Ontario is improving Highway 614 toManitouwadge and Highway 627 to PicRiver to strengthen the northern trans-portation network and create about 45jobs.

The work includes 25 kilometres of pave-ment reconstruction on Highway 614 aswell as 12 kilometres on Highway 627.The work will repair the road bed, improvedrainage and decrease maintenancedemands. The project will improve thedriving experience and make the roadssafer for families and businesses.

Investing in Northern Ontario’s infrastruc-ture is part of the McGuinty government’sGrowth Plan for Northern Ontario . Astrong northern economy creates local jobsand protects the services that mean the

most to families – health care and educa-tion.

QUOTES

“This work will complete the resurfacingof Highway 614 from Highway 17 right toManitouwadge which began in 2010. Thishighway is a critical link to theTransCanada Highway for the people andindustries of the Manitouwadge area.”

— Michael Gravelle, MPP Thunder Bay-Superior North

“The Northern Highways Program investsin infrastructure for the benefit of resi-dents, visitors and industries while creat-ing jobs for northerners.”

— Rick Bartolucci, Minister of NorthernDevelopment and Mines

“Our government is improving infrastruc-ture across the province, while creatingjobs and strengthening our economy.Projects such as the rehabilitation ofHighways 627 and 614 help to ensure ourroads are safe and in good condition foryears to come.”

— Bob Chiarelli, Minister ofTransportation

PAGE 2 THUNDER BAY BUSINESS JUNE 2012

Lakehead University is pleased to intro-duce Deb Comuzzi as its new Vice-President, External Relations.

In her new role, Comuzzi will focus onfive areas: alumni relations, communityrelations and government relations, aswell as Advancement and communica-tions.

"As VP External Relations, Comuzzi willuse her impressive competencies instrategic management, philanthropy, vol-unteer growth and development, and staffperformance management to strengthenLakehead and to reach out to our alum-ni," says Dr. Brian Stevenson, Presidentof Lakehead University. "She has a rareability to navigate complex issues and beresponsive to stakeholder groups."

A master strategist and passionate advo-cate for young people, Comuzzi is cur-rently President and CEO of theChildren’s Health Foundation in London,Ontario. She begins her new role inAugust, and will be responsible for phil-anthropic and outreach initiatives to theUniversity’s many donors and partners

Comuzzi was raised in Thunder Bay andreturns to her hometown with more than30 years of senior management experi-

ence at major Canadian not-for-profitorganizations. She started her career at16, teaching swimming to children at theYMCA.

Since then, she has held such high-levelpositions as National Executive Directorof The Sunshine Foundation of Canada,and Director – Planning, Developmentand Field Operations with the CanadianCancer Society.

While at London’s Children’s HealthFoundation, Comuzzi and her team ofvolunteers and staff raised more than $48million for the London Children’sHospital and Children’s Health ResearchInstitute. Other career highlights includenegotiating the merger of the Children’sHealth Research Institute with theLawson Health Research Institute, anddramatically enlarging the SunshineFoundation’s volunteer chapter base.

Deb Comuzzi

“ This position is a new position forLakehead University. It will not only beabout philanthropy but we are going toraise the brand of Lakehead Universityand make sure that not just the communi-ty understand the uniqueness of this uni-versity but the world will understand.”

“We want to raise the profile ofLakehead University and talk about thegood things that are happening. This is anew role and era and fundraising is dif-ferent today. We have to find new ways

to raise money. There is going to be anew way we go about our business andto raise money for the students. Cominghome is surreal after saying I wouldnever come back. This is my home. Thejob is amazing and a once in a lifetimeopportunity. I’ve worked all my life forthis job. Secondly I want to be close tomy family as roots are very important.”

“ We are going to create a strategy thatwill outline why students want to cometo Lakehead University and will meet alot with the alumni to find out thoseanswers.We will then ask the alumni tobe ambassadors to start to spread theword. A small alumni staff and the presi-

dent can’t do it themselves. We need themasses.”

“ Every university has to rethink theirbrand from time to time.”

“ It is not easy to raise money out thereand secure government funds. To refreshand go forward with a new approach isimportant We are going to create casesfor support on why you would givemoney to Lakehead University.”

New VP External Relations is a Dynamic AdvocateBY SCOTT A. SUMNERThunder Bay BUSINESS

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MANITOWADGE

It was fun to see an artist I had grown uplistening to here in NW Ontario- BryanAdams. The 52 year old hadn’t been inThunder Bay for some 27 years but his 20cities 20 year Canadian Tour made a stopat the venerable Fort William Gardens fora sold out show. In fact Bryan sold outalmost all of the event tickets the day itwas first placed on sale and I was only

lucky the promoter released a few extraseats just before the show.

His trip to Thunder Bay was by way ofprivate jet with a quick stop at a localhotel and then on to the venue. My after-noon had been spent golfing the weeklymen’s night at Whitewater Golf Club andnoticed the private jet flying over. You seemore coming to Thunder Bay, but it is nota common occurrence

Bryan Adams is really a Canadian musicicon and enjoyed extreme success, espe-cially in his early years. He has recorded12 albums and as he told the adoringcrowd he’s got lots of material so is pre-pared to stay awhile! As a concert goer itwas refreshing to see such a high profileartist spend almost 2 1/2 hours on stagenon stop and spend quite a bit of timeinteracting with his audience. Bryanbrought a local girl up on stage to sing asong with him and these moments were a

definite high lite of the show. She wenthome with a memory of a lifetime and 14tee shirts to boot!

The sound of the event was just great aswell. Often times when I go to rockshows in other venues the music is soloud it really takes away from the artistand makes the experience less than itcould be. Bryan definitely had his sounddialed in and produced a great evening.

Yeah, we were lucky to get a performerthe stature of Bryan Adams right here in

Thunder Bay. In many ways this showreminded me of U2 at the Rogers Centrein Toronto last summer. It was on a small-er scale but very, very good. If you seethe touring schedule of Bryan Adams in atypical year you know he is a world-classartist.

Lets hope we get more world-classartists coming to Thunder Bay. If we get alarger events centre it might lead to moreprivate jets landing in Thunder Bay. Itmakes for a fun evening!

Bryan Adams Performs In Thunder BayPublisher’s

NoteScott

Sumner

THUNDER BAY BUSINESS JUNE 2012 PAGE 3

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409 George StreetThunder Bay, ON P7E 5Y9

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Tel: 807.623.6000raffej@parl.gc.ca

Prosperous Future

“Working with

business for a

sustainable and

prosperous future.”

McGuinty Government Updating OHIPFees To Improve Patient Care

Ontario is moving toward a real wagefreeze for doctors in order to invest moreprecious health care dollars in communitycare for families and home care for itsmany seniors.

Patients will get better, frontline patientcare including more community care nurs-es, expanded home care services for atleast 90,000 seniors, and 1,100 more doc-tors as the province updates fees paid tophysicians for services under the $11-bil-lion Ontario Health Insurance Plan(OHIP).

Ontario’s doctors are the best paid in thecountry, with the average doctor billing$385,000 and many specialists billingtwice that much.

The government is updating and rebalanc-ing OHIP fees to better reflect currentmedical practices and new technologiesand to avoid double-payments. Best prac-tices demonstrate that doctors are nowoften able to work more quickly and moreeffectively yet many fees have not changedto reflect these advances. Among the feechanges are:

• The province currentlyspends $88 million on self-referrals – thepractice of referring a patient back to adoctor’s own practice for an additionalprocedure and, consequently, additionalbilling. The payment for certain diagnostictests such as X-rays and ultrasounds will

be reduced by half when the same physi-cian orders and performs the test.

• New technology hasgreatly reduced the time needed for 250diagnostic radiology tests including X-rays, CT/MRI scans and ultrasound. Toreflect this, fees paid for these tests will bereduced by 11 per cent over four years.

• New technology hasreduced the time needed to performcataract surgery from two hours to as littleas 15 minutes. Fees paid to doctors for thisprocedure will be reduced from $441 to$397.75.

• The time taken to per-form eye injections for retinal diseasesnow takes five to 30 minutes, down fromtwo hours a decade ago. The fee paid todoctors for this service will be reducedfrom $189 to $90 over four years.

• Evidence shows thatechocardiograms before routine non-car-diac surgery do not improve patient out-comes. Doctors will perform fewer ofthese tests.

• Best practices for CTscans and MRIs for lower back pain revealthat more targeted use of diagnostic toolshelps to better support those patients withserious medical conditions such as infec-tions or cancer and leads to earlier treat-ment for those patients with less serioussymptoms by eliminating unnecessarydiagnostic tests.

• To ensure more timelyaccess to care, a new fee will be added fordoctors to consult with each other throughsecure email.The combined changes, effective as of

April 1, 2012, are expected to result in

savings of $338.3 million in 2012-13,allowing the government to invest in morehome care and expanded health care serv-ices. The government will continue tonegotiate with doctors to improve access topatient care, including same day/next dayappointments and after-hours care toreduce pressure on emergency rooms.

Improving patient care by getting bettervalue for our health care dollars is part ofthe McGuinty government's Action Planfor Health Care and builds upon the gainsmade in health care since 2003.

QUICK FACTS§ 93 per cent of Ontarians now haveaccess to a family doctor.§ The average doctor in Ontario bills$385,000 – 75 per cent more than in 2003and ten times what the average Ontarianearns.§ Many specialists bill twice that amountand over 400 Ontario doctors now earnmore than $1 million a year.

QUOTES

“Our doctors are the best paid in Canada.Instead of another raise for doctors, weneed a real wage freeze so we can invest inmore home care. To hold the line on doc-tor pay, we’re making changes to fees forphysician services to reflect advances intechnology and the latest medical evidenceon what helps patients most.”– Deb Matthews, Minister of Health andLong-Term Care

Good afternoon, my name is LawrenceBadanai and I am this years Canadian

Cancer Society Relay for Life Chairman.

Life ever after. Sounds like a fairy tale. Iam the beginning of that part of life that isredefined forever. It has been severalmonths since my last chemo treatment. Myscars are showing new colours as they fadeinto the landscape of my body. Now, as Imanage with the fact that my doctorappointments are spreading further apart, Iam on that other side of life.

I have learned that a part of healing issharing and exposing one self. Being vul-nerable has offered me the opportunity tomeet many supportive people and knowwe all go through some of these moments.Risk is a part of loving and embracing life!

In 2008 I discovered a lump on my righttesticle and I could tell it was definitelynot ordinary. Now we all tend to thinkwe’re invincible. Our egos don’t want tobelieve we could possibly have somethingwrong with ourselves. That’s when thebrain pops in and says things like, “Oh,maybe it’s nothing. Maybe it’ll go away.I’m too young for this...” And eventually Ihad enough common sense to listen to myfamily and went to see a doctor.

An ultrasound determined that the lumpwas in fact abnormal. Next followed anurologist that told me all signs point tocancer. Now, they don’t really give you achoice with this type of cancer, and the

next step is removal of the entire thing.

Since I didn’t exactly have a choice I said,“Sign me up! Let’s get this out!” I washoping that if it were cancer, then it wouldbe caught early enough. Indeed I was fac-ing the best case and they were confidentthat the situation was handled nicely and Ijoined a surveillance plan after surgery.

I’ve never hated the fact that I had cancer.It has now become a part of who I am. Butat that time in my life, I was not ready toshare and embrace that experience withothers. I simply put my life back on track...graduated that spring and got married tomy wife Candi come summer.

However, this tale is far from finished, aslast winter I learned that cancer decided toschedule another dual. A scan showed thatit had quickly returned and lit my body uplike a Christmas tree. The doctors workedswiftly and I was sent back and forth toToronto for consultations and a second sur-gery to remove my abdominal lymphnodes. The Canadian Cancer Societyquickly stepped in and assisted my wifeand I with our travel arrangements andaccommodations.

Once discharged from the hospital Ireturned home to Thunder Bay to recover.My doctor then signed me up for series ofchemotherapy cocktails. When I wasn’tbeing kept company by friends and familyat the hospital, there was always a smilingvolunteer from the Canadian CancerSociety. I also enjoyed the tea and toastthat would come wheeling by my chair

every few hours.

Today, I am in remission. I have survivedtwo successful battles with cancer. We allface challenges in life and its how we dealwith those challenges that define who weare. This has definitely made me a strongerperson. I learnt that you never know whatlife is going to throw at you, but no matterwhat, you can overcome it and make itpositive. I also told myself that somehowI’d have to use this experience as some-thing positive. Instead of asking “Whyme?” I asked, “What can I do with this?”

The Canadian Cancer Society was therefor me when I needed someone. I learnedlater that all those fine ladies and gentle-men were volunteers who also were givingback. With that I took a page from my latefather’s manifesto of “Service above self”and followed suit. Today I stand here as amember of a wonderful leadership com-mittee for the Relay for Life. It is a teamof many talented and dedicated volunteersthat are working hard to bring our event tolife. Thank you to all of you who areworking steadily to make our event a suc-cess.

Relay for Life is more than just a fundrais-er. It is an opportunity to get together andcelebrate, remember and fight back withfamily and friends. This will be my firstattendance at a Relay for Life. I am per-sonally looking forward to enjoying thisfun and inspirational 12-hour overnightevent.

This year’s Relay for Life takes place on

June 15th at the Fort William HistoricalPark. Last year we raised over $155,000dollars. And with the support of fighterslike you I know that we can reach our2012 goal of $200,000. We’d also like tosee 200 survivors walking the Survivors’Victory Lap. I am especially looking for-ward to the Luminary Ceremony and see-ing hundreds of bags around the track withyour messages beautifully decorated onthem. This year we’d love to see 3000 ofthose luminaries lighting our way.

We need to celebrate the lives of peoplewho have battled cancer and those thatwere there with us during those darkmoments. We need to remember thoseloved ones lost to it. I myself never knewmy grandmother as she died of cancer anddesperately want to put an end to it. Everythree minutes another Canadian is facedwith fighting this disease. Relay for Life usthat opportunity for all of us to make apersonal contribution and take actionagainst cancer.

Through my journey I have learned thatcancer is not just about a disease... it’sabout the people that it affects. It’s aboutthe memories and stories that have yet tobe shared with each other. It’s about cele-brating life as we know it or have yet todiscover. We are leading the way towardscreating a world where no one has to fearcancer. That’s why I am relaying thisyear... and we hope you will join our fight.

Thank You.

PAGE 6 THUNDER BAY BUSINESS JUNE 2012

Canadian Cancer Society Relay for Life Chairman Wins Battles

Ontario Freezing Doctor Pay To Invest In MoreCommunity Care For Families and Seniors

©2012 Brian Babcock

The Small Claims Court limit increased to$25,000.00 on January 1, 2010. This is asignificant step towards increasing effec-tive access to justice. Although seriousdisputes have already been heard in SmallClaims Court, this is becoming increas-ingly common. The significance of casesnow heard in this court is illustrated by thefact that prior to September 1990 cases upto $25,000.00 were heard by fulltimeDistrict Court judges. Though lawyersare not required in Small Claims Court,serious disputes are what lawyers aretrained to handle.

Do you need a lawyer for YOUR case?

You might need a lawyer if:· You find the simple, excellent

self-help guides confusing. Althoughprocess is less formal in Small Claimsthan in Superior Court, there are still

Rules to follow and forms to completeproperly.· You cannot describe yourclaim, or what your defence is about, bothin writing and verbally.· Your case involves specializedissues like wrongful dismissal; productliability or professional negligence.· The other side is raising tech-nical issues of law.· You do not know how to cal-

culate or prove your damages.· There are expert witnesses, orto find out if you need an expert.· You do not understand therules of evidence as written, or asexplained at a settlement conference.· The other side has a lawyer.· There are seriously conflictingversions of crucial facts; effective cross-examination of the opposing witnessesmay make the difference in winning orlosing. Few self represented people areskilled in cross-examination.

It is not necessary to hire a lawyer to runyour whole case, though many people do.You might just pay the lawyer to give youprocedural advice; or to help write yourclaim; or to help prepare for trial; or toattend trial.

There are many good lawyers, at all levelsof experience, who will charge fees thatreflect the amount in issue as well as thetime required and complexity of the case.

If you win, some of the cost of yourlawyer may be recovered from the otherside.

I am a lawyer who sits part time as adeputy judge hearing cases in SmallClaims Court. These are just my views,not official, and meant for general guid-ance -you need to decide how they fit yourcase.

Do you need a lawyer for your SmallClaims case? Ask yourself, or ask alawyer.

THUNDER BAY BUSINESS JUNE 2012 PAGE 7

Do You Need a Lawyer in Small Claims?

LegalMatters

Many young-minded professionals reallyunderstand the power of networking. Thiswas proven true as nearly 90 guests attend-ed SHIFT’s Annual General Meeting andSpeed-Networking event on Thursday May10th at the Travelodge Hotel Airlane.

This exciting event presented by Investors

Group Financial Services Inc. drew in anarray of various attendees including busi-ness owners and entrepreneurs, health careprofessionals, artists, doctors, lawyers,financial advisors, insurance brokers, realestate agents, students and much more.

The idea of gaining new social and busi-ness contacts in a time efficient mannerreally appealed to this diverse group ofguests. Even Greg Sanders, a 17 year oldentrepreneur and business owner made thetrip from Atikokan to gain new contactswhile promoting his beef jerky productioncompany “What’s Your Beef?”.

More and more individuals as well asemployers are recognizing the importanceof attending networking events and SHIFTThunder Bay’s Young ProfessionalsNetwork is thrilled to offer unique net-working opportunities in our community.While email and social networking toolsare great, people still see the value in mak-ing those face to face connections, even ifit is only for two and a half minutes at atime during the speed-networking shuffle.

As you may know, SHIFT has grown sig-

nificantly over the past year and we nowrepresent over 1000 members. In additionto hosting unique monthly events, SHIFTis providing new opportunities forSHIFTers to make positive contributions toour community focusing on our 5 pillars,Business, Social, Community,Environment and Personal & ProfessionalDevelopment.

We continually take part in many differentcommunity initiatives and we strive toencourage our demographic to getinvolved and voice their opinions onimportant issues in our city.

During our Annual General Meeting, weheld an election where attendees helpedvote Barbara Gauthier, Jon Hendel andWillow Lem to our Board of Directors fora two year term.

As a result, we had to say good-bye tothree of our long-withstanding board mem-bers and founding members of SHIFTJennifer Cleaveley, Sherilyn Krentz andKobi-Lynne Perry. Although they are leav-ing the board they will still remain activelyinvolved with SHIFT sitting on variouscommittees and more.

Our current SHIFT President, NathanLawrence is very excited for the yearahead and has many great ideas to keepmoving our organization forward. Nathanalong with fellow SHIFT Board membersreally pride themselves in engaging ourmembership to help to strengthen thefuture of Thunder Bay.

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. For further information join us onFacebook or visit our website atwww.shiftnetwork.ca to become aSHIFTer, stay current and get involvedwith stimulating events and activities!

Speed-Networking with SHIFT