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POWER BOATING CANADA RAISES $73K FOR CHARITY
Power Boating
Canada's Hall of Fame Poker Run, held in September in conjunction
with the Toronto In-Water Boat Show at Ontario Place, marked
the first time that Power Boating Canada incorporated a poker
run with this popular event. What's more, the poker run's
second annual fundraising event for Toronto's Hospital for
Sick Children - complete with both live and silent auctions
- raised more than $73,000! Needless to say, we're thrilled
by this tremendous gift of charity from the event sponsors
and poker run participants - it never ceases to amaze me how
people always seem to come together for important causes,
and certainly none can be more important than the health and
welfare of our children. We would like to thank all the sponsors
who contributed prizes, and the participants who dug deep
to help the kids and made this event memorable. And of course,
a special thank you must go to Toronto In-Water Boat Show
organizer Linda Waddell and her fantastic staff, for without
their hard work and tremendous dedication, none of it could
have happened.
This
summer brought still more news from another legendary name
in the Canadian marine industry, as the news broke concerning
a purchase in principle of Bombardier's Recreational Products
Division. With an aggregate bid of $1.225 billion, Bain Capital,
members of the Bombardier family and the Caisse de Depot et
Placement du Quebec have made it clear the Montreal-based
company will remain a leader in the industry. It seems like
just yesterday when I rode the beautiful snowy trails near
Valcourt, Quebec, with Claire and Germain Bombardier, then
a decade later, in the 1970s, with Bombardier CEO and then-president,
Laurent Beaudoin. Today, the company continues to build its
famous Ski-Doo and Lynx snowmobiles, along with its leading-edge
Sea-Doo personal watercraft and jet boats, the legendary Evinrude
and Johnson outboards, and Bombardier Traxter ATVs. With this
latest development, the company can only grow and prosper
further, so it is certainly an exciting time for anyone with
an interest in Canadian power boating.
Other
exciting news this past year includes the 100th anniversary
of Starcraft Marine. The company commemorated this milestone
by launching its 2003 C-star series of fiberglass and aluminum
runabouts, plus a line of pontoon boats. Our hats are off
to the 100-year old builder - be sure to check out its exciting
new product for the 2004 model year.
So although
another boating season draws to a close, I'm more excited
than ever, and I'm already looking forward to 2004! It's hard
not to be pumped when the future for Canada's boating scene
looks so incredibly bright.
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