Canadian entrepreneurs raising the bar on business success

(Toronto, 3 July 2008)—Today’s entrepreneurs continue to fill a critical role in the success of the Canadian economy, Ernst & Young said today when unveiling this year’s finalists for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards.

“We have seen extraordinary entrepreneurial spirit here in the 15 years since establishing the program in Canada. Time and time again, individuals find exciting new ways of doing business and meeting market needs,” said Dan Cornacchia, National and Ontario Director of the Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards program. “These entrepreneurs are propelling the Canadian economy forward. Their ideas and contributions make a real difference to their customers, employees and communities.”

The Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards recognize the spirit and contribution of entrepreneurs here and around the world. This year, the Canadian program is proudly celebrating a milestone anniversary — 15 years of honouring the country’s most impressive entrepreneurs from all areas of business.

In 2007, Canada’s own Guy Laliberté (founder of Cirque du Soleil) brought home top honours, winning the Ernst & Young World Entrepreneur Of The Year® Award. This year’s finalists embark on the same path, providing great examples of entrepreneurism at its best. The Ontario winners will be announced at a banquet on October 16, and the overall winner will represent the region at the national banquet in November.

In 2008, Ernst & Young is also awarding Ted Rogers the Lifetime Achievement Award for Ontario. Ted, president and CEO of Rogers Communications Inc., built his vision into a communications empire that now includes cable television, radio, cell phones and internet.

The 2008 Ontario finalists for Entrepreneur Of The Year are:

Business-to-Business Products and Services

Robin Howlings
Danamark WaterCare | Brampton
www.danamark.com
Leader in water treatment products, with sales and distribution throughout North America.

Earle O'Born
The Printing House Limited | Toronto
www.tph.ca
Customer-focused, performance-driven printing network with a focus on on-demand digital reprographics, online print and document management.

Doug Tozer
Wheels Group | Mississauga
www.wheelsgroup.com
Non-asset-/light-asset-based provider of multimodal transportation/logistics services, with a significant presence in North America and a global reach. Offers integrated supply chain solutions to a diversified Fortune 1000 client base domestically and internationally.

Consumer Products

Alexander Garber, Boris Serebryany
Fiera Foods Company | Toronto
www.fierafoods.com
Manufacturer of frozen raw and baked bakery products, including Kosher-designated products. Offers a wide range of production methods: proof and bake, par-bake, freezer-to-oven and thaw-and-sell.

Cam Heaps, Greg Taylor
Steam Whistle Brewing | Toronto
www.steamwhistle.ca
Independent brewery housed in Toronto's historic John Street Roundhouse with a singular focus: to make one beer of exceptional quality that Canadians can be proud of.

Sylvia Benchimol
Stone Tile International | Toronto
www.stone-tile.com
Importer and distributor of a very highly designed line of tiles consisting of natural stones, porcelains and ceramics.

Emerging Entrepreneur

Barry Avrich
Endeavour | Toronto
www.endeavourmarketing.com
Full-service marketing and communications company.

Bob Crane
N2 Ingredients, Inc. | Oakville
www.n2ingredients.com
Supplier of natural, nutritional and organic ingredients to food manufacturers.

Oliver Bock, Gabrielle Chevalier, Mark Smith
Solutions 2 GO Inc. | Mississauga
www.solutions2go.ca
Distributor of video game products, including hardware, software and accessories, and a provider of logistic services to video game publishers in Canada.

Health Services and Sciences

Dr. Piyush Patel
Allied Research International — Cetero Research Inc. | Mississauga
www.alliedresearch.com
Contract human research organization providing services to the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, including complex first-in-man to large multicentre late-phase studies.

Shirlee Sharkey
Saint Elizabeth Health Care | Markham
www.saintelizabeth.com
Trailblazing, business-savvy, not-for-profit charitable organization that is transforming the health-care landscape and experience in Canada through home and community care.

Lee McDonald
Southmedic Inc. | Barrie
www.southmedic.com
Manufacturer and distributor of specialty medical equipment, and innovators of the "first open oxygen mask."

Manufacturing

Patrick Bermingham
Bermingham Construction Ltd. | Hamilton
www.berminghammer.com
Builds foundations for infrastructure, and designs and manufactures specialty equipment for the energy, mining, bridge, hospital, airport and commercial residential sectors.

Douglas Mitten
Mitten Inc. | Paris
www.mittenvinyl.com
Manufacturer/distributor of vinyl siding and accessory products serving customers worldwide.

John Kimmel
Normerica Inc. | Toronto
www.normericainc.com
One of North America's largest pet product companies and a manufacturer of premium-quality private-label and branded pet products.

Professional Services

Aldo Cundari
Cundari | Toronto
www.cundari.com
Canada's second-largest independently owned and operated communications agency. Its divisions include Cundari Health, Cundari Interactive, and internationally recognized design and branding firm Cundari SFP.

Farah Perelmuter, Martin Perelmuter
Speakers' Spotlight | Toronto
www.speakers.ca
Canada's most innovative speakers' bureau, representing the most extraordinary speakers, innovative thinkers and inspiring individuals.

Jane Hope, Paul Lavoie
TAXI | Toronto
www.taxi.ca
Independent company with core expertise in strategic planning, advertising, design, interactive, relationship marketing and branded entertainment.

Social Entrepreneur

Tim Jones
Artscape | Toronto
www.torontoartscape.on.ca
Not-for-profit enterprise dedicated to city-building through the arts.

Craig Kielburger, Marc Kielburger
Free The Children | Toronto
www.freethechildren.com
The world's largest network of children helping children through education, with over one million youth involved in education and development programs in 45 countries.

Mary Gordon
Roots of Empathy | Toronto
www.rootsofempathy.org
Evidence-based classroom program that has shown dramatic effect in reducing levels of aggression among schoolchildren by raising social/emotional competence and increasing empathy.

Rick Tobias
Yonge Street Mission | Toronto
www.ysm.on.ca
Committed to being a pivotal agent of change in the community. Four divisions offer services, programs and networks of support that enable those in need to improve their lives.

Technology

Dr. Jan Mrazek
Adastra Corporation | Markham
www.adastracorp.com
Professional services organization specializing in data warehousing, business intelligence, master data management and data integration.

Kyle MacDonald
Phoenix Interactive Design, Inc. | London
www.phoenix-interactive.com
Designer and developer of mission-critical software for banks that operate complex and sophisticated self-service systems, commonly known as automated teller machines.

Stephen Pollack
PlateSpin Ltd. | Toronto
www.platespin.com
Provides a unified suite of software solutions to help global enterprises adopt, manage and extend their use of server virtualization in the hetergeneous data centre.

Tim Spencer
Sigma Systems | Toronto
www.sigma-systems.com
A trusted global supplier of OSS service fulfilment solutions that enable cable, telco and mobile communications service providers to deliver voice, video, data, content and multimedia services and applications.

Young Entrepreneur

Jas Brar
Entripy Custom Clothing | Oakville
www.entripy.com
Full-service screenprinting and embroidery company that sells directly to businesses requiring branding or promo apparel.

Matthew Corrin
Freshii Inc. — The Lettuce Eatery | Toronto
www.eatfreshii.com
Fast-food restaurant franchise with locations in Toronto and Chicago that serves healthy and great-tasting meals and snacks quickly, in a hip, friendly and environmentally sustainable atmosphere.

Christian Ste-Marie
Grade A Techs.com | Ottawa
www.gradeatechs.com
A technology support business that operates in Ottawa.

Amanie Ismail, Omar Ismail, Erik Kalviainen
ProductWiki Inc. | Waterloo
www.productwiki.com
Authoritative web resource for unbiased product reviews and information created and maintained by the community.

The national program sponsors are Global Television Network, National Post, La Presse and RDI.

About Ernst & Young

Ernst & Young is a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services. Worldwide, our 130,000 people are united by our shared values and an unwavering commitment to quality. We make a difference by helping our people, our clients and our wider communities achieve potential. For more info, visit www.ey.com/ca.