Blue & Gold Bulletin

Guests

George; John O'toole; Nathan

Fifteen members were absent or excused this week:
Gary B; Steve C; Angie D; John C; Reg F; Brett G; Tom H; David U; Gord W; Terry W L/a: ex Paul M; John R; Gloria M; Al Sylvester; Ted W.

Make ups were provided by:
Angie D; Terry W
There are make ups available for those Rotarians that helped with the torch run hot chocolate and the special childrens Christmas party Make up meetings can help you achieve perfect attendance. If you attend Rotary Committee meetings or meetings in other areas please "Keep track and keep Chuck informed".

There were no attendance pins this week.

There were no birthdays to celebrate this week.

There were no anniversaries to celebrate this week.

Ross Metcalf won the free breakfast.

If you would like something put in the bulletin please email Ryan Frank @ ryan.frank@live.ca with the announcement. If the announcement is done at the breakfast I will do my best to get the announcement in the bulletin, but to ensure that all announcement make it into the bulletin please email.

Let the committee know if you plan to bring a guest that intends to join the club.

The Ribfest Sponsorship Committee is looking for potential sponsors for Ribfest 2010. If you have any ideas or suggestions please notify either Wayne Routly or Jennifer Hutchinson.

Remember that the elimination draw tickets have been handed out. If you need more see Chuck C.

UOIT is offering tours of their new ACE facility on the first Thursday of each month at 4pm.

Dues are now due.

Randy Henry was inducted as a new member of the club. For pictures of Randy's investiture, please see the Picture Gallery.

Profit from the Christmas trees is over $9000.

Rotary auction meeting at Clarington Toyota a week from Wednesday.

Wayne R is happy to see George out to a meeting.

Ron B happy to see the Christmas card from John O'Toole.

Al Sylvester passed his driving test.

Steve J was promoted to staff sergeant.

None this week.

John O'Toole

Chuck Cattran (L), John O'Toole, and Fred Mandryk

Today's program saw John O'Toole, MPP for Durham, give us an update on the new HST.

The HST (Harmonized Sales Tax) will come into effect on July 1 2010. When looking a bill such as the HST they have to understand who will be most affected and who will be most affected by the decision to levee a new tax.

The current bill was introduced on November 16 of 2009 and passed on Dec 9. The reason for the new HST is that the province wants to remove itself from taxing capital and instead tax comsumption. This means that we as tax payers will also be getting a break on our personal income tax.

Although we still may end up paying slightly more in taxes in the long run. There is some bad, good and ugly when it comes to the bill as it is expected to hit some people extremely hard. 4.3 billion dollars has been given to the province to give to tax payers to help with some of the initial pressures of the new tax. The first payment to tax payers will come in June before the HST comes into effect. Two more payments will follow over the course of the year.

The draw this week was for $2,155. Linda V pulled the 3 of diamonds, better luck next time!!! Remember you can't win if you don't buy a ticket. Good luck!

Please visit the Upcoming Events and Programs webpage for details.

Prepared by Ryan Frank