The Nation’s Capital is the headquarters for Canada’s birthday celebration on July 1, 2010. Each year, hundreds of thousands of people visit Parliament Hill, Major’s Hill Park, Jacques-Cartier Park, and other locations in the surrounding areas to celebrate Canada. This year marks Canada’s 143rd birthday.

On June 20, 1868, the Canada’s Governor General proclaimed that Canadians should celebrate the anniversary of the confederation (July 1st 1867, the “British North Americas Act” created the Dominion of Canada as a federation of four provinces).  July 1st then  became a statutory holiday, known as Dominion Day in 1879.  No official celebrations were really held until the 50th anniversary in 1917 and the 60th anniversary in 1927.  After World War II, Dominion Day was celebrated more frequently and more events were organized by the national government.  After the centenary of the confederation in 1967, Dominion Day events became more widespread.  July 1st  became officially known as Canada Day from 1983 onwards.

Interesting!  Did you know that in the province of Quebec, many home leases start on July 1st and last for exactly one year?  Forget the party!  Many  people in Quebec spend Canada Day moving their possessions from one house to another.  Canada Day  in Quebec is also known as Moving Day!

Check out the links below to see what is happening in Niagara to help you Celebrate Canada Day!

Canada Day: GO TRAIN Special Weekend Fare
Canada Day in St. Catharines
Canada Day in Niagara Falls

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Tags: Canada-Day, Go-Train, Niagara-Falls, Celebrating, Celebrate-Canada-Day, St.-Catharines-Real-Estate, Timothy-Salisbury

Dear Salisbury Clients,

What a great response to the Buffalo Sabre tickets I’m giving away this upcoming Friday. I have read some truly amazing stories. Some of them are so good that I have posted what I think are the top stories on my Blog. I will add a comment on the Blog announcing the winner before Noon on Thursday. Thanks to everyone who shared their stories.

Here are some of the best, in no particular order…

Hey Tim

My son is a huge hockey fan (plays goal) and a great kid, he’s in his first year of University working his butt off to keep the marks up and his parents off his back, he’s got Friday night open and it would be a great surprise to say we got two tickets to the game tonight! Keep us in mind and take care.

John

Tim,

It is not how much I would like to go to see a Sabres game, but I would REALLY like to win these for a gift. My Aunt is turning 50 later this month, and is a HUGE Buffalo Sabres fan. She lives in Port Colborne with her husband & three boys and can’t really afford tickets to go see any games (NHL games can be quite expensive). I would really love to see the look on her face if I were to give her two tickets to see her favourite team.

Thanks, Drew

T.

If there is 1 person who deserves these tickets over anyone else it is me. For 41 years I have been a Toronto Maple Leaf fan. If you didn’t know, the last time the Leafs won the Stanley Cup was 43 years ago - 1967 to be exact.

Since I started watching hockey on Saturday nights in the mid 1970’s, there haven’t been many things to cheer about. From the Darryl Sittler ripping off the captains C to the Harold Ballard 1980’s era. How about the Gretzky high stick on Doug Gilmour in the conference finals of 1994. Not to mention the fact that the team hasn’t made the playoffs since the lockout season of 2004.

To top it all off, they traded away their 1st pick in the draft the next 2 years to the Bruins and there’s a good chance they’ll finish last in the standings.

I challenge you to find a more deserving person to see a real NHL hockey game then me.

Thought you’d get a kick out of this story. I would not be able to use the tickets anyway.

Tom

Hi Tim:

Yes, would love to go to game with Ryan, our son.

Loves hockey, has passport.

Director of company I work for son (Cal Clutterbuck) plays for Minnesota and it would be wonderful opportunity to see him play.

Ryan has an autographed photo, which he received recently, and would be more than ecstatic to find out he was able to go and watch him play.

Ryan currently plays hockey for CYO Special Needs Hockey Team and would never miss a game. At his nephew’s games (3 of them) he loves to keep stats on what is going on and always, always walks around the area with clipboard in hand.

Yours in anticipation!!

Best regards,
Carol

timmy salisbury…….i submit…

for her birthday i was late.
on the couch, my bedtime fate.
with my wife, i need a date.
a sabres game to celebrate?
dinner, then to see them skate.
hope they win 10 to 8.
should i need more real estate,
I’d call on timmy - boy he’s great.

cheers my man….
john

Hi Tim

As a child I was always a Minnesota North Stars fan.

I was truly saddened when they gave up their NHL franchise.

Once restored—Minnesota Wild—I again had a team in the Western Conference to cheer for.

Today the coolest looking Jersey belongs to “The Wild.”

The Wild plays textbook hockey with very few mistakes down ice.

This Minnesota team has two Niagara natives—John Scott (St. Catharines) and Cal Clutterbuck (Welland).

GO WILD GO!!!!!

Thanks Tim for reading why I would look forward to such a game.

Tom

Hey Tim,

Would love to go to the game. Haven’t been to one in like 4 years. Justin keeps asking me if I would take him to his first hockey game and I haven’t had the time or extra money to be able to. This could be a great opportunity to do that. Thanks either way. Take care.

Marc

Hi Timothy,

I guess explaining that I am big hockey fan is hardly original, right?! I am in Canada, after all.

Instead, let me take time out of my work day to tell you my (self-serving) story…

I lived in St. Stephen, NB for most of my life and never had an opportunity to see live professional hockey until years later when, as an adult, I moved to Maine. I used to make the 7-hour trip down Hartford each year to watch Whaler games and cheer on Sean Burke and the Whalers as they got clobbered most times.

As the years passed, I moved to pursue professional opportunity in a more urban spot — I was looking for a place with reasonable unemployment rates, blue skies and a NHL hockey team. It came down to Colorado and Arizona. I moved to Phoenix in 1997 and watched many Coyotes games while enjoying the clear starry nights and beautiful sunny days.

After 9/11 and 17 years in the USA, I determined it was time to return to my native land and made my way to Vancouver (again, milder weather and… you guessed it, a NHL hockey team!). My wife (originally from Arizona) and I spent 7 years in BC, but both of us were longing for a place we could make our long term home — a place with reasonably priced real estate, a smaller city close to major urban centers (and NHL hockey!), mild winters, beautiful natural surroundings, and warm, helpful people. We spent 18 months researching ALL OVER the US and Canada for the right fit for us — a place we could call home! In our research, we discovered the Niagara wine region and St. Catharines, a city with a rich history, in the process of reinventing itself, with a vibrant new interactive media community that we could play a leadership role in!

When we researched the real estate opportunities, one guy with long flowing hair kept standing out — his website and newsletters painted the kind of place we were looking for. Right, it was you, Timothy!

When we emailed your office, one of your colleagues (Sally Dollar), got back to us right away and spent time helping to validate the move to St. Catharines, reassuring us through our concerns and making us feel that this would be the right decision for us to move our household and business to the region. Of course, you followed up with us to make sure all of our questions were answered.

Last October, we moved here and have been renting as we get to know the neighbourhoods — establishing our business and embracing everything the region has to offer. We are thrilled you helped us find our long term home — and all of our expectations have been exceeded! I even bet your office has had something to do with this beautiful mild winter we got in our first year here!

Of course, moving here means we weren’t in Vancouver for the Olympic festivities and I can’t see any Canucks games this year (and I was sad when I discovered they didn’t play in Buffalo this season). So now don’t you feel responsible for this? Wouldn’t it make you feel a bit better to give those 2 tickets to 2 huge hockey fans who don’t really even have any friends here yet (in the city that you convinced us to call our home)?

This email, is the truth, but meant in fun — both Katie and I appreciate all the help you have given us directly and through all the resources you have created in your website! Thanks, Timothy (and I am sure we will be talking about homes as we get closer to our lease ending — even if we don’t get those Sabres tickets)!

Sincerely,
Dan & Katie

I would love to be able to take my son to a Sabre’s game. He started playing hockey when he was 5 and has enjoyed it ever since but he has yet to see a professional team play.

So in the words of a 12-year-old boy…please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, can we have some tickets?

Thanks
Jim & Andrew

Hi Tim,

Terry and would love the chance to get away and see the Buffalo game Friday night… As you may or may not know, our boys are now 12 and 10-yrs-old and both play travel hockey….this means we are at the ARENA for them typically 6 or 7 days a week….all winter long!!!! There seasons are starting to wind down and we actually have NOTHING this Friday……it would be great to have date night…….(and the boys would be SO envious of mom going to the game…)

Hope to be considered for this…

Thanks
Lynne

Great contest!

I would sincerely love Buffalo Sabre tickets. I’ve only ever gone to 2 NHL hockey games…one in Montreal back in 1998, and an exhibition game here in St. Catharines about 5 or 6 years ago. I love sports playing hockey and baseball throughout my childhood for 10 years, and most recently golf, tennis, and jiu jitsu, so sports is in my blood! This prize would be especially nice because it’ll be a great treat for my “little.” I’m in Big Brothers and my “little” Ray has never gone to a hockey game and he’d be absolutely 100% totally amazed by the skill of the game and its players. I tried organizing a free ball hockey league in his government subsidized housing by passing over 200 flyers with Ray however there were only 2 responses back. I feel bad that I couldn’t create a hockey league however hopefully if I’m chosen this might be my redemption. Ray comes from a single parent low income situation with little to no sports involvement, and this would help immensely.

We both have passports!

Please pick us!

John and Ray

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Tags: St.-Catharines-Real-Estate, Timothy-Salisbury, Buffalo-Sabre, Contest

What do people do?
Many Canadians celebrate Groundhog Day by attending festivals, engaging in activities and reading or listening to news about groundhog appearances on February 2. Some Christian churches celebrate Candlemas on this day. Other people mark Groundhog Day as the date to take down their Christmas decorations.

Groundhog Day has attracted media attention over the years and its popularity continues to grow in Canada.  A festival is held in the town of Wiarton in Bruce County, Ontario, to honor Groundhog Day. The town has its own groundhog, Wiarton Willie, which it shares with the nation. Locals, fans and news reporters come out to “hear Willie’s prediction” early in the morning on February 2 each year. Other events at the festival include dances, contests, parades and pancake breakfasts.

Background
Thousands of years ago when animalism and nature worship were prevalent, people in the area of Europe now known as Germany believed that the badger had the power to predict the coming of spring. They watched the badger to know when to plant their crops.

This tradition was brought over to North America, predominantly in Pennsylvania in the United States, where it was the groundhog, not the badger, which makes these “predictions”. According to folklore, if the groundhog will sees its shadow on February 2 it will return to its burrow, indicating that there will be six more weeks of winter. If it does not see its shadow, then spring is on the way.

The Groundhog Day concept became popular in Canada in 1956 when Wiarton Willie became a household name for his early February “weather predictions”. Wiarton’s Groundhog Day festival grew as Willie’s fame increased. It became one of the largest winter festivals in Bruce County, Canada. The original Wiarton Willie was an albino groundhog that was around 22 years old when it died during the winter of 1998-99. Other groundhogs have replaced the original groundhog as the new Wiarton Willie.  Did you know Ontario’s groundhog is “Gary the Groundhog”?

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Hey Bloggers – The topic today is Harmonized Sales Tax.

In summary, the Province of Ontario plans a major tax reform that will combine both the provincial and federal sales tax on products and services. The current combined tax of 5% GST and 8% Ontario sales tax won’t change the price on most items. But many items that used to be exempt from sales tax will no longer be so. Leading economists from across the country say the Harmonized Sales Tax is the single most important step Ontario can take to boost its economy. They also say Harmonizing the GST and PST will save employers $2 billion that can be used to lower prices to the consumer, increase investment and create jobs. It’s set to begin July 1st, 2010.

How does this relate to you and the real estate industry?  The taxes will add a significant amount to the cost of home ownership. OREA (The Ontario Real Estate Association)  says the “average” buyer will have to pay an additional $1,449 in new taxes on their next real estate transaction. In a ‘call to action’ the OREA members have sent over 13,000 e-mails to local MPP’s across Ontario asking them to reconsider. BCREA has devoted a web page to the HST. www.bcrea.bc.ca/hst/hstaction.htm

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. As always, any comments you may have can be left here on my Blog.

Want to learn more?  Here is another good website: http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2009/03/27/f-tax-faq.html

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Tags: Ontario, Canada, Harmonized-Sales-Tax, BCREA, British-Columbia-Real-Estate-Association, CBC-News, Canadian-Taxes

In Canada, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday in October. The origin and history of Thanksgiving Day in Canada is different from the American Thanksgiving. Whereas the American tradition talks about remembering Pilgrims and settling in the New World, Canadians give thanks for a successful harvest. The geographical location of Canada is further north as compared to the United States therefore the harvest season falls earlier in Canada.

History and Origin of Canadian Thanksgiving

There are three traditions behind Canadian Thanksgiving Day:

1. The farmers in Europe held celebrations at the time of harvesting to give thanks for their good fortune of a bountiful harvest and abundance of food. The farmers would fill a goat’s curved horn with fruits and grains. This curved horn was known as a cornucopia or the horn of plenty. It is believed that when the European farmers came to Canada they brought this tradition of Thanksgiving with them.

2. The history of Thanksgiving in Canada is related to Martin Frobisher, who was an English navigator. He made a lot of efforts to find a northern passage to the Orient. Though he did not succeed in his efforts but he was able to establish a settlement in Northern America. In the year 1578, he held a formal ceremony, in what is now known as Newfoundland, to give thanks for surviving the long journey. This is considered the first Canadian Thanksgiving. Martin Frobisher was later knighted and an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean in northern Canada was named as ‘ Frobisher Bay’ after him. When other settlers arrived here they continued this ceremony of giving thanks.

3. The third influence occurred in 1621 in what is now the United States. Here the pilgrims, who were the English colonists, celebrated their first harvest in the New World at Plymouth Massachusetts. By the 1750s this celebration of harvest was brought to Nova Scotia by American settlers from the south.

In the 1600s, another navigator Samuel de Champlain crossed the ocean and arrived to Canada. Other French Settlers also came with him and their group held huge feasts of thanks for the harvests. On this event they shared their food with the Native American neighbors and thus involved them in their celebrations. Then they formed ‘ The Order of Good Cheer’ which marked the harvests and other events as well.

After the Seven Year’s War ended in 1763, the citizens of Halifax held a special day of Thanksgiving.

During the American Revolution the Americans who remained loyal to England moved to Canada. They brought with themselves the customs and practices of the American Thanksgiving to Canada.

In 1879, the Parliament declared 6th day of November as the day of Thanksgiving and also declared it a national holiday. Over the years different dates were used for celebrating the Thanksgiving Day in Canada but the most popular date was the 3rd Monday of October.

After World War I, both Armistice Day and Thanksgiving Day were celebrated on a common day that was Monday of the week in which fell the 11th day of November. Ten years later, in 1931, both Armistice Day and Thanksgiving Day became separate holidays and Armistice Day was renamed as the ‘Remembrance Day’.

Finally, on January 31st, 1957, the Parliament issued a proclamation to fix permanently the 2nd Monday in October as the Thanksgiving Day.

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Tags: Canada, Thanksgiving

The Grape and Wine Festival will take place from September 18th to 27th.

This annual 10 day event features many of the world class Niagara wineries proudly showcasing their vintage along with several local culinary establishments.

In addition to great food and wine, the Grape and Wine Festival is filled with excellent entertainment programming.

Over the years many high profile entertainers have taken the center stage at Montebello Park where the main activities are held.

Some of this year’s Grape and Wine Festival attractions will be:

Crash Parallel
Faber Drive
Sarah Slean
The Wheat Kings
The Philosopher Kings
The Caverners
And many more…

Don’t forget the Post Parade show on September 27th @ 2:00pm, featuring Ryson’s rock ‘n roll student band, the Golden Hammers, with Natalie Vurro on vocals. These kids are really terrific and worth catching.

For full information and to view scheduled events, please visit their website.

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Ontario’s Bill 118

Ontario’s Bill 118, an amendment to the Highway Traffic Act is now in effect and bans drivers from using handheld devices with display screens while operating a vehicle on the road. Here is a summary of the new rules:

• Holding or using a wireless communication device (a cell phone) or a portable electronic entertainment device (iPod) while driving is prohibited.

• Commercial GPS units along with similar dashboard-mounted devices that provide gauges and displays relating to logistical or navigation uses are permitted.

• Using a cell phone or wireless communication device in hands-free mode, as long as you’re not holding it during use, is permitted.

• Using any device while pulled-over or parked in a way that you are not disrupting traffic, is permitted.

• The systems used by Ambulances, Fire Departments, and Law Enforcement are exempt.

The ban is in effect as of September 1, 2009 and will carry a fine of $500. Demerit points will not be included but depending upon the violation, police will have the option to also use existing careless driving laws for additional penalties.

This bill has been passed for the safety and protection of all drivers on the road.

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Tags: Ontario, Canada, Ontario-Bill-118, Handheld-Device, Cell-Phone, iPod, GPS, Wireless-Communication, Safety, Driving-Safety