Page 6 - Fall 2017 english

Message From The Publisher • Jeff Calderwood
The First Tee
Whatever happened to the free market system that determined what a job was worth based upon a mutual agreement between one person who needed something accomplished and another who wanted to provide that service? It seemed so simple and so fair. Nobody was forced to accept payment below what they felt the job was worth, and nobody was forced to pay more than they felt the job was worth.
If one side of the equation was misreading the true value, the relationship wouldn’t last long, because the collective other side would go elsewhere to fulfill their own needs until there was a correction back to the true market value.
Minimum Increase...Major Impact
Call it free enterprise, capitalism, supply-demand equilibrium, fair market value, or whatever you’d like, but it was a system guaranteed to motivate both parties to get it right.
That all changes when a third party, such as government, steps in to impose artificially set labour costs. The free market gets thrown out of balance and it can damage either the employee, employer, or both.
Unfortunately, sometimes politics trumps (no pun intended) the publicly stated social engineering intentions of such legislation. Sadly, if raising the minimum wage is sure to attract more votes in the short term, and a party is in serious need of votes, the increase is probably going to happen.
Alberta and Ontario are currently experiencing the realities of significantly higher minimum wages being imposed, plus related workplace legislation. Other provinces are likely to follow suit.
The golf industry is more susceptible than most to the potentially negative implications on small businesses. With labour costs dominating our operating expenses and such a high proportion of that being modest income positions, golf courses have a serious challenge to figure out how to manage the impact. Higher prices? Reduced hiring? Compromised service? All of the above?
Our cover story takes dead aim at this sensitive issue. Golf writer Ian Hutchinson profiles the concerns of Alberta and Ontario course operators, as well as the business community at large. The solutions are not easy. Politically, minimum wage is difficult for the business community to successfully lobby against, although the National Golf Course Owners Association Canada is working hard on this advocacy.
Operationally, golf course operators will have to make some tough management decisions, as is the case anytime this kind of legislation goes through. Hutchinson captures numerous perspectives for your consideration.
In addition to the cover story, this issue of Golf Business Canada delivers other strong content that is a must read...staff theft in your F&B department, the next step in Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL), customer expectations vs staffing, Dream Junior Golf Academy, golfers’ experience with your app, 15 decades of Canadian golf, and lots of NGCOA Canada news.
I hope you have an insightful read, all the best for the balance of your golf season, and I’ll see you soon at our Golf Business Canada Conference & Trade Show, November 18-20 in Ottawa, for a deeper dive into all of the challenges and solutions for the Canadian golf industry.
Jeff Calderwood, CEO NGCOA Canada jcalderwood@ngcoa.ca
6 Golf Business Canada