Page 13 - GBC Fall 2024 ENG

Below: Daniel Pilon (NGCOA Canada President) and Louise Patry (Provincial Council Chair, Golf Canada) pictured after their meeting with MP Joël Godin (Portneuf – Jacques-Cartier, Quebec).
The Honourable Soraya Martinez Ferrada, MP (Hochelaga, MP Blake Richards (Banff – Airdrie, Alberta) also an avid Quebec) and Minister of Tourism in discussions with Jeff golfer, speaking with Jeff Calderwood (CEO NGCOA Canada). Calderwood (CEO NGCOA Canada), Laurence Applebaum
(CEO Golf Canada).
Club Management Association of Canada, Golf Canada, and the Canadian Golf Superintendents Association, the event combined government relations, publicrelations,andthegolfindustrycelebratinggolfacrossthecountry.
The focal point of the government relations strategy was a 1 1⁄2 day event at Parliament Hill. A delegation consisting of the CEOs and Board members from each national golf association traveled to Ottawa for a busy couple of days of engagement with numerous Members of Parliament, Senators and Senior Policy Advisors.
I would summarize our objectives as follows:
• To create better awareness of all golf’s positive contributions
to Canadian society
• To establish golf as a vital industry, not just a great game • To build relationships with key legislative leaders
• To position any federal concerns about legislative matters
The event was managed on our behalf by Impact Public Affairs, a leading GR firm specializing in such advocacy efforts by Canadian associations. Their team did an admirable job of coordinating all of our business meetings and related events, as well as coaching our team of golf executives.
Ourgolfindustrydelegatessplitupintosmallgroupstoenableasmany individual meetings as possible. Over 30 scheduled meetings were conducted, mostly with MPs and Senior Policy Advisors. In all cases, we were very well received and had ample opportunity to discuss our intended priorities.
As NGCOA Canada President, Daniel Pilon, noted, “It was great to see how engaged the Parliamentarians became as we talked about the golf business. Virtually all of them have golf courses in their own ridings and they were impressed to hear about how many people we employ, how much golf raises for charity, and our economic impact, etc.,”
An example from my scheduled meetings that stood out, was the Department of Finance. In that case, I was able to go well beyond our standard messaging to discuss several tax issues that concern golf course operators. That included our opposition to the new capital gains tax exemption, the carbon tax, and our request for proper treatment of business enter- tainment expense deductions for golf.
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