Dec 7, 2021

Ontario’s Minister of Heritage, Sport, Tourism & Culture Industries the Honourable Lisa Macleod addresses the opening of the Boating Ontario Conference
 
The 2021 Boating Ontario Conference wrapped up with positive outcomes across the board on December 1st. Running from Monday, November 29th through Wednesday, December 1st at the picturesque Sheraton on the Falls hotel, the conference boasted a packed and focused agenda buffeted by innovative marketing opportunities and a flurry of government engagement and support.
 
Monday evening kicked off with BOATS – the Boating Ontario Annual Trade Show, where some 30 exhibitors interacted with over 200 in-person delegates. We had a friendly welcome from Jim Diodati, the Mayor of Niagara Falls and Ontario’s Minister of Heritage, Sport, Tourism & Culture Industries the Honourable Lisa Macleod. Minister MacLeod took the opportunity to announce the success of a $78,000 grant for the Association and greeted dozens of members after her speech.
 
Tuesday morning our virtual and in-person delegates were greeted with a message from Premier Ford and then began digging deep on the two Conference focal subjects – Customer Retention & Staff Challenges. Multi time Canadian Olympic Champion and Hockey Night in Canada co-host Jennifer Botterill kicked off the crowd with a plethora of other great sessions to follow. Minister Piccini shared his support of the Associations Clean Marine program.
 
The Tuesday evening Gala dinner saw the Association hand out their annual hardware to the following deserving recipients.
·      Robert Eaton Environmental Award to Jeff Wilcox for his Clean Marine efforts
·      Gord Blake Visionary Award to Dave Rozycki of Maple Leaf Marinas
·      W.J. Robertson Award to Jan Holland of Marina Del Rey
·      President’s Award to Tim Kennedy (retired) of Yamaha Motor Canada
 
Wednesday morning had a full house attend the AGM, followed by comments from Minister McNaughton and continued efforts on Customer Retention & Staff Challenges topics. An educational and informative Pipeline Inventory Panel featured comments from Krista Sparkes from Smoker Craft, Jonathan Levine from Mercury Canada, and John Reid from Woodard & Company. Former Second City comedian Rob Hawke closed out the event and had over 200 delegates standing in the aisles laughing endlessly.
 
Boating Ontario of grateful to all who attended in-person and virtually and sincerely extends our thanks to the support of our sponsors. We look forward to seeing everyone again at the Toronto International Boat Show in January and to welcoming delegates to the 2022 Conference at Deerhurst Resort November 28th to 30th, 2022.