Construct Canada Show – Toronto 2011

By Steven Bench

I recently had the opportunity to visit the city of Toronto to attend the Construct Canada Convention and Trade Show.  The flight was smooth for the most part and the time passed by quickly even though I was on a relatively small airplane.  As the flight approached Toronto we were warned by the pilot that rain was falling and that it could get a bit bumpy.  Fortunately it did not.

I caught a taxi cab from the Toronto airport to downtown where my hotel was located near the convention center.  With the clouds and the early darkness, caused by the short winter days, I did not have the opportunity to see the downtown area, or naturally, the area immediately surrounding my hotel and the convention center, until the next day.

The first morning I rose early to take a walk before going to the convention center.  I walked between the tall condominium and office buildings and along the shores of Lake Ontario.  As I walked I was greeted by several fellow walkers as they hurried to get to work or grab a quick cup of coffee.  I thought to myself:  “What a friendly city Toronto is.”

My walk continued passed a Ruth’s Chris Restaurant, a Marriott Hotel, several coffee shops, a couple of Subway’s, a few banks and many other buildings, some with names I recognized and others without.  My walk ended upon my arrival at the Metro Convention Center.  As I entered the convention center I thought:  “What a clean city Toronto is”.

Inside the convention center I arrived at the exhibit booth of Power Plant Supply Company, the Toronto based distributor of my company’s electric radiant floor heating and snow melting products.  For the better part of the next three days I would stand in the exhibit booth and talk with prospective customers about my company’s products.  As the time passed and many prospective customers came and went, I could not help but think:  “What a wonderful people the Canadians are.”

When the convention was over one of my associates volunteered to give me a ride to the airport.  Of course, I quickly accepted.  After a few minutes of great conversation we arrived at the airport and said our goodbyes and I could not help but think:  “What a beautiful city Toronto is!”