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Warden Tom Bain <br />8th Annual Warden's Luncheon <br />Windsor Essex Regional Chamber of Commerce <br />March 13, 2015 <br />Ciociaro Club <br />Head table guests, members of County Council, members of Essex County municipal councils, <br />members of Windsor City Council, ladies and gentlemen, friends and family, good afternoon <br />and welcome to the 8th annual Warden's State of the County address, made possible by our <br />friends at the Windsor Essex Regional Chamber of Commerce and, once again, the lead sponsor <br />of today's event, Libro Credit Union. <br />Paul and Liz, a special thank you to Libro Credit Union for its continued sponsorship of this <br />event. Libro and its predecessor credit unions have a long history of contributing to the ongoing <br />vitality of our Essex County communities. Beyond its day-to-day offering of financial services <br />and products, the Credit Union is deeply embedded across our region through its substantial <br />support of a variety of community and social development, financial literacy and economic <br />sustainability initiatives. The positive impact the Credit Union has had, and will no doubt <br />continue to have, upon the lives of so many residents throughout Essex County is most <br />appreciated. I remember as a youngster, years ago, opening my first account at your branch in <br />Woodslee. <br />I would also like to thank Matt and the Chamber of Commerce for this opportunity to again <br />stand before you to offer my perspectives on the opportunities and challenges I see for the <br />County of Essex and our region, not just for the coming year, but also for the entire term of <br />Council. <br />The Chamber has a rich history of acting as a voice for business and professionals within our <br />region. In the last few years, many organizations across the County have become more <br />engaged than ever with the Chamber. Matt often reminds me that the Chamber's full name is <br />the Windsor Essex Regional Chamber of Commerce. <br />Today I am pleased to tell everyone here — especially our friends in the County — that the <br />Chamber is adding "essex" to its domain name. <br />That means the Chamber and its staff can now be reached at windsoressexchamber.org as well <br />as windsorchamber.org. Thank you Matt — we in the County appreciate this small but <br />symbolically important addition. <br />Agriculture and Agri -business together form the number one industry in County of Essex and <br />depending on how you measure it — it's the number one or number two industry in Ontario. <br />Last year, the Chamber established their first ever Agriculture committee with members from <br />across the County, including CF Foods, Red Sun farms, local wineries and the Essex County <br />Federation of Agriculture. The Chamber also released its first ever Agriculture paper - a <br />roadmap for guiding its advocacy in an effort to double exports in this sector by 2020. <br />To accomplish this, targeted areas include moving to 24 hour greenhouse operations, <br />improving our energy infrastructure and modernizing the wine system in Ontario. <br />