Manotick Ready To Celebrate Its Founder On Dickinson Days Weekend

6 min read May 31, 2023

By Goldie Ghamari, MPP for Carleton

One of the most exciting weekends of the year in the Carleton riding is Dickinson Days, when the area celebrates the founder of Manotick, Moss Kent Dickinson.

Dickinson’s footprints extend far beyond Manotick. As a forwarder in the lumber business, he was instrumental in growing the business community in several towns and villages from Manotick to the St. Lawrence River, and into New York State.

Dickinson Days is a great way to celebrate the past of Manotick and the region.

The Dickinson Days Parade has been a highlight of the year for Baxter and myself, and year after year it amazes me to see thousands of people line Manotick Main Street for the parade. The market, the shows, the restaurants and the activities at Watson’s Mill and throughout the village make this event truly unique not just in Carleton or Ottawa, but in all of Canada.

I hope to see you there!

Congratulations 872 RCACS

Saturday, May 27 was a special day for the 872 Kiwanis-Kanata Royal Canadian Air Cadet Squadron

The 872 RCACS annual ceremonial review took place Saturday afternoon in Stittsville. It was an opportunity for the squadron to demonstrate some of the things they have learned over the past year in front of their families, friends, and members of the community.

There are many members of the 872 RCACS who live in the Carleton riding. I, along with many others, are proud of the dedication and hard work that they have put in over the past year.

Ontario Removing Unfair Work Barriers for Skilled Newcomers

The Ontario government is leading the country with changes to help internationally-trained immigrants work in the fields they’ve studied in. After introducing historic legislation that banned regulated professions from requiring Canadian work experience in more than 30 occupations, Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO) are the first association to remove it from their application criteria. If passed, this has the potential to help thousands of otherwise-qualified professionals pursue their dreams over the coming years, all while maintaining Ontario’s world-class licensing and exam requirements.

Roughly 300,000 jobs continue to go unfilled across the province every day, including thousands in engineering, costing billions in lost productivity. At the same time, studies have shown only a quarter of internationally trained immigrants in Ontario work in the regulated professions they trained for. Currently, even if a newcomer has the skills and technical ability to pass their profession’s licensing exams, they may still be barred from registering in their profession without Canadian work experience – even if that work occurs in an unrelated sector, such as retail.

Ontario is the first province in Canada to ban unfair or discriminatory Canadian work experience requirements to help newcomers work in the professions they trained for. In December 2023, all unfair requirements for Canadian experience will be automatically voided unless an exemption is granted by the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development for public health and safety.

Quick Facts

Introduced as part of Working for Workers Act, 2021, Ontario was the first province in Canada to ban use of discriminatory Canadian Experience Requirements in occupations under the Fair Access to Regulated Professions and Compulsory Trades Act, 2006 (FARPACTA).
In 2019, Engineers were the fourth largest regulated profession in Ontario with 85,649 members and had the second largest number of internationally trained members, with 24,258 people registered in the profession.
In 2020, the median employment income for a Civil Engineer in Ontario was $96,000.
If passed, as part of Working for Workers Act, 2023, the FARPACTA would help ensure that regulated professions assess competency in a way that is non-discriminatory, ensuring newcomers are able to continue their careers in Ontario.
Ontario invests over $90M annually in services that help newcomers learn English or French, settle, access training and find jobs.

Paramedics Honoured

The Ontario government is honouring paramedics from across the province with the inaugural Ontario Medal for Paramedic Bravery. The medal is given to paramedics who have demonstrated great courage risking their lives to save the lives of others.

The Honourable Elizabeth Dowdeswell, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, and Deputy Premier and Minister of Health Sylvia Jones, presented medals to 10 paramedics in a ceremony at Queen’s Park. This is the first year paramedics in Ontario have been honoured by the province with a medal for their actions.

Recipients are recognized for their individual acts of outstanding bravery, including moving a crashed plane to save passengers inside, diving to the bottom of Lake Ontario to rescue a drowned man, grabbing hold of a suicidal man on a highway ledge, swimming an unconscious cliff diver to safety, saving other first responders during a gas line explosion, and rescuing workers from a collapsed building.

While these medal recipients have been selected for their acts of extraordinary selflessness, each paramedic in Ontario has a profound impact on the health and safety of people across the province.

Quick Facts

Paramedic Services Week is celebrated across Canada from May 21 to 27, 2023. The theme for Paramedic Services Week 2023 is “Diversity in Paramedicine – The Patient. The Provider. The Profession”. This theme recognizes the importance of equity, diversity and inclusion for patients, providers, and the profession of paramedicine.
Since its inauguration in 2015, 74 paramedics have received the Ontario Award for Paramedic Bravery. This year marks the first year the award has been elevated to a provincial honour medal as the newly named Ontario Medal for Paramedic Bravery.
Any Ontario paramedic is eligible to receive the medal for an act of exceptional courage that has occurred within the last 24 months. The honour can be bestowed posthumously.
There are over 10,500 paramedics currently employed in Ontario, the largest group of paramedics in Canada.

Office Notice:

My office is open Monday to Friday, 9 am to 4 pm. If you require assistance on any matter, please contact me at any time. My staff and I will be happy to assist. Even if it’s not a provincial issue, I’ll make sure to connect you with the proper office.

Goldie

Your voice at Queen’s Park