believes that pesticide use should be regulated at the provincial level to ensure equal, Ontario-wide standards.
NEW SAFETY GROUP LEADS TO WSIB REBATES
Over 60 firms that participated in the Landscape Ontario Safety Groups project received rebates on their premiums paid to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board. The pilot project was so successful that LO established a mini-safety group in each Chapter. “By offering them locally to as many members as possible, we hope more companies will adopt a safety culture in their workplace,” said Terry Murphy, LO’s manager of safety, education and training. “Companies need to realize that workplace accidents are costly. WSIB now places the onus on the employer to get the injured employee back to work,” Murphy said.
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ATTENDANCE CONTINUES TO SOAR AT TRADE SHOWS
4. LAWN CARE INDUSTRY CONCERNED ABOUT SUPREME COURT DECISION
A Supreme Court decision upheld a bylaw passed by the municipality of Hudson, Quebec to ban the use of cosmetic pesticides. All the lawn care industry could do was wait for lawyers to pore through the possible implications of the July 26, 2001 ruling. The ruling came six months after two companies, charged with disobeying the Hudson by-law, disputed the town’s authority to enforce pesticide application. “I don’t think anyone can accurately predict how the next days and months and even years will play out,” said Mike Ufkes, chair of Landscape Ontario’s Lawn Care Commodity Group. “We need to remember, however, that
the Supreme Court ruling is just one battle in a long, drawn-out war,” he said. There was only one thing on the agenda during Lawn Care Commodity Group meetings following the ruling: “Our survival.” “They have won the battle, but I really believe that our side, the side of common sense and good science, will prevail,” Ufkes wrote in the group’s annual report. “It is discouraging that more than 20 municipalities are looking into the banning of pesticides. Like many of you, I am no longer a green-space worker. “I have learned to be a tactician, a political animal, and an (gulp) activist.” Landscape Ontario’s position is that alternatives are welcomed and encouraged, and members should use the least toxic material for the job. LO also
Garden Expo experienced a 34 per cent increase in attendance at its second annual edition in 2001. LO show manager Paul Day said Expo came into existence to fill the void for garden centres, mass merchants and gift stores needing to stock product for the following season. “It is quickly developing a personality and audience quite separate from Congress,” Day said, “and has done this without cannibalizing Congress, which still enjoys a healthy annual growth rate after 29 years.” Earlier that year, Congress featured 12,000 visitors and 700 exhibitors that featured more than 100 new products. Canada Blooms broke attendance records with more than 117,000 visitors. The show featured 38 indoor gardens, 78 speakers and 115 lectures. Blooms’ contributions towards community projects in its five years in existence reached $290,392.
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