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pompous & unfair FUNNY

By Muggsy Forbes

Flyin’ high with Phil

H

ow often do cabinet ministers get

up-staged by five-year olds? That’s what happened to Education Minister Gene Zwozdesky when he was asked to lead the assembled celebrants at the 5th anniversary of the Stollery Children’s Hospital. A precocious youngster started belting out Happy Birthday—as only a child can— before Gene could open his mouth. He graciously followed along, as did other patients, grateful parents, Premier Ralph Klein, mayors from all over the Capital Region, hospital and foundation brass, and world-class doctors and nurses.

Paul Bryne, president of Grant MacEwan College, and I had been trying to get together for some time just to chat. We’re long time friends. When I got a phone call from his secretary inviting me to lunch in his office, I was suitably impressed. All that aside, we had a great time just talking about stuff. We’re both car nuts, and Paul occasionally test-drives cars and writes about them in The Journal. He’s very good at it.

But, his absolute favourite topics are the college and the advancements it’s making. It’s been approved for degreegranting status in addition to its diploma and certificate programming. One of the first university level programs will be the full four-year nursing degree. For more than 20 years, the college offered a two-year diploma, and then students went to the U of A to earn their BSc in nursing, now the minimum requirement for RNs. Paul puffs with pride when he talks about the innovative distance learning approach: Students in various towns around the province go online for courses in the nursing diploma program. They can study at home but, interestingly, many like to get together as group in a community centre. Sometimes, they are joined by instructors on the phone and can ask questions. There’s even a virtual hospital theatre that shows students simple nursing techniques.

Gee, the old days when I rode a horse to school have changed rather drastically.

Speaking of the old days, editor Barb Deters spent the mid-August weekend at Vegreville’s centennial celebrations. She admits reconnecting with people she hadn’t seen for 20 to 40 years—and likely will never see again—was a real rush. She says Don

Ben & Eddie

Mazankowski’s opening remarks at the big banquet were heartfelt and totally appropriate… few were as impressed with MLA Ed Stelmach and MP Leo Benoit who put too much political spin on their messages. The Sunday parade was officially declared open by Lieutenant-Governor Normie Kwong, who displays many of the warm and friendly qualities of his predecessor Lois Hole.

During her second visit to the local museum, Barb happened upon Ben Bandura and Eddie Kassian reminiscing in the Sports Hall of Fame. Both had played hockey for the Vegreville Rangers when the team was managed by her dad, Harry Krewusik who was posthumously inducted in 1995. Ben was the owner of King’s Menswear which was located in McCauley Plaza for years. Eddie was one of five Alberta players on the famed Penticton Vs when, led by the Warwick brothers, the team beat the Russians for the World Cup in 1957.

over the years; he’s regaled us for hours with stories over dinner about his boxing career. Plus we both are dog lovers,” says Ron of Phil’s pooch, Jesse. “I just couldn’t let that pass…to let him know that he counts in life.”

Ron, a long-time pilot, has taken Phil for a ride in his new four-seat Mooney Ovation that can reach 17,000 feet at speeds up to 350 km—the fastest single-engine ever made.

Tickets are $250 for the party at the Chateau Lacombe with proceeds to the Cross Cancer.

One of our great Runyon-like characters

recently passed away. Don “Buckets” Fleming was a fine writer—a colourful icon of sports coverage. The stories about his ability to party all night and file his stories are legendary… and were ably recounted by Ray Turchansky for The Journal, and Terry Jones of The Sun… I just hope somebody like Curtis Stock writes a book on him. Buckets wrote a humourous and irreverent column for Edmontonians in its early years.

Not a lot of people knew that Don had an obsession for classical music. He rarely missed a concert. He played the When Kim (Murphy) Boucher received a cello as hobby—I have some problem visualizing Don Doberman Pinscher from Wojtek Wojcicki as a wedding straddling a cello. He would have really appreciated Dr. present in 1992, she had no idea what an impact it would have on her life. The red Dobie named Hooker, “turned out Gisele Rouleau, the soloist at his funeral at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Sherwood Park. The eulogists—Ernie to be a good show dog, and I was Kim, Kyoto Afghanis, Les Butler, and Bill Tainsh—recounted how hooked.” Now a veteran and Kaitlyn Don had affected their lives. breeder/owner/handler, Kim is Don collected fodder for his columns everywhere he especially proud of three-year old went… including once a month at Peter’s Pizza in Spruce Kyoto—aka CH Jurassik Miss Grove. My breakfast buddy, Stan Smordin invited me Saigon—who has garnered 24 bestalong once… among those who were regulars, I remember in-show ribbons, and was named Ernie Afghanis, Wes Montgomery, Bill Hunter, John the #1 Doberman in Canada in Anderson, Jack Little and Jim Sapara.

2005.

“Kyoto actually shows herself… she knows where to put her feet, All you Trocadero Orchestra lovers can sip how to stand. We’re a team. We tea and dance to the Big Band sound on Sunday, September live together and that gives us a bit 10th, from 3pm to 6pm at the Coast Terrace Inn on of an edge over handlers.”

Gateway Boulevard. Tickets are on sale at Tix on the Kim is very particular about who can buy puppies she Square for only $20 per person. has bred. Potential purchasers are interviewed and have to Since I know many of the band members, I can let you in fill out a questionnaire before Kim does a home inspection on a secret: They’re playing in the afternoon because most and deems them suitable owners. of them can’t stay up past 8pm. They are getting on you Kim maintains a mind-boggling pace: She works at the know. But still the best band in town. family firm, Sara Consulting. Last year she and Kyoto attended three shows a month. Her 10-year old daughter Robert Prybysh was one of last month’s Kaitlyn dances four nights a week. She runs with her pet Sizzling Twenty under 30s in Edmontonians. Besides dogs three times a week so they all stay in shape. In being young and successful, there are two other reasons addition to Kyoto, the family has a couple of older Dobies he deserves being part of this auspicious group. Firstly, and a six-month old—probably another Top Dog. his last name has no vowels… secondly, he only has one lung. He runs with Dr. Ollie in a marathon training He may seem like a tough guy with hands big group, and does the distance in about 3:40. Not bad— even for a guy with two lungs. ✔ as small hams...but the giggle gives him away. Former pugilist Phil Klein will be celebrating his 89th birthday on Additional reporting September 29th and his friends are throwing him a party.

Plans started to hatch last month at the Cross Cancer’s 18th by Edmontonians staff. annual golf classic when Ron Brown of Shippers Supply dropped $11, 000 to host Phil’s bash. “My wife, Marianne, Call Muggsy Forbes at 780.482.4545 or e-mail mforbes@edmontonians.com and I have had the pleasure of Phil and Marvel’s company

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CELEBRATING

Poll

STATION With Linda Banister

P

eople spend a considerable amount of their life working. For many, work consumes more time than any other single activity. In fact, for some people, work plays an important role in shaping their identities. This month we asked Edmontonians about their work and career plans.

“

”

Percentage

WHAT DO YOU LIKE ABOUT YOUR JOB?

19%

WHAT CAN EMPLOYERS DO TO RETAIN STAFF?

17% 16%

Indicated they enjoyed the flexibility and freedom their job provided

Indicated they liked their co-workers

Indicated they enjoyed the challenges the job provided them

To start, survey participants were asked if they were currently working. Approximately twothirds (64 percent) of respondents indicated they were. Interestingly, 69 percent of working respondents indicated they were working in their chosen field. When asked what they liked about their current job, a variety of answers were provided. Nineteen percent liked the flexibility and freedom of their jobs. Seventeen percent said they liked their co-workers, while 16 percent liked the challenge their work provided.

Percentage

ARE YOU CONSIDERING A CHANGE OR SKILLS UPGRADING?

80%

17% Indicated thier current employer appreciated thier work

Indicated they were currently considering a change of jobs

The majority (80 percent) of working respondents said that their current employer appreciates their work. Perhaps not surprisingly, only 17 percent of those currently working are considering changing jobs. Of those considering a change for something other than money, the most commonly cited reason was finding something more interesting (27 percent), followed by wanting more flexibility (nine percent), and seeking different co-workers (nine percent).

Next, respondents were asked whether they had plans to upgrade their skills to further their careers. About half (52 percent) said that they planned to upgrade their skills.

Finally, working survey respondents provided advice to help employers retain their workforce. Twenty-three percent said it is important to treat employees with respect.

Similarly, 16 percent said that recognizing or showing appreciation for employees could help keep staff. Creating a positive work environment (13 percent), a fun workplace (11 percent), and offering benefits or a pension (11 percent) were other suggestions for retaining staff.

WHAT DID YOU LIKE ABOUT YOUR LAST JOB? The 36 percent of respondents who were not currently working were questioned further about the last job they held. Over two-thirds (69 percent) indicated their last job was in their chosen field. They also said they had liked the challenge of their job (17 percent). Others mentioned liking their job because of their coworkers (11 percent) or the wages (11 percent).

While three-quarters of respondents not currently working said their last employer appreciated their work, a third of them (31 percent) thought about changing jobs. The single greatest reason—they were looking for something more interesting (18 percent).

Respondents not currently working also offered advice on retaining employees. The most commonly stated method to retain employees (other than paying them well) is to treat people with respect (39 percent).

Appreciating employees (28 percent) and offering benefits and pensions (14 percent) were other strategies suggested to retain staff.

The Poll Station surveyed 100 City of Edmonton residents on the topic and, while the results of the research are not statistically reliable, they do provide a qualitative indication of what Edmontonians are thinking. ✔

Linda Banister is a certified management consultant and the owner of Banister Research and Consulting Inc., a full service provider of market research and program evaluation services.

Want a question included in the Edmontonians Poll? Contact Linda at 780.451.4444 or e-mail at lbanister@edmontonians.com.

Visit www.banister.ab.ca.

17 YEARS

FOUNDER DICK MacLEAN

Vol. XVII

SEPTEMBER 2006 No. 9

SHARON MacLEAN Publisher and Advertising Director Telephone: 780.482.7000 Fax: 780.488.9317 e-mail: info@edmontonians.com edmontonians.com

INSIDE FUNNY, POMPOUS AND UNFAIR Flyin’ high/Forbes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 POLL STATION Work plans/Banister . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 REPORT ON FAMILY BUSINESS Rock-solid/Pullishy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 Shape shifting/Pitts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 Six Secrets/Lea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 U of A major/Patel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 Field of dreams/Pullishy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 Shades of grey/Pullishy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 Styling women/Pullishy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 CORPORATE ETHICS Harnessing potential/Somji . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12 SOCIAL SCENE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13 MAKING MONEY Creative destruction/Hiebert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS Can-Q/Lockhart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 BIZINTEL Science and Tech/Croucher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 BizIT/Michetti . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 Media Minute/Hogle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 Civic Buzz/Norwood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 LIVELY LIFESTYLES Absolute Bodo/Bodo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18 MenuMagic/Berry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 BARB DETERS Editor

editor@edmontonians.com COLUMNISTS Linda Banister John Berry Linda Bodo Cheryl Croucher Janet Edmondson Muggsy Forbes Ron Hiebert Bruce Hogle Cheryl Lockhart Greg Michetti David Norwood Nizar J. Somji FEATURE WRITERS Peter Drake McHugh James Lea Michael O’Toole Mina Patel Gordon Pitts Marg. Pullishy PHOTOGRAPHERS Terry Bourque Cheryl Croucher Barb Deters GRAPHIC PRODUCTION Rage Studios Inc. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY Michetti Information Solutions Inc.

THIS MONTH’S COVER

ARCHBISHOP Mac DONALD HIGH SCHOOL’S

4040 HOMECOMING Year

WELCOMES ALL STUDENTS, TEACHERS AND STAFF FROM THE YEARS

1966 - 2006 To register and order tickets go to www.archbishopmacdonald.ecsd.net and click on the Homecoming icon or telephone 780.451.1470 or 780.973.6008.

The Maioranas at their Winterburn plant Photo by Terry Bourque

Friday Sept 29th at Archbishop MacDonald school

Saturday Sept 30th BBQ at Fort Edmonton Park

(After September 12th please phone only.)

It’s a Mac High party!

(left to right) Brenda Tyson, Don Prefontaine, Lindsey Stewart, Penny LaForge, Ferd Caron, Terry Josey, Ian Hope, Marty Quon, Bill Shostak and John Fiacco

Advance tickets only!

Published by 399620 Alberta Ltd. on the first day of each month at 333, 10240 - 124 Street, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T5N 3W6. ©All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reprinted or reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher.

Manuscripts: must be accompanied by a stamped, selfaddressed envelope. Edmontonians is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts.

All stories Copyright ©Edmontonians Publications Mail Agreement No. 40023292 Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: Circulation Department 333, 10240 - 124 Street Edmonton, AB T5N 3W6 Email: info@edmontonians.com

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4TH ANNUAL REPORT ON

Fil and Santo Maiorama

FAMILY

BUSINESS

By Marg. Pullishy

H

e left his native Sicily—the climate, the culture and the cuisine—to come to Canada to carve out a new life for himself. The one thing Santo Maiorana brought with him, and in his son’s estimation, the most important trait, was his work ethic and an uncompromising commitment to do the best job possible for every client. A master craftsman in natural stonework, the senior Maiorana came to Edmonton and soon started his own business.

“I was only about eight or nine when I started coming to work with Dad, just mowing the lawn and doing little things around the shop,” recalls the now 37 year-old Filippo Mairoana. “But I learned a lot watching how hard Dad worked. He put everything including his pride and integrity into every job. I liked the way my dad ran the business. He had personal relationships with his customers; he wasn’t just doing a job, he was building a business and building relationships in the community, and I try to do the same thing today.”

The business, Metro Tile and Marble, initially focused on home installations of tile and countertops; over the years, it evolved, as did the ownership of the business, to include a wide range of commercial projects featuring imported

Photo by Terry Bourque natural stone from Italy and Sicily. Marble, granite, limestone, slate and a number of other natural products are used in a wide range of commercial and residential applications, including but not limited to flooring, countertops, entryways, roofing, and even landscaping.

“We’ve been purchasing stone from abroad for more than 20 years; we bring in large slabs and fabricate it to meet the specific needs of our jobs,” says Fil. He is an experienced journeyman tile setter and generally considered an expert in the fabrication and installation of natural stone. Recognizing his close ties—personally and commercially—with Italy, Fil recently became a member of the Edmonton branch of the Italian Chamber of Commerce.

While Metro Tile and Marble still exists, a new company evolved as a result of the second-generation reorganization. When Fil began the lengthy, oft-times complex, process of purchasing the company’s assets, Real Stone Works emerged about five years ago. A science graduate from the University of Alberta, he says the experience of working in the business as a youngster ultimately had more influence in his career choice than did his degree. Now the president of Real Stone Works, Fil admits there were some areas of contention between

father and son during the transitional stage.

“It wasn’t a case of wanting to change the company name, or changing what my dad had done, but a way of dealing with some of the legalities associated with creating a separation for liability reasons,” the younger Maiorana explains.

“I think the thing that I always had to remember was that any of the conflict, and there really wasn’t a lot, stemmed from our very different backgrounds and priorities. Dad left a war-torn country to come here and build a business. I had the advantage of having been born in Edmonton, with all the benefits associated with that.

“The other thing was I had the luxury of coming into the business where my family had already achieved a fairly high level of success. Dad worked hard and built his own reputation, and established personal relationships with customers. Those are qualities worth emulating, and that’s what I’m trying to do. I want to always honour the family business by running it successfully.”

While Santo is essentially retired today, he is still active in the business, though not on a day-to-day basis. He likes to take on a special project every now and then, an arrangement that clearly suits his only son. ✔

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Shape-shifting for long term success

By Gordon Pitts

A

Atlantic lessons for the Alberta edge

t first glance, the family enterprises of Alberta and of the Atlantic provinces have little in common. Alberta is on a roll, a province overflowing in oil and gas, petrochemicals and service companies—an area with vast labour shortages, unlike in Eastern Canada, where jobs are often hard to find.

Family business is a big part of the Alberta edge; indeed, Edmonton’s own economy has been built on a strong family enterprise foundation. Yet the province’s family businesses are relatively young, with many just entering the second generation. It is still rare to find a third- or fourthgeneration company.

Contrast this with the Atlantic provinces which fall far behind Alberta in per-capita income. The family companies that have lasted are true survivors; they have had to endure a harsh business climate in a somewhat isolated location.

Yet many have histories reaching back 100 years or more.

Like their Alberta counterparts, they have relied heavily on natural resource wealth but, with the exception of offshore energy, the resources are often depleted or thinned out.

Witness the decimation of the once powerful cod industry.

In my recent book, The Codfathers, Lessons from the Atlantic Business Elite (Key Porter), I have documented the survival strategies of Atlantic businesses—most of them family firms. Atlantic Canada is the stronghold of great business families: the Irvings, McCains, Sobeys, Olands, Dobbins and many others. And despite their contrasting business environments, Alberta families can learn many lessons from these hardy perennials.

For one thing, the Atlantic companies offer reminders that economic success, particularly built on non-renewable resource wealth, is an ephemeral thing. It cannot last forever, and the successful survivors are those that can adapt to new business conditions over the generations.

The survivors look at the family company as a pool of capital and broad business expertise, not as a specific asset that must be clung to like a life raft. Those companies that have been handed down over generations have been able to shift their shapes over the years, rather than hanging on desperately to a particular business or property, such as a lumber mill, fish plant or agribusiness enterprise.

Consider the case of John Bragg, one of the region’s redoubtable entrepreneurs, and a lumberman’s son from Oxford in northern Nova Scotia. Bragg’s family witnessed the mass migration of small Nova Scotia farmers off the land in the 20th century, many of them destined for Alberta and a chance at a better way of life. John’s father saw an opportunity to buy up these pieces of land for their woodlots.

As a young man home from university in the summer, John saw these small farms, now owned by his father and no longer cropped, as an ideal place to grow wild blueberries. The summer business took off, and he gave up his career plans to be a schoolteacher. Over the years, his blueberry business dwarfed the family’s lumber business.

He created a multinational company, with vast blueberry lands in the state of Maine and a huge export business, including the pioneering sales of blueberries to Japan.

But John Bragg realized that the world was changing, and he needed to diversify. His own children might not be able to live by blueberries alone. So, in the 1970s, he invested in cable television franchises for northern Nova Scotia, and ultimately his company, Eastlink, became the major cable provider in the Halifax area. In the 1990s, Eastlink became a technology pioneer, blazing the cable industry’s path into offering local telephone service over its fibre-optic cable networks.

The blueberry king had made the transition to the Blackberry era, and his four children are now heavily involved in both his food and cable TV operations. For this business family, there are no closed doors—there are only options on the future.

Consider too the Wilson family of Truro, Nova Scotia, which is now in its eighth generation of family business survival—a record at which Albertans can only marvel. As described in my book In the Blood, Battles to Succeed in Canada’s Family Businesses, the Wilson holdings have nicely morphed over the years since the 1700s, when the original ancestor journeyed to Nova Scotia from New Hampshire. They have been merchants and chandlers, purveyors of wood and coal, and now oil and gasoline vendors, as well as manufacturers and ski hill operators.

The common thread is that they have always been providers of fuel, but they have continually adapted to changing times.

Another survival tactic is a willingness of ownership families to cede day-to-day management to professional non-family executives. Of course, professional management is embraced to varying degrees. The New Brunswick energy and forestry titans—the Irvings, for example—are loath to surrender total operational control. That is part of their culture and, really, who can argue, given their success?

But there is an alternative role model in the Irvings’ friend and neighbour, Derek Oland, owner of Moosehead Beer of Saint John. As standard-bearer for a five-generation beer-making family, he concluded a decade ago that the company was not flourishing under his management. In a rare example of executive humility, he reached outside Moosehead to recruit a veteran food industry manager as

his company president. It left Derek free to plot company strategy and to groom two of his sons for leadership in the next generation. They will carry on a fascinating legacy: With the potential sale of rival Sleemans, Moosehead is poised to become the largest Canadian-owned beer company.

The Atlantic survivors have also been skilled at blending deep local roots with a bold global outlook. No one did this better than brothers Harrison and Wallace McCain, who built a global french-fry empire out of Florenceville, New Brunswick… population 750.

McCain Foods is the largest commercial french fry maker in the world, producing more than 30 percent of the planet’s fries. It recently put its first plant into China, taking aim at the exploding fast-food market there.

Despite a high-profile brotherly split and the 2004 death of Harrison, the empire rolls on. Although McCain Foods’ non-family CEO is based in Toronto, the nerve centre is still a rural New Brunswick community where the family has grown potatoes for generations. In fact, the McCains have built their global information technology centre in Florenceville, recruiting technical people from all over the world.

Yet, despite the McCain’s aggressive sponsorship of new Canadians, immigration is a huge challenge for the Atlantic economy. The region desperately needs injections of new skills, ideas and entrepreneurial verve; but new Canadians are more likely to gravitate to large cities like Toronto, or high-growth economies such as Alberta’s.

That is where Alberta can have a real edge—not just in the resources of the soil but in the richness of human resources. In a sense, Alberta’s family companies can gain from the Atlantic province’s relative loss, not only drawing immigrant energy but also the skills of transplanted Newfoundlanders, Nova Scotians, Prince Edward Islanders and New Brunswickers.

But Albertans should also see Atlantic Canada as more than a farm team for talent and labour; its resilient family businesses also provide a game plan for how to win the global business game, not just this year or next, but for a hundred years. ✔ Gordon Pitts is a senior writer for the Report on Business of the Globe and Mail, the author of four Canadian business books, and the 2006 executive professor in residence at the Alberta Business Family Institute at University of Alberta’s School of Business.

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Six secrets of successful family business

By James Lea

O

ne of the common characteristics of those who want to do well in business without working very hard is a conviction that success is just a matter of learning the right “secrets.” Some people make a lot of money reinforcing that notion by hawking “secret strategies for solving every company’s 10 worst management problems” and “big time CEOs secrets for getting to the top and staying there.”

There are secrets for sale to help with everything form beating expansion capital out of your banker to changing lead into gold.

I checked with a few well-run, profitable familyowned businesses to see if I could pry loose some secrets of success to sell at conventions and thus ensure the comfort of my old age. At first I encountered suspicion and snide retorts, but then the secrets really started to flow. Let me try out a few on you.

• Secret #1: Work 12-hour days at every opportunity: This might take some explaining, because most people would hesitate to describe a 12-hour workday as an opportunity. But most families who succeed in business would agree with Thomas Edison that success is a mix of “10 percent inspiration and 90 percent perspiration.” The secret of building a solid, enduring family business is that everyone who’s seriously involved in it has to work and work hard.

• Secret #2: Don’t take other family members for granted: The glue that holds most successful family companies together is compounded of mutual affection and admiration, shared goals and complementary skills. The “secret” is that the family members working together treat one another with at least as much respect and courtesy as they show non-family co-workers. The special capabilities and value of the family members you work with should be reflected in your behavior toward them.

• Secret #3: Keep two hats on the hat rack at all times: It is written in Lea’s Laws that you don’t

have to love everyone you do business with, and you don’t have to do business with everyone you love. The people in charge of successful family businesses wear two big, tight-fitting hats. They’re good family members, but they also take seriously the responsibility of leading and maintaining discipline in their companies. You can love your son (the sales manager) even as you chew out the sales manager (your son). It’s a matter of keeping both hats close at hand and switching them at the right times.

Lea’s Law: You don’t have to love everyone you do business with, and you don’t have to do business with everyone you love.

• Secret #4: Don’t adopt business practices that clash with basic family values: It’s important to sort out and disentangle business realities from family preferences, but it’s foolish to ignore the interdependency of the two. Pushing suppliers into

a corner, for example, by driving their prices below the break-even point may give you a couple of extra bucks in profit. But if it’s inconsistent with the family’s values and ethical standards, the practice can create more friction and fragmentation than it’s worth. Consistency between the family’s fundamental principles and the way it does business is a key component of success.

• Secret #5: Take some time off and some time away: A potential problem for families in business is the pressure of being constantly with the same people. It can be especially tough on spouses in business who are literally together 24 hours a day.

But even parents and children or brothers and sisters who work and live or socialize together can get tired of on another. Successful family businesses deal with that risk by admitting that it’s a risk. They schedule time away from one another, and some even adopt a policy of spending holidays apart.

• Secret #6: Be proud of your company and your family and let the world know it: If that’s your name on the door, you have a doubly important role both inside and outside the business. Customers, suppliers and others you deal with tend to think of you as The Company, regardless of your title.

Employees expect you to take a genuine interest in the productivity, their problems and the quality of their outputs. Your pride in the company, in the work it does and in the family that stands behind it can have an immense management and marketing value. Family members involved in successful family businesses really let that pride shine.

Now that everyone knows some of the secrets of success in family owned business, we should all go forth and prosper. Just don’t forget that Secret #1 is hard work. ✔ James Lea is a professor at the University of North Carolina and a well-known family business speaker, author and advisor. Reprinted from bizjournals

2007 GUIDE to CHARITY GALAS

Free

listing of fundraising galas, balls, receptions and auctions Register your charity event online by October 31st.

www.edmontonians.com

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Taking the study of family enterprise to the next level

By Mina Patel

U of A School of Business launches new major

W

hether they are large multinationals or local ma and pa shops, family businesses remain very much the norm all over the world. A family firm comes with its own set of issues—succession, dividing ownership, transfer of wealth and mediation. There are also particular dynamics behind family interaction which plays a significant role in running a successful family firm. Arguments between a husband and wife or brother and sister can bring up issues that come from the home into the business.

Lloyd Steier, academic director for Centre for Entrepreneurship and Family Enterprise, clearly recognizes the unique concerns of family owned firms. He has far exceeded his original expectations for CEFE to be recognized worldwide within his first four years.

While building its global reputation, CEFE concentrated local activities on offering business family courses to professionals and undergraduate students. Indeed, internationally renowned family business expert John Ward acknowledged, “The University of Alberta’s Centre for Entrepreneurship and Family Enterprise does more combined teaching and research on the subject than any university I know.”

Based on the Centre’s continual success, Steier saw an opportunity for the School of Business to expand its expertise by introducing a new major in entrepreneurship and family enterprise for Bachelor of Commerce students. Students can also choose to minor and take courses at the graduate level as well.

So, with increasing interest and a growing Alberta economy, can a Master’s be that far away? Steier admits the possibility exists.

WIDE APPEAL ANTICIPATED The new major will be especially relevant for students pursuing three distinct career paths. One path is for the student intent on creating, owning and/or managing a family business venture. Other students might be interested in becoming next-generation leaders of an already existing family business, or to participate in the family business as

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creation, small business management, managing Trish Reay family enterprise, advising family businesses, and and Lloyd Steier international family enterprise. Steier recognises that as the business world is shrinking, many local firms operate globally and this program does not ignore that factor.

Among the academic team that will impart their expertise to students are Steier himself; Trish Reay, professor of international family business; Jennifer Jennings, professor of managing family business; Gary Coskey, sessional instructor for advising family business. Undergraduate assistant dean is Elaine Geddes. Coskey has a dual role, also serving as executive professor to the U of A’s Alberta Family Business Institute. As well, ABFI is hosting author Gordon Pitts as its executive in residence this fall.

A unique feature of this program is the collaboration with the university’s Human Ecology department to offer courses in family dynamics, parent-child relationships, family finance and community studies. This will provide a more holistic and humanistic approach to what could otherwise be a fairly dry program. The School of Business recognises that an inter-disciplinary aspect to its programs is crucial in the current business and social climate as more and more students have broader interests and wish to foster that through their studies.

Steier stresses the importance of understanding the psychology behind family interaction and how this dynamic can lead to a more successful business.

He proudly proclaims the major/minor in entrepreneurship and family enterprise as “the first of its kind anywhere in Canada.” So why now and why in Alberta?

“With our current booming economy, with existing Photo by Terry Bourque businesses doing well and new ventures starting all the time, a program like this will serve the community better and foster more successful business partners or on a part-time basis. Finally, these courses could ventures.” appeal to students that see themselves as professional Given the vast number of family enterprises anchoring advisors to entrepreneurial and/or family-controlled firms in our economic growth and surviving the booms and busts the future. This last option is of particular interest to BCom characteristic of resource-rich Alberta, Steier is confident students planning on moving onto a law program which the program will appeal to a wide range of students. He would put them in an advisory role to family firms.

Some of the courses offered in this major are new venture should know. ✔

EDMONTONIANS SEPTEMBER 2006

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haberdashery based on service. He knew his customers and they knew him.

To this day, Don, who bought his father out in 1970, says about 70 percent of sales at the company’s Lendrum location, is repeat business—pretty amazing, considering the store changed locations a half dozen times over the years, challenging customers to adjust to new venues. “The strip mall location works well for us,” Berg says. “It’s reflective of a new trend today, and so much less expensive that locating in a major shopping centre.” That said, the company operates a second location at City Centre West, because “…we have a lot of clients that live and work downtown, and they like that location.”

In its own small way, Val Berg’s Men’s Wear has become a dynasty of sorts, with sons following in their fathers’ footprints.

Initially, Val brought in working partner Don Metheral, and the two built the business together. When the senior statesmen both retired, within a few years of each other, and Don Berg took over, he too brought in working partners, Al Schole and Hugh Olson. Fast forward more than a decade; as time and circumstance changed, the company underwent e yet another permutation. Olson and Schole left the qu ur Terry Bo business. Brian Metheral—son of Val’s original Photos by partner—and Bruce Glennie joined to form the triangulate. Twenty years later, the combination is still at work, with Berg managing the Lendrum store, Glennie managing the downtown location, and Metheral managing the purse strings as controller of the company.

“This company has always had working partners,” Berg explains. “It worked well when my dad was running the business and it’s worked well for me.”

However, Berg and his partners do not rest on their laurels. They’ve expanded their clothing line to include women’s wear by offering an exclusive range of Tilley’s Endurables for both men and women. The ennie Tilley line offers a casual, yet avante garde aspirations to become a major Bruce Gl approach to dressing in the 21st Century. metropolis. Val, who grew up in the But what about the future? The company is six decades Fort Saskatchewan/Josephburg area, old, just slightly younger than the second generation Berg, wanted to play triple league baseball who hopes to retire in the next few years. Berg’s not sure and thought the big city would be his field of dreams. when but he’s certainly thinking about it. “My sons have Instead, he turned in his baseball mitt for a measuring tape lives of their own, jobs they like. They’ve watched me and spent the next 20 odd years working in the men’s wear work day and night for years, and they decided they don’t department of the Hudson’s Bay, then the number one want to work themselves to death. They would rather do retailer in the country. their own thing...” and apparently that ‘thing’ does not Val became a walking repository on all things related to include retail. men’s attire. At the urging of a few friends, he took that “I think what will probably happen is that I’ll sell my knowledge, cleaned out his bank account and opened a share of the business to my partners or a third party, and Val specialty shop under his own signature, Val Berg’s Men’s Berg’s will go on, just the way it has in the past.” ✔ Wear. It was 1946, and even then, the senior Berg built his

Don Berg

In this field of dreams,

sons followed in their fathers’ fooprints

By Marg. Pullishy

H

e’s a hulk of a man, a true alpha male without a trace of the metorsexuality often attributed to men who work in the clothing industry.

Understandable, given that Don Berg started out his professional life as a lineman tackle, first with the Edmonton Wildcats, and then briefly as a professional football player.

In reality, men’s wear was in Berg’s blood. His father Valentine Berg, took a big chance 60 years ago, when he opened a medium- to high-end men’s clothing shop in a city best known for its blue collar workers.

The senior Berg came to the city in the late 1920s. At that time, Edmonton was little more than a dusty village with

EDMONTONIANS SEPTEMBER 2006

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Karen, Robin and Claire Congdon

By Marg. Pullishy

A

sk Karen Congdon about the way men and women in business are viewed by their colleagues and competitors, and she’s adamant.

“The first thing that comes to mind is men in business are expected to be assertive and aggressive,” says the second generation operator of Congdon’s Aids to Daily Living.

“A woman who takes a more aggressive approach to business is considered a bitch. And men tend to think more in terms of black and white, while I think women are more inclined to think in shades of gray.”

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n a world gone mad with fracturing the Queen’s English, using nouns as verbs—“I feel conflicted about that...”

“Let me diarize that before I forget.”— get ready to add another utterance to your corporate-speak Funk and Wagnall’s. A derivative of entrepreneurial is copreneurial, an emerging term applied to couples in business with their significant others.

It’s a term that readily applies to Dr. Jennifer Jennings and her husband, Devereaux Jennings. Jennifer is an associate professor at the University of Alberta’s School of Business in the department of strategic management and organization. Devereaux is a full professor in the same department but a different stream. The two often work together.

Their areas of expertise may differ, but their interests don’t.

“My husband and I are a copreneurial couple. We co-author papers, manage projects, determine areas of research to pursue, so there’s a lot of overlap in the work we do,” explains the 39-year-old mother of three.

Originally from Ottawa, Jennings earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Carleton University before heading west to pick up a PhD at the University of British Columbia.

On graduation, she was recruited by the U of A to design and deliver courses in family enterprise and small business. Alberta is a hotbed of family business, and the university is responding with a program of studies targeted at the next generation of business leaders.

“Alberta definitely has a large number of Alberta business families, with significant economic and industrial clout,” says Jennings.

“The business leaders here give a lot of serious thought to retirement and succession,

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A woman’s take And Congdon’s business is riddled with shades of gray. Employees guide clients in the selection of a wide range of home healthcare supplies designed to make life a little easier after an individual has had life-altering surgery; the primary objective is to provide clients with products that will allow them personal independence and the opportunity to resume normal life activities.

In 1974, the business was first established as the Ostomy Care Centre, a place for individuals who had undergone surgery that resulted in the creation of an artificial

Styling They prefer balance in their lives

By Marg. Pullishy

and the university recognizes this demographic trend.” The courses in family enterprise and small business offered by the U of A are amongst the first in Canada and unique to the business world.

Jennings, who has also published under the EDMONTONIANS SEPTEMBER 2006

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Photos by Terry Bourque

on daily living opening in the body, usually on the abdomen, to expel waste material.

Clearly, it’s a business that demands great sensitivity and empathy for the very specific needs of its clients, two qualities Congdon seeks in her staff. “This business calls for a huge amount of diplomacy, tact, compassion and courtesy,” says the vice president and general manager of the operation. “Our staff walks a fine line between being authoritative and knowledgeable about our products and how to use them, and guiding clients to the

g Women e

Jennifer Jennings name Jennifer Cliff, has broad research interests and ambitions, including a special interest in women in business. While John Gray’s Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus clearly illustrated the vast differences between men and women when it comes to

products that are most suitable for them.

Product knowledge can be acquired but if a person isn’t sensitive to the needs of clients, we can’t teach them that.”

The 49-year-old has been involved in the family business, started by her mother Claire, for 32 years.

“My mom was raising four kids when she got involved in the business. My dad was a traveling salesman, and he was talking about how a store selling this type of equipment was needed, and my mother put up her hand and said, ‘I’ll do it.’” That was 36 years ago. After Claire traveled to the United States and eastern Canada for training with enterostomal nurses, who work with individuals that have had colostomies, ostomies or iliostomies, she ran a small shop in a now defunct Edmonton shopping center.

As demand for the products grew, and the company established a repeat client roster, Karen became involved in the business. “I graduated high school and postponed college for many years, to help mom in the business, and I’m glad I did.”

About 80 percent of the company’s product line is funded by Alberta government programs, such as the Aids to Daily Living program, which results in a tremendous amount of paper work, so Congdon’s staff must not only bring emotional strength to their positions but the ability to pay close attention to detail.

“This is a highly female dominated industry, I think for fairly obvious reasons.

Women bring empathy to this type of work; that’s what sets us apart,” Congdon explains.

Mother Claire, the president of the company, is still involved in the business on a daily basis, and though she doesn’t do a whole lot of work, Karen confers with her.

“Sometimes it can be a bit frustrating,” she explains. “If I’m really busy and she wants to talk, it’s sometimes hard to drop everything. At times like that, I have to remind myself that it’s more important that I spend the time with her than push paper.”

And it will be all in the family for Congdon’s Aids to Daily Living. “My extremely long range plan is to one day reverse roles with my mother, and let my daughter Robin run the place, but that’s still quite a way down the road.” ✔

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communication and relationships, Jennings may well be the individual who comes up with the definitive distinctions between men and women in business.

Typically, firms owned and operated by female entrepreneurs tend to be smaller, not always a reflection of the industry sector, but often a deliberate choice made by the women business owners. Although business people of both genders desire growth in their enterprises, there appears to be significant differences in the way they approach such growth. In Does One Size Fit All? Exploring the Relationship between Attitudes towards Growth, Gender and Business Size, Jennings postulates that “…female entrepreneurs are more likely to establish maximum business size threshold beyond which they would prefer not to expand, and that these thresholds are smaller than those set by their male counterparts. These thresholds represent the size that the entrepreneur is comfortable managing… the size that enables him/her to maintain control of the organization, devote a reasonable amount of time and energy to the firm, and/or balance work and personal life.”

Jennings adds, “I found through my research that one of the main reasons women chose to limit growth in business is they tend to be more concerned about what they see as the dangers of fast paced growth, of really losing control, in any number of ways—losing control over that one-on-one relationship with customers and employees… losing control of the intimate aspects of their business… losing control over themselves and their ability to control their own time.

“One of the most salient themes I found is women tend to look for more balance in their lives than do their male counterparts.” ✔

EDMONTONIANS SEPTEMBER 2006 Proof_

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corporate ETHICS

By Nizar J. Somji

C

onversations at the board or CEO level often centre on performance and, in particular, why newly hired key individuals fail to live up to expectations. Why is it that an individual can be amazingly successful in a similar role with a similar company in a similar industry, yet struggle to replicate that performance at a new company? This is true at all levels; even new graduates often fail to meet the organization’s initial expectations for performance.

Today, many employers cite the ability to attract and retain key individuals as a critical success factor. With the current overheated state of our economy, corporations and HR departments are investing heavily in programs focused exclusively on these two areas. Many have found, however, that the impact they can make is small and the expected step change in both areas has not materialized. The results are not always a reflection of the quality of these programs, but rather the reality that in an overheated economy, short term opportunity and income potential drive the individual decision making process. Precisely because HR programs are aimed at long term sustainability, they are in conflict with what motivates individual employee behaviour.

Thus organizations need to focus their efforts on a different strategy: how to get the most out of employees. Harnessing the full potential of the current employee base will help drive overall organizational performance both in the short term and over the long term.

The key lies in the definition of expectations.

There is often a great divide between individual expectations and how they fit within the organization, and organizational expectations and how they fit with the individual. Consider hiring a senior sales executive from a competitor. It is easy to expect similar performance as achieved for the previous employer. However, two factors must be considered: • What were the circumstances and environment that led to success in the previous organization?

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Harnessing potential It’s all about the fit • What are the expectations and desires of the individual coming into the new organization?

Over time, motivation changes. In the early stages of their working lives, individuals are driven to devote more time and effort to developing their careers, resulting in accomplishments that they may not be able to replicate after moving to a different organization in later stages.

Stars fail to shine... because HR is in conflict with individual employee behaviour It is possible, however, to harness the potential of an individual if employers are willing to take the time, perhaps during the interview process, to understand not only the success and career history of the applicant, but what factors—personal, organizational and environmental—enabled that success. Empowered with that information, it may be possible to create the right motivation, environment and structure for the candidate to

succeed and enable others around them to also develop and prosper.

To ensure success, two factors must be considered. First, do the expectations and motivations of the individual and of the organization fit one another? This is a complex undertaking which often requires a shift in thinking: from expecting individuals to duplicate past success to understanding the candidates current motivation, stage in life and accomplishments and, within that framework, determining if the fit is there to enable the candidate to contribute effectively to the new organization. If so, the nature of the contribution should be established.

The second consideration is leadership. The right leadership creates an environment that makes it possible to harness an employee’s maximum potential. I specifically state “leadership” and not “management”, because anyone can manage, but you need the right individual to provide the vision and mentoring. I also specifically state “right” leadership instead of “good” leadership because one can be a good leader, but not the right leader for every individual. It is a fit, not unlike a marriage, that has to be well designed and thought out.

The cliché “people are our biggest asset” is widely used by companies with the aim to motivate, inspire and, perhaps more critically, retain key employees. People only become assets if organizations can fully harness their potential… and if individuals find personal growth and development in what they are doing.

Organizations, in my mind, can significantly improve productivity and performance by as much as 10 percent by focusing on harnessing individual potential. ✔

Nizar J. Somji is president and CEO of Jaffer Inc., a management/ investment consulting firm; and chairman of the board of Matrikon Inc., a company he founded in 1988.

EDMONTONIANS SEPTEMBER 2006

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social SCENE

Photos by Sheryl Winczura (left) Honourary Consul John Zsumlas in a traditional Polish vest. (below) his Honour Norman Kwong, Lietenant Governor with host John Chomiak.

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t took him a couple years to get Alberta’s Lieutentant Governor out to the farm, but John Chomiak is a persistent guy. He runs Hemisphere Engineering when he’s not raising Charolais southeast of Mundare. In fact, Charolais beef is what he and Cathy served to about 80 guests on a warm Sunday in late August at a fundraiser for the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital Foundation. Former MLA Mary O’Neil from St. Albert runs the Foundation now with help from several dedicated volunteers.

Anybody who’s had an encounter with the Glenrose knows this facility is precious. It serves over 175,000 patients every year—people with heart attacks who attend the affectionately named Heart School, seniors who need rehabilitative and mental health services, individuals who require rehab following terrible accidents, children who need speech therapy…all this and research, too.

Hobby cooks Peggy and John Zsumlas, who wore a red mountain vest to underscore his position as Honorary Consul for Poland, teamed up with Sibeal McCourt-Bincoletto of Retail Alberta, who also handled plating.

Smoked salmon and other delectable dishes were served on china that day—an exception to the paper platters common at an al fresco meal on the farm. But protocol dictates a certain level of decorum when the Lieutenant Governor will partake—just as the code of behaviour requires that Norman and Mary Kwong be addressed as Your Honours. Chomiak followed procedure reasonably well but the wine tasting, proficiently guided by William Bincoletto, led to relaxing of the rules…from Your Honour…to Normie… er… Your Honour… to Normie.

Spotted in the crowd were boulevardier Phil Klein who likes to travel the back roads of Alberta recalling his days as a champion boxer in the company of Sine and Seham Chadi. Also in attendance were the Polish Prince Chief Justice Allan Wachowich and his bride, Bette, as well as Gino Serri of RJC and Pat Boersma, formerly of Lac La Biche and Fort McMurray; Northlands boss Ken Knowles and his cookbook publisher cum property developer wife Kathy, agri-entrepreneurs Vicki and Ken Pilip, and Sally and Malcolm Johnson who inked an image of a bull as a keepsake for His Honour.

Altogether a worthy afternoon under the canopy in the sun. Well done. ✔

Guests escaped the hot August sunrays under the canopy. In the foreground are Sine Chadi, Ken and Kathy Knowles, Henry Mah and Phil Klein.

ake it Mayfield

Over 35 big beautiful stores featuring great fashions for you, your family, your home.

170 Street & Stony Plain Road

Your source for beautiful living.

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money MAKING

Creative destruction Herd mentality is a poor investment strategy

By Ron Hiebert

I

remember a number of years ago sitting by Lake Okanagan one evening watching a huge fire devour whole mountains of trees. The flames from thousands of acres of burning brush were so intense that I was able to read a book on my hotel balcony late at night without the aid of any other light.

Driving back to Edmonton two weeks later, I was struck by the utter devastation of it all. Miles of blackened stalks stood like ghosts in the thick haze left by the still smoldering forest. Fourteen days earlier, this had been a place of green and abundant life. Now it was nothing but a carpet of grey black soot stretching as far as the eye could see.

Traveling back through the same area a year later, I was amazed how quickly the forest had regenerated.

There was already a carpet of lush plants growing where, just the previous summer, the ground looked as barren as any lunar landscape. According to my naturalist friends, the exploding new growth actually supports more wildlife than the aging forest it replaced.

The burning of old growth returns nutrients to the soil much faster than natural decay. This, plus reducing the canopy so that the sun can break through to the forest floor, does to plant life what anabolic steroids have done to Barry Bond’s ability to hit home runs.

The endless cycle of life replaces the old and worn with the new and robust. Scientists call it creative destruction. We marvel at it when we drive through an area that has been transformed by it but, other than observing an occasional natural manifestation as in a massive fire, we don’t tend to see many useful applications for it in our everyday lives.

Creative destruction—CD—has huge personal implications… especially financial ones. CD is one of the driving forces that makes capitalism work. Understand it and you move way up the when-to-buy and when-to-sell learning curves. Get in low. Get out high.

Mastering how and when to do this is one of the most powerful keys to building wealth.

WRONG THINKING GETS US IN TROUBLE In the animal kingdom, the herd refers to beasts that typically follow the lead of others. If one runs, the others follow. They don’t stop and ask a lot of

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questions, they just chase the tail in front of them.

Why? Because that is what beasts with a herding instinct are naturally hard-wired to do. In most cases, this allows them to live longer. Animals that herd are usually a potential dinner for something else. They run because they assume that another member of the herd has seen something. Stampeding gets them away from danger. Occasionally, there will be a false alarm, but overall the system of not asking questions and charging off when someone else does works pretty well.

Humans might laugh at the absurdness of herd behaviour, but it is much of the driving force behind our species’ investment decisions. Humans believe that when a trend starts it will continue forever. When the majority buys into that idea, the sheer numbers of them doing so is considered an affirmation of its correctness.

Countless academic studies have shown that herd behaviour is especially strong at market extremes—and that it is usually wrong. The human herd tends to buy at the top and sell at the bottom. Instinctive? Yes! Smart? No! Understanding the concept of CD replaces instinct with logic. When you know why the markets behave the way they do, you actually have a shot at making money investing in them.

HOW DOES CREATIVE DESTRUCTION WORK? CD says that a financial trend, by its very nature, sows the seeds of its own demise. The larger the trend, the larger the destructive force that eventually tears it down. Just like a forest, bigger trees make a bigger fire.

The movement of the price of oil is a perfect example of how CD works. When the cost of crude hit a low of $10 per barrel back in 1998, it was absurdly cheap by any measure. Demand picked up. Industry switched from coal to diesel, consumers bought gas guzzling SUVs and everyone forgot about conservation. Because the selling price of oil was, in many cases, at or below its production cost, there was no financial incentive for the big energy companies to stick the drill bit into the ground to find more. There was no competition from technologies like solar, wind, ethanol or hybrid because they were too expensive.

After a few years of low prices, demand started to

dramatically exceed supply causing the price to rise by seven fold. Yet eight years ago, there wasn’t an oil bull to be found. The herd said, “Sell. Crude will never go anywhere.”

Today, the herd is buying into the energy story. Oil prices have been rising steadily for the past five years, and because the trend has continued so long people feel it is safe to put their financial toes into the water. Yet, in reality, the longer this trend continues, the more dangerous it becomes.

Capitalism works on economic incentive. When oil prices are high people can save money by using less fuel or investing in conservation technology. This decreases demand. High prices often cause recessions, which also decrease demand. This is an incentive for oil companies to find oil when they can make money by doing so. Alternative technologies like wind power, solar and ethanol are able to make money with certain applications at these price levels so they are starting to get into the game. This increases not only the amount, but also the choice of supply. When the eventual tilt from over-demand to over-supply comes, it will sneak in the back door like a thief: totally unannounced.

Prices will drop quickly, not giving investors much opportunity to get out.

The cure for low prices is low prices. The cure for high prices is high prices. Nothing better describes the way creative destruction works. CD is simply market forces doing their job. It is a continuous cycle of replacing the old and uncompetitive with the new and dynamic—just like a forest. Understanding this neverending circle will help you avoid the herd instinct and buy and sell at points in the supply/demand cycle that are based on logic, and not simply on what everyone else is doing. ✔ Ron Hiebert, a director at ScotiaMcLeod, teaches investment classes at Grant MacEwan College.

The author of Wealth Building can be heard weekdays at 7:34 am, on CFCW radio (790 AM). Contact him at 780.497.3215 or rhiebert@edmontonians.com

EDMONTONIANS SEPTEMBER 2006

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teachers means packing up everything and moving 11,000 km to the tiny nation of Qatar.

Okay, let’s get this out of the way first: Qatar is a safe place to live and visit. Yes, it is in the Middle East but it is no where near Lebanon, Palestine or Israel.

Baghdad is 1,126 km away—about the same distance as between here and Winnipeg.

So now that we’ve ascertained these seven teachers are not crazy to be traveling to work in Doha, why are they going? Well, they will be educating Canadian children whose parents are working in that country. According to Foreign Affairs Canada, the expatriate community in Qatar numbers 2,000. Many Canadians are employed in the immense oil and gas sector and others work for the College of the North Atlantic-Qatar (CAN-Q). If the name of the college sounds familiar, it is because the technical school in Qatar was formed through a 10-year agreement between the State of Qatar and Newfoundland and Labrador’s College of the North Atlantic. CAN-Q is modeled on Canadian technical education programs and, accordingly, Canadian staff are actively recruited to teach up to 3,000 students in business studies, engineering technology, information technology and health sciences.

However, recruitment isn’t always easy, largely because primary and secondary education for expatriate children is such a problem. Qatar’s local population is growing quickly and each year brings in a new influx of foreigners, both of which place heavy pressure on the capacity of existing international schools, including British, American and French institutions. Plus, parents want to be assured an easy transition for their children back into the Canadian school system once they return home.

Thus the Canadian Bureau of International Education in Ottawa was asked by CAN-Q to establish a Canadian school. Not surprisingly, CBIE immediately contacted Edmonton Public Schools’ given its impressive reputation nationally—and beyond—for diversity of programming and high student achievement. Also, the “site-based decision making” model that has been in place here since the 1970s allows for a significant amount of local autonomy over budgets and day-to-day activities—important when operating a school nine time zones away.

Responsibility for making the project happen was handed to Kevin Stevenson, director of Metro Continuing Education, an arm of Edmonton Public Schools. Keep in mind that he just became aware of this project in early June and, within six weeks, had recruited seven teachers and one principal and identified and assembled all of the resources needed for this K-8 school. An amazing feat considering it all took place during a move of Metro from downtown to the Bonnie Doon area. Stevenson told me that the biggest challenge was teacher recruitment.

While the curriculum will be familiar to teachers—it will be based on the Alberta provincial curriculum—environment and cultural norms won’t be. “We had some issues with common-law spouses and the retirement age,” Stevenson informed me. One principal was lined up and eager to go but his visa was denied because he was over 60, the retirement age in Qatar. Other teachers were deterred because “the culture is not supportive of common-law couples” which I think is a nice way of saying that you

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orty years later, I am moving back to the city of my birth: Calgary. An opportunity for interesting and challenging work presented itself to my husband, Owen, and I—pesky wedding vows being what they are—come along for the adventure.

The purchase of a condo in a rapidly inflating real estate market is hastily completed. I fly to Calgary on our possession date, arriving a couple of hours before the agreed upon time. Someone has told Owen that Café Beano, three blocks from our new digs, is the place for coffee in downtown Calgary. At 10 in the morning, the place is packed… people enjoying the morning sun on the benches outside the shop… people sitting at the few tables inside… people, including us, lining up. Unfamiliar with Calgary coffee shop etiquette,

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couldn’t live with your boyfriend or girlfriend in the country, even if he/she were somehow able to obtain a visa.

Officials expected between 70 and 100 children to register this fall, with the aim of increasing enrolment to 1,500 (including non-Canadians) in the next few years. It appears that this will be a win-win situation for all involved.

Teachers are afforded the professional development opportunity of a lifetime (and will presumably come back and share their experiences in the regular school environment), students and parents don’t have to worry that their transcontinental move will compromise education quality and, once again, Edmonton can showcase its talented and dedicated citizens to the world.

MAJOR INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE SLATED FOR EDMONTON Apparently the folks at the United Nations also recognize what a fantastic city Edmonton is. Next year, the John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights will host the Youth Assembly of the United Nations—the first time it will be held outside New York state. This forum is for youth aged 16 to 28 to demonstrate how individuals can make a difference in the world.

When staff at the John Humphrey Centre heard that the organizers of the conference were thinking of moving the conference to another North American location, they jumped into high gear. Led by the Centre’s Executive Manager Renee Vaugeois, they put together a proposal highlighting why Edmonton should be considered a host city for the 2007 program. Edmonton’s multiculturalism and diversity, which is celebrated in many ways from our festivals to amazing community involvement, were certainly key to winning the bid. But what stood out was the fact that our city is part of the International Human Cities Project, developed by the United Nations. As one of only two developed-world cities that have been chosen to participate in this program, Edmonton was well positioned to host the youth assembly next year. Added to that, a strong 25-member delegation participating in this year’s conference and a letter of support from Mayor Stephen Mandel and it seems Edmonton was a slam dunk.

we ask the man behind us if there is table service, or does everyone line up. This starts a conversation about being new in town… first day… outrageous housing market. He moved from Manitoba four years ago.

“Where are you from?” he asks. “Edmonton,” is our patriotic reply. “Well,” he says, “just don’t lose your humanity.”

And so we begin our exile to Calgary— humanity clutched tightly, alert for those who would steal our souls or violate our values.

We’ll keep you posted. ✔ Janet Edmondson is the former Edmontonians Office Manager. She can be contacted at jedmondson@edmontonians.com Now the real work begins with 500 to 1,000 youth typically registering for the assembly. Vaugeois informs me that the format hasn’t been finalized, but it will centre on the eight UN millennium development goals and the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization—UNESCO—eight pillars of peace, which results in 10 themes to be addressed over the three-day educational conference and a further five days of leadership training. The aim of it all is to “focus on the person, who they are and their capacity to affect change.” And Vaugeois would like this conference to “reach out to youth at risk and go beyond the typical political science major by encouraging self expression through art and music.”

BUILDING WORLD PEACE… IN EDMONTON But that’s not the only international conference the John Humphrey Centre is hosting. Building World Peace: The Role of Religion and Human Rights takes place in our city in October. Too often people doing business in North America take for granted the safe, stable environment in which we operate, so it can be a shock doing business in or visiting countries where basic human and religious rights are not protected.

Louise De Pape is in charge of making it all happen, and I asked her why a busy businessperson should take time to attend. After all, the conference is intended to talk about the relationship between religion, human rights, and world peace. Kind of abstract stuff for the president of a busy company with far too many event invitations and not enough time. She replied (and I agree) that “we can’t live in an insular world” and that a diverse group of business, spiritual and world leaders will be in attendance who “can share a real global perspective.”

The stellar line-up of speakers includes Edmonton’s own Douglas Roche, O.C., internationally respected diplomat and advocate of nuclear non-proliferation; Claudette Tardif, Canadian Senator and leading defender of minority linguistic and cultural rights; Patrice Brodeur, Canada Research Chair Islam, Pluralism and Globalization, University of Montreal; Irwin Cotler, former minister of Justice Canada who has served as legal counsel to international leaders such as Nelson Mandela; Roméo Dallaire, Canadian Senator and retired Canadian General who brought the horrors of the Rwandan genocide to the world’s attention; and John de Chastelain, retired Canadian General who played a key role in disarming the Irish Republican Army in Northern Ireland—plus, many, many more. And De Pape has indicated other internationally well-known speakers could confirm their participation in the weeks to come.

I think Senator Tardif summed up the need for such a conference best in her address to the Canadian Senate, “We need to have conferences like this to stimulate public debates on peace within the social fabric of Canada and other countries.” ✔ Cheryl Lockhart owns International Strategies Ltd., specializing in exportrelated planning and marketing.

E-mail: clockhart@edmontonians.com

EDMONTONIANS SEPTEMBER 2006

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BizINTEL

&Tech S cience with Cheryl Croucher

Remember the first week back at grade school? The teacher would ask you to write an essay titled “How I Spent My Summer Vacation”.

Well, I had a pretty good time this summer, combining a whole lot of fun with a nice touch of natural science. And all of this centres around fishing and canoeing with Wayne Roberts. Wayne and I have been buddies for almost two decades, a friendship rooted in our love of the wild.

Wayne manages the Zoology Museum at the University of Alberta and is known around the province for his vast knowledge of fish and his keen interest in fishing. I can remember one New Year’s Day when he tallied the number of fish he’d caught over the previous 12 months and that amounted to more than 1200. Not that he kept that many. Wayne was one of the first advocates of catch and release fishing in Alberta and lives by that principle today.

B izIT 101 with Greg Michetti

August marked the 25th

anniversary of the personal computer.

And if location, location, location represent the three key words in real estate, then headroom, headroom, headroom are now the three most important words for those looking for a new PC. That’s because this year’s new PC takes on new meaning: It might be easy to make a buying mistake.

I’ll explain. Right now, PCs are astonishingly inexpensive—especially during the September buying period which is second only to Christmas in terms of hardware purchasing activity.

You can easily get a new, modern, clone “box” from your friendly corner computer shop for around $500, sans operating system. Sheesh, the iPod, Sony PSP or a late model HP iPaq are in the same cost neighbourhood.

However, keep three key factors in mind: First, Microsoft will be releasing Vista, its new operating system either late this year but most likely in early 2007. Second, in anticipation of Vista, Intel has just released its Core 2 Duo processor for desktop computers. Third, Microsoft expects 45 percent of the new PCs shipping with Vista will be 64-bit computers, not the 32-bit we all see today.

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While weekdays are devoted to his museum duties at the University, the weekends are reserved for the enjoyment of his living lab in central Alberta. Wayne owns 80 acres east of Innisfail which he manages as a nature sanctuary. Previous owners had drained the land with hopes of farming it. This turned out to be a terrible mistake: The land was a natural lakebed fed by underground springs and Ghostpine Creek which flows out of Pine Lake.

In the late 1980s, Wayne partnered with Ducks Unlimited to restore the wetland on his farm. Channels were dug. Earth was mounded to form a spit. The road bed was raised. A dam was built. Goose nests were placed. Eighteen years later, what was once dismissed as a farmer’s slough has now blossomed into a lake teaming with life. Redwing blackbirds, grebes, teals, terns, mallards, goldeneye, scaups, and Canada geese lay their eggs and raise their young among the cattails that blanket the edge of the lake. Pelicans and herons visit daily to catch small fish that now spawn in the lake. Muskrat lodges dot the shoreline.

Morning coffee at Ghostpine Springs Sanctuary is spent watching the many species of birds that nest in the yard around the house. These include chickadees, phoebes, wrens, sparrows, bluebirds, woodpeckers, warblers, and goldfinches.

Hummingbirds flit between the trees and the feeders. Redtail hawks, goshawks, and harrier falcons soar overhead.

Coffee is followed by a paddle in the canoe from the dam to the island across the lake. Looking into the water below, I watch the movements of tiny freshwater shrimp.

There’s a mayfly hatch. Floating in front of us is a grebe’s nest fashioned of beaver cuttings and cattails. On the island this year’s saskatoons hang from the bushes like plump clusters of concorde grapes.

Finally, it’s time to go fishing. At the

end of June, Wayne discovered the creek channels were filled with pike three to five years old. They were keen to take a fly and happy to put on a big splashy show once caught. And so was born our season of “heart attack fishing” amongst the cattails, just meters from the front door of the house.

Each bend in the channel earns a name.

Pike Corner is wide and sports an abundance of fish. The next few bends are home to gnarled willows. They become known as Trouble and More Trouble.

Avoiding Trouble is important once you’ve hooked a pike because they head into the roots and tangle the line.

I never thought I would see the day when I was fly fishing for pike out of a canoe in the Back Forty. Surprisingly, it didn’t take long for me to find my balance and learn the proper technique—hey, I saw A River Runs Through It. No slack line… keep the tip down on the water… quickly flip the rod up to set the hook when the pike strikes. I even managed to defeat Trouble. And not once did I fall out of the canoe.

Although the occasional fish tried jumping into the canoe—one literally leapt right into the net after a metre-long sail through the air. That’s where the term “heart attack fishing” came from. Those Ghostpine pike are pretty zippy. They strike the hook, then you play them.

Sometimes they take off down the creek, the line going whizzzzzzzz as they speed off, the canoe in tow. They leap and splash right beside the boat, making us squeal from both the surprise and the spray of cold water.

Once landed, each pike gets a good look-over from Wayne. Each one is measured. Most are 22 to 24 inches. Some have recognizable characteristics and get names. Humpy has a hump on its back.

Ivor Dent looks like it survived a stab

Like it or not, there is a good chance you will want to upgrade to Vista in spring… and if you buy a new el cheapo PC now, how happy are you going to be if it moves along at glacier-like speed and only displays half the available graphics?

So now let me ask you again: Will that $500, 32-bit, no OS, Pentium 4 level computer with a basic graphics card be worth the dough you laid out for it mere months before? Probably not.

In other words, be careful of these low prices. Always make sure your new PC is Vista-ready with enough graphics, processor, memory and disk space for the new OS. There’s way more to a new system than just the box, too. What gives with that old CRT-style monitor you’ve had since the mid ’90s? Toss it, will ya?

Look at buying a new 19” flat panel LCD monitor—while you’re at it, get two. Why? Take a look at engineering, law, graphics design and accounting firms. The dual monitor support in Windows XP means they can keep their working file open on one monitor while the second one displays e-mail, a web page that constantly refreshes as well as a running TV feed from CNN. Just because the new flat panel comes with built-in speakers, don’t get duped into thinking they’re good enough. Most of the time, the audio from the built-in speakers is awful. (What do video guys know about audio, anyway?) So count

on laying out some coin for a good set of speakers and sub-woofers. The media features in Vista are designed to take full advantage of audio and TV feeds.

Also, some users have a main working monitor and a second one which is simply a feed from their Tablet PC. When they want to head to a meeting, they “undock” from the keyboard, mouse and ’Net connection and leave. They remain connected via WiFi as they stroll to the meeting room.

Also, make sure your PC is dual processor capable… that way, you don’t have to buy two now but you’re ready when you want a second.

Incidentally, a GB of RAM is the new minimum. Disk space? Naturally, get as big a hard drive as possible but also consider a 250 or 500 GB external NAS or USB 2.0 device that connects to your network or PC respectively.

This is important for back-up ideas and critical if you want to keep all those tunes you downloaded during your Napster days.

OK, you say you wanted to work on your home PC, too? A new version of Microsoft Office, called 2007, will ship this fall. There are several SKUs—and my guess is they will range from about $250 to $1,000; depending on what you really need and if it is a new copy as opposed to an upgrade. It’s about time you moved up from that Office 2000 suite you forgot to return to your old employer when

from a heron and is scarred by a deep indentation along its right side. Another has no pectoral fins. And then there’s Anvil Tail that we caught twice. It has a very distinctive back end.

Of the almost 200 pike we caught over the summer, all but a few were released back into the creek. When Wayne cleans the keepers, he examines their guts to see what they’ve been feeding on. Mostly he finds insects. But for a few days after a major August storm, he finds the pike have been gorging themselves on little fish called sticklebacks that were washed down the creek by the storm runoff. One pike had 26 sticklebacks in its stomach.

All this data is entered in Wayne’s journal. A few years back, Wayne participated in DU’s North American waterfowl management plan committee. It was lessons learned from the development and evolution of Ghostpine Springs Sanctuary that contributed to DU’s new philosophy that you have to manage for more than ducks. What’s happening with the aquatic invertebrates, the plants, and the fish under the water all contribute to the web of life that supports the ducks and geese swimming on top of the water.

Oh yes. the fish we kept were ever so meaty and tasty. And I made a great pie from the saskatoons we picked on the island.

Wayne Roberts

Continued on page 5 you left the job three years ago. In other words, check the upgrade requirements as you may or may not qualify for an upgrade to Office 2007.

Oh yeah, the days of CD burners are over. Dead. Too small. Make sure your new PC comes with a DVD-ROM and has a DVD burner too. (CDs hold 650 MB; DVDs nearly five GB) Now back to the 64-bit PCs mentioned earlier. Supposedly, it is going to be around $100-$200 higher than a comparable 32-bit unit. Problem is there aren’t that many applications written to take advantage of 64-bit computing so a 32-bit unit should suffice for the next two years.

Lifetime expectancy? Glad you asked.

Most new PCs have a lifetime of about two years; maybe three. After that, they are passed down to younger family members or up to retiree-types. So there is some solace in knowing that PCs just don’t get tossed away: We simply find other uses for them. Still, at a time when new operating systems and processors are being released, remember this: It’s not really about the PC—it’s about what’s connected to it. ✔ Gregory B. Michetti of the Alberta-based systems integration firm Michetti Information Solutions, Inc. can be reached via www.michetti.com EDMONTONIANS SEPTEMBER 2006

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Continued from page 4

There are two events to keep in mind for this fall. TEC Edmonton’s VenturePrize Business Plan Competition is gearing up for its launch at the end of September. Dr. Lloyd Steier of the U of A’s School of Business will once again lead the VP seminar series. New this year is a student business plan event.

Prizes and other details for the fast growth technology business ideas are listed on the website at www. ventureprize.com.

The InnoWest conference in Calgary was so successful, it is being repeated this year in Edmonton. InnoWest 2006 takes place November 28th and 29th at the Shaw Conference Centre. This is an excellent opportunity for companies and researchers from across western Canada who work in energy, life sciences and emerging technologies to discuss issues that impact the innovation economy and our ability to compete globally. Register early. You’ll find the conference details on the website at www. thecis.ca/ innowest. ✔ Cheryl Croucher is an Edmonton broadcast journalist and host of Innovation Alberta. You can hear the program on CKUA Radio Tuesdays at 8pm or download it when you visit www.innovationalberta.com

C ivic Buzz with David Norwood

REDEVELOPMENT A SMART CHOICE

Armin Preiksaitis is a busy man these days. As one of Edmonton’s best-known and regarded planning consultants, he’s involved with a number of major projects in the city, most of which focus on redevelopment of an existing urban area.

We chatted recently about many of these projects.

Century Park, easily the largest redevelopment project currently underway in Edmonton, is on track and on schedule at the former Heritage Mall site. The firstphase commercial and retail structures have been built on the southwest corner of 23rd Avenue and 111th Street. Tenants include Starbucks, the RBC Financial Group, and Brewster’s Pub and Restaurant. The next phase, including low- and mid-rise apartments, will begin in early 2007 on the southeast corner of the site, along 109th Street. Preiksaitis says that more than 3,000 people have registered to express their interest in the residences at Century Park Club and Residences, as it is now called.

When complete, the $850 million development will comprise 16 residential towers including four 24-storey, three 20-storey, two 18storey, two 16-storey and other low and mid-rise residences. The complex will also feature shops, services, townhouses, restaurants, bistros, offices, a lake/skating pond, and a direct link to LRT. Preiksaitis points out that the Century Park won its approval as a result of repeated consultation with all involved stakeholders, including neighbouring residents, the City’s planning department, and City Council. He emphasizes the importance of such consultation and feedback, and the need to incorporate feedback into subsequent plans. He is involved in a similar exercise in another redevelopment project, albeit on a significantly smaller scale, on the Strathearn Apartments site on the south bank of the North Saskatchewan River overlooking downtown.

The existing site comprises dozens of three-story walk-up apartments constructed more than 50 years ago

your views, are splitting many congregations throughout Canada and the U.S. The United Church, not immune from problems, has decided it must launch an advertising campaign, with Religion has always been involved the objective of enhancing its image with the Canadian media since our and hopefully attracting back old, first newspaper, the Halifax Gazette, plus new, started publishing in parishioners into the 1752. fold.

In the case of Calgary New Hope Alberta, electronic Church Pastor John evangelism started Van Slotten has with former gone an electronic Premiers William step farther.

Aberhart and Following Pope Ernest Manning Benedict’s example with their Back to last year, Pastor Van the Bible Hour Slotten started Sunday morning podcasting his radio shows. That sermons last January. was followed by a Last month, he was proliferation of shocked to find out television preachers. that 5,000 people per Some like Billy month are now Graham and downloading his Norman Vincent sermons. That’s five Peale were excellent. times his monthly Too many were—and “seats in the pews.” are—more interested The rate of New in the almighty dollar Ernest Manning Hope downloads than the Almighty surged in different countries, such as Himself. in Italy and Slovenia, when he Scandals across Canada involving preached on the World Cup. Indian residential school students, as University of Calgary communiwell as behaviour by members of the cations professor Dawn Johnston cloth in various main line churches, was so impressed with the pastor’s started to affect attendance. So did achievements that she is now gay marriages which, regardless of

M edia Minute with Bruce Hogle

which, despite their charm, are badly in need of replacement. The redevelopment plan calls for a mixed-use “urban neighbourhood” which would include shops, services, pedestrian walkways, townhouses, low-rise apartments and—the most controversial aspect of the project— three residential towers of 21, 22 and 23

with win-win solutions, will make all the difference.

Preiksaitis points out another highprofile project, now moving from its advanced planning stage to implementation, that is receiving praise from all involved—redevelopment of the Fort Road area in Edmonton’s northeast. A lengthy and thorough consultation process has resulted in a plan that is dynamic, restorative and respectful of the area’s past. More about this development in an upcoming column.

As Preiksaitis and many others note, Edmonton is now at a crossroads where infill development, coupled with the Smart Choices concept, is providing an important alternative to urban sprawl. It is inevitable that the metropolitan Edmonton region will continue to grow outwards, but at the same time older, more central neighbourhoods are in the process of renewal. Making the choices about the right mix and type of homes, services and shopping is not an easy process, but the fact that such a process is underway is encouraging… and necessary.

CITY’S ONLINE COMMUNITY LIVELY Armin Preiksaitis on October 2005 cover stories in the centre of the redevelopment.

Almost as controversial is the proposed move of a park currently located on the southwest corner of the site to its centre.

While stressing that more consultation with the community is both necessary and desirable, Preiksaitis also believes that projects, such as the Strathearn apartments, embody the crucial elements of sustainable urban redevelopment or, as the City of Edmonton calls it, Smart Choices. He is sure a workable compromise can be reached, especially when stakeholders realize that high density doesn’t have to be distasteful. He and I agree that Edmonton does not yet have many examples of architecturally pleasing high-density residential towers, but that is changing. That, as well as working with those involved to come up

Connect2 Edmonton—C2E—continues to generate new ideas and issues of interest to Edmonton enthusiasts. The group now has more than 380 members in at least nine countries, and plans to have more than 1,000 members in 20 countries by the end of the year. Among the topics of current interest are the Rossdale Power Plant redevelopment (what to do with the area overall when the plant shuts down for good in the near future); river valley improvements (this one has generated many ideas about what we can—and should or should not—do about the river valley to make it even more attractive); international air service (easily one of the most popular discussions, especially with the incredible surge in air traffic growth at Edmonton International this year); buildings and architecture (lots of interesting threads there); and much more.

C2E at www.connect2edmonton.ca is without doubt a “community” that wears its passion for Edmonton on its sleeve, and that is a good thing. It serves to

recording up to 2 1/2 hours of lectures weekly to be uploaded to iTunes, which 700 students can access on iPods at no charge, as part of her course. You just know that other university/college lecturers will follow.

The sad aspect about the growth of religion by innovative church leaders is the parochialism still prevailing among too many politicians and educators. Such as The Lord’s Prayer being outlawed within the classroom; and many legislatures—but not Alberta—rejecting daily prayers to start their legislative sessions.

Such parochialism is not surprising when, as I’ve said before and it warrants reiteration, you had that Etobicoke mosque warning on its Internet message service that “wishing anyone a Merry Christmas is like congratulating a murderer.”

This simply proves that some people have absolutely no love or respect for those of other faiths regardless of their claims to the contrary. How sad to have such individuals continuing to reside amongst us in this incredibly great and tolerant province and land. ✔ Bruce Hogle is the former news director at CFRN TV and recently retired head of the Alberta Press Council. stimulate discussion, generate ideas, and moreover it is taken seriously by those who have the ability to make a difference.

As this column was being written, a new post was reviewed from one of C2E’s more prominent members: Mayor Stephen Mandel.

If you haven’t checked C2E out, please do. The more, the merrier.

OFFICE MARKET GENERATING EXCITEMENT The latest quarterly report from Colliers International (June 2006) shows that the city continues to be one of the country’s major economic generators. “According to the Conference Board of Canada,” the report says, “economic growth in the City of Edmonton was 4.3 percent in 2004 (tied for highest in the nation) and 5.3 percent in 2005 (highest in the nation).”

The report also notes that employment gains in Edmonton “have been 14,700 for the first half of 2006.” Building permits for the first quarter of 2006 in the city continued to grow, increasing by 23.2 percent over the same quarter last year to $514.2 million.

With respect to office space, Colliers reports that the downtown vacancy rate, including sublease space, was 3.8 percent in June, the second-lowest vacancy rate in Canada. The suburban Edmonton office market has also experienced strong demand this year; vacancy in this market declined to 8.6 percent from 9.9 percent from January to June.

The Colliers report is reinforced by a recent article in the Globe and Mail’s Report on Business: “Edmonton’s joining the office space party.” Essentially, the article points out that the lack of office space in the downtown core is spurring interest in new developments and at least one redevelopment—Canterra Developments’ retrofit of the Devonian Building on Jasper Avenue at 111th Street. The redeveloped building will offer 149,000 square feet of A class space.

An interesting time to be an Edmontonian! Hang on; it’s going to be quite a ride.✔ David Norwood is a freelance writer/editor. Contact dnorwood@edmontonians.com

EDMONTONIANS SEPTEMBER 2006

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lifestyles LIVELY

with Linda Bodo

North to Alaska

E

xtreme hottie Ty Pennington got a chance to cool his bullhorn in one of the coldest places in North America: Fairbanks, Alaska. Last winter, the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition host and his crew faced a particularly challenging project; rebuilding a deserving family’s home in an extreme climate location where temperatures have been known to dip below -50°C. So, if creating a complete home makeover in a mere seven days isn’t challenging enough, let’s kick it up a notch with the added requirement of building an energy efficient home tough enough to battle the blanket of cold that drapes the city for months at a time, or the long sunny days of summer where temperatures frequently pass the 20C-degree mark.

Located 358 miles north of Anchorage, Fairbanks has branded itself as the end of the Alaska Highway.

Considered the gateway to the state’s interior and the Arctic, it is a land of contrasts. Its central location makes it the focal point for tiny villages scattered throughout the surrounding wilderness. Places such as Barrow, where the sun does not rise for 67 days during the winter, but hangs out for over 21 hours a day during mid summer. Situated under the auroral oval—a ring-shaped region around the North Pole—Fairbanks is one of the best places on Earth to experience the Northern Lights. These magnificent and mysterious curtains dance across the endless sky in vibrant strokes of colour.

For the Extreme Makeover in Alaska, the producers from the south decided to seek the advice of professional heavyweights experienced in dealing with harsh weather conditions, and approached Edmonton-based Award Windows and Doors to help with the project. With the combined efforts of community volunteers, contractor Landmark Homes and the Alberta experts, a Fairbanksan family now lives in the energy efficient home of their dreams. The construction process was completed in just one week while the family holidayed in Disneyland, courtesy of ABC. The Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Alaska show is scheduled to air Sunday, September 24th.

Although Award Windows was delighted to participate in this worthy community project, their product was a likely choice for Makeover executives. For 30 years, the company has kept Canadians warm and toasty with high performance vinyl windows and custom entry doors that made lower heating bills a reality for homeowners.

Incorporating the latest developments in technology and cost effective manufacturing, Award is able to offer one of the top rated window systems in Canada. With ever rising energy costs, replacing low efficiency doors and windows has turned into cold hard cash for many of us.

With the savings from lower energy consumption, you can take your own holiday to Disneyland.

Award Windows’ extreme North jobs

Award Windows began its life in 1976 in New Sarepta, manufacturing a modest line of aluminum windows. As the company grew, the line diversified with wood windows and entrance doors. Through product development in 1988, the company began perfecting the first vinyl window systems in Edmonton. Since that time, it has been focusing on energy efficient vinyl products, incorporating the latest developments in technology and cost effective manufacturing. Proud to be members of the Energy Star program, Award Windows receives recognition throughout Alberta, Saskatchewan, Northern B.C., Yukon, NWT and Alaska through 45 dealer locations.

I had the opportunity to meet with general manager Don Welsh during a guided tour of the 84,000 square-foot Edmonton facility. In the pristine interiors, 100 employees skillfully spin raw materials into ‘life inspired’ custom doors and windows in approximately 18 days lead time. “Our mandate is to manufacture high end products for sophisticated clientele looking for high performance goods,” shouted Don over the roar of computerized machinery and hand-worked finishing stations.

I asked him about Award’s participation in the Extreme Makeover project. “A community needed help…we feel fortunate to have been given the opportunity to make a difference. We are extremely proud of our contribution to the Fairbanks assignment. The venture cost close to $10,000. Hopefully, the credibility gained through the show’s exposure will allow us to expand into the U.S.” You can conduct your own reality check of Award’s products at the Home Show at the Agricom this month, or visit its showroom at 14215 Yellowhead Trail. You can also check awardwindows.com for a complete product line and information on assessing the energy efficiency of your windows and how to save the cost of heating your home.

Contact Linda Bodo at lbodo@edmontonians.com or visit absolutebodo.com.

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EDMONTONIANS SEPTEMBER 2006

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MENU

Magic with Chef John Berry Chef Dennis Cummings

F

orty-foot waves… Sub-zero temperatures with 50 knot winds… Crab traps that weigh 700 pounds… Any second you could loose your footing and be swept overboard to a near certain death.

There aren’t many men I know who would be willing to take on those odds even to make a year’s wages in two to three months— some reportedly earn as much as $20,000 per day. But that’s what the dedicated and courageous fisherman who prowl the Bering Sea along the Alaska coastline do to bring King Crab to market.

You may have seen the incredible risks these fisherman take on Discovery Channel’s Deadliest Catch. Staring down upon the most succulent crab to ever come out of the ocean, it’s hard to imagine what it took to get these enormous crustacean legs on my plate.

“There is none sweeter than Alaskan King Crab,” according to Executive Chef Dennis Cummings of the Lighthouse Café and Billingsgate Seafood Market on Calgary Trail at 74th Avenue.

And he should know. Chef Dennis and his team serve up about 1000 pounds of Alaskan King Crab a week. “You can’t beat the flavour. Absolutely. It’s a marriage made in heaven.”

There are four main species of King Crab. Red King Crab is the best tasting in the world. The meat is snowwhite with highlights of bright red. They are actually a dark burgundy in color when caught, but turn bright red when cooked.

Blue King Crab, known for its giant claws, are among the largest in the world. In 1998, one was caught weighing and astonishing 18 pounds. When harvested, they are

Because the legs are cooked as soon as the crab are caught, then flash frozen to preserve their taste, you can either thaw them in your refrigerator for a day, or run them under cold water until the joints move easily. Steaming is perhaps the most common method of re-heating. You can also drop them into salted boiling water or bake them. Each method takes no more than 5 to 8 minutes—more and you will reduce the texture and taste.

Serving the crab legs can be a whole lot of fun, especially if you like to get down and dirty with your fingers, a pair of kitchen shears and a fork or a specially designed crab fork that’s available in most kitchen stores in Edmonton.

Most crab legs are tasty enough to stand alone with a crusty bun, a ramekin of melted garlic butter, and ice cold beer or a glass of wine. Or the meat can be made a salad, a sandwich spread, eggs rolls, crab cakes or cucumber rolls.

And, in land-locked Alberta, a pound of King Crab legs are a great complement to steak. Anything really that strikes your fancy.

One thing is certain. Once you’ve tried Alaskan King Crab, you’ll be trapped.

Steamed King Crab Legs 4 large King Crab Legs 4 garlic cloves diced 1/2 C Chardonnay wine 4 ramekins of melted garlic butter 4 lemon wedges 1. Cut the crab legs into manageable pieces.

2. Bring water with garlic and wine to boil in a steaming pot.

3. Steam legs for about 5-8 minutes. Do not overcook.

4. Remove from steamer, place on a platter with ramekin of melted garlic butter for dipping.

Garnish with lemon wedges.

5. Serve with crusty buns, and/or wild rice and salad greens.

6. Wash down with ice cold beer or wine.

Crab-stuffed Cucumber Rolls

brown with royal blue highlights and turn bright orange-red when cooked. They are usually marketed as Red’s but are a close second in taste.

Chef Dennis sells both at Billingsgate. But he says be prepared to pay a little more for the Reds—currently about $25 per pound, which gets you one-and-a-half legs.

Golden King Crab are the smaller of the three main species, but similar in taste to the Blues. The fourth species are Scarlet King Crab which have neither the size nor the population to sustain a commercial harvest and as such are not marketed.

Cooking King Crab legs is really quite simple. But having said that, be careful. Over-cooking leaves you with a rubbery, chewy, very expensive disappointment on your table.

1 long English cucumber 2 Tbs. finely diced purple onion salt & pepper to taste 1-2 cloves of diced garlic pinch chili peppers or to taste

1 lb King Crab meat 4 Tbs. Mayonnaise 1/2 tsp. sugar

1. Remove ends and cut cucumber into three or four pieces.

2. Remove the seeds with a sharp knife or apple corer, resulting in a large cavity—essentially creating a cucumber cylinder.

3. Mix the rest of the ingredients in a bowl and stuff into the cavity.

4. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for an hour or more.

5. Remove plastic, cut into bite sized pieces and serve. ✔ Contact Chef John Berry at jberry@edmontonians.com

EDMONTONIANS SEPTEMBER 2006

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Proof_ ____PROOFED BY:_______________________________________________CHANGES MADE:__________________________DATE:_________________

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One Man’s Boom Is Another Man’s Bust

ACQUISITIONS, DIVESTITURES & CORPORATE FINANCE

with Stephen W. Kent, CA (780) 448-9099

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During recent discussion with business owners regarding the current economic upswing, we discovered that businesses are experiencing very different economic realities due to the frantic marketplace. This dichotomy serves as a timely reminder of the risks inherent with entrepreneurship.

In our extremely active economy, the prevalent thought in the marketplace is if you can’t make money in this economy, you never will. By and large, you would expect this to be true.

Demand for most products and services outweigh supply with the result being that we are experiencing a boom. Revenues have never been higher and profits are soaring. We have been told, for example, that the most difficult thing about owning a new Porsche in Calgary is finding a place to park it.

Yet, some of the business owners we speak with are struggling for differing reasons. It appears that for every

company that’s ecstatic about the current market, there is one that’s troubled by it. These companies are successfully bidding on a higher number of projects and have a large backlog of order to fill. So what has changed? The current challenge is to actually fulfill the orders they fought so hard to obtain.

Most companies are experiencing issues such as shortages of skilled labour, raw materials and components. Due to the increased number of projects and work orders, their current facilities no longer meet their needs and they have capacity issues wherever they turn. Here’s the questions: do they expand, which means risking more capital, or do they try to ride out the hot market? In some cases, costs may be spiraling out of control resulting in shrinking profit margins. As well, the shortage of labour is staring to put a huge burden on the current employees who are becoming somewhat disgruntled. In order to attract new employees, the market forces you to pay higher

wages and, in turn, these wage increases also must be passed on to your existing workers. Raw materials are becoming more difficult to obtain and delivery dates for required parts and components are being pushed further away. The old saying “Be careful what you wish for, you might get it,” is often true. It appears the boom everyone wanted to experience may not be the nirvana everyone expected.

One candid owner expressed his frustration by saying, “I am in my 60s, working harder than I have ever worked and for what? I don’t need any more money and I’m not having any fun. I really wish this boom was a little smaller.

After this year, I’m done. Someone else can handle all the stress. They are welcome to the money; they’ll earn it.

The boom is a current reality and doesn’t appear to be losing steam.

Whether you want to join it, expand into it or exit, call me at 780.448.9386 to discuss your options.

For more information about PricewaterhouseCoopers, visit our website at www.pwc.com

EDMONTONIANS SEPTEMBER 2006

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Proof_ ____PROOFED BY:_______________________________________________CHANGES MADE:__________________________DATE:_________________