THE PROBUS CLUB OF OAKVILLE

Established in 1988, The Fifth Probus Club in Canada

December 2016

The President’s Message

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www.oakvilleprobus.com

As this year draws to a close, we look back to an exciting and rewarding year for our club. Let me mention just a few points:

We extend a big welcome to new members, Keith Bird and Sammy Moussa, as well as a returning member, Russell Kemp.

At the General Meeting, on behalf of all members, thanks were extended to Harold Erlendson, the club Auditor for the

past 10 years, who has now relinquished this position. Our new Auditor who will be appointed and confirmed at the

January meeting, is Alex Murphy.

Robin Davison and myself accepted an invitation to attend the 20th

anniversary celebration of the “Old Oakville” Probus

Club in early November. It was an excellent event which was very well planned and executed. This can serve as a

reminder to us that our club will celebrate our 30 year anniversary in just over a year from now. Planning for this event

should begin soon.

Thanks to our Activities Chairman and his Committee for organizing outings each month, including:

The Big Band Show on Oct.30th,

an excellent show enjoyed by all who attended.

The Nov. 11th

trip to Woodbine Races with the chance of ‘hitting it big’, (see Gunther).

Christmas Luncheon on Dec. 8th

at the Atrium in Burlington, a delightful afternoon with delicious food,

door prizes and a 50-50 draw.

Report from District 3 Probus

On November 18, Robin Davison, Richard Bowie and I attended a District 3 meeting which was planned to help all the

clubs share information about their activities and ideas. The goal of the meeting was that participants leave with some

new ideas for their own clubs with the overall focus on club membership and growth. District 3 area goes from

Burlington in the west to Port Perry in the east. Over 100 Probus members attended this meeting.

On behalf of your Management Committee, pictured below:

we extend to you our best wishes for a very merry Christmas and a Healthy and Happy New year.

Front Row: Stewart Bryan, Robin Davison, Wayne Gallant, Gunther Lutz, Richard Bowie. Back Row: Paul Nelson, Jack Talbot, Russell Mewse, Helmut Erxleben, Mike Purcell. Insert: Ross Prince.

by Stewart Bryan

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Profiler: Russ Buckland was introduced as the Profiler of the day. Born in Ottawa, Russ attended high school there and Carleton University. He was

active in sport, particularly football and basketball, attended Carleton Law School, became interested in labour relations, joined Ontario Hydro and

became Director of Labour Relations. He later worked with Bechtel in Labrador where he was involved in the building of a secure labour relationship.

Subsequently he became employed by Falconbridge in Sudbury “fixing the labour problem” over a period of several years. Later he moved to Toronto as

Assistant Vice President Marketing facing challenges in the re-structuring of the nickel business and then, in years following, worked with the Irving

Group in New Brunswick at the time of its start-up as a shipbuilding organization. Following that he set-up his own consulting business involved in

Executive Search and is now in semi-retirement. Richard Bowie

Speaker: Jack Talbot introduced the speaker of the day, Sunita Pereira, Hearing Counsellor with the Canadian Hearing Society, which provides

services related to hearing in Halton, Peel and Dufferin Counties with head office in Toronto and which has operated as a Canadian not-for-profit

organization since 1940. Ms. Pereira began her presentation stating that CHS’ seniors program is provided to people over 55 without charge. Her talk

dealt with signs of hearing loss such as: people seeming to mumble or speak softly, asking for repeats, missing conversation when others’ backs are

turned, buzzing, ringing, tinnitus, using a “favourite ear” and avoiding social contacts. Following that she dealt with the effects of hearing loss such as:

feeling alone, left out, isolated, having one’s intelligence attacked, being not engaged, anxiety, bluffing, stress and anger. She indicated that that the

counselling services provided by CHS are supported by The Ministry of Health and United Way and include audiology, a store, home services, teaching

good communication technique and loan of equipment. To conclude, Ms. Pereira spoke of her views on communication, communication strategies, types of

hearing aids and parts, preparing for testing, costs for testing and hearing aids, approach to suppliers and dealing with them and advised of the funding

available from the government ($500 for 1 and $1000 for 2 hearing aids) as well as the possibility of insurance coverage. Richard Bowie

Our October Meeting

Our November Meeting

Profiler:. Jack Julien was the day’s profiler. Jack hails from Kingston, Ontario and has had two distinct careers over a period of 40 years, one in the

automotive industry and the other in the International Division of a crown corporation. His love of cars took him into weekend and summer jobs during

high school and college and early employment, learning dealership operations and going from grease monkey to top sales. He joined Chrysler Corporation

where he moved 7 times in 18 years, first as a District manager dealing largely with troubled districts. He found success with the dealers, having

credibility with them through his everyday experience. After promotion to heading the Canadian advertising program, including the “Women on Wheels”

(WOW) program and developing a dealer co-op program, an approach by Detroit led to him subsequently becoming part of a team dealing with the birth

of a new vehicle to compete with the Grand Prix and the Monte Carlo. Following that he was appointed International Manager of Japanese imports for

North America competing with Toyota and Nissan with regard to fuel-efficient small vehicles. After Lee Iacocca’s arrival at Chrysler he returned to

Mississauga and, having seen writing on the wall and distributing resumés, he joined The Royal Canadian Mint as Executive VP to expand international

operations and produce foreign coins. With a vision of becoming the top mint in the world in 10 years he was involved in building a people infrastructure

and travelled for 70 % of his time, building a division of 95 people with 5 strategic offices, receiving coinage orders from various countries and achieving

an average of $650 million in revenues over 10 years. John Beales

Speaker: Cor Keeren introduced our speaker, Terry Fallis, Canadian award winning novelist. As a writer, Terry specializes in writing humorous fiction

novels. His presentation focused on how his career evolved. He explained that becoming a writer was somewhat of a departure from his university

education as an engineering graduate from McMaster. He compounded this unusual career choice by deciding not to be an engineer but pursue a career

as a communication consultant in the area of political strategy. However, as time passed he became more and more interested in writing a satirical

Canadian political novel. After years of thinking about it he plunged in and by 2005 he was underway. By 2006 he set about marketing the book to the

waiting market. As he humorously He regaled us with humorous anecdotes about trying to get an unknown self-published book noticed. Those attempts

included, among other things, reading the novel on a weekly podcast which brought him very encouraging feedback from all over the world. This positive

feedback led him, almost by chance, to enter the novel in the annual Stephen Leacock Award for Humor. To his surprise he won. This launched his

career leading to a contract with McLelland and Stewart Publishing and a real editor, Douglas Gibson.

He has now written 6 books and won further awards from the Stephen Leacock group as well as Canada Reads. The first book, Best Laid Plans, was

made into a 6 episode mini-series on CBC and also into a musical. For all his literary success, he still is a 4 day a week consultant as the economics of

being an author continue to be challenging. During the Q&A he discussed some of the economics of the writing business with us.

Although he didn’t ultimately offer any political insights his presentation was extremely entertaining and well received by the members of the club.

John Beales

Future Speakers

Thursday, January 19, 2017 TRUMP – What will be his impact on the Canadian economy and that of our biggest trading partner. Hear from an expert: Sal Guatieri BMO - Director and

Senior Economist. Sal has two decades of experience as a macro economist. With BMO Financial Group since 1994, his main responsibilities include analyzing and forecasting the U.S. and Canadian

economies, interest rates and exchange rates. Prior to joining BMO, Sal worked at the Bank of Canada as an economist in the Research Department, contributing to the staff's quarterly economic projection, and in the International Department, analyzing foreign exchange markets. Sal received his Masters degree in Economics from Queen's University in 1990.

Thursday, February 16, 2017 DYING with DIGNITY – Jack Pasht, Chair in Canada, will discuss proactive planning for the end-of-life, discussions to have with your family and discussions

with your doctor and other care-givers – all, so that you may die in a dignified manner that is of your choosing. Your rights to assisted dying, if that is your choice, have now been endorsed by our courts. Jack Pasht received his LL.B. from Osgoode Hall and subsequently began a broad and varied career in real estate investment and development. He is the managing partner of the Terrapark Group, which invests in urban properties across North America.

Future Activities

February 12th. 2017 Valentine’s Day Brunch Our annual Valentine’s Day Lunch will be the brunch at Glen Abbey Golf Club. This is a delectable buffet, and proved very popular last year. Arrival time should be at 11 am. The cost will be $43 per person and registration should be made at the January meeting, or before. Full payment will be required at the January meeting.

March 15th. 2017 Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat by Andrew Lloyd Webber This performance will be at the Dunfield Theatre, Cambridge. Journey back to the ancient land of Canaan for an enchanting story of faith and forgiveness as the biblical tale of Joseph is chronicled with sparkling wit, irreverence and imagination. When Joseph’s father gives him a fabulous coat of many colours, his 11 jealous brothers hatch a scheme to sell him into slavery. But Joseph rises above his bleak circumstances due to his ability to interpret dreams, and becomes one of the most powerful men in Egypt. We will stop for lunch at NAPA restaurant, at your expense from the menu. Cost is $78 and includes transportation.

April 19th. 2017 How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying This show is by the same authors as “Guys and Dolls” This performance will be at Theatre Sheridan for their 7.30 pm show. Tickets are $22. Follow the rise of window washer J. Pierrepont Finch, in his hilarious journey to chairman of the board at the World Wide Wicket Company, a ridiculous company where no one really knows what anyone else is doing. But when Finch meets his true love Rosemary, art mixes with business creating a combustible parody of the workings and morals of the business world and all the quirky characters in it. There is a cash bar and cheese trays are available at the theatre.

The Probus Club of Oakville

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Other Positions

President: Stewart Bryan 842-4478

Past President: Robin Davison 339-1702

Vice President: Ross Prince 885-1418

Secretary: Richard Bowie 257-8328

Treasurer: Barry Cook 582-4236

Speakers: Jack Talbot 639-8295

Activities: Russell Mewse 827-6007

Newsletter: Helmut Erxleben 901-9268

Membership: Gunther Lutz 844-0542

Liaison: Mike Purcell 845-4097

Website: Paul Nelson 469-4752

Management Committee

Equipment Andreas Franke 338-5526 Member Welfare Dick Goulding 827-5968 Auditor: Alex Murphy 337-2924 50/50 Draw: Ulrich Wickardt 465-0641 Roy Oldfield 847-2062 Photographer Peter Pretty 338-5583 Dave Johnson 338-6076 Greeter Jack Rugg 820-1973 Communications Roy McEwen 844-8648

Probus Club of Oakville P.O. Box 52127

Oakville On L6J 7N5

Email:

oakvilleprobus@gmail.com

Website: www.oakvilleprobus.com

Meetings take place 10 am on

the third

Thursday of each month

at the Quality Suites

754 Bronte Road OAKVILLE