Attendance: 21
        (including guest speaker and 2 guests: Jackie Davie of the Toronto Rotary Club and Carol Dupont of RBC, our bank representative)
 
Anthem: Gordon Brown
Grace: Arthur Retnakaran
 
Announcements:
 
- Donna Salamalay announced a Group 2/3 meeting after our luncheon meeting.
- President Basil announced that we are still working with Baton Rouge  to keep prices down. Soup and ice cream have been dropped from the menu.
- The Prez also announced that the Scarborough Bluffs Rotary Club's 40th Anniversary Dinner was a fantastic success, reminded that all gloves should be delivered to the schools for the Warm Hands project, reminded members that the last date for registering auction items is this Friday, November 4th, and the last date for delivering registered items is Friday, November 11th, 2016. After that date, no further items can be entered. President Basil further announced that one more volunteer is needed to call previous auction customers, and the Rotary Club of Toronto Danforth, the 55th club in our district 7070, is being chartered soon. As is our tradition, our club will contribute $200 towards their start-up items such as flags, etc.
- Dave Hardy announced a function at Centennial College on Dec. 1st, 2016 on Careers that can be booked through Club Runner.
- P.P. Gerd announced that Hope Air's 30th anniversary will be celebrated this coming Tuesday. Contact Gerd if you have an interest in attending.
 
Marbelous Draw was won, and lost, by Arthur Retnakaran, who was granted 5 happy bucks instead of the $5.00 consolation prize due to a lack of change.
 
Sgt-at-Arms Al Meredith levied some fines and asked for Happy Bucks:
 
- Firstly, Al fined all those who didn't know when and where the 2018 International Convention will be held.
- Secondly, Al fined all those who had brought in less then 5 items for the TV auction.
- A few members still had Happy Bucks after these fines, including:
- Dave Hardy who was happy to be back from his travels.
- Mike Cooksey who was happy to be today's speaker.
- Arthur Retnakaran who used up his 5 Happy Bucks by telling a story about church friars who took on a fundraiser involving growing flowers in the church garden and selling them to the public. They were so successful that they were putting the local florist shops out of business. So, the florists pleaded with the church to order the friars to cease this fundraising project, but the church refused, since they needed the money being raised in order to cover their expenses. So, the florists all chipped in to hire a hitman named Hugh to eliminate the friars. The moral of the story...  Only Hugh Can Stop Florist Friars!  (groans resounded through the room).
- Our Prez next tried his hand at humour, noting that there are in-laws in families as well as what some may term out-laws, but at least with the out-laws... they are always wanted!
             
Program:
PDG Mike Cooksey, of the Scarborough Rotary Club, was introduced by James Burchell.
Mike spoke on the R.I. 2018 Convention which will be held in Toronto. Mike indicated that we should all plan to attend and make sure that the dates of June 24th to 27th, 2018 are kept free. No deaths, weddings or births are to be scheduled on these dates! :)
Five (5) Rotary districts will be hosting the convention, including our District 7070 and surrounding districts in Ontario and New York State. The executive committee is comprised of 20 Rotarian volunteers. 
Our role? 1,500 volunteers are needed.
Mike is the co-chair of the convention committee and has been working on the project for the past 5 years. Toronto beat out several major competing cities for the honour of hosting the 2018 convention, including Honolulu, Milan, Amsterdam and Durban. What were the major factors that allowed us to win the bid? The two major factors were that Toronto is safe and multicultural.
25,000 to 30,000 guests are expected, and the economic benefit to Toronto is estimated at US$30-50 Million.
There are three partners within Rotary that are contributing to getting the job done:
1. R.I. staff - 20 staffers are working full time on the convention.
2. International Convention Committee that Mike co-chairs.
3. The Host Organizing Committee. That's US! The major roles of this organizing committee are also threefold: House of Friendship, Cultural Entertainment Events, and Home Hospitality.
The 2018 R.I. Convention has a $2 Million budget. The A.C.C. has been booked for the opening and closing events (after the Leafs' Stanley Cup win, of course!)  The Metro Toronto Convention Centre has been booked for the balance of the convention.
Mike emphasized that volunteers are needed for several functions:
- To sell the R.I. 2018 Convention in Atlanta at the R.I. 2017 Convention.
- To assist with home hospitality, which in this case, since 5 Rotary Districts are involved, may be done as a group, the committee is looking at using the newly renovated Guild facility as the venue for a dinner and entertainment for our international guests.
Mike encouraged us all to both volunteer and register for the Toronto R.I. Convention. Registration will commence after the completion of the 2017 convention in Atlanta.
 
 
Dave Hardy thanked Mike Cooksey for an informative talk on the kick off of the upcoming R.I. 2018 Convention.
 
Meeting was terminated
 
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