Chair, Ingrid; Music, Jerome; Grace, Sherry;

attendance 24 including Veron Samaroo, guest of Bert and John Headspeath, guest of the club

 

Proposed Members Second Notice:  Kirsten Poon & Victor Rudkowski have been proposed to join our Rotary Club

 

Honourary Member Grace Young:  Al Holmes advised that Grace is now residing at Glenrose Hospital and would appreciate receiving visits from Rotarians

 

Habitat for Humanity Project:  Duart circulated a sign up sheet.  Projects can be scheduled for either a weekday or Saturday.  15 volunteers are needed for the weekday and 10 for Saturdays.  All equipment is supplied by Habitat for Humanity.  Ingrid or Duart will advise which day has been assigned to Rotary Club of Edmonton West.

 

No Meeting September 1:  Edmonton Petroleum Club is closed for Labour Day.

 

Signage for Rotary at Edmonton Petroleum Club:  Ingrid displayed a very nice plaque to be installed at the foot of the stairs at the Edmonton Petroleum Club as notice to visitors that Rotary Club of Edmonton West meets there Mondays at 12:15 noon.

 

Finemaster:  Mike raised $2 from everyone as no one had attended his garage sale.  Steve, Duane & Ingrid contributed happy bucks.

 

 

50/50:  Al Holmes & Ben did not match cards; about $120 carried over

 

Special Presentation:  John Headspeath has been the main waiter serving our club's lunches, for 23 years, ever since the Rotary Club of Edmonton West moved to the Edmonton Petroleum Club (from Saxony Hotel) in 1991 (Bob Losie was president of Rotary Club of Edmonton West).  The first part of the presentation was made by Brian which was an invitation to John to join our club for lunch any time he wants.  The second part of the presentation was presented jointly by Darrel Ripley, Brad and Ingrid to induct John as an honourary Rotarian in Rotary Club of Edmonton West.  Congratulations John!!!

 

Casino:  Bill  advised that Rotary Club of Edmonton West has a casino scheduled for January 7/8, 2015.  Every Rotarian will be needed to staff it.  Each Rotarian is asked to invite family members and friends to work the casino as well.  This is a Wednesday/Thursday instead of the Sunday/Monday we have had for the last several casinos.  Hopefully it will be a busy, productive fund raiser.

 

60th Anniversary Celebration for Rotary Club of Edmonton West:  Ingrid advised that the directors have decided to celebrate with a series of mini celebrations throughout the Rotary Year.  2 of the celebrations will occur when the Rotary District 5370 Governor visits our club on November 24 and at the Christmas Party on December 19 at the University of Alberta Faculty Club.  The charter date for Rotary Club of Edmonton West is February 23 which happens to be a Monday in 2015.  Expect another celebration then.

 

Best of Edmonton West:  Ingrid invites any Rotarian to provide her with details of their memory of the best that they experienced with our club.

 

Guest Speaker/Main Event:  Rob Dunsieth introduced Thomas Lukaszuk, one of the contenders for the leadership of the Alberta Progressive Conservative Party.  Thomas is the MLA for Edmonton Castledowns  (since 2001) and has occupied several ministerial positions as well as deputy premier.  Born in Poland, Thomas was raised in northeast Edmonton, has a university degree and has business experience and volunteer experience (local & international).   Election of the PC leader occurs September 6, 2014.

 

Thomas' platform includes economic development (grow our economy) and social development (develop opportunities for improved quality of life). 

 

The economic direction of Alberta was initiated 43 years ago when then Premier Lougheed and business leaders embraced petroleum production and the development of the tar sands.  Thomas points out that our economy also has significant contributions from agriculture and forestry.  Agricultural products from last year's bumper crop have not yet been sold and shipped due to access to market problems.  Another bumper crop is expected this year.  To grow an economy for tomorrow, we have to diversify and get away from a resource based economy.  Now, resources are sold as raw materials for manufacturing/processing outside the province.  Especially for agricultural products, we have to introduce local manufacturing and bring the related profit to our province.  Forecasts show that Canada will be one of only five countries in the world, in 20 years, to have agricultural surpluses (we will be feeding the world) and we have to be ready to provide the manufacturing to get the products to market.

 

Right now international interest in Alberta is being shown by many industries including pharmaceutical and medical treatment supply companies.  They have interest in being centered in Alberta because of our diverse population (good for surveys and product trials), because of our excellent research based universities plus, the fact of a single pay medical system, the ease of obtaining medical costs for research.

 

In quality of life we need to create infrastructure to attract & retain the type of population that has the proper skill sets to generate support for the economy.  These people look for art galleries, museums, symphony orchestras, day care facilities, senior care facilities in addition to earning a market wage.  The province needs to support the arts, education, entertainment, long term care infrastructures that have been ignored in the rush to balance the governmental budget.  No proper infrastructure, attraction of the right people is impeded.  Seniors occupying hospital beds in smaller Alberta communities forcing medical treatment being sent to Edmonton facilities is already causing problems for the retention of target personnel.

 

"Build a province that we are proud" of will attract the right people.  Otherwise, we maintain the status quo with a reduced quality of life.

 

To pay for this, financing and development projects have to be committed to for at least 10 years.  The province can borrow at a good low interest rate and using this low cost funding, give contractors a long term commitment with funding incentives which will enable smaller, local firms to be involved in major projects (like construction of multi-use building which include schools and community centres). 

 

Thomas was thanked by Duane.