Ottawa business journal 20150817

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Tech entrepreneur Bob Huggins has added a new title to his resume: filmmaker > PAGES 12-13

August 17, 2015 Vol. 18, NO. 20

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Southern comfort?

Tourism officials still waiting for a boost in visitor traffic from U.S. despite loonie’s falling fortunes. > PAGE 3

Peter Senecal, the owner of Glebe Video International, says his store is still profitable despite stiff competition from the likes of Netflix. PHOTO BY MARK HOLLERON

Video holdouts not fading to black City’s last remaining movie rental outlets a labour of love for film fans who run them Neighbourhood stores are more than just a business, their owners say — they are ‘kind of a community meeting place’ > PAGES 6-7

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Caught in a jam OBJ columnist Michael Prentice thinks he might have a solution to city’s growing traffic woes. > PAGES 8-9 Canada Post Publications Mail: Agreement No. 41639025

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Beau’s Brewery team works and plays at Calabogie Peaks Resort

Ottawa Valley getaway proves ideal environment for corporate retreat

I

f you know anything at all about the team from Beau’s All Natural Brewery, you’ll know that they like to work hard then relax with a little playtime.

Their recent quarterly sales meeting at Calabogie Peaks Resort provided the perfect setting to do both.

“Our team of 25 gathered for two nights at Calabogie just before the end of the ski season,” explains Steve Beauchesne, chief executive officer of the successful craft brewing company headquarted in Vankleek Hill, east of Ottawa.

“We chose Calabogie because we felt it had everything we needed in an event destination. Plus, some of our team members had been there recently and they were impressed by the improvements that have been made to the resort in the past few years. It was a pretty easy decision for us, as a family-owned business, to choose a local, family-run resort for our sales conference.”

MONDAY, AUGUST 17, 2015

“We had a very busy meeting agenda including training, reviewing sales figures and setting the objectives for the next quarter,” he adds. “Of course, rewarding our hard-working sales team as well as team building and team bonding were high on the agenda too. We have been growing so quickly that there are always new faces, so a session like we had at Calabogie is a great way to integrate new employees into the team.”

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Beauchesne notes that having their retreat at Calabogie Peaks was particularly effective not only because the resort is conveniently located just an hour from Ottawa but also because it is so self-contained. “When we hold similar events in a city’s centre, the team tends to sprawl out and we can start to feel a little disconnected. We found it very constructive to have everyone stay in the same hotel and enjoy being together the whole time. It fostered a real sense of collaboration and connectedness.”

While the Beau’s team admittedly had a very packed agenda, Beauchese says with the support of the Calabogie staff they were able to get through everything in plenty of time to enjoy their planned

“We’ve already decided we’d like to go to Calabogie Peaks once a year now because our retreat was a ton of fun and such a success.”

- Steve Beauchesne, CEO of Beau’s All Natural Brewery

leisure activities. “It was great because when we’ve held similar events in other locations sometimes either the team bonding suffers or the productivity suffers, but at Calabogie we were able to have a very productive sales meeting, and then kick back and have some fun afterwards.

The combination of work and play made for a truly memorable sales meeting.”

Unsurprisingly, recreation was high on the agenda for the Beau’s team. “The hot tub was a big hit and we actually got the whole group out on the ski hill, which was super.

Everyone had a wonderful time, and to experience this as a team was great. We had a wide mix of skills in the group but even the novices like me who hadn’t been on skis in many years had a great time on the slopes, as did the expert skiers in our crew. ” Beauchesne makes particular mention of the fact that while the resort may appear compact at first glance, you shouldn’t be deceived into thinking it will be cramped.

“We felt like there was ample room to accommodate us and give us lots of

space for our meetings. This is especially important when you are discussing confidential sales data so we appreciated the opportunity to enjoy some privacy without losing out on easy access to all the other facilities, including the excellent dining room and all the outdoor amenities.”

The perceived sense of value in holding an event at Calabogie is enhanced by the resort’s many offerings, he says. “The value is definitely there – having a ski hill and everything else right at your meeting site changes the dynamic in a big way. The fun that everybody had really helped them focus when it was time to get down to work. We were extremely happy with the value received for what it cost us to hold our event at Calabogie.”

Beauchesne noted that the staff at Calabogie were a big part of his event’s success. “The service was very good and in fact I would say it was somewhat intuitive.

They recognized we were there to have fun and get work done. As a result, they had fun with us and allowed us to have

our fun without interrupting the flow of what we were trying to accomplish. We had shared our goals beforehand with the Calabogie team and they helped make sure we achieved them.”

Beauchesne is quick to respond to the question of whether or not he’d take the Beau’s team back to Calabogie. “In the past we’ve typically rotated to various destinations all over the province but we’ve already decided we’d like to go to Calabogie Peaks once a year now because our retreat was a ton of fun and such a success.”

His advice to an organization considering Calabogie as the location for their conference? “Plan for an extra day so you can have more leisure time. We were really glad we decided to book the second night – having additional playtime made for a much more memorable experience for everyone on our team.”

To book your next corporate event at Calabogie Peaks Resort, please visit www. calabogie.com or call 1.800.669.4861.

TOURISM

H O T E L • E X T E N D E D S T AY sohomet.com

300 lisgar street

613 558 8747

No big boost from falling dollar Local industry yet to see major bump in visitor traffic from U.S. despite plunging loonie know, Ottawa is just a little bit too far to really draw heavily from a drive-in market from the U.S.,’” Mr. Ball says. “Not like Buffalo and Toronto, for example, where it’s just right across the border.”

BY DAVID SALI david@obj.ca

P

ennsylvania native Joe Kowalski knows a thing or two about the travel habits of American tourists, particularly family and friends back home in the Keystone State.

And unfortunately for the owner of Ottawa City Rafting, most of their vacation plans right now don’t involve a trip to Canada – despite the fact the U.S. dollar is currently worth a hefty $1.30 in Canadian currency.

“The passport requirement for Americans trumps all that,” says Mr. Kowalski, who also owns Wilderness Tours Adventure Resort northwest of the city.

When the loonie was languishing below 70 cents US in the 1990s, tourists from south of the border flocked to his whitewater rafting camp, but “that was before 9/11,” he says.

The longtime tourism entrepreneur remains “cautiously optimistic” that this year’s numbers will be a significant improvement over a slow 2014, “but it’s nothing like the good old days,” he says.

“They’ll never come back.”

Familiar face takes Ottawa Tourism’s helm

Surveying the local tourism landscape from his downtown Ottawa office, Steve Ball also has to look hard to find any kind of jump in visitor traffic from our southern neighbours.

The president of the Ottawa Gatineau Hotel Association recently asked more than a dozen hoteliers in the capital if they’d seen a boost in business thanks

– STEVE BALL, PRESIDENT OF THE OTTAWA GATINEAU HOTEL ASSOCIATION

Still, he’s confident that there will be dividends down the road resulting from the new “Connecting America” media campaign spearheaded by Destination Canada, a federal Crown corporation formerly known as the Canadian Tourism Commission that markets the country to foreign travellers.

“Our expectation is when we actually start alerting Americans that the dollar is really advantageous that we should see some uptake,” he says. “We’re optimistic that the future is going to be rosy if the exchange rate stays the same – once we actually start marketing that fact a little more aggressively.”

OTTAWA HOTEL ROOM NIGHTS SOLD BY CUSTOMER PLACE OF ORIGIN

2015

2014

APRIL

MAY

JUNE

APRL

MAY

JUNE

Ontario

81,553

112,441

102,961

84,510

111,444

105,057

Quebec

26,774

39,589

37,609

26,381

38,265

33,299

Other Canada 73,867

81,261

91,932

69,310

79,863

93,679

NY

1,602

2,317

2,719

1,623

1,931

1,567

Other U.S.

14,836

19,223

17,204

14,822

18,352

17,207

Other Int’l

9,644

13,296

16,659

8,460

10,727

11,900

03 OBJ.CA

discussing, to continue to not take our eye off the long term, given the time and attention we’re spending with 2017.”

He’s also hoping to galvanize Ottawa Tourism’s relationship with the Shaw Centre in an effort to draw more national and foreign business to the city’s main downtown convention facility.

“My sense is the two organizations are poised to work even more closely together than they have in the past,” he explains.

“I think all of the indications I’ve had to date are extremely positive with respect to the leadership that (new CEO) Nina (Kressler) is bringing to the Shaw Centre and the manner in which her team and the team here are working together.”

Mr. Brown says he also hopes a new series of national television advertising spots produced for Ottawa Tourism and narrated

by CBC personality Rick Mercer will generate additional buzz about the capital.

Featuring the tagline “Ottawa: This is Your Place,” the 30-second commercials highlight such iconic tourist destinations as Parliament Hill, the Rideau Canal and the Canadian Museum of History.

Mr. Buckley’s permanent successor is DICK BROWN expected to be named by FILE PHOTO the end of the year.

to the sinking loonie. The response was anything but a resounding yes.

“Many of the respondents said that they’re not seeing any increase from last year, although there are some bright spots,” he says. “I think it’s too early to say there’s a trend of increased U.S. visitation.”

In fact, he singled out one hotel that decided it wasn’t worth it to target American tourists at all. Instead, it focused its marketing efforts close to home in Quebec and Ontario and saw “huge increases” in the number of travellers who opted for a domestic holiday rather than head to the United States and take a 30 per cent hit in the wallet, he says.

“That was pretty smart of them, I think,” he says.

Others in the tourism industry noted that business travel from the United States tends to pick up in the fall, he adds, and still others suggested that Ottawa is simply not close enough to major U.S. population centres to benefit from cross-border “rubber tire” tourism traffic.

“Somebody commented that, ‘You

MONDAY, AUGUST 17, 2015

When Dick Brown stepped down as president of the Ottawa Gatineau Hotel Association last year after 14 years at the helm, he figured his days on the business side of tourism were over.

But he soon found out that, as John Lennon once wrote, life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans. When Ottawa Tourism chair Geoff Publow phoned him last month to ask if he’d be interested in replacing outgoing president and CEO Noel Buckley until a permanent chief executive could be found, he didn’t need much time to think about it.

“I was quite literally just starting to get used to being retired,” Mr. Brown says with a chuckle. “I was flattered to be asked to help out, and here I am.”

Although he was disappointed to hear Mr. Buckley was leaving his post, he says he wanted to “maintain the momentum” his friend had generated at Ottawa Tourism, particularly in helping plan the city’s 2017 celebrations.

The organization must also guard against a 2017 “hangover,” he says, and seek ways of keeping the capital at the forefront of travellers’ thoughts long past the country’s 150th birthday.

“After 2017, we’ve still got to do business, so let’s try to ensure that there’s a big drop in volume after the year of celebration,” Mr. Brown says. “That’s a point that’s we’ve been

The Ottawa Gatineau Hotel Association’s Steve Ball hopes the low loonie has an upside. FILE PHOTO

“Somebody commented that, ‘You know, Ottawa is just a little bit too far to really draw heavily from a drivein market from the U.S.’ Not like Buffalo and Toronto, for example, where it’s just right across the border.”

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Ottawa 2.0

Photo credit : Rideau Centre

The ramp-up to 2017 is putting a fresh and exciting face on the nation’s capital

Ottawa isn’t the city it used to be.

I

n the past few years, we’ve seen the arrival of upscale shopping venues, the revitalization of Lansdowne Park, new sports franchises and world-class exhibits at local museums. But these are only the beginning.

MONDAY, AUGUST 17, 2015

“It’s a really exciting time to be in local tourism,” said Jantine Van Kregten, Director of Communications at Ottawa Tourism. “The focus on the Sesquicentennial in 2017 has sparked a lot of revitalization projects to spruce up Canada’s Capital Region.”

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04

attractions and the expected reopening of the Canada Science and Technology Museum, is complementing a number of projects, large and small. Various sectors of the local economy have made big strides that will enhance the visitor experience for 2017 and the years to follow.

Shop till you drop Take retail.

“In the past five years, Ottawa has really upped its retail game,” Van Kregten said.

Considering how much of Ottawa’s tourism traffic is repeat visitors from neighbouring cities and the U.S., it’s vital that it always have something new to offer.

With the arrival of Tanger Outlets, the multimillion-dollar reinvestment at Rideau Centre anchored by the arrival of Nordstrom and other high-end brands, and new venues at Lansdowne, residents and tourists alike have more choice than ever before.

Call it fortuitous happenstance. The ramp up to that big birthday bash in 2017, demonstrated by new cultural

And then there are of course the continued efforts by local Business Improvement Areas, such as the Glebe

and Wellington West, to revitalize Ottawa’s urban core and add to the historical character of the city.

2017 is just the beginning

Visionary infrastructure projects promise that the legacy of 2017 will live on, just like Canada’s Centennial in 1967. Phase 1 of the LRT Confederation Line is well underway with Phase 2 sure to follow. The long overdue redevelopment of LeBreton Flats by the National Capital Commission, and of the old Domtar Lands by Windmill Developments, will create a dynamic new waterfront on the Ottawa River to complement the Rideau Canal.

Word on the winning redevelopment plan for the 21.6-hectare LeBreton Flats site is expected by the middle of next year.

Meanwhile, the $1-billion Domtar Lands project is already moving ahead with Phase 1. Full redevelopment of the 15-hectare site is expected to take 10-15

years. Named Zibi, after the Algonquin word for “river,” it will include a mix of commercial and retail properties, condos, a hotel, waterfront parks, open spaces and pedestrian and cycling paths.

For the team at Ottawa Tourism, it’s important that all this transformation and redevelopment be used to showcase all Ottawa has to offer visitors every year, not just in 2017.

“The beauty of Ottawa is that we do have a well-rounded offering of activities and diversions across the spectrum, many of them free and family friendly,” Van Kregten said. “We want people who come here in 2017 to know that Bluesfest, or Winterlude or the ByWard Market is wonderful every year.”

But wait, that’s not all

For more information on great things to see and do in Ottawa, please visit www.ottawatourism.ca or follow on Twitter, @Ottawa_Tourism.

TOURISM

ARTIST’S RENDERING COURTESY DENNIS JACOBS

Builder eyes suite new hotel plan South-end Hilton would add to Ottawa developer’s stable of airport lodgings

A

“I think everybody that’s trying to build hotels wants them open for 2017, but whether that’s a possible goal, at this point it’s not clear.”

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05 OBJ.CA

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MONDAY, AUGUST 17, 2015

project has no price tag yet. Manor Park had originally proposed a four-storey david@obj.ca apartment building on the site, but that plan was put on hold. n Ottawa developer that recently Mr. Jacobs said with the builder’s unveiled plans to build a new other airport hotels operating at near Holiday Inn on King Edward capacity and the Southway Hotel’s Avenue is now aiming to open a south-end soon-to-be-completed conversion to hotel catering to business travellers in time a retirement residence, the need for for the city’s 2017 celebrations. another lodging close by for air travellers Manor Park Management wants to was clear. turn its property at the corner of Paul “There’s definitely a good market,” he Anka Drive and Dean Martin Crescent said. “It certainly provides a convenient into a Homewood location for Suites by Hilton travellers. Because with 93 fully they’re suite-type furnished units, a hotels, it allows pool, fitness centre, for travelling meeting room and businesspeople breakfast cafe. in particular to The new set up an office, building would add so to speak, while to the developer’s they’re here doing other hotel projects business in the near the airport, neighbourhood.” which include While the Holiday Inn commercial Express & Suites establishments and Hampton Inn such as banks and on nearby Gibford restaurants are – DENNIS JACOBS, CONSULTANT TO MANOR Drive. While there currently allowed PARK MANAGEMENT is no clear target at the 3605 Paul date for construction to begin, the Anka Dr. site, Manor Park is asking for builder hopes to open the new Hilton the property to be rezoned to allow for facility in time to cash in on an influx of the construction of a six-storey hotel travellers expected to celebrate the 150th with a maximum height of 17 metres. anniversary of Confederation.

The company said the footprint of the “I think everybody that’s trying to proposed hotel would be similar to that build hotels wants them open for 2017, of the previously planned apartment but whether that’s a possible goal, at this building. point it’s not clear,” said Dennis Jacobs, In addition to the nearby hotels, a the private consultant who wrote the Petro-Canada station sits immediately application. north of the site, while an A&W fast food The developer is still talking to outlet and a Lone Star restaurant are just potential construction managers and the to the northeast.

BY DAVID SALI

NEW HOLLAND WANTS

ENTREPRENEURSHIP Local video rental stores staying in the picture Passionate movie fans/business owners beat the odds to keep independent neighbourhood shops alive

BY DAVID SALI david@obj.ca

W

“It’s kind of a community meeting place.

When people come in, many of them want to kind of run the gamut from just joking around to talking about the weather to talking politics to discussing film to discussing recent books.”

– PETER SENECAL, OWNER OF GLEBE VIDEO INTERNATIONAL

suspect the possibility of a revival of film rentals and DVD rentals in the future, somewhat analogous to the revival of vinyl (records).”

That experience of thumbing through movie titles and chatting about film remains alive and well at the small Bank

Street shop. The DVDs, Blu-ray Discs and VHS tapes (yes, he keeps thousands of cassettes, and he says people still rent them all the time) are sorted in a range of categories, from new releases to country of origin and director.

Continued on page 7

OBJ.CA

MONDAY, AUGUST 17, 2015

hen film buff Peter Senecal is asked if he ever feels a bit like Gary Cooper in High Noon, he chuckles.

Like Mr. Cooper’s iconic character in the classic 1952 western, sheriff Will Kane, Mr. Senecal is a virtual army of one facing long odds. He is the owner of one of the few remaining movie rental stores in town, Glebe Video International, and the long-term prospects for his industry would seem about as bleak as High Noon’s New Mexico desert backdrop.

The rise of Netflix and other online movie streaming services has killed off his big-box competitors such as Blockbuster, not to mention most of the other momand-pop rental outlets as well.

When Mr. Senecal bought Glebe Video from founder Robert Lecuyer two years ago, it was one of five such stores left in the downtown core. Following the demise of Elgin Video earlier this summer, it is now the last one standing.

But Mr. Senecal believes its days are far from numbered. While business isn’t exactly booming, it’s hardly dying, either.

In fact, he says, he continues to sign up new members every day, including more than a dozen on a recent weekend.

“We have people who are in there daily, we have people who are in there a few times a week renting more than a few films,” he says during a conversation over a beer at a Preston Street pub. “This I hear more than a few times a week: we have, in their words, a precious resource.”

The old-fashioned video store still has several advantages over its high-tech rivals, he argues.

For one thing, he says, Glebe Video gets new releases faster than most streaming services. And he claims Netflix can’t touch his store’s broad selection of foreign and classic films (he’s not sure exactly how many titles he owns, but says it’s somewhere around 18,000).

A lot of customers also rely on his staff’s encyclopedic knowledge of film to help them make their viewing choices, he adds.

In fact, so important are longtime employees Cal Cheney and Paul Green 06 to the store’s success, he says he refused to buy the business until he was assured they would stay on. Newcomer Patrick Nixon-Irwin rounds out the staff.

“Many of our members, as they come through the door, they ask us for suggestions,” says Mr. Senecal, a former Grade 7 and 8 English teacher. “They want to be certain if they have two hours on a Friday or Saturday night, that they’re going to enjoy those two hours and get the most out of it. They might name a particular European director … or it might be more general in terms of new releases. What I hear from them time and again is, ‘You’ve never let us down yet.’”

And there are the less obvious attractions of renting movies the old-school way. He says people are abandoning streaming services and coming back to his store because they “miss the tactile experience of having that display case in their hand” and reading about the movie before renting it.

“It’s actually one of the reasons I have hope for the future of this business. I

Peter Senecal says he bought Glebe Video International in large part because of his passion for movies. PHOTOS BY MARK HOLLERON

Continued from page 6 Every genre under the sun is represented, from dramas to film noir.

A treasure trove of classics from Mr. Senecal’s favourite era – the 1930s to the ’50s – includes timeless works such as Howard Hawks’s 1938 screwball comedy Bringing Up Baby and Fritz Lang’s chilling 1931 crime masterpiece, M. In short, it’s nirvana to a cinephile.

But Mr. Senecal says it’s something even more important than that.

“It’s kind of a community meeting place,” he explains. “When people come in, many of them want to kind of run the gamut from just joking around to talking about the weather to talking politics to discussing film to discussing recent books. It’s really charming how sometimes families will meet in there … and will spend an hour there discussing with each other before they decide on a film.”

In many ways, it’s a throwback to a different era, and customers say they wouldn’t want it any other way.

“We really like coming here because it’s a local business,” says Laura Bergen, who rents movies at Glebe Video a couple of times a month, often with her 14- and 11-year-old boys. “They’re really knowledgeable about their material.

They’ve got a good selection, and we’ve been coming here for a long time.

They’re a fantastic resource.”

A few kilometres away in Ottawa south, loyal customer support has also spared Movies ’n Stuff, another locally owned business, from suffering Blockbuster’s fate.

“We hold our own – always have,” says store manager Peter Thompson, whose parents Barry and Samira opened the family’s first video store in the early ’80s.

While the likes of Netflix and online downloading of movies have cut into rentals, he says there is still a core of film fans who prefer to browse the store’s 8,000 or so titles the way they used to.

“We still maintain a pretty steady business at all times,” Mr. Thompson says. “It definitely makes you feel like you’re contributing something to the community, which is good.”

Whether that loyalty will help the few remaining neighbourhood shops survive in a marketplace that brought much larger competitors to their knees remains to be seen. But one thing seems certain: like the hero of High Noon, they won’t go down without a fight.

“I can only tell you that we’re in the black now and there are hopeful signs with regards to the future,” Mr. Senecal says. “I can foresee myself doing this, as long as we can keep the business healthy, for the next 10 years.”

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OBJ.CA

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COMMENTARY Great River Media 250 City Centre Ave., Suite 500 Ottawa, Ontario, K1R 6K7 obj.ca PUBLISHER Michael Curran, 238-1818 ext. 228 publisher@obj.ca SENIOR VICE-PRESIDENT OF SALES Don Mersereau, 238-1818 ext. 286 CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER Terry Tyo, 238-1818 ext. 268 EDITOR, PRINT CONTENT David Sali, 238-1818 ext. 269 david@greatriver.ca EDITOR, ONLINE CONTENT Tom Pechloff, 238-1818 ext. 291 editor@obj.ca COPY EDITOR Krystle Kung CREATIVE DIRECTOR Tanya Connolly-Holmes, 238-1818 ext. 253 creative@obj.ca ART DEPARTMENT Jamie Dean, 238-1818 ext. 278 jamie@greatriver.ca Regan VanDusen, 238-1818 ext. 254 regan@obj.ca ADVERTISING SALES Wendy Baily, 238-1818 ext. 244 wbaily@obj.ca

Railing against Ottawa traffic

Alison Stewart, 238-1818 ext. 226 alison@obj.ca

The much-ballyhooed LRT project isn’t going to solve commuters’ woes, Michael Prentice says – but he’s offering a couple of suggestions that might

MARKETING & SALES CO-ORDINATOR Cristha Sinden, 238-1818 ext. 222 cristha@greatriver.ca

O

MONDAY, AUGUST 17, 2015

ttawa’s traffic congestion is growing worse, and I believe I have a solution.

It is this: build a highway bypass on the city’s southern outskirts and ban, or severely restrict, truck traffic through downtown.

I don’t expect either of these things to happen – at least, not in the next 20 years. But unless we take drastic action in the near future, I believe Ottawa’s traffic will become as nightmarish as it is today in Toronto.

OBJ.CA

08

confirm that a billion is a thousand million. So every billion spent on light rail costs every person in this city more than $1,000. Yes, provincial and federal taxpayers are helping foot the bill, but that’s us, too.

I don’t begrudge this cost. Arguably, such a system reflects Ottawa’s growing size and maturity. But I don’t believe light rail will greatly alleviate Ottawa’s growing road traffic problems, because most rail travellers will be those who now take a bus.

For years, the knock on a southern bypass was that it would encourage “urban sprawl.”

That’s nonsense. Sprawl is just an ugly word for growth, a favourite of those rich enough to live close to downtown.

Heck, if it helps to get it done, let’s make this southern bypass a toll road, just as they have done in Toronto.

We, the 900,000-plus citizens of this city, are spending billions of dollars on a light-rail system that could see fast and efficient train service between Bayshore in the west and Place d’Orleans in the east by 2023.

I just checked the dictionary to

And those traffic woes are all too real.

According to the latest survey from GPS manufacturer TomTom NV, the average Ottawa commuter spent about 85 hours stuck in traffic in 2014, up from 81 hours a year earlier. The study said the capital had the 10th-highest rate of traffic congestion in North America, just behind San Jose and Toronto.

Ottawa’s traffic headaches are

compounded by the fact the city sits on Ontario’s border with Quebec. Many of the trucks that rumble through the heart of downtown began their journey in Quebec and end their journey in Quebec.

Ottawa’s truck problem is mostly a Quebec problem. But it has proved impossible to get agreement among the federal government and the two provincial governments on whether to build, or where to build, one or more new highway bridges across the Ottawa River.

Ideally (strictly from a traffic viewpoint), there would be two new interprovincial bridges, one in the east end, one in the west end. But no one wants a bridge built anywhere near his or her neighbourhood.

Arguably, Quebec would benefit most if there were one or two new bridges, and it should pay the bulk of the cost.

Ottawa is an east-west city stretched out along the Ottawa River and the Queensway is the preferred route for most motorists headed downtown or going from one part of the city to another.

It would greatly ease Queensway congestion if trucks passing through the city were compelled to avoid this downtown route. And that’s where the southern bypass makes sense. Such a bypass would also be an alternative route for lots of motorists travelling east-west across the city.

Continued on page 9

Susan Salsbury, 238-1818 ext. 229 ssalsbury@obj.ca

INSIDE SALES SUPPORT Marc Nordemann-Keller, 238-1818 ext.259 marc@obj.ca CAREER ADVERTISING & MARKETPLACE ADVERTISING SALES 238-1818 ext. 251 VICE-PRESIDENT OF OTTAWA BUSINESS EVENTS Susan Blain, 238-1818 ext. 232 susan@ottawabusinessevents.ca FINANCE Jackie Whalen, 238-1818 ext. 250 jackie@greatriver.ca SUBSCRIPTIONS/DISTRIBUTION 238-1818 ext. 248 subscribe@obj.ca PRINTED BY Transcontinental Qualimax 130 Adrien-Robert, Parc Industriel Richelieu Gatineau, QC J8Y 3S2

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READER COMMENTS Readers give hotel proposal thumbs-up Re: “Morguard proposes new hotel, apartment at 361 Queen St.” (July 21 on obj.ca) Wow. This IS news. Congrats to Morguard for taking this leap of faith. I guess the numbers simply didn’t add up to renovate. Although esthetically the building still looked good (a testament to Robert Campeau, who originally developed the property back in the mid1970s), I had heard rumours of mould in the hotel especially. I assume Morguard decided against completely renovating it and starting from scratch. What will be interesting to see is who runs the hotel. Perhaps a five-star hotel chain is coming to Ottawa? Ritz-Carlton, Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, Trump??

I’m sure Morguard has someone lined up and they aren’t doing this on spec.

I’m sure the neighbours next door at Cathedral Hill can’t be too happy with this proposal, which undoubtedly will affect their views of Parliament Hill. But again, no one “owns” the view plane.

Good luck to Morguard. I’m looking forward to the finished product!

– Peter Quinlan Let’s hope this building creates stunning views from inside and also outside. The buildings there now are not only ugly but block the view of Wellington from south of Queen. Much like 150 Elgin, buildings can become very attractive to the skyline, to the street pedestrians and to the inhabiters.

This is great news. With the closure of at least three hotels in the downtown, Ottawa has been short on rooms and meeting space. The National had good meeting space. Hopefully, this new development will incorporate this so it can keep Ottawa competitive for winning conference business. A Hilton would be a great addition to that area.

– AJ Looks great! Anything to spice up downtown Ottawa like this is a definite bonus!

– John Ostris

after a recent visit to southwestern Ontario via Toronto. Travelling across Toronto on the 401 is now a hellish experience that I never wish to repeat.

Much of the 401 through Canada’s largest city has three express lanes in each direction. These lanes are segregated from so-called collector lanes of traffic entering or leaving the highway.

Of the three express lanes, the left is reserved for high-occupancy vehicles with three or more occupants and the other two lanes are occupied by constant streams of trucks, an alarming number of which veer dangerously close to the dividing line.

Never wanting to experience that again, my wife and I opted for the privately operated 407 toll road, just north of Toronto, on the return trip. We have not yet received the bill for this stretch of about 100 kilometres, but I expect it to be almost $30.

MONDAY, AUGUST 17, 2015

09

Michael Prentice is OBJ’s columnist on retail and consumer issues. He can be contacted at news@obj.ca.

OBJ.CA

Continued from page 8 For years, the knock on a southern bypass was that it would encourage “urban sprawl.” That’s nonsense.

Sprawl is just an ugly word for growth, a favourite of those rich enough to live close to downtown.

Believe it or not, a southern bypass already partially exists. Look at a map and you will see that Highway 417 in the east end runs almost north-south on the approach to the city from Montreal.

Highway 416 from Toronto in the west end also runs almost north-south. Thus, it would be possible to create a highway ring road on the city’s southern outskirts, running south of the Ottawa airport, by building a link between Highways 416 and 417.

If trucks were prohibited from using downtown as a shortcut to or from Quebec, it would be up to the Quebec government to decide whether to take the initiative to build a new interprovincial bridge on Ottawa’s outskirts.

I got to thinking of a toll road as a partial solution to Ottawa’s traffic woes

Also, I would just demo the 12-storey office building too ... might was well make AAA office space and revamp the whole block. Imagine the architect’s possibilities :) – Money

2015-067_OBJ Club Bell_Insert.indd 3

8/12/15 12:19 PM

EDUCATION Algonquin College makes innovative choice for VP School looks to corporate world to fill groundbreaking management position

BY TOM PECHLOFF tom@obj.ca

M

arc Fares says he has a lot of learning to do.

Mr. Fares was introduced earlier this week as Algonquin College’s new vice-president of digital technologies and innovation. The 43-year-old comes to the position with no experience in the education sector, but 17 years leading digital strategies for the likes of Aeroplan, Bell Canada and most recently Cossette Communications and Marketing, where he was senior vicepresident of digital strategy.

Algonquin president Cheryl Jensen says her executive team weighed Mr. Fares’s lack of experience in the education sphere and determined he was still a “catch.”

In fact, she says, that lack of experience actually worked in his favour.

“What I look for when building my team is ... skills that we don’t have rather than getting more of the skills that we have,” Ms. Jensen says, adding her executive team was already very strong academically and Mr. Fares’ skill set will bring a different perspective to the college’s decision-making.

Ms. Jensen says not only is this a new position to Algonquin, as far as she can tell, there is no other senior executive position like it in Canada’s community college system.

“Having somebody who’s got that keen understanding, not only of the technology, but also what you need to do to build that culture and inspire people to continue to improve is extremely important,” she says.

Ms. Jensen went on a 100-day listening tour after she was appointed president last July. She says that is when the seeds were planted for this new position.

“If we really are the digital college, if innovation is so important to us, we have to have that voice at the table,” she says.

The position was finalized late last year and approved in the college’s budget in February. The college brought in Boyden to do the recruiting and about six candidates ended up on the shortlist.

Interviews were completed by the end of June.

“All of them could have done the job.

Marc just stood out to us,” Ms. Jensen says.

“When he answered questions, he always talked about the way he engages teams and the way he tries to inspire people to help him build a vision. He’s not the kind of guy who’s going to come in and say, ‘OK, this is how we’re going to do it. Metrics by tomorrow please.’ It’s more building that consensus and really making people feel they are part of and excited by the journey.”

Continued on page 11 New Algonquin VP Marc Fares. PHOTO PROVIDED

and

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“When people are placed in positions slightly above what they expect, they are apt to excel.”

– RICHARD BRANSON

Continued from page 10 Mr. Fares says he loved working in the corporate world but felt it was time for a change. He began considering the non-profit or education sectors and says the more he learned about the Algonquin opportunity, the more excited he became.

“It sounded really fantastic because it seems to me like a good hybrid between having a business orientation in the way that they’re structured, the way they’re taking investments in the digital space very seriously,” he says.

Mr. Fares says the work done at the college changes people’s lives.

“To be able to participate in that dynamic is I think going to be very fulfilling professionally as well.”

Algonquin’s groundbreaking program that should see all students using less expensive electronic textbooks by 2016 will be one of the projects Mr. Fares will oversee, says Ms. Jensen.

The college is also a leader in online learning, and Ms. Jensen says she expects the new vice-president to be “spearheading our learning knowledge in that field as well.

“How do we match (online learning) with what we are at Algonquin, and every other college, which is a hands-on

applied learning environment? How do we take the best of both of those worlds and build them together?”

Mr. Fares says Algonquin has already differentiated itself from other colleges by its “very clear focus on investments in digital technology, in innovation,” adding that its commitment to online learning is “very, very exciting.”

There have been a lot of developments in the online space with independent organizations offering courses, he says, as well as various collaborations between post-secondary institutions.

“I think Algonquin is well-positioned to participate in that, whether it’s in collaboration with some of these organizations, other education institutions, or doing things on our own,” he says.

The college’s new position falls in step with the desires of Invest Ottawa and the Ottawa Chamber of Commerce, which are looking to make Ottawa the most innovative and entrepreneurial city in Canada.

Ms. Jensen says Mr. Fares’ work will extend outside the campus walls, and he will interact with the business community on a regular basis. For example, Mr. Fares will serve as her alternate on the Invest Ottawa board.

“When I made my speech at the Eggs n’ Icons breakfast, I talked about the fact that Algonquin needs Ottawa. We need the region to help us bring together people and to provide opportunities for our students,” she says. “Ottawa also needs Algonquin. We are really providing the workforce of the future. We’re the ones that can provide those, on the ground, ready to get out there and work, applied graduates to help bring this ecosystem to life in Ottawa.”

Born and raised in Montreal, Mr. Fares calls Ottawa a “great city.”

“I think it brings the best of both worlds. It’s the perfect size. It’s a great place for families, it’s very dynamic on the international business scene and there’s a lot of investment in the technology world, which I think is very, very interesting,” he says.

Mr. Fares is not a complete stranger to Ottawa. He has friends and family in the city, and he says he has spent more time in the capital this summer than he has in Montreal.

“Everyone is super friendly all the time. I haven’t had one bad experience in Ottawa so far,” he says with a laugh.

When Mr. Fares begins his new role Sept. 14, he says his first job will be to “create an overall vision and

mission statement and strategy to understand exactly what we’re trying to do with respect to the digital space and innovation in particular.”

Developing “full-suite functionality” is the first pillar of the five-point strategy he says he has used at his previous stops in the corporate world.

He plans on bringing that strategy to Algonquin too.

Making sure the college’s digital offerings are user-friendly is the second point, while ensuring its websites perform the way they’re supposed to, with no bugs or significant lag time, is the third. Analytics and making sure people actually use the offerings round out his strategy.

He says he will plan his team around those goals “to try to make sure we can develop world-class tools, and it’s really going to be all about creating these tools for learning, for collaboration at the college.”

Ms. Jensen says her new vice-president and his team will serve the college very well in the next year as it prepares to launch its latest strategic vision in 2017.

“Keep watching Algonquin because we’ve had a reputation for the last almost 50 years of quality and innovation and it’s just going to continue,” she says.

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Tech titan taps into artistic side Cold North Wind founder, L-Spark mentor Bob Huggins adds documentary filmmaker to already impressive list of accomplishments

BY TOM PECHLOFF tom@obj.ca

T

MONDAY, AUGUST 17, 2015

he name Bob Huggins is often linked with the words “tech pioneer.”

He’s known as the founder of Cold North Wind, the company that developed technology to make historical newspapers available online.

Its platform, PaperofRecord.com, was acquired by Google in 2006. He was a longtime mentor at Invest Ottawa and now performs the same role for the Kanata-based L-Spark incubator and accelerator for enterprise software.

Now, he has added a new title to his growing resume: documentary filmmaker. His first film, The Greatest Freedom Show on Earth, aired earlier this month on TVO. He says his new role is not as surprising as one might think.

“I consider myself a very visual person,” he says, sipping on an iced latte.

Mr. Huggins says his beginnings in tech in Ottawa came with interactive web company Digg Design. The company was part of the General Assembly Production Centre, where he was vice-president of business development.

With GAPC being a film production house, Mr. Huggins’s link to the industry begins to become more clear. That’s where he got his introduction, he says, but always on the business side of things.

“I helped them put partnerships together, raise money, all of those sorts of

OBJ.CA

12

things,” he says. But he always wanted to be on the artistic side, and so in 2006, he formed Orphan Boy films, named for his father, a British orphan sent to Canada when he was 12 to work in the fields of southwestern Ontario.

All he needed now was a story to tell.

“All good Canadian stories start with a beer,” he says with a chuckle, and this one was no exception.

One day, he was out for a couple of drinks with a friend, Preston Chase, who is black.

“I ignorantly asked him, ‘Where do your people come from?’ assuming that he was from the islands or something like that,” he says.

It turns out Mr. Chase is a seventhgeneration Canadian. His ancestors fought for the British in the American Revolutionary War and were granted land north of the border, settling in Windsor.

That is where his great-uncle, a man named Walter Perry, organized a fourday festival called The Greatest Freedom Show on Earth. The show ran every year from 1934 to 1968 on the August long weekend, which marked Emancipation Day, commemorating the end of slavery in the British Empire in 1834.

The festival would draw an average of 100,000 black people from all over North America, doubling the size of Windsor for the weekend, says Mr. Huggins. A young Diana Ross and Stevie Wonder both performed in talent shows as part of the festivities. Martin Luther King Jr. was also a participant in 1956.

Bob Huggins’s new documentary, The Greatest Freedom Show on Earth, features vignettes (below) and footage of figures such as Martin Luther King Jr. (facing page). PHOTOS COURTESY BOB HUGGINS

Windsor was a natural location Moore Davis, who works at community for the event, given its proximity to college in the area. Ms. Davis’s mother Amherstburg, the Ontario town at the and grandmother kept what Mr. Huggins narrowest crossing point along the calls a “treasure trove of stills from the Detroit River and the spot where many event.” slaves crossed over to freedom on the Underground Railroad.

“I said to this guy, ‘Preston, man, we’ve got to make a movie.’ He didn’t believe me, I don’t think. And then my wife reminded him that some people do and some people talk and I tend to be on the side of doing,” says Mr. Huggins.

With that idea in place, Mr. Huggins had to figure out how to start.

“The first thing I did was, as I do anywhere, try to surround yourself with excellent people, and I grabbed Anthony von Seck,” he says.

Mr. von Seck, a musician and film director, won a Juno for a – TECH ENTREPRENEUR-TURNED-DOCUMENTARY documentary about Canadian FILMMAKER BOB HUGGINS singer-songwriter Leslie Feist.

“Anthony and I and Preston all embarked on … what turned out to be The trio first produced a 12-minute three years of going down to Windsor and trailer that was snapped up quickly by interviewing people who were in their TVO. late 70s, 80s, 90s. We lost four of those “The good news is we could sell. The people before the film came out, which bad news is that we didn’t know whether was kind of disappointing,” Mr. Huggins we could make a movie,” Mr. Huggins says. says with a laugh.

They found their subjects mostly Using Mr. von Seck’s industry through Mr. Chase’s network of friends contacts, small crews were assembled for and relatives in Windsor, especially Irene filming the interviews in Windsor, as well

“Anyone who’s a tech entrepreneur knows it is an incredibly stressful thing to do. There were times when I would turn to screenwriting as a way of just using a different part of my head.”

“If you hear a voice within you saying, ‘You are not a painter,’ then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced.” – VINCENT VAN GOGH

as the historical slave-crossing vignette, filmed in Montreal and along the Ottawa River near Fitzroy Harbour.

Mr. Huggins says the vignettes allowed him to wrap his story in the context of the Underground Railroad. He might have been a first-time filmmaker, but he says he knew it was important to let the tale tell itself.

“If you do script it like the majority of

the nonsense that is on television, it is very formulaic,” he says.

Mr. Huggins had the luxury of financing the film himself. That helped relieve any stress about financial obligations or deadlines, although he does credit TVO for being very patient with a rookie producer.

The provincially funded broadcaster owns the exclusive Ontario rights to the

documentary for the next couple years, and Mr. Huggins is shopping it around to distributors in Britain and the United States. One potential U.S. distributor rejected it, calling it “too historic and not topical enough.”

“I’m not one to sit back,” he says, “so I fired off this letter and said, ‘If you don’t consider Ferguson, Missouri, as a topical situation, you guys have buried your and present:

Inspire Us

The Order of Ottawa

head in the sand.’”

Mr. Huggins says his filming experience gave him an “astute look into racism.”

“I’m stunned at the level of racism that still exists,” he says. “It’s just awful.

I don’t see much learning going on from people.”

He says the TVO deal has come with “nominal” remuneration, not the type of money he would see from, say, the Oprah Winfrey Network.

“We’re still waiting for that,” he says with a laugh. “I’m savvy enough that I know this is kind of an annuity kind of thing. It will certainly pay for itself through (online) streaming and other avenues that are there.”

Mr. Huggins adds his first foray into documentary filmmaking will not be his last.

“I’ve got eight million projects in my head,” he says. “Anyone who’s a tech entrepreneur knows it is an incredibly stressful thing to do. There were times when I would turn to screenwriting as a way of just using a different part of my head.”

He would get up as early as 4:30 in the morning and make a point of writing four pages a day, a practice he continues.

He says he doesn’t have to look far for inspiration.

“There’s lots of great stories here in Ottawa,” he says.

THE RE-BIRTH OF THE OTTAWA BREWING INDUSTRY

Paul Meek Co-Owner of Kichesippi Beer Co.

Thursday, September 10, 2015 7:00 am - 9:00 am

His Worship Jim Watson with one of the 2014 recipients, Dr. Qais Ghanem

Individual Tickets: $30.00 + HST (Members) $45.00 + HST (Non-Members)

Corporate Tables of 8 with Signage $210 + HST (Members) $315 + HST (Non-Members)

Register online at www.ottawachamber.ca

Recognizing outstanding service and excellence in our community.

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Audio-Visual Rentals Locations audio-visuels

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E-mail info@ottawabusinessevents.ca to receive weekly updates on all our events.

MONDAY, AUGUST 17, 2015

2015-039_02

Sheraton Ottawa Hotel –150 Albert St., 2nd floor- Rideau Room

(Ranked by value of contract)

Company

Buyer

1

$297,611,148

Commissionaire services

PWGSC

2

Calian

$117,421,829

Medical/dental clinic services

DND

3

PCL

$85,378,452

Building construction

PWGSC

4

EllisDon and NCC Dowland, in joint venture

$84,892,500

Building construction

PWGSC

5

Accenture

$46,293,126

Informatics professional services

HRSDC

6

ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems

$42,143,350

Tanker vessels

DND

7

ADGA Group Consultants

$40,241,250

Informatics professional services

DND

8

Xerox

$36,685,768

Managed print services

PWGSC

9

Rogers Wireless

$31,133,087

Other telecommunications services

PWGSC

10

Lockheed Martin

$28,004,233

Ship and boat propulsion components

DND

11

DRS Technologies

$23,678,405

Radio navigation equipment

DND

12

Calian

$19,933,200

Educational services

DND

13

DEW Engineering and Development

$19,686,392

Decontaminating and impregnating equipment

DND

14

Oracle

$17,304,036

ADP software

PWGSC

15

Thales

$16,146,000

Miscellaneous communications equipment

DND

16

AMTEK Engineering Services

$15,308,225

Technical engineering and maintenance services

DND

17

PwC

$14,330,944

Informatics professional services

DND

18

PCL

$13,753,900

Construction of commercial buildings

PWGSC

19

Bronson Consulting Group

$13,351,296

Business services

Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada

20

NORTRAX

$12,670,000

Front end loaders

PWGSC

21

IBM

$12,471,013

Informatics systems integration

PWGSC

22

EllisDon

$12,147,744

Construction of commercial buildings

PWGSC

23

EllisDon

$11,874,627

Construction of commercial buildings

PWGSC

24

Babcock

$11,751,370

Submarines

DND

25

Promaxis Systems

$11,735,835

Human resource services, business consulting/change management; project management services

DND

26

CGI Information Systems and Management Consultants

$11,247,000

Informatics professional services

RCMP

27

CORADIX Technology Consulting

$10,695,111

Informatics professional services

DND

28

Commissionaires Ottawa

$10,568,269

Commercial security guard and related services

PWGSC

29

KPMG

$10,462,725

Human resource services, business consulting/change management; project management services

DND

30

PwC

$10,339,500

Informatics professional services

HRSDC

31

Calian

$10,000,000

Military (R&D)

DND

32

Modis

$9,978,039

Informatics professional services

Canada Border Services Agency

33

Veritaaq Technology House

$9,967,617

Informatics professional services

Canada Border Services Agency

34

MHPM Project Managers and Tiree Facility Solutions, in joint venture

$9,957,089

Human resource services, business consulting/change management; project management services

PWGSC

35

IT/Net-Ottawa Inc.

$9,731,230

Informatics professional services

PWGSC

36

ADGA Group Consultants

$9,721,842

Informatics professional services

DND

37

Calian

$9,416,403

Technical / vocational training

DND

38

PwC

$9,254,700

Informatics professional services

HRSDC

39

General Dynamics

$9,190,848

ADP software

DND

40

Atwill-Morin

$9,158,472

Masonry work

PWGSC

41

Sun Life

$9,040,000

Claims processing services

Treasury Board of Canada

42

Grand & Toy

$9,000,000

Stationery and record forms

PWGSC

43

Veritaaq Technology House

$9,000,000

Informatics professional services

Canada Border Services Agency

44

Ricoh

$9,000,000

ADP input-output and storage devices

PWGSC

45

Xerox

$9,000,000

ADP input-output and storage devices

PWGSC

46

Maplesoft Group

$8,992,735

Informatics professional services

Citizenship & Immigration Canada

47

Lockheed Martin

$8,939,074

Systems integration of informatics commodities and services

DND

14

48

Pennant

$8,927,000

Informatics professional services

DND

49

PCL

$8,760,284

Construction of commercial buildings

PWGSC

50

Bell Mobility

$8,638,380

Other telecommunications services

PWGSC

OBJ.CA

Product

Commissionaires

MONDAY, AUGUST 17, 2015

THE LIST

Largest federal contracts in 2014 Value

FOR THE RECORD People on the move

MHPM Project Managers Inc., Tiree Facility Solutions Inc., in joint venture 2720 Iris St. Description: Project management services Buyer: PWGSC $1,440,269

Capital Angel Network has announced the appointment of Jennifer Francis as chair of the board of directors. Ms. Francis, a CAN member since 2012, brings a wealth of knowledge and experience on angels and early stage companies. CAN also welcomed new board members Dane Bedward and Dan Carruthers. Marco Fiori is a new addition to the management team as program manager.

University of Ottawa 800 King Edward St. Description: Astronautics (R&D) Buyer: Canadian Space Agency $1,136,333 PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP 99 Bank St. Description: Audit of the performance of the duties and functions of election officials Buyer: Elections Canada $860,046

Hats off

Alliance Engineering & Construction Ltd. 348 Patricia Ave. Description: Chiller replacement Buyer: PWGSC $822,000

Michaela Tokarski was recently named one of 25 Alumni to Watch by the University of Victoria’s Peter B. Gustavson School of Business. Ms. Tokarski is a cofounder of e-commerce site Coastal Contacts and founder of Internet marketing firm Creekside Communications.

Contracts The following contains information about recent contracts, standing offers and supply arrangements awarded to local firms.

ARE YOU READY TO PASS THE TORCH? The recent Ottawa Business Growth Survey found a relatively high proportion of local respondents are prepared when it comes to succession planning, with 23 per cent saying they had a welldocumented plan in place. The last national survey by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business in the fall of 2012 found that only nine per cent of respondents across Canada had a formal plan in place, while 51 per cent reported having no plan at all.

Conducted by Abacus Data and made possible by Welch LLP, the Ottawa Chamber of Commerce and the Ottawa Business Journal, the local survey gathered input from hundreds of businesses.

A free 36-page report can be downloaded at www.ottawabusinessgrowthreport.ca.

49% 22% 6% 23% YES, BUT IT’S INFORMAL AT THIS STAGE

YES, IT’S WELL DOCUMENTED

NO

NOT EVEN THINKING ABOUT IT

Babcock Canada Inc. 75 Albert St. Description: Radio and television communications equipment, except aireborne Buyer: DND $1,678,882 Med-Eng Holdings ULC 2400 St. Laurent Blvd.

Description: Hazard-detecting instruments and apparatus Buyer: DND $1,674,413

Promaxis Systems Inc. 2385 St. Laurent Blvd.

Description: Intermediate technician – level 2 – general machinist Buyer: DND $227,265 PureLogic IT Solutions Inc. 135 Michael Cowpland Dr. Description: Automatic data processing equipment, system configuration Buyer: DND $219,759 Calian Ltd. 340 Legget Dr. Description: Learning services – two senior graphic designers Buyer: DND $184,483 Professional Computer Consultants Group Ltd. 320 March Rd. Description: FSAR OPS support Buyer: DND $180,800

International Safety Research Inc. 38 Colonnade Rd. N. Description: One professional engineer (P.Eng) – level 3 Buyer: DND $499,776

ESRI Canada Ltd. 1600 Carling Ave. Description: ADP software Buyer: Natural Resources Canada $149,007

Lar-Mex Inc. 5509 Canotek Rd. Description: Chiller system sound reduction/modifications Buyer: PWGSC $439,900

Rock Networks Inc. 101 Hidden Lake Cres.

Description: Interoperability radio gateway Buyer: DND $103,517

Charley’s Furniture Stores 89A Montreal Rd. Description: Household furniture Buyer: Citizenship and Immigration Canada $350,300

LANGUAGE COURSE EFFICIENT FRENCH COURSES WITH ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE New Sessions Start: August 31st, September 9th, 10th & 14th GROUP CLASSES PRIVATE COURSES AT YOUR CONVENIENCE

REGISTER NOW: www.af.ca/ottawa | 613-234-9470

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Non-profit organisation and official language test centre since 1905.

MONDAY, AUGUST 17, 2015

DO YOU HAVE A SUCCESSION PLAN OR EXIT STRATEGY IN PLACE?

General Dynamics Canada Ltd. 1941 Robertson Rd. Description: Standing offer for GD equipment replace Buyer: DND $4,311,562

The Canadian Red Cross Society 170 Metcalfe St. Description: EMR program Buyer: DND $692,532

CompuAids Inc. 275 Slater St. Description: I.11 technology architect Buyer: Employment and Social Development Canada $267,661

MONDAY, AUGUST 17, 2015

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OBJ.CA

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Ottawa Office: 2275 Stevenage Dr., Bay 2, Ottawa, ON K1G 3W1 Phone: 613-248-8887 | Fax: 613-248-8881

Toronto Office: 11 Kelfield St. Toronto, ON M9W 5A1 Phone: 416-663-7976 | Fax: 416-663-3650

Yo u r To t a l R e s t o r a t i o n R e s o u r c e www.brookrestoration.ca