President Neil began with a quote from 1920-21 RI President Estes Snedecor from the Rotary Club of Portland Oregon. In an August 1921 Rotarian article titled: The Program for the Year he wrote: “Every Rotary Club should be a forum before which economic and social problems may be fully and intelligently discussed. Club programs should stimulate thought, widen the horizon and deepen conviction.”
O Canada was sung a cappella and Ted Harrison said grace.

NEW MEMBER APPROVED BY BOARD
At our director’s meeting on Monday, September 15th, an application, proposed by Jack Petrie, for club membership was approved. Our ‘candidate’ is RON BEYER and his classification
is MORTGAGE SERVICES. Ron is the president of Beyer Mortgage Services. His wife Suzanne is the office manager. Ron and Suzanne live in Oak Bay and are active in the community. Several years ago Ron was a member of the Rotary Club of Victoria and enjoyed it but had to limit his available time as he developed his business.

Club members have 10 days to respond to his candidacy for membership in the Rotary Club of Oak Bay. Hearing no objections before October 3rd, 2008 we will be welcoming Ron as a new member. Please direct any correspondence to me, Lynne Murray, Secretary, at lcmurray@shaw.ca
Thank You, Lynne.

Introduced by Joan Firkins

Ken Stratford, guest speaker, was guest of the Club,
Marlene Goley of Jim Forest;
John Shaver of Wynn Taylor;
Elaine Barbeau was also a guest.

A busy meeting opened with Jim Force presenting 102 books donated by Oak Bay Rotary members to Marlene Goley, manager of Women’s and Children’s Services for the Cridge Centre for the Family. Jim and Marlene developed a books program for the children at the Cridge’s Hill House transition house in Saanich. Children, especially teens, at the Centre are often troubled by removal from their familiar surroundings and books seem to provide a means of comfort and distraction. Most of the books donated by our club were exchanged at Russell Books in Victoria for books likely to be of more interest to the children. Marlene was “overwhelmed” by the gift and the knowledge of how important the books will be to the children. She will take some of the children to Russell Books when the selection of new books is made.

Guest Speaker

Hans Ockermueller introduced our speaker, Ken Stratford, economic development specialist, currently head of Small Business Victoria, which, in partnership with the province, has the highest new business success rate in the country. Ken began by reassuring us about the impact of the U. S. subprime mortgage crisis on the Canadian and BC economy. “We’re not going to get hit by the subprime crisis,” he said, mainly because our banking system is so different from the US and our national debt level is second-lowest in the world among developed nations. This is in stark contrast to a few decades ago when our debt placed us in 31st place among 32 nations. He forecast 2.2 % GDP growth rate for this year and 2.7% next year. Ken said that 83 percent of Victorians are less than 65 years old, despite the impression one might get in Oak Bay. Even so, seniors are a resource businesses will need in the coming decade. Nevertheless, our business models are 50 years old, Stratford said, “and it’s time for a change.” Social patterns, in all age groups, and technological change demand change in the workplace. “We have a desperate shortage of people. The baby-boomers, largest cohort in history, are moving out of the work force.” Workers can afford to be more demanding and employers must adapt to them. Referring to younger workers who live (and work) in a text messaging world, Stratford said: “We have to get in their heads and move along with them.” Furthermore there is an urgent need to use new technology to cut down on the number of staff required. He referred to automatic check out points in some U.S. stores. In the coming decade in Victoria, Stratford predicted, “we’ll deal with our problems and this city will continue to grow and we’ll come out OK.”
Brian Lamb thanked Ken “for making us feel calmer about the current crisis.”

Quiz
Jack Petrie then livened things up, as he always does, by passing out 12-question quizzes to everyone and requesting that each table appoint a team captain and collate their answers. After what seemed like too short a time, Jack put his answers on the screen, but some of them resulted in much discussion. Eventually it all got sorted out and the results were called for. No one got all 12 questions right but three tables had eleven correct answers and received gifts of pool admission tickets from Lorna Curtis. A very fun thing to do.
Eds. Note: I shall be away next week and David Sills, a former editor, has kindly consented to do the honors.

 

Below: Jim Force presents
books to Marlene Goley of
the Cridge Centre

One of Tricia's new friends
from the Rotaplast Cebu 2008 Mission. THANK YOU OAK BAY ROTARY CLUB MEMBERS FOR YOUR SUPPORT FOR ROTAPLAST

SEPTEMBER Cashier: LAMB; 50-50: MURPHY
October Cashier: MUTTER; 50-50 McDougall

To view COMPLETE LIST OF PROGRAMS and THE DUTY ROSTER FOR MEETINGS 2008
Click here