Business in Vancouver 2011-08-02

Local. Business. Intelligence.

August 2–8, 2011 • Issue 1136

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entertainment

Movie madness

Junior mining companies bank on demand for high-tech gadgets 6

Hollywood North wants to prevent work from heading east – 3

Export opportunities grow from flat food-consumption levels 7 U.S. lending markets create opportunities for Canadians 8

Richard lam

Vancouver and Whistler face backlash on ownership and development issues 10

The Canadian Media Production Association’s Liz Shorten: HST has levelled the playing field for B.C. producers to compete with those of Toronto

A “new-school” barbershop rides the wave of Gastown growth 12 Seven businesses launch as a result of construction company owner’s dedication to family 13

full disclosure

B.C.’s counterfeit economy >A porous border is allowing counterfeits to flow into the province or pass through the port to other North American destinations

Biggest wineries in B.C. 14 Biggest breweries and beer distributors in B.C. 16

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>Some local companies are seeing fakes hurt their bottom line, despite a public perception that only foreign multinationals are being targeted

C

ounterfeit goods are flowing into B.C. virtually unchecked by border officials, landing Canada on the United States’ blackest of blacklists for the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights.

As an example of the local proliferation, BIV tracked down a store in a Richmond mall where counterfeit consumers are offered whole catalogues of knockoff luxury bags for order, complete with phony serial numbers and certificates of authenticity.

Richard Lam

Andy Dunn sets new standards in single-A baseball management 27

Jim Stewart, CEO of Paradise Ranch Wines, faces competition from icewine frauds

In British Columbia, RCMP resources are focused on the highest risks of the black-market industry, such as potentially lethal fake mail-order Viagra and counterfeit operations that fund organized crime.

That leaves companies largely to their own devices to manage infringements on

intellectual property rights. And while most brands being copied locally belong to foreign multinationals, contributing to a popular sense that there are no local victims to this crime, some Metro Vancouver businesses are seeing counterfeits hurt their bottom line. • Business in Vancouver special report – 4, 5

2

Daily business news at www.biv.com August 2–8, 2011

contents Columnists Cascadian Connections 8 Christian Schiller Brian Jaffe Real Estate Roundup 10 Peter Mitham High-Tech Office 11 Alan Zisman Boardroom Strategy 17 Mike Desjardins At Large 24 Peter Ladner Head to Head 25 Jim Sinclair Niels Veldhuis

Departments

NovaGold unveils $5.16 billion price tag for Galore Creek Canadian online job market booming Methanex posts production gains on new plants

A&W enjoys royalty income growth

BIV Business Today Daily Online Edition

Ontario teachers pension plan buys Impark U.S. debt concerns buoy gold prices to new high

Roca re-starts mill at Revelstoke mine

Construction starts at Vancouver company’s cobalt project

Local drink company wins Chinese Olympic team sponsorship

CIBT forms videoconferencing deal with Chinese university

Sections 8–9 10 11 12 13 17 18-20 21-22 24-25 27

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profile Larry Berg, president and CEO of Vancouver Airport Authority, has used his Albertan grit and dispute-resolution skills, honed in the the oil industry, to build YVR’s current success.

news A fast-growing visual-effects sector is attracting more studios and key Hollywood business

Full disclosure Following a dismal few years of business, forestry is slowly making gains on the back of exports to China, but does the Asian juggernaut make up for the downturn in the U.S.? More importantly, is it the most valuable market out there for B.C. Lumber?

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News

August 2–8, 2011 Business in Vancouver

3

Loss of HST could “devastate” B.C. film A repeal of the harmonized sales tax could mean a substantial loss of jobs in the province’s film industry, which is already suffering the repercussions of a high Canadian dollar and competition due to Ontario’s aggressive all-spend tax credit

BC

’s f i l m i n d u s t r y i s bracing for “devastating” repercussions if the province eliminates the HST and reverts to a two-tax system in the wake of the HST referendum, which wraps up August 5.

“We’re going to be the most negatively impacted of all the industries in B.C., I would think,” said Peter Leitch, chair of the Motion Picture Production Industry Association of BC and president of North Shore Studios and Mammoth Studios.

“Losing the 7% benefit that we get on goods and services that attract the HST is going to be devastating for our industry and we could see a substantial loss of jobs as a result of being not competitive.”

Leitch said reverting to the old tax system would mean losing a 7% savings on the purchase and rental of goods such as lighting, grip and camera equipment as well as wardrobe items.

He noted that the industry has been fighting for a decade to recoup those costs to try to even the playing field with Ontario, which had a manufacturing exemption.

“It’s something we’ve been fighting for a long time and now we’ve got it and now we’re at risk of losing it.”

Leitch said both the service work side of the industry and B.C.-based producers will suffer if the HST is eliminated.

On the service side, he said the province already faces stiff challenges in attracting American productions to town given the high Canadian dollar and Ontario’s competitive tax advantage since it introduced an aggressive all-spend tax credit last year.

In the face of those challenges, he said, the loss of the HST would be the tipping point.

“It’ll have a huge negative impact on us and it will immediately impact productions like television series that want to be here for the next five to 10 years.”

According to Liz Shorten, ma nag i ng v ice-president of operations and member services for the B.C. branch of the Canadian Media Production Association, HST has been an important way of levelling the playing field for B.C.-based producers competing for work with jurisdictions such as PST-free Ontario.

“We know Ontario is going to On set with Vancouver-based Talelight films. Reverting to the old tax system could mean losing 7% savings on lighting and camera equipment

be the first ones out of the gate to let Los Angeles know that we haven’t got [the HST] anymore,

Liz Shorten, managing vice-president of operations and member services for the B.C. branch of the Canadian Media Production Association: “in such a competitive marketplace, any additional cost to production, when combined with B.C.’s current tax credit programs, which don’t match those of Ontario and Quebec, would make it more challenging for B.C. companies”

so we have to prepare for that if that’s going to be the case” – Peter Leitch, chair, Motion Picture Production Industry Association of B.C.

“The loss of HST potentially means going back to paying PST, which adds to the cost of production unlike costs incurred in other Canadian jurisdictions,” she said. “ I n s u c h a c omp e t i t i ve marketplace, any additional cost to production, when combined with B.C.’s current tax credit programs, which don’t match those of Ontario and Quebec, would make it more challenging for B.C. companies.”

Richard Lam

By Jenny Wagler

Leitch said he’s maintaining hope that the HST will prevail, but he’s concerned that B.C. is voting “yes” – a vote to eliminate the HST – as a reaction to the poor way the tax was introduced, rather the as an assessment of the value of the tax.

“I’m still sensing that there’s anger out there that is reflecting on certain “yes” votes without people really understanding the

true costs of going back to the old system.”

For now, Leitch said, B.C.’s film industry isn’t losing U.S. productions as it waits for the HST issue to be resolved – “because we’re not marketing that we could potentially lose this dow n i n L o s A ngele s r i g ht now.”

But he noted that the U.S. will hear very quickly if the HST gets

eliminated.

“We know Ontario is going to be the first ones out of the gate to let Los Angeles know that we haven’t got it anymore, so we have to prepare for that if that’s going to be case,” he said.

“But we’re still hopeful that people will recognize the benefits of [HST] existing and vote ‘no.’” • jwagler@biv.com

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4

News

Daily business news at www.biv.com August 2–8, 2011

full disclosure

Fake products hurting retail industry From designer handbags to drugs that treat erectile dysfunction, Vancouver is a haven for international counterfeits

By Jenny Wagler

n a shop tucked way down a long narrow corridor in a Richmond mall, you won’t find just a few fake designer bags for sale; you can thumb through entire catalogues full of them.

Like the knock-off men’s True Religion jeans that line the shop walls, the menus of phony luxury bags are out in the open, stacked by the cash register: Louis Vuitton, Chanel and a grab-bag catalogue with everything from Juicy Couture to Hermès.

“They’re all [excellent counterfeits],” a shop girl told two undercover Business in Vancouver reporters on a recent Friday afternoon, producing a fake Louis Vuitton bag. She showed how each knock-off designer purse comes with a certificate of authenticity and a serial number.

Prices ranged from $200 to $300 for a smaller bag and from $300 to $400 for a larger size. The popular Louis Vuitton Neverfull, normally retailing at $765 for a mediumsized bag locally, goes for $230; the iconic Hermès Birkin, retailing for $7,650 and up locally, depending on custom details, goes for $780.

The purses come from China, Korea and Japan and take two to three weeks to arrive, the salesgirl said. And finally: if a product couldn’t be found in the catalogues, it was likely still available.

“Ju s t br i n g i n t h e s t y l e number.”

The shop is an indication that a black market trade in counterfeits is alive and well in Metro Vancouver; although just weeks earlier, a Federal Court had ordered Vancouver-based counterfeiting operations Singga Enterprises Inc. and Carnation Fashion Co. to pay more than $1 million in damages to Louis Vuitton and Burberry in late June.

Port of entry While the RCMP has no estimates of the total volume of counterfeit goods sold locally or transiting through Port Metro Vancouver en route to North American destinations, the dollar value of annual counterfeit seizures is rising in Canada. In the first nine months of 2010, the most recent available statistics, nearly $22 million in counterfeit goods was seized in the country.

Sgt. Dany Bernier, the RCMP’s intellectual property crime co-ordinator for B.C. and the Yukon, said Vancouver is on par with

DOMINIC SCHAEFER

I

Jim Stewart, president and CEO of Paradise Ranch Wines, with his own icewines and a phony icewine (on right) being sold in China: “I think counterfeits impact my business dramatically”

other major Canadian cities for the volume of its trade in counterfeit goods, but the city sees a disproportionate amount of fake goods transiting through the port on their way to other North American destinations.

“We’re the entrance to the U.S. and Canada,” said Bernier.

Currently, most fake goods are coming from China. According to the RCMP, 80% of counterfeit goods seized last year in Canada came from China, Hong Kong or Taiwan. Bernier said virtually no phony goods are getting manufactured in B.C. Yet while the phony goods are arriving in Vancouver, just a small proportion of them appear to be getting caught here.

Canada shares space with China and 10 other countries on the U.S.’s blackest of blacklists for intellectual property rights (IPR) protection and enforcement: the Office of the United States Trade Representative’s Special 301 Priority Watch List. Outdated copyright legislation and the limited power Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) personnel have to stop fake goods at the border are key reasons Canada made the list.

“We have a really porous border,” said David Wotherspoon, a partner at Fasken Martineau and member of the firm’s national technology and intellectual property group.

Wotherspoon said that in the United States and many other jurisdictions, IPR owners can register their products on a list with customs, enabling border personnel to proactively look for incoming fakes. Canada, he said, has no such list.

According to the CBSA, border personnel don’t have the legislative authority to search, target or seize suspected IPR-infringing goods and rely on the RCMP and Health Canada for enforcement when suspected fakes are identified through “the course of regular duties.”

“In Canada, if you want customs to seize something, you basically have to get a court order from Federal Court and you have to identify the ship and the container, almost down to the detail of saying, ‘It’s in the back left corner,’” Wotherspoon said.

With counterfeits thus slipping through the border, both the criminal and civil courts systems are

being used to tackle the problem of fake goods on the B.C. market.

On the criminal side, Bernier said the RCMP’s top priority is stopping goods that impact health and safety. A top concern right now, he said, is phony versions of impotence drugs Viagra and Cialis, arriving by international mail.

“People don’t want to go see their doctor about it,” he said.

“They’re embarrassed about it, so they go online and obtain the drugs coming from who knows where.”

The risks for purchasers are severe, he said; fakes have been found to contain up to five times the standard amount of active ingredients.

“That could kill someone in no time.”

Links to organized crime Many of these investigations, he said, target online sellers using eBay, Craigslist and websites for phony pharmaceuticals, often branded with Canadian flags.

Bernier said the RCMP also focuses on counterfeit operations linked to organized crime. As a demonstration of that link, he

“In Canada, if you want customs to seize something, you basically have to get a court order from Federal Court and you have to identify the ship and the container, almost down to the detail of saying, ‘It’s in the back left corner’” – David Wotherspoon, partner, Fasken Martineau

5

News

August 2–8, 2011 Business in Vancouver

full disclosure

$10 $5

2005

2006

2007

2008

* Total up to end of September

cited the RCMP’s seizure last October in Richmond just shy of $10 million of Ecstasy and the methamphetamine ingredient P2P in Richmond that had been shipped with fake Nike running shoes.

With the RCMP’s resources dedicated primarily to public

safety cases, Wotherspoon said it generally falls to companies to police IPR infringements through a civil court system that, while effective, can prove too expensive for smaller rights holders.

Private investigators, such as Phoenix, Arizona-based IPSA

2009

2010* Source: BIV research

International, Inc., can be another resource for rights holders; IPSA’s Vancouver team was part of the investigation that resulted in Louis Vuitton and Burberry’s recent court victory.

Both Wotherspoon and Kim Marsh, IPSA’s Vancouver-based

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China cold to icewine Jim Stewart, president and CEO of Vancouver-based Paradise Ranch Wines Corp., said a proliferation of counterfeit icewine on shelves in China is hurting his ability to sell his product to China.

“In certain sales that I’ve attempted to negotiate, I’ve been told that people backed out because,

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the drugs coming from who knows where. … That could kill someone in no time” – Dany Bernier, intellectual property crime co-ordinator, RCMP

To fight back against the brand damage, he said, the B.C. wine industry and the Canadian Vintners Association are working with China to start up real icewine production in that country, in a play to ramp up the country’s appreciation for the legitimate product.

Similarly in B.C., the RCMP is coupling enforcement efforts with public education messages focused on the health risks of counterfeit goods and behind-the-scenes links to child labour and organized crime. And Bernier said the efforts are paying off.

“We’re getting more and more phone calls from people, saying ‘Hey, this is what they’re selling at this store or pharmacy or health food place.’” • jwagler@biv.com

s u s TA I N A b I L I T Y

$15

so they go online and obtain

2012

$20

embarrassed about [Viagra],

june

$25

their doctor about it. They’re

INvesTmeNT december 2011 PHILANTHROPY march 2012 P R O f I TA b I L I T Y

$35

Value of counterfeit goods $30 seized in Canada (millions of $)

“People don’t want to go see

2011

Seizures of counterfeit goods in Canada

‘There’s so much fake icewine that we can’t sell your product because the price that we would have to sell it for is not achievable in the marketplace.’”

Miles Prodan, executive director of the BC Wine Institute, said phony “icewine” currently sold in China ranges from coloured sugarwater to almost-real icewine. The latter, he said, is being exported in bulk from B.C., just missing the trademarked standard due to sidestepping bottling requirements – something that’s legal, but still damaging to the brand.

september

Fake Prada, Chanel, Coach and Burberry luxury bags seized by the RCMP

executive vice-president of international operations, said most of their clients seeking justice for IPR infringements in B.C. are large foreign multinationals.

Yet whi le most of bra nds knocked off locally are foreignowned heavyweights like Louis Vuitton, contributing to a public sentiment that counterfeiting – and buying – fake goods is a victimless crime, local businesses are seeing counterfeiting hurt their bottom line.

Paul Cheung is the owner and CEO of the four-year-old Summer Night Market, the new incarnation of the Richmond Night Market.

Cheung said that in order to get the go-ahead from the City of Richmond to start up a new night market in 2008, he had to commit to various measures to combat the counterfeiting that had been rampant at the market’s earlier incarnation.

Cheung said, besides having to reject nearly half the original vendor applicants outright due to their stated plans to sell knockoffs, the market has incurred an additional $80,000 annually in RCMP costs plus the cost of two extra full-time staff to check for counterfeits. That, he said, in conjunction with escalating lease costs, has made it hard to make any money off the market.

“It hasn’t been very profitable at all,” he said, though he added that cleaning up the counterfeit problem and reinventing the market as a place of innovative businesses has proved a satisfying contribution to the community.

6

News

daily online edition

BUSINESS TODAY NovaGold unveils $5.16 billion price tag for Galore Creek NovaGold Resources’ (TSX:NG) Galore Creek copper project in Northwest B.C. is back online nearly four years after the company all but shut the project down due to cost overruns.

Vancouver-based NovaGold published an updated pre-feasibility study for Galore on Thursday, envisioning a project that would produce 6.2 billion pounds of copper, 4 million ounces of gold and 65.8 million ounces of silver throughout its 18-year life.

NovaGold estimates the price tag for the project would exceed $5.16 billion, which is $150 million more than Teck estimated the mine would cost in 2007.

NovaGold’s shares were down $0.10 to $9.41 at midday trades Thursday.

Daily business news at www.biv.com August 2–8, 2011

Investors bet on zinc ahead of supply crunch Market attention turns toward Vancouver juniors following base-metal takeovers

Rathdowney Resources CEO John Barry says his company is on investor radar screens now that there are few zinc players left

Thursday, July 28

Roca re-starts mill at Revelstoke mine Roca Mines (TSX-V:ROK) has the mill back up and running at its Max Molybdenum mine near Revelstoke, nearly a year after the company shut the operation down following sill pillar collapse.

The Vancouver-based company said the mill will initially process surface s to ck p ile ma te r ia l a t a reduced rate until the underground mine recommences full production.

At press time, Roca’s shares were up 7% to $0.23.

Thursday, July 28

Full stories and other local business news at www.biv.com/businesstoday Daily business news direct to your inbox!

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By Joel McKay

T

he zinc market’s supply-and-demand fundamentals are out of whack, but that hasn’t stopped investors from sinking money into the oft-ignored base metal.

Zinc, used primarily to make corrosion-resistant steel, has been the underdog of the commodities sector for the last few years, but a handful of deals in recent months has generated renewed interest in the sector.

“We’re benefiting a lot from the investor and market attitude toward zinc; it’s really changed a lot and a lot of that has focused on the takeovers in the sector in the last several months,” explained Steve Stakiw, a spokesman for Vancouver-based Trevali Mining (TSX:TV).

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The junior company’s shares jumped 32% in the last month following news that Belgian zinc producer Nyrstar planned to take out Breakwater Resources (TSX:BWR) in a friendly $663 million acquisition.

T hat dea l ca me just six months after Nyrstar bought Farallon Mining, a Vancouver-based zinc producer, for roughly $400 million.

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There’s also news that Swiss commodities giant Glencore pla nned to pay US$3.2 billion to acquire additional shares in Kazzinc, a major producer of zinc in Kazakhstan.

With those companies off the market, few pure zinc players remain, allowing Vancouver’s junior miners to swoop in and garner renewed investor attention.

But all this movement in the zinc sector has surprised analysts and investors alike.

The price of the base metal has languished slightly above the US$1 per pound mark for the last several months as global metal production continued to outstrip consumption.

In fac t, t he L ondon Meta l Exchange’s zi nc stockpiles have reached a 16year high of 893,925 tonnes.

But some analysts are pointing to zinc as the next big story in the already boom i ng com mod it ies sector.

In a recent resea rch note, i nvest ment ba n k Goldman Sachs pointed to

“significant” annual zinc production deficits starting in 2013.

“We believe that global zinc consumption will move ahead of production from 2013, leading to growing pricing tension and justifying significantly higher prices,” Goldman wrote in a research note. “Building some exposure to zinc over the next 12 months should be rewarding on a two-tothree-year view.”

The reason for the production decline has more to do with mine shutdowns than a significant increase in demand.

At le a st fou r of t he world’s largest zinc mines are expected to close in the next four years, slashing global production rates.

John Barry, president and CEO of zinc-focused Rathdowney Resources (TSX-V:RTH), said zinc has been such an undesirable metal in the last few years (plummeting as low as US$0.50 a pound in 2008) that there’s been little, if any, investment in the sector.

As a result, when mines

shut their doors, there are few projects that can readily take their place.

“The other thing that’s happening, which obviously is incredibly important, is China,” said Barry.

“We’re benefiting a lot from the investor and market attitude toward zinc” – Steve Stakiw, spokesman, Trevali Mining

Gold ma n Sachs sa id there is evidence that Chinese zinc mine production is levelling out.

The countr y also recently cut the import duty on refined zinc from 3% to 1%, signalling that a supply shortage could be on the way.

Said Goldman: “If that is correct … zinc could begin to feel a bit like the copper market in a couple years’ time.” • jmckay@biv.com

Small business

August 2–8, 2011 Business in Vancouver

7

Export opportunities made necessary by flat food consumption in Canada Delta berry farmer attends Asian trade shows as he expands sales of organic juices across that continent Recommended caloric intake per day, by age Food consumption in Canada is expected to be flat in part because the aging population will require fewer calories 3,500 3,000 2,500 2,000 1,500 1,000 500 0 13 to 15

16 to 18

•Male •Female Delta farmer Terry Bremner is expanding sales into Asia and capitalizing on the trend of people wanting to know where their food comes from Glen Korstrom

D

e l t a f a r m e r Te r r y Bremner is rapidly increasing his sales for both juice and wine in Asia after recently attending trade shows in Korea and China.

His ambitious growth strategy is one that the Centre for Food in Canada (CFC) urges in its June report Valuing Food: The Economic Contribution of Canada’s Food Sector.

The repor t forecasts relatively flat food sales in Canada for the foreseeable future thanks to: •slow population growth; •a population that percapita requires less food because it’s aging and increasingly working at sedentary jobs; and •food price inf lation that keeps pace with income.

“Canadian food sector companies seeking to expand significantly must focus on growing their business through exports,” according to the report.

“There are greater opportunities for growth globally as demand for food and an increasingly urban and relatively wealthier consumer emerges in a number of developing countries.”

Bremner told Business in Vancouver, while he was on a business trip in Hong Kong, that he expects his 15,000-case production to grow 25% in the next year thanks to a $500,000 investment in a bottling line for his Bremner’s-branded

100% pure not-from-concentrate blueberry, cranberry, black cherry and other juices.

So far his production on that line is at 10% capacity.

He invested a further $500,000 in new buildings on his 55-acre property in Delta.

Bremner expects to increase his $1.5 million in annual sales significantly in central Canada and Asia by appealing to a consumer who wants a premium product.

Sales in Asia for his juice have grown from nothing last year to about 15% this year. He now gets 5% of his sales for his Wellbrook Winery-branded wine from China. That’s also up from nothing last year.

This success comes partly from the rapidly growing nouveau riche in Chinese cities who can buy more premium products.

Bremner, however, warns producers of non-premium products to have a carefully honed strategy of what Asian consumers to target or they may wind up wasting their money.

“It’s an expensive proposition to expand sales in Asia,” Bremner said.

“But the Asian population is looking for quality, premium products.”

Bremner attended the Sial China 2011 trade show in Shanghai May 18 -20 as well as a trade show in Korea in April.

His pure cranberry juice

sells for about $13 per litre in Vancouver.

Ocean Spray cranberry juice, in contrast, contains about 15% juice with the rest being water and sugar.

“It’s an expensive proposition to expand sales in Asia, but the Asian population is looking for quality, premium products” – Terry Bremner, owner, Bremner Foods

Korea slaps a 50% duty on Bremner’s juices but, even with that handicap, Bremner has managed to find traction by appealing to high-end shoppers.

“It’s an interesting market. It’s greater competition than in Vancouver because we have products here [in Hong Kong ] coming from Japan, from Australia and from New Zealand. It’s more competitive. Typically in Canada we don’t have juice from Australia,” Bremner said.

Another prong in his strategy is to capitalize on the trend of people wanting to know where their food comes from and what additives it includes.

The melamine scandal in China, which involved milk producers adding the toxin

19 to 24

25 to 49

50 to 74

75 and older

Source: Canadian Consumer Trends in Obesity and Food Consumption

to milk to make the milk appear to have a higher protein content, has fuelled that trend in Asia.

Bremner’s pomegranate

juice comes from Turkey; his blackberry juice comes from Chile. He puts that on the label as well as that it is certified organic by North

American and European certification bodies.

“I can buy fruit in China cheaper than I can buy it or grow it locally. It would reduce my costs but I won’t do it,” said Bremner, who puts on his labels where his fruit was grown.

“We don’t try to hide anything. Some do.”

Food labelling has been a hot-button issue with consumer advocates who succeeded in 2008 at getting the Canadian government to change regulations so that in order to put the words “product of Canada” on a label, 98% of the item’s ingredients and processing must be conducted in Canada.

The result, however, is that those words rarely appear on labels, according to the Conference Board of Canada. • gkorstrom@biv.com

8

Finance

Daily business news at www.biv.com August 2–8, 2011

BY THE NUMBERS

Losses are shown in brackets. Graph information by Stockwatch.

Lignol Energy Corp. (TSX-V:LEC)

N/A

Ethanol aspirations: The biofuel developer failed to generate revenue in 2011, but decreased its loss to $1.2m from $7.8m in 2010. As well, research and development costs were cut to $6m in fiscal 2011 compared with $10.2m in 2010, while general and administrative expenses remained unchanged.

Earnings per share Government and corporate contributions increased to $8.4m Fiscal 2011 in fiscal 2011 compared with $5.8m in 2010.

$0.30

Lumber lurch: The forestry giant saw its sales decline in the first six months of 2011 due to an ongoing slump in the U.S. housing market and sharp declines in lumber prices. West Fraser’s lumber segment had an operating loss of $8m in the second quarter. The company expects lumber prices in the Earnings per share second half of the year to be lower than the first half.

6 months 2011 West Fraser finished the quarter with $134m in cash.

$80

Retail relapse: Paragon’s pharmacy revenue was primarily impacted by reductions in generic prescription reimbursement rates, a result of regulatory reform implemented in B.C. As a result, its operating income dropped to $1.6m in the third quarter from $2.6m for the Earnings per share same period last year. The company finished the period with 9 months 2011 $2.4m in cash, $826k higher than the second quarter.

$0.40

($1.2m) ($0.02)

Revenue: $0 Fiscal 2011

Net income Fiscal 2011

$0.20 $0.10 $0.00

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West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. (TSX:WFT)

▼4% Revenue: $ 6 months 2011

$10m ($0.09) Net income 6 months 2011

$60 $40 $20 $0

Paragon Pharmacies Ltd. (TSX-V:PGN)

▼9.2% ($1.15m) ($0.01) Revenue: $19.1m 9 months 2011

Net income 9 months 2011

$0.30 $0.20 $0.10

Cascadian Connections

Christian Schiller/Bryan Jaffe U.S. lending markets create money market opportunities for Canadian buyers

M

uch has been made about the strength of the Canadian banking system relative to its U.S. counterpart during the past recession, and while the U.S. system continues to lag behind its northern counterpart in terms of bank balance-sheet quality, the U.S. lending market has thawed materially in terms of availability.

According to Thomson Reuters, U.S. middle market leveraged loan volume for 2011’s second quarter registered a 52% year-over-year gain and was up 15% over 2011’s first quarter. Further, the U.S. high-yield bond issuance market registered its highest levels ever in May 2011.

Based on our recent experience, U.S. banks are willing to

underwrite as much as four to five times the latest 12 months (LTM) earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) for transactions involving companies with more than US$10 million in trailing operational cash flow.

Currently, Standard & Poor’s reports that the average debt-to-EBITDA for midmarket loans in the U.S. stands at 4.6 times, up from 3.8 times a year ago. Further, with the availability of mezzanine debt in the U.S., total transaction debt can reach as high as six times LTM EBITDA. With most U.S.-based transactions taking place at less than eight times LTM EBITDA, doing deals requires a very limited equity check

from potential buyers; in some cases deals can be fully debt-financed.

In contrast to the above, Canadian banks tend to limit deal leverage to between 2.5 and 3.5 times LTM, reflecting their conservative bias. Further, there is a general lack of mezzanine debt in Canada, especially relative to the U.S., and therefore total transaction debt is often capped at four times.

Junior debt in Canada tends to take the form of second lien notes, requiring a collateral backstop, where mezzanine debt is generally, by definition, not collateralized. Notably, we have never seen an unsecured piece of junior paper from a Canadian issuer.

Additionally, Canadian corporate lending rates, in our experience, generally exceed U.S. lending rates by 50 to 150 basis points (bps) for good quality corporate credits and by even wider margins as credit quality declines.

There is a general lack of mezzanine debt in Canada, especially relative to the U.S. This again ref lects the more conservative risk-appetite of Canadian lending institutions. Our experience with junior debt in Canada has often yielded spreads of 300 to 500 bps over term sheets from

U.S.-based junior lenders, due primarily to a lack of a competitive market.

W hile t he Canadian prime rate is cheaper than its U.S. counterpart, the spread is only 25 bps. That makes the cost of debt capital superior in the U.S. when one considers the higher pricing structure employed by Canadian banks.

Notably, U.S. and Canadian 10-year government bonds are currently trading at the same yield, according to the Financial Times. That suggests the spread is owed entirely due to risk profile.

To fully realize this “arbitrage,” it’s best if U.S.-dollar-dominated debt can be serviced and repatriated using cash flows generated in

Canada. While a buyer can benefit from the greater leverage opportunities in the U.S. in isolation, using cash flows generated in Canada dollars for interest and principal payments provides the added benefit of the favourable loonie exchange rate.

Currently, the loonie/U.S. dollar exchange rate is 1.05, which reflects the continuing rise of the Canadian dollar.

When one takes the exchange rate into account, U.S.-based leverage alternatives appear even more cost effective. • Bryan Jaffe and Christian Schiller are managing directors at Cascadia Capital (www.cascadiacapital.com), a Seattle-based boutique investment bank.

Get on BIV’s Fastest List > BIV's Fastest Growing Companies list ranks by highest percentage revenue growth between 2006 and 2010. > Include total revenue 2006, total revenue 2010, company name and contact information > Companies that make the list will be invited to a celebration awards dinner hosted by Business in Vancouver in October 2011.

Issue: September 13, 2011 Sponsored by:

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finance

August 2–8, 2011 Business in Vancouver

9

B.C. goods exports fall

Insider Trading

Durable goods makers saw shipments fall

▼3.9% ▼10.1% ▼7.0% ▼5.8% The following is a list of trades made by corporate executives, directors and other company insiders of B.C.’s public companies filed by the week ending July 22. The information comes from a compilation of required rep o r ts fi le d w i th the B C Securities Commission within five calendar days of a change in an insider’s holdings.

Insider: Robert Young, director Company: First Majestic Silver Corp. (TSX:FR) Shares owned: 20,000 Trade date: July 15 Trade total: $905,500 (net) Trade: Sale of 50,000 shares at prices ranging from $21.16 to $21.53 per share following the acquisition of 50,000 shares at an average price of $3.26 per share through the exercise of options.

Insider: Bradford Cooke, chair and CEO Company: Endeavour Silver Corp. (TSX:EDR) Shares owned: 1,227,837 Trade date: July 18, 19 Trade total: $614,400 Trade: Sale of 60,000 shares at prices ranging from $10.03 to

$10.45 per share.

Insider: Norman Pitcher, COO Company: Eldorado Gold Corp.

(TSX:ELD) Shares owned: 29,851 Trade date: July 14 Trade total: $481,551 (net) Trade: Sale of 40,000 shares at prices ranging from $16.90 to $16.97 per share after acquiring 40,000 shares for $4.88 per share through the exercise of options.

Insider: Paul Skayman, senior vice-president, operations Company: Eldorado Gold Corp.

(TSX:ELD) Shares owned: 0 Trade date: July 13 Trade total: $244,028 (net) Trade: Sale of 20,000 shares at prices ranging from $17.07 to $17.10 per share after acquiring 20,000 shares for $4.88 per share through the exercise of options.

Insider: Robert Quartermain, president and CEO Company: Pretium Resources Inc. (TSX:PVG) Shares owned: 2,876,253 Trade date: July 15 Trade total: $217,000

Trade: Acquisition of 20,000 shares at $10.85 per share.

Insider: David Shaw, director Company: First Majestic Silver Corp. (TSX:FR) Shares owned: 85,000 Trade date: July 18 Trade total: $172,900 Trade: Sale of 7,500 shares at prices ranging from $23.05 to $23.11 per share.

Insider: Mario Szotlender, director Company: Fortuna Silver Mines Inc. (TSX:FVI) Shares owned: 345,700 Trade date: July 13, 14, 15 Trade total: $141,560 (net) Trade: Sale of 27,000 shares at prices ranging between $5.94 and $6.08 per share after acquiring 25,000 shares for $0.85 per share through the exercise of options.

Insider: Daniel McCoy, chief geologist and director Company: Keegan Resources Inc. (TSX:KGN) Shares owned: 40,900 Trade date: July 11 Trade total: $116,850 Trade: Sale of 15,000 shares at

BUS NESS LEADERS TOURNAMENT

US$7.79 per share.

Insider: Robert McCallum, chairman Company: First Majestic Silver Corp. (TSX:FR) Shares owned: 150,000 Trade date: July 5 Trade total: $114,200 Trade: Acquisition of 25,000 shares for $3.70 per share and 5,000 shares for $4.34 per share through the exercise of options.

Insider: Paul Sweeney, director Company: Alterra Power Corp.

(TSX:AXY) Shares owned: 1,441,150 Trade date: June 22 Trade total: $114,000 Trade: Acquisition of 150,000 shares at $0.76 per share as compensation for services.

Insider: Marc LeBlanc, vicepresident, corporate development and corporate secretary Company: Mercator Minerals Ltd. Shares owned: 3,700 Trade date: July 12, 13 Trade total: $101,500 Trade: Sale of 32,120 shares at prices ranging from $3.15 and $3.16 per share. •

%

April April April April shipments shipments shipments shipments of BC goods of BC goods of BC goods of BC goods (overall) (paper) (wood) (food) Shipments of goods manufactured in B.C. fell (-3.9%, seasonally adjusted) to $3.1 billion in May, following a 0.8% slip in April. Of the 21 manufacturing industries, 13 posted declines. Shipments by paper manufacturers dropped sharply (-10.1%), while sales by wood (-7.0%) and food (-5.8%) manufacturers were also down notably. Overall, manufacturers of durable goods saw the value of shipments fall back 3.8%, while sales were down 4.1% in the nondurables sector. Canadian shipments were down 0.8% in May.

B.C. total exports rise in May Exports of B.C. products jumped 12.6% (seasonally adjusted) in May, offsetting a similar decrease (-10.8%) in April. Shipments were up across all major commodity groups, with the exception of machinery and transportation equipment (-2.4%). Energy (36.8%) saw the most significant climb.

-BC Stats Infoline, Issue 11-28, January 15

B.C. housing starts dropped in June, reversing growth Housing starts in the province dropped off (-25.9%, seasonally adjusted) in June, partly reversing two solid months of growth. Starts of single-detached dwellings in urban areas of the province (those with populations of 10,000 and up) were down moderately (-1.4%).

-BC Stats Infoline, Issue 11-28, January 15

Canadian retail sales rise 2.6% over Q1 2010 Canadian retailers started the year on a high note, as retail sales reached $96.9 billion (2.6% from the first quarter of 2010). Across the major commodity groups, automotive fuels, oils and additives (19.7%) showed the strongest growth in the first quarter, mostly reflecting rising fuel costs.

-BC Stats Infoline, Issue 11-28, January 15

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When: August 23, 2011

Where: University Golf Club – 5185 University Blvd.

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10

Real estate

Daily business news at www.biv.com August 2–8, 2011

real estate roundup

Peter Mitham

Booking controversy Whistler condo owners are speaking out against a bid by municipal planners to rejig the terms under which owners of some tourist-accommodation units operate.

Whistler’s new official community plan (OCP), due to return to municipal council this month, would impose restrictions on the use of Phase 1 tourist-accommodation units. Owners enjoy unlimited use of the units, but must make the units available for use by Whistler visitors when not in use. Units are assessed at residential tax rates.

Phase 2 units, by contrast, are located primarily in the village core and use by owners is limited to a maximum of just 56 days a year.

They’re also subject to a centralized management system and pay nonresidential tax rates.

There are about 2,000 units in both phases. Phase 1 units are primarily located outside the village core. The units currently command a premium because of the lack of restrictions on their use. Phase 2 units sell at a discount, and even then are a hard sell, on account of restrictions.

“In exchange for liberal rental rights and personal use rights, and their residential tax status, Phase 1 unit owners paid a huge premium purchase price, extremely big – we’re talking hundreds of thousands of dollars,” said Sue Chappel, CEO of AlluraDirect.com Vacation Rentals Ltd. and a Phase 1 owner. Allura typically lists between 500 and 525 tourist accommodation units in Whistler.

Chappel said the proposed OCP changes will also hit Phase 1 owners with commercial property tax rates proportional to the number of nights their units operate as tourist accommodation. This will require them to keep records documenting the exact number of nights their units were rented to guests. Plans for a central check-in service would help eliminate this, but she says this will create an extra step for guests who now

Peter Mitham

Municipalities face backlash on ownership, development issues

Rare sign: the city’s downtown bike lanes remain in the trial phase, but the word “trial” has double meaning for Hornby Street and Dunsmuir merchants who stand to lose $2.4 million in sales this year thanks to the initiatives

deal directly with owners.

The higher property taxes and record-keeping costs that could hit Phase 1 owners would diminish the value of units and ultimately be borne in part by Whistler visitors.

“It impacts the whole community,” she said of the proposed changes.

Vancouver backlash Meanwhile, in Vancouver, last week’s consideration of the Shannon Mews rezoning at Granville Street and West 57th Avenue triggered a public demonstration by citizens upset with what organizers characterized as chronic disregard for community opinions when it comes to planning endeavours.

CityHallWatch.ca, a site co-ordinated by Randy Helton of the West End Neighbours Association, says Mayor Gregor Robertson has stepped away from his pledge made as a newly minted mayor in December 2008 that citizen engagement is, “more than just us being out in the community, it’s about the community being in City Hall.” CityHallWatch says Vision Vancouver councillors have been too developer-friendly.

Fight night: citizens gathered outside City Hall prior to public hearings on July 26 to raise awareness of what they say is Vision Vancouver’s lack of consultation with citizens on development issues

“The voting record of Vision Vancouver on significant planning decisions that affect neighbourhoods shows Vision voting as a bloc – and almost always siding with developer interests, not with local communities,” the site claims.

The demonstration attracted more than 100 people (by a rough, walk-by estimate) in front of city hall prior to public hearings regarding the rezoning of Shannon Mews and 105-167 West 2nd Avenue.

“It impacts the whole community” – Sue Chappel, CEO, AlluraDirect.com Vacation Rentals

The mixed crowd was a crosssection of Vancouver residents, and while skewed to the 50-plus age group, many arrived on foot, bike and transit for the rally.

The shift the rally targeted predates Vision Vancouver’s term, however. While placards voiced the ongoing concern of how the Norquay neighbourhood plan was

handled, this columnist recalls the comment made by planning director Brent Toderian during a Simon Fraser University City Program lecture in fall 2006 regarding his mandate as a public servant. The best decision is not always the most popular decision, he said, but he pledged to listen to all sides of an issue before staff made its recommendation to council.

“Listening is key,” Toderian told his audience. “Agreeing is, certainly, a different thing.”

With the civic election coming up in November, there will definitely be much to hear, and resolve.

Trials without end An update is in order on that other contentious issue affecting local property owners – the economic impact of bike lanes.

A city-commissioned study undertaken by the Vancouver Economic Development Commission and presented to council last week pegged the net drop in sales due to the Hornby Street bike lane at 10%, while the Dunsmuir lane reduced sales at local businesses by 4%. The report estimated the combined loss at $2.4 million annually – “relatively

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moderate based on industry standards and, in general, insufficient to create persistent vacancies.”

Strategies to mitigate the effect in the stretches of each street that were particularly affected, including the 500, 600, 900 and 1000 blocks of Hornby and the 600 block of Dunsmuir Street, focus on improved signage to the closest parkade.

Report author Iona Bonamis of Stantec Consulting noted that the study suffered from a lack of significant participation by the business community and the absence of sufficient data to support perceptions of the lanes’ impacts.

The report closes with an assurance that city staff will examine the study of the bike lanes’ impact “in order to modify both its consultation and monitoring programs in regard to the planning and introduction of new facilities, and ongoing monitoring programs such as separated bike lanes that relocate road space.”

The report does not mention when the lanes, originally introduced temporarily, will become permanent or be removed. • pmitham@telus.net

Technology

August 2–8, 2011 Business in Vancouver

Calgary company hoping to school West Coast DJs Technology helping drive mobile music marketplace boom, but uneven professional standards and training remain major industry concerns

By Jeffrey Yip

Calgary company is hoping to make some noise on the canned music front in Vancouver.

Voxbox Studios DJ Skool expanded to the West Coast earlier this year to service a growing market for mobile disc jockeys in Metro Vancouver.

“There are a lot more DJs coming into the marketplace and they can get into the marketplace with very little capital,” said Ed Lee, president of the Vancouver chapter of the Canadian Disc Jockey Association.

Unlike their nightclub counterparts, mobile DJs work venues ranging from weddings and fundraisers to school parties.

Lee said the industry has grown because of easy access to music. While his association has a dozen registered DJ companies, he said it would be difficult to provide an accurate estimate of how many mobile DJs

Barbara Casey

A

Voxbox president David Gale: “we teach the students that there’s a hell of a lot more to the DJ industry than just rockin’ the dance floor”

there are in Vancouver because many aren’t “legitimate” businesses.

And that lack of quality control is creating a problem for the industry.

“There are a lot of DJs out there, but they’re not trained properly,” Lee said. “So they’re going out there and training at somebody’s wedding or something like that, which is a little frightening.”

Voxbox, which opened

Vancouver’s first mobile DJ training school in March, was started four years ago by David “DJ Damage” Gale, a veteran DJ with 24 years of experience in the business.

Voxbox, which has 24 employees and annual revenue from its Calgary operation of around $250,000, offers eight six-week courses that range in price from $350 to $500. It currently has 75 students enrolled in its Calgary studio.

“I thank the [trunk-slammer DJs] for inspiring us to focus on this,” said Gale, Voxbox’s president.

He pointed out that, aside from Voxbox and a few schools that teach people how to mix music, there are virtually no established DJ training businesses in Western Canada.

In addition to classroom instruction, Voxbox Studios sends its students out to apprentice with professional DJs. But having the technical skills to mix songs is only half of the school’s program.

“We teach the students that there’s a hell of a lot more to the DJ industry than just rockin’ the dance floor,” said Gale.

Learning the mobile DJ industry’s business side is a big part of Voxbox’s curriculum. Gale said his school’s instructors stress the importance of professionalism and customer service.

Gale added that the DJ industry is largely made up

of independents who play by their own rules.

But he pointed out that “the people who think they can just drop 500 bucks on a laptop, download a bunch of free music and pre-program a set list, they just don’t get it, and it’s hurting the perception of the industry.”

Gale added that inexperienced and untrained “laptop DJs” have lowered the bar in the industry and forced many trained professional DJs to drop their prices in order to compete.

“We now have a light at the end of the tunnel where we can see that there’s a place we can send DJs who want to start in this industry and get proper training” – Ed Lee, president, Canadian Disc Jockey Association’s Vancouver chapter

For example, according to Gale, a trained professional DJ might work seven to eight hours at a show for $250 when he or she should be getting $1,000.

He said that raising the industry’s overall level of professionalism is one of the

11

main reasons he started the DJ school four years ago in Calgary.

Gale believes the same model will work in Vancouver.

While the school thus far has only one student enrolled in its new Vancouver branch, Lee said Gale has been working hard to develop the Vancouver studio as quickly as possible.

“He’s offering something we don’t have out here,” Lee said.

Like Gale, Lee said education, training and standardized business practices are key to the reversing negative public perceptions of the mobile DJ industry and raising its value in the marketplace.

“We now have a light at the end of the tunnel where we can see that there’s a place we can send DJs who want to start in this industry and get proper training.”

Lee said if the school can improve overall DJ quality, other mobile DJs will begin to appreciate the importance of professionalism and training.

“Trunk slammer DJs do things their own way; there’s a lot of ego out there,” Lee said. “But if we can educate the industry, they can get proper training and the general public will have better experiences with DJs than the ones they’ve had in the past.” • news@biv.com

High-Tech Office

Alan Zisman Nortel legacy lives on in other tech incarnations

W

hat happens to superstars after they fall from fame?

For rock stars, there’s always the Oldies circuit. Nortel Networks is perhaps Canada’s most famous tech burnout. But like aging rock musicians, a faded tech superstar never quite disappears.

While Nortel ceased operations in June 2009, it was back in the news recently, selling some 6,000 patents to a consortium that included sometime rivals Apple, Microsoft and RIM – but not Google.

At its peak, though, Nortel was more than an intellectual property portfolio. The company had actual products, both hardware and software. In November 2009, U.S.based Avaya bought Nortel’s Enterprise Solutions business.

(Avaya? It’s a privately held, New Jersey-based company that, until November 2000, was the business communications unit of Lucent Technologies, itself one of the companies created by the breakup

of AT&T.) In May, I spoke with Avaya Canada president Ross Pellizzari, who was in town to roll out the company’s new generation unified communications software that merged Nortel and Avaya product lines.

Later I visited two local companies that were using Avaya products.

Burnaby-based Ritchie Bros.

Auctioneers has grown from a onetime Kelowna storefront furniture dealer to the world’s largest industrial auctioneer. The company has a long history of using technology to maintain an edge on its competitors. For example, it pioneered remote video bidding on auctions in 1989 and expanded to the Internet in 2002.

With staff and auctions in Canada, the US, Europe and Asia, and bidders worldwide, seamless communications for the company is vital.

According to Ritchie Bros.’ telecommunications manager Chris

Farrer, beginning four years ago, the company consolidated multiple stand-alone phone systems, connecting employees in the local headquarters with colleagues in the U.S., the Netherlands and other locations. Avaya’s one-X Communicator gives employees worldwide access to telephone, fax and messaging services on PC and notebookbased softphones, smartphones and more. The system allows Richie Bros. to contact employees via a seven-digit extension regardless of location, in the office or in the field.

Features like least-cost routing and network redundancy save the company money while providing international backup and disaster recovery. Farrer uses other Avaya software such as Witness, which allows him to record and monitor the company’s call centre network, a key component in its international auctions.

Inventure Solutions is Vancity credit union’s information

technology subsidiary; like Ritchie Bros. it prides itself on having a history of “being innovative in the delivery of technology to the advantage of our customers and creating new business opportunities,” including innovations in mobile banking and foreign remittance.

Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers has a long history of using technology to maintain an edge on its competitors I spoke with Jason Peckham, Inventure’s contact centre technologies manager. The contact centre had been using Nortel technologies extensively, which Peckham estimated saved the company $1 million a year over earlier product implementations. When time came to upgrade, Nortel was no longer an option; Inventure looked at options, including Cisco and Avaya.

According to Peckham, Avaya’s proposal offered Inventure a combination of stability and low risk.

The replacement contact centre hardware and software was built

around a series of pre-made components that could be configured

by Peckham and his team, allowing the project to come in on time and on budget. The new system lets him “set it and forget it,” which allows the company to advance its business without having to focus on the technology.

Phase two added work force management and optimization software. That made it possible to rate call centre employee performance, highlight areas needing improvement and link to appropriate e-learning tools.

Peckham said Avaya has seamlessly integrated Nortel’s product line into its own. The result: Inventure was able to protect its investment in hardware and software and, more importantly, in IT staff skills.

Avaya recognized Inventure Solutions with its 2011 award for enterprise transformation for demonstrating “the most visionary view of business value created by Avaya’s technology solutions.” • Alan Zisman (www.zisman.ca) is a Vancouver educator and computer specialist. His column appears weekly.

12

Small business

Daily business news at www.biv.com August 2–8, 2011

Business plan

Barbershop duet Back-to-basics business rides an American trend to Gastown success offering good cuts without the salon price tag

By Jenny Waggler

Company name: JD’s Barbershop Principals: Judah Down and Riva Pollard Locations: 235 Abbott Street and 915 West Hastings Street (Vancouver Club) Business venture: A “new-school” barbershop offering clipper cuts and hot shaves for a young, hip demographic.

Business lesson: Look outside your city for trends that you can transplant locally and cash in on.

Dominic Schaefer

History: When condo development pushed stylist and entrepreneur Judah Down and his first hair salon out of Yaletown, Down and his business partner, Riva Pollard, decided to set up shop in then-dingy Gastown.

The lure? Cheap rent and hope of future gentrification.

Location wasn’t the only thing Down and Pollard opted to change as they launched their second hair-focused business in 2002.

Taking their cue from a trend that was taking off in the United States, they decided to Judah Down, master barber and co-owner of JD’s Barbershop: “at the time, everyone thought I was crazy moving to Gastown because it was still so open JD’s Barbershop: the first “new school” crappy, but we got in on the ground floor, we opened up this new men’s barbershop and we watched the neighbourhood blossom since then” barbershop in Vancouver’s downtown core.

“There’s always been those old school breathed new life into Gastown, and fuelled working solo at the club to build up business merchandise. barbershops but this was for guys 30 and growth at his Gastown location. Starting while simultaneously overseeing the busi“That bottle has got to look amazing,” he under who wanted a good hair cut and that year, he said, the business burst through ness of his Gastown shop. said. “People need to want to have that.”

Building up his club clientele, he said, didn’t want to pay salon prices,” said Down, the break-even mark to become profitable, Down said he hopes to have retail prodwho is now a master barber while Pollard with revenues growing by 30% annually was a challenge of its own. Club clientele, he ucts on his shelves by year end. said, proved resistant to change – particusince. handles the company’s social networking. larly when it came to switching from a long“This was a back-to-the-roots barberAnalysis: Bill Moreland, director of Challenges: Gastown itself, Down said, time barber for “the guy downstairs whom marketing and operations for Vancouver shop with hot shaves and clipper cuts and was the biggest challenge JD’s faced in its they hardly know.” good music.” salon chain Suki’s, said JD’s has done well to “The first six months I pretty much just carve out a hair services market niche that In launching the shop, Down said he first years of business.

“People were not parking their cars on sat here in the chair and waited, met people targets men. researched what men wanted to pay for a haircut, and chose a price point midway the streets there, they were not walking their one by one and read the paper.”

“Most salons by necessity are, in their The club barbershop, he said, has grown décor and how they approach things, either between a no-frills barbershop and a high- dogs,” he said. “We’d get there in the morend salon; currently, the Gastown shop of- ning and there’d be junkies in the front; it a little bit more feminine or gender-neutral fers haircuts, which Down describes as “the was messy.” leaning toward femininity,” he said, comThe move, he said, also proved too great “We lost a lot of clientele because quality of a $50 haircut,” for $35. menting that approximately three-quarters In order to offer hot shaves, Down tracked a shift for some of his former Yaletown of Vancouver hair salon clients, at Suki’s and we moved to a neighbourhood that down a third-generation barber in North clientele. elsewhere, are women.

“We lost a lot of clientele because we Vancouver, got some lessons in the tech“[Men] come into a salon and they’re moved to a neighbourhood that was defin- was definitely not up-and-coming nique and then practised on his friends. surrounded primarily by women,” he said.

Beyond the specialty barbershop offer- itely not up-and-coming yet.”

“So some people are comfortable and some By sticking it out, however, JD’s has been yet. … Now that the buildings are ings, Down and Pollard planned to keep ofpeople aren’t.” fering the same hair-cutting and colouring able to benefit from a cheap long-term lease Creating a hair-services business styled services they’d offered at their former Yale- and what’s become a prime location. And starting to fill up down there, we’re as “a guys’ hangout,” he said, can capitalize now, with Gastown’s future looking rosy, town salon: House of Envy. on a current market gap in hair services.

Opening up in Gastown, Down said he Down says JD’s is poised to ride the neigh- the barbershop – it’s inevitable that “I don’t know how good their work is but and Pollard anticipated that the shop would bourhood’s growing success.

I certainly like the way they’ve positioned “Now that the buildings are starting to we’re going to continue to grow” attract an urban hip-hop crowd looking for themselves.” clipper cuts and fades; instead, JD found its fill up down there, we’re the barbershop – Moreland also saw merit in JD’s plan to – Judah Down, it’s inevitable that we’re going to continue to niche with artsy, style-conscious hipsters. co-owner, expand into a product offering, noting that Down noted that the business struggled grow, I hope.”

JD’s Barbershop many salons follow this path.

A second key challenge, Down said, has and lost money for the first couple years be“Your margins are in product and if you been finding the right staff and getting them slowly and is now operating at 50% capacity, do your own product, your margins are gofore Gastown’s fortunes started to pick up.

JD’s own fortunes got a key boost in 2007 trained to the right level of skill. He said that while the Gastown store is busier. ing to go higher.”

Going forward, Down said that besides when the Vancouver Club invited Down to hot shaves aren’t taught locally and barberPerhaps even more important than those open a second barbershop location in the shops’ trademark clipper cuts are only rarely continuing to build up business at both margins, he said, is the way product recomlower level of the historic club. Down de- taught – making for a longer training pro- shops, he’s working on a retail line of hair mendations can bolster client loyalty. and shaving products. scribes his second location as “classy” and cess for new staff.

“Their hair looks better longer because a He said he’s already located a lab that lot of shampoos that you buy in a drugstore Down noted that opening at the Vancou“scotch on the table.”

But Down dates the bulk of his success ver Club location just five years after open- will customize and produce the products he or supermarket are not really engineered for back to 2010 when the Olympics and the ing in Gastown added new challenges to wants and is currently working with brand- human hair.” • opening of the new Woodwards building the mix. He was spread thin managerially, ing professionals to develop the look of the jwaggler@biv.com

Family Business

August 2–8, 2011 Business in Vancouver

SponSor’S MeSSage

Building a unique identity Seven companies involved in Ampri Construction projects, from site preparation to real estate sales, are owned by relatives of founder Paramjit Sandhu, who supports family members starting businesses

By Nelson Bennett

W

About Grant Thornton LLP Who are we and what can we do for you?

A Richard Lam

hen Ampri Construction Ltd. in Richmond builds a townhouse, it’s a true family affair.

Not counting Ampri itself, seven companies involved at some point in the construction or sale of an Ampri home are owned by relatives of Ampri founder and CEO Paramjit Sandhu or his wife, Gurdip. Their son, 26-year-old Amit Sandhu, helps run the Sandhu empire.

“If I can help them, it’s in my nature,” Ampri president and CEO Paramjit Sandhu said, when explaining why he has helped so many family members start their own businesses, using Ampri as a launching pad.

“He actually takes in people and they’ll live with him,” said Amrik Leihl, who got his start in the electrical contracting business thanks to his brother-in-law. “Not too many people do that. He’ll let them stay with them till they get some money saved up, then they can buy a house or whatever.”

Born and raised in Punjab, India, Sandhu was an only child who grew up in a large household, where his many aunts and uncles made up an extended family. His cousins were more like brothers, and after he immigrated to Canada in 1980 with a degree in electrical engineering, he helped some of them immigrate to Canada and set up their own businesses.

Sandhu worked as an electrician for a couple of years before starting his own company, Sandhu Electrical Ltd., in 1983. He later got into home construction, and Ampri now builds 60 to 90 townhouses per year, generating gross revenue of $30 to $40 million annually.

He has also diversified the business with the purchase of two residential highrises in Toronto, two shopping malls in Surrey and U&K Farms, a 35-acre blueberry farm in Richmond.

13

All in the family: Paramjit (centre) and his son, Amit, (right) build townhouses, while cousin Jatinder Sandhu sells them

In the process of building his own small-business empire, Sandhu was also helping his own and his wife’s relatives build their own enterprises by providing them work with Ampri.

Leihl started working for Sandhu Electrical and later formed his own company, Amco Electrical. About a quarter of the company’s business is with Ampri.

Paramjit Sandhu’s cousin, Jatinder Sandhu, started out selling Ampri homes and went on to become a successful realtor with Sutton Group – Seafair Realty. He still sells Ampri townhouses.

Paramjit’s cousin, Ajaib Mann, started Qualitech Systems, which installs home security systems.

“They still install all of our alarm systems for all our townhome properties,” Amit Sandhu said.

In 1994, Paramjit co-founded Roundwrap Industries, which makes PVC and laminate doors, with his first cousin, Niki Sandhu. “Till this day, every kitchen or every vanity you see in any one of our projects is all manufactured by my uncle,” Amit said.

Site preparation, construction site security, landscaping – all are done by

companies owned by a relative.

Not surprisingly, Paramjit Sandhu also encouraged his own two sons to get involved in the family business, and Amit took up the challenge while still in high school.

“I love the idea of being part of this legacy my father started” – Amit Sandhu, vice-president, development, Ampri Group

In 2006, after graduating with a BA in commerce from Simon Fraser University, he went straight to work for his father, and is now vicepresident of development.

If there are any drawbacks to being involved in a family-owned business, Amit said it is how to create your own identity. “How do you become your own person? How do you use the company as a tool to build something for yourself?” he said.

As a teen, Amit had a strong interest in art when he was in high school.

Since developers in Richmond are

required to either contribute to a public art fund or undertake their own art project, Amit spearheaded two public art projects on Ampri’s behalf.

He is also spearheading Ampri’s move into commercial office building construction. To date, the company has specialized in residential development. The company’s newest project includes two new hotels and 120,000 square feet of class A office space in the Bridgeport area of Richmond.

A big believer in community involvement, Amit has boosted Ampri’s profile in Richmond and Vancouver by sponsoring a variety of charities, sitting on boards and committees and mentoring MBA students at SFU. Although he doesn’t have children of his own, Amit Sandhu said he likes the idea that – like his father – he may one day be able to pass the family business onto his own children.

“I love the idea of being part of this legacy my father started, and I hope that I can have my children be a part of this as well.”

Ampri is currently working on a succession plan that will see Amit assume the title of CEO. •

s a leading Canadian accounting and business advisory firm providing audit, tax and advisory services to private and public organizations, we’re committed to delivering exceptional service to every client. We believe our strength lies not only in our deep technical knowledge and thought leadership—demonstrated in part through our extensive body of insightful publications—but in our unique team-based approach, our dedication to partner involvement and our commitment to regular and engaging client contact.

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Get to know us. Visit www.GrantThornton.ca

Family Business Section sponsors:

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14

Daily business news at www.biv.com  August 2–8, 2011

Biggest wineries in B.C. Ranked by volume of wine produced in 2010 Rank '11 Winery

Address

Year Total Primary markets/ Majority owner(s) Top local executive(s) Winemaker founded acreage/in Best-selling wines in '10 production

No. Volume local produced staff (litres) '10/'09

1

Andrew Peller Limited1

1932

368/ 368

191

15,869,000/ 15,407,000

2

Mission Hill Family Estate

1981

1,200/ 950

3

Sumac Ridge Estate Winery

1979

120/ 120

4

Quails' Gate Winery

1989

2153/ 210

5

Ganton and Larsen Prospect Winery

2009

5

Gray Monk Cellars Ltd

7

Across Canada/ Andrew Peller Limited Peller Estates Proprietors (TSX:ADW.A and ADW.B) Reserve, Copper Moon, Calona Vineyards Artist Series, Red Rooster, Schloss Laderheim, Royal and Sommet Canada/ Anthony von Mandl NP

Doug Gallagher, director of Howard Soon, senior winemaker operations, Western Canada

Anthony von Mandl, founder and proprietor

John Simes, chief winemaker

NP

810,0002/ 810,000

Vincor Canada (division of Constellation Brands) Stewart Family

Jody Levesque, brand manager

Jason James, winemaker

35

800,000/ 902,000

Tony Stewart, CEO, proprietor

Grant Stanley, winemaker

NP

600,000/ 500,000

NP/ NP

Canada/ Sparkling Steller's Jay Brut, Gewurztraminer Across Canada, the Pacific Northwest and Asia/ NP B.C./ NP

Mark Anthony Group

NP

Wade Stark

NP

540,0002/ 540,000

1982

75/ 75

B.C. and Alberta/ Latitude 50 White, Pinot Gris

Robert Heiss, operations manager

George Heiss Jr. Roger Wong

20

540,000/ 540,000

Domaine de Chaberton Estate Winery

1991

55/ 52

George Heiss, Robert Heiss, Trudy Heiss, George Heiss Jr. and Steven Heiss Anthony Cheng and Eugene Kwan

Eugene Kwan, proprietor

Elias Phiniotis, winemaker

47

450,000/ 450,000

8

Hester Creek Estate Winery

1996

95/ 75

Mark Sheridan, general manager

Robert Summers, winemaker

NP

252,000/ 252,000

8

Mt Boucherie Estate Winery

2001

300/ 275

B.C. only/ Bacchus, Siegerrebe, Canoe North Bluff Red, Cuvee Rouge, Cuvee Blanc B.C. and Western Canada/ Curt Garland Cab merlot, pinot gris, pinot blanc merlot Canada/ Nirmal Gidda and Kal NP Gidda

Nirmal Gidda, owner

James Faulkner, head winemaker

NP

252,0002/ 252,000

10

Cedar Creek Estate Winery

1986

160/ 135

Gordon Fitzpatrick, president

Darryl Brooker, winemaker

65

238,725/ 293,000

11

Burrowing Owl Estate Winery

19934

146/ 140

B.C. (90%), Alberta/ Ross Fitzpatrick Cab Merlot, Merlet, Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay NP/ Wyse family (Jim and NP Midge Wyse, proprietors)

Chris Wyse, president

Bertus Albertyn Scott Stefishen, winemakers

NP

230,0002/ 230,000

12

Tinhorn Creek Vineyards

1994

150/ 1205

B.C. and Alberta6/ Bob and Barb Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Pinot Shaunessy, Kenn and Gris Sandra Oldfield

Kenn Oldfield, chair Julie Copland-Stene, marketing manager

NP

227,429/ 333,0007

13

See Ya Later Ranch

1995

100/ 100

Western Canada/ NP

Vincor Int'l

Jody Leveque, brand manager

Sandra Oldfield, winemaker and COO Korol Kuklo, assistant winemaker Andrew Moon, viticulturist/vineyard manager mason spink, winemaker

NP

225,000/ 200,708

14

Summerhill Pyramid Winery

1987

200/ 200

B.C., Alberta, Asia/ NP

Stephen Cipes

Stephen Cipes, proprietor

Eric von Krosigk, winemaker & viticulturalist

120

208,000/ 195,000

15

Road 13 Vineyards

19988

45/ NP

Western Canada/ Rockpile Stemwinder Fifth Element Pinot Noir

Pam and Mick Luckhurst

Mick Luckhurst Pam Luckhurst, proprietors

Jean-Martin Bouchard, winemaker

NP

179,013/ 177,940

16

Nk'Mip Cellars

2000

264/ 257

Western Canada/ NP

Osoyoos Indian Band and Vincor Int'l

Chief Clarence Louie Chris Scott

Randy Picton, winemaker

NP

162,0002/ 162,000

17

Blasted Church Vineyards

2002

70/ 42

NP

NP

15

162,000/ 150,000

18

Hillside Estate Winery & Bistro

1984

40/ 40

B.C., Alberta/ Evelyn and Chris Pinot Gris, Hatfield's Fuse, Big Campbell Bang Western Canada/ Bill Carpenter NP

Bill Carpenter, coproprietor

Kathy Malone, winemaker

NP

110,0002/ 110,000

19

Church and State Wines

2000

150/ 135

B.C. and online/ NP

Kim Pullen

Kim Pullen, president

Bill Dyer, winemaker

NP

108,0009/ 108,0009

20

St Hubertus & Oak Bay Estate Winery Ltd

1992

76/ 58

Leo and Andy Gebert

Leo Gebert Andy Gebert

NP

NP

100,000/ 120,000

21

Desert Hills Estate Winery

2003

60/ 60

B.C. and Alberta/ Chasselas /Pinot Blanc / M.Foch B.C., Alberta/ NP

Randy, Jessie and Dave Toor

Randy Toor, president and Elias Phiniotis co-owner

NP

100,0002/ 100,000

22

Laughing Stock Vineyards

2003

27/ 26

Across Canada/ Portfolio

David and Cynthia Enns

Cynthia Enns, co-owner, vineyard manager

Cynthia Enns, co-owner, vineyard manager

12

60,000/ 60,000

23

Thornhaven Estate Winery

2001

18/ 18

B.C./ Gewurztraminer Pinot Noir

Jason Fraser

8

55,000/ 50,000

24

Saturna Island Family Estate Winery

1995

70/ 60

B.C./ Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Rose

Jan Fraser, Jason Jack Fraser Fraser, Jack Fraser, Brian Kolodychuk Lawrence Page, Robyn Lawrence Page, president Page

Hooman Haftbaradaran, winemaker

NP

45,000/ 50,000

25

Recline Ridge Vineyards and Winery

NP

10/ 8

4

18,000/ 18,000

Vista D'oro Farms & Winery

2007

10/ 4

Graydon and Maureen Graydon and Maureen Ratzlaff Ratzlaff, owners/ proprietors Lee Murphy & Patrick Lee Murphy, chef/ Murphy proprietor Patrick Murphy, owner

Jesse Steinley, vineyard manager, winemaker

25

B.C./ Ortega, Siegerrebe, Marechal Foch B.C./ 2007 D'oro - fortified walnut wine

Patrick Murphy, winemaker

5

18,000/ 18,000

1125 Richter St, Kelowna V1Y 2K6 P: 250-762-9144 F: 250-762-2999 www.andrewpeller.com

1730 Mission Hill Rd, West Kelowna V4T 2E4 P: 250-768-7611 F: 250-768-2267 www.missionhillwinery.com 17403 Hwy 97 N, Summerland V0H 1Z0 P: 250-494-0451 F: 250-494-3456 www.sumacridge.com 3303 Boucherie Rd, West Kelowna V1Z 2H3 P: 250-769-4451 F: 250-769-3451 www.quailsgate.com c/o Artisan Wine Co PO Box 474, Oliver V0H 1T0 P: NP F: NP www.prospectwinery.com

1055 Camp Rd, Okanagan Centre V4V 2H4 P: 250-766-3168 F: 250-766-3390 www.graymonk.com 1064 216th St, Langley V2Z 1R3 P: 604-530-1736 F: 604-533-9687 www.domainedechaberton.com

PO Box 1605, Oliver V0H 1T0 P: 866-498-4435 F: 250-498-0651 www.hestercreek.com 829 Douglas Rd, Kelowna V1Z 1N9 P: 250-769-8803 F: 250-769-9330 www.mtboucheriewinery.com

5445 Lakeshore Rd, Kelowna V1W 4S5 P: 250-764-8866 F: 250-764-2603 www.cedarcreek.bc.ca 100 Burrowing Owl Pl, Oliver V0H 1K0 P: 877-498-0620 F: 250-498-0621 www.burrowingowlwine.ca

32830 Tinhorn Creek Rd, Oliver V0H 1T0 P: 250-498-3743 F: 250-498-3228 www.tinhorn.com Box 480 Green Lake Rd, Okanagan Falls V0H 1R0 P: 250-497-8267 F: 250-497-8073 www.sylranch.com 4870 Chute Lake Rd, Kelowna V1W 4M3 P: 800-667-3538 F: 250-764-2598 www.summerhill.bc.ca 13140 316A Ave, Road 13 RR1 S-28A C10, Oliver V0H 1T0 P: 250-498-8330 F: 250-498-8331 www.road13vineyards.com 1400 Rancher Creek Rd, Osoyoos V0H 1V0 P: 250-495-2985 F: 250-495-2986 www.nkmipcellars.com 378 Parsons Rd, Okanagan Falls V0H 1R5 P: 250-497-1125 F: 250-497-1126 www.blastedchurch.com 1350 Naramata Rd, Penticton V2A 8T6 P: 250-493-6274 F: 250-493-6294 www.hillsideestate.com 1445 Benvenuto Ave, Brentwood Bay V8M 1J5 P: 250-652-2671 F: 250-652-2672 www.churchandstatewines.com 5205 Lakeshore Rd, Kelowna V1W 4J1 P: 250-764-7888 F: 604-764-0499 www.st-hubertus.bc.ca 30480 71 St - Black Sage Rd, Oliver V0H 1T6 P: 250-498-6664 F: 250-498-3015 www.deserthills.ca 1548 Naramata Rd, Pentiction V2A 8T7 P: 250-493-8466 F: 250-492-2363 www.laughingstock.ca 6816 Andrew Ave, Summerland V0H 1Z7 P: 250-494-7778 F: 250-494-1617 www.thornhaven.com PO Box 54, 8 Quarry Rd, Saturna Island V0N 2Y0 P: 250-539-513910 F: 250-539-5157 www.saturnavineyards.com

2640 Skimikin Rd, RR1 S12 C16, Tappen V0E 2X0 P: 250-835-2212 F: 250-835-2228 www.recline-ridge.bc.ca 20856 4th Ave, Langley V2Z 1T6 P: 604-514-3539 F: 604-514-3599 www.vistadoro.com

Sources: Interviews with representatives from above wineries and BIV research. NP Not provided NR Not ranked 1 - Calona Vineyards 2 - 2009 figure 3 - 175 owned and operated, 40 contracted 4 - Burrowing Owl Vineyards 5 - 120-130 6 Occasionally further east to Manitoba and Ontario 7 - Approximately 37,000 cases 8 - Purchased by the Luckhurst family in 2003 9 - 2008 figure 10 - 250-539-3521

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August 2–8, 2011 Business in Vancouver

Distinctive winery architecture has strong business case Winery owners net much higher returns selling directly to tourists than through government stores wineries in Champagne, France and chalked it up to the fact that the underground tunnels were all built using traditional Roman arch architecture.

Those upside-down “U” tunnels had a geometric symmetry that he believed had an impact on the wine.

“You have to be openminded about these things,” he said. “I wanted to put the wines in a sacred geometry chamber before they were put on the shelves.”

Visitors were encouraged to do taste tests between wine aged in the pyramid and wine aged in a standard room.

“Everyone was blown away. They would swear they were two different wines.”

“We needed something that a visitor coming from Paris or London might read in Vogue about Mission Hill, this winery in the Oka-something Valley, which is on the way

Kevin Trowbridge

to Napa in California”

Former New York real estate developer Stephen Cipes believes he was the first entrepreneur to create a destination winery in B.C.

By Glen Korstrom

B

uilding a distinctive winery that tourists want to visit often stems from the pride of ownership. It also forms the core of a smart business plan.

Winery owners pocket substantially more revenue when they sell direct to consumers than when they sell through government liquor stores or to restaurants.

Summerhill Pyramid Winery owner Stephen Cipes understood this back in the late 1980s when the New York real estate developer first visited the Okanagan and bought his current winery site.

Cipes sells about 68% of his wine through his wine shop and in his restaurant. That’s down from 80% many years ago but it is still substantial given that many B.C. winemakers have trouble luring tourists to their wineries.

Cipes sells his Cipes Brut bubbly to tourists for $25 and the same wine in British Columbia Liquor Distribution Branch liquor stores for $30.

He nets back only about $10 for each $30 bottle of wine sold in government liquor stores compared with more than $21 for each $25 bottle of wine that he sells in his wine shop.

“Our original concept was to save that middleman cost and build a winery that would be a tourist attraction,” Cipes told Business in Vancouver July 21.

The number of wineries in B.C. has grown from 13 in 1984 to more than 200 today, but Cipes believes he was the first entrepreneur to create a destination winery in B.C. He spent $100,000 to build a 900-square-foot wooden pyramid partly to dazzle tourists but also to fulfil what he believed was a vital component in making excellent wine.

He had felt a “tingle” when he visited caves at

palatial wine destination.

The media-shy wine mogul told a British Columbia Technology Industry Association luncheon last fall that California wine pioneer Robert Mondavi mentored him and inspired in him the desire to build something that would put the Okanagan on the map.

“We needed something that a visitor coming from Paris or London might read in Vogue about Mission Hill, this winery in the Okasomething Valley, which is on the way to Napa in California,” von Mandl said.

Von Mandl plans to celebrate his bell tower’s 10th anniversary in December.

Rou nd i ng out B.C .’s three most-visited wineries is Nk’Mip Cellars, which was the second phase of a $25 million Nk’Mip project that also includes: •the Nk’Mip Desert Cultural Centre;

gkorstrom@biv.com

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– Anthony von Mandl, owner Mission Hill Family Estate Winery

Expansion encouraged him to spend more than $1 million in 1997 to build his current 3,600-square-foot concrete pyramid and that structure encouraged even more tourists to visit.

His winery usually accommodates between 1,000 and 3,000 people each day during the growing season.

Many of them eat at his 200seat organic restaurant.

He hosts 160 weddings, 320 events and countless bus tours.

In the mid-1990s, when Cipes’ winemaking business was smaller, he remembers driving a truck filled with grapes and delivering them to Mission Hill Family Estate Winery owner Anthony von Mandl.

Von Mandl is another destination winery pioneer, having since built an iconic bell tower, restaurant and

•the Spirit Ridge Vineyard Resort and Spa; and •multiple restaurants, a golf course and a campground.

The stars are aligning for architects such as Vancouver-based CEI Architecture, which has Kelowna and Victoria offices and is aiming to cultivate a reputation for building distinctive winery buildings.

CEI principal Nick Bevanda has helped build winery buildings at Black Hills Estate Winery and Road 13 Winery as well as the restaurant building at Tinhorn Creek.

Robert Mackenzie Architect principal Robert Mackenzie has worked on nearly a dozen B.C. winery projects. Even B.C. architecture icon Bing Thom has dipped his toe in this growing niche, having helped design a building at Tantalus Winery. •

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16

Daily business news at www.biv.com August 2–8, 2011

Biggest breweries and beer distributors Ranked by sales to the B.C. Liquor Distribution Branch for year ending March 31, 2010 Rank '11 Company

Types of beers produced

Majority owner(s)

Top executive(s)

Brewmaster

Year BCLDB sales founded '10/'09

1

Molson Coors Canada (Vancouver Brewery)

Molson Canadian, 67, Coors Light, Rickard's Red, Rickard's Dark, Rickard's Light, Pilsner

Molson Coors Brewing Co. (TSX:TAP)

Rene Holt, brewery manager

Kerry Scarsbrook

17861

2

Labatt Breweries of Canada

Kokanee, Kokanee Gold, Lucky, Blue, Alexander Keith's, Kootenay Mountain Ale

ABInBev

Brad Pennefather, regional director, sales

Scott Stokes

1847

3

Okanagan Spring Brewery

Pale Ale, 1516 Bavarian Lager, Brewmaster’s Black Lager, Porter, Hopped Lager, Hefewiezen (seasonal), Craft Pack (seasonals - summer and winter versions)

Stefan Tobler

1985

4

Granville Island Brewing Co

Gastown Amber Ale, Cypress Honey Lager, Brockton IPA, Island Lager, Kitsilano Cream Ale, English Bay Pale Ale, Robson Street Hefweizen, Lions Winter Ale (winter seasonal release), False Creek Raspberry Ale (summer seasonal release) plus 12 limited releases

Operating under Glen Jessup, marketing Sleeman Breweries Ltd. manager, Western Canada in Canada, part of Sapporo Group of Cos. Creemore Springs Walter Cosman Brewing3

Vern Lambourne

1984

$25,043,433 $22,652,001 11%

5

Pacific Western Brewing Co

Cariboo Genuine Draft, Honey Lager, Pale Ale and Cream Ale, Pacific Pilsner, Traditional BC Lager, Canterbury Dark Mild, TNT Strong, NatureLand Organic Lager, NatureLand Organic Amber Ale

Kazuko Komatsu

Kazuko Komatsu, president and Peter CEO Boettcher

1957

$18,929,635 $15,277,871 24%

6

Whistler Brewing Co

Black Tusk Ale, Powder Mountain Lager, Bear Paw Honey Lager, Weissbeir Wheat Ale, Whiskey Jack Ale

Bruce Dean

Bruce Dean, president

Matt Davies

1989

7

Vancouver Island Brewery

Piper's Pale Ale, Sea Dog Amber Ale, Hermann's Dark Lager, Spyhopper Honey Barry Fisher Brown, Double Decker IPA, Islander Lager, Hermannator Ice Bock, Winter and Summer POD PACKS

Jim Dodds, general manager

Ralf Pittroff

1984

$7,739,914 $7,266,525 7% $6,818,067 $6,347,424 7%

8

Big Rock Brewery Ltd Inc

Traditional Ale, Grasshopper, Gopher Lager, Big Rock Lime, Jack Rabbit Light, TSX:BR.UN Warthog Ale, Rock Creek Dry Cider, Honey Brown, Black Amber Ale, IPA, McNally's Extra, Magpie Rye Ale, McNally's Reserve

Ed McNally, founder

Paul Gautreau

1985

$6,514,617 $4,690,003 39%

9

Phillips Brewing Co

Rifflandabrau IV, Longboat Chocolate Porter, HopCircle, Phoenix Gold, Matt Phillips Raspberry Wheat, Blue Buck, Amnesiac, GrowHop, Skookum, Hoperation Tripel Cross, Analogue 78, Ginger Beer, Slipstream, Wheatking

NP

Matt Phillips

2001

$5,486,618 $3,769,485 46%

10

Lighthouse Brewing Co Inc

Race Rocks Amber Ale, Beacon IPA, Riptide Pale Ale, Lighthouse Lager, Keepers Stout; beers in the 650 mL format: Deckhand Belgian Saison, Overboard Imperial Pilsner; 12-packs of Race Rocks, Fisgard150, Riptide, Cream Ale (summer) and Winter Ale (winter)

Privately held

Michael Bierman

Paul Hoyne

1998

$3,985,977 $3,739,635 7%

11

Tree Brewing Co4

Beach Blonde, Kelowna Pil, Thirsty Beaver, Cutthroat, Hop Head, Hefeweizen, Spy Porter, Raspberry Porter, Spiced Reserve

Tod Melnyk

Tod Melnyk, president and owner

Stefan Buhl

1996

12

Russell Brewing Company

13018 80th Ave Suite 202, Surrey V3W 3B2 P: 604-599-1190 F: 604-599-1048 www.russellbeer.com

Russell Brewmaster Series: A Wee Angry Scotch Ale, Blood Alley Bitter, Black Death Porter, Russell IP'eh! Russell Craft Session Beers: Cream Ale, Pale Ale, Honey Blonde Ale, Extra Special Lager, Rocky Mountain Pilsner Citrus Flavoured Beers: Russell Lemon Ale, Russell Lime Lager, Russell Twist Pack

TSV:RB

Andrew Harris, president

Jack Bensley

1995

$3,380,418 $2,573,770 31% $3,087,455 $2,847,641 8%

13

Premium Beer Co

Importers of Moosehead Lager, Cracked Canoe, Sam Adams, Boris Beer

NP

NP

NP

NP

14

Carlsberg Canada Inc

Carlsberg

Carlsberg Group

Peter Hammarstedt, CEO and president

NP

20045

15

Nelson Brewing Co Ltd

After Dark, Blackheart, Faceplant, Harvest Moon, Old Brewery Pale Ale,

Privately held

Tim Pollock, president

Mike Kelly

1991

16

Central City Brewing Co

Red Racer Stout, Red Racer Classic Lager, Red Racer Classic White Ale, Red

Darryll Frost

Gary Lohin

2003

17

R&B Brewing

Red Devil Pale Ale, Raven Cream Ale, Sun God Wheat Ale, Bohemian Lager, Hoppelganger I.P.A., Dark Star Oatmeal Stout

Barry Benson, Rick Dellow

Frank Catamo, GM, Central City Liquor Store Lisa Keane, GM, Central City BrewPub Don Davis, director of sales NP

Brent Mills

1997

18

Howe Sound Brewing Co

Garibaldi Honey Pale Ale, Whitecap Wheat Ale, Timberline Pale Ale, Diamond Fenn family Head Oatmeal Stout, Rail Ale Nut Brown, Devils Elbow IPA, Baldwin and Cooper Best Bitter, Three Beavers Imperial Red Ale, Howe Sound Lager, plus six seasonal beers

Trevor Magee, general manager Franco Corno

1996

19

Mt Begbie Brewing Co Ltd

High Country Kolsch, Begbie Cream Ale, Powerhouse Pale Ale, Tall Timber Ale, Bart and Tracey Larson Selkirk Stout, Ol' Woodenhead Smoked Porter (seasonal)

Bart Larson, president and brewmaster

Bart Larson

1996

20

Cannery Brewing Co

Cannery Pale Ale, India Pale Ale, Anarchist Amber Ale, Naramata Nut Brown Ale, Blackberry Porter, 360 Lager, Maple Stout, Apricot Wheat Ale, Squire Scotch Ale, Wildfire IPA, No Justice Pale

Ron and Patt Dyck

Ron and Patt Dyck

Terry Schoffer 2001

21

Driftwood Brewing

Driftwood Ale, White Bark Wheat Ale, Farmhand Ale, Crooked Coast Alt Bier,

Jason Meyer, Kevin Hearsum, Gary Lindsay

NP

Jason Meyer

July 2008 $734,246 $0

22

Fernie Brewing Co

Rocky Mountain Lager, the Griz Pale Ale, First Trax Brown, Buck Wild Ale,

Russell Pask

Murray Pask

Warren Smith

2002

23

Great Western Brewing Co Ltd

Lager, Light, Pilsner, Pilsner Light, Brewhouse Pilsener, Brewhouse Light, Olympia Beer, Gold Strong, Gold Extra

Privately held

Michael Micovcin, CEO

Viv Jones

1989

24

Red Truck Brewing Co (Avalon Brewing Co)

Red Truck Ale, Red Truck Lager

Mark James

Sam Payne, director

Dave Varga

2005

25

Qinghua Int'l Trade Development Corp

Distributor of Tsingdao Beer

NP

NP

NP

NP

1550 Burrard St, Vancouver V6J 3G5 P: 604-664-1786 F: 604-664-1786 www.molsoncoors.com 1148 Homer St Suite 402, Vancouver V6B 2X6 P: 604-642-6722 F: 604-642-0822 www.labatt.com 2808 27th Ave, Vernon V1T 9K4 P: 250-542-2337 F: 604-777-2363 www.okspring.com 1441 Cartwright St, Vancouver V6H 3R7 P: 604-687-2739 F: 604-685-0504 www.gib.ca 641 North Nechako Rd, Prince George V2K 4M4 P: 604-421-2119 F: 604-421-0090 www.pwbrewing.com 366 East Kent Ave S Suite 105, Vancouver V5X 4N6 P: 604-731-2900 F: 604-731-2995 www.whistlerbeer.com 2330 Government St, Victoria V8T 5G5 P: 250-361-0007 F: 250-360-0336 www.vanislandbrewery.com 5555 76th Ave SE, Calgary T2C 4L8 P: 800-242-3107 F: 403-236-7523 www.bigrockbeer.com 2010 Government St, Victoria V9A 5V1 P: 250-380-1912 F: 250-380-1913 www.phillipsbeer.com 836 Devonshire Rd Suite 2, Victoria V9A 4T4 P: 250-383-6500 F: 250-383-0005 www.lighthousebrewing.com 1083 Richter St, Kelowna V1Y 2K6 P: 250-717-1091 F: NP www.treebeer.com

1670 Finfar Crt Unit 1, Mississauga, ON L5J 4K1 P: 800-561-6808 F: 905-855-1067 www.premiumbeer.ca 2650 Bristol Circle Suite 100, Oakville, ON L6H 6Z7 P: 905-829-0299 F: 905-829-2666 www.carlsberg.ca

Paddywhack, Wild Honey 512 Latimer St, Nelson V1L 4T9 P: 250-352-3582 F: 250-352-3466 www.nelsonbrewing.com

Racer Classic Pale Ale, Red Racer ESB, Red Racer IPA, Red Racer Pumpkin Ale 13450 102nd Ave Suite 190, Surrey V3T 5X3 P: 604-582-6620 F: 604-582-0609 www.redracerbeer.com (seasonal), Red Racer Winter Ale (seasonal)

54 4th Ave E, Vancouver V5T 1E8 P: 604-874-2537 F: 604-874-2517 www.r-and-b.com 37801 Cleveland Ave, Squamish V8B 0A7 P: 604-892-2603 F: 604-892-2631 www.howesound.com 521 1st St W, Revelstoke V0E 2S0 P: 250-837-2756 F: 250-837-2750 www.mt-begbie.com 1475 Fairview Rd Suite 112, Penticton V2A 7W5 P: 250-493-2723 F: 250-493-2723 www.cannerybrewing.com

Fat Tug IPA, regular seasonals 450 Hillside Ave Suite 102, Victoria V8T 1Y7 P: 250-381-2739 F: 250-384-2333 www.driftwoodbeer.com

Pumpkin Head (seasonal), Sap Sucker Maple Porter (seasonal) 26 Manitou Rd, Fernie V0B 1M5 P: 250-423-7797 F: 250-423-7733 www.ferniebrewing.com

519 Second Ave N, Saskatoon S7K 2C6 P: 800-764-4492 F: 306-653-2166 www.greatwesternbrewing.com

1015 Marine Dr, North Vancouver V7P 1S5 P: 604-307-7730 F: 604-685-9057 www.redtruckbeer.com 1580 Coal Harbour Quay, Vancouver V6G 3G1 P: 604-687-6618 F: 604-687-6682 www.tsingtaobeer.com

Sources: B.C. Liquor Distribution Branch's schedule of payments to suppliers and BIV research. NP Not provided NR Not ranked 1 - Vancouver Brewery founded 1958 2 - Includes 50% share of sales by Brewers Distributor Ltd. jointly owned by Molsons and Labatts 3 - Acquired by Ontario-based Creemore Springs Brewery in 2009 4 Also known as Fireweed Brewing Corp. 5 - Carlsberg Canada Inc. (Carlsberg founded 1847)

Do not miss the Book of Lists, a compilation of lists featured in BIV, including biggest law firms, construction companies, biotech firms and many more. Free to subscribers ($79.95 plus HST for one year) or $35 plus HST as a separate purchase. Purchase lists as Excel files at www.biv.com/listsforsale

$323,885,1952 $319,532,0502 1% $288,972,7992 $277,643,5102 4% $91,736,837 $80,970,359 13%

$2,154,439 $1,651,065 30% $2,152,505 $1,632,239 32% $1,867,492 $1,817,878 3% $1,409,017 $467,035 202% $1,252,174 $1,015,840 23% $1,121,606 $595,269 88% $914,228 $768,424 19% $774,722 $681,137 14%

$729,845 $520,667 40% $578,582 $541,578 7% $562,114 $461,043 22% $464,732 $461,912 1%

Business in Vancouver makes every attempt to publish accurate information in The List, but accuracy cannot be guaranteed. Researched by Richard Chu, lists@biv.com

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Management

August 2–8, 2011 Business in Vancouver

17

Boardroom Strategy

Mike Desjardins How to make better decisions faster

V

ery rarely do I hear from CEOs and other executives who are worried they will not be able to plot a strategy that makes sense for their company.

More often than not, their greatest challenge lies in execution of the plan.

One of the core issues in execution that holds back progress is ineffective decision-making systems that result from a limited understanding of how decisions are made, who has the ability and responsibility to make decisions and what criteria are being used to make those decisions.

The ability to make clear, definite and timely decisions can be the difference between leading and lagging behind the competition.

If key people in your organization are in decision paralysis, what effect is that having on overall progress?

Can you afford the extra time it’s taking to make decisions in your competitive industry?

So what ca n you do about it? Take a good look at how your decision-making culture might be slowing down the execution of your strategic plan by starting to understand which of these common blocks may be holding you back from making timely decisions: A general fear of making the wrong decision Are people hesitant to make a decision for fear that it might not be the best one?

Help remove the fear of making the wrong decision (which typically leads to analysis-paralysis) by encouraging a norm of being solution-focused – let

people know that there is more than one way to do most things and, although it’s important to understand why something went wrong when it does, how problems are handled is what’s most important. If a decision turns out to be the “wrong” one, help people move quickly into solutions instead of blame or apathy.

Then, consider if those people have the autonomy they need to make the decisions required to get the job done and, more importantly, if they understand that they have the autonomy to do so. It’s difficult to make timely decisions when you’re expected to get approval every step of the way.

Over-concern for other people’s feelings Leaders with a high concern for relationships tend to avoid making decisions that might cause discontent.

Help people balance their relationships with their coworkers and what’s best for the company by working with them to look at the cause and effect of their decisions on the organization as a whole and putting a focus on clear, honest communication about what’s to come.

The executive leadership team is not leading by example Leading by example around decision-making is key. Do you stick by the decisions you make? Do you hold it together when things don’t go as planned and look to solutions instead of blaming and focusing on what went wrong?

Do you allow people the autonomy to make important decisions and coach them and support them to do so?

People are looking to the leadership team for cues on what’s expected of them, so make sure you “walk-thetalk” by modelling the behaviour you want to see from others.

A lack of clarity around who is responsible for making decisions From unclear lines of reporting and authority to haste when leaving weekly team meetings, consider how leaders in your company may be slowing down decision-making and, in turn, execution of your plan.

This often occurs by leaving teams of people unclear about who is responsible to make the decisions required to advance projects.

The people responsible for outcomes do not have the autonomy they need Take a look at your plan, noting who is responsible for executing your most important initiatives.

People don’t understand how to evaluate options and make a decision Help people become more confident at making decisions by offering them an empowerment framework (tinyurl.com/empowerdecisions) to help guide them to make decisions that are consistent with the organization’s goals and values.

Not taking the time to clarify how decisions are going to be made One of the best ways to improve decision-making across your organization

daily online edition

Nearly half of British Columbians believe the business community will grow this year, according to a study released by the Bank of Montreal (BMO) Wednesday.

According to the study, B.C.’s growth rate is expected to outpace the national growth rate this year, topping 3% compared with 2.8% for

the entire country. It found a “clear divide” in growth rates between Canada’s commodity-producing provinces and non-commodity provinces.

We s ter n C a na da a n d Newfoundland and Labrador are expected to see growth rates between 3% and 4% this year, while Central and Atlantic Canada have growth rates between 2% and 3%.

In B.C., 49% of those

If a decision turns out to be the “wrong” one, help people move quickly into solutions instead of blame or apathy Here are the four different styles: 1. Autocractic (decide and tell): As the leader, decide unilaterally and announce your decision to your team or the company overall. Ask for whomever

you are communicating with to repeat back their understanding of what you have said to make sure you have been clear.

2. Consultative (decide after consultation or recommendation): Pull together as much information as possible from key people before making the decision, then, once you have made your mind up, get reactions prior to making the final decision.

3. Team (followers share in the decision): There are three ways to have a team in involved in a decision: •majority vote where the leader has one vote and gives up veto power; •consensus, where everyone has to agree after a discussion; and •consensus with a silver bullet, where the leader will most likely work with consensus but maintains the power to veto the decision.

4. Delegation (delegate the decision with clear parameters): Delegate the

decision. Be clear about parameters of freedom. Ask the team or individual to paraphrase the decision so you know you have been clear upfront.

Speeding up and improving the quality of decisions made throughout your organization has a profound effect on the ability to take on greater strategic challenges and opportunities.

Share this column with your senior team and key leaders as a way of framing a conversation around what’s getting in the way of decision-making in your organization. • Mike Desjardins is the CEO at ViRTUS (www.virtusinc. com), an organizational development-consulting firm with expertise in strategic planning and implementation, leadership development, change management and succession planning for medium to large organizations. He regularly blogs at www.mikedesjardins.com.

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BUSINESS TODAY B.C. confident about business growth: BMO

is to be clear upfront about how decisions will be made.

There are four distinct decision-ma k ing st yles t hat are active in most organizations.

By clarifying in advance which style is appropriate for the decision at hand, leaders, teams and individual contributors can feel empowered to act quickly and effectively.

polled expect local businesses to grow, while 38% expect them to stay the same, and 9% expect them to shrink.

Cathy Pin, vice-president, commercial banking , at BMO, said the survey, which sampled 1,504, showed that Canadians are “cautiously optimistic” about business growth.

Wednesday, July 27

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18

Law

Daily business news at www.biv.com August 2–8, 2011

A partner in name only?

A landmark case being fought locally questioning mandatory retirement policies as they apply to law partnerships could ultimately have broader implications

By Jennifer Harrison

O

n June 2, the Supreme Court of BC upheld a ruling made by the BC Human Rights Tribunal (HRT) regarding the validity of an age-discrimination claim brought by John “Mitch” McCormick of Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP. McCormick, an equity partner at Fasken, was required by the terms of a partnership agreement to retire at the end of his 65th year.

Having been in Fasken’s Vancouver office for 41 years, McCormick decided he was unwilling to quietly go out to pasture.

The first issue at hand was to establish if the HRT in fact had jurisdiction over McCormick’s complaint.

Under Section 13 of the Human Rights Code, one cannot discriminate employment based on age; however in order for these restrictions to be applied, one must be in an employee/employer relationship.

However, Fasken viewed McCormick as a partner, not an employee, and therefore the constraints

Harry Dent

Larry Berman

John Stephenson

Alison Narod, partner, Farris Vaughan Wills & Murphy: “ironically, most partners in law firms think of themselves as being self-employed and not employees”

of the code and the HRT’s jurisdiction over the case was void.

Alison Narod, a labour and employment lawyer and partner at Farris, Vaughan, Wills & Murphy, said, “Under the Human Rights Code, there is a definition of employment and it is quasiconstitutional legislation. It’s not the constitution act itself but in a

sense it trumps ordinary legislation, and courts and tribunals have interpreted its benefit and remedies quite broadly and been generous and flexible with their rulings.”

The tribunal issued its decision on the matter in December of last year and decided that for its purposes McCormick was an employee and therefore it had jurisdiction over his complaint.

When the case came before the Supreme Court, where it was ultimately upheld, Justice Catherine Bruce found that the way Fasken had structured itself was determinative. The amount of control and decision-making that the partners had given to a small group of managing partners over their working conditions made them effectively in an employment relationship.

The HRT is set to decide on the merits of the age-discrimination case in the fall; however Fasken has taken their argument to the BC Court of Appeals. That case will also be heard in the fall.

Narod said this decision might have far-reaching effects.

“If you give power and control

over your working conditions to others in the partnership and they essentially act as a manager, you can put yourself in a position where you are an employee and that other person may be seen as acting on behalf of the partnership as a whole. And once a partnership is brought under the code, it exposes them to other discrimination liabilities: race, disability, gender,” said Narod.

Warren Smith, managing director of the Counsel Network of BC, a legal recruiting firm, says many local firms are watching McCormick’s case closely.

He foresees the issue only growing bigger with the baby boom generation now coming close to retirement age.

However, Smith does not see mandatory retirement as a deadend street for aging lawyers.

“As long as there are firms out there without these policies, as long as that lawyer is a value-add – whether they offer mentorship or practice or a unique skill or asset or clients – they will go somewhere.

And there are firms out there who say, ‘We can take this talent and the

market out there is a boon to us.’”

Smith believes that the biggest challenge for law firms if retirement policies are eliminated is a talent drain.

“If you have a situation where lawyers are allowed to practise in perpetuity, the younger partners, who are ultimately looking to spread their wings and build their practices, will walk out the door if they don’t think there is a future for them there,” said Smith.

“Its great to have all the resources, talent and experience that a senior partner brings to the table, but what if the unintended consequence of that person staying forever is your next bright star goes across the street to another firm?”

According to Smith, that happens in the market every day anyway because no firm has a perfect lock on the perfect succession plan and the perfect system.

He sees a solution in a growing trend he has seen in some firms.

“There are firms in this market today that create models or incentive systems that encourage partners to go about an active transition of their practice. And you can create a model that rewards a partner for successfully transferring their practice. The key is to turn it to the self-interest of the partner, not to set an arbitrary line in the sand and say this is when it must happen.” • jharrison@biv.com

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Law 19

August 2–8, 2011 Business in Vancouver

Trouble

DISCIPLINE •

The Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada

A Hearing Panel of the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) has found that Melaney Phillips violated IIROC rules by making unsuitable recommendations and discretionary purchases in client accounts, performing client services for which she was not qualified and selling some of her own shares to a client without ensuring the client obtained the shares at the best available price, the regulator announced July 21.

Specifically, the panel found that, contrary to IIROC rules, Phillips: •recommended and purchased securities for two clients even though, in both cases, the investments were unsuitable for each client’s investment objectives and tolerance for risk; •made unauthorized discretionary purchases in a client account; •prepared tax returns for two clients and charged a fee for those services, without prior approval from her firm and without any formal training or designation, which constitutes conduct unbecoming and detrimental to the public interest; and •recommended and purchased shares for a client account from her own personal holdings.

In doing so, she failed to advise the client that she had an interest in the transaction, which is conduct unbecoming and detrimental to the public interest. She also failed to take reasonable steps to ensure her client received the best available price for the shares, contrary to the Universal Market Integrity Rules.

The violations occurred in 2007 and 2008, while Phillips was a registered representative with the Kelowna, British Columbia branch of Canaccord Genuity Corp., an IIROC-regulated firm.

IIROC began its formal investigation into Phillips’ conduct on February 20, 2009. Phillips is no longer registered with an IIROCregulated firm.

•

The Law Society of British Columbia

A Law Society of British Columbia (LSBC) discipline hearing panel has ordered a one month suspension for Delta lawyer Denovan T. Hill, the regulator announced July 22.

Hill released funds in a real estate transaction that were sent to him in trust before he fulfilled conditions on which he received those funds, LSBC said. The misconduct is called a

“breach of undertaking” (breaking a promise) and is considered serious by the Law Society. Complying with undertakings is of fundamental importance to the practice of law.

Hill was fined for a similar breach in 2007 and the hearing panel considered this an aggravating factor in coming to its conclusion to suspend him.

BUYER’S ALERT Companies listed below,

which are not members of the Better Business Bureau, have failed to respond, as of March 18, 2011, to Better Business Bureau of Mainland B.C.’s efforts to mediate complaints from July 11, 2011, to July 15, 2011. In some instances, the company may have taken care of the complaint and considered the matter closed, or may believe the complaint is unjustified; however, if the BBB has not received a response, records cannot reveal either position. Please note that BBB members must respond to customer complaints that are brought to their attention. Source: BBB. Abdul’s Contracting, Delta Across Canada Van Lines Inc., Vancouver Bella Pierre, West Vancouver Chateau Homes, Richmond Jadco Consultants Ltd., Cloverdale Jensen Appliance Services, Kelowna Kikara Martial Arts Academy, Burnaby Langley Food Stop, Langley Longliner Seafoods Ltd., Vancouver Mintu’s Towing, Abbotsford Monkey Puzzle Landscaping, Summerland More Than Designs, Kamloops Mr Cool Ice Cream Ltd., Surrey Nova Group West, Burnaby Paula Arsens Kitchen Design, Vancouver Peoples Card Services, Vancouver Tutor Doctor, Coquitlam Ultima Risk Solutions Inc., Surrey Urban Plumbing/Heating Ltd., Vancouver The following companies have responded to the BBB subsequent to being published: Coastal Ford Sales Ltd., Burnaby Smart Energy (BC) Ltd., Abbotsford

Who’s Getting Sued These corporate writs were

filed with the B.C. Supreme Court registry in Vancouver. Information is derived from notices of civil claim.

Civil claims have yet to be proven in court.

Defendants: Tristar

Industries Ltd. and BCMC Capital Ltd. Partnership and BCMC Capital II Ltd. Partnership and Tri Van Holdings Ltd. and North Shore Leasing Ltd. and Ricoh Canada Inc. and HSBC Canada and Dell Financial Services Canada Ltd. 1100–925 W. Georgia St., Vancouver and 2610–1066 W. Hastings, Vancouver and 1100–925 W. Georgia St., Vancouver and 1321 Johnston Rd., White Rock and 2300–550 Burrard St., Vancouver and 885 Georgia St., Vancouver and Box 49314, 595 Burrard St., Vancouver Plaintiff: Canadian Western Bank 100–666 Burrard St., Vancouver Claim: $1,644,140 for debt related to a loan agreement; a declaration the security is enforceable; a declaration the security may be enforced by sale of the collateral; orders; the appointment of a receiver manager; and orders.

Defendant: Springford Patrick Law Corp.

8–1540 Springhill Dr., Kamloops Plaintiff: Zhizhong Chen 490–1177 W. Hastings St., Vancouver Claim: $1 million that was wired to the defendant for a potential investment that never took place.

Defendant: Paragon Holdings (Smithe St.) ULC Box 49290, 1000–595 Burrard St., Vancouver Plaintiff: IBI/HB Architects 1800–401 W. Georgia St., Vancouver Claim: $681,364 for debt related to design work related to a casino and hotel project in Vancouver.

Defendants: Sander van der Vorm and Vorm Developments Ltd. 306 Water St., Vancouver Plaintiff: Darrell Tomilson 490–1177 W. Hastings St., Vancouver Claim: $300,000 arising from an agreement regarding the introduction of a potential business partner or business opportunity; or, damages.

Defendant: EXPC Technology Inc. 1688–4500 Kingsway, Vancouver Plaintiff: Bank of Montreal 1600–925 W. Georgia St., Vancouver Claim: $225,638 for debt related to an overdraft.

Defendants: The Grand Street Cat Clinic Ltd. and Loridawn Fawcett 7330 Horne St., Mission and 7442 Grand St., Mission Plaintiff: The Bank of Nova Scotia 2900–550 Burrard St.,

Vancouver Claim: $165,849 for debt related to a business loan.

Defendant: E. Neil Kornfeld 1100–505 Burrard St., Vancouver Plaintiff: Tuka Financial Corp.

400–1245 W. Broadway, Vancouver Claim: $160,000 for debt related to a shareholder capital demand.

Defendant: Fourth Millenium Enterprises Ltd. 706–602 Hastings St., Vancouver Plaintiff: Blumer GMBH 2900–595 Burrard St., Vancouver Claim: Euro110,339 for breach of contract related to a jewelry sale.

Defendant: Quantum Seafoods Ltd. Address unavailable Plaintiff: Voyager Seafood Ltd. 215–8600 Cambie Rd., Vancouver Claim: $106,411 arising from the cancellation of a contract for geoducks; and an order.

Defendants: Zen Hua Yang and Xuan Yu P6640 Riverdale Dr., Richmond Plaintiff: 3 Dimension Construction Group Inc. 1654 Kingsway, Vancouver Claim: $105,688 for work and materials related to a renovation.

Defendant: Brad Galagan Address unavailable Plaintiff: Coleman Heating & Air Conditioning 20840 Lougheed Hwy., Maple Ridge Claim: $97,124 for loss of business and advertising costs arising from Galagan using Coleman’s two former phone numbers and passing off his business as Coleman’s; and the immediate return of the two telephone numbers.

Defendants: Henry Marine International Ltd. and Darryl C. Henry Box 1600, 201–156 Morison Ave., Parksville Plaintiff: Royal Bank of Canada 2300–550 Burrard St., Vancouver Claim: $51,364 for a loan; a declaration that the RBC is entitled to a charge on a vessel and the present and acquired personal property of Henry Marine; a declaration that the general security agreement and mortgage are in default and all monies secured thereby are due and owing; orders; and an appointment of a receiver of the collateral.

Defendants: Squamish Ocean Point Limited Partnership and Samuel D. Hanson Address unavailable

Plaintiff: 310047 B.C. Ltd. 800–885 W. Georgia St., Vancouver Claim: $50,880 against the defendants for legal services provided by Clark Wilson LLP; and $5,698 against Hanson.

Defendant: Afshin Taheri 5833 Nancy Greene Way, North Vancouver Plaintiff: Travelers Guarantee Company of Canada 2500–650 W. Georgia St., Vancouver Claim: $50,490 for debt and breach of an indemnity agreement.

Defendants: Sander van der Vorm and Mark Kwasnicki and McKinley Masters Group Inc. 306 Water St., Vancouver and 8544 47th Ave. NW, Calgary and 406–510 18th Ave. SW, Calgary Plaintiff: Darrell Tomilson 490–1177 W. Hastings St., Vancouver Claim: $50,000 for an introduction fee for finding Sander van der Vorm a potential business partner; and an order.

Defendants: Shanming Li and Rose Wang Address unavailable Plaintiff: Today Interiors Inc. 3000–1055 W. Georgia St., Vancouver Claim: $46,478 for interior design services; and a builders lien for $46,478.

Defendants: Tom Yule dba Tya Performance aka Performance Parts Center 19889 Fraser Hwy., Langley Plaintiff: Motor State Distributing Inc. 440–319 W. Pender St., Vancouver Claim: $40,449 for debt related to a credit agreement for auto parts and accessories.

Defendants: Edward Jones Contracting Ltd. and Edward Darrin Joseph Jones 33066 First Ave., Mission and 8070 Guest Terrace, Mission Plaintiff: Roynat Inc. 300–666 Burrard St., Vancouver Claim: $37,986 for debt related to a lease agreement.

Defendant: Kip Brown Tricking Ltd. 4766 Michigan Ave., Powell River Plaintiffs: Trustees of the IWA-Forest Industry Pension Plan and Trustees of the IWA-

Forest Industry Ltd. Plan 150–2955 Virtual Way, Vancovuer Claim: $37,343 in favour of the trustees of the IWA-Forest Industry Pension Plan for unpaid reported pension plan contributions; $9,662 in favour of the trustees of the IWA-Forest Industry Ltd. Plan; or, an order; accountings; an order; a declaration that all unpaid pension plan contributions are held in trust by the defendant for the benefit of the members of the pension plan; damages; and an accounting.

Defendants: NYK Autotech Repairs Ltd. and Julito Aclan and Terisita Aclan aka Terisit Aclan and Benigno Lopez and Amelia Lopez aka Amelia Urbi Lopez 208–4940 No. 3 Rd., Richmond and 6936 Balmoral St., Vancouver and 6081 Sprott St., Burnaby Plaintiff: Business Development Bank of Canada 200–505 Burrard St., Vancouver Claim: $17,699 for a business loan.

Defendants: Darlene Gail Paterson and Justin James Paterson and Richard Patrick Langille and Jo-Anne Leah Smallenberg and John Doe and Jane Doe 15508 86 Ave., Surrey and 15512 86 Ave., Surrey Plaintiff: British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority 333 Dunsmuir St., Vancouver Claim: $14,570 for theft and conversion of diverted electricity used to power a grow-op; and damages.

Defendant: Claude Labelle 32811 Gatefield Ave., Abbotsford Plaintiff: Paine Edmonds LLP 1100–510 Burrard St., Vancouver Claim: $7,395 for legal services.

Defendant: Her Majesty the Queen in right of the Province of British Columbia, represented by the Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure Address unavailable Plaintiff: Utzig Holdings (B.C.) Ltd. 3000–1055 W. Georgia St., Vancouver Claim: Compensation and damages pursuant to the Expropriation Act arising

www.dorsey.com Suite 1605 Pacific Centre | 777 Dunsmuir St P.O. Box 10444 | Vancouver, BC V7Y 1K4

tel: 604-687-5151

20 Law

Daily business news at www.biv.com August 2–8, 2011

Trouble from the plaintiff not being paid market value for expropriated lands; or, damages; and legal and appraisal costs pursuant to the Act. Defendant: Her Majesty the Queen in right of the Province of British Columbia, as represented by the Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure 1001 Douglas St., Victoria Plaintiffs: Zakria Zainuddin Ahmad and Rubeena Kaosir Ahmad Box 48600, 1200–200 Burrard St., Vancouver Claim: Compensation and disturbance damages pursuant to the Expropriation Act for losses arising from the transfer of lands; reasonable costs, expenses and losses directly attributable to the disturbance caused by the plaintiffs by the dedication of the lands; and damages.

Defendants: Surinder Pal Gill and Harman Tile & Construction Ltd. and B.S.S. Excavating Ltd. 16212 92nd Ave. and 220– 7525 King George Blvd., Surrey and 5228 157 St., Surrey Plaintiff: Daniel Butt 17421 64A Ave., Langley Claim: Damages for injuries Butt sustained when he fell into an excavated chasm; and health-care costs.

Defendants: Vicki Gould Holdings Ltd. d.b.a. Canadian Tire and Canadian Tire Corporation, Ltd. and Canadian Tire Real Estate Ltd. and Jane Does #1-2 1200–200 Burrard St., Vancouver and 1500–1055 W. Georgia St., Vancouver and addresses unavailable Plaintiff: David Richard Lamond Milne 9205 Hayward St., Mission Claim: Damages arising from the plaintiff tripping on some baskets that were placed on the floor; and health-care costs.

Defendants: Royal Pacific Realty (Kingsway) Ltd.

and Lawrence Kwong Inn Wong and Homelife Benchmark Titus Realty Ltd. and Charles Dennis Jones 3107 Kingsway, Vancouver and 101–15385 No. 10 Hwy., Surrey and 304– 45535 Spadina Ave., Chilliwack Plaintiffs: Gery Warner and Suzanne Warner 700–595 Burrard St., Vancouver Claim: Damages for breach of trust and fiduciary duty arising from an agreement with a real estate brokerage; and a declaration that Royal Pacific Realty (Kingsway) Ltd. holds $100,000 in trust for the plaintiffs; and damages.

Defendant: Atlantis Gold Mines Corp.

595 Howe St., Vancouver Plaintiff: Samarium Group Holding Ltd. 1st floor, Oliaji Trade Centre, Victoria, Mahe, Seychelles Claim: Specific performance of the subscription agreement and an order that Atlantis issue two million shares of its capital stock to the plaintiff arising from the breach of the subscription agreement; or, damages; or, restitution of the purchase price.

Defendants: MIV Therapeutics Inc. and Alan Lindsay 1500–1055 W. Georgia St., Vancouver and 845 Burrard St., Vancouver Plaintiff: Dr. Freddy Abnousi 1350–885 W. Georgia St., Vancouver Claim: Judgment against the defendants in an equal amount to the market value of the shares as of the option-exercise date after deducting the price to exercise the options, arising from breach of an agreement; or, $252,000; and damages.

Defendants: BCBG Max Azria Canada Inc. and Hartleywood Holdings Ltd. 1700–666 Burrard St., Vancouver and 1870–505 Burrard St., Vancouver

Plaintiff: Sara Safarian 600–1125 Howe St., Vancouver Claim: Damages arising from the plaintiff being struck on the head by a negligently secured curtain rod at the Robson Street BCBG store.

Defendant: Her Majesty the Queen in right of the Province of British Columbia, as represented by the Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure 1001 Douglas St., Victoria Plaintiff: 70 Golden Drive Ltd. Box 48600, 1200-200 Burrard St., Vancouver Claim: Compensation and disturbance damages under the Expropriation Act arising from a land transfer; reasonable costs, expenses and losses directly attributable to the disturbance caused to the company by the transfer, dedication or use of the lands; legal and appraisal costs; and damages.

Defendants: John Doe and Jane Roe Addresses unavailable Plaintiffs: Grant M. P. Chernick and Dr. Grant M. P. Chernick, Inc. 290-889 Harbourside Dr., North Vancouver Claim: Damages for a defamatory posting on DoctorSource.ca; and an injunction.

Defendants: Jordan E. Skands and Skands & Company Law Corp.

203–15230 56th Ave., Surrey Plaintiff: Mandeep Singh Dhillon 1000–840 Howe St., Vancouver Claim: Damages for breaching a contractual duty and duty of care expected of a reasonably competent and diligent solicitor causing the plaintiff to suffer damages, arising from a failure to file a personal injury claim within the two-year limitation period.

Defendant: Scott & Jas Rentals Ltd. 106–235 Oliver St., Williams Lake Plaintiff: Kaaralee Gehring 204–1730 W. 2nd Ave., Vancouver Claim: Damages for injuries suffered due to a stair step that broke beneath the plaintiff.

Defendant: ABC Ltd. Address unavailable Plaintiff: Dean Buse 16904 Gatzke Rd., Oyama Claim: Damages for damage caused when livestock strayed on to a highway.

Defendants: Ipex Inc. and ABC Co. and BCD Co. 1600–925 W. Georgia St., Vancouver and 1401 194th St., Surrey Plaintiffs: Sharon Stevenson and Ronald Stevenson

2400–200 Granville St., Vancouver Claim: Damages for a flood caused by defective plastic piping.

Defendant: Economical Mutual Insurance Co. 1900–1055 W. Georgia St., Vancouver Plaintiff: Live Capital of Canada 51507–911 Park Royal South, West Vancouver Claim: Damages for indemnity under an insurance policy related to a fire.

Defendants: McDonald’s Restaurants of Canada Ltd. and Manufacturers Life Insurance Co. 1 McDonald’s Pl., Toronto and 100–1095 W. Pender St., Vancouver Plaintiff: Anna DiSalvo 2300–1066 W. Hastings St., Vancouver Claim: Damages for a metal rod the plaintiff tripped over.

Defendants: The Salient Group and Salient Developments Ltd. and Rancho Management Services Ltd. and Owners of Strata Plan BCP38241 and Heatherbrae Builders Co. Ltd. and Heatherbrae Inc. and Heatherbrae Builders and Heatherbrae Services Ltd. and Heatherbrae Construction Group of CO. and Heatherbrae Management Ltd. and Heatherbrae Builders Co. Ltd. and Gair Williamson Architects and the City of Vancouver 225–209 Carrall St., Vancouver and 600–1190 Hornby St., Vancouver and 53 W. Hastings, Vancouver and 140– 12371 Horseshoe Way, Richmond and 219–209 Carral St., Vancouver and address unavailable Plaintiff: Gary Denomme 10th floor, 938 Howe St., Vancouver Claim: Damages for injuries sustained when the plaintiff’s foot got lodged into a hole on a walkway.

Defendants: Garry Vonk and South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority formerly known as Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority and Translink and Coast Mountain Bus Co. and Christopher Vadneau 1600–4720 Kingsway, Burnaby and 1700–4720 Kingsway, Burnaby and 4th floor, 13401 108th Ave., Surrey and 601–1906 Barclay St., Vancouver and 3241 Harwood Ave., Coquitlam and address unknown Plaintiff: Rose-Marie Burchill 108–144 12th St. West, North Vancouver Claim: Damages arising from a vehicle collision.

Lawsuit of the week

Matsqui sue Canada over fishing rights The Matsqui First Nation has launched a lawsuit alleging that Canada has infringed on the first nation’s constitutional fishing rights by excluding the Matsqui from various fisheries after the first nation declined to sign a fisheries agreement.

In a statement of claim filed in B.C. Supreme Court June 6 against the Attorney General of Canada, Matsqui First Nation alleges that Canada has infringed on the first nation’s constitutionally-protected aboriginal right to harvest salmon for food, social and ceremonial (FSC) purposes within the Matsqui fishing area.

The first nation argues that the infringement occurred when, on several occasions during the 2010 fishing season, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) failed to issue licences to Matsqui to exercise its domestic salmon fishing right.

The alleged infringements occurred after Matsqui First Nation declined to sign DFO’s collective fisheries agreement for Sockeye and Chum salmon for the period of April 1, 2010 to March 31, 2011.

Matsqui First Nation argues that by not signing the agreement, the First Nation’s constitutionally-protected domestic salmon fishing right was not subject to the allocations set out in the comprehensive agreement, and could only be subjected to valid conservation measures.

The statement of claim further states that DFO at no point informed Matsqui that Matsqui’s decision not to sign the agreement would have implications on the domestic fishing right or on the priority of FSC fishery.

The first nation is seeking: an order declaring that Matsqui has an aboriginal right to fish for salmon for domestic purposes within the Matsqui fishing area; an order declaring that decisions by Canada not to permit Matsqui to fish during the excluded fisheries described in the claim have unjustifiably infringed the Matsqui domestic salmon fishing right; damages; and an order that Canada consult with Matsqui, and seek to accommodate Matsqui where necessary, in advance of any fisheries-management decisions that have the potential to infringe upon the Matsqui domestic salmon fishing right.

None of these allegations has been proven in court.

At press time, no statement of defence had been filed.

Defendants: Elizabeth Bankier and Ian Bankier Plaintiffs: James Burton and Laurie Burton and Paul Norton and Sylvia Norton and Carlos Burrows and Marta Burrows and Elizabeth King and Rob Krillic and David Knowles and Colin Roberts and Gail Roberts and Barbara Lahm and Rocco Zarrillo and Connie Zarrillo and Choong Poon and Bee Tan and Alex McKinlay and Wendy McKinlay and Margaret Geoghegan and Liana Honeysett and Clint Davidson and Sylvia Urban and Lana Leung and Peggy Hunt and William Leung and Mike Alexander Units 105, 117, 413, 301, 412–2970 Princess Cres., Coquitlam, and Units 316, 427, 428, 425, 429, 332, 325, 336, 339, 143, 129, 135, 140, 433–2980 Princess Cres., Coquitlam, and Unit 212–2990 Princess Cres., Coquitlam Claim: Damages arising from a fire ignited by an unattended small barbeque.

Defendants: Elizabeth Bankier and Ian Bankier 433–2980 Princess Cres., Coquitlam Plaintiffs: Dale Bennett and Tanya Buker and Steven Ewanuick and Patricia Roach and Xiu

Hao and Dana Campbell and Dan LaPierre and Allan Lynde and Michelle Lynde and Margaret Brock and Deborah Callis and Heleni Lewis and Semira Alewie and ShaunaLynn Magrath and Sean Hamilton and Shannon Ince and Nancy Johnson and Peter Krikke and Jennifer Chmelyk and Linda Zerr and Harry Bakitiary and Timothy Whitehead and Lisa Takeuchi and Michael Patrick Armstrong and Colleen Armstrong and Chuen Fung Leung Cheung and Sandra Weightman and David Weightman and Sultanali Jethani and Guishan Jethani and Mariusz Bryszewski and Karolina Osses and Eleanor Hopkins and Suzanne Richter and Dusan Zupan and Naser Maloufi and James van der Borg and Yvonne van der Borg 2970 and 2980 Princess Cres., Coquitlam Claim: Damages arising from a fire that rendered the buildings and units uninhabitable and forced the plaintiffs to find temporary alternative living accommodations while the buildings and units were restored. •

For the record

August 2–8, 2011 Business in Vancouver

21

Beth Thompson and Sean Hemenway join Ashley-Pryce Interior Designers as senior interior designer and vice-president of business development; and senior architectural technician, respectively

Bill Kiss and Jeff Shewfelt are co-CEO’s at G&F Financial Group

Rick Hansen is president and CEO of the Rick Hansen Leadership Group and cochair of the board of the Rick Hansen Foundation

Michael Kowalchuk is director of business development at Commissionaires BC

People on the Move Email your For the Record

Leadership Group and cochair of the board of the Rick Hansen Foundation. Art Reitmayer has joined the Foundation as CEO. He was previously principal at Cherin Holdings, president and CEO at Channel M and president and CEO at WIC Television Ltd.

Arabian Mining Co. and South American exploration manager for Orvana Resources.

Brent Butler, president and CEO of Superior Mining International Corp. has been appointed a director of the company. He is a director of Redhill Resources Corp., Siburan Resources Ltd. and Audalia Resources Ltd.

of defense for Columbia and national director at Comex.

Michael Kowalchuk has been appointed director of business development at Commissionaires BC. He was previously sales manager at Pitney Bowes.

Richard Godfrey has been appointed to the board of Redzone Resources Ltd. He is senior vice-president and CFO of Capstone Mining Corp. and was previously CFO of Sherwood Copper Corp. and vice-president, finance, at EuroZinc Mining.

information to: fortherecord@ biv.com. Please include a highresolution, colour headshot where possible.

•Architecture

Beth Thompson and Sean Hemenway have joined Ashley-Pryce Interior Designers Inc. as senior interior designer and vice-president of business development; and senior architectural technician, respectively. Thompson was previously an associate at SSDG Interiors Inc. Hemenway was previously an architectural technician at DA Architects + Planners.

•Associations/Societies

H a n k K lei n h a s b e e n appointed president of the board of the B.C. Dental Association. He is a generalpractice dentist.

•Education

Louise Cowin has been appointed vice-president, students, at UBC. She was previously warden of Hart House at the University of Toronto, director of student services and the school-university partnerships office at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto.

D e r e k Fe n g h a s b e e n appointed to the board of CIBT Education Group Inc. He was previously executive vice-president of strategy, planning and operations at Knowledge Universe and global head of business development at GE Industrial.

•Finance

Bill Kiss and Jeff Shewfelt have been appointed co-CEO’s at G&F Financial Group. Kiss was previously interim CEO and CFO of G&F. Shewfelt was previously vice-president of sales and service at the company.

Sue Dabarno has been appointed to the board of Groupworks Financial Corp., replacing Gery Barry who has resigned as a director. She was previously president and CEO of Richardson Partners Financial and president and COO of Merrill Lynch Canada Inc.

•General

R ick Hansen has been appointed president and CEO of the Rick Hansen

•

Hospitality/ Tourism/Convention

Laura Fraser has joined Hart House Restaurant as restaurant and banquet sales manager. She was previously in sales and marketing with Fairmont Hotels and Resorts, Starwood Hotels and Resorts, and the Stanley Park Pavilion.

Brendon James has joined the Fish House in Stanley Park as sales and event co-ordinator.

He was previously catering sales co-ordinator at Grouse Mountain Resorts.

•Real Estate

Bryon Brandle of Re/Max Vernon, has been elected chair of the Real Estate Council of B.C. and Michael Ziegler of Newport Realty Ltd. was elected vice-chair.

•Resources

Roderick Chisholm has been appointed to the board of Calico Resources Corp. He was previously vice-president of finance, CFO and corporate secretary at Seabridge Gold Corp.

John Eckersley and Ali R a h i mt u l a h ave b e e n appointed to the board of Passport Potash Inc. Eckersley is vice-president, legal and corporate affairs, of Passport Potash and was previously executive vice-president, secretary and treasurer of Digital Business Resource, Inc. Rahimtula is president and founder of Transnational Enterprises LTD., DBA Transfert America.

Stephen Zahony has been appointed vice-president, exploration and geology, at Sutter Gold Mining Inc. He was previously vicepresident of exploration for Canyon Resources Corp., vice-president, geology with Brazauro Resources Corp., chief geologist for the Saudi

A l Pater s on h a s b e e n appointed to the board of Full Metal Zinc Ltd. He is a founding partner of Ocean Partners.

Joshua Crumb has been appointed to the board of Zazu Metals Corp. He is a director of Astur Gold Corp. and was previously senior metals strategist at Goldman Sachs, director of corporate development at Lundin Mining and special project analyst for Lukas Lundin.

Moises Uribe has been appointed CFO of Network Exploration Ltd., replacing R ichard Schnoor, who remains director of international operations at the company. Uribe is CFO for Mountainview Capital.

to the board of Stornoway Diamond Corp. Mercier is chief compliance officer and vice-president, legal, with Telus Communications Inc. LeBoutillier is the chair of the board of Industrial Alliance Insurance and Financial Services Inc. and was previously president and CEO of the Iron Ore Company of Canada.

Blouin is a partner at Lavery.

Careers

Jorge Alberto Uribe has been appointed to the board of CuOro Resources Corp.

He was previously minister

Mark Ludwig and Bevo Beaven have joined Crosshair Exploration & Mining Corp. as COO, U.S., and vice-president, corporate communications, respectively. Ludwig was previously vice-president of operations at Neutron Energy and manager of corporate development,

• www.employmentinvancouver.com • E-mail: employpaper@biv.com • Tel: 604-688-8828 • Fax: 604-669-2154

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quoting “Tier 1 Technical Support” in the subject line

Jim Powell has been appointed vice-president, corporate development, at Tasman Metals Ltd. He was previously a research analyst at Laurentian Bank Securities.

Ernesto Duran has been appointed an adviser to the board of Bravura Ventures Corp. He was previously an independent financial, tax and management consultant; corporate controller and officer of Grupo Mexico and CFO of Dia Bras Corp., Inc. Garry Clark has joined the board of Suparna Gold Corp., replacing Nelson Baker. He is executive director of the Ontario Prospectors Association and is a director of Challenger Deep Resources Corp. and Elissa Resources Ltd. Mohammed Asibelua has been appointed chair of the board of Mira Resources Corp. He is chair of the Equinox Group, Arcadia Petroleum Nigeria Ltd. and the Aspen Group.

Monique Mercier, John LeBoutillier and Michel Blouin have been appointed

      

Project Buyer (#310318)

                 

        

   

Read about Sandvik www.sandvik.com

22 for the record senior mining engineer and project manager at Hecla Mining Co. Beaven was previously vice-president and senior vice-president at Metzger Associates Public Relations and CTA Integrated Communications.

•Technology

David Chaiko has resigned as a director of the Kelso Technologies Inc.

Hats Off Business in Vancouver wel-

comes submissions from local small businesses and large corporations alike that demonstrate examples of corporate philanthropy and community involvement in the Vancouver area. High-resolution images are also welcome.

Daily business news at www.biv.com August 2–8, 2011

RBC donated $50,000 to the Lions Gate Hospital Foundation to go toward the Hope Centre campaign.

The United Way of the Lower Mainland donated a $30,000 “School’s Out” grant to Big Sisters of BC Lower Mainland in support of the Study Buddy tutoring program, which matches Little Sisters with volunteer tutors who offer them academic guidance and support.

The RBC Blue Water Project donated $25,000 to Trout Unlimited Canada.

The Diamond Foundation donated$10,000 to Big Sisters of BC Lower Mainland as part of a three year commitment to support the Go

Girls! Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds program.

RBC Royal Bank donated $5,000 to Royal Columbian Hospital as part of its sponsorship of the RCH Foundation’s SHINE gala.

Vancity donated $2,000 to the SHARE Food Bank Fill-Up, which raised 41,305lbs of food for families in the tri-cities.

Coast Capital Savings’ United Way 2010 workplace campaign was recognized with an Excellence Award by the Marketing Association for Credit Unions.

Deloitte won the 2011 Big Sisters Big Heart Award for outstanding contribution by a business presented by the Big

Sisters of BC Lower Mainland, in recognition of the 12 years of support and over $40,000 in donations they have provided to Big Sisters.

In recognition of a generous donation to VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation, the Grandview Woodlands building has been renamed the Robert & Lily Lee Family Community Health Centre.

Ballet BC’s annual spring fundraising campaign successfully reached its $300,000 goal.

Correction: In For the Record, issue 1134­–July 19-25, Dan Sibley was misidentified. He is vice-president, human resources, at the Canadian Diabetes Association. •

Giving Guide

2012

Regional PhilanthRoPic oPPoRtunities

Paul Fletcher, managing partner, Deloitte; Lisa Cloutier, director of operations and communications, Big Sisters of BC Lower Mainland; and Lisa Ethans, partner, Deloitte

Teresa Perri, regional vice-president, RBC, New Westminster and Tri-Cities; Helen Young, branch manager, RBC North Road and Lougheed Highway; Peter Zivanovic, branch manager, RBC, New Westminster Main; and Adrienne Bakker, CEO and president, Royal Columbian Hospital Foundation

Publication Date September 27, 2011

Promote your corporate giving philosophy and the non-profits you support to B.C.’s business leaders Business In Vancouver Media Group, publishers of Business in Vancouver newspaper, Western Investor and more than a dozen business-related magazines, are delighted to launch an exciting new print and digital publication called Giving Guide – Regional Philanthropic Opportunities. This informative glossy, full-colour magazine will showcase the diverse range of non-profit associations and the organizations that so generously support them here in B.C. Giving Guide provides both sponsors and non-profits with a great opportunity to share their story with the region’s business leaders. Non-profits play a huge role in improving the quality of life of residents throughout the region. This new essential reference tool – with yearlong presence in print and online will showcase a nonprofits compelling mission, progress, governance and many other initiatives and encourage other business leaders to support non-profit associations in our region.

Giving Guide

2012

Regional PhilanthRoPic oPPoRtunities

Carmelo Miliano, manager financial planning, RBC, North Shore market; Judy Savage, president, Lions Gate Hospital Foundation; and Suzanne Rutherford, regional vice-president, RBC North Shore market

A guide to British ColumBiA's philAnthropiC Community • Non-profits • Foundations • Cultural organizations

Call today: For more information please contact Katherine Butler at 604-688-2398 or kbutler@biv.com.

Robert and Lily Lee (centre) with family

Jag Gill and Tony Ciulla, Vancity branch managers with SHARE food bank mascot, Philup Phoodbank

Datebook

August 2–8, 2011 Business in Vancouver

Guarantee the publication of your listing for $50 per issue (plus hst). 604-608-5189 or datebook@biv.com Deadline for Datebook listings is noon Tuesday for the following week’s paper. Listings are published on a guaranteed basis for $50 per week, plus gst. Free listings will run in print as space permits. Go to www.bivdatebook. ca to post your listing. Published Datebook listings are at the discretion of BIV.

Breakfast, Luncheon, Dinner Meetings Professor Stephen Toope S eptem b er 14 , 2011, 11:45 AM: Professor Stephen Toope, President & Vice-Chancellor University of British Columbia. $69 members and guests/$96 futuremembers (+HST). The Fairmont Waterfront, Waterfront Ballroom, 900 Canada Place Way. Vancouver, BC. reservations@boardoftrade. com. www.boardoftrade.com.

Conferences, Conventions, Tradeshows 20/20 SMART Session: Market Research and Assessment August 18, 2011, 8:00 AM: Effective market research will increase the probability of a successful product launch. This session will introduce tools and techniques for conducting effective market research and assessment in the product development process. $25 members/$35 non-members.

Hampton Inn & Suites, 19500 Langley Bypass (Route 10). Surrey.

Kimberly Hall: 604-713-7809, kimberly.hall@cme-mec.ca. http:// bc.cme-mec.ca/.

The World MoneyShow Vancouver September 19, 2011, 8:30 AM: Learn how to best position your portfolio for profit in 2011 and beyond. As this new era of investing unfolds, smar t investors know it’s imperative to stay informed and educated.

Free admission. Vancouver Convention Centre, 1055 Canada Place. Vancouver. 800-9704355. http://www.moneyshow. com/tradeshow/vancouver/ w o rl d_ m o n ey S h o w/m a i n. asp?scode=023199.

APEGBC Annual Conference & AGM October 13, 2011, 8:00 AM: Join us as we celebrate accomplishments in the professions of engineering and geoscience. A s BC ’s p re mie re e n gin e e r in g a n d geoscience event, the Annual Conference and AGM are sure to offer participants valuable opportunities to network with leading professionals in these industries. Prices vary. Delta Grand Okanagan Resort and Conference Centre. Kelowna, BC. Shirley Chow: 604-412-4865, ac2011@apeg.bc.ca. http://www. apeg.bc.ca/ac2011/.

Courses, Workshops, Seminars SharePoint 2010 as a Records Management and Retention Solution A u g u s t 1 9, 20 1 1, 1: 3 0 P M : Attend a free seminar on how SharePoint 2010 can be used for records management and retention. The presenter is Marcel Roy, SharePoint Specialist and Records Manager. Free. BCIT Downtown Campus, RM 281, 555 Seymour Street. Vancouver.

p a t @ t r a c re c o rd s . c a . www. tracrecords.ca/events.

Canadian Securities Course (CSC) September 8, 2011, 8:00 AM: Be qualified to apply for licensing as a mutual funds salesperson.

Sign up for the CSC at Ashton College. Contact an Admissions Adviser now. Ashton College.

Vancouver. 6 0 4-8 9 9 - 0 8 0 3 , info@ashtoncollege.com. www. ashtoncollege.com.

Foundation in Sustainable Community Development S e p te m b e r 15, 20 11, 9 : 0 0 AM: This course addres ses the confusion surrounding sustainability and presents the certificate’s vision of sustainable community development and related principles. $900. 515 W. Hastings St. Vancouver. Joshua Randall, 778-782-5254. http:// www.sfu.ca/city/course1popup. htm.

CTT+ Train the Trainer Course S e p te m b e r 19, 20 11, 8 : 30 AM: Anybody who needs to train groups of people in an effective and efficient manner can benefit from this course.

Perfect for those looking to show instructional presentation skills for their MCT designation. $9 95/person. 555 Seymour Street. Vancouver. Bart Simpson: 888-480-1629, bart@trab.com. www.trab.com.

HR Metrics Benchmarking Service - Demo & Overview September 28, 2011, 9:00 AM: If you are looking to learn more about the HR Metrics Ser vice, sign up for this 1-hour demo, Complimentary.

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Applications in Sustainable Community Development September 30, 2011, 9:00 AM: Through field trips and presentations by sustainability project champions, you will explore the applic ation of sustainability principles in a variety of programs, projects and business ventures. $600.

515 W. Hastings St. Vancouver.

J o s h u a R a n d a l l , 7 7 8 -7 8 2 5254. http://www.sfu.ca/city/ course2popup.htm.

HR Metrics Benchmarking Service - Oct Demo & Overview October 28, 2011, 8:30 AM: If you are looking to learn more about the HR Metrics Service, sign up for this 1-hour demo. No charge.

Online. 604-694-6946, lwhalley@ bchrma.org. http://www.bchrma. org/content/events/ls/details. cfm?EventID=035-223.

Sustainable Economics for the Real World November 4, 2011, 9:00 AM: This course provides an overview of the emerging field of sustainable economics, as well as the tools for building the business case for sustainability. $600. 515 W. Hastings St. Vancouver. Joshua Randall, 778-782-5254. http:// www.sfu.ca/city/course3popup. htm.

Communicating Sustainability for Awareness, Accountability and Action N ove m b e r 2 5 , 20 1 1, 9 : 0 0 AM: This course provides tips and tools for effective communications practice and examines how sustainability is perceived by the public. $600.

515 W. Hastings St. Vancouver.

Joshua Randall, 778-782-5254. http://www.sfu.ca/city/sust906. htm.

HR Metrics Benchmarking Service - Nov Demo & Overview November 30, 2011, 9:00 AM: If you are looking to learn more about the HR Metrics Ser vice, sign up for this 1-hour demo. Complimentary.

Online. Liz Whalley, Metrics Specialist, lwhalley@bchrma. org. http://www. bchrma.org/ co n te n t/eve n ts/ls/d e ta i ls. cfm?EventID=035-253.

HR Metrics Benchmarking Service - Jan Demo & Overview January 18, 2012, 9:00 AM: If you are looking to learn more about the HR Metrics Ser vice, sign up for this 1-hour demo. Complimentary.

Online. Liz Whalley, Metrics Specialist, lwhalley@bchrma. org. http://www. bchrma.org/ co n te n t/eve n ts/ls/d e ta i ls. cfm?EventID=035-254.

Festivals Dances for a Small Stage 24 Au g ust 10, 20 11, 8:00 PM: A wildly energized, cabaretthemed evening of cutting-edge choreography at The Legion on The Drive. Doors open at 7pm.

19+ only. Tickets: $20 cash at door. 2205 Commercial Drive.

Vancouver. http://movent.ca.

Golf Tournaments T.I.P. Invitational Golf Tournament July 26, 2011, 11:00 AM: Swing!

At the Sixth Annual Tourism Industry Partners (TIP) Invitational Golf Tournament.

All proceeds from this event will foster future generations of tourism professionals through scholarships and bursaries

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Business Leaders Golf Tournament August 23, 2011, 12:00 PM: Play golf with the Vancouver business community including senior executives, deal-makers and professionals involved in corporate growth, development, and mergers and acquisitions.

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Networking functions Mature Women’s Network Annual Bus Trip August 6, 2011, 8:45 AM: An invitation to women over 40 years for our annual day bus trip. Includes lunch, museum tours, farms, historic sites and gift shops in the Harrison area. Our bus trips are always a highlight of the year for an enjoyable social day. $30.00 nonmembers (includes membership for balance of the year). 411 Dunsmuir Street. Vancouver.

Prepay to register. Call 604681-3986 or email m_miller77@ hotmail.com. http://upcoming. yahoo.com/event/8149717/BC/ Vancouver/Women39s-AnnualS u m m e r- B u s-Tri p / M a tu re Women39s-Network/. •

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23

24

Comment

Daily business news at www.biv.com August 2–8, 2011

letters

Incentives needed to get more electric cars rolling on B.C. streets Electric cars have been around since the 1830s and 1840s and production models have been around since the late 1800s and early 1900s. There’s really not much new about the electric car concept other than the 21st century technology now being used to get them back onto our streets in a big way to reduce emissions.

The media have given electric cars some good exposure, and modern electric cars are definitely creating interest and excitement. But I can’t help wondering what it’s really going to take for us to lose our collective attachment to the internal combustion engine and the fossil fuels they run on. After all, we’re paying through the nose for gas at the pump and you would think this alone would propel a lot of people toward electric car dealerships.

To me it seems crazy that we’re powering our cars with gasoline made from oil that’s pumped out of the ground mostly outside B.C.’s borders when we’re living in the clean electricity capital of the world.

Not only is it crazy to be importing this oil, we’re also exporting jobs and revenue in the process. If we can shift the majority of vehicles on our city streets to clean electricity, it would obviously keep those jobs and revenue inside this province while also reducing emissions.

Let me say that I’m certainly not in favour of governments mandating what we can drive and/or where we can drive. But I also can’t help wondering what carrots and sticks are still needed to make electric vehicles the norm on our city streets. If high gas prices haven’t already done the trick, then perhaps some stronger motivators are needed to drastically reduce vehicle emissions and keep jobs and revenue in the province.

Michael McBratney, Port Moody

Harness the innovative power of the private sector to develop green energy Given the misinformed debate about green-energy development that has taken place in this province in recent years, including the question of whether the public or the private sector should be developing our green-energy resources, it is interesting to note the direction that NASA (the National Aeronautics and Space Administration) is taking now that the 30-year-old space shuttle program has come to an end.

It’s looking to transfer human and low-Earth orbiting spaceflight to the private sector to take advantage of the private sector’s ability to innovate and reduce costs.

Space flight has become relatively routine in recent decades and is no longer the exclusive domain of governments and government agencies. Privately owned telecommunications satellites and global positioning systems are now the norm, and they connect our world in a way that few could have imaged at the dawn of the space age.

The innovative power of the private sector is even beginning to make space flight accessible to private citizens as Virgin’s Sir Richard Branson successfully demonstrated with SpaceShipTwo, the world’s first commercial spaceship.

So if a highly respected organization like NASA has seen the light and is looking to the private sector rather than to government to build and operate cost-effective spacecraft, then why wouldn’t we be looking to the private sector to bring innovation and cost-effectiveness to the development of green energy as well?

NASA is showing us the way to the future, just as they’ve done since the space age began. Embracing the innovative power of the private sector, and putting that power to work for taxpayers and hydro rate-payers, is clearly the way of the future and clearly it’s the way we should be going.

Christopher Law, Coquitlam

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Cartoon by Rice

At Large

Peter Ladner YVR governance model sets example for other airports

YVR

’s 80th anniversary triggers an opportunity to celebrate one of this region’s great business success stories.

A few months ago, Vancouver International Airport was chosen as the best airport in North America – for the second year in a row – based on surveys of millions of passengers. It also won second place for staff service excellence in North America.

The Fairmont Vancouver Airport ranked No. 1 in North America.

That’s just the recognition part.

Behind those accolades lie years of back-room work, especially by those who shook the airport loose from its “sleepy hollow” profile in the 1980s.

That’s the expression used by former Vancouver Board of Trade CEO Darcy Rezac, who was promoting post-Expo 86 economic development for the federal government when he and then federal economist John Hansen latched onto the idea of local governance for the airport.

After six years of dogged negotiation by the likes of the late Chester Johnson and Graham Clarke, the federal government gave up control to a community board in 1992. The airport took off. The new governance allowed for independent capital financing off the government’s books – and a contentious airport improvement fee to help pay for it all.

Over the years, that led to a new international terminal, an additional runway, an atrium between the domestic and international terminals, the biggest collection of Northwest

Coast Native art in the world, and a big investment in the Canada Line.

Passenger count jumped from 10 million in the early 1990s to almost 17 million passengers last year.

The new governance model has been adopted by every major airport in Canada and spawned the creation of Vancouver Airport Services (YVRAS). Jointly owned by Vancouver Airport Authority and Citi Infrastructure Investors, it operates 19 airports around the world.

The economic health of future generations will depend on a much different balance than the one so admirably achieved

by YVR in its first 80 years All of this activity has been a major economic boon to this region: 23,000 direct jobs, $369 million in revenues last year and total economic output in the billions. It’s big.

What’s ahead for YVR in the next 80 years? How will YVR balance unlimited growth in air travel with rising costs of fossil fuels, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and other unsustainable environmental impacts? Because airplane exhaust in the high atmosphere has three times the impact as the same emissions on land, aviation is expected to account for around 15% of worldwide GHG emissions by 2050.

YVR is justifiably proud of its

sustainability initiatives so far: solar hot water, hybrid taxi subsidies, energy-reducing efficiencies (baggage conveyor belts shut down when no bags are present), a big, new concrete barrier to deflect sound upward and getting 16% of customers and staff onto the Canada Line.

But these are marginal gains.

A 2004 paper from the Stockholm Environment Institute says the industry is ultimately going to have to face up to its harmful environmental impact in three ways: by pricing externalities so that “prices tell the ecological truth”; by getting short-haul passengers onto rail; and by using videoconferencing to substitute for physical travel. In short, by putting fewer planes in the air.

How do we do that when we all still want to travel by “jumping on a plane,” and when the immediate economic benefits of air travel are so palpable?

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is counting on more fuel-efficient aircraft to help achieve its modest goal of “carbon-neutral future aviation growth,” along with heavy reliance on biofuels and carbon offsets – the latter strategies shaky at best.

“Environmental issues should be firmly placed in the wider context of sustainable development, striking a balance with social and economic objectives,” cautions IATA. Definitely. But the economic health of future generations will depend on a much different balance than the one so admirably achieved

by YVR in its first 80 years. • Peter Ladner (pladner@biv.com) is a founder of Business in Vancouver and a former Vancouver city councillor.

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comment 25

August 2–8, 2011 Business in Vancouver

◀Head to Head▶

Should wage and benefits packages for B.C. teachers be increased?

Jim Sinclair

Niels Veldhuis

Better paid teachers add up to better learning conditions

T

BC Ferries’ CEO David Hahn has managed to secure some outrageous compensation gains in his tenure – he was hired on at $250,000 per year and now makes over $1 million, with a staggering $300,000/year pension once he reaches 62 years of age – but she has done nothing to either stop or reverse Hahn’s lucrative deal. Just think how many special-needs assistants could be re-hired with Hahn’s $1.2 million salary.

The premier also has no problem inventing some pretty cushy employment gigs for friends. Former CTV anchor Pamela Martin – a high-profile backer of Clark’s leadership bid – was recently hired as the premier’s outreach director, a job that pays more than $130,000 per year. That’s over three times more than what a first-year teacher is

What’s more valuable: three new teachers in Burnaby or Pamela Martin’s “outreach” work for the premier? paid to teach full-time in Burnaby. The obvious question is what’s more valuable: three new teachers in Burnaby or Pamela Martin’s “outreach” work for the premier? If Clark’s mantra of families first has any real meaning, I would say the three teachers. However, the fact that Martin got the job suggests it’s more about “friends first,” not families.

Let’s not forget that Premier Clark, during her stint as minister of education, along with her predecessor, Premier Gordon Campbell, made a colossal mess of education by picking fights with teachers rather than working collaboratively on better conditions.

Both Clark and Campbell failed to recognize that a teacher’s working conditions are the learning conditions of their students. Shortchange one and you’re sure to short-change the other.

Premier Clark talks about “doing politics differently” in B.C. under her leadership.

Here’s her chance to show just how different she is. B.C. teachers deserve better. So rather than pick fights with teachers, sit down and negotiate a fair deal that works for everyone.

Our future – our students – depends on it. • Jim Sinclair is president of the British Columbia Federation of Labour. He can be reached at exec@bcfed.com.

FAST!

G

iven the current fiscal climate – the B.C. government’s significant deficit ($1.4 billion over the next two years) – and comparisons with the income of average B.C. families, now is hardly the time for increased wages and benefits for B.C. teachers. Rather than give all teachers more, the next collective agreement should tie teacher pay to performance.

Sadly, as a result of the recent recession, the income of average B.C. families has grown by only 0.8% on average over the past four years.

That’s lower than the rate of inflation.

In other words, consumer prices have increased faster than the income of average B.C. families. Indeed, many families are worse off today in real terms.

But not B.C. teachers. They signed a generous collective agreement in 2006 that gave them average wage increases of 2.5% over five years (add in benefits and total compensation increases by 16% over the life of the agreement).

In addition, each teacher received a $4,000 signing bonus. After inking that deal, then-BC Teachers Federation (BCTF) President Jinny Sims boasted of achieving “significant gains.”

While average B.C. families struggled during the recession, B.C. teachers prospered. And after all this, the BCTF wants even more as it renegotiates its contract.

Based on media reports, the BCTF is asking for: •26 weeks (half year) paid leave to care for someone (being a family member is not a requirement); •a year’s pay as a “bonus” for retiring veteran teachers; •two weeks paid leave upon the death of any friend; •five paid days per year for professional activities; •two sick days a month that can be saved up; and •a substantial pay increase (not yet specified) that would make B.C. teachers “the best paid teachers in the country.”

According to the teachers’ “employer” – the B.C. Public School Employers Association – it would cost B.C. taxpayers more than $2 billion to meet their demands. And that doesn’t include their full salary demands.

▼

he answer is simple. It’s yes. Absolutely. After all, teachers take on one of the most important assignments we have in this province: creating the opportunities for our kids – the future of this province – to learn, explore, create and do it all with a confidence that continues throughout their lifetimes.

In fact, the same can be said of others in the public sector. Whether they are driving an ambulance, caring for seniors, making sure our court system works or monitoring the environment, public sector workers provide valuable – make that critical – services to our province and, like teachers, they deserve a wage increase.

So if the answer is obvious, why are the assertions from both the premier’s office and the Fraser Institute so combatively opposed to giving teachers and other public sector workers a wage increase? The gist of their argument is that teachers and others don’t deserve it. Not now, they say, the economy can’t afford it. Remember, they add, the last two years have been lean ones for the province, and we all have to “share the pain.”

However, that argument falls apart if you’re part of B.C.’s elite CEO community.

“Share the pain” is about as foreign to that community as the rings of Saturn.

According to BIV’s annual survey of B.C.’s top executives (see issue 1135; July 26-August 1), the recession that the premier and others use to justify their zero mandates never really happened in B.C.’s CEO club. In fact, the list shows that the average salary increase in that club for 2010 was 23%.

Not bad when inflation for 2010 clocked in at just under 2.0% and the economy grew at just less than 4%.

Even more revealing is the fact that many of these CEOs managed to score significant wage increases despite the fact that the companies they ran lost money. At Timberwest, for example, net earnings from 2009 to 2010 went from a loss of $55 million to an even greater loss of $60.2 million, yet the CEO’s compensation somehow managed to climb by 26% over that same period.

It would seem that when it comes to wage increases, there’s one set of rules that applies in the corporate suite and another set that applies everywhere else.

That same logic is well-entrenched for Premier Christy Clark. Her government may be embarrassed by the revelation that

New teacher compensation package should tie pay to performance

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The B.C. teachers union continues to ask for more, but refuses to consider a “merit pay” system that rewards teachers for effective teaching and encourages less successful teachers to improve their skills.

Such systems are common in the public and the private sectors. Sales commissions, bonuses for established levels of superior performance, piecework, team incentives and pay raises based on past success are all common systems of merit-pay.

B.C. teachers generally earn a pay increase in two ways. They all get an annual increase upon completion of each of their first 10 years of service. The other way to get a boost is to get additional schooling.

But the research here is clear. Save the first couple of years of teaching, more experience doesn’t make a teacher more effective. Likewise, an advanced degree doesn’t necessarily produce a more effective teacher either.

The current compensation system for B.C. teachers simply does not recognize effectiveness, and the BCTF isn’t willing to consider one that does.

The current compensation system for B.C. teachers simply does not recognize effectiveness, and the BCTF isn’t willing to consider one that does.

Add to this the fact that it is nearly impossible to penalize a failing teacher and you have a compensation system that contributes little to the improvement of our children’s future.

B.C. families need a reasonable deal to be made before kids return to school in September. Unfortunately, the BC Teachers Federation’s demands are not reasonable. • Niels Veldhuis (nielsv@fraserinstitute.ca) is vice-president of research at the Fraser Institute and can be followed on Twitter @ nielsveldhuis. This column was co-written

by Peter Cowley, director of school performance studies at the Fraser Institute.

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26 News

Daily business news at www.biv.com August 2–8, 2011

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Thursday, July 28

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Seaspan’s shipbuilding bid gets backing from Victoria The B.C. government is investing $40 million to help Seaspan bid on Ottawa’s multi-billion dollar National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy.

If the bid is successful, the province will offer training or labour tax credits for eligible marine industry employers in B.C. BC Ferries is also contributing $20 million towards Seaspan’s bid.

Tuesday, July 26

GLG sponsors Chinese Olympic swim team Vancouver-based GLG Life Tech Corp. has signed an

agreement to be the exclusive tea drink sponsor of China’s Olympic Swim Team.

AN0C (a drink made with the natural sweetener stevia) will be the exclusive sponsor of the China National Swimming Team for a two-year term, which includes the 2012 Olympics in London. GLG holds an 80% stake in AN0C. Tuesday, July 26

EurOmax takes control of Serbian property EurOmax Resources has taken full ownership of its KMC early-stage copper-gold property in Serbia.

The company said a “major international mining company” decided to forego its option to acquire a 70% interest in the project in return for 2% for net smelter returns.

Tuesday, July 26

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Profile

August 2–8, 2011 Business in Vancouver

27

Andy Dunn

By Bob Mackin

Sales pitches Blue skies ahead at Nat Bailey Stadium as Andy Dunn sets new standards in single-A baseball

Richard Lam

management

Vancouver Canadians president Andy Dunn: “if we don’t have success in the off-season, we’ll never have success in the season. In reality, 95% of all the work is done from September to opening day”

V

ancouver Canadians’ president Andy Dunn jokes that his journey through professional baseball front offices has been Forrest Gump-like.

So let’s start with the first Canadians game he saw in 1999, when the Pacific Coast League (PCL) champions beat the Charlotte Knights to win the Triple-A World Series in Las Vegas.

Running a baseball team in Vancouver was the furthest thing from Dunn’s mind. If he could change anything about the team before him, it would have been the uniforms he deemed ugly. So it was hardly a coincidence that after Dunn was hired in 2008, the class-A Northwest League C’s were repackaged with a clean, classic red, white and black look that set them apart from the PCL team that moved to Sacramento, California, in 2000.

In 2011, it’s all about blue. Specifically, Blue Jays. Unlike other Toronto-Vancouver relationships, the player-development deal signed in 2010 means Canada’s only major league and minor league clubs fit like a glove. Blue Jays greats, including Hall of Fame-bound Roberto Alomar, have appeared at Scotiabank Field at Nat Bailey Stadium for meet-and-greets.

Toronto stocked Vancouver’s roster with an unprecedented six Canadian-

born prospects. The Rogers-owned Jays even donated cash and equipment to the new Vancouver Canadians Baseball Foundation.

“They want West Coast viewers for the Blue Jays games,” Dunn said. “B.C. is the hotbed of baseball in Canada. It makes sense to have a Jays affiliate here, and in four or five years from now, you will see those players in Toronto. They want positive PR coming out of Vancouver, and from what I understand, that wasn’t always the case.”

Dunn, who has a 1992 degree in sport management from Western Carolina University, got into the business as a $400-a-month intern with the triple-A Oklahoma City EightyNiners and ended up staying there three years before returning home to Florida with the Cubs’ double-A team in Orlando. He spent six years with the Florida Marlins (including three as director of Florida operations) and then four years in charge of the Montreal Expos’ Florida operations.

When the Expos moved to Washington and became the Nationals in 2005, so did Dunn. His biggest challenge in the capitol prepared him for the idiosyncrasies of the C’s.

“I had 45 days to get RFK Stadium

set up for baseball in D.C. I walked into there and thought what the hell am I doing?” said the 42-year-old, who is married with three children and lives in South Surrey.

“I remember when I got here I asked, ‘What’s the capacity in the barbecue area?’ Nobody could tell me. … The seats weren’t even numbered.

One of the toughest sales jobs was to get the guys on the staff at the time to understand you can’t set your business plan expecting to operate at 35% capacity. You’ve got to set it at selling every ticket, every night.”

Mike Veeck, the “fun is good” minor league promotional guru, recommended ex-Marlins cohort Dunn to the C’s co-owners – lumberman Jake Kerr and fast-food tycoon Jeff Mooney – in 2007. He was ultimately sold on the passion of the owners, who made him a minority partner.

“He’s not only an incredibly knowledgeable sports and baseball executive, but as fine a person and a leader that I’ve ever met,” said Mooney, the A&W Food Services chairman. “This year is better than ever at the ballpark, in everything; he’s improved every dimension of the experience.”

A chance meeting with an inquisitive BC Hydro employee in the

Mission: To be the best sports and entertainment value in the city every summer Assets: Baseball tradition at picturesque Nat Bailey Stadium, the city’s oldest outdoor pro sports venue Yield: Steadily increasing attendance for single-A baseball; a potential return to Triple-A in the cards

barbecue area one night in 2008 led to the Crown corporation redoing the 1951-built stadium’s electrical system, Scotiabank buying naming rights and the 2010 installation of a new Daktronics video scoreboard.

Dunn was asked why the floodlights were on at 6:30 p.m. for a 7 o’clock first pitch on a sunny summer’s evening. “I said, ‘I hate to turn them on, but if they don’t come on I know I’ve got two hours to get them fixed.’ The power equipment in this building was so old and antiquated.”

Dunn increased the points of sale for food, beverage and merchandise to 60 from 12 when he realized that the club couldn’t rely on parking revenue.

“First time I looked at the numbers for parking I thought somebody was stealing money,” he said. “When you factor 8.2 fans per car, the math doesn’t work, but when you see it operate for a year there is such high public transportation, biking and walking to the ballpark.”

The C’s, who charge $12.50 for general admission and $16 for box seats, are halfway through their home schedule and hope to surpass last year’s record 154,592 attendance for 38 dates. That’s 45,000 more than when the Southern Oregon Timberjacks moved north to fill the void of the PCL team’s departure in 2000.

The C’s financial information is closely held, but Dunn said Vancouver leads the NWL in revenue and is comparable with East Coast moneymakers like the Lowell, Massachusetts, Spinners or Brooklyn, New York, Cyclones. Dunn credits hard work in the year’s nine other months.

“I have a motto: if we don’t have success in the off-season, we’ll never have success in the season. In reality, 95% of all the work is done from September to opening day. From opening day you’re implementing the plan you’ve had in place, executing and delivering what you’ve sold everybody.”

Dunn said he’s happy at the Nat and is in no hurry to return to a bigleague franchise. Kerr and Mooney’s long-term goal is to return Vancouver to triple-A. Easier said than done: they’d need to buy and move a team here and expand Nat Bailey.

“Without Jake and Jeff it would never happen; without Jake and Jeff you wouldn’t have baseball in this market, this club would’ve left four or five years ago,” Dunn said. “Right now, is there a plan in place or a franchise we’d go out and purchase? No there is not.” • 2010goldrush@gmail.com

DiD you miss these recent eDitorial profiles?

Christopher Krywulak

Lesley Stowe

Ken Spencer

Software company iQmetrix moves west for bigger piece of mobile phone pie Issue: July 26

The queen of crisps looking for another recipe for success in B.C.’s food industry Issue: July 19

Retired Creo co-founder now helping build B.C.’s high-tech sector Issue: July 12

Check them out at www.biv.com/profiles

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Daily business news at www.biv.com August 2–8, 2011

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