Clocks fall back this weekend, ‘Winesday’, upcoming events

Morning Coffee – By Aaron Hall

Weather forecast from Friday, November 3, 2017 to Sunday, November 5, 2017

Today – Cloudy with 40 percent chance of showers early this morning then a mix of sun and cloud. Wind northwest 20 km/h gusting to 40. High 11. UV index 3 or moderate.

Tonight – Partly cloudy. Becoming cloudy overnight. Low plus 2.

Saturday, November 4 – Mainly cloudy. A few showers beginning in the afternoon. Wind becoming east 30 km/h in the morning. High 11.

Saturday night – Cloudy with 60 percent chance of showers. Low 10.

Sunday, November 5 – Cloudy with 70 percent chance of showers. High 17.

Sunday night – Periods of rain. Low 9.

Daylight Savings Time ends this weekend

It will be time to push your clocks back one-hour this weekend, as Daylight Savings Time comes to an end.

Officially, it ends at 2 a.m. on Sunday, November 5.

So before you go to bed on Saturday, set your clocks back one hour.

Upcoming events

– A broasted chicken dinner is taking place at the Lindsay Road United Church in Dresden from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Adults are $19, children 6-10 are $8, and 5 and under are FREE. Take out is available. Call Sue Cameron at 519-683-4695 for tickets

– The CKRecreation Play Rangers program is coming to Wallaceburg this weekend. The group will be setting up activities on Saturday, November 4 at the Wallaceburg Kinsmen Community Centre from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. There is free admission and children of all ages are welcome.

– The South Wallaceburg Action Team is gearing up for a Community Awareness Day on Saturday, November 4. The event is featuring free food, a child fingerprint identification clinic, PAW Patrol, plus representatives from the Chatham-Kent Fire Department and Chatham-Kent Police Service. It will run from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the 4 Reaume Avenue Community Room. All are welcome to attend.

– A Harvest Home event is being held at the Wilkesport Community Centre on Friday, November 3. A chicken and roast beef dinner and performance by the musical group Mercy will take place! Tickets are $20 for adults, $8 for children 6-12 and FREE for kids 5 and under. Call 519-892-3673 for tickets.

– A Remembrance Day Service is being held at 1 p.m. on Sunday at the Dresden Community Church.

– Looking ahead to next week, a blood donor clinic is taking place at the Dresden Arena on Monday hosted by the Catherine McVean Chapter IODE. It will run from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., visit blood.ca to book an appointment.

– Wallaceburg Christian School is holding their annual fall vendor sale on Monday from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the school. There will be a bake sale, silent auction, craft tables and a complimentary dessert and beverage. There is a $2 entry fee.

– A “Creating Bad Art” program is being held on Tuesday, November 7 at 6 p.m. at the Wallaceburg Branch of the Chatham-Kent Public Library. Don’t know how to paint? Not good at drawing? Just want something to do with your friends? This is the event for you. Visit www.ckpl.ca for details.

– A Veteran’s Day Ceremony is being held on Walpole Island on Thursday, November 9. The service starts at 10 a.m. and will run for approximately 45 minutes. A procession will start at the Bkejwanong Children’s Centre and head down towards the Veteran’s Monument. All are welcome to attend.

– In Dresden on Saturday, November 11, the Remembrance Day parade forms in the parking lot of Branch 113 at 10:45 a.m. and will proceed to the Cenotaph in downtown Dresden. At 11 a.m., two minutes of silence will be held, and act of remembrance and laying of the wreaths. Later that evening at 6:30 p.m., a Remembrance Banquet is being held at Branch 113. Tickets are $13. Call 519-683-4862 for tickets.

– In Wallaceburg On Remembrance Day, a service is being held at Wallaceburg District Secondary School at 9:30 a.m., with the laying of family and business wreaths. At 10:20 a.m. the crowd will march from the high school to the Cenotaph, there will also be a people mover available. At 10:55 a.m., the official service at the Cenotaph will take place with the laying of the Silver Cross and others wreaths, along with government officials speeches and a moment of silence. Following the service, a light lunch will be provided free of charge at Branch 18.

School boards team up with Health Units

The Lambton Kent District School Board and the St. Clair Catholic District School Board have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Chatham-Kent and Lambton Public Health during a meeting held on Oct. 17 involving both school boards and the local heath units.

The school boards have a longstanding partnership with both local health units, who act as advisors on health and education issues.

This agreement formalizes the commitment of Chatham-Kent and Lambton public health and education to work collaboratively to positively influence the lives of children and youth.

“We understand that healthy students are better learners and education is a key determinant of health and wellbeing,” stated Jim Costello, Director of Education for the Lambton-Kent District School Board, in a press release.

“Through continued collaboration, we feel this partnership will support healthier communities.”

“We greatly value our longstanding association with our public health partners and their tremendous support in the promotion of student health and wellbeing,” added Dan Parr, Director of Education for the St. Clair Catholic District School Board.

The partnership promotes healthy school environments through strategic alignment of organizational priorities and planning, where appropriate. The Memorandum of Understanding also encourages information sharing, as well as supports health promotion and protection initiatives for student wellbeing.

‘Crime Prevention Week’ next week

Ontario’s annual Crime Prevention Week runs from November 5 to 11, 2017. The week-long promotion of crime prevention is supported by the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police (OACP), the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services, and all police services across Ontario.

Preventing crimes from taking place is how we build safe communities. Ontario communities are among the safest in the world. But we can’t stand still when it comes to crime. That’s why the Lambton Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) is committed to partnering with community leaders, young people, businesses, and government to prevent crime.”

The OPP has been encouraging our community partners and members to buy into the “Lock It Or Lose It” Program for years. Still, to this day, we field countless calls for service that involve thieves entering unlocked vehicles, garages, sheds and homes. We work hard for what we have. Let’s protect our investment. Please, when possible, always lock your doors, keep valuable items out of sight and report suspicious activity immediately.

Consumer Reports is online at the Library

Consumer Reports, the trusted, one-stop shopping magazine is available online for free with your Chatham-Kent Public Library card.

Inside you’ll find product ratings and reviews, expert buying advice, product comparisons, consumer user reviews, articles, blogs and product videos.

Consumer Reports covers thousands of products from car batteries to snow tires, mattresses to dishwashers, and smart watches to vacuum cleaners.

Simply go to Chatham-Kent Public Library’s website at www.ckpl.ca and click on the Online Database A-Z button.

Consumer Reports online is accessible at the library or wherever you have wifi.

To find out more about online resources at Chatham-Kent Public Library, visit www.ckpl.ca.

Cutting unnecessary red tape in Ontario for businesses

Ontario has passed legislation to make it easier for businesses to grow and create more jobs.

The Cutting Unnecessary Red Tape Act, 2017 will reduce regulatory burdens and practices that cost businesses time and money, while protecting environmental and health standards and ensuring worker safety.

“Cutting red tape, while maintaining the highest safety and environmental protections, is crucial to ensuring that our province’s business climate stays strong,” stated Brad Duguid, Minister of Economic Development and Growth, in a press release.

“This legislation is the product of collaboration across government and businesses to cut red tape. It builds upon the success of the Burden Reduction Act, 2017 and we look forward to continuing to foster a dynamic and innovative business environment by reducing unnecessary red tape for businesses in the province.”

The changes to cut red tape and help small businesses grow include:

– Reducing regulatory costs: Requiring all ministries to offset every dollar of new administrative costs to business by removing $1.25 of old and unnecessary costs, while protecting environmental, health and worker safety standards.

– Streamlining compliance for small business: Ensuring that undue burdens aren’t placed on small businesses when new or amended regulations are introduced, while maintaining robust environmental, health and safety requirements and other public interest protections.

– International or national standards alignment: Increasing harmonization with other jurisdictions and adopting international or national standards, where appropriate, when developing or reviewing regulations.

– Rewarding good actors: Recognizing businesses with good compliance records and lowering their costs by reducing requirements, without compromising the environment health and safety, and other pro tections.

– Electronic transmission guarantee: Providing businesses the option to electronically submit any required documentation to the Government of Ontario instead of more costly paper submissions.

– Reducing fees and other costs: Reviewing licence and registration fees paid with a goal of providing relief to small- and medium-sized businesses.

Cutting unnecessary red tape is part of our plan to create jobs, grow our economy and help people in their everyday lives.

“These changes will make strides to reduce input costs and provide modernized regulatory provisions which support prosperity for businesses of all sizes,” stated Richard Koroscil, Interim President and CEO, Ontario Chamber of Commerce, in a press release.

“Building on the success of the Red Tape Challenge, this legislation demonstrates a positive commitment to ensure the ongoing competitiveness of businesses in our province. To remain competitive, the Government of Ontario must continue to update and modernize business regulations which promote business success and growth, develop the skills of our workforce, and incentivize innovation.”

More details:

– Since 2011, burden reduction initiatives have saved Ontario businesses a total of $152 million and 6.5 million hours, surpassing the province’s goal to save businesses $100 million by the end of 2017. Ontario’s 2017 Burden Reduction Report features 20 government initiatives, including eight new projects that resulted in $22.5 million in cost savings for businesses, and an additional $6.8 million saved through six previously announced projects (or multi-year initiatives) with ongoing impacts.

– The Cutting Unnecessary Red Tape Act, 2017 supports Ontario’s five-year, $650-million Business Growth Initiative that is helping to grow the economy and create jobs by promoting an innovation-based economy, helping small companies scale-up and modernizing regulations for businesses.

– The Burden Reduction Act, 2017 amended more than 50 statutes from 11 different ministries to reduce regulatory burdens and practices that cost businesses time and money, while protecting environmental and health standards and enhancing worker safety. The amendments will provide Ontario businesses up to $31 million in savings every year.

– Ontario’s Red Tape Challenge is an innovative online platform to help identify and eliminate regulatory duplication, lessen compliance burdens, shorten response times and make it easier for businesses and citizens to interact with government. Since 2016, five sector consultations have been completed and the government is acting on 171 recommendations to reduce burdens for businesses.

Photo of the day – Brand new musical ‘Winesday’ coming to Chatham Capitol Theatre

Winesday, a new musical created and performed by Chatham-Kent talent will be onstage at the Capitol for its world premiere production November 7th-9th. Presented by Five Cork Productions, Winesday is not just a musical, but also a wine tasting experience for the audience.

Conceived when sitting around an oversized couch drinking a fair amount of wine, the show is about a group of five friends who get together every Wednesday night. Theoretically they’re meeting for a book club, a yoga class or something else each week, but really they just want to drink wine and talk about their lives. The show is broken into four different “Winesdays” and before each one the audience enjoys a wine tasting – each selected and sponsored by Pelee Island Winery.

Winesday was created by bookwriter/lyricist Jenne Wason and composer Joseph Benoit, who previously collaborated on The Littlest Rockette, which was produced by Theatre Kent at the Chatham Cultural Centre. Wason has written the book and lyrics for several musicals with composer Alan Cancelino including The White Rose and Bingo City, both of which have been produced in New York City.

Before and after earning his music degree from University of Windsor, Benoit has had several of his works recorded and broadcast by Radio-Canada (CBC French) with his Franco-Ontarian pop band awi, as a solo artist and as a guest producer for other Southwestern Ontario artists.

The five friends featured in Winesday are played by Sally Henley, Jamie Johnston, Alysson Storey, Larissa Vogler, and Jenne Wason. Josh Reaume also makes a special appearance. Johnston and Vogler are co-directing the piece, working alongside musical director Tom Overton, who has partnered with Johnston on several local productions including Spamalot and White Christmas. Overton is conducting the band, which includes Benoit on piano/keyboard, Jim Brown on guitar and banjo, John Revell on bass and Dan Davidson on drums. Keeping the cast and crew organized is Stage Manager Tracy Morton.

Co-director/performer Jamie Johnston said, “It’s been wonderful working on this piece with friends – and bringing a new show to life is incredibly exciting. All of the wine “research and training” we’ve needed to do during the rehearsal process hasn’t hurt the experience either!”

The three shows at the Capitol are being performed in a cabaret setting where the audience is seated at tables onstage. The premiere run of Winesday has been sold out for a few weeks, but the production team is in talks to bring the show to other venues in the region in the near future. For more information visit http://www.winesdaymusical.com.