Setting the New Standard for Canadianism

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No matter how Canadian you think you are, you’re not as Canadian as this couple.

Canoeing across Canada sounds like something from not the last century, but the one before it. Yet Geoff and Pam MacDonald are doing just that:

It has now been more than six years since Geoff and Pam MacDonald of Calgary set out to paddle across Canada. They began in March, 2007, from Victoria, paddled up the B.C. coastline, portaged to the Nechako River, on to the Fraser, then the Columbia, and, with their dog harnessed to the canoe, they dragged it and their packs with ropes up three ranges covering more than 100 kilometres of “mountain portaging” until they reached the Continental Divide, whereupon they cracked open a bottle of champagne, raised a toast, did a little dance and then stared east into what seemed like eternity.

And what today – as they spend Canada Day paddling the calm and easy Trent-Severn Waterway that will take them from Lake Huron to Lake Ontario – also seems like an eternity looking back.

Read the whole thing. It’s worth some of your Canada Day time…

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Portage

It’s Official: Canada is No. 1 (Like we had to be told)

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Maple_Leaf_(from_roundel)

OTTAWA — Canada is No. 1

That’s our reputation around the world, anyway, as a Reputation Institute global survey puts Canada in first place for the third year in the row.

“Canada’s results confirm that it is only possible to maintain a strong reputation in the long term when a country has the ability to transmit its leadership globally in each of the three key areas: an effective government, an advanced economy and an appealing environment,” said Fernando Prado, managing partner at the institute.

Sweden came in second, followed by Switzerland and Australia. The US weighed in at number 22, up from 23 last year.

“A country’s reputation is its calling card,” Canadian Tourism Commission president Michele McKenzie said.

But Reputation Institute director Rob Jekielek says that the responses of the 27,000 people who took the survey are “very emotional” and based on what people think they know about the different countries and not what they know.

Canada ranked high for its natural environment but low for the lack of well-known brands originating here.

Whatever.

It’s great that the rest of the world has finally caught up with us in knowing we live in the greatest country on earth!*

From all of us here at Worldline, Happy Canada Day Everybody!

*Not that we would ever say that of course.

 

Worldline’s “backpacks for kids” goes LIVE in June

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backpacks for kids

A Message from Worldline’s CMO

In the Dominican Republic every child may attend school, however there is a requirement to be met. The family must supply a school uniform, books and supplies so their child may learn, as the local school does not supply this. Unfortunately, many families do not have the resources and thousands of young children take to the streets and their futures become limited due to the lack of education.

“backpacks for kids” was started by a small group of very caring individuals at Worldline because the Dominican Republic is close to our hearts as we own a 65 seat call centre in Puerto Plata. Last year over 60 young children realized their dreams coming true as Peter Cross (Call Center Manager) and his wife, handed out fully packed Backpacks. Seeing the smiles on all those children and their parents created a lasting impression for all of us who are involved.

Screen Shot 2013-06-25 at 12.40.00 PMGoing forward I am proud to announce that I will be looking to set up “backpacks for kids” as a formal charitable organization. In the meantime, we continue to raise money within our company and for the month of June we will be donating $5.00 for each new Bundle sale and $3.00 for every home phone sale, so as customer if you sign up during this period, you can feel good too!

Thank-you to all involved.

Best Regards,

John Stix
CMO Worldline

It’s a “rare” thing – Worldline pitches in for Cambridge’s nature reserve

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The “rare” pair of Ospreys on the shores of the Brand River

Worldline’s head office is in Cambridge Ontario, part of the “Tech Triangle” that also includes Kitchener and Waterloo. Located petty much right in the middle of Southern Ontario, Cambridge is divided in two by the Grand River, and on the western shore through a large portion of the city is the rare Charitable Research Reserve, a Central Park-sized parcel of privately held land dedicated to environmental and ecological education.

Founded in 2001, the rare Charitable Research Reserve is a 900+acre land reserve situated at the confluence of the Grand and Speed Rivers.  The Reserve is not only a beautiful and culturally significant landscape, but includes trees more than 240 years old and provides an array of habitats that supports rich biodiversity. This pristine landscape is home to an incredible array of flora and fauna, some of which are ranked significant regionally, provincially, nationally, even globally.

rare stewards this magnificent natural jewel striving to preserve the land for future generations by focusing on conservation, ecological restoration, research and education while also providing wonderful passive recreation opportunities to the surrounding community.

This private charity has opened up the property to the public for hiking and education sessions, and they’ve also donated tracks for public vegetable garden plots.

Amanda at rare

Amanda with a wheelbarrow full of yuck

All that said, the land rare has, wasn’t always a nature reserve. Rather, it was working industrial and farmland, and the previous owners, seeing as it’s been occupied for over a century, weren’t all that environmental. In places it’s a mess and there is an ongoing program underway to not just clean up what’s there, but to return it to what it was – a pristine environment, completely reflective of naturally occurring Southern Ontario flora and fauna.

And that means cleaning out a bunch of invasive species and clearing up a lot of crap.

Worldine takes their role in the Cambridge community very seriously, and that’s why, working with the United Way, we committed ourselves to helping rare get to where it wants to be.

Worldline at rare

The next time you are in Cambridge, make sure you check out rare and all it has to offer,  beauty, education and appreciation of what a fabulous place we all live and work. And while you’re there, also check out what’s not there – four truckloads of some seriously nasty stuff.

Well done guys.

 

Worldline’s VP of Product Development, Mike Brown – The Unsung MVP

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Jody, John and Mike Brown AKA Nice Guy

Three friends named Jody Schnarr, John Stix and Mike Brown got together ten years ago and set out to change the Canadian telecommunication industry by starting up their own phone company that is now known as Worldline.

Today more than 300,000 Canadians utilize the services they provide in their homes and their businesses, enjoying the benefits of a high quality service, but at an affordable price.

Jody, as the CEO and technical lead gets a lot of attention, as does John Stix as the CMO and public face of the company. Mike Brown on the other hand has been working in the trenches of the company doing the jobs no else wanted to do since day one. He was the guy who drove across the country installing the first switches for the network, or the voice on the end of the phone when those first customers would call in with an issue with their service.

It’s the little things that matter to Mike like going out of his way to make sure customers are getting the services they are paying for, which apparently includes dropping by their houses and setting up their Internet, home network, Netflix and laptop access.

Like he did on Wednesday night.

From: doug xxxxxxxxxx
Sent: June-19-13 9:19 PM
To: Michael Brown
Cc: jody_schnarr@worldline.ca
Subject: Brilliant Customer Service

 HI Mike

Thank you for your amazing customer service

The service has not dropped once since you replaced the modem..

Just the fact that a VP of Worldline.ca came to our home to help us, proves that you care about your customers..

Our customer loyalty is now with you & we will now be referring Worldline.ca to all our friends & family..

As a suggestion it would be cool if you had a marble mouse with a big Worldine.ca marble in it…

Warm regards Doug & Debbie
Thanks again & best wishes for your future endeavours
Hope to see you in the top 100 Canadian companies soon

Unbenounced to all of us, this is something Mike does all the time. He receives copies of all customer service emails, and if someone is close by and he has the time, he’ll take matters into his own hands on his own time.

Most likely every successful company has their own Mike Brown, the go-to-guy who just wants to get stuff done, but Worldline is very lucky to have our own.

Mike Brown – Nice Guy