TORONTO, Feb. 15, 2012 /CNW/ - Solar Power Network (SPN) is pleased to announce the completion of its first site, 230 kW comprising 910 solar panels, across 23,000 square feet of rooftop space at Plaza Ontario. The announcement highlights a 20-year commitment to generating sustainable energy through the Ontario Feed-In-Tariff (FIT) program and EnWin’s continued committed to connecting solar generation capacity. The rooftop solar panel system supports Ontario’s goals of eliminating the province’s dependence on coal-fired power and the related emissions, which are the principle ingredient in the smog that causes Ontario air quality advisory alerts.

“We’re very proud to participate in the Solar Power Network, contributing efficient, clean and sustainable energy to Ontario’s electrical grid,” says Paulo Fontana, Co-owner and GM of Plaza Ontario. “With no upfront costs or associated project costs for us, and no structural impact to our rooftop, turning unused rooftop space into a source for energy generation is a low-risk, high-reward undertaking. It makes good business sense and good environmental sense.”

Plaza Ontario’s Provincial Road location in Windsor, has not only been outfitted with 910 solar panels, but is also actively monitored by Solar Power Network to ensure peak efficiency at all times. To minimize power lost in transmission, as is the case with traditional power delivery, Ontario’s FIT program enables energy collected to be distributed to the local grid, and consumed by the building itself and then homes and businesses closest to the site.

“As Ontario continues to shift its priorities toward more sustainable sources of energy, we have seen a growing interest in our rooftop lease offer from similar companies across the province,” says Peter Goodman, President and CEO, Solar Power Network. “Our unique approach uses the latest solar technology and offers customers an innovative lower panel angle design, which results in no structural impact to their rooftop while maximizing the revenue from their leased out roof space.”

Plaza Ontario’s involvement in the SPN rooftop solar program is a great match for one of its key objectives, which involves sourcing natural and sustainable flooring materials for Ontario homeowners. The solar program, which is owned and operated by Solar Power Network, will produce 264 MWh of power each year - equivalent to displacing 132 metric tonnes of greenhouse gases, the root cause of air pollution.

About Solar Power Network

Solar Power Network Inc. is a Canadian-owned private company, based in Ontario and specializing in generating clean energy, using proven solar technologies. Solar Power Network partners with local businesses, leasing and converting idle roof-tops into solar power generation spaces. The company offers generous, up-front payments and continual maintenance services. Led by a team of professional engineers, Solar Power Network offers building owners high financial return with minimal risk and structural impact.

For more information visit: solarpowernetwork.ca.

EnWin Utilities Ltd.

EnWin Utilities Ltd. is Windsor’s Local Distribution Company, responsible for the distribution of electricity, as well as the service and maintenance of Windsor’s electricity distribution infrastructure. EnWin also provides managed services for the Windsor Utilities Commission.

Image with caption: “Solar Power Network launches 23,000 square feet of rooftop solar with Plaza Ontario (CNW Group/Solar Power Network)”. Image available here.

For further information:
Katie Gates, Citizen Optimum
416.934.8035

MISSISSAUGA, ON, Dec. 8, 2011 /CNW/ - A new social media campaign has shed light on a growing group of Canadians who play a fundamental role in the country’s health care system.

In September, Bayshore Home Health, Canada’s largest provider of home and community health care, launched a Facebook campaign entitled Vote to Support Caregivers aimed at garnering nationwide support for publicly funded initiatives and programs to support Canada’s “Care Champions” - those dedicated Canadians who provide ongoing care for sick or elderly family members at home. Within only two months of the campaign’s debut, more than 13,000 unique users joined the Facebook page and voted for increased support for the work family caregivers are doing across the country.

“We are excited and moved by the overwhelming response the campaign has received within such a short period of time,” says Stuart Cottrelle, President of Bayshore Home Health. “And the message could not be clearer. There is an unquestionable need for organized and dedicated government support for family caregivers and the crucial role they play in Canada’s health care system.”

As Canada’s population continues to age, family caregivers are becoming a growing demographic tasked with caring for their elderly relatives. Statistics show that Canada’s senior population will reach a staggering 6.7 million in 2021 and 9.2 million by 2041, which will account for close to half of the growth of the overall Canadian population in the next four decades.1 As the burden on the country’s health care system continues to grow, family caregivers will play an increasingly vital role in alleviating the dependency on the system by caring for loved ones who would otherwise use formal services - generating mentionable cost savings to the system.

While family caregiving is a rewarding task, it can also be a stressful and around the clock job. Often times, family caregiving adds an additional 20 hours per week on top of other demands such as a full-time job and caring for immediate family members such as children. Furthermore, there are clear financial and professional challenges associated with this task. A recent Health Canada study found that 25 per cent of informal caregivers are required to take time off work to look after a sick or elderly relative, and that this number is expected to increase exponentially.

“Demographic trends show that status quo for family caregivers is not sustainable. Bayshore is urging governments to develop and implement programs and funding in support of their efforts,” says Cottrelle. “We’ll be taking the results of the Vote to Support Caregivers campaign to policy makers across the country - including all federal MPs and provincial MPPs - in an effort to encourage debate and policy outcomes that are urgently needed.”

A promising step in the right direction, the Ontario government recently committed to providing eight weeks of unpaid job security to those individuals who need to take time off work to care for a sick loved one. The federal government has also recognized the importance of supporting family caregiving with its own commitment to increase funding for community-based home care.

“We look forward to participating in discussions in the coming months about building on these programs toward a true national strategy to tackle this issue,” continues Cottrelle. “We want our country’s caregivers to be heard.”

To get involved in the conversation, please visit www.facebook.com/votetosupportcaregivers to support Canada’s family caregivers.

About Bayshore Home Health
Bayshore Home Health delivers a wide range of nursing, personal care, home support and companion services through more than 50 home care offices and two-dozen community care clinics across the country, serving over 70,000 clients annually. These services are purchased by government care programs, insurance companies, workers’ compensation boards and the public. It also provides nurse and caregiver staffing services to health care organizations and the corporate sector. Bayshore Home Health is a division of Bayshore HealthCare, one of Canada’s leading providers of home and community health care services and a recipient of Canada’s 50 Best Managed Companies award since 2006. More information can be found at www.bayshore.ca.

_______________________
1 Global News; The Aging Journey; 2008

For further information:
Sarah Shelest
Citizen Optimum Public Relations
Phone: (416) 934-8082

Voici les projets qui nous ont permis de briller :

LE COUP DE CŒUR DU JURY

Catégorie : Fidélisation - FLÈCHE D’OR
Projet : Le show qu’il faut voir
Client : Fondation Institut Nazareth et Louis Braille

LE PRIX DE LA RELÈVE

Valérie Beaulieu
Marketing Relationnel

TRANSPORTS, HÔTELLERIES ET VOYAGES

Catégorie : Acquisition - FLÈCHE D’ARGENT
Projet : Concours Sièges Réservés
Client : Groupe Transat

Catégorie : Fidélisation - FLÈCHE D’ARGENT
Projet : Programme de loyauté Via Rail
Client : Via Rail

COMMERCES DE DÉTAILS

Catégorie : Fidélisation - FLÈCHE D’ARGENT
Projet : Club Matrix
Client : L’Oréal - Matrix

Catégorie : Acquisition - FLÈCHE D’ARGENT
Projet : Votre âge aux yeux des autres
Client: L’Oréal - Lancôme

PUBLICATIONS, CULTUREL ET JEUX

Catégorie : Acquisition - FLÈCHE D’OR
Projet : Montréal Festimania
Client : Collectif de festivals montréalais

Catégorie : Fidélisation - FLÈCHE D’ARGENT
Projet : Saison 2011-2012 - Nouvelle Salle
Client : Orchestre symphonique de Montréal

PHARMACEUTIQUES

Catégorie : Fidélisation - FLÈCHE D’OR
Projet : Programme de fidélisation Cercle +
client : Roche Diagnostics Canada

Catégorie : Acquisition - FLÈCHE D’ARGENT
Projet : Accu-Chek Mobile
client : Roche Diagnostics Canada

COMMUNICATIONS, SERVICES PUBLICS ET AUTRES SERVICES

Catégorie : Acquisition - FLÈCHE D’ARGENT
Projet : Campagne France-USA
Client : Ministère du Tourisme du Québec

Catégorie : Fidélisation - FLÈCHE DE BRONZE
Projet : Sorties Météo
Client : Ministère du Tourisme du Québec

ORGANISME SANS BUT LUCRATIF

Catégorie : Acquisition - FLÈCHE D’OR
Projet : Pakistan
Client : Croix-Rouge canadienne

Pour visionner l’ensemble des gagnants, cliquez ici.

Citizen Relations formally bonds PainePR from the U.S., Optimum from Canada and Band & Brown and Brando from the U.K. and is further supported by strategic alliances in Asia Pacific, Latin America and India. After more than five years of collaboration, today’s launch is a significant milestone, unifying more than 200 practitioners and hundreds of affiliated experts around the world under the power of one new global agency brand.

“Citizen Relations reflects the democratization of communication and the changing landscape of how people receive and share information. Our efforts are fueled by deep insight-led understanding of people, their cares and influences, and we’re specially engineered for the new networked world,” said Daryl McCullough, chairman of Citizen Relations.
The four founding agencies are all members of the EDC Communications group of companies that also includes Dare and Elvis Communications. Regionally, the Citizen Relations agencies will be known as Citizen Paine in the U.S., Citizen Brando in the U.K. and Citizen Optimum in Canada; they will be grouped under the Citizen Relations brand globally. Jeffrey Group, SPRG and Creative Crest are strategic partners of Citizen Relations in Latin America, Asia and India, respectively.

“Citizen Relations is engineered to bring our award-winning regional brands, talent and service model to a global scale,” said McCullough. “ We leverage the full suite of assets available to modern communications professionals, from traditional media and influencers to social media and digital offerings, along with the always-on reputation and brand management that companies are seeking.”

“Citizen Relations is not another loosely-formed agency network,” said McCullough. “Our lead partners share common ownership, and together we’ve created an innovative global collaboration model that provides focused resources, an innovative organizational model, and fresh insight-based thinking that PR clients, regionally and globally, need to meet complex communications challenges today and tomorrow.”

The Citizen Relations international PR credentials are not new, as the teams are already providing a variety of global and regional strategy, creative and program execution services to international blue-chip clients and brands.

For more information about Citizen Relations, please visit www.citizenrelations.com.

Formed by uniting four Vision7 International PR agencies, renowned in North America and Europe, Citizen Relations represents the merger of Optimum in Canada, PainePR in the U.S., and Band & Brown and Brando in the U.K. It includes nearly 200 professionals in eight cities and hundreds of strategic resources in more than 60 cities across the world, which enables it to deliver large-scale campaigns, not only on a worldwide level, but on a regional and local scale, as well. Citizen Relations’ unique vision is based on collaboration, imagination, agility and boldness, to meet the new realities of the digital age. Citizen Relations is a member of the EDC Communications group; EDC is an operating group within the holding company Vision7 International.