Thursday June 30, 2011

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Ted Talks

Rajesh Rao: A Rosetta Stone for the Indus script

Rajesh Rao is fascinated by "the mother of all crossword puzzles": How to decipher the 4000 year old Indus script. At TED 2011 he tells how he is enlisting modern computational techniques to read the Indus language, the key piece to understanding this ancient civilization.

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Tournament

Local sponsorship for new LPGA tournament in Waterloo beginning in 2012

LPGA, Manulife Financial, Sports Properties International and Waterloo team up to bring the world’s best female golfers to the Waterloo Region

Waterloo - The LPGA and Sports Properties International announced that Manulife Financial, a leading Canadian-based financial services company, has signed a three-year agreement to title sponsor a new LPGA event beginning in 2012. The Manulife Financial LPGA Classic will take place June 18-24, 2012, at Grey Silo Golf Course in Waterloo. The tournament will feature a standard eligibility field of 144 players and 72 holes of stroke play.

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Labour

WPB 2011 Local Labour Market Plan

Waterloo Region - The last couple of years have been hard on local employment however, we are seeing employment levels increase in most of the communities within the Waterloo Wellington Dufferin planning zone with the exception of Guelph, which has seen a dramatic decline in the labour force over the past few months.

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Council Meeting

Council Info From the June 29, 2011 Regional Council meeting:

Waterloo Region - Summary of discussion and the major items presented at the Region of Waterloo Council meeting has been released. The next meeting is Thursday, August 25, 2010, at 7 p.m.

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Funding

FCM’s Green Municipal Fund supports Kitchener Operations Facility

Kitchener – Lise Burcher, a member of the national board of directors of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and a councillor for the City of Guelph, and Harold Albrecht, Member of Parliament for Kitchener-Conestoga, announced a Green Municipal FundTM loan and grant contributions for the City of Kitchener. The city put the $4,255,900 in funding toward daylighting, rainwater capture and other energy-saving features for the Kitchener Operations Facility.

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Sustainability

City of Kitchener flips switch on Canada’s largest solar roof installation

KITCHENER - The City of Kitchener hosted a ceremony to celebrate the installation of a 262,000 square foot solar roof on the Kitchener Operations Facility, a major achievement in the City’s plan to become more environmentally sustainable.

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Education

Conestoga to Participate in Global Program to Improve Education

Kitchener - Students in the Business Foundations and General Business programs at Conestoga College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning will soon have access to new tools that will connect them to their colleagues around the world as they build essential skills for business success.

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Fundraising

Tri-Cities Walk pictures and NEW Video!

Waterloo Region - The TRI-CITIES WALK to cure Diabetes held on June 5th has post a video on You Tube. YouTube. Please enjoy and share with family and friends. It is a great memento of a fabulous day. You are also invited to view Sharon Maheu's photo album: Jun 5th, 2011 Cambridge/K 2011 Walk at Bingemans.

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Small Business

Coming Soon! 5th Annual Inspiring Women Event - Register by July 1st and Win!

Kitchener - The 5th Annual Inspiring Women event is Waterloo Region's signature women's professional development experience. On September 15th, join other women professionals, entrepreneurs, and community leaders for the opportunity to connect, learn and grow.

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FSA

Tooney Tuesdays hosted by Erick Traplin

KITCHENER – Popular children’s entertainer Erick Traplin will don his purple t-shirt and red suspenders each and every Tuesday evening in July, when he hosts Tooney Tuesdays, from 6 to 8 p.m., in Civic Square, in front of Kitchener City Hall.

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Solar Energy

KITCHENER COMMISSIONS PHOTOWATT ONTARIO-MADE 500 KW SOLAR INSTALLATION

CAMBRIDGE - ATS Automation Tooling Systems Inc. announced that its subsidiary, Photowatt Ontario, has successfully completed a 500 kilowatt solar roof -top installation for the City Of Kitchener's new Consolidated Maintenance Facility.

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Agriculture

Delivering Stability And Predictability For Farmers

Ontario's Government Protecting Family Farms

Toronto - Starting this Fall, Ontario farmers will benefit from new stability and predictability that will help protect their farms and ensure Ontario families continue to enjoy healthy local food.

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Education

Celebrating The First Graduating Class Of Full-Day Kindergarten

Toronto - The end of the first full year of full-day classes has been reached for over 35,000 four- and five-year-olds, who now become the first-ever graduates of Ontario’s new full-day kindergarten program.

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Appointment

Sadiq S. Adatia appointed Global Investments' Chief Investment Officer

TORONTO - Sun Life Global Investments Inc. announced the appointment of Sadiq S. Adatia as Chief Investment Officer effective. Mr. Adatia joins Sun Life Global Investments with over 15 years of extensive experience in the investment industry.

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GDP

Gross domestic product by industry

Statscan - Real gross domestic product was unchanged in April after increasing 0.3% in March. Both the goods-producing and the services sectors remained unchanged in April.

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Business Targets

New Study Finds Canadian and US CEOs Target Employee Performance to Achieve Bullish Growth in 2011

Performance Management Systems are Broken

TORONTO – CEOs have set bullish growth targets for 2011 and are demanding significant increases in workforce productivity to meet them, according to new research from global management consultancy Hay Group.

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Research

Western researchers can predict future actions from human brain activity

London - Bringing the real world into the brain scanner, researchers at The University of Western Ontario from The Centre for Brain and Mind (www.uwo.ca/its/brain/) can now determine the action a person was planning, mere moments before that action is actually executed.

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Auto

Americans Are Still in Love With Their Cars
Michael Burt

Ottawa - Conference Board of Canada - With more than eight out of every ten vehicles produced in Canada destined for the U.S. market, it is not surprising that the health of Canada’s auto industry is tied at the hip to the U.S. consumer. The good news is that U.S. consumers have proven surprisingly jovial about car buying this year despite the fact that unemployment remains elevated.

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Appointment

Dr. Stephen Yarrow appointed as vice-president plant biotechnology

OTTAWA - Dr. Stephen Yarrow has joined CropLife Canada - the trade association representing the developers, manufacturers and distributors of plant science technologies - as the organization's vice-president plant biotechnology.

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Research and Development

The Ottawa Hospital’s new Centre for Innovative Cancer Research to reduce time between discovery and patient impact

Ottawa – The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute has opened a new $15.8M laboratory that is uniquely designed to accelerate the development and testing of new cancer therapies. The Centre for Innovative Cancer Research was built and equipped with $6.3M from the Government of Canada through the Canada Foundation for Innovation’s competitive peer-reviewed Research Hospital Fund Program. An additional $9.5M was provided by generous donors in the community through The Ottawa Hospital Foundation.

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Home Renovations

Renovation Spending Reaches $22.8 Billion Across 10 Major Centres

OTTAWA - An estimated 1.9 million households, surveyed in 10 major centres, indicated they completed renovations last year, a slight decrease from the 2.1 million households that completed a renovation in 2009.

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DSA Awards

DSA HONOURS THE BEST OF ITS BEST

2011 awards presented at organization’s annual conference

BANFF – The Direct Sellers Association of Canada is pleased to recognize its 2011 award recipients as announced at the association’s annual conference in Banff, Alberta. “We are delighted to acknowledge the strong contributions and efforts these companies and individuals have made to the direct selling industry,” said Ross Creber, president of DSA Canada.

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Employment

Payroll employment, earnings and hours

Statscan - Average weekly earnings of non-farm payroll employees increased 0.7% from March to $876.44 in April. Compared with April 2010, average weekly earnings were 3.5% higher.

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Trades and Technologies

The Honourable Diane Finley and Mike Holmes Canada's Most Trusted Contractor host Champions Breakfast, provide official send off to Team Canada 2011

Event celebrates achievements and makes final preparations as Team Canada readies for WorldSkills London 2011

GATINEAU - Skills/Compétences Canada, a not-for-profit organization that actively promotes careers in skilled trades and technologies, along with Mike Holmes, Canada's Most Trusted Contractor, and the Honourable Diane Finley, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development today gave support and encouragement to Team Canada 2011 as they gathered in Ottawa for the Champions Breakfast.