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OVERVIEW OF THE 2023 CAMA CONFERENCE
DEERHURST RESORT, HUNTSVILLE, ONTARIO
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2022-2023 CAMA Board of Directors
Jamie Nagy, Jack Benzaquen, Raffaelle Di Stasio, Rodney Cumby,
Brenda Orchard, Gary Kent, Bev Hendry, Mike Dolter, Marc Melanson
(Missing from the Photo is Tony Kulbisky, First Vice-President and
Cory Bellmore - President from June to December 2022)
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More than 270 Chief Administrative Officers and senior staff members from municipalities across Canada attended the 49th Annual CAMA Conference at the Deerhurst Resort in Huntsville, Ontario from May 29-31, 2023.
Some of the Conference presentations can be found on the CAMA Website and the recordings are in the CAMA Member's Section for those presentations that were not copyrighted.
Built around the theme "CAMA-RADERIE - Together Again", Conference delegates experienced some inspiring keynote speakers, exceptional networking opportunities, an interactive tradeshow featuring products and services of interest to municipalities, and Study Tours. The Board also took the opportunity to launch CAMA's newest "Toolkit for the Effective Executive Assistant to the CAO". See the highlights below.
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Thank you to host CAOs Denise Corry (Town of Huntsville) and Julie Stevens (District Municipality of Muskoka) and their staff for their tremendous support to our Conference. As well, thank you to the Huntsville Municipal Accommodation Tax Association who was a gold partner. | |
Thank you to the amazing Executive Assistants - Blaire Melvin (District Municipality of Muskoka) and Brenda Jones (Town of Huntsville) for greeting our delegates with their smiles, and a wonderful CAMA Survival Kit with gifts from the area municipalities. | |
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CONFERENCE DAY 1 - MONDAY, MAY 29
The first day of the Conference included the ever-popular CAMA Golf Tournament, local tours of the Muskoka Region and an Opening Reception in the tradeshow area featuring 65 companies from across Canada. Visit our Conference website to see our many sponsors and exhibitors.
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Muskoka Fishing Trip
Sponsored by Canoe Benefits
There's no such thing as a bad day when fishing...especially when you're fishing in Muskoka!
Lisa Niblock, CAO for the Town of Paradise, NL is pictured above with her catch of the day!
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The Muskoka Beer Trail
Sponsored by Canoe Procurement Group of Canada
This was a great day experiencing the wonderful world of craft beer, while enjoying the scenic travel routes in the Muskoka Region!
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Exploring Georgian Bay Islands National Park
"The Best Sandwich Ever"!
The weather was beautiful and this group explored the National Park learning about the history of Georgian Bay while swimming, hiking and biking.
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Wharf, BeerSpa, Wine & Brews - The Perfect Day!
A fun time was had experiencing the Muskoka Wharf in Gravenhurst, the Clearlake Brewery and the bog-to-bottle cranberry tour!
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Bracebridge, Port Carling and Lunch
Lots of exploring at the Bracebridge Wharf and Port Carling with a lunch at the JW Marriott The Rosseau Muskoka.
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2023 CAMA Golf Tournament
Congratulations to the winning team!
Raul Allueva, Peter Neufeld and Jeff Chipley
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CAMA-RADERIE AT THE WELCOME RECEPTION & EXHIBITOR TRADESHOW | |
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CONFERENCE DAY 2 - TUESDAY, MAY 30
After being officially welcomed to Huntsville and Muskoka during the opening ceremonies, keynote Susan Stewart had us laughing out loud, and reminded us not to take ourselves too seriously. We heard from informative and engaging speakers about issues that are of importance to our members; including the changing dynamic of CAO, Mayor and Council relations, climate change, leading in a small community, corporate sponsorship, and diversity, equity and inclusion.
We spent some quality time with our great exhibitors and Conference sponsors, and celebrated our colleagues with Long Service Awards for their dedication to the profession of municipal administration.
Finally, we enjoyed a casual evening by the lake, taking in the beautiful scenery, with great food, fantastic music, winged creatures, and a whole lot of CAMA-RADERIE!
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20 Year Long Service Recipients | |
25 Year Long Service Recipients | |
30 Year Long Service Recipients | |
35 Year Long Service Recipients | |
Climate Change Panellists | |
Patricia Vinchesi - Small Communities Session | |
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Diversity, Equity, Inclusion
Don Lidstone
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Sponsorship in Municipalities - Brent Barootes | |
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Casual Night Out
Sunset Bay
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CONFERENCE DAY 3 - WEDNESDAY, MAY 31 | |
The third day of the Conference kicked off with two plenary sessions: “The Top Ten Ways a CAO Can Effectively Use Their Executive Assistant to Improve Their Productivity & Launch of the Toolkit for the Effective Executive Assistant to the CAO” and “Navigating Procurement in a Changing Landscape”. The morning ended with the amazing Drum Café bringing CAMA-RADERIE to a whole new level.
The CAMA Awards of Excellence were presented at the Luncheon to nine winning municipalities. You can find more details on our website and by listening to the Local Gov Cafés interview with all recipients. Following the Closing Ceremonies in the Tradeshow there were four study tours to learn about Muskoka's microbrewery business, an adventure to the Ragged Falls, axe throwing and a visit to the Dorset Lookout Tower and the infamous Robinson General Store.
The Conference ended with the President’s Reception with the ABBA Band, a black and gold theme, and a fun photo booth to celebrate our 50th Anniversary (which was in 2021), where two forty year recipients received their awards (Jim Puffalt and Robert Jorgensen) and CAMA’s Life Members Janice Baker and Roy Brideau were honoured. We were also very excited to have seven CAMA Past Presidents in attendance.
Watch this video that highlights CAMA's 50 years of Administrative Excellence in Canada.
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Executive Assistant Panel | |
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2023 CAMA Award of Excellence Winners | |
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CAMA Past Presidents
Jack Benzaquen, Marc Landry, Jake Rudolph, Jeff Renaud,
Janice Baker, Chris MacPherson, Barry Carroll
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Robert Jorgensen
40 Year Recipient
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Jim Puffalt
40 Year Recipient
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Janice Baker
Honourary Member for Life
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THANK YOU TO THE 2023 CAMA CONFERENCE TEAM
A huge thank you to this year's incredible CAMA rockstar team for their exceptional skills, shining personalities, and teamwork. They are a true pan-Canadian team that live in municipalities from coast to coast to coast and met in the middle to execute another successful event of CAMA-RADERIE.
Looking forward to seeing everybody at the 50th Annual Conference taking place at the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel from June 3-5, 2024. Watch for the hotel room block to open in September 2023.
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Rose Fernandes (Texas), Jennifer Goodine (Fredericton), Alycia Bartlett (Fredericton), Beth Readman (Napanee), Denise Habibovic (Mississauga), Julia McDevitt (Fredericton), Victoria Bowering (Nanaimo) | | | | |
