Green for Life Magazine January/February 2017

A Landscape Alberta Nursery Trades Association member publication

January/February 2017 Vol. 5, No. 1

Photos from the 2016 GISC Happy Birthday, Landscape Alberta!

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Advancing the professional landscape industry.

MANAGING EDITOR | Joel Beatson PRODUCTION & EDITING | Kyla Hardon ADVERTISING | Erynn Watson Landscape Alberta Green for Life is a professional publication for the landscape trade in Alberta.

Editorial and Advertising Landscape Alberta 200, 10331 - 178 Street NW Edmonton, AB T5S 1R5 P: 780-489-1991 F: 780-444-2152 admin@landscape-alberta.com Landscape Alberta does not assume responsibility for and does not endorse the contents of any advertisements herein. All representations or warranties made are those of the advertiser and not the publication. Views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Landscape Alberta or its members.

Material may not be reprinted from this magazine without the consent of Landscape Alberta.

ISSN No: 1929-7114 (print) ISSN N0: 1929-7122 (online)

January 10 - 12, 2017 Landscape Ontario Congress Toronto Congress Centre, Toronto, ON www.locongress.com January 26-27, 2017 Integrated Environment Plant Management Association of Western Canada Annual Conference Kelowna, BC www.iepma.ca March 8, 2017 Landscape Alberta Spring Workshop & Awards Calgary, AB March 10 - 19, 2017 Canada Blooms Enercare Centre, Toronto, ON www.canadablooms.com March 13 - 15, 2017 North American Garden Tourism Conference, Toronto, ON. www.gardentourismconference.com March 16, 2017 Landscape Saskatchewan Spring Workshop Saskatoon, SK

Landscape Alberta Board of Directors Brian Gibson, Green Drop Lawns Ltd., Chair Chris Brown, CLM, JLG, CSO, CRS Brown Landscape Services Ltd., Vice Chair Steve Wheatcroft, B. Comm, ULS Maintenance & Landscaping Inc. Cody Brown, Tree to Tree Nurseries Ltd. Jeff Oudyk, CSLA, AALA, JLG, Land Tec Landscape Contractors Ltd. Jordan Voogd, JLG, Sunstar Nurseries Ltd. John van Roessel, CLM, CLT, JVR Landscape (2006) Inc., Treasurer Keith Plowman, K Plowman Contracting Ltd. Landscape Alberta Staff Joel Beatson, CAE, CLM, Executive Director joel.beatson@landscape-alberta.com Marnie Main, Member Services Director member.services@landscape-alberta.com Erynn Watson, Events Coordinator erynn.watson@landscape-alberta.com Valerie Stobbe, Trade Show Coordinator valerie.stobbe@landscape-alberta.com Kyla Hardon, Communications Coordinator kyla.hardon@landscape-alberta.com Cheryl Teo, Bookkeeper accounting@landscape-alberta.com

On the Cover Photos from the 2016 Green Industry Show & Conference, Page 10 Happy Birthday, Landscape Alberta, Page 12

Follow us on Twitter @landscapeab Like us on Facebook @landscapealberta Green for Life January/February 2017 I 3

Industry and Association News...

Save the Date Landscape Alberta Spring Workshop & Awards Dinner March 8, 2017 | Calgary, AB Event details to follow 2016 Green Industry Show & Conference Landscape Alberta’s 2016 Green Industry Show & Conference packed the Edmonton Expo Centre in Edmonton on November 17 & 18. Hundreds of participants were drawn to the conference workshops and trade show - the third largest event of its kind in Canada.

The event kicked off on Wednesday, November 16 with the Landscape Alberta Nursery Producers Annual Auction held at the Coast Edmonton Plaza. The auction was a big success, helping to raise money for horticultural research in Alberta and providing a great venue for networking.

Conference session highlights included pest diagnosis sessions with Dr. Ken Fry, landscape design process sessions with Gord Koch and Patrick DuChene. Mario Lanthier speaking on tree pests and root management in nursery production, Paul Zammit with two sessions on edible gardens and winter container arrangements, as well as many more informative and engaging sessions. The trade show welcomed over 150 high-quality exhibitors who were excited by the more than 2400 guests that attended over the two days.

Planning is already underway for the 2017 Green Industry Show & Conference will be held in Calgary at the BMO Centre on November 16 & 17, 2017.

4 I Green for Life January/February 2017

You can view photos from this year’s show online at: https://flic.kr/s/aHskLZ3NUt

Thank You to our Sponsors

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Reminder: Federal Government Reducing EI Waiting Period to One Week The federal government is reducing the waiting period for Employment Insurance (EI) benefits from two weeks to one week, effective January 1, 2017.

Announced earlier this year as part of the 2016 Federal

Budget, the change does not impact the number of weeks of paid benefit. Rather, instead of a two-week waiting period followed by 15 weeks of paid benefit, there will be a one-week waiting period, followed by 15 weeks of paid benefit, and one week with no benefit.

The Canadian Shield™ rose has a more than one-metre spread, full, red flowers and glossy green foliage. It’s a repeat bloomer that stays stunning throughout the entire season. Just as its name suggests, Canadian Shield™ is a hardy rose, resistant to black spot and winter hardy.

Impacted employers will receive a notice from Service Canada advising them of this change.

More than 20 Canadian nurseries are licensed to propagate and grow 50,000 Canadian Shield™ roses in time for Canada Day 2017.

Shortage of Canadians working in agriculture to double by 2025 The gap between labour demand and the domestic workforce in agriculture has doubled from 30,000 to 59,000 in the past 10 years and projections indicate that by 2025, the Canadian agriworkforce could be short workers for 114,000 jobs. This is a key finding of the newly released Agriculture 2025: How the Sector’s Labour Challenges Will Shape its Future research by the Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council (CAHRC). The LMI research also revealed that primary agriculture has the highest industry job vacancy rate at seven per cent.

The agriculture industry has been encouraging young people and workers from other sectors to get into agriculture as a career. Despite extensive efforts, gaps still exist and there still will be a large void in the future.

The research indicates that the worker shortage is critical today and will be even more so 10 years from now, with potentially serious consequences for business viability, industry sustainability and future growth. Access to less labour for Canadian farmers now and into the future will affect food security for Canadian consumers and will also affect export potential of Canada’s entire agri-food industry.

To address the labour issues identified in the research, CAHRC, with the help of the Government of Canada, has developed agriculture-specific human resource (HR) tools designed to support modern farm operations to manage their workforce.

CAHRC offers Agri Skills, online and in-person training programs, and the Agri HR Toolkit – an online resource guide and templates to address the HR needs of any business. For agricultural organizations there are customized labour issues briefings that apply the new research to specific commodities and provinces, to explore the labour implications within their specific area. For more information on these and other CAHRC offerings visit www.cahrc-ccrha.ca.

Reminder: Alberta’s New Carbon Tax On January 1, 2017, the Alberta government Climate Leadership Strategy which includes the addition of a carbon tax, comes into effect. This strategy aims to reduce emissions via creating a consumer price incentive for reducing energy use. The government has pledged to direct this tax revenue towards environmental initiatives.

Carbon will be taxed at an initial rate of $20 per tonne in 2017 and rising to $30 per tonne in 2018. Rates will continue to rise at inflation + 2% after 2018. In the short-term, this will have varying degrees of impact across the industry.

• • •

Gasoline will rise in price by approximately 6.7 cents per litre Natural gas will increase by between $1.50 - $1.68 per gigajoule Electricity costs are the least drastic increase at 2 cents per kWh

The Canada 150 Tulip The Canada 150 tulip’s elegant white bloom with red flames bears a striking resemblance to our maple leaf flag. The National Capital Commission has partnered with the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Home Hardware, exclusive retailer of this special tulip bulb, and Communities in Bloom for the selection and distribution of the Canada 150 tulip.

Just in time for the 2017 celebrations next spring, more than 300,000 Canada 150 tulips will bloom across the Capital Region, and millions more will bloom in community gardens and private gardens from coast.

The Agriculture 2025: How the Sector’s Labour Challenges Will Shape its Future research can be downloaded at http://www.cahrc-ccrha.ca/agriLMI.ca.

Canadian Shield™ Named Plant of the Year Canadian Shield™, a new rose branded and marketed by Vineland Research and Innovation Centre (Vineland), is Canada Blooms' 2017 Plant of the Year.

And just in time for Canada’s 150th birthday, Canadian Shield™, the first rose in a curated collection known as Vineland’s 49th Parallel Collection, will be released next year.

*Editor’s note: Correction - the above picture was used incorrectly in the November/December issue in relation to a story about a different variety of tulip. We apologize for any confusion.

Green for Life January/February 2017 I 5

Winning the World Series of Landscaping

By Jeffrey Scott

Landscaping and baseball are similar. To win at baseball you have to grind it out every led their teams. day - through injuries, bad weather and long days and nights. You have to work hard all year through the fall.

Lessons: 1 You must be in it to win it: Your team The same goes for landscaping and any contracting field - you must finish the year must still be selling and producing strong in order to reach your true potential and maximize year-end profitability. work at a strong pace.

Whether you are a Cleveland Indians or Chicago Cubs fan, or just an interested 2 Each player must support and onlooker, you can learn valuable lessons from how each team competed in the World believe in one another, grinding it Series and how each manager (Cleveland’s Terry Francona and Chicago’s Joe Maddon) out together every day.

3 Individual goals must be set aside for the common goal.

4 It helps immeasurably if you enjoy your position and enjoy the work.

5 Don’t give up when you have a tough day, work through the struggles with a positive attitude.

6 Put your best effort forward every day, the minute you step on the field--or into your yard or on a job site.

7 Keep perspective. As Joe Maddon says, “don’t ever let the pressure Growers of Quality Nursery Stock: exceed the pleasure.”

8 Be relentlessly positive.

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Jeffrey's Breakthrough Idea: Don’t compare your company to other companies; improve on your past record, and celebrate the wins.

Take Action: Communicate every day to your team; inspire them to believe in one another and finish strong. Give them ongoing feedback on their successes and good efforts.

Motivate them, in Terry Franconia’s words, to leave it all out on the field."

Jeffrey Scott, MBA, author, business coach, hall-of-fame consultant, is the expert in growth and profit maximization in the lawn & landscape industry. He grew his company into a successful $10 million enterprise, and he's now devoted to helping others achieve profound success. Over 6000 read his monthly newsletter. To sign up go to www.jeffreyscott.biz. He facilitates the Leader’s Edge peer group for landscape business owners; his members achieved a 27% profit increase in their first year. To learn more visit www.GetTheLeadersEdge.com.

We Can Prove It

By Scott Barber

Progressive snow and ice contractors ULS won’t take on such clients, “because from our perspective, it’s hazardous every embrace recordkeeping technology — the single day of the year,” Ruddock explains. “You can slip and fall as soon as there’s even the smallest amount of snow on the ground. In fact, there doesn’t even need to be value is all in the details snow or ice for a slip and fall, so we will only do business with a client that understands Like the adage about death and taxes, slip- the need to set up some measurable standards for when it snows X amount, we’ll and-fall claims are an unfortunate, yet attend the site within a specific time period and continue to service the property until inevitable, part of the snow and ice manage- it’s clear and deemed safe.” ment industry. Whether the claims are frivolous, fraudulent or legitimate, it doesn’t There is no room for vague language in a contract that could allow an aggressive lawyer matter how well service was performed if a for a slip and fall claimant to wriggle his way in, Ruddock adds. And that’s just the contractor doesn’t have records to back it up. beginning.

Fortunately, technological advances are making it easier for snow and ice industry to document and track their services, prove they lived up to their contractual obligations and stop slip and fall claims in their tracks.

“Every piece of paperwork that comes from our crews is scanned and uploaded into Microsoft SharePoint,” Ruddock says. “We’ve been working this way for the last three years so that any document we could possibly need, stating the times a property was serviced, what equipment was used and how much material was put down, is at our fingertips.”

Massive data cache, no successful claims For Ken Ruddock, president of ULS Maintenance and Landscaping of Calgary, AB., keeping insurance premiums down for his 100-truck fleet is critical. With 300-400 snow and ice clients in and around Calgary and Saskatoon, his risk exposure is high.

Smart tracking on smartphones Mark Humphries, owner of Humphries Landscape Services in Oshawa, Ont., takes electronic documentation even further.

His crew members input service information into specialized software installed on their smart phones, and the data is automatically uploaded to the company’s online cloud storage. “As fast as my guys are typing it is as fast as I can see it,” Humphries says.

In business since 1989, ULS has never had a slip-and-fall claim go to past the discovery stage.

Investment in technology has been a big part of keeping that record clean. “Documentation is the centrepiece of everything we do,” Ruddock says.

The company stored countless files in 40-ft. shipping containers for years, because they didn’t know where else to put them. However, several years ago, Ruddock decided to invest in a professional archive service to digitize the paperwork; when a specific document is needed for proof of service or to fight a slipand-fall claim, it can be retrieved electronically in minutes. It is much easier than rooting through “those cold, dark and dusty containers,” Ruddock says with a laugh.

Ruddock says the documentation and record keeping starts at first contact with potential clients, where they assess needs and wants, as well as the client’s understanding of snow and ice management and liability issues.

Some clients are sophisticated and understand the importance of thorough contracts and record keeping, while others, “just think they need someone to come shovel the snow.”

Green for Life January/February 2017 I 7

“That’s how I can tell in real time where my guys are and what work has been completed.”

With over three decades’ experience in the snow and ice business, Humphries has never been hit with a successful slipand-fall claim.

He attributes the clean record to the quality of the service his company provides, of course, but also to their zeal for organization and record keeping. Now, the ubiquity of smart phones and developments in digital storage are allowing Humphries to step up his game even further.

All of Humphries’ service records are downloaded from the cloud service and stored within massive hard drives at the company’s meticulously organized head office.

“We pull everything because lawyers will never launch a slipand-fall claim during the winter,” Humphries says. “They wait for the summertime, hoping you forgot what went on. They’ll wait until the very last minute, which is two years, in hopes that the contractor doesn’t have good records, knowing they can bust you on that fact.”

Humphries knows the process well, having faced several big claims over the years. And he’s proud he has been able to make “every single one of them go away.”

“Why haven’t I had a legitimate slip-and-fall claim? Because we do our work,” he says. “Insurance lawyers love me because I’ll fight the case for them by laying out our records and our documentation.”

Every important detail is accounted for, because, “the little details actually weigh a lot when you get to arguing at discovery and pre-trial, where most of these things are settled.”

The truth wins Humphries has also beaten fraudulent cases by proving his company had done its work and catching a claimant in lies. “It’s due diligence on my part,” he explains.

In one case, Humphries was certain his crew had done its job at a plaza where a man in his 60s claimed to have fallen. He knew the claimant’s address was across the street from the plaza, and that it had a sloped driveway that was likely to ice. So Humphries figured the claimant likely slipped on his own driveway, fractured his shoulder, and took himself across the street to the retail plaza before calling an ambulance.

When Humphries told his insurance company’s appointed lawyer his theory, the lawyer told him he’d been “watching too much TV.” And that it would be impossible to prove.

But the lawyer was wrong.

At discovery, Humphries suggested the lawyer interview the claimant’s wife, listed as a witness on the action. “I told him to keep on her and on her and on her and to get tougher and tougher,” Humphries recalled. “I knew that she would break and admit they crawled across the street to the plaza. And she did.

8 I Green for Life January/February 2017

“I know that we have paperwork and records to back up our work, so where is the claimant’s proof? If they say they were coming out of a retail store, can they show what they went in to buy? Do they have the receipt? How did they pay for it? If it was on their credit card, can they produce the records to prove it?”

Record keeping can go both ways.

Keeping clients in the loop Jessica Milligan is vice-president of Strathmore Landscape in Montreal, Que. After getting back into the snow-and-ice business five years ago, the company has landed some of the most high-profile commercial contracts in Montreal, including the Place Ville Marie.

That caliber of clientele requires zero-tolerance service, meaning as soon as it snows or ices, service must be undertaken.

“At a major client like the Place Ville Marie, our service starts from the first day of snow till the last where we’ll have a presence onsite every single day,” Milligan explains. “Every morning we have crews that go around and tour each property to look for any drifting, or to clean up any snow or ice that may have fallen from a rooftop the night before, and it’s all logged.

And it’s the same for each snow event of course, where crews will service each property and record all of the times and services that were completed.”

Like Humphries’ company, Strathmore also utilizes smart phones for record keeping. But instead of using customized software, staff members input information into Google Docs, which is accessible online by administrators and management at their head office.

And not only does Strathmore store all of that data, but they also export the information to their clients.

“Sending all of that information each month was a service that we decided to add for our high end clientele,” Milligan explains.

“They weren’t necessarily asking for it, at first, but now it’s really becoming standard across more and more of our contracts. I think it has sort of set the tone for the industry in Montreal.”

Location, location, location GPS tracking is another business management and liability protection tool all three companies have embraced.

Ruddock and his company ULS are new to the practice, having launched a pilot project this spring. “We have talked about how GPS will be a useful tool to document where our guys are and what they’re doing as it relates to snow, because while we all have the paperwork that says we were clearing snow at a certain place and a certain time, going forward we will be able to pull a GPS report that can actually put our trucks physically there,” he said. “It corroborates the paperwork.”

He added, “This is a conversation I’m going to have with our insurers and certainly when I’m dealing with a lawyer on a slipand-fall case. They all tell me that every little bit helps. So while

I don’t think that just having GPS in the truck is the be-all and endall, because technically a claimant’s lawyer could argue that it only proves that your truck is on a site and it doesn’t prove that your guys are there and that they are actually doing the job while they are there, it does work to augment the records the crews made.”

Installing GPS tracking was never about “the Big Brother aspect,” Ruddock notes, but it is a useful fleet management tool when it comes to tracking statistics like speeding and idling.

During the first month of their pilot project, Ruddock says they quickly noticed how much fuel their trucks were burning by idling.

The stats showed that across the whole fleet, idling rates would see some 20,000 litres burned over the course of a year.

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Going forward, Ruddock says they will be working with staff to reduce those figures, and he believes they could save more than double the cost of the GPS system in that area alone.

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Humphries has been using GPS technology for even longer. “All of our crews are tracked by GPS, which is pinging frequently to the point where we can actually watch a crew’s progress across a site, going back and forth, if you were inclined to watch that closely,” Humphries said. “More importantly, if there was ever an issue, say a client complaint or a slip-and-fall claim, we can pull the GPS breadcrumb trail and say, ‘look, we know it started snowing at five o’clock, we were on site at quarter after five, we progressed across the site as quickly as possible, but the claimant slipped and fell at an area that hadn’t been plowed yet.’ It wasn’t that we didn’t do our due diligence; we did everything we could in a reasonable manner, but we aren’t magicians.”

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Milligan at Strathmore is also in the midst of a GPS pilot project, looking at speeding and idling, as well as optimal routing for crews.

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Risk control, yes; cost control, maybe While Ruddock, Humphries and Milligan have each combined scrupulous record keeping with leading-edge tech to make their businesses more efficient and protect against slip-and-fall claims, none of the three could connect those practices with lower insurance premiums.

Indeed, when asked how technological advances can mitigate slipand-fall liability risk, the Canadian Nursery Landscape Association’s partnered insurance broker, Marsh Canada, did not take the opportunity to comment.

However it’s obvious: the ability to store records digitally makes it quicker and easier to pull files in the event of a slip-and-fall claim; and GPS tracking provides rock solid corroboration for those records.

Will insurance providers catch up and recognize the potential these practices can have on liability issues for snow and ice professionals going forward? That remains to be seen, though it’s certainly worth discussing at your next broker consultation. In the meanwhile, all three contractors interviewed strongly endorse detailed documentation as a defensive strategy.

Reprinted with permission from Landscape Trades.

Green for Life January/February 2017 I 9

n e e r G 6 201 Industry Show

Bryce McDermid, Taylor Smyth and Jeff Mellick, AnyQuip Inc.

Kirt Laing and Steve Wheatcroft from Spectrum Equipment Inc.

Jordan Voogd, Colin These, and Sheryl and Jim Wotherspoon

Paula Baxter and Lovette Johns, Valleybrook Gardens Ltd.

Hugh Daugherty and Keith Milligan, Burnaby Lake Greenhouses Ltd.

Vince Ho, Farm Business Consultants

Rob Tigwell, Link Green

Kees Van Beek and Marc Jongerden, Southern Irrigation

Ginelle Bouthillier and Steve DeVry, deVry Greenhouses Ltd.

Steve Overmeer and Mark Bolger, GlobalTroxler

Trent Koziol, Ryan Oswald, Cody Walker, Don McClughan, Kubota Canada

10 I Green for Life January/February 2017

Noah Clark and Roger Whaley, Sester Farms

Derek Jones, Rocky Mountain Landscape Bark

Michael Veldman, Joel Bos and Simon Bos, Simon Bos Nurseries

Joe Salemi, DynaSCAPE

Cameron Crawford, RyMar Synthetic Grass

Sara Van Heuveln, Investment Guild and Victor Santacruz, CNLA

Colleen Hemmingway and Georgina Kenny, Florists Supply Ltd

Mike Kato and Len Smit, Kato’s Nursery

Vern Parkhurst, David McAllister and Anthony Marino, Goliath Tech Piles

Fred De Boer, Mainland Floral Distributors Ltd.

Cody Brown, Dario Cyr and Ted Brown, Tree to Tree Nurseries

Dwayne and Devon Beck, Parkland Nursery and Landscape Services

Landscape Alberta History: 2010 - Present

February 2017 marks 60 years of Landscape Alberta. To commemorate that, we have been ing of the Southern Chapter. The Northern looking back at our history, how we got our start, the members who were and are the Chapter had disbanded two years earlier. driving forces behind the association that got us to where we are today. Below is the continuation of our story, bringing us to present day.

2011 In February, an Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) 2010 forum was held in Edmonton. LANTA issues In January, the provincial government introduces legislation banning the sale and use a position statement regarding the EAB - it of combination fertilizer/herbicide products. This legislation was supported by LANTA, stated that no ash species should be as the Association had long-argued that “weed and feed” products did not meet IPM imported from EAB affected regions in standards.

Canada or the US. The Landscape Gardener Apprenticeship Program (LGAP) curriculum undergoes a The Meeting-in-the-Mountains conference complete review and rewrite for the first time in over 15 years. The new curriculum was was held at the Banff Centre in March for the introduced in September 2011. first time. The theme of the conference was tree survival in the urban environment and Discussions begin with the City of Edmonton’s Forestry Department regarding tree the keynote speaker was Ed Gillman from the supply and planting specifications. This commenced several years of negotiations to University of Florida. develop guidelines for both the City and industry. A joint city forestry/industry bus tour of area nurseries was held in October.

The Landscape Gardener Apprenticeship Program (LGAP) reaches a milestone when it This was the final year for the Alberta Perennial Trials, which had started in 1999. Data is designated as a Red Seal trade – which collected from the program is still available through the Alberta Agriculture’s website, becomes known nationally as the Landscape Ropin’ the Web. Horticulturalist trade.

The Green Industry Show and Conference is held for the first time in the new Expo The Association paid their respects to several Centre at Northlands. former and current members after they pass away: Steve Lastiwka (Steve’s Landscape Changing demographics and priorities for association members result in the disband- Service/Lacombe Garden Centre, Edmonton), Ken Adin (Trans-Western Distributors, Edmonton), Mike Haberl Sr. (Prestige Landscape Maintenance, Calgary) and Earl Beck (Parkland Nurseries and Garden Centre, Red Deer).

In September, National Tree Day is proclaimed in Canada. Several tree planting ceremonies are held throughout the province.

2012 In January, The Nursery Marketing Commission Steering Committee is established to study the feasibility of developing and setting-up a commercial tree nursery commission in Alberta (previously called a ‘check-off’ program).

Four nursery growers located in the Strathmore area are hit by a severe weather system on the afternoon of August 14. Hail damage at two nurseries destroyed the entire nursery crop.

12 I Green for Life January/February 2017

September saw the creation of the ‘Mike Haberl Sr. Landscape Industry Certified Award’ in honour of Mike’s contribution to the Association and in particular the establishment of the Canadian Certified Horticultural Technician (CCHT) program.

In October, the Association changes its acronym “LANTA” and becomes known as Landscape Alberta. The logo of the previous 20-years is also changed to reflect the new branding and includes the tag line Green for Life.

In June, Nigel Bowles retires as Executive Director of Landscape Alberta after 24 years of service. A retirement celebration is held at Olds College.

Communities-in-Bloom hold their National Awards and Symposium in the Edmonton Capital Region. Landscape Alberta is a major sponsor and participates in many of the event activities.

Following a year of discussion and consultations, the Nursery Growers sector group postpones the development of a Nursery Marketing Commission.

2013 In response to the continuation of labour shortages, 23 industry and sector groups, including Landscape Alberta, form a new organization called the Alberta Coalition of Action on Labour shortages (ACALS).

In Janaury, Prairie Landscape Magazine, which had been published since 1978, undergoes a major facelift and changes its name to the Green for Life magazine. The publication is also brought in-house after being produced by a third-party publisher for many years.

The first On-the-Job training program is held at Cheyenne Tree Farms in March. Twelve people attend.

The World Skills Championships is held in Leipzig, Germany in July. Landscape Alberta donates $2,000.00 to the Olds College Landscape team of Jack Van Den Broek and Justin Schipper. The Landscape Alberta logo is worn on the team’s clothing.

Minister Jason Kenney announces sweeping reforms to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) that lowers the number that can be hired and imposes large increases to cost and bureaucracy.

Joel Beatson starts as new Executive Director in July after relocating from Ontario and his role with the CNLA. Landscape Alberta participates in the first national Human Resource Summit for industry. The acute nature of labour shortages in Alberta is seen as a lesson for the rest of Canada and goes a long way to supporting a long-term strategy for our sector.

In August, a meeting with Minister of Jobs, Skills, Training & Labour Kyle Fawcett about the unfair application of employment standards for industry (no recognized as a farm) occured. This leads to a meeting with his successor prompting a review of the standards which is cancelled with the snap election call in spring 2015.

Landscape Alberta visits Olds College to greet incoming students and to offer a complimentary student membership in the association. This move is seen as a strategic way to engage youth in the industry for years to come.

The first Ag Labour Summit is held in Red Deer in October by the Agriculture Industry Labour Coalition of Alberta (AILCA).

Landscape Alberta sponsors the event and is engaged in the leadership conversations about the looming labour crisis in agriculture (including our sector).

The Honourable Kevin Sorenson visits the Green Industry Show & Conference on behalf of Minister Ritz of Agriculture Canada to announce research funding available to the horticulture sector.

In October, Landscape Alberta volunteers begin the clean-up of Birchwood Park in High River following the devastating floods in 2013. Hundreds of tons of river silt were removed from the park in preparation for re-landscaping.

Landscape Alberta’s key leaders met to develop a long-range plan, which was approved at the Annual General Meeting in November 2013. The strategic planning team also wrote a new mission statement for the association: Advancing the professional landscape industry.

2015 Starting in January, Landscape Alberta helps to lead a national project to study the survivability of urban trees. The resulting literature review will form the basis of future research projects for industry.

2014 The restoration of baseball fields in High River is completed in May with support from Landscape Alberta and the Jay’s Care Foundation.

City of Edmonton Council announces intention to review pesticide bylaws. This results in many months of consultations, education, and testimony on the safety of pest control products. In the end, the city passed a partial ban of Green for Life January/February 2017 I 13

herbicides on their own lands. It did not extend to private lands thanks in part to Landscape Alberta and many of its passionate members.

Landscape Alberta hosts its first electronic Town Hall on the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) to solicit feedback from industry on the value of the program as well as current frustrations. This process also helped to collect data on program usage from our sector which was provided to government for consideration.

A delegation from Landscape Alberta visits Ottawa in February for two days to talk to politicians and bureaucrats about the historic, sustained labour issues of our seasonal industry. The team even crossed paths with Justin Trudeau outside Parliament Hill but everyone was too cold to stop and talk (in only a few short months he would go from noncontention to winning the election). This visit, along with others from strategically aligned partners in different sectors have helped lead to a full review of the program which is still ongoing.

In March, Landscape Alberta is invited to the table for the City of Edmonton Landscape Standards review committee. This is a great opportunity to address many areas of concerns.

Over the next two years almost 200 changes are made to correct, update and clarify the document.

Skills Canada Alberta is held at the Expo Centre in May. Two teams from Olds College compete in front of more than 10,000 attendees over two days. The gold medal team moved on to compete in the national program in Saskatoon in June and won gold there as well. This leads to increased sustained involvement from Landscape Alberta and sponsors as a way to attract the next generations to careers in our sector.

Landscape Alberta participate in a National Occupational Analysis (NOA) for the sector. This helps define the scope and technical details of the work done by those in the industry and acts as a blueprint to future training and research.

The NDP government of Alberta announces legislation to introduce OHS regulations to farms and ranches. This leads to a great deal of activity in 2016 for Landscape Alberta.

2016 See page 16-17 for the 2016 Year in Review to see everything that happened in 2016.

2017 Happy Birthday! Landscape Alberta turns 60 this year. As ever we remain committed to raising the standards for the professional landscape industry. Throughout 2017, we will be celebrating together at Landscape Alberta and other industry events.

Our 60th year will mark a milestone for Landscape Alberta as we have bought a home. Landscape Alberta will be finalizing purchase of an office building in early 2017. Look forward to the office-warming invitation in the coming months and details at the AGM in March.

President 2010 Gerard Fournier 2011 Gerard Fournier 2012 Dean Falkenberg 2013 Dean Falkenberg

Chair 2014 2015 2016

Chris Brown Chris Brown Brian Gibson

Landscape Alberta meets for the first time with the newly elected NDP government. The meeting includes Premier Notley, as well as Minister of Labour Sigurdson in a consultation about changes to the minimum wage.

In July, Landscape Alberta along with other members of the agriculture community are invited to a first consultation regarding development of OHS regulations for farms and ranches.

Landscape Alberta is recognized at Front Yards in Bloom Edmonton awards for Supporter of the Year for helping to engage members resulting in a record number of nominations for the community program.

A Soil and Compost Symposium held in Edmonton in October which brought together industry, municipalities and suppliers to collaborate towards building higher yet achievable standards for soil health in the province.

The Green Industry Show & Conference moves to Calgary.

This is the first time the show has not been held in Edmonton in 25 years. The show was a great success and will be moving back and forth between Edmonton through to 2019.

In December, Members of the Sod Producers Group of Green for Life January/February 2017 I 14

hort@oldscollege.ca

News from Olds College Alberta Association of Landscape Architects Try Out Landscape Industry Certified Stations

By Gord Koch, Olds College On September 23 and 24, 2016 the Olds College Horticulture Program, with the support of the Landscape Alberta, hosted a Landscape Industry Certified testing demonstration for the Alberta Association of Landscape Architects (AALA).

Since the opening of the original Landscape Pavilion Building in 1996, Landscape Alberta has carried out the Landscape Industry Certified testing for the landscape construction, maintenance, production and garden centre sectors of the horticulture industry.

This was the first opportunity for the Horticulture Program and Landscape Alberta to make connections with the landscape architectural sector via the AALA. Thirty-two participants from AALA arrived the evening of September 23 and were hosted to a Beer and Food pairing event led by the Brewery Program Students Club. Many accolades were given to the Brewery students for their product and guidance in pairing the beer with the wonderful dinner.

On Saturday, September 24, the AALA participants donned their work gear and participated in five testing stations including, Plant Identification, Plant Layout, Tree Planting and Staking, Sod Installation and Paver Installation. The consultants were quite enlightened in understanding the transition from design to implementation. The AALA group were extremely impressed and appreciative of the knowledge and expertise provided by the Horticulture Program and Landscape Horticulture Apprenticeship Program staff in delivering the testing opportunity and have already looked to 2017 for a second event. Many thanks to Olds College staff Wendy Daley, Karman Dilisio, Annelise Doolaege, Ben Fulkerth, Gord Koch, Dave Moroz and Kim Wickwire, the support and direction from Landscape Alberta staff Joel Beatson and Marnie Main, as well as John van Roessel from JVR Landscapes (2006) Inc. to bring this event to fruition.

Horticulture Happenings at Olds College

By Kim Wickwire, Olds College We have had a busy few months at Olds College as we welcomed 31 first year students into our program for an October 3rd start. As we have changed from very focused

HORTICULTURE training with industry sectors to a general horticulture diploma, we take the opportunity with our first Field School class (in October) to expose these students to the diversity of what horticulture is in our province. We toured them through greenhouses, vegetable fields, landscape companies, municipal operations, sod and nursery operations, some research and botanic gardens. It was awesome to watch the students get excited about all the possibilities open to them within this great industry!

Our 2nd year students were back with us in November to start their third course (their first 2 being online learning July-October). We have seen very good return rates for the diploma students, as they now have 6 months to work between their first and second year of study.

We have saw a significant increase in interest in the program this year; our waitlist for entrance is more than 20. We are happy to see that the change in delivery of the horticulture program is having positive results.

OC faculty are working with a number of teachers in the K-12 system in the Calgary area. There is a need for horticulture expertise, simple consultation and/or collaboration with industry to enhance the science curriculum.

Green for Life January/February 2017 I 15

January 7-8. Landscape Award Judging. Record number of entries (51) results in two full days of judging from volunteers 18. Joel’s first meeting as chair of the Agriculture Industry Labour Council of Alberta (AILCA)

2016: Year in Review

February 3. Careers in horticulture presentation for Labour Pool in Calgary 4. Re-tree YYC meetings 16. First meetings re: Bill 6 consultation process begins

March 1. Spring Workshop and Landscape Awards Dinner in Edmonton 4. Planning for Skills Canada Alberta begins 12-14. CNLA Winter Meetings in Vancouver 16. Canadian Landscape Standards launch

April 27. Landscape Alberta joins other sectors at Workforce Panel for second careers at Bow Valley College in Calgary.

28. STOPDED AGM, Olds.

May 5. Calgary Arbor Day 12. Skills Canada Alberta landscape event cancelled (Expo centre being used for evacuees of forest fire) 13. Edmonton Arbor Day

June 6-7. Skills Canada National Competition Moncton – Team AB wins Silver 8. Minimum Wage Consultation 9. AgCoalition T echnical Working Group first meeting to prepare members for consultations 13-18. Bill 6 Consultation meetings begin – 3 reps from horticulture.

17-19. Garden Days

16 I Green for Life January/February 2017

July 6. EI Reform consultations in Edmonton

August

September

October

November

12. Landscape Alberta Growers Tour – Grand Forks, BC

8. Meeting with Minister Bilous about state of economy

16. Landscape Alberta Nursery Producer Annual Auction

12-13. Landscape Industry Certified Technician Exam at Olds College

21. National Tree Day

5-6. Western Region Nursery Association Executive meetings in BC

16-18. CNLA Summer Meeting & National Awards of Landscape Excellence in Kelowna 25. Front Yards in Bloom Awards

24. AALA Landscape Industry Certified Demo Day

26. Agriculture Labour Summit - Olds College 27. Landscape Alberta/ Landscape Saskatchewan present at Communities in Bloom/ SPRA convention on improving landscape standards

17-18. 2016 Green Industry Show & Conference in Edmonton, AB 23. Landscape Awards entry deadline.

December 12. WCB Meetings with Agriculture 13. Municipal Government Act Review 25. Christmas 31. Happy New Years!

Green for Life January/February 2017 I 17

Tom Lastiwka

L-R: Henry Heuver, Tony Heuver

Landscape Alberta Nursery Growers Auction, October 2006

Opening of the Apprenticeship Program at Olds College, 1983. L-R: Ron Oudyk, Gary Johnson, Eric Jensen

A look back at our association

Meeting in the Mountains 2005. L-R: unknown, unknown, Bruce Kay, Adele Goodwin

1975 Landscape Awards

Green Survival Picnic at Gem Sod Farms, 1975

Arbor Day Edmonton, 1990. L-R: Nigel Bowles, Margaret Getty, Bill Jansen The people in these photos have been identified to the best of our ability. If we have made an error or if you are able to identify someone in a photo, please email admin@landscape-alberta.com, so we can update our records.

18 I Green for Life January/February 2017

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