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Alan Salmon was Canada’s leading analyst in the area of accounting technology and was well known to people in the accounting and bookkeeping industry.

I had worked in the past at a professional bookkeeping member association and had the honour to meet Alan in person at an Intuit Conference at the Royal York Hotel in Toronto. I also had written a spotlight about him.

This was the post I wrote and was published on the IPBC website dated September 26, 2016.

“Monday Member Spotlight- Alan Salmon, IPBC Board Member and Managing Director of K2E Inc.

IPBC had the opportunity to speak with Alan Salmon recently.  Alan is recognized as Canada’s leading analyst in the area of accounting technology.  He has a very impressive bio and many years of business experience.  A few among many to list are: over 30 years of business, management systems, education and journalism experience.  As the Managing Director of K2E, Alan is responsible for the Canadian operations of this International consulting group, which provides professional development technology education for accountants across Canada and the USA.  Alan holds a degree in Science and an Advanced Teaching Certificate from the University of Toronto.

What you may not know about Alan Salmon is that he is a current Board Member of the IPBC. Alan has been involved with IPBC almost from its beginning.  He began as an advisor and then for the last two years as a Board Member. In the past few years, Alan has chaired the IPBC Task Force on Technology, the 2015 Benchmark Survey and this year, the Awards Committee.

Alan has always been an avid volunteer and believes in “giving back” to others.  In the past, he was the National President of the Canada Jaycees, Chair of the Rotary Club, as well as donating two weeks of his time each year between 1999 to 2012, to co-manage the Internet café at the Lion’s Clubs International Conference at different locations around the world.  

Alan Salmon is a real professional. From instructing over 50 different courses on technology topics to over 15,000 bookkeepers and accountants to 24 years as a technology columnist and editor for the Bottom Line Newspaper, this doesn’t even come close to how successful he is.

In 2006, Alan was the highest ranked instructor for the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario with a rating of over 93.5%. Now that is a feat in itself.

We asked Alan what advice he would give to someone who is just embarking on a brand new bookkeeping career and this is what he told us:

“Understand that you are embarking on a journey that is constantly changing. First, develop your skills as a Professional Bookkeeper. Second, become a CPB to show the world that you are certified.  And finally, never stop developing your skills”  

Alan feels that joining the IPBC membership would be great for your career.  This is what he says on that regard: “Bookkeeping is an unregulated profession and the IPBC CPB designation is now the Gold Standard for bookkeepers. It sets them above the crowd and it personally generates more income for the CPB whether they are in business for themselves or employed as a bookkeeper”.

Alan Salmon was awarded a Fellowship at the IPBC conference in Niagara Falls in 2015.  He has a dream that IPBC will become the premier bookkeeping association in Canada providing outstanding services in both English and French to not only its members but also to the entire bookkeeping community. 

Until a medical set back four years ago, Alan and his wife were avid travellers; have flown over 1.9 million miles on Air Canada and over 500,000 miles on other airlines. He has been around the world 9 times from bungee jumping in New Zealand to climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge to meeting the Grandson of King George V in London among too many amazing adventures to mention. 

Alan Salmon has now retired from teaching and manages K2E Canada Inc.  He lives in Brampton, Ontario with his wife Nancy.  He has four daughters and nine grand-children. He has received many awards for teaching and service, including a Luca Award from ICB-Global, a Paul Harris Fellowship, a Melvin Jones Fellowship, the Canadian Internet Award and a life membership in Junior Chamber International.

Retirement hasn’t slowed Alan down; he is a force to be reckoned with and we are so lucky to have him as a part of the IPBC team.”

Condolences to Alan’s wife Nancy and to his family. To learn more about Alan Salmon, please visit https://www.salmon.ca

You will be missed by many and made a difference as a mentor and teacher.

June 21, 1936 – November 24, 2020

Alan Salmon passed away peacefully with wife Nancy at his side.

Harvey Williams was a one-of-a-kind gem who made a big difference to Newmarket, specifically Summerhill and the Clearmeadow Public School Community where he worked as a crossing guard for 19 years.  

Harvey had been the crossing guard for the Clearmeadow School community since it opened in 2000 and was at his post every day at the corner of Clearmeadow Boulevard and Rushbrook Drive.   He recently passed away April 30, 2019, surrounded by his loving family. 

He had taken responsibility for the safety of Clearmeadow Public School’s students as his first priority.  Back in 2004, Harvey worked closely with Newmarket officials to ensure that his corner had a Safety-Stop-Sign” on the crosswalk to secure safety for the children in his community.   He also was instrumental in ensuring the safety walk and intersection stayed where it was against some of the odds of the neighbourhood. A survey of the area from Cole’s Engineering agreed that Harvey’s preferred placement was the best location.

Harvey organized a Safety campaign with the York Regional Police.  It was called Operation ABC and took place on September 4^th, 2014.  The focus of the campaign was to ensure drivers respect crossing guards. Crossing guards help children cross the road safely by controlling traffic around schools. 

“We are here today, thanks to Harvey”, York Regional Police Sgt Jason Mcilveen said.

Photo courtesy of Kelly Broome

Kelly Broome talks about Harvey fondly as we all do who knew him. Kelly is a mother of Clearmeadow students, volunteer and the Ward 6 Councillor:

“Harvey was an incredible force and advocate for safety for our kids. Harvey crossed at the intersection of Clearmeadow Blvd. and Rushbrook Drive since Clearmeadow Public School opened in 2000 and he will be missed by all. This photo was taken at the start of the school year on September 4th, 2014 when Harvey organized an Operation ABC with York Regional Police, one of many safety-driven efforts Harvey organized for the safety of our kids and our community.”

Harvey was not only a crossing guard to many students over the years, he was also an avid volunteer in the Newmarket Community. 

Harvey was a loyal and dedicated volunteer in Newmarket for many years.  He was a member of the North Lion’s Club for over 10 years.  He entertained children over and over as “Harv-O the Clown”, as he is known by his admiring fans.

Harvey was a Shriner’s clown. He had been a part of the Shriners Club for over 25 years.  The money William’s earns through his performances went to the International Shrine Clown Association’s Sneaker Fund, which supports the Shriners Hospital and related Shriners Burn Institutes.  Williams was presented a plaque of appreciation by the Downtown Newmarket Business Community Association in 1998 in recognition of the group’s support of Harv-O’s fundraising efforts for these Shriner organizations.

Darlene Morrison, Clearmeadow Parent: Harvey once told me “My favourite audience is children. They talk to me and communicate well”. 

For over 14 years, Harvey had also volunteered with M&M’s Crone’s and Colitis Foundation Bar-B-Q.  This organization continues to raise a considerable amount of money every year in support of this worthy cause.

William’s received a Volunteer Citizen Award in 2013 with the town of Newmarket for over 10 years of dedicated service. I was given the privilege of being his guest and took pictures for him of him and his family at the award ceremony.  He was a class act.

Sharen Pismarov, Resident, Clearmeadow parent, and school volunteer: “Harvey was so much more than a crossing guard to the Clearmeadow community. He cared deeply and took the time to get to know people. He noticed when people were away, he recognized when kids needed someone to listen, he helped some kids get jobs, he respected them which helped build their confidence and self-esteem. He was well respected, as he should have been, he earned it.”

He was a man of many hats. He worked tirelessly in our community and Newmarket as a whole. He was involved with the Shriners, helping various hospitals for children. Harvey had a big heart and loved to share his energy and passion for community. He led by example and taught good values and lessons to all of us who were fortunate to know him. He will be missed but his memory will be with us forever.”

Harvey Williams made a huge impact to the children and adults alike. 

Many children grew up with Harvey their entire school life at Clearmeadow and he is fondly remembered by students, parents and staff at the school. 

Linda O’Doherty, parent of Clearmeadow students; “My girls go to Clearmeadow (one now in high school) and my other in grade 6. I would go for runs daily and Harvey would always tell me to be careful. I would stop and chat and he told me many times how his daughter would run. On really cold days, I would bring him a coffee. My girls and I have been thinking about him the past while, as we were delighted to see him at the recent Christmas concert at the school. He is irreplaceable and we are sending our deepest condolences to his family and friends. He’s been a part of our lives the last 10 years and will be in our hearts forever.”

Sarah Horner, Clearmeadow P.S. Teacher, recalls Harvey as being passionate about the students.  “He made a point of attending every end of year assembly and loved speaking to the kids.  He was part of the Clearmeadow Family.”  

Lynda Hill, former Clearmeadow Principal, also speaks highly of Williams, “He was a kind and caring citizen and such a special part of the Clearmeadow family.   He made the bike safety program a cool feature unique to the school. He will be missed!”

Harvey Williams was friend to many in the community. John Dowson, a neighbour and friend, describes Harvey as selfless. 

“One year at Christmas, Harvey bought some gifts for some of the young children on our street. He had a Santa Claus suit and he asked me to dress up as Santa Claus. Harvey would come along as the Elf going door to door to give out the gifts Harvey had bought for the children. Harvey had scouted the area and knew where the young children lived. 

 On another occasion, Harvey saw that one of the children on his street didn’t have a bicycle. Harvey called me over and said that I’d like to get him one. I picked up the bike from Harvey’s contact at Canadian Tire and delivered it to Harvey who walked over to the house and gave the child a brand-new bike.  He did the same thing for another child whose parents didn’t have the money to buy their child hockey equipment to join a midget hockey team. He just bought the equipment and went to the house and gave it to his parents. 

He said he grew up in Toronto and his folks didn’t have the funds to buy him skates, he was always doing things like that unannounced and many times anonymously. He’ll be missed by all those who knew him. He liked single malt whiskey and he would call to me and say “come on over for a snort”. I’d go over and together, we solved the problems of the world. I’ll miss seeing him every morning when he went to the crossing guard job and I was on my morning walk.”

Darlene Morrison, Clearmeadow Parent: “Harvey and I would talk often. He would tell me he may retire that one year and then when the time came, he would never retire and come back again the next year.  Harvey never left his post and always lived his life with purpose. We are all so thankful for the person that he was and the impact he has made on all of the community. Harvey will be so missed and was a hero to Newmarket and anyone he met.” 

Harvey will live on in the hearts of all of the students, parents, teachers, Newmarket residents and all who had the honour of knowing him. RIP Harvey, you have left shoes that no one can ever fill and will remain in our hearts and a continued legacy to all of us. 

For Funeral services and to read the obituary for Harvey Williams, please visit https://memorials.roadhouseandrose.com/harvey-williams/3823146/index.php

Please meet Victoria. She is an extremely busy lady. She is an actress, producer, director and she runs her own theatre company.

We had the chance to chat with her recently. Please check out the Q & A below:

As a child, did you want to be an actor or did it fall into place through other activities?

I was watching all of my favorite TV show characters go on these crazy adventures, and I wanted to do that too. It kind of fell into place that I could imagine myself on these different adventures and others could watch and go along for the ride. I was four or five at the time, and other suggestions always cane by, but this always stuck.

Who inspired you to follow your dream to pursue acting?

I don’t know if there was any one person. There were a lot of books, for sure. I had drama teachers and dance teachers that helped along the way…. The narrator from Joseph and the amazing Technicolor Dream Coat. I saw that when I was about ten and went “yup, I wanna be her.”

What challenges have you faced in the entertainment industry? 

Oh god, so many. But that’s part of the journey!

Producing work to make work for yourself, make a name for yourself, then fighting popular opinion that you are a producer instead of a director or actor… currently I am discovering how my ADD affects my work in the studio, and there’s a whole controversy on that– for example, in theatre school we are taught that we have to take as many redirects as possible, especially in an audition. If we ask too many questions on that we are seen as distancing ourselves from the work instead of getting vulnerable, taking risks and jumping in. If I go into an audition and tell them that I can only take one note at a time, I won’t get hired. A lot of people are just learning what that is, and learning how to talk about it. It can get frustrating at times– like, should I be telling potential employers that I work with this as a disability? Or do I wait until after I am hired? Will this prevent me from being hired in my profession? I say this, and there are a lot more people than me dealing with these questions on an even larger degree than I am. I’ve come this far without it. This would certainly help my process, but I already have a boat-load of privilege to be able to talk about it, ask these questions, and not have it recognized right away.

Letting go of control in the studio gets to be a challenge when you have to really assert yourself outside of it, in the real world. That one comes up from time to time.

What has been your most rewarding experience?

Connecting with audiences after a show. Every time. I ran and performed in the Shakespeare-In-Hospitals Program for so long, and you gain so much experience and so many anecdotes and stories that really stand as testament to the impact that your work can have on people. It started with the hospital program, but in so many other shows too– I did a fringe show in 2015 where someone in the audience passed out and we had to stop the show. All three of us made sure that she was taken care of, then we had to pick back up where we left off with twice the energy to keep it going. After the show an audience member came up to me and said that they appreciated how we picked back up and how much we took care of them as an audience.

What is your favourite type of character to play?

Characters with brothers are easy for me. I love my brother so much, and I am so proud of him for everything he has done in his life. You wanna talk about easy access points, any character that has a brother is a piece of cake for me.

I think that playing a lover is also fun and terrifying for me. There’s that freedom to put yourself out there and know that the next scripted moment says it’s accepted, but that doesn’t take the risk away, because if you and your scene partner are really invested, that next scripted moment means nothing compared to what is actually happening on stage or on camera.

What market do you currently work in?  Are there other areas you would like to work?

Everywhere. I run a theatre company, I audition, I just finished a web series, I audition…whatever market takes me at whatever point in my life, I go.

What advice would you give to someone new trying to make it in the acting industry?

Oh wow.

Men: be super kind to every artist you meet. If someone opposes your vision, make the time to talk about it, either before set or in rehearsal, just….be very kind. You can still be bold while being kind.

Not Men: there is still a long road ahead. But there is still a lot of opportunity for good  Take care of the hurt, and keep your heart open to the future.

What fuels your passion?

I started a theatre company to get myself into the industry. Then everyone knew me as a director. Then everyone knew me as a producer. Then I felt some pressure and push (and still do) to stay there. I didn’t stay there. I won’t.

What is something about you that most people would never guess?

I am super observant. I see a lot more than people realize, which is different from most of the characters I play. And I usually don’t say anything about it for a long time, to give people space, deal with a situation, etc. , But I am finding more and more that it’s better to just say it.

If you were to do it all over again, would you do things exactly the same?  Do you have any regrets?  Successes that make you proud?

There are definitely some things that I would likely do differently. But also, I look at the path I have taken and know that if anything was altered to “gain more success” or whatever, then I wouldn’t have the confidence or street smarts that I have now, and I certainly wouldn’t be as humble about it. I needed to learn certain lessons to be who I am today and I am ok with that.

I am definitely proud of putting my work out there at 22. I wasn’t ready for a lot, but it started the conversation, and I don’t ever feel like I stopped. Every time I have gone and done something in this industry with the mindset of “I don’t care what they think, it’s not about them” is when I have taken the serious risk and furthered my career. I am trying to push myself towards that more and more.