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ICCC Celebrated its Annual Awards& Gala Night 2018

Kanwar Dhanjal		Ahmad Hussen
Vikas Swarup		Gordon Bacon
Nareshkumar Chavda		Ajay Tandon

Insightful speeches by Hon. Ahmed Hussen, Canada’s Minister for Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship; His Excellency Vikas Swarup, the High Commission of India to Ottawa; Gordon Bacon, CEO, Pulse Canada; top-of-the-line entertainment full of evocative pyrotechnics that bowled over and dazzled the audience marked the 26th Annual Awards and Gala Night of the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce.

On Sunday June 17, 2018, the exquisite Paramount Eventspace in Woodbridge was the venue of the annual program; it was abuzz with the who’s who of Indo-Canadian community leaders, diplomats, corporate leaders, academics, small and medium entrepreneurs, bankers, and lawyers, and the representatives of the media.

The theme of the evening was the Rise of Digital Era: Excellence in Changing Time set the tone for the evening as every speaker emphasized the urgent need for humanity to understand and adjust to the rapidly expanding digitalization of our world.

Chief Guest for the evening, Minister Hussen in his remarks, emphasized the growing influence of the Indo-Canadian community in Canada and its contributions in all spheres of the Canadian society. High Commissioner Vikas Swarup said that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s recent visit to India had positively transformed the bilateral relations between Canada and India.

In his keynote address, Gordon Bacon, the CEO of Pulse Canada, emphasized the need for cordial relations between Canada and India on trading of pulses. Over the last three years, Canadian exports to India averaged over 2 million tons of pulses each year for an average value of $1.2 Billion dollars/year. Pulse trade has been the economic driver in Canada’s export business with India.

Canada accounts for more than one-third of global pulse trade. For many years, 50 percent of India’s pulse imports came from Canada because Canada is a cost competitive supplier, and has the range of quality at the range of prices and pulse products that India has required.

Mr. Kanwar Dhanjal, President, ICCC said that the Annual Awards have been legendary and those honored with the awards acquire not just momentary fame and glory but also lasting recognition of their achievements. About the theme, he said, “Digitalization is changing our world and we have yet to comprehend its ramifications in totality. It is changing the way we work, communicate, spend leisure time and relax.”

The highlight of the evening was, of course, the award ceremony when 10 Indo-Canadians were honoured for their achievements. The 2018 ICCC Annual Award winners who were honoured are:

Female Entrepreneur		Male Entrepreneur
Reetu Gupta COO,Easton’s Group of Hotels		Suneet Singh Tuli CEO, Datawind Inc
Male Professional		Young Achiever
Dr. Rajiv Midha Professor,Department of Clinical Neurosciences,  University of Calgary		Abhishek Jain Student University of Waterloo
Technology Achievement		Corporate Executive
Parth Patel CEO  Sys Creations Inc		Atul Tiwari ManagingDirector,  Vanguard Investments Canada Inc
Humanitarian		Lifetime Achievement
Haresh (Mike) Mehta CEO, Eximcan Canada		Dr. Sadhna Joshi Associate Professor, University of Toronto
Member of the Year		President Award
Chirag Shah Director, Shubtech Inc		RoseannO’Reilly Runte President& CEO, Canada Foundation for Innovation

The evening is the coming together of members, stakeholders, sponsors of the ICCC and included members of the Advisory Board, the Board of Directors, the Past Presidents and other supporters of the Chamber.

ICCC and CIBC teams

The Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce (ICCC) in collaboration with the CIBC organised the annual state of the economy talk at the Courtyard by Marriott in Brampton on May 17. Roy Mendes, Director and Senior Economist, CIBC made a presentation on global economic trends.

In his introductory remarks, Kanwar Dhanjal, President, ICCC, said that the relationship that the ICCC and the CIBC have developed over the years has benefitted both the institutions. Venki Raman of the CIBC in his remarks welcomed the CIBC clients, the ICCC members, and other guests to the program. He said the CIBC was proud to be ICCC’s lead sponsor.

Roy Mendes in his presentation covered the global economy and focused on specific areas of the Canadian economy. The global economy has experienced 3.6 % growth and Canada has experienced 3 % growth. “We have come all the way back from the days of recession. We may have a little less growth in the future,” he said.

Speaking about the upsurge in the US economy, Mendes said, the economic expansion has been one of the largest and most sustained. In terms of the GDP per capita, we will have a couple of good years before we hit recession again. It will be in 2020 when we get a headwind from fiscal and monetary policies.  

This is now the second largest expansion in the US history. Donald Trump’s recent tax reformation and tax cut will be fuel of growth and the tax cut is the eighth largest tax cut in US history. The growth impetus is good. But while the US economy will definitely improve, it will in fact give rise to a larger trade deficit, and that may lead to a more drastic line on trade policy by the US President.

He said that it is estimated that nearly three quarters of a million to a million Canadian jobs would be lost to the US economy because of the US tax and trade policy reforms.

CIBC team

About the ongoing tariff war between the US and China, Mendes said, the $150 billion tariff on Chinese imports by the US will lead to retaliatory action by China on US imports. For instance, the import tariff on soya beans that China has levied on US imports. This will give rise to an opportunity for Canada.

Speaking about the predominant sector of the Canadian economy, Mendes said, “What we are facing in the oil and gas sector in Canada is a constraint in terms of both capacity and investments. We may not be doing too well in the next two years.”

He said the volatility in oil prices will continue but it won’t necessarily help Canada. Even if the US imposes fresh sanctions on Iran, its oil exports to India, China, Turkey will continue as at present making little or no dent to its oil production. Transportation of oil down south through pipelines and through railroad is mired by political and logistical bottlenecks.

On the ongoing NAFTA negotiations, he said that If the NAFTA is not signed, Canada will revert to the WTO defined most favoured nation status in its trade with the US. But the US is selectively targeting industries where Canada has an advantage – such as aviation (Bombardier), oil pipeline, paper and pulp and lumber.

Mendes was of the opinion that NAFTA appears to be a 2019 story and the continued indecision will affect small businesses. And it will also affect investment decisions, with more corporations preferring to stay invested in the US. To add to this is the overall reformed tax regime in the US, which is making the US economy more attractive for investors.

Interest rates in Canada will continue to rise and this will affect consumers drastically. It has been estimated that a one percentage point rise in the interest rate will affect consumer spending by nearly 50 percent. Interest rate hike will also affect the housing market more this time around than before. The housing market has been able to rise three times after facing a contraction because of interest rate hike. However, it will take longer to recover the next time.

Markets have been on the decline but are expected to recover within the next two to three years. Inflation is steadily rising from 2 to 2.5 percent but what is new this time is that the inflation is rising because of artificial factors such as wage rise.

The presentation was followed by a lengthy Q&A.

Naresh Chawda, Kanwar Dhanjal,  Venki Raman and Pramod Goyal	CIBC officials and clients
Venki Raman, Imtiaz Seyid,  Kanwar Dhanjal & Sudhir Anand	Venki Raman and Kanwar Dhanjal  with CIBC officials

Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce
924 The East Mall Toronto ON M9B 6K1
Tel: 416-224-0090. 

Fax: 416-916-0086. 
E-mail: iccc@iccconline.org 

Website: www.iccconline.org

ICCC Board of Directors with MPs Hon. Ruby Sahota and Hon. Bob Saroya

Sahota was among a group of Canadian Members of Parliament that included Robert Fonseca (Mississauga East – Cooksville) and Bob Saroya (Markham-Unionville) who participated at an interactive session organised by the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce (ICCC) on May 15 for small and medium enterprises.

This is the first occasion when the ICCC has organised a non-partisan event where Members of Parliament from both the parties participated. Sahota and Fonseca are Liberal MPs and Saroya is a Conservative MP.

Sahota reassured the participants at the session that the federal government was conscious of the decisions it was implementing and was focused on providing a growth impetus to the economy. She emphasized that it was through deficit financing that the government had been able to ensure rapid recovery of the economy after the slump that the Canadian economy had experienced in the last decade and the early years of this decade.

Speaking on the occasion, Hon. Peter Fonseca, who is also a member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on International Trade, said that the Canadian federal government is focused on assisting small and medium businesses. To that effect, the government has taken several significant measures to alleviate the pressures of fiscal and monetary contraction in an economic regime where the interest rates are likely to rise steadily.

Peter Fonseca, MP, Mississauga East-Cooksville & Member, Parliamentary Standing Committee of International Trade

Naresh Chawda and Ruby Sahota	Pradyuman Jhala & Pranav Patel with Bob Saroya
Pramod Goyal with Bob Saroya	Devika Penekelapati, Peter Fonseca, Kanwar Dhanjal & Ruby Sahota
Gursharan Kandra, Bob Saroya and Rakesh Joshi	Sanjay Brahmbhatt and Peter Fonseca
Pawan Chankotra, Bob Saroya, Rakesh Joshi and guest	Renu Chauhan, Kanwar Dhanjal, & Peter Fonesca

Bob Saroya, the Markham-Unionville MP, said that small businesses are the backbone of the Canadian economy and the mainstay of newcomers to Canada. He said immigrants became small entrepreneurs and contributed strongly to the economy by creating employment opportunities for other Canadians.

In his remarks, Kanwar Dhanjal, President, ICCC, said, the growth of small businesses is dependent upon the following six factors: Regulatory Framework, Market Conditions, Access to Finance, Knowledge Creation and Diffusion, Entrepreneurial Capabilities, and finally the entrepreneurial culture.

Participants at the interactive session

Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce
924 The East Mall Toronto ON M9B 6K1
Tel: 416-224-0090. 

Fax: 416-916-0086. 
E-mail: iccc@iccconline.org 

Website: www.iccconline.org

Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce
924 The East Mall Toronto ON M9B 6K1
Tel: 416-224-0090. 

Fax: 416-916-0086. 
E-mail: iccc@iccconline.org 

Website: www.iccconline.org

Letter from the President    Kanwar Dhanjal   On the cusp of change    Forming a future together

The main reason the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce (ICCC) celebrates the Annual Awards and Gala Night is to recognise members of the Indo-Canadian community for their achievements in different domains of public life. The Chamber has been honouring individuals for the last two-and-a-half decades, and those honoured have gone on to conquer other peaks in their splendid career.

Two key reasons for the celebration of the Annual Awards at the Gala Night by the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce is to foster bilateral commercial, trade relations between Canada and India, and create business and professional opportunities for Indo-Canadians. Our Chamber began this epochal celebration at a time when the population of Indo-Canadians was miniscule, but today Indo-Canadians have crossed over 1.3 million and have scaled new peaks in all spheres of the Canadian mainstream.

In recognizing the achievements of our compatriots, we remind our own and the Canadian mainstream of the rapid strides we have taken as a community in contributing to the fabric of the Canadian society. As an emerging voice of significance in the Canadian society, the Indo-Canadians have been instrumental in channeling Canadian and Indian relations in the right direction and have brought it to a cusp of a change that will transform it into something that will benefit both Canadians and Indians.

Indo-Canadians have been working at founding a future together. And in this endeavour, the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce (ICCC) has been in the forefront to create a better environment. Canada-India relations have been steadily rising at every level – economically, culturally, politically and in every possible way. During the recent visit of The Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau, the Prime Minister of Canada to India in February 2018, both the countries reiterated their commitment to continue on their path of cooperation and collaboration.

The Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce (ICCC) will continue to foster bilateral relations between Canada and India and continue to promote the interests of Indo-Canadian entrepreneurs and professionals. We will continue to recognise the achievements of Indo-Canadians because their achievements are a reflection of our collective gains.

ICCC Annual Awards 2018

This time of the year is when our Chamber receives nominations for the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Awards. It is a glorious tradition that launched more than 25 years ago when the ICCC began honouring achievers with its annual awards. Over the years, the awards have become coveted and prestigious. We continue to honour exceptional Indo-Canadians in eleven categories and an independent advisory board decides who wins in each category. 

Over the years, the awards have grown to encompass many spheres including entrepreneurs, professionals, technology, corporate executive, young achiever, humanitarian, lifetime and of course the member award. What is equally pertinent is that the ICCC has been among the first organisations to acknowledge crucial role that women play in all spheres and have been awarding women entrepreneurs and professionals for several years. The selection process has remained stringent and on occasions, a category has gone unrepresented when the advisory board has not found any suitable candidate in a particular category.

One of the most amazing aspects of the ICCC Annual Awards is that the awardees recognised by the ICCC subsequently go on to achieve greater glories. In that sense, the ICCC has been a talent spotter, especially in the spheres of young achievers and technology awards categories, and no less important is the role of the awards in bringing to the attention to the mainstream of the Canadian society.

The Annual Gala and Awards Night is a marquee event where we promote trade and commerce between India and Canada and recognize the achievements of Indo-Canadians from all across Canada by way of an award presentation. The Advisory Board independently chooses the award recipients in the following Award categories:

• Female Entrepreneur
• Male Entrepreneur
• Professional Female
• Professional Male
• Young Achiever
• Technology Achievement
• Corporate Executive
• Humanitarian
• Lifetime / Outstanding Achievement

Two additional awards are presented – the President’s Award, for unsung heroes, and the Members’ Award, for voluntarism and community services.

Please find time within the next couple of weeks and nominate a deserving person – whether an entrepreneur, a professional or a social entrepreneur who has served the humanitarian cause or someone who has contributed to the community on a sustained basis over the decades. Send your nomination on or before 30 April, 2018, with all the relevant documentation to the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce for consideration by the advisory board.

Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce
924 The East Mall Toronto ON M9B 6K1
Tel: 416-224-0090 

Fax: 416-916-0086. 
E-mail: iccc@iccconline.org 

Website: www.iccconline.org

The Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce (ICCC) and the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) signed a Memorandum of Understanding to establish a partnership between the two organisations to work together to increase awareness and use of Intellectual Property by Canadian businesses and innovators doing business, or planning to do business in India.

The CIPO is a Special Operating Agency (SOA) of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED). CIPO is responsible for the administration and processing of the greater part of intellectual property in Canada. CIPO’s areas of activity include trademarks, patents, copyright, industrial designs and integrated circuit topographies. Its mandate is to deliver high quality and timely IP services to customers and to increase awareness, knowledge and effective use of IP by Canadians.

The ICCC will host a series of conferences and workshops to encourage Canadian businesses and SMEs to trade with India, and CIPO will participate in the events to raise awareness of the importance of developing, protecting and leveraging IP assets to remain competitive in a global economy.

Mr. Kanwar Dhanjal, President, Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce (ICCC), signed the MoU on behalf of the Chamber during a recent trip to Ottawa in late March. Mr. Pradyuman Jhala and Mr. Rakesh Joshi, members of the board of directors, and Mr. Pawan Chankotra, COO, ICCC, accompanied Mr. Dhanjal on this trip. The ICCC delegation also held a series of officials meetings with high-ranking officials of the diplomatic corps and federal ministers and members of parliament.

ICCC board with HE Swarup	ICCC board with Minister Chagger
ICCC board with MP Sahota	ICCC team with MP Saroya

The ICCC board members kicked off the Ottawa visit with a high-powered meeting with India’s High Commissioner to Canada, His Excellency Vikas Swarup. During the meeting, the board members discussed the different ways in which both the Indian High Commission in Ottawa and the ICCC could work together to promote bilateral relations between Canada and India. The High Commissioner promised to provide all necessary support to the different councils of the ICCC across Canada.

HE Vikas Swarup expressed a keen desire to leverage the strengthening relations between Canada and India in the education sector considering that students from India contribute over $3 billion to the Canadian economy. He also said that when it will be signed, the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) would be an important bridge builder for businesses in both countries to rapidly expand cooperation.

The ICCC board also met Members of Parliament Bob Saroya and Ruby Sahota. During the meeting with Bob Saroya, the ICCC board mooted the idea of a panel discussion comprising four or five Members of Parliament to talk about issues of relevance to the membership of the Chamber. Such a direct conversation between policy makers and business owners would go a long way in enabling understanding the needs of small business owners. And during the meeting with Ruby Sahota, the board members discussed the direct conversation between policy makers and business owners to understand the needs of the businesses.

During the meeting with Minister Bardish Chagger, the ICCC board discussed the different ways in which it could cooperate with the ministry to promote small business interests in the changing economic outlook in North America. “We discussed the different ways in which we could cooperate with the minister’s endeavour to create more opportunities for small businesses to start promoting manufacturing in Canada and to promote exports to strengthen trade ties with other countries,” Kanwar Dhanjal said.

The board members also discussed the holding of a Hard Hats Tour for ICCC members to Communitech at University of Waterloo and sought the minister’s assistance in facilitating services and developing strategic partnerships relation with Communitech. 

The Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce (ICCC) in association with the Chartered Professionals Accountants (CPA) of Ontario organised a workshop on ‘Individual Pension Plans: A Response to an Evolving Tax Framework for Business Owners’ on March 21, 2018 at the ICCC’s office in Toronto.

Professional financial advisors and business owners eager to understand the tax implications of the new federal tax proposals and planning of pension in the wake of these proposed changes attended the program. Robert Rubino and Suzanne Schultz, both CPAs from the RBC Royal Bank, made the presentations.

Carmen Jacques, Manager, Student Recruitment, CPA Ontario, introduced the speakers and Kanwar Dhanjal, President, ICCC, welcomed the participants to the workshop. Ajay Tandon, VP, Program and Events, was the master of ceremonies for the evening. ICCC directors Naresh Chawda, Pramod Goyal, Abu Becker, Pradyuman Jhala were present at the workshop along with former ICCC Presidents Sanjay Makkar and Dharma Jain.

Rubino is with RBC Dominion Securities as an Investment Advisor. His planning and advice is structured to complement Public Accountants in their pursuit to plan efficiently for Corporate Clients. Suzanne Schultz is the Vice President and Estate Planning Specialist at the RBC Wealth Management Financial Services Ltd.

In her presentation on wealth management strategies in the light of the federal budget, Suzanne Schultz discussed the proposed changes in the tax measures for small businesses. Her presentation touched upon how the Federal Budget proposals may affect passive saving in a corporation, the possible solutions to help business owners save for retirement.

She listed the progression of the history of the new proposals which began in the 2015 election platform to target unfair tax advantages afforded business owners and following which the federal government sought consultations with the public in July 2017, which was followed by the December 2017 legislation on income sprinkling. Feb 2018 Passive investment proposal announced (much less onerous than July paper)

She claimed that income in a corporation subject to the small business deduction is taxed at preferential tax rates. If the net income is then used to invest passively, the business owner would have much more to invest than an individual would have.

Starting in 2019, if a corporation earns more than $50,000 in passive income in a year, the small business deduction will begin to be clawed back.  Reduction of $5 for every $1 of passive income above $50,000.  Full claw back once income reaches $150,000.Passive investment income for this purpose will include rents, royalties, interest, portfolio dividends (foreign and Canadian), taxable capital gains.

Income sprinkling rules – the big picture. The December proposals will limit income splitting using private corporation shares in certain cases. Kiddie tax (high tax rates) has applied to dividends paid to minor children for many years now. New Tax on Split income (like kiddie tax) will apply to a related shareholder over age 17 with some exceptions.

In his presentation on Individual Pension Plans, Rubino delineated the different options that both individuals and corporates have of planning pension and managing all aspects of wealth.  He said that planning of pensions should be part of managing all aspects of wealth for both an individual and corporate entities. Individual pension plans could be company sponsored – multiple companies may sponsor a single IPP or a registered plan which complies with pension and fiscal laws and regulations.

Rubino listed the eligibility of the applicants, which included incorporated business owners 37 + years of age, incorporated Professionals who are receiving T4 income, senior executives who are looking to plan for the future. He explained that the reasons to establish the plan could be subject to the new passive income rules, diversify the retirement strategy, significantly increase retirement savings, attain a planned capital accumulation for retirement, corporate tax deduction – retain small business tax rate. Rubino also listed the many advantages of a pension plan, which include the plan being creditor proof, assisting in succession planning, assist in sale of business, retain lifetime capital gains exemption, diversifying the retirement strategy.

Participants at the workshop