Avenues is published for The Ontario Stone, Sand & Gravel Association 5720 Timberlea Blvd., Suite 103 Mississauga, ON L4W 4W2 Tel: 905-507-0711 www.theholestory.ca Publisher Robert Thompson OSSGA Editor Richard Hillier Editor Roma Ihnatowycz Sales Executives Dawn Stokes, Derek de Weerdt, Brenda Ezinicki, Bill Biber, Cheryl Ezinicki Senior Design Specialist James T. Mitchell AVENUES is published for the Ontario Stone, Sand & Gravel Association by: P u b l i s h i n g 33 South Station Street Toronto, ON M9N 2B2 1-866-480-4717 Email: robertt@mediaedge.ca 531 Marion Street Winnipeg, MB R2J 0J9 1-866-201-3096 Fax: (204) 480-4420 www.mediaedgepublishing.com President Kevin Brown Senior Vice-President Robert Thompson Director, Business Development Michael Bell Branch Manager Nancie Privé All rights reserved.The contents of this publication may not be reproduced by any means, in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of the association. Published February 2019 PUBLICATION MAIL AGREEMENT #40787580 A VENUES Please return undeliverable items to: The Ontario Stone, Sand & Gravel Association, 5720 Timberlea Blvd., Suite 103, Mississauga, ON L4W 4W2 Avenues is printed on 10% post-consumer FSC certified paper using soya based inks. When necessary to mail an issue in an enclosure, we use an environmentally-friendly, 100% oxo-degradable poly-wrap. A s I write this short column in the waning days of 2018, one cannot help but notice that it’s the time of year when days become shorter – at least in terms of sunlight, not workload. It’s a time of year when we start to prepare for the holiday season and for winter in general, such as getting the winter tires on our vehicles or replacing that set of gloves we lost last March. It’s also a time of year when there’s a great rush of activity to get work done in the first half of the month, followed by the other half of the month with lots of rushing around and “busy-ness” that is usually totally unrelated to work! Most importantly, it’s a time to look back over the past 12 months and get ready for the start of a new calendar year. For many of us, 2018 was a “re- set” year of sorts. The provincial election ushered in a new government with a new list of priorities at Queen’s Park. We had elections at the municipal level, which similarly saw the end of some political careers and the start of others. (A few fortunate others had political careers come to an end at Queen’s Park, only to resume in different roles at the municipal level a few months later.) Change of this sort is good from time to time. It’s part of the democratic process. The challenge for us at OSSGA is to get to know the newly elected decision- makers who have moved into their new roles and whose deliberations will impact our industry for at least the next four years. For those of you in sales, it’s a bit like witnessing a wholesale change of people in one of your largest accounts. Suddenly you need to start from scratch establishing your credentials, talking up your brand, and in effect “re-selling” your value to the new set of people making the buying decisions. It’s a huge and challenging task to help people who may not know much about you understand why you are important to them, and why it’s important to continue doing business together. You each bring something to the table that you both need. As such, much of the work of the past year was preparing for the new ‘regimes’ that are now in office. Who are they? How important is aggregate production in their communities or ridings? What do they need to know about your issues (our issues) that will help them and help you/us in the year or years ahead? How do we develop and maintain those relationships in a way that is beneficial to both sides? Ultimately, how do we diplomatically show them why our industry is critical to building the infrastructure that Ontario will need in the next 20 years to provide a home for another four million people? We have a big task ahead, but one we approach with optimism and moderated expectation as we leave the old year and move into the next one. Norman Cheesman, Executive Director, OSSGA A big task ahead 6 AVENUES WINTER 2019 MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR