Meeting with the Minister

Meeting with the Minister

PGA of Canada CEO Gary Bernard returned home Thursday night after spending the day in Ottawa as part of the National Allied Golf Association’s (NAGA) Golf Awareness Campaign.

Bernard, NAGA’s current chair, along with Jeff Calderwood, CEO of the National Golf Course Owners Association of Canada (NGCOA), spent the morning meeting with Canada’s Minister of State (Sport), Bal Gosal and his Senior Policy Advisor. The pair also presented the Minister with a framed copy of Golf Business Canada’s Special Edition.
“It was a great opportunity meeting eye-to-eye and speaking with the Minister,” Bernard says. “I think he was impressed at the way things are progressing with NAGA, especially with the formation of the Golf Caucus.”

The Federal Golf Caucus, which is co-chaired by MPS from the Conservative, Liberal and NDP parties, was formed as an immediate outcome of NAGA’s Federal Awareness Day back in June. The Golf Caucus is the first of its kind and currently there are no other federal caucus’s solely dedicated to individual sport’s in Canada.

Following the morning’s meeting with the Minister, Bernard and Calderwood made their way to the Parliament Restaurant for the Golf Caucus lunch.

“We met with the Caucus and introduced NAGA to the group; really driving home the point of a sustainable and healthy golf industry in Canada,” Bernard says.

On hand for the Golf Caucus lunch were: Mr. Peter Stoffer, MP for Sackville—Eastern Shore (N.S.) and NDP head of the Golf Caucus; Mrs. Françoise Boivin, MP for Gatineau (Que.); Mr. Randall Garrison, MP for Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca (B.C.); The Hon. John McKay, MP for Scarborough—Guildwood (Ont.); and Mr. Bob Zimmer, MP for Prince George—Peace River (B.C.).

NAGA is comprised of seven different Canadian golf associations—the PGA of Canada; Canadian Society of Club Managers; Canadian Superintendents Association; Canadian Tour; Golf Canada National Golf Course Owners Association of Canada and the Canadian Golf Industry Association.

For more information about NAGA, visit canadagolfs.ca