The Newsletter

FIGHT THE HST!

EDMONTON, AB - British Columbia and Ontario have both announced their intentions to introduce a Harmonized Sales Tax which would merge the provincial sales tax with the federal goods and services tax. If implemented, fitness-related services, such as fitness memberships, personal training, swimming lessons, hockey, soccer and baseball registrations, will no longer be exempt from provincial sales tax. This will increase the costs of these services by 7% or 8%.

To combat the threat of a harmonized sales tax, Fitness Industry Canada (FIC) has developed a new website www.nofitnesstax.ca. The website allows health and fitness supporters to send a personalized letter to their premier, the minister of finance and their local MPP or MLA in both British Columbia and Ontario.

FIC encourages everyone to complete the online petition and encourages club owners to forward this information to their members through their e-newsletters and print materials.

The Neighbouring Rights Collective of Canada (NRCC) has filed its case with the Copyright Board of Canada that outlines the argument behind its request for a new music tariff for the Canadian fitness industry.

The proposed tariff has been amended to $18.59 per member per year (from 5% of gross revenue and $3 per group fitness class).

Here is a summary update of the latest information:
- The NRCC contends that fitness clubs put considerable value on the use of music and that our members are prepared to pay a significant premium to have music in their clubs.

- Section 19(1) of the Copyright Act of Canada established the right of performers to be paid equitable remuneration for the public performance of their recordings.

- Only 17 of the 43 financially-contributing clubs and 5,000 total Canadian fitness clubs actually provided answers to the NRCC questions. The ability to address certain issues may now be curtailed.

Does playing the radio in a club come under any type of tariff for the club or is that fee covered by the radio stations?
Pursuant to a provision of the Copyright Act, a club that only plays music using a traditional AM/FM radio receiving set is not subject to NRCC Tariff 6.


Is there a difference between the perceived music value for a dance club/restaurant as opposed to a fitness facility?
Music used to accompany dance or fitness activities has a greater value than music used as background in a restaurant or retail establishment. Tariff 6 will apply to both dance venues and fitness venues, but each will be subject to separate rates. The value of music to fitness is validated by third-party economic analysis that will be presented by NRCC at the upcoming Tariff 6 hearing.

Fallbrook , CA - Dean Sbragia, the president and CEO of Med-Fit Systems, has announced that agreements have been reached to purchase Nautilus' commercial company assets.

"We are extremely pleased to have reached agreements with Nautilus, Inc. to acquire the Nautilus commercial products manufacturing and intellectual property, says Sbragia. We have plans to aggressively expand upon this iconic brand, enhance the facilities in Virginia and provide our customers with exemplary educational and customer service support."

A new program designed to provide students with the tools and support needed to incorporate fitness into their daily routines has launched across Canada. SchoolFit, the brainchild of Mark McTavish (president of Keystone Fitness), has worked with schools for the past 10 years and is now making the program official.

"It's become increasingly difficult for traditional physical education programs to meet the needs of today's students," says McTavish. "Due to time constraints and financial restrictions, students need encouragement to be self directed in maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Our program provides the guidelines and equipment to help make that happen."

For the fourteenth consecutive year, Rick Caro, President of Management Vision, Inc., and industry expert, will moderate the IHRSA Financial Panel: "An Updated Financial Perspective on the Club Industry". The 14th Annual IHRSA Financial Panel will be held Friday, 12 March 11-12:30PM in in the San Diego Convention Center, Room 6 at the 29th Annual IHRSA Convention & Trade Show.


In light of the continuing challenges created by the economy, this session is ideal for CEOs, CFOs, club owners, GMs and anyone interested in its impact on the changing health club market.

The Canadian Aqquafitness Leaders Alliance (CALA) Spring Conference and Trade Show takes place this March 27th and 28th.

Program highlights include: 16 Session Choices, continuing education credits, recreation & therapeutic pools, 2 day expo & specialty prize draws, nutritious lunches and some wonderful delegates.

Who should attend? Aquatic Post Rehabilitation Specialists, Group Fitness Leaders, Therapists, Kinesiologists, Health Care Providers, Personal Trainers, National Fitness Educators, Lifeguards and Aquatic Coordinators, Facility Owners and Managers, Health and Wellness Consumers and Aquafitness Enthusiasts.

DARTMOUTH (Nova Scotia) - Athletes, international visitors and local residents of Whistler BC will have the opportunity to enjoy a unique outdoor gym activity while visiting Whistler.

GreenGym outdoor fitness parks, is installing 13 outdoor exercise stations at the resort municipality of Whistler. After 6 months of evaluation the resort municipality of Whistler has decided to install the outdoor fitness park and provide the many visitors and athletes with free access to a unique outdoor gym facility.

Orange County, CA - Iron Grip Barbell Company has introduced an innovative Buyback Program to help make renovating and upgrading fitness facilities easier and more affordable.

The Iron Grip Buyback Program allows facilities the opportunity to return their old Iron Grip urethane dumbbells and weight plates in exchange for a credit towards the purchase of brand new Iron Grip equipment. As part of the program, Iron Grip will schedule the freight and handling of the used equipment at no cost to the facility. Whenever possible, new product will be scheduled to move in at the same time the old equipment is removed, to ensure as little equipment downtime as possible and minimal disruption to the facility.

Fresno, CA- Monday, February 22, 2010 Keiser Corporation and the Keiser Institute on Aging has developed a grant assistance guide on how to obtain funds in order to support your older adult facilities. Many community based groups that provide older adult health and wellness activities do not have the funds to purchase fitness equipment for their programs, which is why Keiser has have created and developed this interactive tool for club use.

The guide will help you understand how to find potential funders, and write a request for funding that includes fitness equipment. The information can be applied to writing any kind of healthy aging grant but the examples focus on writing a request for an older adult program that includes resistance training (RT) as a major program focus.

The CASM Board of Directors set forth a motion in December 2009 to change the name of the Canadian Academy of Sport Medicine (CASM) to the Canadian Academy of Sport and Exercise Medicine (CASEM) and in French to the Academie canadienne de medicine du sport et de l'exercice (ACMSE).

The motion was voted on by the membership and approved 256 to 90.

Fitness Business Canada (FBC) is the trade magazine in Canada for owners, managers, directors and staff of health and fitness facilities. FBC is the primary trade publication for health and fitness facilities across Canada. FBC has earned outstanding reviews and respect from facility operators to its first issue in January 2000.

To get your copy, call our office at 888-920-6537 or email us at fbc@fitnet.ca