Meeting on Jan 13, 2016.
Welcome: President Gerd Wengler
Attendance: 16, no guests
Anthem: Arthur Retnakaran
Grace: Jim Boyko
Toast to the Queen, Canada and Rotary: President Gerd
Announcements:
- Dhanni Ramdeen – The International Group will meet on Jan 20, 2016 soon after the Luncheon in the adjacent room.
- Kevin Manuel – The TV Auction receipts are being tallied and the results will be presented in a couple of weeks along with a cheque.
- Gerd Wengler – Presented cheques from his company and associates to a tune of nearly 23 K to our Treasurer Jack Holman.
- Jack Holman – Informed us that the Christmas card collection has exceeded 1K.
Marbelous Draw: Saifu Lau – Kevin Manuel had the winning ticket and picked up the magic marble collecting $265.
Sergeant at Arms: Jacob Lakirovich: As usual in his inimitable style asked which great composer’s birthday is going to be celebrated at the end of this month? And of course nobody knew. (Mozart was born on Jan 27, 1756 in Salzburg, Austria). He levied a fine from everyone. He wanted to auction a book he had received on Mozart that retails for $700 but was persuaded to try and sell it on Amazon where it might fetch lot more than what he can get within the club.
Happy Buck: Several members were happy with their vacations. Gerd threw in a couple of bucks to round up his company and associates contribution to an even number!
Speaker: Our own Jim Boyko was introduced by Kevin Manual. His topic,
“Predictions for 2016 and how I fared on last year’s predictions”
These were the 2015 predictions and results:
Maple leafs will not make the playoffs – True (No brainer!)
Raptors will make the playoffs – True
Bluejays will not make the playoffs – Wrong
Super Bowl – New England will win – True
John Tory – Boring but lots will be done – True
Kathleen Wynn will do well – True
Provincial leader for the conservatives – did not pick Patrick Brown – Wrong
Federal election – Harper will win majority – Wrong
US economy and Keystone pipeline - will grow and Keystone will be vetoed – True
China – Slow growth – True
Putin will be resilient – True
Eurozone led by Angela Merkel will show low growth – True
Middle East – ISIS problem will increase – True
Canada – slow growth and loonie will be at 80 cents to the US $ - True
Stocks –Northland Power, Broadfield and Embridge - Embridge went down – Wrong
Black Swans – Russia will invade again, Greece will leave European Union – Wrong
Score: 11 True and 5 wrongs – Not bad for our crystal ball gazer!
Predictions for 2016:
Maple Leafs will not make the playoffs but Raptors and Bluejays will. Super Bowl will be between Denver and Carolina and Denver will win.
John Tory – more of the same; Kathleen Wynn - will not be able to balance the budget.
Federal Politics – “Cracker Jack” Trudeau will do well replacing “Dictator” Harper. Mulcair will stay. Could Doug Ford be the next Federal Conservative leader?
US Politics: Hillary will run against Trump and win.
China – too much infra structure debt will weigh them down further.
Eurozone burdened with refugee problem will slow down.
Black Swans – Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Alan Meredith thanked the speaker for an entertaining presentation on his reading of the tea leaves.
