It’s Our Race to Win or Lose!

BY SHANE WENZEL

The ‘Race’ is on! They are off and running, recruiting candidates, door knocking and building signs. Some old and new candidates are promising change, while others are criticizing their own past decisions.

The ‘nudge campaigns’ are showing up earlier than normal in our municipal election; possibly because there are nine empty seats to fill, including the Mayor’s. While there is still time for more to step up, at last count there was an astonishing 20 names seeking the Mayor’s job alone. Such a high number running for Mayor is interesting, considering that position (like the rest of council) only gets one vote.

New faces are vying to fill all the vacant seats, or to unseat those who hope to stay. While it appears to be a union slate and a women’s alliance making up the bulk of candidates, it is enlightening to see there are some ‘stand alone’ candidates beating the streets on their own. Most new names are only known to a few, so there is a lot of campaigning left to do and little time for candidates to present their unique platforms. Polls regularly report on the most effective ‘nudge campaigns’ being promoted to grow candidate name recognition.

There also appears to be a second race underway. If you were paying attention during Stampede, you might have noticed that ‘Ottawa arrived in town’; not to attend the Stampede, but for noticeable federal election recruiting. There was a number of ‘not-so-hidden’ appearances, hand shaking and back slaps. This was great timing as the grills had already been fired up and crowds were gathered. While it is still speculation, there is talk that a federal election could get in front of our local election. Local federal candidates have been romanced or selected and money ‘enticements’ dropped across Canada. This tells us our attention to both elections is critical at such an important crossroads in time for Calgary and Alberta.

Our municipal race could also be one of our most important in a long time and will have the greatest impact on our day-to-day lives. We should be paying attention to what is happening municipally by electing candidates for the best outcome for all Calgarians. Municipally, the key issues so far at the doors and in polls are taxation, public safety, uncontrolled spending and overplanning.

While we are accustomed to Alberta being a ‘fly-over province’ we still need to be aware that this could also be our most important federal election.

As citizens, we must become highly engaged if we are to have a fighting chance to end being strangers in either election. Also of importance, we must pay attention to the speech of the candidates and their potential or proven quality of their political leadership. We have learned the hard way that we cannot have faith in a good outcome on either level without strong citizen involvement. If political leaders are unlikely to change how they govern then citizens must change their leaders.

Shane Wenzel is president of the Shane Homes Group of Companies. Follow him @shanewenzel on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube.His column is written for the Alberta Enterprise Group, @AEG on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Leasing Considerations for the “New Normal”

By Catherine Grygar and Karen Fellowes

Personal health and wellness are undoubtedly at the forefront of everyone’s mind these days. However, over the past 18 months, the fitness and hospitality industries were heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic with operational restrictions, rotating shutdowns, and capacity limits. These mandated restrictions and operational changes stress-tested many businesses and landlord and tenant relationships, as requests for rent deferral, rent reduction, covenant waivers, and insolvency claims increased.

No matter how robust the terms of a lease agreement may be, negotiated landlord and tenant contractual rights can be altered significantly by an insolvency filing. A tenant may be placed into receivership by a secured lender or may file for bankruptcy or creditor protection through the Companies Creditor’s Arrangement Act or under the proposal proceedings under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act. Landlords, in both instances, will generally be prevented from taking any collection action against the tenant during the proceeding. Additionally, a tenant may “disclaim” its leasehold obligations on 30 days’ notice to the landlord, leaving the landlord with empty premises and an unsecured claim which may be worth pennies on the dollar. Landlords who are concerned about the solvency of a tenant should consider what pro-active steps they can take, and tenants should review their leases for potential restructuring options. As seen recently, some businesses have survived and adapted by modifying operations, other businesses proceeded with insolvency filings, and others underwent restructuring with new ownership under creditor protection. In the wake of inevitable change, we all have an opportunity to learn from these precedent-setting decisions and identify some key learnings. Commercial leases can be highly customized, and as landlords and tenants move forward in this new normal, they will better understand what they need in terms of use, space and design. The pandemic has also highlighted lease provisions that landlords and tenants that may not have been considered or negotiated before.

Questions to consider when entering a new lease or negotiating a lease renewal:

   1. Does the lease require a tenant indemnity or third-party guarantee?

   2. What are the security deposit or prepaid rent requirements?

   3. Are there any tenant incentives or tenant improvement allowances?

   4. What are the continuous operation and insurance requirements?

   5. How does the lease respond to force majeure events, pandemic restrictions and Public Health Act orders?

As Calgary emerges from the pandemic restrictions and high vacancy continues to be a factor in the current leasing market, landlords and tenants may be more willing to work together to meet the new challenges and uncertainties that arise in this new normal. By being proactive and working with experienced advisors, both landlords and tenants can better understand their leasing needs when considering whether a lease renewal or a new lease is a better fit.

Homes For Heroes Foundation

Homes For Heroes Foundation opened its first village in Calgary in November 2019. 908 ATCO Village came together through the amazing support of local companies such as ATCO, PCL Construction, CP Rail, Cooper-Key Foundation, McCann Family Foundation, Canadian Legacy Project, Calgary Poppy Fund, Veterans Affairs, CHMC and many more. With a total of 15 tiny homes built by ATCO, the Village offers housing and wrap-around social support services for those that stood on guard for Canada and have found themselves facing homelessness.

Homes For Heroes Foundation believes in bringing hope and wellbeing to the most vulnerable citizens through a holistic and client-centred approach. The Foundation believes in housing first, but not housing only. By utilizing external support networks through its partnership with Veterans Affairs, the program assists former military personnel to reintegrate into civilian society by providing holistic support services in a peer-supported, nonjudgmental tiny home community.

When a veteran comes into the village there is a detailed needs analysis done to develop a social service program tailored to each individual tenant. Working with onsite counselors, there are four phases each tenant works through in developing a successful plan that enables them to reintegrate back into civilian life. The first phase, discovery, helps veterans settle and become stabilized in their new environment. Psychological intervention, self-help/self-regulation and case plans are developed in this phase. In the second phase, recovery and healing, based on their case plans, veterans have access to individual therapy, psychoeducation, self-help, self-care training and continuous medical assistance. In the third phase, retraining, through Veterans Affairs and the Foundation’s social service partners, retraining is provided around personal finances and budgeting, tax arrangements, legal support, employment support, assistance with finding and securing permanent housing, and training on how to maximize various social support networks. The fourth phase, aftercare/follow-up, is to determine if the veterans are reintegrating themselves nicely into society. It is where it’s determined if they are accessing their support networks and are stable from a financial, employment and permanent housing standpoint. Along the way, The Homes For Heroes Foundation monitors, mitigates risk and evaluates the progress of each veteran from one phase to the next to ensure that a successful transition.

Since 908 ATCO Village opened, eight Veterans have graduated from the program and new Veteran tenants move in. The Foundation is proud of the work done to date, but it is not done. The goal is to end the issue of Veteran homelessness across Canada. The second Veterans Village is under construction in Edmonton and scheduled to open this fall. The third Village is in the planning stages in Kingston, and an announcement will be made very soon on two more villages to be built in Canada. Ideally, the Foundation hopes to have 12 villages across Canada within the next six years.

Homes For Heroes has a small team but they have all worked very hard to help Canadian Veterans in their time of need. The Foundation feels very fortunate to have the incredible support of Canadian companies and individuals who have donated to the builds. It has seen firsthand the love and respect Canadians have for those that served and those that continue to serve.

To learn more about Homes For Heroes,visit the website at www.h4hf.ca.

The Kitsim Green Hydrogen (H2) Project

IEPS Canada Ltd. announced today the completion of initial planning for the company’s 50,000 ton per year hydrogen (H2) production facility as well as agreements for a life-ofproject water supply. The Kitsim H2 Project (www.ieps.ca) converts water, using electricity, into green H2.

By producing a reliable source of green H2 the Kitsim Project will help Alberta industries that use H2 ensure that they can reduce their own greenhouse gas emissions while also meeting investor and customer demands for more sustainable operations and products.

Successfully contracting for a water source has also been a major step forward for the project. Access to a secure source of water is critical to the success of green H2 production facilities.

As the next step in advancing the project, IEPS is now actively seeking financing for Phase 1 of the $550 million southern Alberta project and has retained Pivotal Capital Advisory Group Ltd. to lead that effort.

In announcing the next project stage, Mr. Greg Baden, IEPS president, observed that “Low carbon H2 will be increasingly important to Alberta’s energy and economic future and IEPS hopes to be an important part of that future. At the same time the introduction of commercial scale electrolytic technology, which is relatively new in North America, also offers Alberta excellent opportunities for further economic diversification.” Green H2 from electrolysis can be easily introduced, with minimal capital cost or operational risk, to any chemical production facility seeking to increase the sustainability of its own products and operations. In the case of fertilizer production, for example, the growing availability of green H2 will substantially improve the sustainability of Western Canadian food production along with reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

IEPS stated that in raising the required financing it intends to take full advantage of Pivotal’s strong reputation for supporting low-cost energy producers that offer investors solid returns.

Pivotal’s president, Ms. Terry Allen, remarked that “This project has significant benefits for both equity and debt investors including early entrant advantages, utility-like cash flows and strong market demand for its products.”