Toronto is a world-class city and one weshould be proud of as Canadians. It wasfun to spend some time looking around thecity and attending the Toronto HondaIndycar race. Seeing the race this year very

close up and personal was fun. Americandriver Ryan Hunter Ray won for AndrettiAutosport in a close event. The magnitudeand grandeur of this race with full standsof people, especially on Sunday afternoonjust before the start, is something to expe-rience.

“ Toronto is one of my favourite racesand achieving the last three wins in ourseries in a row is great. We just need tokeep doing what we are doing. The team isjust clicking well together. We are all real-ly good friends. It is important to enjoy itas well,” said Ryan Hunter Ray. “ To winthree races in a row has been a dream ofmine ever since I was little, to be able tobe competing in the Indy car series. I amappreciative of every lap I get in this seriesbecause I love it. We need to enjoy it. We

have to take hold of it and get it done. Youare only as good as your car so you haveto work as a team. It is difficult to puteverything together to win.”

Rob Ford, Mayor of Toronto, talkedabout how the race was great for tourismin Toronto. The Izod Indycar series for the26th year in Toronto brings in millions ofdollars. “ I am a businessman as you knowand there are 189 cranes in the sky rightnow in Toronto. We have more cranes than10 major cities in the US and we are turn-ing this city around. At city hall it is busi-ness, business, business and we are creat-ing jobs for people. I am very proud ofwhat we have done and will continue todo.”

As a long time Toronto Maple Leafs fanit was fun to visit the old Maple LeafGardens that is now a Loblaw’s grocerystore and one of the most elaborate outletsI have ever seen. It is really fancy and situ-ated right where centre ice was previously.Higher up will be the new RyersonUniversity hockey rink, which will hold

2800 seats and opens this September. Ithink the Lakehead University Thunderwolves hockey team will enjoy playingthere.

As Mayor Rob Ford said at a media con-ference at the race there are cranes every-where in Toronto and most are buildinghigh-rise condominiums, which seem to bethe popular living choice. Detached hous-es in Toronto will start at $800,000 and gointo the millions easily, so condos are amore affordable alternative. It was fun tovisit the recently opened Trump Tower in

Toronto, which is a 5 star hotel, and alsofeatures condominiums that start at $2.3million and up.

We have great air service to Toronto andit is a city that offers so many activitiesand interesting sites. You should plan a tripthere to check it out!

THUNDER BAY BUSINESS AUGUST 2012 PAGE 3

Toronto Is The Place To Visit!Publisher’sNoteScott

Sumner

PAGE 6 THUNDER BAY BUSINESS AUGUST 2012

When you drive down Balmoral Streetnear the Harbour Expressway you will eas-ily notice the large lot with many RV’s,boats, ATV’s or snowmobiles. Smith’s RVCentre has become a fixture in ThunderBay operating from it’s 20,000 square footbuilding however it definitely wasn’t likethis in the firm’s beginnings in 1962.

“ We started in the back porch as a littlegrocery store in Dorion, also sellingpropane,” said Doris Smith, founder alongwith her husband Alex of Smith’s RVCentre. “ We started selling propanebecause the only place we could getpropane for ourselves was in Thunder Bay.Rather than bringing in one tank at a timewe would bring in 5 or 6 and people knewwe had extra propane and would borrow it.It got to a point where it was easier to getthem to pay for it than write down theirnames and figure out if they paid yet.”

This was the start of Smith’s RV Centre.At that time Alex Smith worked at the RedRock mill. “ I like to buy things by thecase and we had people in Dorion wholiked to buy from us. We did have otherplaces then where people could buy gro-

ceries but they wanted to buy from us.At that time I was building boat and utilitytrailers as a hobby and it just progressedfrom there. Next we would buy boat trail-ers and resell them, and then power sawsand it just grew. My son, Scott Smith, was2 years old then. Sherry, our daughter wasa little older and Sandy was the oldest son.Scott was good on the tricycle then.”smiled Alex Smith who was 29 years oldwhen he started in business.Alex and Doris Smith started off with ahouse they had built with the wood off thelot. They first put on a porch, then agarage and added on many times. Alex

was famous for his “ lean toos” then. Thefamily next got into gasoline, live bait,boats, trailers, snowmobiles, guns, ammu-nition, hunting and fishing licenses. AsScott and Sherry Smith grew up they start-ed in the business. Scott started working at10 or 11 years old. He had a few otherjobs before full time work at Smith’s RVincluding at the Terrace Bay mill workingfor a contractor as an insulator.

“ In 1976 we opened a location at 777Memorial Ave as a satellite store, whichmade money but I was retiring and it wasmore work. The store in Dorion was open7 days a weeks 7am to 9 pm. The liquor

store was open to 10pm and the gas untilmidnight. We had no vacations,” said AlexSmith.

In 1981 Scott Smith, at the age of 21,came in and bought the business from hisparents while Alex and Doris got in theirRV and began to travel North America. “ If he sold the business to anyone else Iwouldn’t have had a place to live,”smilesScott Smith.

In 1990 Scott opened a sales outlet onArthur Street in front of Hood Logging for1 1/2 years and then went to CopperCrescent in a rented building until theybought the current building in 1994 whenWheelies Rollers Rink shut down. Scott’ssister Sherry moved back to Thunder Bayin July 1995 from Texas to work in thebusiness again.

“ We went from 6000 to 20,000 squarefeet with the new location. It was tough atfirst with lots of expenses. The bank was-

n’t betting on my side and wouldn’t lendme much money. We had found most ofthe Dorion people came to Thunder Bayanyway to make their purchases so wewould compete with each location. It washard to run duplicate staff and transferstock between locations so we closed

down Dorion and worked from our currentlocation.”

Scott Smith worked long hours for manyyears in the business and today is not

active in the day to day operation now liv-ing half the year in Florida with hisnephew Jason Johnstone performingGeneral Manager duties. Jason, whosemother is Sherry, grew up in Alberta afterbeing born in Thunder Bay. He moved toTexas his last year of high school andbecame a professional golfer for severalyears after attending college taking busi-ness courses. He played tournaments fortwo years and then taught golf at aHouston course.

Jason has been working at Smith’s RVfor 10 years now learning the businessfrom the ground up. “ I was Scott’sretirement package. We switched roles. Istarted out golfing and Scott was working.Now I am working and Scott is golfing.,”laughs Jason Johnstone.

Continued Next Page

Successful Thunder Bay Business Turns 50: Smith’s RV Centre

BY SCOTT A. SUMNERThunder Bay BUSINESS

Mission Statement

Our Mission

We are a family owned business that provides outdoor recreational

products and services to our customers.

Our Vision

We are committed to providing enjoyment for ourcustomers,

providing fulfillment for ouremployees, and strengthening our community

through our involvement with local charities and organizations.

Our Values

1) Integrity

2) Excellence

3) Success

4) Teamwork

In the early days Alex Smith sold knifes! The new and old Smith’sRV locations.

THUNDER BAY BUSINESS AUGUST 2012 PAGE 11

Company ProfileWhere We Started

Since the doors opened in the late 50’s, the focus has always been to provide quality products that produce happy, satisfied customers. We’ve grownover the years to be the largest Recreational Dealer in Northwestern Ontario, but our philosophies have never changed.

Where We Are Now

Now centrally located at 940 Cobalt Crescent in Thunder Bay, Smith’s RV Centre employs over 30 friendly staff members. Our combined large indoorshowroom, 4000 square feet of parts and accessories, and a 10,000 square foot shop with factory-trained certified technicians will make sure you get

the service you deserve. Our main facility has a fully paved yard showcasing hundreds of products to meet all your needs.

What We Do

Our year-round family owned dealership works hard to earn your business as well as to actively participate and support local charities and fund-raisinggroups. Our special annual company project is “Operation Christmas Child”, one of the world’s largest children’s Christmas projects of “Kids-helping-

Kids”.

Operation Christmas Child

Every year our staff members volunteer their time to promote and collect Christmas “Shoeboxes” for needy children.

To find out more information on this worthwhile project, please call our dealership at (807) 346-9399 or visit www.samaritanspurse.org.

PAGE 14 THUNDER BAY BUSINESS AUGUST 2012

SHiFT’s 1st Annual Drive Away HungerFood Drive was a great success! OnTuesday June 19th, 2012 a group of 20volunteers braved the rain to canvass vari-ous neighbourhoods in Thunder Bay col-lecting non-perishable food items for theRegional Food Distribution Association(RFDA).This campaign was a collaborative effortbetween SHIFT and BDO Canada LLPwhich led to 1,034 pounds of food collect-

ed for the RFDA in just a couple of hours!SHIFT set a goal of collecting 1000pounds of food to represent their 1000+members and is very excited to have sur-passed this goal.Chris Logan, senior accountant with BDOCanada LLP is also a member of SHIFT’sProfessional and Community Developmentcommittee. Chris spear-headed this greatproject to get more young-minded profes-sionals involved in this great cause.

SHIFT would like to thank BDO CanadaLLP for sponsoring this successful fooddrive and we would also like to thank allof our dedicated volunteers and donors forhelping with our “Drive Away Hunger”efforts.

The RFDA is a great local organizationthat provides food to local and regionalfood banks and tends to experience slow

donation periods during the summermonths. We would like to encourage othermembers of our community includingother businesses and organizations to helpthose in need across the region by donatingto the RFDA this summer and throughoutthe year.SHIFT is Thunder Bay's home for young-minded professionals who understand thatmoving their community forward meansmore than just doing business. It's the bigpicture, from social and environmentalconcerns to personal and professionaldevelopment. Together, we can move for-ward.SHIFT was created to offer young profes-sionals in Thunder Bay a forum to networkto make social connections and businesscontacts while engaging themselves in thecommunity. For further information join uson Facebook or visit our website atwww.shiftnetwork.ca to become aSHIFTer, stay current and get involvedwith stimulating events and activities!

© 2012 Brian Babcock

Common sense is essential to what hap-pens in courts. If not, legal disputes couldbe solved by computers. Even when thelaw is crystal clear, the facts seldom are.Understanding this concept will help youavoid taking to disputes to court, if you

can convince others to just use their com-mon sense. If you end up in litigation,understanding this will help guide yourdecisions as the case unfolds.

The main function of trial judges or juriesis to making findings of fact, either resolv-ing competing versions of events, or draw-ing inferences to fill in incomplete pic-tures.

I blame shows like CSI for the misconcep-tion that evidence can always be dissectedwith scientific accuracy. It is just not so.All science has limits, further compoundedby the risk of human error. Witnesses suf-fer from deficits of all sorts, from inaccu-racy to bias to outright lying.

Juries exist to reflect the community’s col-lective common sense, and “does thislawyer have common sense?’ is a moreimportant question for appointment ofjudges than “who is the smartest lawyer?”

When choosing between competing ver-sions of events, judges look at the internalconsistency of the evidence; its consisten-cy with other versions; consistency withobjective evidence like pictures or writtenrecords, but always, eventually ask them-selves “does this make sense?”

If there is a dispute about an agreement,the judge asks the question “What does theevidence and my common sense tell methe parties would have said about this ifasked just before they signed?”

Common sense is also important in deter-mining the cause of personal injuries orother damage, where the chain of eventsleading up to the harm is not obvious. ”.The absence of scientific evidence doesnot prevent the finding of negligence. The

Supreme Court of Canada recently repeat-ed that causation should be determined byexamining all of the evidence in a “robustcommon sense fashion The Court thengoes on to point out that common senseinferences usually flow without difficulty.

A Plaintiff must have some evidence of theamount of a loss. But even if that evidenceis incomplete, a judge will apply commonsense to allow compensation, because thatis fairer than allow the Defendant to getoff free.

At Weilers, we have applied commonsense on behalf of our clients for over 65years.

Common Sense and the Courts

www.johnrafferty.ndp.ca

409 George StreetThunder Bay, ON P7E 5Y9

Tel: 807.623.6000raffej@parl.gc.ca

John Rafferty, MP. Thunder Bay - Rainy River

New Democrat Critic for Forestry

409 George StreetThunder Bay, ON P7E 5Y9

Tel: 807.623.6000raffej@parl.gc.ca

Prosperous Future

“Working with

business for a

sustainable and

prosperous future.”

LegalMatters

SHIFT Collects over 1000 lbs. of Food to Represent their1000+ Members

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