Riding in Style at Upper Canada Village

Darren Dalgleish, General Manager and CEO of the St. Lawrence Parks Commission (SLPC) has won a Canadian Government Executive (CGE) Leadership award.  

This prestigious award recognizes Dalgleish and his team for leadership in business renewal efforts through their strategy ‘Alive in Five’.  

“I am very honoured to be recognized with this award.  The toughest part of my job as CEO of SLPC is standing to receive recognition for work that others have done.  Over the past two years, my incredibly talented team has rallied around a common vision of self sufficiency and business excellence and we have achieved real momentum,” said Darren Dalgleish, General Manager and CEO, St. Lawrence Parks Commission.  

The award criteria was based upon the demonstrated benefits  improved service and reduced costs; difficulties faced; the quality of change management and leadership; innovation, collaboration, networking and partnerships; the development of team support and employee “buy-in”; the significance and materiality of the project; lessons learned and Replicability.

 “Congratulations to Darren Dalgleish on receiving the 2014 Canadian Government Executive Leadership Award.  The Commission has successfully enhanced its service offerings in creative and innovative ways during challenging economic times.  This award is a well-deserved testament to the hard work, dedication, ingenuity and leadership of the entire St. Lawrence Parks Commission team,” said Steven Davidson, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport. 

Shortly after the arrival of Dalgleish, the SLPC adopted the business renewal strategy they call ‘Alive in Five’.  

The strategy, now in its third year, aims to completely renew the organization to self sufficiency within five years.  

There are two essential pillars of this plan; 1: Cost Structure improvement through the execution of Lean Kaizen methodology, enrichment of programs and product portfolio.  

“As an Agency of the Ministry of Tourism Culture and Sport, our priorities are complex and diverse, but we believe growth and cost effectiveness are key to regional economic growth and essential to enabling sound stewardship of the heritage facilities and properties entrusted to us” said Dalgleish.  

“Our focus is simple, we simply challenge everything we do with the question – “Would the customer be willing to pay for that?”” Dalgleish added. 

The other key is to lead a staff culture change whereby there was greater connection from the top to bottom of the organization with fewer layers, more open dialogue and greater employee engagement.  

Staff surveys, quarterly ‘All Hands’ meetings, Kaizen events, a Hero’s Cup staff award recognition program and other initiatives have helped to dramatically improve employee morale and engagement.  

“The open door management style at SLPC is taking hold” Dalgleish said.  

He also sites General Electric’s philosophy of E=QxA (effectiveness = quality (of the idea) x acceptance) as essential to the sustainability of change and at the core of SLPC’s quest. 

“Darren has brought an important private sector perspective to the St. Lawrence Parks Commission.  His passion for his work has permeated the whole organization and has given new energy to all our initiatives,” said  Ian Wilson, Chair, St. Lawrence Parks Commission.

Canadian Government Executive is the journal of record for public sector executives.  

Now in its 19th year of publishing, CGE reaches a wide national audience of senior decision-makers and managers across federal, provincial and municipal jurisdictions.  

Their mission is to contribute to excellence in public sector management. 

Our contributors are among the sectors most well-known and respected thought leaders.  Published 10 times a year, CGE reaches up to 60,000 public sector leaders and decision-makers every month. 

With extensive experience in business renewal and development, Dalgleish joined the St. Lawrence Parks Commission as CEO in 2011 charged with executing a corporate transformation to create business sustainability.  

He has extensive executive leadership experience in the public and private sectors, led multinational companies and business transformations.  

He is educated in Engineering and Business and has studied at Loyalist College, York University and the University of Tennessee and is a Six Sigma Black Belt. 

The St. Lawrence Parks Commission operates internationally renowned historic site Upper Canada Village, Fort Henry National Historic Site of Canada, part of Ontario’s only UNESCO World Heritage Site, thirteen campgrounds and beaches from the 1000 Islands to the Quebec border, Crysler Park Marina, Upper Canada Golf Course and Upper Canada Migratory Bird Sanctuary along with two scenic parkways – the Long Sault Parkway and the 1000 Islands Parkway.

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A three year old, a lighter and disabled smoke alarms are a recipe for disaster, but luckily that disaster was averted by a local family this weekend.

Firefighters were called to the scene of a mattress fire, Saturday morning, shortly before 8 a.m. When they arrived, they found the occupants of 65 Augusta Street in Morrisburg, outside wrapped in blankets. The fire, located in the second floor bedroom, was extinguished and firefighters removed the burnt mattress and debris.

“I spoke with the tenants of the home and the grandmother said that she smelled smoke and discovered the  second floor bedroom on fire,” said Chris McDonough, fire chief of South Dundas Fire and Emergency Services. “She woke her son and got her three year old grandson out of the bedroom.”

“As it turns out, the three year old boy had set fire to the bedroom with a lighter that was in his father’s pants next to the bed,” said McDonough. “This could very easily have been a fatality.”

According to McDonough, the smoke alarm on the second floor had been removed and the battery had been removed from the smoke alarm on the main floor of the home.

A $235 charge will be laid for not having working smoke alarms in the home.

“I would like to remind everyone that you must have a working smoke alarm on every storey of your home and that they should practice their home escape plans,” said McDonough.

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With the new year, came a new year’s baby.

The first baby born in 2015 at Winchester District Memorial Hospital was Lilah Shay Thurler.

She is a very considerate little girl. 

She let her parents, Robert and Brittany, attend a family New Year’s Eve party before making her debut at WDMH  January 1, 2014 at 12:26 pm.

“She gave us an hour’s sleep before Brittany began feeling labour pains,” says proud father Robert Thurler. “We got home from the party at 2 a.m. and headed to the hospital three hours later.”

Lilah is Robert and Brittany Thurler’s first child. The Thurlers live in South Mountain.

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