November 12, 2020
2020 Sector Group Reports
The scope and mandate — and therefore the needs — of the industry sectors served by Landscape Ontario are distinctly different. The specific requirements of each of these groups are facilitated by the association’s sector group structure. The objective of each sector group is to respond to current concerns resulting from marketplace pressures and government legislation.
Jump to: Garden Centre, Grounds Management, Growers, Hardscape, Irrigation, Landscape Contractors, Landscape Designers, Lighting, Turfgrass Management, Snow and Ice Management
Members:
It almost feels surreal to look back on the year and reflect what the Garden Centre industry, along with Landscape Ontario, and society as a whole, has been through since Fall 2019. As an example, the Ontario Garden Centre Sector Group in the Fall of 2019 was working on trying to bring Garden Centre owners together for the first annual dinner to connect and share experiences. Unfortunately only to discover that many of these operators and managers were still far too busy to justify an event, and we had to cancel it. Fast forward to Fall 2020, and now an event like this cannot happen, and amidst everything, these human connections with peers is what we crave the most.
To the same effect, the pandemic has been both inspirational and devastating. Health Care and frontline workers dedicated countless hours to saving and caring for those around them, surely at a cost to their health, and sadly many families and business have felt the devastating affects of Covid19. Within our industry we have been blessed to see a few more inspirational moments to date. From early lock down, our industry rekindled a collaboration that I had seen years before when we hosted IGCA. Within days, the number of emails circulating to help each other was growing. Tips on best practices, Town Halls to discuss collaboratively what can be done to protect the public and staff, government and media relations demonstrating the importance, safety and vital role independent garden centres have in the market place, and within people’s minds (especially when sequestered to their homes).
Our work, the work of society and everyone providing an essential service is not over. There have been eye watering moments when describing the support and camaraderie of our industry. Special recognition is due to the Landscape Ontario and CNLA teams, the COVID task force, and all front line workers, including the stories we see within the Frontline Hero Garden Makeover.
May we continue to be safe, helpful and leaders in 2021. As always we would love to have more members join us even for the sake of sharing and connecting when you can.
Members:
Growing top quality nursery crops to fulfil industry demand and expectations, requires unlimited passion and focus, even during the best of times. In retrospect 2020 with all its adversity has taught our sector to fine tune how we plan, operate and grow while moving forward safely. Our growers and industry rose to the challenge and will be stronger and safer for it. A tighter knit community formed, thanks to increased peer to peer communication cultivated by Jennifer Llewellyn hosting a weekly “Nursery Grower’s Connecting Call.” So much valuable information was shared and gleaned from these calls. Thanks Jen!
2020 also saw a continued investment toward researching the impact and control of the Box Tree Moth along with various other research projects with an emphasis on water quality and nursery production efficiencies.
On behalf of the Landscape Ontario Grower’s Sector … keep safe, healthy and continue to grow in 2021!
Members:
2020 was challenging to us all. Some contractors report a reduction in business while others saw increased demand. The WSIP program did offer rebates and incentives in 2020 and as of this writing approximately 30 assessments were completed and three controller rebates provided in addition to approximately 400 PRS sprinkler rebates. Hopefully our industry is taking advantage of this program while it is still an option.
The pandemic is leading more end users to ask for “contactless services.” Many contractors are leveraging technology to deliver these options to consumers. This is a great opportunity to modernize our industry, especially as our clients become more tech savvy.
Our December meeting will focus on reaching out to markets outside of the GTA to gain perspective on what is happening in our industry outside of the Toronto area. If you would like to participate in the discussion please don’t hesitate to reach out. The irrigation Sector group is currently working on development of a Winter virtual conference and would love to hear from you if you are working in the irrigation industry. What would you like to learn/discuss or what would help you take your business to the next level?
Members: Thomas Blatter, Herman Ciardullo, Jason Gaw, Peter Guinane, Ed Hansen, Allan Kling, Arvils Luks, Rene Thiebaud, Kurt Vanclief
Future members: You are invited to join — Landscape Contractors are willing to share and help each other deal with issues that affect our sector!
Our Landscape Ontario staff comes up with one word to describe everything they set out to accomplish each year. The past couple have been “Renewal” and “Opportunity.”
The Landscape Contractors Group gets to dive into topics that specifically affect our businesses, even if behind-the-scenes. Words and phrases that occupied our meetings starting in January, February and March sounded like this: Labour Shortage, Workforce Development, Youth Outreach, Apprenticeship Promotion, Employment and Training Hub, Hiring Hall, FARMS (migrant workers), Boot Camps, Professional and Career Development. Other topics included Networking Opportunities, Contractor Lecture Series, Let’s Talk Shop, Canada Blooms and Contractor field trips.
We discussed shared challenges and solutions, including weather (rain, cold and snow), zoning and by-law issues, helping smaller companies develop plans to be profitable, understanding your numbers and estimating.
Then came mid-March, when some of the most giving individuals within our membership, along with unprecedented help from OUR staff, created a Covid-19 Task Force. It was set up to help all LO members navigate through Government programs, new protocols, PPE supplies, business survival techniques for ramping up again. The Task Force then developed a campaign that was especially important to our contracting group: “Don’t Let Your Guard Down.”
Our late summer/fall meetings reflected on some takeaways from business/jobsite practices over the spring and summer, followed by discussions of: GROW, New Entrant Program, Incumbent Worker Program and Employer of Choice Program, Garden Makeover Projects, Congress Connect, Awards of Excellence, Canada Blooms, and Sector Event Week.
I am taking this “Opportunity” and the advantage of this platform to invite all Landscape Contractors to share your challenges, big or small, on any issues dealing with sales, jobsite, paperwork and technology, company strategies or individual challenges. We want to work together to solve these problems and issues that affect all of our businesses!
On that note, we are ready to “Renew” our group, asking as many contractors as possible to join our committee, at no cost :), just your willingness to share and help each other deal with all the issues that affect our sector. I promise you, our Staff at LO will do all the leg work to get the news out, and develop any programs we ask them to; we just need to get together and give them that information!
Looking forward to all your thoughts, Please call or email myself, any member listed above, or inform any LO staff member.
Vice Chair: Ron Koudys
Past Chair: Jen Cuddie
Provincial Board Rep.: Paul Brydges
Members: Andrea Berwick, Margot Byers, Kin Chan, Justin Correia, Erin Crawford-Ellis, Marina Dimitriadis, Beth Edney, Shawn Gallaugher, Brandon Gelderman, Sally Harvey, Sean James, Laura Marsh, Nick Morgante, Joe Salemi, Ron Swentiski, Audrianna VanderWerf, Shirley Wong, Welwyn Wong
2020 started off as always, with our annual Certified Landscape Designers conference at the Landscape Ontario Congress in January. The event was well attended and turned out to be a banner conference. Many new contacts were made, and the membership grew because of it. The speakers were all well-received and a well-rounded series of topics were presented.
Over the past few years, the CLD have had an agreement of support with the Ontario Association of Landscape Architects (OALA), to help them in petitioning the government to allow the creation of a Practice Act for Landscape Architects. In turn, the CLD would obtain the OALA’s support for a Name Act for Landscape Designers. In 2020 the provincial government advised that due to the focus on dealing with the pandemic, the pursuit of the Practice Act was not a priority at that time. A letter was then prepared addressing ownership of the CLD to the Professional Development Committee (PDC) committee. The letter stated that the CLD will continue further discussions with the PDC to develop plans that were requested by CNLA.
The Canadian Landscape Standard is now in circulation with its second edition and we are promoting its use to Municipalities. The soils section has been somewhat problematic, and we have connected with Vineland Research to explore their participation in further development of this portion of the standard. Recognizing how critical soils are in the success of landscape projects, it was felt that we need to couple the science with the practice in a more practical manner. A copy of the CLS is available to all members as a member benefit. Schools will be a great target to incorporate this document by way of placing it into their curriculum. Communities in Bloom is also trying to promote this standard by including it into their rebranding.
The U.S. based, Association of Professional Landscape Designers (APLD) has also expressed interest in sharing and utilizing our Certified Landscape Designers (CLD) exam, certification process and the Landscape Standards. We are in ongoing discussions with them to formalize an action plan to move forward.
The CLD is preparing to move forward with a member drive in 2021. We will initiate a movement to speak with all existing members as well as potential members within the industry. The intent is to create a critical mass of CLD’s in Ontario. Post-secondary schools will be included in this drive, in order to connect with graduates from previous and current landscape programs.
Presentations are ongoing with Universities and Colleges to promote the CLD. A presentation was made to Ryerson University students regarding the purpose of the CLD and a great deal of interest was generated. Fanshawe College, University of Guelph and Humber College are additional institutions that produce potential members.
Moving forward, the CLD will be continuing efforts to grow and discuss the future of our profession as well as the different areas the CLD should focus on.
Provincial Board Rep.: Jamie Riddell
Members: Terry Childs, Frank DiMarco, John Higo, Ron Iserhot, Ken Martin, Don McQueen, Rob Redden, Scott Sim
It certainly has been a challenging year!
The group met online prior to the task force meetings and mainly kept in touch regarding what our various businesses were doing during the lockdown to prepare for opening. We would share the protocols that we were putting in place to prepare and how well things were working while we started the crews back in the field.
Lo was great in bringing in experts to our web meetings to address and explain how to deal with employee relation issues that some of the members were having.
That was the main focus and what was on everyone's minds in the spring and rightly so, I believe the discussion helped the group members prepare for the "new normal."
Once work began the group did not meet as everyone was occupied with catching up in the season.
There was some discussion about presenting a topic on lighting at the virtual Congress - that is a work in progress.
Blooms was not really discussed as there was much uncertainty on what direction the show was taking in the new year.
Kudos to the LO Covid Task Force and the LO team in general for their hard work and quick pivot during this unprecedented year!
Members:
The snow and ice management industry in Ontario is under threat due to the current insurance situation. Liability premiums and claims deductibles are rising at rates never seen before. Insurers are abandoning our industry altogether, and finding coverage, at any price, is becoming increasingly difficult for members performing snow and ice control services.
The focus of the LO Snow and Ice committee for the past couple of years has been seeking solutions to alleviate the problem. We have engaged the services of Earnscliffe, a government relations firm, to assist in getting our collective voice heard at Queen’s Park. Throughout 2020 we have met with various provincial ministries, communicating the seriousness of the issue and three possible solutions for consideration:
COVID-19 forced us to move our annual Snowposium to a virtual event. A full program including presentations on insurance, commercial vehicle safety, liquid applications and salter calibration, and the opportunity to connect with our many valued product and equipment suppliers resulted in over 300 registrants. A special shout out to Keri MacIvor of LO for her tireless efforts in pulling it all together on a ridiculously tight timeframe and to exhibitors and sponsors for their continued support.
A reminder to all Snowposium registrants that content and vendor connection remains available through July 2021.
With respect and thank you to our committee members.
Jump to: Garden Centre, Grounds Management, Growers, Hardscape, Irrigation, Landscape Contractors, Landscape Designers, Lighting, Turfgrass Management, Snow and Ice Management
Garden Centre
Chair: Michael Van DongenMembers:
It almost feels surreal to look back on the year and reflect what the Garden Centre industry, along with Landscape Ontario, and society as a whole, has been through since Fall 2019. As an example, the Ontario Garden Centre Sector Group in the Fall of 2019 was working on trying to bring Garden Centre owners together for the first annual dinner to connect and share experiences. Unfortunately only to discover that many of these operators and managers were still far too busy to justify an event, and we had to cancel it. Fast forward to Fall 2020, and now an event like this cannot happen, and amidst everything, these human connections with peers is what we crave the most.
To the same effect, the pandemic has been both inspirational and devastating. Health Care and frontline workers dedicated countless hours to saving and caring for those around them, surely at a cost to their health, and sadly many families and business have felt the devastating affects of Covid19. Within our industry we have been blessed to see a few more inspirational moments to date. From early lock down, our industry rekindled a collaboration that I had seen years before when we hosted IGCA. Within days, the number of emails circulating to help each other was growing. Tips on best practices, Town Halls to discuss collaboratively what can be done to protect the public and staff, government and media relations demonstrating the importance, safety and vital role independent garden centres have in the market place, and within people’s minds (especially when sequestered to their homes).
Our work, the work of society and everyone providing an essential service is not over. There have been eye watering moments when describing the support and camaraderie of our industry. Special recognition is due to the Landscape Ontario and CNLA teams, the COVID task force, and all front line workers, including the stories we see within the Frontline Hero Garden Makeover.
May we continue to be safe, helpful and leaders in 2021. As always we would love to have more members join us even for the sake of sharing and connecting when you can.
Respectfully submitted,
Michael Van Dongen
Chair, 2019-2020
Michael Van Dongen
Chair, 2019-2020
Growers Group
Chair: Andrew BarbourMembers:
Growing top quality nursery crops to fulfil industry demand and expectations, requires unlimited passion and focus, even during the best of times. In retrospect 2020 with all its adversity has taught our sector to fine tune how we plan, operate and grow while moving forward safely. Our growers and industry rose to the challenge and will be stronger and safer for it. A tighter knit community formed, thanks to increased peer to peer communication cultivated by Jennifer Llewellyn hosting a weekly “Nursery Grower’s Connecting Call.” So much valuable information was shared and gleaned from these calls. Thanks Jen!
2020 also saw a continued investment toward researching the impact and control of the Box Tree Moth along with various other research projects with an emphasis on water quality and nursery production efficiencies.
On behalf of the Landscape Ontario Grower’s Sector … keep safe, healthy and continue to grow in 2021!
Respectfully submitted,
Andrew Barbour
Chair, 2019-2020
Andrew Barbour
Chair, 2019-2020
Irrigation
Chair: Chris Le ConteMembers:
2020 was challenging to us all. Some contractors report a reduction in business while others saw increased demand. The WSIP program did offer rebates and incentives in 2020 and as of this writing approximately 30 assessments were completed and three controller rebates provided in addition to approximately 400 PRS sprinkler rebates. Hopefully our industry is taking advantage of this program while it is still an option.
The pandemic is leading more end users to ask for “contactless services.” Many contractors are leveraging technology to deliver these options to consumers. This is a great opportunity to modernize our industry, especially as our clients become more tech savvy.
Our December meeting will focus on reaching out to markets outside of the GTA to gain perspective on what is happening in our industry outside of the Toronto area. If you would like to participate in the discussion please don’t hesitate to reach out. The irrigation Sector group is currently working on development of a Winter virtual conference and would love to hear from you if you are working in the irrigation industry. What would you like to learn/discuss or what would help you take your business to the next level?
Respectfully submitted,
Chris Le Conte
Chair, 2019-2020
Chris Le Conte
Chair, 2019-2020
Landscape Contractors
Chair: Joe MorelloMembers: Thomas Blatter, Herman Ciardullo, Jason Gaw, Peter Guinane, Ed Hansen, Allan Kling, Arvils Luks, Rene Thiebaud, Kurt Vanclief
Future members: You are invited to join — Landscape Contractors are willing to share and help each other deal with issues that affect our sector!
Our Landscape Ontario staff comes up with one word to describe everything they set out to accomplish each year. The past couple have been “Renewal” and “Opportunity.”
The Landscape Contractors Group gets to dive into topics that specifically affect our businesses, even if behind-the-scenes. Words and phrases that occupied our meetings starting in January, February and March sounded like this: Labour Shortage, Workforce Development, Youth Outreach, Apprenticeship Promotion, Employment and Training Hub, Hiring Hall, FARMS (migrant workers), Boot Camps, Professional and Career Development. Other topics included Networking Opportunities, Contractor Lecture Series, Let’s Talk Shop, Canada Blooms and Contractor field trips.
We discussed shared challenges and solutions, including weather (rain, cold and snow), zoning and by-law issues, helping smaller companies develop plans to be profitable, understanding your numbers and estimating.
Then came mid-March, when some of the most giving individuals within our membership, along with unprecedented help from OUR staff, created a Covid-19 Task Force. It was set up to help all LO members navigate through Government programs, new protocols, PPE supplies, business survival techniques for ramping up again. The Task Force then developed a campaign that was especially important to our contracting group: “Don’t Let Your Guard Down.”
Our late summer/fall meetings reflected on some takeaways from business/jobsite practices over the spring and summer, followed by discussions of: GROW, New Entrant Program, Incumbent Worker Program and Employer of Choice Program, Garden Makeover Projects, Congress Connect, Awards of Excellence, Canada Blooms, and Sector Event Week.
I am taking this “Opportunity” and the advantage of this platform to invite all Landscape Contractors to share your challenges, big or small, on any issues dealing with sales, jobsite, paperwork and technology, company strategies or individual challenges. We want to work together to solve these problems and issues that affect all of our businesses!
On that note, we are ready to “Renew” our group, asking as many contractors as possible to join our committee, at no cost :), just your willingness to share and help each other deal with all the issues that affect our sector. I promise you, our Staff at LO will do all the leg work to get the news out, and develop any programs we ask them to; we just need to get together and give them that information!
Looking forward to all your thoughts, Please call or email myself, any member listed above, or inform any LO staff member.
Respectfully submitted,
Joe Morello
Chair, 2020
Joe Morello
Chair, 2020
Landscape Designers
Chair: Haig Seferian (current)Vice Chair: Ron Koudys
Past Chair: Jen Cuddie
Provincial Board Rep.: Paul Brydges
Members: Andrea Berwick, Margot Byers, Kin Chan, Justin Correia, Erin Crawford-Ellis, Marina Dimitriadis, Beth Edney, Shawn Gallaugher, Brandon Gelderman, Sally Harvey, Sean James, Laura Marsh, Nick Morgante, Joe Salemi, Ron Swentiski, Audrianna VanderWerf, Shirley Wong, Welwyn Wong
2020 started off as always, with our annual Certified Landscape Designers conference at the Landscape Ontario Congress in January. The event was well attended and turned out to be a banner conference. Many new contacts were made, and the membership grew because of it. The speakers were all well-received and a well-rounded series of topics were presented.
Over the past few years, the CLD have had an agreement of support with the Ontario Association of Landscape Architects (OALA), to help them in petitioning the government to allow the creation of a Practice Act for Landscape Architects. In turn, the CLD would obtain the OALA’s support for a Name Act for Landscape Designers. In 2020 the provincial government advised that due to the focus on dealing with the pandemic, the pursuit of the Practice Act was not a priority at that time. A letter was then prepared addressing ownership of the CLD to the Professional Development Committee (PDC) committee. The letter stated that the CLD will continue further discussions with the PDC to develop plans that were requested by CNLA.
The Canadian Landscape Standard is now in circulation with its second edition and we are promoting its use to Municipalities. The soils section has been somewhat problematic, and we have connected with Vineland Research to explore their participation in further development of this portion of the standard. Recognizing how critical soils are in the success of landscape projects, it was felt that we need to couple the science with the practice in a more practical manner. A copy of the CLS is available to all members as a member benefit. Schools will be a great target to incorporate this document by way of placing it into their curriculum. Communities in Bloom is also trying to promote this standard by including it into their rebranding.
The U.S. based, Association of Professional Landscape Designers (APLD) has also expressed interest in sharing and utilizing our Certified Landscape Designers (CLD) exam, certification process and the Landscape Standards. We are in ongoing discussions with them to formalize an action plan to move forward.
The CLD is preparing to move forward with a member drive in 2021. We will initiate a movement to speak with all existing members as well as potential members within the industry. The intent is to create a critical mass of CLD’s in Ontario. Post-secondary schools will be included in this drive, in order to connect with graduates from previous and current landscape programs.
Presentations are ongoing with Universities and Colleges to promote the CLD. A presentation was made to Ryerson University students regarding the purpose of the CLD and a great deal of interest was generated. Fanshawe College, University of Guelph and Humber College are additional institutions that produce potential members.
Moving forward, the CLD will be continuing efforts to grow and discuss the future of our profession as well as the different areas the CLD should focus on.
Respectfully submitted,
Haig Seferian
Chair, 2020
Haig Seferian
Chair, 2020
Lighting
Chair: Carl HastingsProvincial Board Rep.: Jamie Riddell
Members: Terry Childs, Frank DiMarco, John Higo, Ron Iserhot, Ken Martin, Don McQueen, Rob Redden, Scott Sim
It certainly has been a challenging year!
The group met online prior to the task force meetings and mainly kept in touch regarding what our various businesses were doing during the lockdown to prepare for opening. We would share the protocols that we were putting in place to prepare and how well things were working while we started the crews back in the field.
Lo was great in bringing in experts to our web meetings to address and explain how to deal with employee relation issues that some of the members were having.
That was the main focus and what was on everyone's minds in the spring and rightly so, I believe the discussion helped the group members prepare for the "new normal."
Once work began the group did not meet as everyone was occupied with catching up in the season.
There was some discussion about presenting a topic on lighting at the virtual Congress - that is a work in progress.
Blooms was not really discussed as there was much uncertainty on what direction the show was taking in the new year.
Kudos to the LO Covid Task Force and the LO team in general for their hard work and quick pivot during this unprecedented year!
Respectfully submitted,
Carl Hastings
Chair, 2019-2020
Carl Hastings
Chair, 2019-2020
Snow and Ice Management
Chair: Terry NicholsonMembers:
The snow and ice management industry in Ontario is under threat due to the current insurance situation. Liability premiums and claims deductibles are rising at rates never seen before. Insurers are abandoning our industry altogether, and finding coverage, at any price, is becoming increasingly difficult for members performing snow and ice control services.
The focus of the LO Snow and Ice committee for the past couple of years has been seeking solutions to alleviate the problem. We have engaged the services of Earnscliffe, a government relations firm, to assist in getting our collective voice heard at Queen’s Park. Throughout 2020 we have met with various provincial ministries, communicating the seriousness of the issue and three possible solutions for consideration:
- Support of MPP Norm Miller (Muskoka) and his Private Members Bill 118 which asks for changes to the Occupiers Liability Act, reducing the statute of limitation from 2 years to 10 days. The enthusiastic response to our “call to action” to reach out to MPP’s has proven successful as the bill has now moved past second reading and onto committee hearings
- Elimination of hold harmless clauses, as was done in Illinois and other states to help reduce the impact on contractors. This would create a joint liability between contractors and property owners.
- Adoption of a model similar to that in the state of New Hampshire that would require training and accreditation of snow contractors. Once accredited, legislation could absolve contractors from liability unless there is evidence that the contractor failed to make reasonable attempts to maintain accreditation requirements.
COVID-19 forced us to move our annual Snowposium to a virtual event. A full program including presentations on insurance, commercial vehicle safety, liquid applications and salter calibration, and the opportunity to connect with our many valued product and equipment suppliers resulted in over 300 registrants. A special shout out to Keri MacIvor of LO for her tireless efforts in pulling it all together on a ridiculously tight timeframe and to exhibitors and sponsors for their continued support.
A reminder to all Snowposium registrants that content and vendor connection remains available through July 2021.
With respect and thank you to our committee members.
Respectfully submitted,
Terry Nicholson
Chair, 2019-2020
Terry Nicholson
Chair, 2019-2020