Capital


Region on the move


Dorothy Dobbie


“The way to get started is to quit talking and start doing.” – Walt Disney


e’re not here to hold your hand, site selection consultant Greg Wassmandorf said on a tour of Manitoba’s Capital Region last year. We are here to eliminate you. The senior managing director, Global Corpo- rate Services at Newmark Grubb Knight offered those thoughts as a reality check from the tough world out there, pointing out that our Capital Region has to think with one mind and act with one brain to compete if we hope to even get a nibble from many investors and developers. In other words, we had better have our act together and be ready to act as a sin- gle player if we want to be taken seriously as a contender for future development. After a decade and a half of talking and planning and talking some more, Mani- toba’s Capital Region, a partnership of 16 towns and municipalities surrounding and including Winnipeg, is determined to see this happen. While they hope the senior government is on side, they plan to forge ahead and change the gear to drive.


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“It’s time to stop asking permission and to get doing,” says Colleen Sklar, the feisty executive director of the Part- nership of Manitoba’s Capital Region. This starts with a think session on March 9, called Shifting to Drive, intended to stimulate action.


“This idea session is designed to inspire our local businesses and government people by bringing together a group of thinkers and doers who have created for- ward momentum across North America. We hope their ideas will stimulate our lo- cal leaders to take the next step.” Colleen knows that collaboration and co-operation are critical in a population centre that numbers only slightly over 821,000, including Winnipeg’s 705,000. We need to polish our gems and act in concert.


“What are we the best at?” she asks, cit- ing the example of MacDonald which has the most soy crops in the province. “Let’s build on our strengths and support each other, because we will all benefit in the end.” If we produce enough soy beans to justify a new processing plant, then how can the neighbouring communities com- plement this strength? Can we supply qualified labour? Better transportation? Water? Fire services? What?


Colleen is well known for her get-it- done attitude, which understands that the status quo is a choice but not one that results in growth and prosperity. “We can’t be competing against each other,” she says of the towns and regions. “We need to learn how to think and compete globally.”


To help get the message across, she has pulled together a team of eight thinkers and doers. Among the line-up is John Longbottom, Smarter Cities Leader at IBM Canada, who speaks about the importance of shared initiatives among communities and regions in creating a competitive, innovative country. Karen Farbridge, the former mayor of Guelph, Ont., a city of 120,000, has taught courses on urban development and sustainability. She has led many communities to find new, creative and cost effective ways to deliver municipal services. On March 9, each one of the speakers will bring a different perspective designed to ignite action.


4 www.lifestyles55.net


u A century of health care Continued from page 1


“We’ve initiated each of these services in response to community need,” Gordon says.


Many of these services, he adds, are available to patients of all ages. “We provide a lot of care to young adults through our chronic care and communications disorders pro- grams.”


Historically, Deer Lodge has achieved many milestones in medical care, including the first documented account of wheelchair sports any- where in Canada. The first dialysis machine in western Canada was built and operated here, as was the first geriatric pharmacology research unit and geriatric day hospital. The centre began pioneering innovative ortho- pedic surgical techniques the mo- ment it opened – and hasn’t stopped. Gordon, who has been with the Deer Lodge Centre Foundation for 10 years, says what moves him most is the sense of family that binds pa- tients, residents and staff into a com- munity.


“Our staff work so hard and care so much for everyone who comes through those doors. They really get to know the residents and the pa- tients. That makes a profound differ- ence in the lives of those who need us most.”


Ryan McBride is Communications Coordinator at the Deer Lodge Centre Foundation.


Deer Lodge has come a long way in a hundred years. Deer Lodge Centre by the numbers


• 100 years Deer Lodge Centre has been part of our community • 950 staff work at Deer Lodge Centre today • 331 volunteers gave their time to the centre in the past year • 23,064 hours were volunteered at Deer Lodge Centre in the past year • 260 nurses • 429 beds


• 103 veterans reside at Deer Lodge Centre • 700+ people were treated at the operational stress injuries clinic in 2016


u Don't expect full value on your membership Continued from page 1


Walmart which stocks 100,000 items. Some items are here today and gone tomorrow, prompting a feeling of urgency that teaches shoppers to buy now. Nor is finding what you want or need an easy business.


Don’t expect help from the employees filling the shelves. They are as ignorant as you are. This is deliberate. The average shopper here spends 20 per cent more than they planned as they meander through the store looking for items on their list.


Fewer than one in 10 customers leave Costco with in- voices under $10. The average Costco ticket is $136 and about 25 per cent of customers spend $200; another, 18.5 per cent exceed $200 a trip. The average spend at Walmart is only $55, and at Safeway, it’s $41. And yes, the goods are often cheaper. Costco’s aver-


age markup is 14 per cent (varies from as low as eight per cent to 15 per cent). Costco gains much of its profits from memberships, which most people don’t use enough to get a return on the full value, and high volume. You can bet they squeeze their suppliers. Membership fees totted up $2.5 billion in 2016. Costco’s net profits were $15.82 billion on sales of $119.72 billion over that period. Costco doesn’t advertise, saving money on that over- head. Few of their workers are unionized. However, they do offer full time work and steady jobs. Does membership pay for seniors?


If you are single, chances are you will never recoup your basic $55 membership fee, unless you are spend- ing over $2,000 a year. You can also pay $110 dollars for an “executive membership”, which will entitle you to a two per cent rebate, but you need to be a bulk buyer and spend some $5,500 a year to get that reward. Rather than buying a membership, seniors are better off getting a friend to pick up their Kirkland toilet paper, Costco’s number one best-selling product. They sold one billion rolls in 2011 alone.


To get the most out of your membership, don’t renew at renewal time. Instead, stock up just before expiry, then renew later when you are out of goods. In this way you can save 15 to 25 per cent of your membership costs over time and actually reap the benefits of those lower prices. I can’t vouch for how much of this is true, but accord- ing to expert shoppers at Costco, items ending in .97 have been marked down and are on clearance. An asterisk means it’ll be gone soon. Prices ending in .00 indicates the item will be there today only. Price tags ending with .49 or .79 are manufacturers’ specials.


Meanwhile, if you go with that friend, be sure to bring


cash and hand it over to him after you leave the store. They can be very aggressive if they suspect you are “cheat- ing”.


Remember when shopping was a pleasure?


A weekend pleasure used to be a trip downtown to the glo- ries of the big department stores.


A uniformed doorman opened the shining brass doors at the Bay and ushered you in with a smile. Clerks were polite and helpful. You felt welcome and warmly worthy.


Everything was beautifully displayed with elaborate tableaus laid out in huge picture windows. Even if you had no money, a wander through the many floors could furnish an imagina- tion for weeks.


The washrooms were spotless, kept that way by staff dedi- cated to the task; you could sit at a dressing table to repair your makeup.


Trying on clothing was a luxury, with deeply carpeted chang- ing rooms and sparkling mirrors. If you hadn’t got the right size, a friendly employee would search the racks for you. The store smelled good. Everyone was nicely dressed and groomed. Courtesy and service were the watchwords.


Not only does Costco demand your membership card upon entry, they forcefully make you produce your paid slip upon exiting, while they rifle through your purchases claiming they are just trying to ascertain that you have taken all the products you have paid for. I have had an employee physically restrain my shop- ping cart as I went to leave. He held it still, pushing me backwards as I searched for my bill. Apparently, the “right” to check your purchases is part of the member- ship agreement; however their only legal recourse if you refuse the policy is to revoke your membership. (There are some horror stories about employees ganging up on customers when they refused to allow their purchases to be searched; sometimes, the employees have even called the police in an act of intimidation.) It’s very discomfiting to be treated as a possible thief upon leaving your shop- ping “club”.


These then are the wages of lower prices in a world without boundaries. If this kind of treatment doesn’t bother you, you’ll be right at home at Costco (and other box stores); but if you are a fan of the gentle days of the department store, you will hate Costco’s abusive policies and long for a kinder day.


March 2017


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