Eastern Ontario & Outaouais: National Golf Course Owners Association

Success at Queen's Park for We Are Golf

On May 1st, the Honourable Michael Tibollo, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport; along with the Speaker of the House, Honourable Ted Arnott, Minister Lisa Thompson and Minister Raymond Cho welcomed We Are Golf to Queen’s Park. The full schedule was a great success with the We Are Golf delegation meeting with MPPs during breakfast and meetings throughout the day. Delegates from NGCOA Canada’s 3 Ontario Chapters, as well as representatives from PGA of Ontario, Golf Ontario, OGSA and CSCM were promoting Ontario’s number one participation sport with golf’s economic impact, health benefits, philanthropic benefits and the IPM process. They came away from the meetings with great feedback and many positive comments.

A special thank you to the NGCOA Canada members involved in the We Are Golf Day at Queen’s Park including:

Doug Breen, GolfNorth Properties
Brenda Evans, Pheasant Run Golf Club
Jason Boyce, Smuggler’s Glen Golf Course
Wendy Burgess, ClubLink
Jeff Germond, Mississauga Golf & Country Club
Simon Bevan, Riverbend Golf Club

We Are Golf Meetings:

Speaker of the House Honourable Ted Arnott – PC Wellington-Halton Hills
Honourable Michael Tibollo, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport – PC Vaughan-Woodbridge
Honourable Lisa Thompson, Minister of Education – PC Huron-Bruce
Honourable Raymond Cho, Minister of Senior Citizens – PC Scarborough-Rouge RIver
MPP Stephen Crawford – PC Oakville – Chair, Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affair
MPP Jill Dunlop – PC Simcoe North – Member, Standing Committee on Justice
MPP Stan Cho – PC Willowdale – Parliamentary Asst., Treasury Board
MPP Prabmeet Sarkaria – PC Brampton South – Parliamentary Asst. to the Solicitor General
MPP Michael Mantha – NDP Algoma-Manitoulin – Caucus Chair; critic, Northern Development and Mines
MPP Rudy Cuzzetto – PC Mississauga-Lakeshore – Member, Standing Committee on Govt. Agencies
MPP Billy Pang – PC Markham-Unionville – Member, Standing Committee on Regulations and Private Bills
MPP Vincent Ke – Staff – PC Don Valley North – Parliamentary Asst. to the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport
MPP Goldie Ghamari – PC Carleton – Member, Standing Committee on Public Accounts
MPP Randy Pettapiece – PC Perth-Wellington – Parliamentary Asst. to the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs
MPP Michael Parsa – PC Aurora-Oak Ridges-Richmond Hill – Parliamentary Asst. to the Minister of Economic Dev., Job Creation & Trade

The Key Ask by We Are Golf at Queen’s Park:

During the meetings, We Are Golf made the recommendation that the outdated and costly regulation 63/09 IPM requirement be changed to only require reports to be made publicly available online with in-person meetings optional. The regulation currently requires for notices to be mailed out, notice in local newspapers and the cost of having staff at the meeting all at a high cost to the course with little or no one attending.

Click on the following links to read the full press release announcement on National Golf Day at Queen’s Park and Parliament Hill.

Sincerely,