covers risk management,
contract law and business structures and the second part
of the day looks at pricing strategies, market research, promotion,
competitive bidding, contract negotiation, as well as customer service
and effective communication. Visit www.clp.canadanursery.com, or call 1-888-446-3499 for more details
regarding cost and exam registration.

Corporate Financial Management, Feb. 17 

Monitoring and guiding financial performance is key to the success of
any business, regardless of its size. Completing this seminar 
will guide
you towards a clearer basic understanding of how to utilize and
understand financial statements for smarter fiscal management, and will
alleviate some of the frustrations that can accompany managing
financials. This seminar will be held at Direct Landscape Supply, 935 Bloor St. E., Oshawa,
from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m., and prepares you to write the financial module to become a Landscape Industry Certified Manager. Visit
www.clp.canadanursery.com, or call 1-888-446-3499 for more details
regarding cost and exam registration.

Upper Canada education survey

Landscape Ontario’s Upper Canada Chapter, in conjunction with Workplace
Safety and Prevention Services, will conduct an all-day workshop to
cover annual training and certification requirements for companies
involved in landscaping. The event will be held at Nature’s Way
Landscaping in Gananoque on Apr. 13 and 14, in order for companies to
get a handle on their new hires. Some firms are equipped with in-house
trainers, but many are not. Could you please take a moment to fill out
the survey, so we can tailor the workshop to best fit our industry’s
needs? Landscaping survey.

Are you Landscape Industry Certified?

Certification dates for the 2012 Ottawa/Upper Canada Chapters have
just been announced. Candidates will have the opportunity to take the
written test on Sept.
27 at Kemptville College with practical testing the following day. For more information or
questions about Landscape Industry Certifications, visit Certified, or contact
certification@landscapeontario.com.

Upper Canada chapter meeting, Mar. 7
Join the Upper Canada chapter in welcoming Karl Stensson of Sheridan Nurseries, as he discusses
garden centre operations, and general business marketing. The meeting
will start at 1:00 p.m.at the Strathcona Paper Centre, 16 McPherson
Drive, Napanee. Contact Dan Clost, dan.clost@sympatico.ca, for more information or to rsvp for this event.

Check out Upper Canada Chapter’s Facebook page

Seminars that take place in Upper Canada

LO this week

Landscape Ontario magazine online

The February issue of Landscape Ontario magazine is
now published online. This month, your association magazine covers Congress 2012, including the awards show, trade show, conferences, and more. There are also articles on Canada Blooms, the Ottawa Chapter AGM, urban-tolerant trees, as well as all the regular
monthly columns. Remember, your staff members are invited to sign up for a free subscription here!

In memoriam: John Bakker Sr.
It is with great sorrow that J.C. Bakker and Sons Nursery informs friends and associates in the nursery and landscape industry of the passing away of Mr. John Bakker Sr. on Tues., Feb. 7. Bakker was a second-generation owner who loved the nursery industry. This has been passed on to his two sons (John III and Ken), who still work at the nursery today. Funeral visitation will be held at Trinity Christian Reformed Church, 1230 Old Martindale Road, St. Catharines, on Fri., Feb.
10, from 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. and 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. Funeral service will be on Sat., Feb. 11 at 11:00 a.m. at the same location.

Horticulture pre-apprenticeship student job fair, Mar. 1
Landscape Ontario, in partnership with Humber College and MicroSkills,
presents a job fair featuring over 20 pre-apprenticeship horticulture
technician students. The Mar. 1 event will take place from 4 to 7 p.m.
at Landscape Ontario home office, Hemlock Room, 7856 Fifth Line in
Milton. There is room for only 25 employers at each job fair event, so
register now 
to ensure a place at the fair. For more information on the events, go
to job fair.

HR Toolkit for green industry companies now online
Landscape Ontario is offering a new human resources tool for green industry employers, available free at HRtoolkit.
The online resource includes over 100 pages of information, including a
policy and procedures manual, along with recruitment and retention
tools, to help employers hire staff effectively and keep them engaged.
The HR tool kit can be downloaded in its entirety or in sections, for
customization based on your needs.

Lighting Conference early bird pricing ends tomorrow
The Feb. 16 landscape lighting conference features keynote speaker Doug Alderman from Palm Harbour, Fla., in an interactive session ‘better illumination for outdoor living.’ See what’s new and meet with lighting suppliers and learn about the latest techniques and technologies. The conference has moved to Pipers Heath Golf Club on Trafalgar Rd., in Milton. $90 per member until Feb. 9, when pricing goes up to $110.  For more information or to register, visit Lighting Conference.

Building Your Prosperity, Feb. 16
Get started on to the road of success. This program is intended to help
green industry members clarify what they excel at and what components of
their business needs attention and improvement. The seminar will take
place at the LO home office in Milton, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The cost
to LO members is $115, and non-members is $192. Check out the online
survey to
measure your strengths and weaknesses in the five Prosperity Pillars. To
find more information, or to register go to Building Your Prosperity.

Contractors lecture series returns to TBG, Feb. 22

The annual Landscape Contractor Lecture series, presented by Landscape
Ontario, returns to the Toronto Botanical Garden. Featured speakers are Haig
Seferian and Terry McGlade.
Registration begins at 6 p.m. McGlade will present a retrospective of
memorable projects, while Seferian will present projects from a
landscape architect’s point of view. There is no cost to register for
this event, but an rsvp to Kathleen Pugliese is appreciated,
1-800-265-5656, ext. 209, kpugliese@landscapeontario.com.


Special-price Canada Blooms tickets: Great gift for staff and clients

LO members may purchase special bar-coded Canada Blooms tickets for $12 each; the regular ticket price is $20. Blooms tickets are a thoughtful gift for clients, staff, business associates
and family. The tickets come in packages of 20, and LO members will be
invoiced after the show, only for the tickets that were presented at  the event. Ticket packages are available by downloading an order form, or from Kathleen
Pugliese at 1-800-265-5656, ext. 309, or kpugliese@landscapeontario.com.

Landscape Industry Certified dates announced
Are you Landscape Industry Certified? The 2012 Ontario Certification dates are now available by visiting Landscape Industry Certified.

Winter seminar series

Compact Excavator Safe Operator Training, Feb. 15 This seminar covers the fundamentals of daily maintenance, machine
controls, safe operating practices, operating techniques and legal
considerations for compact excavators found on many job-sites. In
addition to class time, participants will have the opportunity to
operate and demonstrate proficiency on a compact excavator in a
simulated job-site environment. Please note: It is the responsibility of
the operator, even after completing the seminar, to review the specific
device he/she will operate, providing that it is the first time
he/she has operated that specific make or model of excavator. This
review may come in the form of reviewing documentation provided with the
excavator, and/or instruction from a competent person. LUNCH NOT
INCLUDED. For other professional development opportunities, go to seminars for more details.

Enforcement blitz and seminars on MSDs
According to the Ministry of Labour (MOL), musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs)
are still the number-one cause of lost-time injuries in Ontario. To help
end the problem, MOL is conducting an enforcement blitz on MSDs in
February. The Infrastructure Health and Safety Association is hosting
five half-day seminars across the province to help people take practical
steps to reduce MSDs in their workplaces and prepare for the upcoming
MOL blitz. To learn more about the seminars, or to register for one in
your area, go to MSD.

Stormwater management and erosion control focus of new conference
Toronto and Region Conservation Authority and the Great Lakes Chapter of
the International Erosion Control Association Conference are co-hosting
the first annual TRIECA Conference on Mar. 27 and 28, at the
International Centre in Mississauga. Organizers anticipate it will be a
great event for networking and educating industry professionals. Any LO members interested in
participating as a sponsor or an exhibitor at the conference can find
more information, or register at TRIECA, or
contact Patricia Lewis, project manager, at 289-268-3903.

Permacon Innovation Tour 2012

Permacon has announced the dates for its Innovation Tour 2012 seminars:
Feb. 28 at the Hamilton Convention Centre, 1 Summer’s Lane, Hamilton,
and Mar. 1 at Le Parc, 8432 Leslie Street, Thornhill. The events include
educational seminars on Landscaping Challenges by Rob Vogel, and Social
Media by Frank Ferragine. The seminars are free of charge and also
include product workshops, lunch, gifts, a mini-trade show and even a
chance at a door prize. For more info go to Innovation Tour 2012.

Garden Centre training, Feb. 18-19

The Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington is offering a mixture of
hands-on practical and classroom theory-based knowledge to give novice
employees the training to provide excellent customer service, while
properly caring for living merchandise. The goal is to increase the
level of knowledge and customer service in your retail garden centre to
maximize your sales and profits. The two-day program, each day from 9:30
a.m. to 4 p.m., is designed for garden centre and nursery employees.
Experienced professional horticulturalists Jim Lounsbery and Rodger
Tschanz instruct the program, covering topics such as plant basics,
nomenclature, annuals and perennials, soils, insects and diseases,
pruning and much more. For more info, or to register, go to Garden
Centre training.

Airblast 101 Workshop Series

Starting Feb. 27, four airblast workshops conducted by Jason Deveau of
OMAFRA will begin at the first of four Ontario locations. Growers are
invited to take part in one of the interactive
classroom workshops that will include hands-on demonstrations and
dialogue with an experienced airblast technician who will provide tips
on airblast sprayer calibration, maintenance and how to adjust your
sprayer to match your specific crops. Space is limited. To register call
Nancy at 416-622-9771. The $20 workshop fee is paid at door. To see
which
workshop is closest to you, go to airblast workshops.

OPA 56th forum available on video
Ontario Parks Association’s 56th Annual Parks Educational Forum was held
on Jan. 9, at Doubletree by Hilton Hotel, during Congress 2012, was a
great success. Some of the day was captured on video.

MOL releases blitz data
The Ministry of Labour has released data on its blitz that took place
from Aug. 1 to 31, 2011 of hazards involving all types of access
equipment at Ontario construction sites. Ministry of Labour inspectors
checked on compliance with the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA)
and its regulations. The blitz focused on the appropriate selection of
access equipment and its safe and proper use.

Green Infrastructure Ontario Coalition looking for members

The Green Infrastructure Ontario Coalition is looking to increase its
membership numbers. The Coalition, of which Landscape Ontario is a
member of the steering committee, is completing a report on the
opportunities and challenges facing green infrastructure in Ontario. The
coalition presently has close to 60 members, all acknowledged on the
website. Becoming a member is extremely easy and requires nothing other
than the support of the Coalition’s vision. Members will receive an
advanced peek at the report, set for public release in March. Click on
Green Infrastructure Ontario Coalition link to become a member, and see other LO members already in the group.

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Minutes of LO meetings