Blachford tax law mobilizes with charity softball game
Never has a group of chartered professional accountants been more enthusiastic about “hitting the grassroots” than the Blachford Tax Law charity softball game held at the RA Center on Thursday afternoon.
“It’s just nice to socialize and go out” Jessica grandy, an official at Welch LLP, told OBJ.social after spending a few hours playing the big summer hobby with colleagues at more than a dozen accounting firms.
“We haven’t had the chance to date other people like this in a long time, so it’s a lot of fun,” said Gilles Roy, a tax partner of BDO Canada LLP.
It’s been 17 months since COVID-19 started a real upheaval for us all, but, with the end of the pandemic and the loosening of restrictions due to widespread vaccinations, members of the business community are starting to attend in-person events again. .
The charity game, now in its second year, has been organized again by Dean Blachford, a senior tax lawyer specializing in dispute resolution and litigation. He left the Ottawa law firm HazloLaw last spring to found his own firm, Blachford Tax Law, with the support of his legal assistant, Ella sui.
The charity event is a labor of love for Blachford, judging by the number of hours he devotes to its planning.
“It’s a chance to bring people together,” he explained. “Doing something out of the ordinary together and competing as a team helps people connect in new ways.”
He is also passionate about baseball. His sporty wife, Stephanie Talsma, was back to play this year. She is the Program Director at Canadian Women & Sport.
Blachford carefully divided the 30 participants into two teams of equal ability based on a questionnaire the players completed by Thursday. Blachford also asked each team captain to select a local charity they wanted to play for.
Animal lover Diana cameron of Baker Tilly Canada LLP selected the Ottawa Humane Society on behalf of the Green Shirts team. His counterpart, Matthieu Westphalen, Crowe BGK partner and captain of the White Shirts team, chose Open Doors for Lanark Children and Youth, a mental health service center. From the organization were the chairman of the board of directors and the educator Andrew Pratt and executive director Kevin Clouthier.
The novelty this year was corporate sponsorship. The event was supported by managed IT service provider Grade A, recruiting specialist TAG HR, cloud-based accounting software company Xero, and Video Tax News.
Dyer Angus de Xero came from Toronto for the game. His colleague, LP Candle, drove the Xero Mini Cooper from Montreal.
Entrepreneur Ted carty was there to represent grade A, while Priya Bhaloo, a former Forty Under 40 recipient, made a few brief remarks on behalf of TAG HR. One of his colleagues, Carl Johansen, ended up with a scraped knee after slipping at third base.
“I didn’t even notice it until I walked away,” he said later, ignoring his minor injury.
The White team took a significant lead in the second and third innings. While the Green team made an impressive comeback in the seventh, it was not enough. The final score was 15-13.
Open Doors received a total donation of $ 4,000 from the winners, with an additional $ 1,000 that Bhaloo pledged if his team, the White team, came out on top.
OHS donation of $ 2,000 increased to $ 2,500 after Green Team member Corey roberts, a partner of Paterson & Company, contributed an additional $ 500. He was one of the few players to hit the ball out of the park. So done Hugues Boisvert, Founder and CEO of HazloLaw, and David Ienzi, partner at Hendry Warren LLP.
“Where’s that oxygen tank?” Ienzi joked with his teammates after running all the bases and feeling a little out of breath.
Ienzi said he was happy to participate in this year’s softball game, both as a way to give back to the community and to connect with old friends and colleagues.
“I love to socialize,” Ienzi said.
“I can vouch for that,” added Andrew DuBroy, who worked with Ienzi at Hendry Warren before moving to KPMG and, as of this month, PWL Capital.
After the match, the teams showed good sportsmanship by lining up and giving their opponents friendly nudges. Then everyone headed to the nearby Hometown Sports Grill for a beer and pizza. There were also players from Logan Katz, GGFL, Vaive and Associates, Parker Prins Lebano, ENVOLTA, Deloitte, D&C, PwC and Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton.
