This was an in-person meeting and a recording is not available.
Lumi Mironsecu is delighted that he daughter, and our former outbound exchange student, Ella, has been accepted into the undergraduate Veterinarian Program at the University of Guelph.
Coldest Night of The Year
Committee chair, Jenna, reminded us that we are looking for members to join our Team in support of the Coldest Night of The Year activity on Februrary 28th. You don’t actually have to walk in the cold to help out! Full details are in the emails from Jenna and also below. Please considering joining in.
Even just signing up helps — thanks so much!
A Better Tent City
Neil Swayze, chair of our A Better tent City Support Committee, thanked all members who have provided items for the current drive collecting personal hygiene items. Our collection is looking quite extensive, and Neil will have final numbers for us at the next meeting. Our next drive will be for dishes and cutlery, stay tunned for more details.
Our guest speaker today was Robin Stanton from RaeLipskie Partnerships, introduced by our Financial Chair, Mike Pollard.
Robin is a Vice-President and Portfolio Manager at The RaeLipskie Partnership and has been with then since 2018. He has extensive experience working with institutional investors including our own Kitchener Rotary Club Charitable Foundation.
Robin is an active volunteer in our community and has served on investment committees for the Waterloo Region Community Foundation, Wilfrid Laurier University and the Grand River Hospital to name a few. He is an active cyclist, skier and golfer and has resided in Kitchener for over 16 years.
Robin will be providing us with insights into Financial Prospects and Possible Funding Strategies for 2026. Lat year he predicted a promising outlook for 2025 with the threat of tariffs causing uncertainty and volatility. We look forward to his comments and predictions for the coming year.
Robin used a series of graphs and charts to review current financial trends in Canada, the United States and world wide. He began with a look at the Toronto Stock Exchange performance. He noted that the current upward trend is due primarily to Mineral Stocks (Gold) and Information Technology. He questions how sustainable this is for the future.
Next he compared the overall MSCI ratios for Canada, the US and Europe.
This next chart shows the MSCI (performance of specific stock market segments, regions, countries, or sectors.) for selected sectors. Again, he noted the top blue line as what is happening with the mineral sector.
Robin believes the overall economy is generally in good shape as indicated by the following:
Below the blue line is decline and above the line is growth, and we are currently very close to maintaining current values.
Again, below the blue line is decline and above the line is growth, and we are currently very close to maintaining current values.
The Canada Unemployment Rate
The Canada Consumer Price Index
He then looked at the US S&P Markets Cycle. Noting that what is driving its upward trend is the top seven technology stocks. Referred to as the “Magnificent Seven” – Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Tesla and Nvidia.
This chart shows the progress of just the Magnificent Seven” stocks, top blue line.
Canada Bond Rates are now starting to recover as illustrated by these charts:
Robin concluded by noting that Canada is very much tied to the US economy and the current political situation there continues to be volatile. There will be midterm elections in the US in November. The midterm elections happen across all states, and they are for offices other than that of the President or Vice President. In a midterm election, the composition of congress is decided. Congress is literally on the ballot. All 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and one-third of the seats (100) in the U.S. Senate are up for vote. The partisan composition of congress can have a major influence on what the President can do during his or her term in office.
House of Representative “Odds” in 2026 – Blue line is Democratic
President Trump’s Approval Rating
This chart clearly shows the extent to which Canada relies on the US for exporting our goods. Continuing to develop other markets is critical to Canada’s economic future
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