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Local. Business. Intelligence. September 27–October 3, 2011 • Issue 1144

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Harbour Air’s Greg McDougall and Vancouver harbour’s float-plane terminal stalemate 3 Concerns raised over unregistered lobbyists 5 Head cases: local tech company says new helmet design provides better protection for athletes 8 Time for some long-term views on short-term market hysteria 12 Dog days and raw deals: new diet feeding pet-food business boom 14 Tech trio tackles cancer 15 Seeking better financial investment plans in bleak economic times 19-20

An increase in development in Metro Vancouver is generating a parallel increase in theft from commercial and residential building sites 6-7

dominic schaefer

Construction site crime driving up building costs Peter Simpson, Greater Vancouver Home Builders Association CEO: “they’re very brazen”

YVR cab fare fight looms

Filling in income equality gaps 28 What Liberals need to do to build a better PST/GST marriage 29

Richard Day and Diana Douglas of Self-Counsel Press: How to: survive 40 years in the book publishing trade 31 Biggest financial planning firms in Metro Vancouver

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Taxi stand: cab companies are embroiled in a court battle in the leadup to the bidding process for renewal of taxi licences to service Vancouver airport

>Vancouver’s Yellow Cab sues competitors over YVR contracts >Squabble sparked among Lower Mainland taxi companies vying for highly lucrative passenger pickup concessions at the airport

Business in Vancouver Issue 1144

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By Joel McKay

he largest taxi company in the Lower Mainland is suing nearly every one of its competitors over the right to profitable passenger pickup contracts at Vancouver International Airport (YVR). According to a September 16 B.C. Supreme Court notice of civil claim, Yellow Cab Co. has filed suit against the Lower Mainland Taxi Association and members including Bonny’s Taxi, Coquitlam Taxi, Delta Sunshine Taxi, Guildford Cab, Kimber Cabs, Newton Whalley Hi Way Taxi, North Shore Taxi, Richmond

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Cabs, Royal City Taxi, Sunshine Cabs, Surdell Kennedy Taxi and White Rock South Surrey Taxi. The suit revolves around a highly competitive bid process for pickup licences at YVR, which Yellow claims it’s been cut out of thanks to the illegal actions of the association and an opaque bidding process at the YVR. Yellow Cab has held licences to pick up passengers at the airport for decades, and it was the second largest licence holder, with 62, among association members. see Airport, 4

Daily business news at www.biv.com September 27–October 3, 2011

contents Columnists Strategic Marketing Judy Bishop Money Business Harry Jaako High-Tech Office Alan Zisman Real Estate Roundup Peter Mitham Public Offerings Timothy Renshaw At Large Peter Ladner Head to Head Jim Sinclair vs Niels Veldhuis

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Clark unveils jobs plan details

IMF likes Canada’s economic outlook

UBC opens $56 million law school building

Natural gas production to decline across Canada

Burnaby mill closure kills 100 jobs

Vancouver junior miner inks deal with mining giant

Clark to boost international student numbers

B.C. lighting company lands US$7.5 million

Polymer Research snags business competition top prize

Corvus to make batteries for wind, solar-powered ships

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September 27–October 3, 2011 Business in Vancouver

Float-plane dogfight drags on in standoff over Coal Harbour terminal fees, safety By Joel McKay

ancouver’s idyllic Coal Harbour has become a morass of information, misinformation and cutthroat business negotiations. Greg McDougall, CEO of the Harbour Air Group, is in a Mexican standoff with the managers of the new Vancouver Harbour Flight Centre (VHFC) terminal, lengthening a months-long battle that, critics argue, is really about a $9.50 fee. “At the end of the day, it’s all about money,” explained Chris Danroth, owner of Tofino Air, which has been operating out of the VHFC since May.

“There’s a lot of inconsistencies and a lot of lies and a lot of untrue facts that have been published here recently depending on who you talk to” – Peter Clarke, president, Seair Seaplanes

McDougall, a veteran of B.C.’s staunchly competitive float-plane business, said it’s not that simple. His companies, Harbour Air and West Coast Air, have spent the last several years hunkered down at a “temporary” dock next to the VHFC. The dock, a collection of portable buildings, cedar planks and fuel lines, isn’t pretty, said McDougall, but it’s better than moving next door to the “stateof-the-art” VHFC and risking his business. “We see it as the viability of our business,” said McDougall. “If

we let the costs go up to the point where we can’t sustain or grow our business then we won’t survive.” What he’s concerned about is the added fee his companies would have to pass on to customers should he move into the VHFC. Originally, McDougall said the added per-passenger fee was in the order of $12 each way. But Peter Clarke, president of Seair Seaplanes, said that’s just one of the many inaccurate statements published recently about the Coal Harbour clash. “There’s a lot of inconsistencies and a lot of lies and a lot of untrue facts that have been published here recently depending on who you talk to,” said Clarke, whose company has also been flying out of the VHFC since it opened in May. The actual rental rate for the VHFC, he said, is $9.50 one-way per customer. Danroth confirmed that’s the rental rate he’s been charged as well. But McDougall maintains the increase, any increase, could potentially strip his business of its competitive edge because he would have to pass on those costs to the customer. Harbour Air and West Coast Air handle more than 90% of the 300,000 passengers who fly in and out of the harbour every year. Harbour Air opponents argue the company is holding out at the temporary dock because McDougall wants to maintain his nearmonopoly on the highly lucrative Vancouver-Victoria route. In addition to buying out its largest competitor, West Coast Air, last year, Harbour Air is trying to build another float-plane terminal in Victoria that could lock out the competition (see “Harbour flight

Dominic Schaefer

Additional passenger levies, new terminal’s design among issues pitting airlines against Vancouver Harbour Flight Centre operators

Harbour Air CEO Greg McDougall on Ledcor and the Clarke Group’s new floatplane terminal: “you guys went and built the wrong thing; the arrogance of it is unbelievable”

plan stalled” – issue 1126; May 24-30). But McDougall is quick to respond to any accusations that he has an unfair advantage. “It’s not fair to say, ‘you have 95% of the market and that’s some unfair advantage,’ the reality is anybody can come along and compete with us,” said McDougall. “The business we have we’ve earned and we’ve earned it through very hard work and good service and managing our expenses properly.” But the mudslinging hasn’t stopped at fees and control of the market. Harbour Air opponents argue that McDougall wants to stay at the temporary dock because he doesn’t pay anything to be located

there. McDougall said that’s not true. “I wish it was free,” he said. The City of Vancouver, which recently extended the company’s licence in the area for an additional two years, said the value of that licence is in the “hundreds of thousands of dollars.” McDougall also argues that the VHFC’s docks are too high, which could potentially damage planes and affect his company’s operations. Danroth conceded the docks are a little high, saying that when large waves come in from passing ships they can cause the tail fin of the plane to smash against the dock. He said it has happened once already, but his company has figured

out a way to avoid it. McDouga ll has ca lled the VHFC “tota l ly dysf unctional,” pointing to corroded fuel lines, a lack of space for customers and employees and huge cost overruns. He said the dock cost BC Pavilion Corp., owners of the nearby convention centre, $22 million to build. That’s far in excess of the $10 million he claims it could be built for. And all the float-plane operators, no matter what side of the argument they fall on, have an opinion as to how the new dock could have been built better. McDougall and his group have gone so far as to propose building a third non-profit terminal east of Canada Place. The situation in Coal Harbour has deteriorated to such a point that the provincial government has stepped in, appointing BC Hydro chairman Dan Doyle to mediate talks between the opposing parties. The province is also working on an engineering report focused on the VHFC, which McDougall hopes will determine if the new terminal is safe to operate from. A source close to the report said it should be ready in about a week. Meanwhile, the VHFC’s new tenants will continue to expand their businesses and add new routes, while McDougall will ferry the lion’s share of passengers from his temporary dock. “This really has become a vital transportation ring for hundreds of thousands of people,” McDougall said. “It’s not just a bunch of guys with float planes anymore.” • jmckay@biv.com

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Daily business news at www.biv.com September 27–October 3, 2011

Airport: Loss of licence to pick up at YVR would seriously erode taxi company’s bottom line from YVR, 1

Peter Gall, a partner w it h law f i r m Heena n Blaikie acting on behalf of Yellow, said the company’s revenue would take a hit if it’s cut out of the airport pickup business. “ I d o n’t h a ve e x a c t numbers, but that would be a significant loss for Yellow,” Gall told Business in Vancouver. Lower Mainland taxi companies, including Yellow, formed the association

in 2009 to improve relations with the airport authority, speak collectively on issues of concern and eliminate cab shortages at YVR. The current licences held by Yellow and the association members are set to expire next February, meaning that each company would have to reapply for its contract with the airport. Ac c ord i n g t o c ou r t documents, in June 2010,

the airport authority told the association members it would prefer a “common concession for passenger pick-up at YVR” beginning March 1, 2012. YVR allegedly told the members the annual cost to run the pickup program would be approximately $1.8 million. Gall said Yellow Cab was interested in bidding for what it believed could be a contract to exclusively serve YVR, effectively

seizing control of all pickup business at the airport. In the fall of 2010, the claim alleges, the association pursued its own bid to land an exclusive contract for its members at YVR, effectively pitting Yellow Cab against the association it had helped form. The association then allegedly demanded Yellow drop its bid for the contract and allow the association to act as the “exclusive bargaining agent”

for all negotiations with the airport. Yellow refused. “The association was never formed for the purpose of bidding on t he contract,” Gall said. “Yellow is of the view that the association doesn’t have the ability or authority to actually bid on the contract as an entity to itself.” In July, the situation deteriorated to the point that the association demanded an “extraordinary

general meeting” be held with a resolution to kick Yellow out of t he association, court documents show.

“They should start the process afresh. It should be an open and transparent process with a formal [request for proposal] … so it’s fair and transparent” – Peter Gall, partner, Heenan Blaikie

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It’s further alleged the association members intended to not only win the contract from YVR and strip Yellow of its membership, but also then divide the company’s licences among themselves. On September 14, all 16 members of the association allegedly attended a meeting where a 12-4 vote stripped Yellow of its membership. Black Top and Checker Cabs, Maclure’s Cabs and Vancouver Ta x i, a long with Yellow, voted against the resolution. Black Top, Maclure’s and Vancouver have not been targeted in the suit. A representative from the association refused to comment on the suit, but said, so far, YVR has not awarded any new pickup contracts. Still, Yellow’s lawyers say YVR’s bidding process for new contracts has been opaque, inviting suspicion from different cab companies t hat t he process hasn’t been fair. Y VR cou ld not be reached for comment. Gall said the bidding process should be started over. “They should start the process afresh,” he said. “It should be an open and transparent process with a formal [request for proposal] … so it’s fair and transparent.” Yellow is seeking declarations that the association breached its constitution a nd bylaws when it required Yellow to abandon its bid for the contract and stripped the company of its membership. • jmckay@biv.com

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September 27–October 3, 2011 Business in Vancouver

Concerns raised over business lobbyists in B.C. Legislation to police non-registered lobbyists introduced in April 2010, but thus far no penalties have been handed out By Jenny Wagler

early a year and a half after new legislation created penalties of up to $25,000 for B.C. lobbyists who don’t publicly register their activities, no fines have been doled out and only 1.5 full-time employees are currently assigned to investigate cases of noncompliance. Registrar of Lobbyists Elizabeth Denham said that for the first year after April 1, 2010, when the Lobbyist Registration Amendment Act gave new enforcement powers to the Office of the Registrar of Lobbyists for British Columbia (ORL), the office has focused on education.

“The average nightclub on Robson Street probaby has more bouncers than the Registrar of Lobbyists has compliance officers” – Dermod Travis, managing director, Integrity BC

As of April, the ORL had 634 active registrations in the B.C. Lobbyists Registry. More than half their lobbying efforts are focused on health, environment and energy issues. In the last five months, Denham said the office has shifted toward enforcement. “I think there are significant numbers of unregistered lobbyists [in B.C.],” she said. “The problem is that we have no real way of knowing because pretty much anyone can be a lobbyist. The profession is not regulated or circumscribed like lawyers, for example. ” Denham noted that, of the four investigations that have been launched, three have been closed with no penalties. “We determined the lobbyists were non-compliant due to misunderstanding of the rules, so it doesn’t make sense – it’s not in the public interest – to proceed further,” she said. “And all three fixed the problems either by registering or amending their current registration.” The remaining investigation, which she deemed

“serious,” is still underway. In a letter accompanying the ORL’s annual report, Denham noted that non-registration by B.C. lobbyists can be either inadvertent or deliberate. She pointed out the challenges of locating people in the latter category. “Sometimes, the ORL is alerted to intentional noncompliance by a concerned member of the public, public office holder, or other lobbyist. Other times, we discern unregistered lobbying by noting and tracking government priorities and media coverage of current events and issues and comparing the results of these scans to information in the registry.” Denham said her enforcement resources are extremely limited. “We really only have 1.5 staff that are actually doing the work on the ground, so it’s a pretty skinny staff.” Dermod Travis, managing director of Victoriabased B.C. government watchdog Integrity BC, voiced concern about the ORL’s staffing. “The average nightclub on Robson Street probably has more bouncers than the Registrar of Lobbyists has compliance officers.” He said he’s concerned about the ORL’s reliance on voluntary compliance.

Elizabeth Denham, registrar of lobbyists: “there are significant numbers of unregistered lobbyists [in B.C.]”

“People who hire lobbyists are obviously there to protect and promote their special interests; they’re not going to be people who will be cajoled nicely into reporting the information that ordinary British Columbians and MLAs have a right to know.” Travis said he’d like to see politicians help with identifying lobbyists by reporting who they meet with, on a quarterly basis. Travis added that B.C.’s transparency requirements

fall well short of what’s imposed at a federal level. “I’m registered as a federal lobbyist, and boy would I love to have this as the regime that I would have

to operate under,” he said. “This is giving lobbyists a blank cheque in terms of how they carry out their business.” The ORL’s annual report

noted plans to develop a code of conduct for lobbyists in B.C.: “Although a mechanism exists to censure public office holders for unethical behaviour, no equivalent mechanism exists to censure lobbyists for corresponding unethical behaviour.” The report noted that the Criminal Code and the Member’s Conflict of Interest Act prohibits public office holders from improperly disclosing confidential information, accepting cash and gifts of value or operating in a conflict-of-interest position. “However,” it pointed out, “there is little to prohibit lobbyists from, for example, soliciting, receiving and using confidential insider information, attempting to influence by providing gifts or other benefits and attempting an outcome that could put public office holder in a potential conflict of interest position.” • jwagler@biv.com

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Daily business news at www.biv.com September 27–October 3, 2011

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Crime storeys Building resurgence begets construction site crime resurgence in B.C.; thefts ranging from tools to backhoes adding to development costs for companies and consumers By Peter Mitham

ne of the most brazen thefts from a construction site this summer was of a $50,000 backhoe lifted from a site in North Vancouver, loaded on a flat-bed truck and taken south to Langley. The story has quickly attained something approaching legendary status in the ranks of contractors and the companies that insure them. It underscores both the fearlessness of the culprits and the growing fearfulness in the industry that a resurgence in building has brought with it an increase in crime. The situation harkens back to the worst times of the mid-2000s when metal theft was common and even the Vancouver Convention Centre expansion project lost 18 pallets of custom-made steel and aluminum components. Vancouver Police Department (VPD) statistics indicate that there were 30 reported break-and-enters to homes under construction, including garages, in the second quarter of this year. To the end of August, break-ins at residential construction sites had doubled to four this year from two last year. While thefts at commercial development sites decreased by approximately a quarter, thefts of goods valued at more than $5,000 remained steady at three incidents this year and last. The numbers indicate a shift from the metal thefts of the last decade. According to the VPD, the items stolen this year have been primarily tools, appliances and hardwood flooring while just two thefts involved copper wire or tubing. Moreover, many of the thefts appear to be well-planned operations rather than opportunistic ventures designed to feed a drug habit or other addiction. The items being taken are being sold for reuse by others, not for scrap. “It appears to be more targeted,” said Gary Friend, president of South Ridge Developments Ltd. in Surrey. “It’s not just taking wire for the heck of the wire, it’s taking stuff they can use on the next project. The market’s very busy, but it’s competitive. And when sub trades get tight prices, unfortunately it seems like some trades tend to steal material to supply the next job. ... They take one thing, and then if you get hit again it’s the next thing in sync – they take the lumber then they take the nails.” Peter Simpson, president and CEO of the Greater Vancouver

Dominic Schaefer

Peter Simpson, president and CEO of the Greater Vancouver Home Builders Association: “these guys will actually enter these sites wearing a hard hat and they’ll look for opportunities to steal something that’s unattended. They’re very brazen. They’ll walk through with a clipboard and steal something”

Home Builders Association, said it’s easy for those familiar with job sites to blend in, especially when people and trucks are coming and going.

“Big equipment that gets stolen, like your excavators and backhoes, tend to be stolen by people who know what they want” – Chris Haag, executive vice-president, Wilson M. Beck Insurance Services Inc.

“These guys will actually enter these sites wearing a hard hat and they’ll look for opportunities to steal something that’s unattended,” he said. “They’re very brazen. They’ll walk through with a clipboard and steal something.” Chris Haag, executive vicepresident with Wilson M. Beck Insurance Services Inc. in Burnaby, which insures many of the major builders, agrees that thefts

are now planned and organized better. “Big equipment that gets stolen, like your excavators and backhoes, tend to be stolen by people who know what they want,” he said. While the backhoe that ended up in South Langley was outfitted with a tracking chip that allowed police to intercept it at its destination before it was damaged, other items aren’t similarly equipped. Tools and materials typically wind up being sold online or to other contractors who think they’re getting a deal. “These things are sold pennies on the dollar, pawn shops, out of town and through Internet sites that advertise articles for sale,” Simpson said. “What’s the likelihood of a guy getting his chopsaw back through police efforts? Probably nil, unless it just happens to show up somewhere, if they find a houseful of stuff that’s been stolen.” Cpl. Brenda Gresiuk, mediarelations officer with the Burnaby detachment of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, said law-enforcement officials know material is

being sold on Craigslist, Kijiji and through other channels, but it’s difficult to control trafficking of stolen goods without evidence that it’s happening. “There’s numerous places to sell items, legitimately, and unfortunately the illegitimate thieves are also using those systems to get rid of items. That’s common knowledge,” she said. “You can go on Craigslist at any time and find numerous items for sale. Are they stolen? We don’t know.” Contractors and clients footing bill for thefts What the industry does know is that if crime pays, it is contractors and their clients – buyers and tenants – footing the bill. There’s not only the immediate cost of having to replace materials and equipment, and potentially downtime at the job site, but also the cost of prevention and insurance, which rapidly adds up and has to be absorbed somewhere. “It’s going to be added onto the price,” Simpson said, arguing that construction site theft boosts housing costs and erodes

affordability in a region where housing is unaffordable by national measures. But it’s the small builders that are especially squeezed, caught as they are between the risk of theft, the need for insurance and the need to keep house prices competitive. Friend said the deductible on his insurance for any given project is typically between $2,500 and $5,000. If the site is hit by thieves, however, the claim is worth it only if it’s significantly higher than the deductible. But then the premium for the next job might be significantly higher. “My challenge is that my insurance is very expensive in today’s world, my deductible’s very high and should I claim, it just makes my insurance higher. So I’m faced with the threat and reality of theft on job sites, and can’t take advantage of the expensive insurance I’ve paid for because it’ll cost me too much the next time,” he said. “That $5,000 claim could cost me $3,000, $4,000 a house down the road. ... That homeowner is paying the bill for the last one.” Haag empathizes with Friend and other builders who wrestle with the cost of insurance. “It’s a direct overhead driver for him,” Haag said of the small contractor. While insurance is part of a comprehensive risk-management program, many small builders don’t have the systems in place to support its presence. Tools, for example, aren’t rigorously accounted for, meaning their disappearance can’t be documented. Other times, communication breakdowns mean equipment and materials are left unattended. “The best form of insurance is prevention, rather than insurance itself,” Haag said. “What I would say to the small homebuilder is, put a good site safety together to prevent bad things from happening, and it will make you a better contractor, keep your insurance costs down and actually allow you to grow your business because you’ll be running safe job sites that don’t have these problems.” Cost of site crime prevention on the rise But prevention costs add up. Onsite security is required for multifamily builders to get insurance, which lenders require before providing financing. Reducing the amount of material on site to prevent losses also costs money,

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September 27–October 3, 2011 Business in Vancouver

full disclosure because more deliveries are required – at $200 a trip – to ensure workers have enough of the materials they need, but not too much to make the site a target for thieves. “The end result of that is that I still have an extra large cost for job site overhead, due to the theft potential,” Friend said. “It costs more to do business, and it’s passed along.” These costs then hang in the balance against any theft that occurs, leaving builders like Friend wondering whether to make a claim and risk a higher insurance

premium. Sometimes swallowing the cost of the crime is a wiser move, but it’s still a cost someone has to pay. The one payoff builders can hope for from their steadily rising investment in security is to limit risk to a point where thieves move to more vulnerable sites. “You have to make sure you look as theft-proof as possible,” Friend said. Or, as Haag puts it: “Make sure your site is so difficult to get into that the bad guy goes to the next site.” • pmitham@telus.net

Homes under construction (Metro Vancouver 2006-11) 30,000 25,000 20,000 15,000 10,000 5,000 0

Chris Haag, Wilson M. Beck Insurance VP: thefts are now planned and organized better

Total Source: Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.

Green buildings popular, but LEED projects stall Many developers unwilling to pay administrative costs and navigate bureaucratic red tape to achieve LEED certification certification, however, has marketing advantages, particularly for companies such as Starbucks Corp. (Nasdaq:SBUX) and Moun-

By Glen Korstrom

tradespeople have a new place to learn sustainable building techniques just as the annual number of new LEED-certified projects appears to be plateauing. Okanagan Col lege launched its new centre of excellence this month. Built to the highest sustainability standards, the Penticton centre will be used to train tradespeople in sustainable building techniques such as geothermal engineering and how to install efficient heating and ventilation systems, which are key to securing LEED (leadership in energy and environmental design) designation. The number of new LEEDcertified projects worldwide has grown substantially each year for the past decade, according to statistics that the U.S. Green Building Council provided to Business in Vancouver last week. Much slower growth is expected this year for both LEED-certified and LEEDregistered projects. However, given the global economic slowdown since late 2008, any growth is impressive. Meanwhile, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and affiliate organizations such as the Canadian Green Building Council (CGBC) can take three years to verify eligibility and grant a project LEED certification. That slows the growth of the LEED building sector because developers and building owners are reluctant to spend extra money

“We’ve never had a client who has wanted LEED role: Mountain Equipment Co-op aiming to have its future store in North Vancouver LEED certified

on the bureaucracy to verify that a building merits LEED certification. “People want a sustainable building and they want to do it for the right reasons, but they’re not necessarily worried about proving it,” said Tim McLennan, who is a principal at CEI Architecture Planning Interiors, which designed the Okanagan College’s centre of excellence. His firm specializes in designing green buildings. The final two buildings in Tonko

Realty Advisors Ltd.’s Willingdon Park development are among its recent projects. “The industry has come a long way,” McLennan said. “It used to be a premium in cost to build a LEED building because of the [techniques and materials required]. Those have become so mainstream that the cost is now just in the certification process.” Beedie Group executives do cost-benefit analyses on all aspects of projects. They calculated a few years ago that it would have cost $300,000

to have the CGBC certify that one of its projects, Refrigerative Supply’s building in Burnaby, meets LEED standards. “We’ve never had a client who has wanted to incur the cost to get LEED certification when there’s many things that they can use that money for in the construction process to have a more green and energy-efficient building,” said Beth Harrington, the Beedie Group’s manager of industrial development. Obtaining LEED

to incur the cost to get LEED certification” – Beth Harrington, manager of industrial development, Beedie Group

tain Equipment Co-op (MEC) that have invested millions of dollars to integrate sustainability into their corporate brand image. Starbucks earlier this year issued a press release trumpeting the opening of Vancouver’s first LEED-registered Starbucks at the corner of West Hastings and Howe

streets. The location, however, is not LEED-certified. According to USGBC communications manager Ashley Katz, being LEEDregistered simply means that Starbucks has paid a fee to the USGBC and has agreed to start the process to become LEED-certified. Meanwhile, Ventana Construction is building a new store for MEC in North Vancouver that’s slated to open in April 2012. MEC has no corporate policy mandating that all new stores and its future headquarters on the False Creek Flats be LEED-certified. Instead, Stuart Kernaghan, Ventana’s marketing and communications manager, said MEC views LEED certification as a byproduct of focusing on having the most environmentally sustainable building possible. • gkorstrom@biv.com

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News

Daily business news at www.biv.com September 27–October 3, 2011

Building a better brain bucket

Nelson Bennett

Cripton Technologies has developed a double-shelled sports helmet that will reduce concussions and neck injuries, says company CEO, a former owner of Riddell Sports

Joseph McHugh, Cripton Technologies’ CEO, with a Riddell helmet; company CTO Peter Cripton with a Pro-Neck-Tor-modified helmet

By Nelson Bennett

s a former owner of Riddell Sports Inc. – the NFL’s official helmet maker – Joseph McHugh knows a thing or two about football helmets. And as a lawyer, he knows a thing or two about liability issues. (When he bought Riddell in the 1980s and turned it around, the company was facing bankruptcy because

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it had been hit with a multimillion-dollar personal injury suit.) So, a year ago, when the former Chicago businessman heard that Peter Cripton – a professor at University of British Columbia’s Orthopaedic and Injury Biomechanics lab – had developed a double-shelled football helmet designed to reduce concussion and neck injuries, he knew it was a product with a

ready-made market. “I know the industry,” said McHugh, Cripton Technologies Inc.’s CEO. “I immediately saw the advantages this had, because it was a whole new direction. There’s absolute demand for it. It’s not a product that’s looking for a market.” In football alone, there were 1,588 neck injuries reported to emergency departments in the U.S. between

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1990 and 1999. And according to one study, 65% of 220 spinal-cord injuries in football players were the result of head-first impact. That’s not even counting all the head and neck injuries in other sports, like hockey. The Pro-Neck-Tor prototype Cripton has been working on is adapted for football helmets, but the design can be used in hockey, motocross, snowboarding, mountain biking and riding helmets. Cripton’s lab at UBC specializes in biomedical research. About six years ago, Tim Nelson, one of Cripton’s graduate students at UBC, came up with a design for a sports helmet that diffuses the force of impact by essentially turning the neck into a shock absorber. Cripton has taken the idea and spent the last five years developing and testing it. The key is an inner shell, made of a carbonate material, that is attached to the outer shell, but which will detach when the helmet meets a significant force. As the inner shell comes away from the outer shell, it moves forward, bending the head and neck. “The typical helmet, on impact, cushioned the head, but it did not move the head,” explained Cripton, the company’s CTO. “Our helmet guides the head so that it does not stop. If we can keep the head moving this way, it allows us to decrease the force on the head

Pro-Neck-Tor helmet design: turns neck into a shock absorber

and on the neck.” Unlike a motorcycle helmet, which is supposed to be discarded after an accident,

“We have five years of Peter’s blood, sweat and tears, all documented, plus – and here’s the big thing – 20 cadavers” – Joseph McHugh, CEO, Cripton Technologies

helmets with Pro-Neck-Tor design will be able to be reset for reuse after a significant impact. The Pro-Neck-Tor is a major departure from traditional helmet design, McHugh said, because all other sports helmet manufacturers are focused on padding as a way to reduce injury. Sports helmets are designed to prevent fractured skulls – they’re not designed to prevent concussions, much less neck injuries, McHugh said. Many come with disclaimers to that effect. So a helmet that can do all three will have huge appeal to anyone who plays sports, McHugh said, even if it’s more expensive ($50 to $75 more for a $300 football helmet). “We don’t think there’s an entry barrier here,” McHugh said. “The biggest fear

of anyone who plays – and their parents – is that kid is going to break his neck or sustain a big concussion. If you were a hockey dad, how much more would you pay for a helmet that reduces the force?” The Pro-Neck-Tor design isn’t the only thing Cripton has going for it as it moves closer to commercialization. It also has a unique research position, thanks to Cripton’s association with UBC’s Injury Biomechanics Laboratory and Vancouver General Hospital. “We have something that nobody else can deliver,” McHugh said. “We have five years of Peter’s blood, sweat and tears, all documented, plus – and here’s the big thing – 20 cadavers.” Because of Cripton’s affiliations with UBC and VGH, the company has access to human bodies that have been donated for medical research. McHugh said being able to test the Pro-Neck-Tor on cadavers gives the Pro-Neck-Tor a significant marketing edge. “We’ve already tested this on the human body. The marketing ability to make those claims, supported by all of Peter’s numbers and testing – that’s enormously powerful to get this sold.” In addition to the private investment McHugh has already raised, UBC has invested roughly $1 million to help Cripton test and patent the Pro-Neck-Tor. • nbennett@biv.com

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News

September 27–October 3, 2011 Business in Vancouver

Strategic Marketing

Judy Bishop Early trademark initiatives can trump brand trouble later

ne of the most vexing issues facing new companies or product developers is whether to protect their brands with trademark registration. Money is always in short supply; will a trademark really matter at the early stages? Vancouver-based St. Moritz Watch Corp. learned about the quirks of intellectual property when it encountered trademark opposition from the town of St. Moritz, Switzerland. St. Morit z fou nder a nd president Simon Pennell relates a very modern story. The 31-year-old Vancouver company earns millions annually by selling Momentum® brand watches in North America, Europe and Asia at hundreds of locations, via distributors and, increasingly, online. “Money was tight when I started the business,” Pennell said. “Registering trademarks was very expensive then, so I registered in Canada, the U.S.A. and Japan, where we had a big customer.” Though Pennell considered European protection, it then

meant country-by-country registration, which, at $5,000 per country, would have been prohibitively expensive. The town of St. Moritz, Switzerland, later registered trademarks for virtually every product category, everything from luggage and jewelry to cigars. About 15 years ago, when Pennell’s company started selling to a large European customer, the “St. Moritz” watch brand came to St. Moritz town’s attention, which sought to block the watch trade. Despite approaching the town, Pennell couldn’t acquire rights for his watches, so embarked on a dual-brand strategy intended to avoid trademark infringement in Europe while retaining brand value built under “St. Moritz” elsewhere. About six years ago, this strategy fully migrated to branding watches solely under the “Momentum” label. Other factors supporting the brand shift included availability of the “Momentum” brand in all relevant geographies, and the “action” appeal of Momentum to the

critical, younger demographic. It wasn’t cheap to shift brand. Directly related legal costs for all countries totalled nearly $100,000. Fifteen years later, it’s still costing the company to change market awareness. “To this day, we have customers who are surprised that Momentum and St. Moritz are the same company,” said Pennell. If he were starting his company today, what would Pennell do? “If you can register your trademark in key markets worldwide, do it. If we could have secured EU registration back then, we would have done it – no question.” “With the importance of online sales, a powerful URL that links to your brand is almost more important than a trademark registration. “Happily, today’s landscape is different, according to Roger Kuypers, intellectual property lawyer at Fasken Martineau. For companies considering Europe, there’s a pan-European trademark registration that covers all 27 European Union states – a market of more than 400

million people. It takes less than a year and costs between $3,000 and $5,000 per mark. (It’s worth noting that although there is an EU trademark, national registries trump the more global EU protection.) North American trademark registration ta kes between a year and 18 months. The cost of registration is about $5,000 for the U.S.A. and about $2,000 for Canada.

“If you can register your trademark in key markets worldwide, do it” - Simon Pennell, founder and president, St. Moritz Watch Corp.

But what’s a new company to do? At minimum, Kuypers suggests doing free online trademark database searches to see if anyone has registered the mark for similar wares. Still, phonetics or slight variations matter, and online searches would mostly miss these. Full availability search through a lawyer would cover identical hits, marks that are similar, and “common law” searches. These are especially relevant to Canada,

U.S.A. and England, where rights are conferred based on history of trademark use, not simple registration. “If someone has used a mark for 20 years, but never registered it, you could still be liable for trademark infringement if the original user launched an action,” Kuypers said. But this is a bad business gamble that risks creating market confusion and wasting brand development dollars. Kuypers believes the best strategy for cash-conscious clients is to register fewer trademarks. For example, BMW owns that trademark, but the cars are all numbered. The core brand value resides in the BMW name and logo, not in the car models. “The best strategy to limit expense in trademarking and still have defensible brand is to focus your brand under fewer trademarks. A house brand rather than product brands. Focus branddevelopment strategy on fewer trademarks, but deepen their brand value.” • Judy Bishop (judy@judybishop. ca) is the managing partner of Bishop + Company, a provider of corporate and marketing services to changing companies since 1991. Her column appears monthly.

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Finance

Daily business news at www.biv.com September 27–October 3, 2011

BY THE NUMBERS

Losses are shown in brackets. Graph information by Stockwatch.

Wall Financial Corp. (TSX:WFC)

▲62% $24m Revenue: $200m 6 months 2012

Net income 6 months 2012

Walled in: The Vancouver real estate company saw a significant increase in revenue during the first half thanks to the sale of 359 condominium units at the Capitol Residences development. Still, net earnings were slightly off compared to last year, mostly due to a decrease in hotel operations Earnings per share and rental properties. The decrease was a result of a hotel 6 months 2012 and two rental property sales.

$20

Care dollars: The seniors health care company said its revenue increase in the first quarter was largely due to low revenue in the prior quarter, which was the result of the U.S. economic downturn. Bookings in the first quarter were down 10%. Vigil believes the decline is a construction cycle issue, Earnings per share adding that the senior-living market appears to be showing 3 months 2011 signs of a recovery. Vigil had $53k in cash as of June 30.

$0.20

Water logged: Poor spring weather throughout the Pacific Northwest negatively impacted Bevo Agro’s ability to sell bedding plants. The company’s fourth quarter sales were down 12% to $8.6m compared to the same period last year. Meantime, the company’s cost of sales in 2011 increased to Earnings per share 75% of total revenue compared to 71% in the year before. Fiscal 2011 Bevo Agro finished the year with $647k in cash.

$0.30

$0.73

$18 $16 $14 $12 $10

Vigil Health Solutions Inc. (TSX-V:VGL)

▲58% ($56k) ($0.01) Revenue: $1m 3 months 2011

Net income 3 months 2011

$0.16 $0.12 $0.08 $0.04 $0.00

Bevo Agro Inc. (TSX-V:BVO)

▼8%

$44k

Revenue: $18m Fiscal 2011

Net income Fiscal 2011

$0.00

$0.25 $0.20 $0.15 $0.10

Money Business

Harry Jaako Time for some long-term views on short-term market panic

he world’s capital markets have undergone incredible volatility in recent months. During some weeks it seemed as if every second day there was a precipitous triple-digit drop and then a recovery of hundreds of points in the main market indices. A report on Greece’s debt default status would send markets plunging, and then some favourable comment on the U.S. labour market numbers, or some other vague bit of positive news, would cause a similar upward surge. In aggregate, net declines in a number of these main market indices since early August have been around 15%. But factoring out the volatility, which is certainly a significant correction, these indices are still well up: 10%, or so, from where they were a year ago.

So what should we read from today’s market behaviour? Are we teetering on the edge of a financial abyss? I don’t think so. Here is what James Altucher of Freakonomics had to say about a potential market meltdown when the volatility started. “U.S. banks have a surplus of $1.3 trillion. They also make money for free by borrowing from retail consumers at checking account interest rates and then lending to the Fed at 3% (or whatever the day’s T-bill rates are). This is called “free money.” They’ve also increased commercial lending for seven months in a row. U.S. GDP has had eight quarters in a row of growth, and American corporations have $2 trillion in cash on their balance sheets. Also, this is very important: household debt obligations

(rent/mortgage + car payments + credit card payments divided by income) are at their lowest since 1992. In 2008, this metric was at its highest since 1992. That’s a big difference. The consumer is healing. “Companies are doing fine. Seventy-five per cent of the firms in the S&P 500 have beaten their earnings estimates. The S&P right now trades at 12x forward earnings versus the historical average of 15x. Oil prices have dropped dramatically since their highs of 2008. This is like one huge tax cut for the American public.” But will Europe’s debt crisis plunge the world economy into chaos? I don’t think so. The European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) has been set up with an overall rescue package of €750

billion, of which bonds guaranteed by member states for up to €440 billion can be loaned to member states in difficulty. That’s over $1 trillion. And you can bet the EU, if needed, will commit much more to save the Euro. Greece and other potential defaults are already priced into the market. And don’t forget that Japan has successfully managed a debt-to-GDP ratio worse than Greece’s for more than 20 years.

Are we teetering on the edge of a financial abyss? I don’t think so So with such emotion-driven volatility in the financial world, what is going to happen to all of the cash out there, and where can one seek to benefit from it? There will be the sky-is-falling types who will cry out that we will soon witness the mushroom cloud, the train wreck, the destruction of the economy. Some of

these prophets of doom will target the frightened, peddling products and investments designed to provide emotional comfort and the promise of financial protection to people fearful of losing it all. In this category, I also put those advisers who will sit on their hands and do nothing for their clients while still milking fees. I wish the regulators strength in preventing as many of these abuses as they can. Many fund managers will realize that while the profits from heavy trading during this period of volatility are welcome, this is not a long-term, sustainable investment strategy. At some point, when the emotion is under control, investors have to take long positions again in something to enjoy any real growth. The sooner, the better. • Harry Jaako ( hjaako@discoverycapital.com) is chairman of Discovery Capital Corp., a Vancouver-based venture capital firm. His column appears monthly.

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finance 13

September 27–October 3, 2011 Business in Vancouver

undergrad tuition rises

Insider Trading

But B.C. fees still fourth-lowest in Canada

▲2.0% ▲5.1% ▲4.5% ▲4.3% Undergrad tuition hike 2011-12 (B.C.)

Undergrad tuition hike 2011-12 (Ontario)

Undergrad tuition hike 2011-12 (Quebec)

Undergrad tuition hike 2011-12 (N.S.)

Full-time undergraduate students in B.C. paid an average of $4,852 in tuition for the 2011-12 academic year, an increase of 2.0% from the previous year. Compared to the rest of the country, however, the increase in undergraduate tuition seen in B.C. was comparatively slower than the Canadian average (4.3%). Undergraduate tuition fees in B.C. for the present academic year were fourth lowest in the country and well below the Canadian average ($5,366).

B.C. housing starts slump in August Total housing starts in B.C. slumped 13.7% (seasonally adjusted) in August. While rural starts in the province jumped 11.1%, the number of new urban housing projects tumbled 15.3%, driven by double-digit declines in starts of apartments (-16.4%), semidetached (-22.2%) and row housing (-37.0%) units. In Vancouver, urban starts slipped 6.6%.

The following is a list of the largest stock trades made by corporate executives, directors and other company insiders of B.C.’s public companies filed by the week ending September 15. The information comes from a compilation of required reports filed with the BC Securities Commission within five calendar days of a change in an insider’s holdings.

Dealerships in B.C. see fewer vehicle sales in July Dealerships across B.C. sold fewer (-2.8%; seasonally adjusted) new motor vehicles in July. A slowdown in the number of North American-built cars (-5.5%) and trucks (-4.8%) was the reason for the drop in total sales.

Insider: Donald Shumka, director Company: Eldorado Gold Corp. (TSX:ELD) Shares owned: 46,700 Trade date: September 8 Trade total: $1,411,488 (net) Trade: Sale of 100,000 shares at prices ranging between $21.22 and $21.27 per share following the acquisition of 100,000 shares for $7.12 per share through the exercise of options.

Canadians’ trips in B.C. increased in 2010 Canadians made 22.6 million person-trips within B.C. in 2010, a 3.8% increase over the previous year. Nearly half (49%) of Canadians travelling in B.C. did so while on vacation and just over one-third (34%) said they were in B.C. to visit family and friends. Only 6% of Canadian travel to B.C. was for business purposes.

Insider: Paul Singer, shareholder Company: TAG Oil Ltd. (TSX:TAO) Shares owned: 2,149,120 Trade date: September 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14

-BC Stats Infoline, Issue 11-37, September 16

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Trade total: $1,334,892 Trade: Purchase of 210,840 shares at prices ranging between $7.25 to $7.59 per share. Insider: Robert Archer, president and CEO Company: Great Panther Silver Ltd (TSX:GPR) Shares owned: 1,081,300 Trade date: September 8, 9, 12, 13, 14 Trade total: $1,015,503 Trade: Sale of 336,700 shares at prices ranging between $3.24 and $3.52 per share. Insider: Allan Cloke, director Company: Copper Mountain Mining Corp. (TSX:CUM) Shares owned: 250,635 Trade date: September 14 Trade total: $604,800 Trade: Sale of 100,800 shares at $6 per share. Insider: Hendrik Van Alphen, board chairman Company: International Tower Hill Mines Ltd. (TSX:ITH) Shares owned: 559,227 Trade date: August 31, September 2, 7, 8 Trade total: $511,161

Trade: Sale of 63,023 shares at prices ranging between $7.95 and $8.28 per share. Insider: Jim Pattison, director Company: Canfor Corp. (TSX:CFP) Shares owned: 27,560,950 Trade date: September 6, 7, 9 Trade total: $505,952 Trade: Purchase of 50,700 shares at prices ranging between $9.974 and $9.99 per share. Insider: David Deisley, executive vice-president, corporate affairs and general counsel Company: Goldcorp Inc. (TSX:G) Shares owned: 26,666 Trade date: September 9 Trade total: $500,000 (net) Trade: Sale of 25,000 shares for $55.62 per share following the acquisition of 25,000 shares for $35.62 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: September 9

Trade total: $337,400 (net) Trade: Sale of 20,000 shares for $21.75 per share following the acquisition of 20,000 shares for $4.88 per share through the exercise of options. Insider: Bettina Joan Charpentier, vice-president, tax Company: Silver Wheaton Corp. (TSX:SLW) Shares owned: 0 Trade date: September 9 Trade total: $240,600 (net) Trade: Sale of 10,000 shares for $40.01 per share following the acquisition of 10,000 shares for $15.95 per share through the exercise of options. Insider: Beverly Downing, corporate secretary Company: Peregrine Metals Ltd. (TSX:PGM) Shares owned: 10,000 Trade date: August 25, 26 Trade total: $200,794 (net) Trade: Sale of 120,000 shares for prices ranging from $2.35 to $2.37 per share following the acquisition of 75,000 shares for $0.50 per share and 45,000 shares for $1 per share through the exercise of options.• rchu@biv.com

Small business

Daily business news at www.biv.com September 27–October 3, 2011

Does your dog eat BARF? By Nelson Bennett

n 2007, thousands of dog and cat deaths were reported worldwide due to contamination that prompted a massive recall dog and cat food. James Hartmann, owner of Langley-based

irRAWsistible Pet Foods Inc., believes that episode, more than anything else, has helped to accelerate the rawmeat pet food business. “It really took off with the 2007 pet food recall,” he said. Hartmann’s is the most recent small business to pop up that is involved in a niche

pet food market: biologically appropriate raw food (BARF) for dogs and cats. A few months ago, Hartma nn quit his job a nd launched his business, after taking a 12-week venture program at BC Institute of Technology. One of the things he learned while researching

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the BARF trend is the rawmeat pet food space is a very small one but one with good growth prospects. “The pet food business in Canada alone is a $2 billion business,” Hartmann said. In North America, the pet food business was worth $18 billion in 2007, he said. Rawmeat diets represented less than 1% of those sales. “It’s a very small segment of a very large market,” said Neal Cropper, owner of Growlies for Pets, a Victoriabased pet food store. “The growth in the raw pet food segment is 23% [annually],” Hartmann said. “So it’s growing faster than any other segment.” Many pet owners are willing to pay a premium for raw food, as the owners of companies like Red Dog Deli Raw Food Co. and 3P Naturals will attest. Both have built thriving small enterprises that specialize in manufacturing rawmeat pet food for dogs and cats. “We surpassed the $1 million mark last year,” said Red Dog Deli owner Inna Shekhtman. “We’ve seen, on average, 20% growth every year that we’ve been in business. I think it’s a growing market.” Debbie Benson, who owns 3P Naturals, said her company’s sales have grown by 7% to 15% each year since opening a plant in East Vancouver in 2003. “We’re doing 10 times more sales than when we started in 2003,” she said. A former software designer for MacDonald Dettwiler, Shekhtman started feeding raw meat to her own dog

Dominic Schaefer

Small businesses in the Lower Mainland are capitalizing on pet owners’ preferences to serve their animals biologically appropriate raw food

Inna Shekhtman quit a good job at MacDonald Dettwiler to start a business making raw meat dinners for dogs and cats. She now sees 20% growth annually

– Adhara, a gargantuan Irish wolfhound-Great Dane cross – about eight and a half years ago. She knew that large dogs don’t live long, and wanted to make sure she did everything she could to keep her healthy. “I started finding information about natural diets,” she said. “I started feeding her raw [meat]. It was just one of those things that made total sense.” At first, she made her own raw dog food, with the help of Louise Bryce and Linda Edwards, who had been feeding their dogs raw meat for years.

“It’s a very small segment of a very large market” – Neal Cropper, owner, Growlies for Pets

Shekhtman wanted the meat she fed her dog to have no antibiotics or hormones, and the problems she had getting good, chemical-free raw meat presented itself as a business opportunity. Teaming up with Bryce and Edwards, she founded Red Dog Deli in 2004. The company sells dog food under its Red Dog brand, and cat food under the Blue Kat brand. The company’s North Vancouver plant now employs 11 people. Benson’s plant in East Vancouver likewise employs 11 workers. Red Dog and 3P Naturals both use human-grade, non-medicated meat trimmings, bones and organs (beef, chicken, turkey, lamb, bison, venison, etc.). In fact, the meat used in 3P Naturals comes from the same source as the butcher shop she and her husband run in North Vancouver: 3P Natural & Exotic Meats. Benson said so many of her customers kept asking for things like turkey necks and meat bones for their dogs and

cats that she eventually decided to open a pet food division, and the Basic Instincts brand was born. The meat isn’t just packaged as-is. Both Red Dog and 3P Naturals grind their meats and blend them with a variety of other ingredients. Red Dog Deli meats include some vegetable juice and fibre, for example. The products are vacuum-packed and frozen. Red Dog’s plant in North Vancouver processes 10,000 pounds of meat per week and sells it through 80 pet stores throughout B.C. and Alberta, like True Carnivores in Vancouver. “I think it is a niche market that is growing,” said True Carnovores owner Dakota Bawden-Tutte, who has been an advocate of the raw-meat diet for 17 years. The BARF diet is not without its detractors. Some believe feeding raw meat to dogs and cats puts them at risk of salmonella and E.coli. Some also believe feeding raw meat to dogs can make them vicious. Michael Goldberg, a veterinarian with the Vancouver Animal Wellness Hospital, said there are risks associated with raw meat, but added it is rare. Meat that is properly prepared and packaged reduces the risk of food poisoning. He believes the benefits of a raw-meat diet outweigh the risks. The pets he sees in his clinic that are on raw-meat diets exhibit better muscling, improved digestion, better body weight and better quality coats, he said. “My experience has been extremely few cases of having any problems whatsoever of bacterial disease,” he said, adding he has fed his own dog raw meat for nine years. “You’re getting real food. You’re not getting any filler.” • nbennett@biv.com @nbennett_biv

Technology

September 27–October 3, 2011 Business in Vancouver

Local tech trio tackles the Big C Three Vancouver companies making strides in research aimed at treating various types of cancer By Nelson Bennett

hree Vancouver biotech companies marked significant milestones in a single week, and they all have one thing in common: all are working on treatments for cancer. Zymeworks Inc. announced August 29 it has signed a $187 million contract with pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE:MRK) to conduct research on Azymetric, its proprietary antibody platform, which has potential applications in treating cancer and autoimmune diseases. Two days later, Sirona Biochem Corp. (TSX.V:SBM) announced a “major advance” in stabilizing an antigen that could be used in a vaccine for a variety of cancers. And on September 6, DelMar Pharmaceuticals, a private lab, announced it had been granted U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval to conduct Phase 2 clinical trials of VAL-083 – an old drug with potential new applications in cancer treatment. “I would think that the BC Cancer Agency, and the University of British Columbia and the CDRD [Centre for Drug Research and Development] have really been

magnets for good research, and that good research has led to the founding of promising young companies,” said DelMar CEO Jeffrey Bacha. Bacha’s company is working on new applications for a drug that the National Cancer Institute in the U.S. spent $50 million on doing clinical trials, only to see it abandoned for other treatments. New developments in molecular biology in the last decade are making it possible to refine the drug for new applications – DelMar has filed for patents for some of those new applications – and it is already in use in China for treating various types of cancer. Since the NCI and Chinese labs have already done much of the heavy lifting, DelMar does not face the same kind of monumental costs that companies must typically shoulder when they try to get a new drug approved. “If you look at our potential costs from where we stand today to approval, we’d be looking at a cost of less than $15 million, as opposed to hundreds of millions if we were starting from the benchtop,” Bacha said. DelMar is now looking for private financing to fund the trials. Sirona will also be looking for funding

Sirona Biochem founder Howard Verrico: “it’s a major breakthrough”

partners, but is at a much earlier stage in its research. Sirona specializes in carbohydrate chemistry. It has two main products in the research stage: a sodium glucose transporter (SGLT) inhibitor for Type 2 diabetes and, more recently, a cancer antigen stabilizer. The latter is a process it has developed in partnership with TFChem, a French lab that Sirona bought in March It was while working on SGLT that Sirona and TFChem scientists realized Sirona’s stabilization process could be applied to a common cancer antigen.

“It’s a major breakthrough because it’s known that if you can stabilize this molecule, you’re going to have a tremendous potential antigen for the development of a new type of vaccine,” said Howard Verrico, Sirona Biochem’s founder and CEO. The antigen in question, and its potential to fight cancer, is well known. The problem is that it is rapidly metabolized by the body, so it doesn’t persist long enough to prompt the immune system to produce cancer antigens. Sirona is focusing on a process for making the antigen persist long enough to trigger antigens. Verrico has a background in medicine and financing. An emergency room physician at Ridge Meadows Hospital in Maple Ridge, he is also a venture capitalist who has invested in a number of startups over the years, mostly in the resource sector. He and a number of other investors founded Sirona Biochem in 2007 and publicly listed it on the TSX Venture exchange in 2009. When the company realized that Sirona’s technology had applications in TFChem’s research, Sirona struck a licensing deal with the private French lab. Currently, Sirona’s and TFChem’s scientists are working

sirona biochem Corp. (TSX-V:SBM)

$0.80 $0.60 $0.40

$0.20 $0.00

Vancouver CEO: Howard J. Verrico Employees: N/A Market cap: $9.4m P/E ratio: N/A EPS: ($0.06) Sources: Stockwatch, TSX

toward providing in vitro proof that the antigen can be made to persist in the human body. “Because this particular antigen is common in many forms of cancer, it has the potential to be used for a number of different cancers,” Verrico said. “In particular it seems more prevalent in cancers with higher malignancy potential [lung, prostate, breast, colon], which makes it very exciting.” • nbennett@biv.com

High-Tech Office

Alan Zisman New entries in smartphone market offer more iPhone options

onfused by choices in smartphones? You’re not alone. Currently, you can pick among Apple iPhones, Android phones from multiple manufacturers, Windows Phone 7 models (also from multiple manufacturers) and various RIM BlackBerry models. One contender – HP’s Palm-derived webOS models – dropped from sight in August. Recently, I had loan of two very different smartphone models, the first a Samsung Galaxy S II running on the Bell network ($169 on a threeyear plan – it’s also available on Virgin Mobile). This is the latest version of one of the more popular Android models. More than 10 million of last year’s original Galaxy S were sold worldwide. The new model is thinner and lighter than both its predecessor and the iPhone and combines a powerful 1.2-gigahertz dual-core processor with a bright 4.3-inch screen – more readable than the iPhone’s screen in bright

sunlight. It runs the current Android 2.3 (code-named Gingerbread) software customized with Samsung’s TouchWiz interface. Dual cameras include an eightmegapixel rear camera with flash that can record 1080p high definition video. The Galaxy S II can be used with Bell’s 4G network for theoretical bandwidth of “up to” 21 megabits per second. (Real world performance, while fast, will vary.) Sixteen gigabytes of storage are built in. That can be expanded with microSD memory cards. The good news: there’s a new, hot Android smartphone model every month or so, but the Galaxy S II is currently the newest and hottest and is arguably at least a match for Apple’s iPhone. The bad news: Apple has sued Samsung in Australia, Germany, the Netherlands and elsewhere to block sales of Samsung smartphones and tablets claiming infringement of Apple patents for “look and feel”

and touchscreen technologies. While this story is still unfolding, courts have thus far ruled in Apple’s favour, blocking sales of various Galaxy models in some countries. I wouldn’t expect to see similar lawsuits against LG’s Optimus 7 smartphone (free with a three-year plan on Telus Mobility). Instead of Android, it runs Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7, and, unlike Android, that smartphone system doesn’t come across as an iPhone copycat. Windows Phone 7 (WP7) is a complete rewrite of earlier Windows Mobile versions, and despite the similarity of version numbers, there’s no relation to the desktop Windows 7 system. Instead of screens full of icons – as in Apple’s iOS or Android WP7 presents users with a screen of large “tiles,” each representing a “hub” or set of related tasks or apps. The Optimus 7’s hardware specs pale next to the Galaxy S II, but it’s not a cutting-edge model. A Windows Phone

7 upgrade (code-named Mango) is expected this fall, with new hardware to match. While smartphone manufacturers go wild and crazy with their hardware and software implementation of Google’s Android, Microsoft has kept tighter reins on Windows Phone 7 models. The result is that all WP7 models have similar interfaces and a standard set of buttons, including a dedicated camera button. This standardization is a good thing. Windows Phone 7 hasn’t gotten much attention or much market share – for the 12 weeks ending mid-July, it accounted for only about 2% of U.S. smartphone sales. But it’s worth consideration. It integrates a huge range of Microsoft office and consumer offerings: Office, SharePoint and Exchange networking, Bing search, Xbox, Zune media player and more in an attractive and usable interface that isn’t derivative of Apple. (An August study reported that WP7 and iOS were tops for usability, beating Android and BlackBerry.) • Alan Zisman (www.zisman. ca) is a Vancouver educator and computer specialist. His column appears weekly.

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Real estate

Daily business news at www.biv.com September 27–October 3, 2011

real estate roundup

Peter Mitham $13 million resort might yield only $3 million in court-ordered sale; Credit Suisse unveils plans for 30-storey tower in city’s business district Malahat dealing Vancouver Island’s 35-room Aerie Resort in the rugged Malahat region north of Victoria comes under the judge’s gavel on September 29 in a court-ordered sale that will see it trade for at least $3.1 million. That’s the offer Island Savings Credit Union has accepted from 0919097 B.C. Ltd. for the property, which includes 85 acres of land and a helipad. Seven years ago, when Condé Nast Traveller deemed it one of the world’s top hotels, the Aerie was pegged at $13 million. Competing bids could be put forward in court, of course.

“There are still parties coming out of the woodwork and potentially wanting to participate,” said Randy Holt, partner and vice-president with DTZ Barnicke Victoria Ltd. He said more than 60 parties have toured the property during the past 17 months, right up until the last two weeks. However, court documents indicate the final sale price won’t cover the $4.8 million owing to Island Savings by the Aerie, nor the $657,989 the credit union is owed from court-authorized borrowings by the receiver, GloverDrennan Inc. Court filings also indicate that any buyer will have to spend upward

A Certified Credit Professional (CCP) can help your business distinguish the good apples from the bad

of $2 million to refresh the property. “Whoever buys it now is going to have to reposition it,” Rick Pettinger, managing broker of DTZ Barnicke Victoria, said last year. “They’re going to have to take it from five stars probably down to two, two and a half. But they’re going to get a really good buy.” Tower plans Credit Suisse held an open house in Vancouver on September 26 to announce plans for a 30-storey office tower at 819-827 West Pender Street in the heart of the city’s business district. The new tower will incorporate a renovation of the former Vancouver Stock Exchange at 475 Howe Street. Credit Suisse plans to restore the original 1929 trading floor and seek official protection of the building on the city’s heritage register. Announcement of the $200 million project follows Bentall Kennedy (Canada)

Green vision: Credit Suisse seeks to build what it promises will be the world’s greenest office tower at the corner of Howe and Pender streets in Vancouver, formerly home to the Vancouver Stock Exchange

LP’s confirmation that it will build its much-anticipated office tower at 745 Thurlow Street. “The Vancouver market’s too tight. It’s imbalanced. It needs new construction,” said John Purcell, senior vice-president and portfolio manager for Bentall Kennedy

(Canada) LP, at the September breakfast meeting of commercial real estate association NAIOP. Credit Suisse’s project will add another tranche of space to the 1.14 million square feet already planned for the downtown core in the next five years.

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No speculation allowed Vancouver planning director Brent Toderian was upbeat but uncompromising as he answered questions from Appraisal Institute of Canada-B.C., Real Estate Institute of B.C. and Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors members following a recent luncheon presentation. The appraisers were trying to understand just what they were being asked to do with respect to community amenity contributions (CACs) in the Cambie Street corridor. CACs are integral for development of the amenities that make densification in Vancouver work, according to Toderian, but the protocols for securing CACs in the Cambie Street corridor are a matter of widespread concern and confusion. The city negotiates CACs during the rezoning process, which often occurs after properties trade. But Toderian said the sale price of properties can’t reflect the rezoned value, because that would be speculation. Vendors must instead cede the value of their properties to purchasers, who city protocols will hit up for a contribution equivalent to 70% to 80% of the lift in the property’s land value achieved through rezoning. Toderian said appraisers advising developers on the value of properties have to bear the CACs in mind when trying to determine their market value, which will be necessarily lower than on comparable sites from which the city isn’t seeking CACs. “Our system can’t reward speculation,” Toderian said. “The first time we give credit to a purchase price that reflects rezoned value, this system collapses. We have no intention of letting this system collapse.” • pmitham@telus.net

Accelerating Success Hotel Investment Opportunity In Horseshoe Bay

Residential / Retail Investment Opportunity In Squamish FOR SALE

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38058 CLEVELAND AVENUE SQUAMISH, BC • 20,672 SF mixed-use building consisting of 15 residential units and 4 retail units

• 100% freehold interest in a West Vancouver hotel and residential assets with value upside that will contribute to any real estate portfolio

• Fully leased residential and retail building to national and local tenants including Canada Post

• Hotel market leader in West Vancouver that enjoys strong performance due to location, recognition and supply constraints

• Centrally located in the heart of Downtown Squamish

• High quality 23-room motel asset that was refurbished in 2009

• Ideally situated mid-way from Vancouver to Whistler

• Situated among a significant amount of future residential development

• Adjacent single family residence presents additional value potential through retention, sale or redevelopment • Idyllic and Central Horseshoe Bay setting presents prominent location to strategically capture the market • Potential for renovation and redevelopment of one or both lots to higher density

Cecilia Tse*

Vice President | Asia Pacific DIR 604 662 2668 cecilia.tse@colliers.com

200 Granville Street, 19th Floor, Vancouver, BC, V6C 2R6 |

Tom Andrews

Cecilia Tse*

Senior Vice President DIR 604 661 0846 tom.andrews@colliers.com

+1 604 681 4111

Vice President | Asia Pacific DIR 604 662 2668 cecilia.tse@colliers.com

Simon Lim*

Executive Vice President DIR 604 661 0882 simon.lim@colliers.com

*Personal Real Estate Corporation

www.collierscanada.com

Colliers International INDUSTRIAL 5888 Trapp Avenue Burnaby Glenwood Industrial Estates

53,227 SF premium light industrial space in South Burnaby.

Units 110, 101 and 102 528-588 Annance Court

Delta

From 14,300 - 28,967 SF. First class dock and grade loading units.

Darren Cannon*, Stuart Morrison* $8.45/SF Greg Lane

$7.75/SF

1550 Brigantine Drive

17848 & 17858 66th Avenue Nestle/Vitality Building Surrey

Coquitlam

29,041 SF premium quality space. 3 dock/1 grade loading doors.

$7.95/SF

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Andrew Lord Stefan Morissette

Two buildings totalling 125,003 SF. Food manufacturing improvements.

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Chris Morrison* Randy Heed*

7990 Hoskins Street

Delta

Warehouse/manufacturing facility space from 25,000 - 111,000 SF.

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Craig Kincaid-Smith

20363 Langley Bypass

Langley

2.75 acre Langley Bypass frontage site with 15,000 SF building.

$4,400,000 $25,000/month

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880 Belgrave Way

Delta

Units from 53,242 - 162,553 SF. Warehouse/manufacturing facility.

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Darren Cannon* Bruno Fiorvento*

19100 Airport Way Pitt Meadows Golden Ears Business Centre

Building 100 3,519 - 55,111 SF. Building 200 up to 110,000 SF.

$5.25/SF

Chris MacCauley Chris Brewster

OFFICE 700 West Pender Street Pender Place 1 Vancouver

Suite 300 1177 West Broadway Vancouver

Unit 606 and Unit 610. Up to 4,423 SF. Existing furniture may be available.

Approximately 2,600 SF of medical office space. 3 offices, 3 exam rooms and waiting area.

Sublease

Dan Jordan

Sublease

Dan Jordan

3977 Kingsway

Burnaby

Various suites available. Up to 3,013 SF.

$17.00-25.00/SF Brian MacKenzie

2433 Holdom Avenue & 5595 Roy Street

Burnaby

Two buildings for sale with a total of 27,537 SF.

$5,250,000

Ewen Johnston Brian MacKenzie

In the Know GOLDEN EARS BUSINESS CENTRE Golden Ears Business Centre, being developed by The Onni Group of Companies, will be the largest new industrial business park in Metro Vancouver. The success of the recently completed Building 100 has warranted the construction of Building 200 which will be approximately 110,000 square feet. The new Golden Ears Bridge has drastically improved the accessibility to Pitt Meadows and created short travelling distances to Northwest Langley and Port Kells. Upon completion, the South Fraser Perimeter Road will connect the Golden Ears Bridge to the Delta Port in 35 minutes, which is significantly less time than in the past.

The park will be one of the most unique business centers in the Fraser Valley, offering opportunities for small to large-bay users in either open bay warehouse concepts or a variety of build to suit options. In total the Golden Ears Business Centre can accommodate up to 1.5 million square feet of industrial space. The proximity to the Tri Cities region of Metro Vancouver, along with the drastically reduced drive times between Langley and Pitt Meadows, will open up a brand new employment base for the area. Furthermore, the natural scenery amongst amenities such as IGA, Shoppers Drug Mart, CIBC, TELUS, Cineplex Odeon, and Tim Hortonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, have contributed to Pitt Meadows becoming a very attractive area for both businesses and employees.

This document/email has been prepared by Colliers International for advertising and general information only. Colliers International makes no guarantees, representations or warranties of any kind, expressed or implied, regarding the information including, but not limited to, warranties of content, accuracy and reliability. Any interested party should undertake their own inquiries as to the accuracy of the information. Colliers International excludes unequivocally all inferred or implied terms, conditions and warranties arising out of this document and excludes all liability for loss and damages arising there from. This publication is the copyrighted property of Colliers International and /or its licensor(s). ÂŠ 2011. All rights reserved. This communication is not intended to cause or induce breach of an existing listing agreement. Colliers Macaulay Nicolls Brokerage Inc. (Vancouver). *Personal Real Estate Corporation. PO #11063.

200 Granville Street, 19th Floor, Vancouver, BC, V6C 2R6 | 1 604 681 4111 | www.collierscanada.com

List

Daily business news at www.biv.comâ&#x20AC;&#x192; September 27â&#x20AC;&#x201C;October 3, 2011

Biggest financial planning firms in Metro Vancouver Ranked by number of accredited local financial planners Rank '11 Company

Principal(s)

Financial services offered

Compensation

Year No. local founded offices/ locally Total no.

Head office/ No. of majority owner accredited financial planners '11/'10

Freedom 55 Financial

Reid McGruer, regional director

Financial planning, benefits consulting and estate planning

Commissionbased

1874

4 35

London, Ont./ Power Corp.

280 275

RBC Royal Bank of Canada

Graham MacLachlan, RBC Royal Bank regional president of B.C.

Financial planning, investment advice, credit, banking, estate planning, retirement planning and education

Combination

1864

NP NP

Toronto/ TSX:RY

2461 2461

CIBC

Irene Ing, vice-president

Financial planning, comprehensive product offerings including Combination investments and mortgages

1867

NP NP

Toronto/ TSX:CM

1882 188

Investors Group Financial Services

Sharon Moskalyk, vice-president Wealth management, investment planning, retirement

Commission-

1926

9 100

Winnipeg/ Power Financial Group

108 84

TD Waterhouse Financial Planning

Mike Flanagan, associate vicepresident, TD Waterhouse Financial Planning

Combination

2001

NP NP

Toronto/ TD Waterhouse Canada Inc

107 103

Customplan Financial Advisors Inc

Estate, business succession, key-person insurance, executive Combination Karl Krokosinski, CEO Jennifer Jackson, president and health compensation plans, workplace seminars, buy-sell CFO agreements, financial planning, life insurance, health benefits,

1976

10 25

Vancouver/ Karl Krokosinski

106 104

1111 Georgia St W Suite 1200, Vancouver V6E 4M3 P: 604-685-6521 F: 604-685-9666 www.freedom55financial.com 1055 Georgia St W, Vancouver V6E 3S5 P: 800-769-2520 F: 604-665-0952 www.rbc.com 400 Burrard St Suite 430, Vancouver V6C 3A6 P: 604-665-1190 F: NP www.cibc.com

based planning, tax planning, mortgages, insurance, cash management, estate planning and brokerage services through Investors Group Securities

666 Burrard St Suite 770, Vancouver V6C 2X8 P: 604-682-5431 F: 604-681-3207 www.investorsgroup.com 700 Georgia St W 11th floor, Vancouver V7Y 1A2 P: 604-482-2442 F: 604-482-2432 www.tdwaterhouse.ca 1500 Georgia St W Suite 1900, Vancouver V6G 2Z6 P: 604-687-7773 F: 604-687-7763 www.customplan financial.com

Financial planning, retirement planning, spousal education planning, in-trust account investment planning, estate planning and tax planning

group benefits, mutual funds, segregated funds (RRSP and non-registered), mortgages, guaranteed interest accounts, tax planning, stocks

Vancouver City Savings Credit Union

Tamara Vrooman, president and CEO

Full-service financial institution serving B.C. residents in day- Combination to-day banking, lending and investment advice and services including business banking, micro-finance, growth capital and commercial real estate

1946

59 59

Vancouver/ Member owned

83 83

Assante Wealth Management

Scott Masters, vice-president of business development

Integrated wealth-management solutions, investment strategies, risk management and insurance, tax and estate planning, cash and credit management

Combination

1995

4 300

Toronto/ CI Financial

69 80

BMO Bank of Montreal

Banking products and services including investment and Joanne Gassman, senior vicepresident, B.C. and Yukon division retirement planning, estate planning advice, commercial

Combination

1887

70 914

Toronto/ TSX:BMO

67 60

183 Terminal Ave, Vancouver V6A 4G2 P: 604-877-7000 or 888-826-2489 F: 604-877-8292 www.vancity.com 2 Queen St. E, Toronto M5C 3G7 P: 1-800-268-3200 F: 1-866-645-4447 www.assante.com 595 Burrard St Suite 2200, Vancouver V7X 1L7 P: 877-225-5266 F: 604-665-2610 www.bmo.com

banking from small and independent businesses to midmarket firms and to large investment banking advice for major firms and governments

ScotiaMcLeod

Alex Besharat, western regional manager

Financial planning, estate planning, retirement planning, educational planning, multigenerational planning, insurance and investment advice

Combination

1921

NP NP

Toronto/ Scotiabank

38 38

Coast Capital Savings Credit Union

Tracy Redies, president and CEO

Full-service financial institution

Salaried

2000

50 50

Surrey/ Member owned

36 36

North Shore Credit Union

Chris Catliff, president and CEO

Full-service financial institution

Combination

1941

9 12

North Vancouver/ 29 Member owned 22

Nicola Wealth Management

David Sung, president John Nicola, chair and CEO

Comprehensive financial planning and investment advice with Combination a full range of investment products (including alternative strategy funds), discretionary portfolio management and specialized tax planning, estate planning, risk management, debt reorganization and charitable giving

1994

1 2

Vancouver/ Adviser-owned

24 21

Rogers Group Financial

1770 7th Ave W Suite 500, Vancouver V6J 4Y6 P: 604-732-6551 F: 604-732-6553 www.rogersgroup.com

Clay Gillespie, managing director3 Brett Simpson, chair3 Barbara Simpson, COO and CFO Jim Rogers, chairman emeritus, founder and director

Comprehensive financial, estate, and investment planning with an extensive range of product solutions if required. Licensed to deal with stocks, bonds, GICs, life insurance, life annuities, mutual funds, alternative products in a range of solutions and discretionary portfolio management services

Combination

1973

NP NP

Vancouver/ Adviser owned

21 22

Prospera Credit Union

Bruce Howell, president and CEO

Banking and wealth-management services

Commissionbased

1942

NP NP

Abbotsford/ Member owned

20 20

First West Credit Union4

Launi Skinner, CEO

Full-service financial institution providing B.C.'s with personal Combination and business banking, insurance services, wealthmanagement advice, and subordinated debt financing.

1946

21 37

Langley/ Member owned

205 NP

Macdonald Shymko and Company Ltd Fee Only Financial Advisors/ Investment Counsel

Since 1972, we haved provided comprehensive and unbiased "Fee Only" financial planning, portfolio management, tax, retirement, estate and executive stock option planning

Fee-based

1972

1 1

Vancouver/ Principals

15 15

Insurance and retirement planning, employee benefits, structured settlements and private investment management

Combination

1980

NP NP

Vancouver/ 14 Zlotnik family and 14 Peter Lamb

650 Georgia St W Suite 1945, Vancouver V6B 4N7 P: 604-661-7400 F: NP www.scotiamcleod.com 15117 - 101st Ave, Surrey V3R 8P7 P: 604-517-7400 F: 604-517-7405 www.coastcapitalsavings.com

1112 Lonsdale Ave, 3rd floor, North Vancouver V7M 2H2 P: 604-983-4500 F: 604-985-6810 www.nscu.com 1508 Broadway W Suite 500, Vancouver V6J 1W8 P: 604-739-6450 F: 604-739-6451 www.nicolawealth.com

32071 South Fraser Way Suite 500, Abbotsford V2T 1W3 P: 888-440-4480 F: 604-864-6690 www.prospera.ca 6470 201 St, Langley V2Y 2X4 P: 604-501-4260 F: NP www.firstwestcu.ca

ZLC Financial Group6

Doug Macdonald David Shymko Larry Jacobson Ian Black Gina Macdonald Brinsley Saleken Keith Copping Garry Zlotnik, president

Vancouver Financial Planning Consultants

Laurie Winters, co-founder

Financial planning and wealth-management services

Combination

1985

1 1

Vancouver/ NP

10 NP

G&F Financial Group

William Kiss Jeff Shewfelt, co-CEOs

Retail and commercial banking services, insurance and wealth Commissionbased management

1940

NP NP

Burnaby/ Member owned

7 7

510 Burrard St Suite 950, Vancouver V6C 3A8 P: 604-687-7966 F: 604-687-1830 www.macdonaldshymko.com

666 Burrard St Suite 1200, Vancouver V6C 2X8 P: 604-688-7208 F: 604-688-7268 www.zlc.net 800 Pender St W Suite 1600, Vancouver V6C 2V6 P: 604-685-1938 F: 604-685-9815 www.vfpc.ca 7375 Kingsway, Burnaby V3N 3B5 P: 604-517-5100 F: 604-659-4025 www.gffg.com

Sources: Interviews with above firms and BIV research. NR Not ranked NP Not provided 1 - 2009 figure 2 - 2010 figure 3 - Also financial adviser and portfolio manager 4 - Created from the merger between Valley First and Envision Financial that closed January 1, 2010 5 - Does not include 15 financial planners outside of the Lower Mainland 6 - Formerly Zlotnik, Lamb & Co

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.

>Next week: Biggest promotional products suppliers in B.C.

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.

List

September 27–October 3, 2011 Business in Vancouver

Calls to stick to financial planning basics falling on deaf ears in Canada Canadians without a financial plan face greater risk of investment losses from knee-jerk reactions in volatile markets Canadian investors shifted assets to less risky options during the summer

Most replaced equities with bonds and other fixed income investments

Net sales ($ millions)

$800

$300

-$200

Trung Oan, TD Waterhouse senior financial planner: focusing on investment goals is key

-$700

-$1,200

By Richard Chu

or investors, volatile times call for calming measures. And in the past few months, investors, who have been inundated with information, have been increasingly relying on financial planners to reassure them that their retirement nest eggs are safe. “The biggest job for us as financial planners is to make sure clients stay on the path of their financial plan and not get bogged down by the noise and help them filter out what they are hearing,” said Trung Oan, senior financial planner at TD Waterhouse. He added that it’s key to keep investors focused on their investment goals and ensure they don’t make kneejerk investment decisions. “Most clients would be asking, ‘Does it make sense

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to sell any of my equity funds at a low price and go into a bond fund or cash that’s more stable?’ And the answer to that is, generally, no. The asset allocation should be appropriate to begin with.” Jake Nemec, a financial planner with BMO Financial Group, said whenever clients ask about making portfolio changes, he refers back to the needs in their financial plans. “We’re doing a financial plan for them, not just an investment plan. So, I’d ask if anything had changed in the past month. More often than not, they say no. They’re

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source: Investment funds institute of Canada THE MARK OF PROFESSIONALISM

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This gold standard credential is recognized around the world for mastery, ainmotivation Toprofessional find CFA charterholders the Vancouver to excel, andarea a deep and abiding devotion to the and to learn more about the CFA integrity of designation, the investment profession. visit www.cfavancouver.com. To learn more about the CFA designation, visit www.cfavancouver.com. ETHICS TENACITY RIGOUR ANALYTICS

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List

Daily business news at www.biv.com September 27–October 3, 2011

Investments: Wealth management a prime business growth area for financial institutions still working on the same goals. They still have the same overall level of risk tolerance. They’re just asking the question because of all the news they’re hearing out there.” Investors moving money into more secure arenas Nationally, however, Canadian investors aren’t staying the course in the face of a tough world economy. Over the summer, Canadian investors stampeded to less risky mutual fund investments. According to data provided from the Investment Funds Institute of Canada (IFIC), nearly $2.7 billion flowed out of Canadian, global and sector-specific equity mutual funds in July and August. Virtually all that money flowed into Canadian fixed income funds (66%) and global balanced funds (34%) that invest a larger proportion of assets in less risky investments like bonds.

Planning by the numbers:

$778.6 billion $1.1 billion $1 billion 18,000 19%

Total mutual fund assets in Canada Net sales of Canadian fixed income funds in August Net redemptions of Canadian equity funds in August Number of CFPs in Canada Proportion of CFPs based in B.C.

Source: Investment Funds Institute of Canada, Financial Planning Standards Council

Mutual fund assets in Canada recover from financial crisis Funds continued to grow in 2011 despite ongoing turmoil in global markets $800 $700 $600 Assets (billions)

from Calls, 19

$500 $400 $300 $200 $100

That kind of investment shift doesn’t reflect Nemec’s client portfolios. But it may ref lect a large portion of Canadians who make their own investment decisions through self-directed investment accounts. A study conducted by Leger Marketing in June for BMO Nesbitt Burns found that only half of Canadians have a financial plan, even though 72% hold investments. The study found that

investors without a financial plan were less likely to follow through, let alone meet, their investment goals. Those without a financial planner are more likely to make mistakes that generate more investment losses than returns (see “Emotional IQ key to avoiding common investment mistakes” – issue 1130; June 21-27). “As a financial planner, we’re not trying to chase the hot sectors,” said Nemec.

One generation plants the trees... another gets the shade

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

“Most of our clients have portfolios allocated the way that’s appropriate for them based on their time frame and risk tolerance.” Added Oan, “We really preach discipline for financial plans. We want clients to view the big picture. We don’t want them to get caught up in the day-to-day movements.” Despite uncertainty, Canadians investing While equity markets have remained highly volatile, Canadians have not abandoned the investment market. Eddy Eng, IFIC’s senior economist of statistics and research, noted that even though mutual-fund flows have shifted to less risky asset classes, the total value of mutual fund assets held by Canadians continued to grow this summer. The industry had net sales of $566.4 million in July and $205.2 million in August. As of August 31, total mutual-fund assets invested in Canada rose to $778.6 billion

from $766.8 billion at the end of 2010. “People haven’t left the mutual-fund world,” said Eng. “They’re just finding a better place to park their money.” But Oan noted that current market valuations are attractive for investors who have the cash available and have longer-term investment horizons. “Our view is that any market volatility that was experienced during the summer was a unique opportunity to make a meaningful investment at very reasonable prices,” said Oan. “So, we were recommending long-term clients to view these dips as market opportunities, and for any clients that had large sums of money, several were investing during the summer. We did implement dollar-cost-averaging strategies so they could take advantage of the ups and downs.”

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2008

2009

2010

2011

source: Investment Funds Institute of Canada

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Need for financial planners growing Surveys have suggested that Canadians are finally seeing the need to have a financial plan, or at least discuss their financial and investment decisions with a professional. The North Shore Credit Union (NSCU) has focused on wealth management as its key area of growth and differentiation among its competitors. Over the past few years, NSCU has spent tens of millions of dollars in upgrading three-quarters of its branches to providing a “financial spa” experience, replete with soothing music, a concierge with wet towel service and even aroma therapy. Chris Catliff, NSCU’s CEO, said the moves have been worth it: the credit union’s wealth-management revenue has grown by nearly 25% since 2003 and its assets under management have posted double-digit percentage growth each year. According to NSCU’s annual reports: •the value of RRSPs held by members grew 22% between 2006 and 2010; and •the value of term deposits jumped 59% to $997.1 million as of December 31, 2010. “We’re finding the 100% deposit insurance [for credit union deposits] has helped us tremendously,” Catliff said. “About 82% of our deposits are with people that have over $100,000 with us, so we’ve really grown the affluent deposit market. Members appreciate the approach we have. They’re not redeeming [their investments]. They like the proactive calls, and they’re sticking to the plan.” • rchu@biv.com

Law

September 27–October 3, 2011 Business in Vancouver

Trouble

daily online edition

BUSINESS TODAY First Quantum’s multibillion-dollar legal fights heads to trial Vancouver’s First Quantum Minerals (TSX:FM) is continuing its legal battle in the British Virgin Islands, two years after the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo seized control of a copper project in the African nation. On September 19, First Quantum said the British Virgin Islands Commercial Court rejected an application by the Highwinds Group to dismiss the Vancouver company’s legal claim in relation to the Kolwezi tailings project. The dismissal means First Quantum’s claim will now proceed to trial. “At which Highwinds will need to explain its involvement in the unlawful cancellation of First Quantum’s interest in the Kolwezi project,” First Quantum said in a statement. The legal action targets Highwind Properties Ltd., Pareas Ltd., Interim Holdings Ltd. and Blue Narcissus Ltd., together known as the Highwinds Group, which are subsidiaries of London-based Eurasian Natural Resources Group (LSE:ENRC). The dispute is centred on a highly prospective copper project that First Quantum had the rights to and invested more than $400 million in

UBC opens $56 million law school building

before the DRC government sealed it off in 2009, effectively throwing 700 Congolese miners out of work. In February, the company commenced international arbitration against the DRC for the seizure. But the fight heated up August 20, 2010, when London’s ENRC said it had bought 50.5% of Camrose Resources Ltd., which, through its ownership of the Highwinds Group, had a 70% stake in Kolwezi. First Quantum argues the sale violates an order handed down the day before that prohibits the DRC from taking any action to transfer or allow the transfer of Kolwezi to another party. First Quantum said September 19 that Highwinds would need to explain at trial “how it came about that it signed a contract to acquire the Kolwezi permit the very same day First Quantum’s contract was cancelled.” The legal action includes claims for inducement of breach of contract and interference with contractual relations, the company said, adding that its damages are estimated to exceed $2 billion. At press time, First Quantum’s shares were down $1.83 to $19.35. •

After years of being known for poor law school facilities, the University of British Columbia (UBC) officially opened its long-awaited new law school building September 23. The university’s $56 million Allard Hall – Canada’s first new purpose-built university law school building in 30 years – was financed largely from the local legal community and UBC law school alumni who donated nearly $35 million. UBC officials describe that financing as the most successful private fundraising campaign in Canadian law school history. A Canadian Lawyer magazine survey of recent law grads in 2005 gave UBC’s law school the worst marks in the country for its facilities. (See “UBC claims last place among Canadian law schools” – issue 824; August 9-15, 2005.) The new Allard building has a geo-exchange heating and cooling system that will reduce the greenhouse gas footprint of the building by 87% compared with a conventional gas-fired system. The facility will also have a First Nations student lounge as a way to reflect UBC’s commitment to First Nations people.

Joel McKay Tuesday, September 20

Glen Korstrom Thursday, September 22

Full stories and other local business news at www.biv.com/businesstoday

BUYER’S ALERT Companies listed below,

which are not members of the Better Business Bureau, have failed to respond, as of September 16, 2011, to Better Business Bureau of Mainland B.C.’s efforts to mediate complaints from September 5, 2011 to September 9, 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. A 1 Doors & Mouldings Ltd., Surrey Alamo Rent A Car Ltd., Richmond AmiChi Living Concept, Vancouver A-Plus Drycleaning & Laundry, Burnaby Art Knapp Plantland, Port Coquitlam Big Bark Recycling, Prince George Budget Brake & Muffler, Aldergrove C & S Ceramic Tile Distributors Ltd., Burnaby Canadian Carpet Services, North Vancouver Coast Wholesale Appliances LP, Coquitlam Contain It Mobile Storage,

150 Mile House Dollar Giant, Vancouver E & I Sports, Prince George Excel Furnace Service, Vancouver H&M Kitchen Cabinets Ltd., Richmond International Moves Ltd., New Westminster J & B Collision Repairs Ltd., Vancouver Mackenzie Countrywide Furniture & Appliance, Prince Rupert Michelin North American (Canada) Inc., Langley Oh’s Western Shoes & Repair, Chilliwack Peoples Jewellers, Burnaby Revolutions Hair Salon, Burnaby Rollies.com, Vancouver Sleep Centre, Aldergrove Star Rebates, Burnaby Sunny Cabinets, Richmond Times Fashion Accessory Ltd., Burnaby Titan Management Ltd., Kelowna Triple A Fresh Produce Inc., Maple Ridge Waglisla Cablevision, Bella Bella West Coast Web Ltd., Pitt Meadows Westcoast Hot Yoga, Vancouver Wilson Printing and Thermography Ltd., Delta Yaletown Auto Spa, Vancouver The following companies have responded to the BBB subsequent to being published: Blue Heron Waterfront Pub

and Restaurant, Vernon Duet Introductions, Surrey JLink Transportation Ltd., Richmond Luxus Accessories, Kelowna Vancouver Laptops, North Vancouver Volco Tires & Wheels Ltd., Richmond

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: Vancouver Top Cars Ltd. and Aida Saba and Royal Bank of Canada and Automotive Finance Canada Inc. and All Write Insurance Agencies Ltd. 2290 Main St., Vancouver and addresses unavailable Plaintiff: Clubb Finance Corp. 2900–595 Burrard St., Vancouver Claim: $505,312 for debt arising from a breached inventory finance and security agreement; a declaration that Clubb has a beneficial interest in the lands and that Saba holds them in trust for Clubb; damages; inquiries; an accounting; an injunction; and appointment of

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Favourite Achievements: A growing law firm; 9 half-marathons Goals: To offer unsurpassed service and expertise in Canadian immigration law; to run a full marathon in the next year.

Passions and Interests: health and fitness; science research and myth-busting. Current Read, Author: Bad Science by Dr. Ben Goldacre Someone I Admire/Why: AJ, a panhandler on Burrard Street with a red mobility scooter, who I used to pass each morning on my way to work. Much has been imperfect in AJ’s life, yet every time I spoke with him or watched him with others, he was unfailingly dignified and respectful. Five people (of all time) I would invite to my dinner gathering: Rosa Parks, Darwin, Mandela, Gates, Galileo, and Roddenberry. Business Tip or Motto: Let well managed time and knowledge drive the paperwork; let genuine respect and attention drive relationships. Favourite TV Show: Through the Wormhole Favourite Holiday Destination: Anywhere with a warm climate and/or interesting history. Favourite Community Organization or Charity: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Favourite Reason for Subscribing to BIV: Gives me a measure of the Vancouver business community even though the top paid executive listing is a cruel read. I have clipped it for motivation.

See you in print! Each week we pick a subscriber to profile. For consideration, email profiles@biv.com. Another way that Business in Vancouver pays off.

22 Law

Daily business news at www.biv.com September 27–October 3, 2011

Trouble a receiver or receivermanager.

Featured Speakers

Defendants: Twin River Estates Ltd. and Donald A. Drysdale and Brian P. Kaminski 211–1015 Austin Ave., Coquitlam Plaintiffs: Kyo Joong Yoon and Myoung Ja Yoon 1200–200 Burrard St., Vancouver Claim: $357,692 pursuant to the guarantee on a promissory note. Defendants: Twin River Estates Ltd. and Donald A. Drysdale and Brian P. Kaminski 211–1015 Austin Ave., Coquitlam Plaintiff: Woo Jin Park 1200–200 Burrard St. Claim: $357,692 pursuant to the guarantee on a promissory note.

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Defendant: Cryopak Industries (2007) ULC 1053 Derwent Way, Delta Plaintiff: Global Packaging Supply Inc. 915–925 W. Georgia St., Vancouver Claim: US$349,710 for debt for reusable cardboard promotional coolers. Defendant: Mondiale Development Ltd. 1300–777 Dunsmuir St., Vancouver Plaintiff: Tower Waterproofing 1800–1095 W. Pender St., Vancouver Claim: $308,000 for debt related to concrete restoration and waterproofing. Defendants: Twin River Estates Ltd. and Donald A. Drysdale and Brian P. Kaminski 211–1015 Austin Ave., Coquitlam Plaintiff: Soon Hi Lee 1200–200 Burrard St. Claim: $286,154 pursuant to the guarantee on a promissory note.

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Defendants: Twin River Estates Ltd. and Donald A. Drysdale and Brian P. Kaminski 211–1015 Austin Ave., Coquitlam Plaintiff: Cho & Lee Holdings Ltd. 11945 Carriage Pl., Delta Claim: $286,154 pursuant to the guarantee on a promissory note. Defendants: 0816985 B.C. Ltd. coba Mastercraft Autobody & Richmond Carstar and Mastercraft Autobody and the said Mastercraft Autobody & Richmond Carstar and Mastercraft Autobody and Andre Nicholas Papp and Joanne Alison Papp and Sidney Errol Thompson 1400–510 Burrard St., Vancouver and 13688 32nd Ave., Surrey and 8708 167th St., Surrey Plaintiff: Akzo Nobel Coatings Ltd. 1600–925 W. Georgia St., Vancouver Claim: $212,985 resulting from the dissolution of agreements for paint

products. Defendants: Twin River Estates Ltd. and Donald A. Drysdale and Brian P. Kaminski 211–1015 Austin Ave., Coquitlam Plaintiff: BC First Life Insurance Brokerage Ltd. 211-1015 Austin Ave., Coquitlam Claim: $143,077 pursuant to the guarantee on a promissory note. Defendant: Bradford Lifestyles Ltd. 228–8055 Anderson Rd., Richmond Plaintiff: Neal Jonathan Van Beers 208–4940 No. 3 Rd., Richmond Claim: $106,754 for debt related to loans. Defendants: Alexander S. Angus Personal Law Corp. and Alexander Angus 800–1090 W. Georgia St., Vancouver and 490–1090 Homer St., Vancouver Plaintiff: HSBC Bank Canada 1600–925 W. Georgia St., Vancouver Claim: $61,115 for debt related to a line of credit. Defendants: Rocky Point Metal Craft Ltd. and Capital Regional District 204–655 Tyee Rd., Victoria and 625 Fisgard St., Victoria Plaintiff: Aarc-West Mechanical Insulation Inc. 1800–1095 W. Pender St., Vancouver Claim: $57,577 for the installation of mechanical insulation; and a builders lien for $57,577. Defendants: Keith Quinn & Artistry Drywall & Contracting Inc. 5509 Main St., Vancouver Plaintiff: Herbert Wayne Hanna 260 Mountain Dr., Lions Bay Claim: $42,783 arising from a breached contract for a roofing project; a declaration that the plaintiff is entitled to a refund of $26,775; damages; and an order. Defendants: Walter Carlyle aka Walt Carlyle dba GC Supply Ltd. and dba GCS 112–1090 Clivedon Ave., Delta Plaintiff: Lymtal International Inc. 605–938 Howe St., Vancouver Claim: $37,039 for debt for construction and paint supplies. Defendants: Bjarne Eigil Nielsen dba Bjarne’s Mechanical Services and Rene Eigil Nielsen 160–8180 Westminster Hwy., Richmond Plaintiff: Arbutus Capital Leasing Ltd. 1200–805 W. Broadway, Vancouver Claim: $16,595 for debt related to a lease agreement. Defendants: Steven Daniel Harvey and Diane Louise Harvey and Fred Harvey 1575 Eastern Dr., Port

Lawsuit of the week

Consultant sues for piece of cafeteria profit pie A consultant that helped North Van Gemini Food Services Ltd. break into the cafeteria-services market is suing the company for alleged breach of a revenue share contract. In a statement of claim filed August 5 in BC Supreme Court, Gianni Filangieri alleges that he agreed to use “his reputation, expertise and experience in the provision of catering and cafeteria services for schools” to help Jorge Koc and Charlene Spadaro launch North Van Gemini Food Services Ltd. and secure food catering and cafeteria contracts with North Vancouver School District. The claim alleges that, prior to launching North Van Gemini, Koc and Spadaro had no school cafeteria experience. According to the claim, Filangieri provided services including: •formulating and making a proposal to the District to provide food catering and cafeteria services; •advising and training Koc, Spadaro and staff in the provision of catering and cafeteria services to the school district; •providing suppliers and securing credit arrangements with suppliers; and •providing advice and expertise in the management and operation of catering and cafeteria services. The claim alleges that, in return, Filangieri was to be paid 5% of North Van Gemini’s gross sales, to a maximum of $50,000, annually for six years. The claim states that the defendants agreed to provide the plaintiff with monthly reports of sales at schools and, upon request, copies of other documentation to enable him to calculate gross sales. It alleges that in 2004 and 2005, Filangieri received “a small portion of the payments due him.” After that, the claim states, he received neither the contractual 5% of gross sales nor the monthly reports and other documentation stipulated in the contract. Filangieri is suing Koc, Spadaro and North Van Gemini for: specific performance of the contract; damages; and an accounting of North Van Gemini’s profits, dividends, interests, monies and income. None of these allegations has been proven in court. As of press time, no statement of defence had been filed. •

Coquitlam and 6251 Ross Rd., Salmon Arm Plaintiff: BC Furnace and Air Conditioning Ltd. 1785–808 Nelson St., Vancouver Claim: $1,412 for a furnace; and a builders lien or $1,412. Defendants: Holly Pietrus and Eagle Ranch Golf Course and Eagle Ranch Golf Resort and Stone Creek Golf Courses Ltd. and John Doe 1 and John Doe 2 and XYZ Corp. Addresses unavailable Plaintiff: David Bracko and Her Majesty the Queen in right of Alberta 1200–925 W. Georgia St., Vancouver Claim: Damages for injuries sustained after a golf ball struck the plaintiff in the eye. Defendant: Gregory Rheinhard Rohland and Kings Legacy Osoyoos (AB) Inc. and Jennifer Rohland 458 Southborough Dr., West Vancouver and 901–1788 Broadway, Vancouver Plaintiff: Sprott Resource Lending Corp. formerly known as Quest Capital Corp. 1700–666 Burrard St., Vancouver Claim: Damages for conversion against Gregory, Jennifer and Kings Legacy related to a loan for a property development that was transferred, then

refunded and used for personal reasons; an order; a declaration the defendants hold all property and assets obtained through use of the refunded development fees by way of a constructive trust in favour of Quest; an accounting; and a tracing. Defendants: Ivan Claude Nowland and In-Young Yi and Adesso Hair Design Ltd. 626–610 Granville St., Vancouver Plaintiff: Youn Hee Kim 1800–401 W. Georgia St., Vancouver Claim: A declaration the defendants’ lands are held in trust for Kim related to fraud and conspiracy, or, a determination of interest in the lands; an order; an injunction; an accounting; a tracing; and damages. Defendants: Timbro Contracting Ltd. and Landco Contracting Ltd. 201–45793 Luckakuck Way, Chilliwack Plaintiff: Telus Communications Co. 2100–3777 Kingsway, Vancouver Claim: Damages for damage to telecommunications equipment during an excavation. Defendant: Miele Ltd. 1700–666 Burrard St., Vancouver Plaintiff: Victoria Susan Chow

Law 23

September 27–October 3, 2011 Business in Vancouver

Trouble 2400–200 Granville St., Vancouver Claim: Damages for a dryer that caught fire and damaged the plaintiff’s property. Defendants: Victoria Holosney and David Holosney and Malada Industries Ltd. 8120 Young Rd., Chilliwack and Box 379, 9245 Main St., Chilliwack Plaintiff: Teresa Gougeon 307–6330 Fraser St., Vancouver Claim: Damages for injuries sustained after a dog attacked the plaintiffs. Defendants: Nepiat Pty Ltd., formerly Findlay & Co. Stockbrokers (Underwriters) Pty. Ltd. Address unavailable Plaintiff: Roderick Neil Salfinger 302–543 Granville St., Vancouver Claim: Damages for fraud and misrepresentations that induced the defendant to enter into an agreement with the defendant to complete an initial public offering of Trans Pacific Mining Ltd., a company controlled by the plaintiff, on the Australian Stock Exchange. Defendant: Rona Revy Inc. 19550 92 Ave., Surrey Plaintiff: Leslie Kim 2100–1075 W. Georgia St., Vancouver Claim: Damages for injuries sustained when the plaintiff was hit by a moveable gate arm barrier used for traffic control, when it descended without warning; loss of past and future income; and health-care costs. Defendants: Most Home Real Estate Services Inc. and Kenneth L. Galpin 1200–999 W. Hastings St., Vancouver and 12385 221st St., Maple Ridge Plaintiff: James Scott Munro 202–2368 Marpole Ave., Port Coquitlam Claim: Damages for debt under a settlement agreement. Defendants: Tracomex (Canada) Ltd. and Metales Tracomex Limitada and Jorge Mitarakis and Pola Namias and Super H Holdings Ltd. and Westcan Rail Ltd. 300–240 Kennedy St., Winnipeg and Ebro 2740, Piso 14, Las Condes, Santiago, Chile and 201– 45793 Luckakuck Way, Chilliwack and 201– 33832 South Fraser Way, Abbotsford Plaintiff: Coutinho & Ferrostaal GmbH 700–401 W. Georgia St., Vancouver Claim: A declaration that the plaintiff is the owner of the steel, arising from breach of a steel shipment contract and fraud; an order; and damages. Defendants: Procycle Group Inc. and Rocky Mountain Bicycles and Columbus and Gruppo SPA 1700–666 Burrard St.,

Vancouver and 16–1610 Derwent Way, Delta and Via G. Di Vittorio 21–20090 Caleppio di Settala, Milano, Italy Plaintiff: Robert Heikki Lahti 108–7376 Halifax St., Burnaby Claim: Damages for injuries the plaintiff sustained when the steering tube of the bicycle broke, causing the plaintiff to fall. Defendants: Royal Station Properties Ltd. and Imperial Oak Investments Ltd. and Ivan’s Auto Body Ltd. and Coastview Construction Ltd. and

Shiraz Chatur and Ali Asghar and Jatinder Singh Minhas 6592 Maple St., Vancouver and 500 North Tower, 5811 Cooney Rd., Richmond and 3550 Commercial Dr., Vancouver and Box 52, 1800–1095 W. Pender St., Vancouver and addresses unavailable Plaintiffs: Antun Havlicek and Maria Havlicek and Havli Holdings Ltd. 5025 Frances St., Burnaby and 1700–1075 W. Georgia St., Vancouver Claim: A declaration that the contract remains in full force and effect, arising from delays in completion

of a sale for a strata unit following the development’s sale to a new owner; an order, or, damages; an accounting; and an order. Defendants: Pat Morton and Kevin Christieson and QTax Quality Tax Services Ltd. 1386 Moffat Ave., Quesnel and 728 Best Rd., Quesnel Plaintiff: H&R Block Canada Inc. 1700–666 Burrard St., Vancouver Claim: An injunction stopping the defendants from using confidential or proprietary information belonging to H&R Block,

soliciting or performing work for the customers of the franchise and competing unfairly with the franchise, arising from breach of a franchise agreement; further injunctions; orders; declarations that the defendants have infringed the plaintiff’s trade-mark rights, depreciated the Block’s goodwill in the trade-mark, and caused customer confusion; and damages. Defendants: Fairway Disposal & Demolition Ltd. dba Fairway Disposal Services aka Fairway

Disposal 530 North Office Tower, 650 W. 41st Ave., Vancouver Plaintiff: City of Richmond 6911 No.3 Rd., Richmond Claim: Damages arising from breach of contract resulting in damage to a sewer hog. Defendant: Devon Richard Knapfl dba Aces Roofing A–1988 Cousins Ave., Courtenay Plaintiff: Claudette Louise Flawse 1200–925 W. Georgia St., Vancouver Claim: Damages for bungled roofing work in breach of a contract. •

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For the record

Daily business news at www.biv.com September 27–October 3, 2011

People on the Move Email your For the Record

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

•Accounting

Heather MacLean has been appointed senior estate accountant at McLaren Trefanenko Inc. She was previously an estate accountant and accounting clerk with the company.

Kirsten Anderson, Emily Pitcher and Jennifer Wong join Fraser Milner Casgrain as associates

Jeff Schaeffler and Rob Dawson join the board of the BC Association of Integrated Marketers

•Associations/ Societies

Jim Malone, vice-president of nuclear fuels at IBC Advanced Alloys Corp., has been appointed chair of the World Nuclear Association’s fuel technology working group. He is chair of the board of Hathor Exploration Ltd. and was previously vice-president, nuclear fuels, at Exelon Corp. Jeff Schaeff ler and Rob Dawson have been appointed to the board of the BC Association of Integrated Marketers. Schaeffler is senior strategic planner with Dare, and was previously marketing director for Vision Critical and president of the International Marketing Association. Dawson is the co-founder and vice president of Concerto Marketing Group Inc. and a past Business In Vancouver Top 40 Under 40 award winner.

John Vandermay joins Gemcom Software International as vicepresident of product development

Al Vigoda joins CircusWest Performing Arts Society as executive director

Soleil Lutsky joins HQ Real Estate Services as a commercial sales and leasing broker

Heather MacLean is senior estate accountant at McLaren Trefanenko

Rodica Matei is general manager of Wedge Clamp Systems

•Biotech/Life Sciences

engineer at the University Hospital of Rouen.

reservoir engineering adviser at Hess Corp., petroleum engineer adviser and acting manager with Kuwait Foreign Petroleum & Exploration Co., engineering manager for Sipetrol and staff reservoir engineer and

chief petroleum engineer for Triton Energy Corp.

an expert in the statistical and mathematical modelling required for economic evaluations of health programs, having previously worked on the BC Methadone Maintenance Treatment Outcome Study, the North American

Jocelyne Legoedec has been appointed lead project biologist at Sirona Biochem Corp.’s subsidiary, TFChem. She was previously diagnostic product manager at Biohit plc. and research

•Energy

Barry Chovanetz has joined East West Petroleum Corp. as vice-president, engineering. He was previously

•Health/Medical

Bohdan Nosyk has joined the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS as a health economist. Nosyk is

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2011 BMW 750i shown.

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European model shown. Features and equipment may vary in Canada. MSRP of a 2012 BMW 750i xDrive All-Wheel Drive starts at $110,300. Lease rates are those offered by BMW Financial Services Canada only on approved credit (OAC). *Lease rate of 3.9% available for up to 39 months. Lease example based on $998 a month for 39 months. Down payment or equivalent trade of $9,988. Freight and PDI of up to $1,995, licence, insurance, registration, taxes, EHF tire, filter, and battery fees and similar taxes levied on the manufacturer (if charged by the Retailer), and PPSA are extra. Additional province-specific fees, taxes, and charges may be extra. Total obligation is $70,868. The residual value of the vehicle at end of term is $47,429. Annual kilometres limited to 16,000; $0.30 per excess kilometre. Excess wear-and-tear charges may apply. Retailers are free to set individual prices and charge administration fees, which may change the APR or the price of the vehicle. Offer expires October 2, 2011. Delivery must be taken by October 2, 2011. Offer requires Retailer participation. Offer is subject to availability and may be cancelled or changed without notice. Certain conditions apply. See your local BMW Retailer or bmw.ca for full details. †Certain limitations apply; see Retailer for details. ©2011 BMW Canada Inc. “BMW”, the BMW logo, BMW model designations and all other BMW related marks, images and symbols are the exclusive properties and/or trademarks of BMW AG, used under licence.

for the record 25

September 27–October 3, 2011 Business in Vancouver

Lisa Ridgedale is founder and principal of Ridgedale Law

Jocelyne Legoedec is lead project biologist at Sirona Biochem’s subsidiary, TFChem

Bohdan Nosyk joins the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/ AIDS as a health economist

Gordon Baldwin, Ron Batty, Larry Hanson and Mark Hoag are partners at KNV Chartered Accountants

Opiate Medication Initiative and California’s Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act.

Vigoda Development Corp. and was previously director of Vibrant Surrey.

vice-president at Riddarhyttan Resources.

Art Aylesworth, Matthew Watson and Barry Hagglund have joined LightBased Technologies Inc. (LBT) as CEO, COO and CTO, respectively. Aylesworth was previously CEO of Carmanah Technologies. Watson was previously COO of Carmanah. Hagglund was previously CTO at PMC-Sierra Inc. Jeanette Jackson, LBT’s founding CEO, has transitioned to chief marketing officer. Richard Mackellar, managing director at Chrysalix has been named chair of the board and Tom Foxall, LBT’s previous CTO, has been appointed chief scientist.

•Legal

Kirsten Anderson, Emily Pitcher and Jennifer Wong have joined Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP (FMC) as associates in the corporate commercial group, litigation group and real estate and construction group, respectively. Anderson was called to the California bar in 1990 and the B.C. bar in 2011. Pitcher and Wong articled with FMC and were called to the B.C. Bar in 2011. Lisa Ridgedale has established and become principal of Ridgedale Law Corp. She was previously associate counsel in the litigation group at McMillan LLP. Steve Abramson has joined Harper Grey LLP as an associate. He previously practiced with Watson Goepel.

•Manufacturing

Rodica Matei has been appointed general manager of Wedge Clamp Systems Inc. She was previously in export and inside sales and a purchaser with the company. Steve Johnson, Darren Suomi and Greg Gunn have joined HootSuite as CRO, vice-president of sales, and vice-president of business development, respectively. Johnson was previously vicepresident of channel partners at Constant Contact and Blackbaud. Suomi was previously global vice-president, enterprise sales, at SAP AG and sales director at Business Objects. Gunn was previously a strategy consultant at TeamPages.com, director, programs and partnerships, at Idea Builders and director of business development at Terapeak.com and ResearchAdvanced.com.

•Non-Profit

Douglas Chiu, Jason Lam and Adrian Loh have been appointed to the board of the S.U.C.C.E.S.S. Foundation. Chiu is an associate lawyer and barrister at Hammerberg Altman Beaton & Maglio LLP. Lam is a financial adviser at CIBC Imperial Service. Loh is president of S. Loh Financial Inc. Al Vigoda has joined CircusWest Performing Arts Society as executive director. He is principal at Alan R.

•Real Estate

Craig Bradshaw has joined Arcturus Realty Corp. as vice-president, business development for Western Canada. He was previously vice-president and manager for Colliers International. Soleil Lutsky has joined HQ Real Estate Services Inc. as a commercial sales and leasing broker. He was previously an independent contractor at Macdonald Commercial.

•Resources

Wes Roberts has joined the board of BCGold Corp., replacing Darren Bahrey who has resigned. Roberts is vice-president of mining for Heenan Blaikie Global Advisors and was previously vice-president of corporate development at Breakwater Resources Ltd. Blanca Stella Frias has joined StoneShield Capital Corp. as Colombian country manager. She was previously administration and community relations manager of Ventana Gold Corp. Chris Wild has been appointed vice-president, exploration, for Rockgate Capital Corp. He is a principal of Wildrock Resources Consulting and Drafting and was previously chief mine geologist at Imperial Metals and exploration geologist for Falconbridge Nickel, Noranda and Inmet Mining. Greg Dawson has been appointed vice-president of exploration at Colorado Resources Ltd. He was previously president of Redtail Metals Corp. and is a director of the Association for Mineral Exploration BC. Leanne Baker has been appointed president and CEO of Sutter Gold Mining Inc. She was previously an independent consultant in the mining and financial services industry, managing director of Investor Resources LLC and equity research analyst and managing director of Salomon Smith Barney and Citigroup. George Salamis has been appointed a director of Calibre Mining Corp. He is president and CEO of Edgewater Exploration Ltd. and was previously president at Rusoro Mining Ltd., CEO at Caledon Resources plc and

Anna Stylianides has been appointed interim president and CEO of Eco Oro Minera ls C or p., replac i ng Rafael Nieto Loaiza who will remain as a consultant to the company. Stylianides is chair of the board of Eco Oro and was previously CEO and president of Goldquest Mining Corp. Juan Esteban Orduz has been appointed co-chair of the board. James Atherton has been appointed corporate secretary and corporate counsel. He previously practiced with Bull, Housser & Tupper LLP. Susan Craig has resigned as president of Northern Freegold Resources Ltd., but will remain on the company’s board. Tim Termuende, interim CEO of Northern Freegold, will step in as interim president. Alnesh Mohan has been appointed CFO of Rye Patch Gold Corp., replacing Joe Kajszo, chair of the board. Mohan is a partner at Quantum Advisory Partners LLP and was previously a tax manager at KPMG LLP. To d Tu r l e y h a s b e e n appointed to the board of Wesgold Minerals Inc. He is COO and director of Minatura International LLC and was previously chair and CEO of Amerivon. Muhammad Khalid Pervaiz has been appointed managing director of Cooper Minerals’ subsidiary, AJK Mining Co. (PVT.) Ltd. He is president of the Institute of Mining Engineers in Pakistan and chief executive geologist of Minerals Khokhar Bala Coal Mines. Peter Friedmann has been appointed to the board of True North Gems Inc. He will assume the role as the nominee for the HalmanAldubi Group of which he is a significant investor.

•Technology

Jonathan Wilkinson has been appointed CEO of BioteQ Environmental Technologies, Inc., replacing retiring CEO, Brad Marchant. Wilkinson was previously senior vice-president of business development at Nexterra Systems Corp. and CEO and president of Questair Technologies Inc.

J o h n Va n d e r m a y h a s j oi ne d G emc om S of tware International Inc. as vice-president of product development. He was previously vice-president of BlackBerry Enterprise Server Software with RIM, senior vice-president of software engineering at Fusion-io Inc., vice-president of worldwide engineering at Omniture and vice-president of platform development at Cognos. David Rubenstein has joined AgriMarine Holdings Inc.’s strategic advisory committee. He is vice-president of international seafood operations at Expack.

Standing Tall Awards recognized students who had overcome significant personal adversity to pursue their academic goals. TD Bank Group raised more than $125,000 for TD Children’s Charities during its Sing or Swim event. New Gold Inc. donated $25,000 to the KidSafe Project Society, which keeps schools open during the summer break offering nutritious meals and programming to at-risk children. T he T E LUS E mploye e Charitable Giving program donated $11,240 to Royal Columbian Hospital Foundation to help fund critical equipment needed throughout the hospital. Coast Capita l Sav ings donated $7,500 to Vantage Point to strengthen and expand the Next Leaders Network, which creates a community of not-for-profit leaders empowered with the skills, knowledge and connections required to create a positive future. Coast Capita l Sav ings donated $5,000 to the Zajac Ranch for Children toward its Fall Family Camp.

Steven Jones has been named a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. He is a professor of molecular biology and biochemistry at Simon Fraser University and head of bioinformatics at the BC Cancer Agency’s Genome Sciences Centre. Mike Cheevers, a partner at Wolrige Mahon LLP, received the Keith G. Collins Memorial Award periodically given to a member by the Canadian Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Professionals. Cheevers is chair of the association. Sam Thiara, manager of student engagement and recruitment at Simon Fraser University’s Beedie School of Business, was recognized as Mentor of the Year through the Vancouver Board of Trade’s Leaders of Tomorrow program. It’s Your Move won the Surrey Board of Trade’s Environment and Business Award. Eric Kjeang, assistant professor, mechatronic systems engineering at Simon Fraser University’s school of engineering science, received an honourable mention. •

Companies on the Move • New in Town

KNV Chartered Accountants LLP and Nordahl Craig Cummings & Gares have merged practices and will operate under the name KNV Chartered Accountants LLP. The office will be located at 15300 Croydon Drive, Surrey.

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. Highresolution images are also welcome. Coast Capital Savings provided 48 students $144,000 in education awards. Thirtytwo Citizenship Awards recognized students with outstanding academic performance and community involvement, while 16

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Breakfast, Luncheon, Dinner Meetings Business Women Dinner Meeting and Speaker S eptember 29, 2011, 6:00 PM: Burnaby Business Women invite women to a monthly, s o cial dinn er m e etin g an d speaker. Join us for a relaxing and interesting evening. Nonmembers welcome. Door prizes donated by attendees. Reservations required. $24.00 non-members, $21.00 members. ABC Country Restaurant, 6500 East Hastings. Burnaby. Sharon: 6 0 4 - 4 3 4 -7 2 2 1 o r s h a r o n @ donndean.com. http://upcoming. yahoo.com/venue/93820/BC/ Burnaby/Burnaby-BusinessWomen-One-to-One/. With Cocaine, Softwood, and Al Qaeda: Does North America Have a Future? With Dr. Stephen Clarkson October 5, 2011, 12:00 PM: Cocaine, softwood and Al Qaeda have become symbols of North Americaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s inter- and intra-national conflicts. Dr. Stephen Clarkson will discuss where North America is heading in it s competition with other world regions. $45. Law Courts Inn, 800 Smithe Street. Vancouver. admin@ canadianclubvancouver.com. www.canadianclubvancouver. com.

smei.org. smeivancouver.org. Boughton/BCLI Great Debate October 26, 2011, 5:00 PM: The GREATdebate offers a fun, engaging evening of dinner and light-hearted debate. This yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s debate resolution: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Resolved that the torts of champerty and maintenance should be abolished in British Columbia.â&#x20AC;? $145 per person/$1,100 per table of 8. Pan Pacific Waterfront, 300-999 Canada Place. Vancouver. Elizabeth Pinsent: 604.822.0142, epinsent@bcli. org. http://www.bcli.org/news/ events/great-debate-2011. Lufthansa: Mobility for the World November 9, 2011, 11:45 AM: Don Bunkenburg, Director of Corporate Sales and Regions, North America, Lufthansa. $69 members and guests/$96 future members (+HST). Renaissance Vancouver Hotel Harbourside Harbourside Ballroom, 1133 West Hastings Street. Vancouver. reservations@boardoftrade. com. www.boardoftrade.com. LinkedIn - Using Social Media to Market Your Personal Brand November 24, 2011, 5:00 PM: Join Gary Fearnall - Director Global Marketing Solutions, LinkedIn Canada. The brand called â&#x20AC;&#x153;youâ&#x20AC;? is the professional brand you show to employers, co lla b o ra to r s , clie nt s a n d colleagues. How you market that brand is essential to your professional success. SMEI Member $60/Non-member $78 (before Nov 11/11). Pan Pacific Vancouver, 300-999 Canada Place. Vancouver. 604-2660090 or vancouver@smei.org. smeivancouver.org.

Conferences, Conventions, Tradeshows

One Night by Lora Frost - Success Party October 19, 2011, 7:00 PM: A unique oppor tunity for entrepreneurs to embrace their power. Guests attending the One Night party will arrive as the person they want to be in five years. They will act as though they have already achieved their goals. $150. Shangri-La Terrasse. Vancouver. Marion Houchard at mhouchard@ karranfinlaymarketing.com. www.onenightbylorafrost.com.

15th Annual SOHO|SME Expo S eptember 30, 2011, 8:30 AM: The SOHO | SME brings together like-minded business entrepreneurs, executives, managers and professionals to inspire, drive and motivate business success. Small business is defined as a business with less than 50 employees. Register online for your free tradeshow & conference pass. 655 Burrard. Vancouver. cassandra@soho.ca. http://www.soho.ca/sme/2011/ vancouver/.

What Makes a Good Pitch? Developing, Presenting and Landing Business October 20, 2011, 5:00 PM: Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re delighted to have two dynamic presenters for this topic: Linda Oglov, Business Development Consultant & Bill Baker - Principal & Founder, BB&Co Strategic Storytelling. Join us for a very entertaining and informative session. SMEI Members $55/Non-members $75. Pan Pacific Vancouver, 300999 Canada Place. Vancouver. 604-266-0090 or vancouver@

Internet Marketing Conference - IMC Vancouver O c to b e r 3, 20 11, 7: 30 AM: Expand your knowledge, improve your skills and become a better manager of digital media, marketing & communications. Connect with an international community of digital marketers. 2-day pass $995 until Sept 9th; $1195 after. Renaissance Vancouver Hotel, 1133 West Hastings St. Vancouver. Registration Support: regvancouver@risingmedia. com, 1-877-883-7345. http://www.

www.bivdatebook.com internetmarketingconference. com/vancouver/event-home. HR Tech Group: Human Capital Symposium October 26, 2011, 8:00 AM: Tech industry event on best HR practices to grow your business (revenue, talent , lea der s). Featuring keynote Don Bell, Co-founder of Westjet Airlines. $275 before Sept 30th; $350 after. Sutton Place Hotel, 845 Burrard St. Vancouver. Allison Ruther ford, HR Tech Group, 604-874-2653; arutherford@ h r te c h g ro u p . c o m . www. hrtechgroup.com. Business After Business Tradeshow October 26, 2011, 5:00 PM: The Vancouver Board of Tradeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s signature Tradeshow. $20 members and guests/$30 future members (+HST). The Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, Pacific Ballroom, 900 West Georgia Street. Vancouver. reservations@boardoftrade. com. www.boardoftrade.com.

Courses, Workshops, Seminars 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. 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=035-252. Toastmasters Entrepreneur Club - Information Session/Demo Meeting S eptember 28, 2011, 7:00 PM: Entrepreneurs, business owners, coaches, consultants and freelancers - build your business and your speaking skills at the same time. Practice your business and sales presentations. No Charge. Douglas College, Rm 1222, 700 Royal Ave. New Westminster. patty@SuccessBuddies.com. Protect Now For Down The Road O c to b e r 1 , 20 1 1, 9 :45 AM: Jennifer Fabre Inves tment Advisor DWM Securities Inc presents a seminar on ways to protect yourself and your parents from depleting your savings for health care costs in later years. Topics: Long Term Facility Care, Home Support, and Power of Attorneys. Complimentary Seminars. 700 - 609 Granville St. Vancouver. mevans@dundeewealth. com or 604-895-3478. www. jenniferfabre.com. All Pro Toastmasters Open House October 5, 2011, 7:15 PM: Are you a professional paid speaker or wish to become one? All Pro TM provides a safe place to practice and get valuable

Datebook 27

September 27–October 3, 2011 Business in Vancouver

feedback. Watch a live meeting, ask questions and determine if this club is a fit for you! No cost. Rm 1222, Douglas College, 700 Royal Ave. New Westminster. blackiris@telus.net. 20/20 SMART Session: The Manufacturing ERP Challenge October 6, 2011, 8:00 AM: An effective enterprise resource planning (ERP) system can streamline operations, enhance competitiveness, and greatly impact your bottom line. $15 CME Members: $20 Nonmembers. Hampton Inn & Suites, 19500 Langley Bypass (Route 10). Surrey. Kimberly Hall: kimberly. hall@cme-mec.ca, 604-713-7809. www.bc.cme-mec.ca. Selling Your Business Workshop O c tob er 6, 2011, 8:30 AM: If you are a business owner considering your exit, this workshop will give you a significant competitive advantage when it comes time to sell. Speakers including a business mentor, M&A specialist, business law yer, financing expert & tax specialist. $50. BCIT Burnaby Campus, 3700 W i l l i n g d o n Av e . B u r n a b y. Tracie: 604.859.5388 ext 115, tcraig@pavilionservices.com. www. pavilionservices. com/ workshops. Leadership Assessment Essentials for Selection and Development October 12, 2011, 8:30 AM: High quality assessment is essential to HR’s ability to provide real business value they improve the accuracy of decisions regarding selection, development and succession. Prices vary - please see our website for details. BC HRMA, 1101-1111 West Hastings Street. V a n c o u v e r. J a c e A r d i e l , P rofe s sio na l D evelo p m ent Coordinator, jardiel@bchrma. org. http://www. bchrma.org/ co n te n t/eve n ts/ls/d e ta i ls. cfm?EventID=035-303. BCIC Commercialization & Business Planning Workshop October 21, 2011, 9:00 AM: An intensive workshop that compels the entrepreneur to think critically and develop the successful elements for the commercialization and positioning of their business idea. It covers business planning and product management. Oct 21, 28 & Nov 4. $269 (a $4,000 v a l u e) . 1 1 8 8 W e s t G e o r g i a Street, 9th Floor. Vancouver. lthom@bcic.ca. http://www. b c i c . c a /p ro g ra m s /ta l e n t / entrepreneurship-workshop. HR Metrics Benchmarking Service - Demo & Overview: High-Tech October 27, 2011, 9:30 AM: Come join us for an overview of the HR Metrics Benchmarking Service with a special focus on the High-Tech Sector. No charge. Online. 604.694.6946, lwhalley@ bchrma.org. http://www.bchrma. org/content/events/ls/details. cfm?EventID=035-238.

CAPS Vancouver: Todd Hunt - Creating a Killer Keynote October 29, 2011, 8:30 AM: Learn the secrets to creating a great keynote address. For both emerging and experienced speakers. Plus, “Rising Stars” contest for new speakers. $57 members & 1st time guests; $62 at the door; $87 returning guests. Morris J. Wosk Center for Dialogue (SFU), 580 West Hastings St. Vancouver. Ron Grender, CAPS President: 778688-7065. www.capsvancouver. com. Mastering the Rockefeller Habits Four Decisions Executive Workshop November 2, 2011, 8:00 AM: For CEOs and their Leadership Teams: Learn how to accelerate profitable growth using the Rockefeller Habits. The Four Decisions refer to the critical decisions that growth companies must get right to maximize their revenue, profit and time. $495 to $795 per person (see link). Terminal City Club, 837 West Hastings Street. Vancouver, B.C. Janice Watkins: 604-313-2229 ext.1, Janice@CoachKevin.com. http://mrhworkshopvancouver. eventbrite.com. 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. $ 6 0 0 . 5 1 5 W. H a s t i n g s S t . Vancouver. Joshua Randall, 778782-5254. http://www.sfu.ca/city/ course3popup.htm.

Fundraisers, General Events Compassion Into Action 2011 September 28, 2011, 8:00 A M : N a tu re’s Pa th O rga nic Foods presents the 3rd Annual P u t Yo u r C o m p a s si o n I n to Action event, benefitting the Greater Vancouver Food Bank. Enjoy a tas t y fre e organic break fas t, live music from The Left, and contribute food items or cash for the food bank . Free!. Vancouver Ar t

Careers

Gallery - North Plaza (Georgia at Hornby). Vancouver. http:// www.facebook.com/#!/event. php?eid=22 1690794543936. http://compassionintoaction. ca. Women Against MS Gala Breakfast October 13, 2011, 7:00 AM: There is no known cure for multiple sclerosis which affects women three times more often than men. Funds raised support MS research. Special guest s p e a ke r C a s s i e C a m p b e l l Pascall. 125 per ticket 1,000 table for eight. Terminal City Club, 837 West Hastings Street. Va n co u ve r. K r is tina Kei th : 604-602-3220, Kristina.Keith@ mssociety.ca. www.mssociety. ca/bc/wams.htm.

Gala Events Fastest Growing Awards Ceremony September 27, 2011, 5:30 PM: A gala awards dinner honouring the Top 100 Fastest Growing Companies in B.C. This event coincides with the publishing of the Top 100 Fastest Growing Companies list. Subscriber $ 125, Non-subscriber $ 149. T h e Fa i r m o n t W a t e r f r o n t Hotel, 900 Canada Place Way. Vancouver. Azadeh Hollmann: 604.608.51.97 or ahollmann@ biv.com. http://www.biv.com/ events/top100fastestgrowing/ index.asp. PWN 15th Anniversary Celebration S eptember 29, 2011, 5:00 PM: Come celebrate PWN’s 15 years of growth and expansion, applaud the successes of our m e m b e r s , a n d p ay sp e cia l tribute to those gems in our business community who have contributed significantly to the advancement of women in business. $75.00. Please Register by August 29. Fairmont Waterfront Hotel. Vancouver. Please make cheques payable to Hayley Renfrew c/o Fasken Martineau, 2900-550 Burrard St. Vancouver, BC, V6C 0A3. Big Sisters Gala October 6, 2011, 5:30 PM: Join Big Sisters for an inspiring evening as we raise funds to help match 180 girls on the

wa i tlis t wi th a su p p o r ti ve mentor. Event will feature a champagne reception, auctions, dinner and live entertainment by Paramount. $250. Pan Pacific Hotel, 300 - 999 Canada Place. Vancouver. Kelly: 604-873-4525 x302 or kmorrison@bigsisters. bc.ca. www.bigsisters.bc.ca. BCAMA’s 2011 Marketer of the Year October 13, 2011, 5:00 PM: Join us at our gala event to hear an inspiring story about how Pacific National Exhibition, the 2011 BCAMA Marketer of the Year, has positioned itself as a premier entertainment fair destination with its outstanding integrated marketing campaign. $170 non-member, $130 member, $ 1600 corporate table. The Westin Bayshore, 1601 Bayshore D r i ve . Va n co u ve r, B C . C a ll 604.983.6AMA (6262), email info@bcama.com or visit our website to register online. www. bcama.com. Ridge Meadows Hospital Foundation Gala Evening October 15, 2011, 5:30 PM: Proudly presented by Fraser River Pile and Dredge, this is a dazzling fundraising evening of fine dining, shopping and fun with pro ce e ds use d to purchase life saving equipment for Ridge Meadows Hospital. $ 175. Meadow Gardens Golf Course. Pitt Meadows. Laura Butler: 604.466.6958 or laura. butler@fraserhealth.ca. www. rmhfoundation.com. Torch Awards 2011 October 26, 2011, 11:30 AM: Torch Awards is a gala awards luncheon recognizing ethical and sustainable businesses from across British Columbia. To be announced. The Metropolitan Hotel, 645 Howe Street. Vancouver. susanh@mbc.bbb. org. www.mbc.bbb.org/torch. BCIT Distinguished Alumni Awards October 27, 2011, 5:45 PM: The 9th annual BCIT Distinguished Alumni Awards celebrates and honours BCIT alumni and faculty who have notable achievements in their careers and community endeavours. Tickets $125; Table of 10 $1,200. Four Seasons Hotel, 791 W. Georgia St. Vancouver. 604-432-8847, alumni@bcit.ca.

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bcit.ca/alumni. 2011 T. Patrick Boyle Founder’s Award November 17, 2011, 5:30 PM: The Fraser Institute will be honoring Darren Entwistle, CEO & President of Telus, with the T. Patrick Boyle Founder’s Award at a gala reception . Sponsorship, single tickets, and premium/standard tables available. Tickets $500/$700; Table $5000/$7000. Vancouver Convention Centre East, 1055 Canada Place. Vancouver. 6046 88- 02 2 1 ex t 5 37 or paige. mackenzie@fraserinstitute.org. http://www.fraserinstitute.org/ events-multimedia/eventdisplay. aspx?id=17774.

Golf Tournaments Mortgage Investment Association of BC (MIABC) Annual Charity Golf Tournament September 27, 2011, 11:45 AM: The MIABC Annual Charity Golf Tournament - Net proceeds will be donated to the Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society’s Kid’s Picks Program. Please visit our website for details. Morgan Creek Golf Course, 3500 Morgan Creek Way. Surrey, BC. contactus@miabc.com. www. miabc.com.

Networking functions C3: Coffee, Conversations & Connections October 11, 2011, 9:00 AM: These “casual conversations” are designed to connect you with smart, savvy women and start your day off right! Tell us your thoughts, share your k n owle d g e an d lear n fro m other women’s experiences over a freshly brewed cup of coffee (or tea!). Guests $12.50; Members $10 (+HST). Cheers Restaurant, 125 East 2nd Street. North Vancouver, BC. Cathy, theconnectedwoman.com. www. theconnectedwoman.com. Women in Biz Network Presents: Branding your Biz with Rebecca Bollwitt & Heather White November 1, 2011, 6:30 PM: Women in Biz Network presents i t s f i r s t Va n co u ve r eve n t . Become brand savvy with Miss 604’s Rebecca Bollwitt and Heather White of 2020 Communications. $24. Opus Hotel, 22 Davie St. Vancouver. kerry@womeninbiznetwork. com. http://womeninbiznetwork. c o m / 2 0 1 1 / 0 9 / 1 1 /o u r- f i r s tvancouver-event-bran dingyour-biz-with-rebecca-bollwittheather-white/. •

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Daily business news at www.biv.com September 27–October 3, 2011

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Timothy Renshaw A credit crisis in your pocket

orry to intrude on your postsummer reveries, but there’s another credit grenade being rolled under your chair. Much closer to home, however, than the one inciting civil disobedience from all those money-for-jam freeloaders in distant lands like Greece. This one is right in your pocket. The financial burden of convenience that retailers now bear for their clientele’s credit-card use could be headed consumers’ way. And that, my friends, is when the real credit crud will hit the fan. The nuts and bolts of the credit-card contretemps now rattling floorboards in retail outlets across the land are chronicled in Business in Vancouver’s recent Full Disclosure feature (“Credit card bill battle on” – issue 1143; September 20-26). In it, reporter Richard Chu documents local merchants’ frustration over the rising costs of accepting credit cards payment from their customers. Those costs include interchange fees, transaction charges and other sleight-of-hand levies to pay for credit networks and to cover marketing and other costs banks ring up when they issue credit cards. Not a bad deal for your friendly neighbourhood bank manager. Ditto for the credit-card-armed public either. Less great, however, for retailers. Because most of the card fees are calculated as percentages of sales transactions and because they vary depending on which of the roughly 200 card types available in Canada a customer uses, merchants are, at best, playing pin the tail on the donkey when it comes to estimating what those costs might be each month. That, as merchants point out, is hard on their long-term survival rates. The Competition Bureau therefore wants the Competition Tribunal to force the two main credit network providers, Visa and MasterCard, to allow merchants to: •hit credit-card users with a pointof-sale surcharge; and •decline to carry cards that have higher interchange fees.

While consumers on the West Coast are notoriously averse to paying additional charges at checkout counters, many of the card users among them have only a vague idea of what real money is and how much they might be racking up on plastic each month.

Merchants are, at best, playing pin the tail on the donkey when it comes to Cartoon by Rice

estimating credit card costs Swiping a card and scrawling a signature is a deceptively painless way to acquire product and a seductive way to become mired in debt. Canadians might, as a whole, be better off than their American cousins, but they’re far from out of the woods when it comes to solvency. For example, a recent ING Direct report showed that a third of Canadians say they’re not even close to achieving their 2011 personal financial goals. And while TransUnion’s recently released quarterly analysis of Canadian credit trends found that the average consumer’s debt (excluding mortgages) continued to stabilize in 2011’s second quarter, total consumer debt for the first six months of the year remains 3% higher compared with last year, and Canadian lines of credit increased 5.4% year over year and 2.8% quarter over quarter. Therefore the other shoe set to drop here is down at the consumer end of the credit food chain: spending and debt control. Accountability for both is as in short supply as genuine wealth creation. Steps to reverse that shortage will help address some of the economic issues raised above. Being charged a premium to indulge that next impulse to exploit credit card convenience would be a good start. • Timothy Renshaw (trenshaw@biv. com) is the editor of Business in Vancouver. His column appears every two weeks.

What’s your opinion? BIV welcomes readers’ opinions. All letters, including those sent by e-mail, must include the author’s name, address and daytime telephone number. Business in Vancouver, 102 East 4th Avenue, Vancouver, B.C. V5T 1G2. Fax: 604-688‑1963. E-mail: news@biv.com. We reserve the right to edit for brevity, clarity and legality.

At Large

Peter Ladner How we can eliminate local income inequality

ast week I wrote about how income disparity in Canada is on the upswing, now growing faster here than in the U.S. Growing in parallel with that gap – due to that gap, according to some compelling research (www.equalitytrust.org) – are rates of mental illness, drug abuse, incarceration, obesity, low education, declining health and social immobility. This brewing stew of social ills is particularly pronounced in Vancouver, which had the highest share of its population with low incomes of any city in Canada in 2009, making it one of only three cities in Canada whose low income rates didn’t go down between 2000 and 2009. But wait. Doesn’t a rising economic tide f loat all boats? Unfortunately not. Median incomes in Canada have grown by a mere 5.5% in 33 years – basically flat-lined. That’s according to recent Conference Board of Canada reports, which note that only the richest 20% of Canadians have increased their share of national income since 1993. Everyone else has lost ground. Explanations range from market forces and globalization to dwindling unionization rates, stagnating minimum wages and reduced personal and corporate income taxes. Of those factors that we can control, many are based on the assumption that taxing the rich destroys job creation. Despite some truth in that assumption, it’s equally true that growing inequality, in the words of the conference board, “undermines

social cohesion, leading to increased social tensions,” not to mention its direct relationship to the other tax-draining social ills mentioned above. Income inequality was singled out as one of the two most serious challenges facing the world at this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos.

There are only two ways to fix inequality: stop it at it source or redistribute income There are only two ways to fix inequality: stop it at it source (the Japanese model) or redistribute income (as in Sweden). As an example of the former, giving unions seats on corporate boards is a common practice in some countries that keep senior compensation levels in check (attention BC Ferries). In Japan, company directors have been known to take pay cuts themselves to avoid laying off junior employees. On the redistribution side, give credit to Premier Christy Clark for raising the minimum wage, another way to close the gap – in spite of its downsides. Warren Buffett is the new crown prince of redistribution: he actually wants to pay his fair share of taxes by having the same income tax rates as his secretary (he pays lower rates now). Can anyone really say that will dampen his entrepreneurial zeal?

UBC professor Lorne Whitehead, a former dean, inventor and private entrepreneur (but not an economist, he points out), suggests that we should harness the private sector to stop our growing income disparity. He proposes a revenue-neutral program that raises progressive income tax rates just enough to fund a grant available to any business in Canada. The grant would cover the minimum wage of any new Canadian employee that business hired. The cash cost to a company of hiring a new worker at minimum wage would then be zero. Businesses could add new jobs and only have to pay the difference between the minimum wage and the going rate for the job; employees would earn a basic minimum wage plus what they are worth to the business. Redistribution benefits would be based on an employer hiring someone, not on government rewards for not working or on porkbarrel projects. For those whose focus is simply enabling anyone to make their own way into the ranks of the rich, ironically that works best when inequality is least. More equal societies have higher social mobility (www.equalitytrust.org). Reducing our troubling rise in income inequality isn’t about envy and entitlement. It’s about avoiding myriad costly social problems and making the majority of us better off, in every way – including economically. • Peter Ladner (pladner@biv.com) is a founder of Business in Vancouver and a former Vancouver city councillor. His book, The Urban Food Revolution: Changing the Way We Feed Cities, will be published by New Society in October 2011.

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comment 29

September 27â&#x20AC;&#x201C;October 3, 2011â&#x20AC;&#x192; Business in Vancouver

â&#x2014;&#x20AC;Head to Headâ&#x2013;ś

What changes need to be made to B.C.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s reconstituted PST/GST tax regime to make it work best for the provinceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s economy? Jim Sinclair

Niels Veldhuis

B.C. citizens want a taxation system thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fair for everyone

ow convenient. B.C.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s finance minister has found a new excuse to trot out one of his governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s well-worn excuses for belttightening â&#x20AC;&#x201C; their code for smaller (make that ineffective) government, fewer services that citizens really need and more user-pay for the basics of life here in B.C. The excuse this time? B.C. voters had the temerity to reject the harmonized sales tax (HST). According to B.C. Finance Minister Kevin Falconâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s latest fiscal update, we are $2.3 billion in the red and the defeat of the HST is to blame. The subtext to Falconâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s update was all too obvious. No HST, then service cuts and belt-tightening are on the way. Even the most basic review of the numbers suggests that Falcon and his premier have again overstated the gloom, in large part, to justify their own erratic politics. Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s remember that Premier Clark was prepared to cut the HST to 10% by 2014 had it been approved, a move that on its own would have cost the treasury up to $1.7 billion. When she made that commitment, there was no hint of gloom or belt-tightening in her statement. Both Clark and Falcon point to the $1.6 billion in federal â&#x20AC;&#x153;transition money,â&#x20AC;? money that the Harper government said it would pay B.C. for the first five years that HST was in place, as another reason for belt-tightening. But by Falconâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s estimate it will be March of 2013 before the HST has disappeared. So why isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t he making the case to Ottawa that, at the very least, B.C. should have to repay only the last two years of that transition money because we will have endured three years of it before all is said and done? Returning B.C. to the pre-2010 PST/GST with its provincially controlled list of exemptions will be a much fairer tax regime than was ever the case under HST. The disparity between the two tax systems was undoubtedly one of the major reasons why it was defeated. When consumers are forced to pick up an estimated $1.5 billion to $2 billion tab that was shifted from corporations under the proposed

HST, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s no surprise that they reacted so angrily, an anger that was as much a response to the way the tax was introduced â&#x20AC;&#x201C; by stealth rather than by consultation â&#x20AC;&#x201C; as it was a response to the blatant unfairness of the resulting shift. If the government wants to go down the road of â&#x20AC;&#x153;tax shift,â&#x20AC;? then letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s start by having corporations pay their fair share into the provincial treasury. Never lose sight of the fact that corporations are enormous beneficiaries of the vast array of public services and public infrastructure. For example, the skilled workforce that makes corporations successful comes from the $7 billion-plus that B.C. taxpayers invest in both K-12 and post-secondary education.

If the government wants to go down the road of â&#x20AC;&#x153;tax shift,â&#x20AC;? then letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s start by having corporations pay their fair share into the provincial treasury Isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t it about time that we had a meaningful review in this province about how the cost of the public services and public investments we need to make B.C. work should be shared, not just between corporations and citizens, but also between those who have done so well in this province and those who are just barely getting by? Instead, we get lectured by our finance minister about how rejecting the HST has done serious damage to B.C.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s finances. Premier Clark and her finance minister need to dial down their own anger at having lost a crucial vote with B.C. voters. In short, donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t blame the messenger. Look in the mirror on this one and recognize what voters want: fairness that works for everyone. Â â&#x20AC;˘ Jim Sinclair is president of the British Columbia Federation of Labour. He can be reached at exec@bcfed.com. Head to Head runs monthly.

Eliminating corporate income tax among options open to Clark

hile the recent referendum defeat of the harmonized sales tax (HST) is a blow to B.C.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s competitiveness, all is not lost. Premier Christy Clark and her colleagues can make changes to the PST system and reduce other taxes that will mitigate the unrealized economic gains that the HST would have encouraged. The HSTâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s greatest benefit is that it exempts all inputs used to create products and services. A return to the PST will again mean that items bought by businesses to produce those goods and services will be subject to sales tax. This will increase the cost for businesses of investing in machinery, equipment and new technologies, which makes it more expensive for B.C. businesses to expand, upgrade and innovate. In a world where provinces (and countries) compete for investment dollars, restoring the PST will negatively affect B.C.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s investment climate, making it a less attractive place for investors to set up or expand. This is especially true since other provinces like Ontario are maintaining their harmonized sales tax and reducing other taxes on investment. In addition, our closest Canadian competitor for investment, Alberta, does not have a sales tax to apply to business inputs. Without additional tax changes, B.C. will be left behind and risks losing much-needed investment that will instead gravitate to jurisdictions with more competitive tax policies. Consider the impact of restoring the PST on the overall tax rate imposed on new business investment. Moving from the HST to PST will increase the overall tax rate to over 27% from 20% and result in B.C. having one of the highest overall tax rates on investment among the provinces. To mitigate the damaging impact of restoring the PST, several options are available. For starters, the B.C. government could improve the PST system by introducing a complete sales tax exemption on machinery, equipment and technology for all businesses. This option is not ideal because not all business inputs would be exempt, but it would

significantly improve the incentives for businesses to invest in things that make B.C. workers more productive. Another option is to eliminate B.C.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s corporate income tax. Currently, B.C.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s general corporate income tax rate is 10%, the same as that in Alberta and New Brunswick (Ontarioâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rate will fall to 10% by 2013). Abolishing the corporate income tax would increase the aftertax return to investment and, as a result, dramatically improve the incentives for businesses to develop and expand. In fact, according to SFU professor Jonathan Kesselman, eliminating B.C.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s corporate

The government could introduce a complete sales tax exemption on machinery income tax would essentially offset the impact of restoring the PST on B.C.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s overall tax rate on new business investment. Abolishing the corporate income tax would also provide B.C. with a unique tax advantage within Canada, and the province would join a handful of U.S. states that donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have a corporate income tax (i.e. Nevada, Texas, and Wyoming). While some may be skeptical about affordability, consider that the provincial government was willing to reduce the HST to 10% from 12%. Returning to a 7% PST will bring in significantly more revenue than the province would have earned with a 10% HST â&#x20AC;&#x201D; to the tune of about $1.4 billion. That is nearly the same amount a 10% corporate income tax would have brought in. In other words, eliminating the corporate income tax is perfectly obtainable in the current fiscal framework.â&#x20AC;˘ Niels Veldhuis (nielsv@fraserinstitute.ca) is vice-president of research at the Fraser Institute. This column was co-written by Charles Lammam, the instituteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s senior policy analyst.

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ining to manufacturing, forestry to farming, highways to homes: ensuring the quality and safety of the environment where people work and live is an important part of doing business today. For two decades, Pottinger Gaherty (PGL) has been at the forefront of Canadian environmental consulting. The company – with offices in downtown Vancouver and Whitby, Ontario – remains committed to helping a diverse range of clients in reducing their environmental risk and liability, lowering their operating costs and improving the overall quality of our planet. “When we launched the business in 1991 from a small office in Gastown, the environmental consulting industry looked much different than it does today; the real value of our professionals was often unknown,” says PGL president, co-founder and principal Will Gaherty from the company’s current headquarters on Georgia Street. “Things are different now. Our technical, regulatory and financial expertise is recognized as integral to making good business decisions early on in the project-planning process.” With a range of services that includes contaminated site management, environmental planning, hazardous materials management, impact assessment, sustainability and air quality management, company chairman, co-founder and principal Ned Pottinger says “there’s no job too big or too small for PGL.” “We’re involved in thousands of projects in British Columbia, Ontario and beyond,” he says. But despite the tremendous growth that the company has experienced in the past 20 years, PGL still sees senior staff involvement on a daily basis. “We surround ourselves with highly qualified people, but we [principals] remain very hands-on.” What it really comes down to, Pottinger stresses, is bigcompany competence with small-company service. “Our main aim each and every day is to take complex environmental matters and simplify them and solve them for our clients.”

Left to Right: Will Gaherty, President; Susan Wilkins, Vice President Operations; Ned Pottinger, Chairman Take, for instance, one of PGL’s first major projects: an industrial site that was to be converted to an office park. The property development company in charge needed an environmental consultant who could work efficiently and effectively under severe time constraints. “The 40-acre Burnaby site had been used by Dominion Bridge for steel manufacturing for roughly 50 years,” Gaherty said. “Regulatory signoff was critical because the site had already been committed for preloading, and the amount of fill required meant that the project was closely coupled to another project with fill to provide, so there was minimal schedule flexibility.” Things would become even more challenging when “someone decided they desperately wanted to use the derelict buildings [in the most contaminated part of the site] for filming the MacGyver television show,” he added. “We managed that, too.” PGL went on to become widely reputed for its ability to deal with all the needs of an environmental project. And, while the core of its business continues to be contaminated site investigation and remediation, the company has evolved to include a strong secondary area of expertise in environmental planning and impact assessment. “We cover a full spectrum of

environmental services, including environmental assessment, design, permitting, reclamation and geological evaluations,” confirms PGL’s vice-president and third principal Susan Wilkins. “Our team includes various in-house experts: geologists, hydrologists, fish biologists, ecologists, soil scientists and foresters.” Unlike contaminated site work, where “you’re cleaning up problems after they happen,” Wilkins says that the environmental planning side of the business has more to do with “preventing those problems from happening in the first place.” She also points to the fact that PGL’s employees, who own a 25% stake in the firm, often take the lead in expanding its roster of service offerings. “We’re currently doing a lot of work for the power-generation industry … because that was an area that our team members expressed great interest in,” she explains, adding that a new provincial energy policy implemented in B.C. in 2002 had a major impact on the environmental consulting industry as a whole. The government’s mandate that most new energy must come from independent sources, and that 50% of that has to be green energy, meant big changes in the field. As a result, PGL is “now helping clients with environmental studies and

getting approvals and licences for hydro projects, as well as monitoring their environmental performance during construction and operations,” according to Wilkins. The firm also provides assistance in green development approvals for various programs, including Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). In a recent project LEED-accredited consultants from PGL selected native plants for the green roof of the new

“Our main aim each and every day is to take complex environmental matters and simplify them and solve them for our clients.” – Ned Pottinger, Chairman, Pottinger Gaherty Vancouver Convention Centre, so the company can take your project through the LEED certification process. PGL’s work also often results in significant cost savings to clients. Pottinger recalls one newspaper recycler that required a re-use program for tonnes of paper-fibre waste that it produced. Disposal of the fibre cost the recycler $65 per tonne. A waste-remediation program developed by PGL that re-used the fibre as a soil amendment

decreased that amount to the $30 range. “Over a period of years, we brought the cost of disposal of the material down to a point where the company paid virtually nothing to dispose of the waste product,” Pottinger said. “This program … substantially benefited the company financially, and also benefited the environment by not using up valuable landfill space.” Benefiting the environment remains the driving force behind PGL’s success. “Our interest is in the cause-and-effect relationship between the project and the process, such as how the sub-marine noise generated by an offshore wind firm affects the local whale population,” Wilkins says. “The process, particularly on the impact assessment side, has become more complex, but we’re getting better as a society in protecting the environment precisely because we’re willing to delve into these subjects in much greater detail.” It isn’t just green-washing, she adds. It really is about identifying the problem and coming up with the right solutions. “PGL has the expertise to execute that process, so that our clients aren’t just saying, ‘Oh boy, this is going to be a big problem.’ We’re actually helping them to find ways to mitigate those environmental impacts and make their projects acceptable.” •

Profile

September 27–October 3, 2011 Business in Vancouver

Richard Day and Diana Douglas

Jen O’Rourke

Diana Douglas and Richard Day celebrating the 40th anniversary of Self-Counsel Press in one of the book publishing business’ most challenging eras

Dominic Schaefer

Book value

How to: Survive 40 years in the publishing industry;

Publisher Richard Day, with Self-Counsel Press co-founder Diana Douglas: “I’ve seen so many challenges [in the publishing business] and each was doom and gloom; it’s [always] the end of the industry”

ichard Day remembers when the introduction of the paperback novel sparked widespread panic in the publishing world. “This was going to kill the industry,” he said, “because these things were cheap and nasty.” Day has been the publisher at Vancouver-based Self-Counsel Press since 1999 and has been largely responsible for helping it navigate the digital world’s ever-shifting tides. Despite being faced with a poor economy, a tumultuous industry and growing uncertainty in the global book publishing industry created by e-books and other digital innovations, Self-Counsel, which will celebrate its 40th anniversary this year, has managed to survive and thrive. But Day, a 50-year publishing veteran, is confident that digitized books won’t kill the industry. If anything, he’s looking forward to getting creative in the new era of publishing. “In the publishing business, we’re in a very challenging period,” said Day. “I’ve been in a lot of those, and I’ve seen so many challenges and each was doom and gloom; it’s [always] the end of the industry.” He’s seen the same panic follow the introduction of photocopying, the personal computer and, more recently, the Internet. “I had people who wanted to jump

out of windows,” said Day, recalling reaction to his efforts to replace typewriters with personal computers when he worked as a publisher in Hong Kong. “The same thing recurs over and over [in this industry].” Meanwhile, it’s also been a big year for Self Counsel’s co-founder Diana Douglas, one of 12 women in Canada to receive the president’s award from the Association of Canadian Publishers (ACP) recently for being “pioneers in Canada’s publishing industry.” Douglas describes her inspiration for several of the books the company produces as coming from situations in her own life, the best example being the seed that started Self-Counsel: the need for a cheap divorce. “I’m one of these kinds of people that sort of look around and think, ‘How do you do this cheaply? Why can’t I do this myself?’” said Douglas. She teamed up with then-articling lawyer Jack James to form Self-Counsel Press in 1971. The pair made it their goal to “demystify the legal world” and provide people with a simple, cheap way to access and understand complex information. Douglas took full-ownership of the company in 1984 when she bought James out and has since helped Self-

Counsel expand its library to include everything from the original Do Your Own Divorce Kit to the more recent How to Start and Run a Tattoo and Body Piercing Studio. Margaret Reynolds, executive director of the Association of Book Publishers of British Columbia, believes the company’s success stems from a combination of Douglas’ business savvy and its unique market niche in publishing legal and business how-to guides. “They found a niche and published well to it over the years,” Reynolds said. “As the trade retail market became more challenging, niche markets became essential, so Self-Counsel was well placed.” But mining a tight niche presents hurdles that other publishers might never have to face. The first was erected in the early ’90s when the government started to make more legal processes such as incorporating a company available online. While the act resonated with Douglas’ reasons for starting SelfCounsel, it wasn’t necessarily good for business. “It took away sales for us [but] the whole point [for starting] the company was to have this access for the consumer – an easy inexpensive access. It did that. We take pride in that. At the same time, we’ve had to

Mission: To ensure that Self-Counsel makes a successful shift from bookshelf to e-book Assets: A business savvy duo whose company has established a unique market niche in publishing legal and business how-to guides Yield: A company that has successfully provided consumers and businesses with inexpensive and easy access to self-help information for four decades

keep our dancing shoes on because of that.” Having attributed most sales to visibility in bricks-and-mortar retail stores, Douglas and Day’s current challenge is adjusting their business model to become more visible and accessible in the digital world. With online companies like Amazon and Barnes and Noble now representing more than half of all print book sales, creating an online presence and reputation is becoming vital for publishers. “There’s no question that we must go this route,” said Reynolds, “and there are indications that sales, which for some of my members now represent 30% in digital, will continue to increase, at least in the short term. They will likely level off, but they’ll still make up a significant amount of publishers’ sales, some say 50% by 2013.” And that’s how Day has been spending his days in Self-Counsel’s North Vancouver offices: adjusting its focus from bookshelf to e-book. The challenge however, is a radically overhauled business model. “E-books present an opportunity,” said Reynolds, “but there are still many unknowns in terms of delivery, terms and the business model in general. Publishers are basically running two operations now: print and digital, and while the acquisitions and editing [are] largely the same for most books, the design [not so much for straight text] and production, distribution and marketing are very different.” When it comes to meeting consumer demand to switch to e-books, the frustration for Self-Counsel has been in waiting for e-book reader technology to improve. Several of its books come with legal forms and software – something e-books thus far have not done well. It’s a challenge shared by several publishing companies in the same field. Although Day is optimistic the company will have its 300-plus catalogue in e-book format soon, he’s pursuing other options, such as print-on-demand. That technology has been a popular tool for reference book publishers because it allows them to print only what has been ordered. The challenge with e-books aside, Day has optimized Self-Counsel’s online presence through Facebook, Twitter and the company’s website, which also features a news section and blog. • news@biv.com

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