Business Examiner Vancouver Island - February 2016

FEBRUARY 2016

» XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX FOCUS ON PRINTING

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LAKE COUNTRY NANAIMO Tracy Samra is Ut ut dolesed the first woman, do dolor sim and Aboriginal, alithold dolutem ilis to Nanaimo’s top administrative nulput essis min position veliqui erit sim alit dolutem

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PARKSVILLE PAGE 24 The Beach Club has become a destination CAMPBELL RIVER spot for tourists and Ut ut dolesed business peopledo from near dolorand simfarnulput essis min veliqui erit sim alit dolutem

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INDEX News Update 2 Nanaimo 3 PAGE 14 Cowichan Valley 11 Mt Waddington 28 INDEX Campbell River 28 News update 2 Port Alberni 29 Cowichan Valley 9 Parksville 31 Nanaimo 11 Qualicum Beach 31 Parksville 18 West 19 TofinoCoast 36 Comox valley 20 Who is Suing Whom 42 Campbell River 22 Movers and Shakers 43 Port McNeil 24 Opinion 46 Movers & Shakers 32 Law 47 Opinion 36 Contact Contact us: us: 1-866-758-2684 1-866-758-2684

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Harbour Air named Business of the Year at BE Awards Best of the best businesses on Vancouver Island unveiled at packed Gala January 21

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A N A I MO – Ha rb ou r Air Group was named Business of the Year at the packed 16 th A nnual Vancouver Island Business Exellence Awards Gala T hursday n ig ht at the Coast Bastion Hotel.

Harbour Air Group, with offices in Victoria and Nanaimo, i s t h e l a rge s t a l l-s e a p l a n e compa ny i n t he world w it h over 50 aircraft and subsidiaries Whistler Air, Westcoast Air and SaltSpring Air. Gold Sponsors of the Awa rds were Hayes Stewart Little Chartered Professional Accountants, RBC Royal Bank, Air Canada and Coastal Community Credit Union. Category sponsors included Grieg Seafo o d s, CI BC , C T V, T hompson Cooper LLP, Helijet a nd Invest Comox Va lley. Br uce Williams of CT V Va ncouver I s l a n d s e r ve d a s M a s te r of Ceremonies for the awards.

“Some truly amazing businesses were honoured at the awards, and deservedly so,” says Mark MacDonald of Busin e s s E x a m i n e r, w h i c h c o ord inated the event. “T here are some very positive stories, and it’s astonishing to see the variety of ideas that have become successf u l busi nesses all across Vancouver Island.”

Ju d ge s for t h e event were Derrold Norgaard, Sen ior Principal of Norgaard Kratofil Professional Group of Victoria, Jolynn Green, Executive Director of Community Futures Central Island, a nd Marilyn Hutchinson, Di rector of HR, Sustainability and Grow th of Grieg Seafoods of Campbell River.

T h ei r d e ci sion s were d i fficult, tasked with choosing winners in 17 categories from the 81 finalists. Following is SEE BE AWARDS | PAGE 20

John Winter of Harbour Air Group shares about his company during his acceptance speech upon receiving the Business of the Year Award for companies over 50 employees.

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Festival Nanaimo builds on last year’s success McDonalds signs on to Festival as Title sponsor BETH HENDRY-YIM

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ANAIMO - Festival Nanaimo gears up for a banner month of activities in March thanks in part to the recent signing on of McDonalds as Title sponsor.

Margot Holmes, creator and coordinator of the Festival, said that sponsorships are part of what’s helping the event grow.

“Sponsors see a real value in supporting the event,” she said.

“The Festival sees it as a partnership that offers a non-profit organization funds to produce the event with the business benefiting from marketing and aligning their brand with the Festival.”

Wayne Krawchuk, owner and operator of 13 McDonalds from Mill Bay to Nanaimo, said that he feels privileged to be asked to

participate.

“Our internal team thought the idea was creative and unique,” Krawchuk said. “We hadn’t done anything like this with the arts community so decided to take the opportunity to give back.”

Initially created to showcase Nanaimo and increase tourists’ and visitors’ awareness of ongoing events during the spring shoulder season.

“March is traditionally a slower month in Nanaimo for tourism, yet it is the core season for arts activities and we have lots happening that could be a potential draws for visitors. We just needed to find a way to let them know.”

She added that before the Festival, Nanaimo’s thriving art SEE FESTIVAL NANAIMO | PAGE 30

NEWS UPDATE

2 BC Printer defies industry trends

NANAIMO Cargo Volume Growth and Duke Point Expansion Mr. Bernie Dumas, President & CEO of the Nanaimo Port Authority is excited with the growth in cargo volumes for 2015 and with the Duke Point Expansion Project. This is a very positive outlook for Vancouver Island given the Port’s added capacity to handle growth.

“We are in the final stages of our expansion initiative at Duke Point with last summer’s arrival of the 104 metric tonne mobile harbour crane and the near completion of a new barge berth. This $9.3 million upgrade of the new barge berth and the deep sea berth allows us to provide simultaneous operations for Short Sea Shipping links to Mainland

AGS

Survival in an increasingly digital environment is no small feat for a printing company. But Coquitlam-based International Web exPress Inc. has defied industry trends by tripling revenue since the 2008 economic downturn. Now, with the purchase of a new high-tech device, Web exPress is again poised for expansion.

With the addition of an American-made Tensor colour tower with Ultra Violet (UV) drying, the company can produce better products for less money.

“With this new colour tower, Web exPress can print higher quality and faster speeds which will help us reach our goal of being the best UV printer in Western Canada,” company CEO Byron Sheardown said.

UV drying allows the company to save customers money through printing on lightweight stocks such as those used for grocery store flyers.

The new Tensor tower prints in full colour on both sides of paper simultaneously at a high speed.

“Web exPress continues to defy the perception that printing is a ‘sunset’ industry,” the company CEO said. “Nothing could be further from the truth. Year after year we continue to grow and expand operations into other areas such as mailing and 3D printing.”

This new installation will give Web exPress, the last independent

newspaper printer in British Columbia, an industry advantage over their larger competitors. While other printers are downsizing, the tower opens the market for an estimated 50 per cent growth for the company.

Founded in 1997, Web exPress is currently the eighth largest commercial printer in BC. The company specializes in printing short-run newspapers and magazines, offset and digital printing as well as mailing.

For five years, Web exPress has been listed in Business in Vancouver’s Top 100 fastest growing companies. Byron Sheardown purchased the company in 2009.

FEBRUARY 2016

New Barge Berth at Duke Point terminals and direct connections to global markets. We will be able to service post-panamax ships handling almost any cargo type, reduce congestion and delays with improved berthing options. And this is perfect timing given the significant growth in our cargo volumes for 2015.”

Imports to Nanaimo’s port grew by 23 per cent over 2014, 12 per cent for exports, together totalling 4,850,327 metric tonnes. Containers leaped 39 per cent in terms of TEU’s – (Twenty Foot Equivalents). Ships visiting Nanaimo’s harbour remained the same at 241 (242 in 2014).

Dumas goes on to say, “Adjustments made a short time ago to provide more diverse solutions for cargo type and movement and the growth in cargo volumes for 2015 demonstrate the results that we anticipated. I believe we can look forward to a new era of Island commerce and

growth for Vancouver Island’s imports and exports.”

VANCOUVER ISLAND Nominations open for VIREB Commercial Building Awards Which company has built the best commercial, industrial and revenue producing buildings on Vancouver Island north of the Malahat in 2015?

Nominations are now being accepted for the 2016 Vancouver Island Real Estate Commercial Building Awards, set for Thursday, April 21 at the Coast Bastion Hotel in Nanaimo. The 9th annual celebration of the best in commercial and industrial construction is for buildings completed between Jan. 1, 2015 and Dec. 31, 2015 from the Malahat

to Port Hardy on Vancouver Island.

The 2015 Judges’ Choice Award Winner for Best Overall Entry was the Broadstreet Properties & Seymour Paciϐic Developments building in Campbell River.

“This event is all about celebrating what these individuals and companies have built, which make our Vancouver Island communities so vibrant,” says Mark MacDonald of Business Examiner Vancouver Island, which stages the event for VIREB. Re/MAX Commercial is the Platinum Sponsor for the event, with Coastal Community Credit Union and the Canadian Home Builders Association – Vancouver Island signing on as Gold Sponsors thus far. Category sponsors include the Business Development Bank of Canada, Canadian Western Bank, NAI Commercialand Invest Comox Valley.

There are 11 categories for these awards: Mixed Use (Commercial/ Residential), Seniors Housing, Community – Institutional, Community – Recreational, Retail, Industrial, Multi-Family, Hospitality, Commercial Renovation/Restoration, Office and Green.

Nomination forms can be downloaded from www.vireb.com, or contact Sue Lessard at slessard@ vireb.com for a copy of the submission forms.

The deadline for submissions is March 4, 2016.

For further information about the awards, contact Mark MacDonald at 1-866-758-2684 Ext. 120, or email mark@businessexaminer.ca

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NEWS UPDATE

FEBRUARY 2016

Island industrial taxes Ladysmith has highest rate; Nanaimo taxes all business classes equally Nanaimo Daily News adysmith has the highest industrial tax rate on central Vancouver Island.

He av y i ndu s t r y op erators can expect to pay more than $106.07 per $1,000 of assessed value, almost double the next highest of cities north of the M a l a h a t to a s f a r n o r t h a s Campbell River.

By comparison, Port Alberni taxes its two heavy industry properties at a rate of $53.78 per $1,000, and Campbell River has the third-highest industrial tax rate on the Island, at $32.39.

Other communities with heavy industry to tax charge between $7.22, in Parksville and $29.66 in North Cowichan.

I n t h e l a s t c e nt u r y, wh e n B C wa s d evelopi n g it s r ich resources it was understood that governments at all levels would benefit from industrial expansion.

Local communities saw industry as a ready tax source, and thriving industry didn’t mind sharing the wealth.

Times have changed, mines a n d m i l l s a re c l o s i n g , a n d Ladysmith is working to become more competitive.

Municipal leaders started to take heed in the last decade, when i ndu st r i a l g i a nts l i ke Catalyst Paper warned it would close mills without tax relief.

“C o u n c i l w a s v e r y a w a re of this,” said Erin Anderson, Ladysmith director of financial services. “We used to have a greater rate, and we’ve been working on reducing our reliance on that for many years.

It used to be much higher, but we’ve been whittling it down.”

No target has been set, but Ladysmith has a way to go to catch up with cities like Nana i mo, wh ich now ta xes a l l business classes equally, at a

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rate of $14.76 per $1,000.

T he Ha rbou r City decided decades ago to rein in business taxes, recognizing the value of business to a local economy.

T hen, i n 2006, “cou nci l of the day approved an initiative to reduce heavy industry’s rate to be on par with like industrial over a five-year, which they did,” said Mayor Bill McKay. In today’s global economy, municipalities need to be competitive to attract investment, said Levi Sampson, president of Harmac pu lp m i l l, at Nanaimo’s Duke Point industrial park.

“One thing I do know, at Harmac, going back long before I got i nvolved, I k now t hey worked closely with the mayor and council and had many talks about tax rates and where they should be, and I know council has worked hard over the years at looking at that,” Sampson said.

Taxes were cited as one reason the Catalyst mill in Campbell R iver closed. At $32.39, that city currently has an industrial tax rate roughly a third that of Port Alberni, where together, the Catalyst mill and Western Forest P ro ducts c ont r i b ute 22 per cent of the city’s total budget.

Cathy Rothwell, Port Alberni finance director, acknowledged the city gets complaints for its high taxes but said its business taxes are calculated as a multiple of its residential rate as with other cities.

That rate is much higher in Port Alberni than other Island communities because its residential property assessments a re a mong the lowest i n the mid-Island. Asked if a higher rate discourages investment, SEE INDUSTRIAL TAXES | PAGE 7

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Continued Growth Prompts MNP Expansion to New Offices MNP takes over 80 per cent of downtown Nanaimo office building and renames it MNP Place

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ANAIMO - MNP LLP, a Nanaimo accounting firm, has consolidated two of its offices into one, expanding from 13,000 to 20,000 sq. ft., The increased space has its 79 employees taking over approximately 80 per cent of the Treesea Place tower at 345 Wallace St., which has now been renamed MNP Place. “We outgrew our original location at 96 Wallace and had a number of our team working out of offices at another building,� said Peter van Dongen, regional marketing manager. “Bringing the team under one roof improves communication channels and brings the added benefit of room to grow within the two floors with additional and larger meeting rooms.�

Renovations to the building took three months to complete and included a large training area and wireless screen technology in all of the meeting rooms. “The training center was designed for hosting internal training courses, as well as client events and MNP educational seminars on topics such as succession or strategic tax planning.�

The largest accounting, tax and business consulting firm on Vancouver Island, with offices from Campbell River to Victoria, MNP is part of a national firm that has offices across the country. In addition to tax and accounting services, professionals at the Nanaimo office provide extensive

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Peter van Dongen is senior marketing manager with MNP CREDIT:LANCE SULLIVAN

business advisory services with access to MNP’s national team of experts and specialists. “Being a part of MNP means we can tap in to a unique breadth and depth of expertise,� he said. “For example, if a client needs to hire a key employee, MNP has a recruiting specialist who can lead the search process, or if a client wants to improve their software and technology, MNP has IT specialists who can help develop a plan.�

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FEBRUARY 2016

“The training center was designed for hosting internal training courses, as well as client events and MNP educational seminars on topics such as succession or strategic tax planning.”

PETER VAN DONGEN SENIOR MARKETING MANAGER

The move to its new offices provided an additional 7,000 sq. ft.

CREDIT:PETER VAN DONGEN

Van Dongen believes the company’s broad base of knowledge and access to professionals specializing in various industries and areas of business has fueled MNP’s growth.

“MNP is very entrepreneurial in its business model, supporting the development of niche and specialty expertise.”

He added that for any business, working with a professional who has in-depth understanding of their industry or the specific challenge it is facing is critical

to ongoing development.

“You can’t be an expert in all fields, so MNP provides its clients with ready access to whatever expertise they need. If we don’t have it right here, it’s usually only a phone call away.”

MNP’s Nanaimo location serves as the hub for its Vancouver Island region and its roots go deep in the city. In 2004 MNP merged with Bestwick & Partners, a company dating back to 1958. MNP has 14 local partners and recently

hired four new team member employees for its new location.

With its strong connection to the city it regularly supports community organizations and events like the Greater Nanaimo Chamber of Commerce, Nanaimo Clippers, Young Professionals of Nanaimo, Kidsport Nanaimo and the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup.

MNP is at 345 Wallace St in Nanaimo www.mnp.ca/en/offices/ nanaimo

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KMA ACCOUNTANTS: A FULL SERVICE ACCOUNTING FIRM “One of the expressions Nanaimo accountant seeks to exceed the expectations of his growing client base

I always say to my clients is that I work for you, not the CRA.” DOUGLAS PARKHURST

BY DAVID HOLMES

OWNER, KMA ACCOUNTANTS

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A N A I M O – T h e a ccounting firm of KMA Chartered Professional Accountants Ltd. (KMA) prides itself on being a medium sized office providing a range of services and products more typically found in a major accounting practice. “Our goal is to be a medium sized accounting firm delivering services comparable with those delivered by the major firms – all with a high level of personal service,” explained company owner Douglas Parkhurst, FCPA, FCA, CPA (Illinois)..

“We live the concept of trying to not merely meet, but to exceed the expectations of the client every time. We should always try to do a little bit better every year, never getting complacent or developing that ‘good enough’ attitude.”

Located at Unit C – 5107 Somerset Drive in North Nanaimo KMA (named after Parkhurst’s children Keltie, McKenzie and A ndrew) opened its doors in 2010 and currently has a staff of 10, including five accountants, three staff members devoted to the practice’s bookkeeping services as well as its technical staff. Providing accountancy and bookkeeping services for small to medium sized businesses is the company’s main focus.

“We do bot h persona l a nd business accountancy. Currently about three quarters of what we do is related to corporate tax issues and filing. But we also work on a variety of individual income taxes matters,” Parkhurst said.

“We strive to be more than just a compliance service, which is doing the minimum work required to merely comply with the law. There are firms out there who will file their client’s taxes

but really do nothing to help them minimize the taxes they pay. One of the expressions I always say to my clients is that I work for you, not the CRA (Canada Revenue Agency). There are things we can do to help you minimize taxes.

That’s what our job is and what you’re paying for.”

One of the many things that sets KMA’s business model apart from its competitors is that it is one of the few accounting practices on Vancouver Island able to address its client’s American-based tax issues.

“One of our unique services is that we are authorized to do US taxes. Ex-pats who are now living in Canada are among the clients we work with. The US is one of the few countries in the world that taxes you based on your citizenship. US persons, no matter where they live in the world are required to file US income tax.

There are processes available to people who have not filed in years that are designed to help them get caught up,” he explained.

“The other clients we might see are those with rental real estate in the US, they also have to file.

If a Snowbird has property down there and they rent it out part of the year then they have to file a US return. Persons who had worked in the United States in the past and are now receiving a pension have to file. By some estimates there are at least one million people in Canada who have a US filing obligation. There aren’t too many other accountants on Vancouver Island who can provide this service. It’s not

An accountant for more than 25 years, Douglas Parkhurst is one of the few Island accountants qualified to do US tax returns

KMA is located at Unit C – 5107 Somerset Drive, just off of Metral Drive in North Nanaimo the kind of service you can provide on a casual basis, you have to really commit to it because of the complexity.”

For Parkhurst the strength of a good accounting firm rests with developing relationships that last beyond filing the annual income tax return. To him an accountant should take a long term, holistic

view of their client’s fiscal needs.

“A good accountant shouldn’t be just thinking about today but also longer term,” he said.

“Take exit strategy planning.

What does exit strategy mean?

It’s in reality a lot of things and it typically takes several professional advisors, lawyers, financial advisors and accountants to

work together to build a strategy so that when you go to retire you can do it and maximize the value of your company if you’re reselling it.”

KMA has seen its business grow each year, thanks to the professionalism of its staff and to the varied range of services it can provide. “We are a full service shop that’s here to help you not merely meet your tax filing needs but to also provide you with ways to help you minimize your tax bill, to provide advice on things such as commodity taxes as well as providing basic business advice such as with record keeping and business structures,” he said.

“We always want to provide value for the dollar. We are never going to say we’re the cheapest because we really believe that you get what you pay for. What we try to do for the client is to get the work done, minimize the tax bill and make suggestions for future corporate structure changes if there are any.”

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FEBRUARY 2016

Busy year for film industry on the Island Nanaimo Daily News ast year was a busy one for the film industry on Vancouver Island.

Joan Miller, film commissioner with Infilm, the North Island Film Commission, says her office received 70 serious inquiries for Island locations for movies, commercials and shorts in 2015.

A portion of those paid off, and over the course of the year many millions of dollars was injected into the Island economy. It’s still too early to say how much was spent. That won’t be known until February. But War for the Planet of the Apes, a made-fortelevision movie and the second season of Alone, the History Channel’s

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outdoor survival reality show are among the shoots that brought jobs and money to the Island.

When a filmmaker is seriously interested in shooting on the central or North Island, they will send Miller a copy of the script, and she will reply with a “package” containing suggested locations arranged in story board fashion.

Planet of the Apes movie was one of the biggest shoots of the year.

In Ucluelet local carpenters and other tradesmen were hired to build a major set over a six-week period and “when they arrived in October to do the filming, they came with 300 crew,” filming around the West Coast, including Long Beach.

It’s the second in the series to be shot on the Island, after Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.

Other projects include four BBC shoots, including “this crazy fishing series with bungee jumping off the Nanaimo bridge and catching a fish,” and others, plus four TV commercials, which range in cost between $75,000 and $150,000 per day.

Low taxes and a shrinking Loonie made 2015 one of the most active for the Canadian movie industry, with a shortage of trained crews now the biggest hindrance to more shoots, Miller said. Film offices get provincial government funding, and when the beans are counted, the province releases the data, Miller said.

INDUSTRIAL TAXES CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3

Rothwell said the question is better answered by the city’s economic development office.

The city’s light industrial tax rate is the highest on the cent ra l I sl a nd, at $ 4 8.56, but its genera l busi ness class pays $15.76, which is much closer to other Island municipalities (see chart).

S h e s a i d t h e c i t y d e r iv e s $3.5 million from its business cl a ss, but i ndu st r i a l taxpayers contribute “just

CENTRAL ISLAND INDUSTRY/BUSINESS TAX RATES The rate each municipality charges for major industry, light industry and business, per $1,000 in assessed value: CITY LADYSMITH

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under $5 million” to the city bud get. I n Na n a i mo, city council decided long ago to lower busi ness ta xes w ith a n eye to att ract i ng more development. Today, that strategy appears to be paying off. WFP recently closed its downtown sawmill, “and now they’ve merged thei r employees at D u ke Poi nt, and they’re going to spend $80 m i l l ion on that m i l l,” McKay said.

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i m Cro s b y, o w n e r o f SunLovers Travel, is a pioneer in her field, one of the first travel agents in Canada to focus solely on providing fully customized destination weddings. It’s allowed her to develop extensive connections and expertise in the industry and special insight into what a bride really wants and needs for her special day.

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Crosby said her goal has always been to provide an experience that goes above and beyond expectations, not just by organizing the travel but a lso i n pla n n i ng t he whole wedding.

“I work with a couple for at least a year prior to the actual wedding day and offer advice and suggestions to make the wedding reflect their own vision and personalities.”

Crosby’s attention to detail a nd passion for her job has earned her some of the most prestigious awards in her field, including, what she calls, the Oscar of travel, the 2013 Travel Weekly’s Gold Magellan Award for Travel Agent Innovation in Destination Weddings. She has also won numerous awards from Karisma Hotels and Resorts and their Gourmet Inclusive Vacation Consultant program including: Top Home

Wedding at El Dorado Maroma Resort

Kim Crosby B a se d A gent-Ca n a d a , Top Wedding Producer, Top Sales Producer, and the coveted Hall

of Fame Award in 2013.

“It’s a real validation of the many years of dedication and hard work,” she said, adding that over the past decade the industry has seen dramatic grow th, and being awarded top in her field is a real honour.

She stressed that because the industry has grown it is important for a couple to find the right destination wedding specialist, one who has firsthand travel experience and has developed a partnership with the destinations and hotels to ensure they fit the couples needs and standards. Most importantly, the specialist should have a relationship with the

Travel Agent turned wedding specialist wins the Oscar of travel awards For more than 20 years Kim Crosby has been creating memorable travel experiences for her clients.

In 2001 however, when an existing vacation client asked for help planning a wedding in Mexico, Crosby’s business evolved into one of the first in Canada to focus on destination weddings.

Crosby planned and organized the wedding from start to finish in addition to booking the group flights and accommodation. It was her first, but it wouldn’t be her last, as not long after the group returned, a member of the bride’s party asked SunLovers to plan her destination wedding.

Since then Crosby has developed extensive knowledge and experience to help hundreds of brides turn their wedding into more than a ceremony and union between two people, but a sunloving celebration shared with family and friends.

onsite wedding team to access special attention and perks.

“They should also be able to arrange and coordinate groups with departures from all over t he c ou nt r y a s fa m i ly a nd friends don’t always live in the same community.”

Crosby believes that planning the most important day of a couples’ lives shouldn’t be stressful.

“A couple should be able to enjoy their engagement. A true specialist doesn’t just focus on booking the travel but in helping with the different decisions that need to be made and in creating the whole wedding experience.”

9

FEBRUARY 2016

Central Island Real Estate Market Is Sizzling!

N

ANAIMO – Yearend statistics re l e a s e d b y t h e Va ncouver Isla nd Rea l E s t ate B o a r d ( V I R E B) confirms something that every REALTOR® in the reg ion a l ready k nows; that the local real estate sales market is hot and in all likelihood is going to get hotter. Last year nearly 4,900 homes were sold across t he V I R E B coverage area – that’s an increase of more than 13 per cent over 2014.

B ut at t he sa me t i me the actu a l sa les prices of those homes rose only four percent. T he stats a l so show t he avera ge sales price for a home sold in Nanaimo last year was pegged at about $391,000.

I n contrast the benchma rk va lue of homes sold in Victoria in 2015 was more than $613,000 while in Vancouver it was an insane $1.4 million!

When you see escalating numbers like those it’s easy to see that real estate values in the Central Vancouver Island area are

among the best bargains to be had anywhere.

“Yes the local real estate market is hot right now, but what’s most i nteresting is how much the temperature can change depending on the product ty pe and on the neighborhood. Certain areas of Nanaimo are seeing record breaking appreciation due to Asian investment demand,” explained Nanaimo REALTOR® John Cooper, who is a a principle with one of the most product ive re a l estate teams on Vancouver Island - Cooper McLintock & Associates.

“In contrast, other areas have actually experienced a flattening of activity in some cases prices have actually come down. The key is to undertake a det a i le d e x a m i n at ion of each market segment to accurately estimate value f luctuations and future asset liquidity. This is the level of strategic analysis our firm really emphasizes and excels at.”

Quality homes at

bargain prices are pract i c a l l y g u a r a n t e e d to generate action in what has turned into a vibrant Seller’s Market. Mortgage interest rates remain at historic low levels while home prices have stayed fairly consistent. At the same time the local housing inventory is smaller than it’s been in more than a decade. Combine all of these factors and you’ll have more dollar sav v y buyers seeking a dwindling pool of properties. What will be the end result of this? A real estate market that’s going to absolutely sizzle in 2016!

Global Connections | Local Experience | Trusted Results Coffee Shop

Busy Restaurant

Hotel & Pub

Busy coffee shop in Departure Bay Ferry Terminal.

Nanaimo l $78,000

Profitable seasonal Mexican Restaurant on the waterfront.

Established 2002.

Nanaimo l $395,000

7 room hotel and neighbourhood pub.

Flooring Retail / Distributor

Floral Shop

Retail Sales

Popular discount flooring retailer, founded 2003.

Successful flower shop, established clientele.

Unique household goods retailer.

Nanaimo | $850,000

Parksville | $850,000

Manufacturing Company

Cabinet Shop

Moving & Storage

Well-established, profitable business on 1.3 acres.

Thriving woodworking operation inclusive of land and buildings. Specializing in cabinetry and countertops.

Port McNeill | $395,000

31 unit storage facility and moving company on 1.96 acres.

Nanaimo l $295,000

Duncan | $5,500,000 l L&B

Land, building & business.

Port Alberni l $439,000

Parksville l $2,495,000 l L&B

10

NANAIMO

FEBRUARY 2016

Samra pioneering positive path as Nanaimo City Manager

N

ANAIMO – So far, so good.

As interim City Manager, Tracy Samra is getting glowing reviews within and without the City of Nanaimo. It hasn’t been easy since taking the assignment in November, but Samra – the first woman, and Aboriginal, to hold Nanaimo’s top administrative position - has been more than up to the task.

Working closely with Council and staff, Samra has overseen streamlining of upper management positions within the city, which many believed was long overdue. That, along with other adjustments, already has the city in a position to consider a net zero per cent tax

increase for the next fiscal year, if council decides to head in that direction.

“My experience working with the Senior Management group and staff has been very exceptional,” says Samra. “From day one, staff has welcomed and supported me as the City Manager. Without their support I could not have been as successful as I have been in making changes and dealing with some very difficult and contentious files.”

Samra’s hiring raised a few eyebrows in November, but the interim tag and council’s position made it a necessary and prudent move. With the unforeseen departure of former

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city manager Ted Swabey, the city was floating the idea of having Mayor Bill McKay serve as interim administrator, until a full-fledged search for a permanent replacement could be conducted.

Clearly this was unacceptable, having an elected official pull double-duty as mayor and head of city staff operations. Not to mention the fact that McKay wasn’t qualified to do the job. He had managed HarbourLynx, the Nanaimo-Vancouver foot passenger ferry service that ceased operations, and SignAge, a local sign company.

Samra was eminently qualified, previously serving as Manager of Legislative Services for the city. Her lengthy resume notes she has 19 years’ experience as a senior administrator, consultant and lawyer, including four years as Associate Regional Director General, Regional Operations for Aboriginal Affairs & Northern Development Canada.

As soon as she started, Samra met with each member of Council one on one to hear their vision and priorities firsthand.

“Working with Council has been the most challenging part of my job, but not for the reasons the public may suspect,” she says. “I have been slowly gaining their support and I regularly receive positive feedback from almost all of them.”

Contrary to public opinion, Council is not fixed at a 5:4 vote split. Most of the votes during Samra’s tenure have been unanimous, and there have been numerous 7:2 and 6:3 votes.

Samra has been proactive in her approach to staff, attending each director’s management team meetings in their offices, noting “I don’t believe you can run a city the size of Nanaimo sitting in your office.”

There is a lack of women on the senior management team and within middle management at the city, but Samra did say the Directors, Fire Chief and Superintendent have been respectful and professional in their dealings with her.

“As with any new City Manager, it will take time to build their trust and respect in my capabilities as a leader,” she says.

“I think my leadership style is a radical departure for the city,” she adds. “For example, I have invited the directors to participate more actively in the strategic direction of the City’s operations. Our group of 10 meets once a week to go over council agenda planning and follow up, share departmental updates and workshop priority files.”

Samra has also established a managers’ round-table for middle managers – there are close to 60 in total - to have a voice and an opportunity to develop their leadership skills.

“They will be having their first meeting in February to set their terms of reference,” she says, adding an all-staff meeting will be held before the end of January. She plans on having at least one annually to promote awareness regarding council’s priorities and giving staff an opportunity to ask questions and provide input.

Samra’s background is an asset, as is her ability to work together with other groups.

The City has traditionally had a chilly, arms-length relationship with the Nanaimo Port Authority (NPA), and Samra has already made inroads there towards building new bridges between the two organizations.

“In my opinion, all of the parties need to be working together to be successful - not at cross-purposes,” Samra says. “Council and the NPA Board came out of our first meeting with a renewed sense of partnership and an agreement to meet more frequently going forward. It was a very positive meeting.”

Bernie Dumas, President and CEO of the NPA, concurs.

“The Port is very pleased with Tracy Samra’s current role as interim city manager,” notes Dumas.

“The Port and City are jointly

working together to develop an RFP process to secure a long term passenger only ferry service for Nanaimo and Tracy is offering a stable and professional environment for us to work within.”

That should bode well for Nanaimo’s efforts to finally attract a viable foot passenger ferry service from downtown Nanaimo to downtown Vancouver. Island Ferries Ltd. has been proposing such a service.

The ownership of the Victoria Clipper group’s recent announcement of a Victoria-Vancouver route – after an Australian group had done the same – has heightened expectations of a Nanaimo-based route in advance of the RFP. The city is currently undergoing a Core Review of its services. Once the findings are disclosed, navigating a course to implement its recommendations – or not – will be one of Samra’s responsibilities.

“I am optimistic about the review of the City’s departments, their operations and the program and services we offer,” she says. “ It represents an opportunity for staff to make recommendations to improve their departmental operations. I am keen to see recommendations on policies and procedures to centralize core operations.”

As one would expect, CUPE Local 401, which represents city workers, is being ever watchful on the Core Review file.

Blaine Gurrie, President of CUPE Local 401, says “Tracy has the task of trying to deal with the Core Review in a way that allows us all to see if we can find some efficiencies, while at the same time, respecting contracts, plus a multitude of other issues, to say the least. That’s not an easy balancing act. The desires of management, council and the union are difficult to reconcile sometimes.”

It is a major accomplishment, and something many viewed as much needed.

“We have seen a marked improvement in the trust factor,” says Gurrie. “We see her hiring as positive, and it has provided a renewed desire to work together. That’s a truly positive development and one we hope continues.”

Among her many skills, Gina brings expertise in tax return preparation and planning for high net worth individuals, privately held corporate groups, and their associated trusts.

Gina graduated from Memorial University of Newfoundland Business program in 1993 with a B.Com & earned her CGA designation in 1998.

Gina Taylor

Cross & Company Welcomes Gina.

COWICHAN VALLEY

FEBRUARY 2016

11

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE WEEK This year, we will recognize 87 new members who have joined since January 2015

COWICHAN VALLEY SONJA NAGEL

O

ur Chamber, like many across the Island, celebrates Chamber Week, February 15 – 19. It’s an opportunity for Chambers of Commerce to profile their work on behalf of business communities across the province.

Last year, our Chamber celebrated 108 years, by showcasing long-time supporters of the Duncan Cowichan Chamber of Commerce. We recognized 57 Cowichan businesses that have been members for more than 20 years, a testament to the value of Chamber membership.

This year, we will recognize 87 n e w m e m b e r s w h o h av e joined since January 2015. We have been very successful in re t a i n i n g a n d g row i n g o u r

membership. We attribute this to positioning the Chamber as the voice for business in the Cowichan, deep engagement with our business community, a steady menu of events, and by always ensuring we deliver value to members.

Fe b r u a r y e ve n t s i n c lu d e s guest speaker Mike Corrigan, President and CEO, BC Ferries at our Monthly Luncheon on February 18. There are 2 Lunch n’ L ea r n s – a n i n for m at ion session on the prospective new Cow icha n District Hospita l and Social Media Trends 2016 with Social Media is Simple.

We w rap up the month w ith a slight tweak to our popular Wednesday Wine Down event, by holding a special Leap Year Wine Down on Monday February 29. Only in Cowichan!

■■■ The Islands Agriculture Show returns to the Cowichan Valley this year, February 12 – 13, at Cowichan Exhibition Park. The Show is the only agricultural trade show and conference on Vancouver Isl and, Coast and Gulf I slands. Bringing together farmers, rural landowners, farm organizations equipment

dealers, service providers and the public, the Islands Agriculture Show provides a venue for participants to learn, connect and engage. There are ten educational workshops covering marketing and distribution, human resource management, a n i ma l wel fa re, susta i nable grazi ng practices a nd more.

There is even a session on “How Farmers can Tap into the Island Craft Brewing Industry.”

■■■ The rumours are indeed true Sunfest Country Music Festival is moving to Lake Cowichan.

The Cowichan Valley Regional District gave Sunfest the green light to move to the new location called Laketown Ranch.

The new Laketown Ranch will have increased parking, more space for camping, improved reser ved se at i n g, a n at u ra l a mph itheatre a nd beauti f u l natural surroundings. Sunfest

will be unveiling the plans for infrastructure specially crafted for the event, state of the art staging and production, a festival village and more. This year’s headliners include Carrie Underwood, Dierks Bentley and others.

■■■ Welcome new Chamber members: Suite in the Garden, Pemberton Holmes – Realtor Sandra Carswell, Dr. Neil Heard, Island Java Bag, Prices Alarms, Bigtime Special Networks, Shibui Gallery, Beach 2 Peak Health & Fitness, European Cleaning Company, S. McInnes & Associates, and Edward Jones Investments.

Sonja Nagel is Executive Director of the Duncan Cowichan Chamber of Commerce. She can be reached at manager@ duncancc.bc.ca or 250-748-1111

BBB CUSTOMER REVIEWS

...the power of engagement!

This past year BBB launched a new consumer feedback service known as BBB Customer Reviews. BBB Customer Reviews allow consumers to post positive, negative or neutral reviews about marketplace experiences with businesses, brands and charities.

Rosalind Scott, BBBVI President & CEO

Review sites are popular because they offer a forum for people to leave comments about their experience with a business. The power of customer reviews coupled with BBB's detailed business information gives the public even more reason to use BBB as a one-stop, free resource!

Just like our complaints, reviews are vetted by BBB team members and sent to the business before they are published online. Consumers, upon request of BBB and businesses, must be able to provide substantiation of the marketplace interactions.

It is also important to note that a customer cannot leave a review if they have already filed a formal BBB complaint about their experience and vice versa.

BBB Customer Reviews do not affect a company’s BBB letter grade.

a special thanks to our

Community Partners

to

For more than 100 years, BBB has been a trusted resource in our marketplace.

The additional information and current feedback in customer reviews is something consumers have told us is important to them when they chose to work with trustworthy businesses. Businesses like the idea too! It allows them to highlight some of the positive customer experiences (not just complaint information) on BBB’s website.

Ultimately, BBB customer reviews help both consumers and businesses make wise purchasing decisions. However, it is important to note that BBB Customer Reviews are the subjective opinion of the individual who posted the review and not those of Better Business Bureau. BBB cannot guarantee the accuracy of any customer review and is not responsible for the content of any customer review.

Why BBB Customer Reviews are Different: • True to form - BBB processes customer reviews in an ethical, fair, unbiased manner and we do it consistently!

• BBB staff review each and every customer review before they are posted online.

• Our review process provides an opportunity to challenge the identity of the reviewer before the review is posted — not allowing anyone to post fake or ill-intended reviews.

• BBB does not post any anonymous reviews.

• BBB also sends the submission to the business - allowing the business to provide additional feedback to help address the reviewers issues.

• BBB protects the identity of the submissions by not posting personally identifiable information.

• BBB validates the email address of all reviewers.

• In some instances BBB works with both consumers and businesses to help work through the issues being described.

• BBB also uses the data to help investigate businesses if we notice a pattern of complaints or unethical behaviour.

For more information about BBB Customer Reviews visit our website at: bbb.org/vancouver-island/reviews.

*Trade-mark of the Council of Better Business Bureaus used under license.

Nominate a Business for a Torch Award Do you know of a business that stands out from the crowd?

Nominate them for a BBB Torch Award.

Visit bbb.org/ vancouver-island for details. *Note: We also accept business-to-business nominations.

WELCOME OUR NEWEST ACCREDITED BUSINESSES For more information on becoming a BBB Accredited Business call: 250.386.6348 extension 115.

Become an Accredited Business

Absolutely Electrical (Victoria) Action Door Service (Victoria) Arrowsmith Automotive & Towing Limited (Qualicum Beach) Barry's Automotive & Towing (Chemainus) Budget Brake & Muffler (Nanaimo) Cresta Dental Centre (Victoria) Everyday Motor Centre (Victoria)

Golden Appeal Landscaping Ltd.

(Victoria) McKay's Home Theatre Centre (Nanaimo) Perfections Autobody Ltd. (Victoria) Safe & Sound Window Film & Renovations (Comox) Westfield Ltd. (Victoria) Wrap-It Systems (Courtenay)

13

FEBRUARY 2016

PRINTING Printing Industry Has Embraced the New Technologies Focus on Printing: The modern printing industry is alive and well right across BC

BY DAVID HOLMES

“Pretty much everything

T

that you touch has

here is virtually nothing in our modern world that isn’t touched, enhanced or m ad e more u nd ers t a ndable through the involvement of the printing industry. From the color and logos on your take out espresso cup, to the shrinkwrapped transit bus you went to work on th is morn i ng, to the logos on the computer you worked on all day – somewhere down the line a designer and a printer played pivotal roles in making your day better informed and more enjoyable.

“Of course printing is far more than merely words on paper.

Printers today are into car wrappings and building wrapping, signage and packaging. These are all huge parts of the industry. When you think about it pretty much everything that you touch has involved the printing industry,” explained Marilynn Knoch, the outgoing Executive Director of the British Columbia Printing and Imaging Association (BCPIA).

“It’s clearly a changed industry but I honestly believe the future is bright for it. It’s growing strong.”

One sign that the provincial printing industry is gearing up for the future are the recent enhancements made to the state of the art printing program offered at the British Columbia Institute

involved the printing industry.”

MARILYNN KNOCH BCPIA

of Technology (BCIT). “BCIT was instrumental in starting its printing program and many of us from the BCPIA are part of that program’s advisory committee,” Knoch explained.

“We’re very excited about the program as it has kept pace with the industry, the instructors are taught by people in the industry so they’re never out of date. I believe this program’s graduates have about a 100 percent employment rate and they’re pretty well paying jobs as well so that’s all a plus,” she said.

“One problem with the industry is the low key manner with which it has trumpeted its own successes. I think we need to be a SEE PRINTING | PAGE 15

The updated printing program at BCIT is helping to train tomorrow’s leaders in the printing industry

Quick to embrace technology, modern digital printing systems have helped to revolutionize the industry

When you’re looking for the WOW FACTOR! Using eye-catching full-colour images, KKP can design and print an large and diverse range signage to maximize your exposure.

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also available request a quote online.

PRINTING

FEBRUARY 2016

PRINTING CONTINUED FROM PAGE 13

bit better about getting the word out about the opportunities that are available in this industry.”

To help remedy that oversight, and to throw a well deserved spotlight on some of the province’s premier printing and imaging companies here is a brief profile of some of the operations found throughout BC. The “I” in BCPIA stands for Imaging, and for more than 40 years Coastal Imaging Arts in Comox on Vancouver Island has been preparing materials for printers across the Island and beyond. The firm offers a full range of pre-press services for printing companies, book publishers, artists and many others.

Using both traditional and state of the art color management systems, Coastal Imaging’s creative team have the technical skills and perfectionist’s passion to handle all levels of pre-press services including color optimization, proofing and image scanning.

The company takes its motto: “The Art of Imaging Excellence” seriously. To learn more check out its website at: www.coastimagingarts.com/ With branches in Trail and in Nelson Hall Printing has earned a solid reputation as one of the premier printers in the Kootenays. With a team of more than a dozen printing professionals the company is equipped to handle

all types of commercial printing assignments from business cards and labels to large format scanning, laser engraving, binding, mail services and more.

Serving business and private clients across the region Hall Printing can complete all routine printing tasks such as designing and producing letterhead, envelopes, wedding invitations, business forms, magazine printing and a full range of printed promotional products. To learn more visit the company website at: www.hallprinting.ca/ Serving Northern British Columbia and beyond, Prince George based SpeeDee Office Experts is a family owned full service printer that has been serving the region since 1958. An expanding enterprise, the SpeeDee family of businesses began its growth in 1964 when it opened a second location in Terrace. It grew again when it purchased a stationary store in Smithers in 1991 and an office supply store in Fort Saint John in 2013.

Today SpeeDee offers a wide range of printing services including catalogs, flyers, promotional products and even books. The firm, through its various holdings can also sell everything from office and art supplies to office machines and furniture. To learn more check out the company website at: www.speedee.ca/ In the provincial capital Hillside Printing has been serving the Victoria and southern Vancouver

ISLAND BLUE: SERVING THE CITY FOR MORE THAN A CENTURY Victoria-based company has been in the printing business since 1912

V

ICTORIA – A fixture in the Capital Region’s printing industry for more than a century, Victoria-based Island Blue has adapted, evolved and prospered as technologies and consumer demand have changed it beyond anything its original founders could have imagined.

“We’ve been around since 1912.

The company was started by a map cartographer who had to reproduce his blueprints, hence the name. The company got going and it’s evolved well beyond that since then,” explained current company Vice President Rob Shemilt.

“Today we class ourselves as a digital printer, your one stop for digital printing. We do everything from what we call small format right up to large format – indoor and outdoor. The difference between us and what could be called a commercial offset printer is where they are ink on paper we are strictly toner or inkjet printing on paper which allows us to have very fast turn-around times on projects.”

Over the years the company has moved from its original location, having moved several times around the downtown Victoria core. The company currently has two locations, the main office at 905 Fort Street, which is attached to a companion fine art store and a location at 2411 Beacon Avenue in Sidney.

In addition to the digital printing services and the framing and fine art sale at its art store, Island Blue also prints a full range of signs, banners and even soft bound books through it Printorium Bookworks division. A n increasingly important part of its business model is the firm’s Net2Print online order site. “This is where you can either upload print ready files or create your own project using ready-made templates. It’s a template service, you go in and select your background, add your text, add photos and you can create everything from business cards to books,” Shemilt said.

“We’re a family run business so we always make sure you get looked after with a great product.

The key now is to embrace the technology that will streamline the process and keep costs down.”

To learn more visit the company’s website at: www.islandblue.com/

15

A new but very popular product offered by modern printers is the sign wrapping of vehicles and even buildings Island market for more than 30 years. Recently investing more than $1 million into new production equipment, the company’s staff has a collective printing experience of more than 250 years!

A full service printer capable of handling everything from wide format printing to embossing and hot foil stamping, Hillside Printing’s staff can take care of all of their customer’s pre-press and graphic design requirements.

Popular product lines regularly produced include business cards and company letterheads, brochures, marketing flyers, post cards and rack cards. If you’d like to learn more you can explore the firm’s website at: www.hillsideprinting.com/ As is the case of Hillside Printing, remaining a leader in the printing industry requires companies to keep up with the latest SEE PRINTING | PAGE 16

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16

PRINTING

PRINTING CONTINUED FROM PAGE 15

trends and technologies – something the sector is well known for doing.

“T he printing industry was one of the early adopters of the new technologies, and while technology has certainly changed the industry in the last few decades it has given it tremendous new reach.

The printing industry is able to do so much

FEBRUARY 2016

more now. The kind of technology that’s available and the kind of output you can get is dramatically different from what it was 20 years ago for example,” Knoch explained.

“There are a lot of things you can do now that you couldn’t before, new textures, new flavours and smells, it’s really pretty marvelous some of the things you can do with printing today.”

Continuing with the tour of printers

around the province, returning to Vancouver Island, Print Three in Nanaimo has been a leader in the local industry for decades. A full service printer and copy centre, Print Three’s staff are trained to provide services ranging from scanning and digital printing to sign making, publishing and even book printing.

The company also provides its customers, primarily small to medium sized businesses, with various integrated marketing services such as direct mail design and distribution, the development of promotional products and different online marketing services. To learn more visit the company’s website at: www.print3nanaimo.com/ The appropriately named Kelowna Insta Print has been serving the Kelowna region for many years offering a one stop shop for a full range of design and print solutions.

A partial list of the company’s product line include professional graphic design services, full and spot color traditional printing, digital printing and a variety of bindery options. Geared to serve the needs of small to medium business Kelowna Insta Print also provides full web design services, from concept right through to online publishing.

The firm’s team (with more than 30 years of combined experience) takes pride in providing creative solutions for any design or print assignment. To lean more the company’s website can be viewed here: www.kiprint.com/ Servicing North British Columbia, Community Printers and Stationers opened its doors in 1981 in Dawson Creek before opening a second outlet in Fort St. John in 2002. Providing printing services for both business and personal clients the firm operates the only full color Heidelberg Sheet-fed press in the entire Peace River Country. For short runs the company operates a range of digital color printing options, handling projects up to 60” wide.

Quick to embrace new technologies the company also has a large laminating system that can handle everything from large photos to maps and also completes projects such as car wraps and floor graphics. To see how this company can help your business pay a visit to its website at this link:

Thanks to precision color management techniques contemporary printing products are truer to life than ever before www.communityprinters.com/ Returning to Vancouver Island, Flynn Printing has been serving the Victoria market since 1954. A true full service printer the company delivers a complete range of color process printing services.

This capital city printer can handle any task from simple black and white photocopying to the design and printing of full color catalogs.

Routine printing jobs such as corporate letterheads, envelopes, business forms, post cards and other marketing pieces are also handled on an almost daily basis. To learn more visit the company’s website at: www.flynnprinting.com/ “Sure companies can have a color laser printer in the office and figure it’s just as easy to run off their jobs in-house, but when you start to add up the cost of the consumables for those things you’ll soon realize that it often makes more sense to take the job to the printer down the street as they can offer very competitive prices, especially at the per unit cost,” Knoch said.

“Printing is alive and well in BC. It’s a growing and vibrant industry and one that’s well suited to the needs of the 21st Century. It’s not a sunset industry by any stretch of the imagination. The technology is getting more fantastic all of the time.”

ELEVATE YOUR REAL ESTATE EXPERIENCE We are a team of educated, strategic professionals dedicated to raising the bar in our industry. Every team member is motivated to add value to our clients, beyond what is typically expected from a real estate transaction.

Let us show you what real estate can be, and what we believe it always should be.

John Cooper & Sean McLintock Personal Real Estate Corporation

1 - 800 - 372 - 0 3 0 4

|

CO O P E R M C L I N TO C K . CO M

COMOX VALLEY

FEBRUARY 2016

17

NELSON ROOFING & SHEET METAL WINS BUSINESS OF THE YEAR

COMOX VALLEY DIANNE HAWKINS

T

he Comox Valley Chamber of Commerce kicked off 2016 with a Forecasting Luncheon titled Eyes on the Future with keynote speaker Susan Mowbray, MNP’s senior economist. A sell-out crowd at Crown Isle Resort heard Mowbray speak to how the State of the Island Economic Report, released by the Vancouver Island Economic Alliance (VIEA) in October 2015, would affect the regional economy for 2016. Mowbray also touched on the forces and trends that are influencing our local community. Sponsored by MNP LLP and Comox Valley Economic Development.

On January 30 at the Florence Filberg Centre i n dow ntow n Courtenay the Chamber celebrated the best and brightest at the galactic Annual Community

Harry Gunter of Gunter Brothers Meats receiving the Food & Farm award from Ronald St. Pierre of Locals Restaurant Warcup Purdy of Nelson Roofing & Sheet Metal and Alana Adamschek of MNP LLP Business of the year Award sponsors Awards Gala. Fourteen awards were presented throughout the evening.

Business of the Year award was received by Nelson Roofing & Sheet Metal. Nelson Roofing is an integral part of the Comox Valley community, with more than 100 employees. Over the years the company grew from a single Comox Valley location to now having five locations across the Island, Powell River and the

lower mainland. Congratulations to Nelson Roofing & Sheet Metal for Business of the Year recognition. For a comprehensive list of award recipients, nominees, and sponsors visit the Chamber website.

■■■ The Chamber Tradeshow is coming to downtown Courtenay on Tuesday, February 23 from 1 to 6 p.m. in at the Native Sons Hall. Visit the Tradeshow

to check out local Comox Valley vendors showcasing products and services available for you, your business and your home. If you’re a business, enter to win a Marketing Prize Package with valuable services including a 97.3 the Eagle Ad Campaign and for everyone else, visit the tradeshow to enter to win exciting door prizes including an iPad mini!

Admission is free at the annual Chamber of Commerce Business Tradeshow. Support Local businesses and come see what the

Valley has to offer! Sponsored by 97.3 the Eagle and the Comox Valley Record.

■■■ A warm welcome to new members for January: Atlas Manufacturing Ltd., Happy Projects Inc and Rattan Plus Home & Patio.

Dianne Hawkins is president and CEO of the Comox Valley Chamber of Commerce. Reach her at dhawkins@ comoxvalleychamber.com or 250-334-3234.

WENSLEY ARCHITECTURE SELECTED AS ARCHITECT FOR LORNE HOTEL

BUILDING LINKS CLARICE COTY

W

e have compiled the y e a r-t o - d a t e s t at i s t ic s for 2015 for Courtenay, Comox, Cumberland, the Comox Valley Regional District and Campbell River.

T his summary compares the permits and construction values of 2015 to 2014. Total construction values total $305 million mostly due to the construction of the new hospitals in both Courtenay and Campbell River.

Construction of single family homes remain stable in Comox which saw 20 permits issued t h is yea r compa red to 19 i n 2014. In Courtenay 74 permits were i ssued t h i s ye a r compared to 78 last year. Single family home construction is

down considerably in Campb el l R iver, where we note d that 77 permits were issued in 2015 compared to 119 in 2014, a decline of 35 per cent. In the Comox Valley and Campbell River regions In 2015, there was a total of 248 new homes built, compared to 345 in 2014, a decline of 28 per cent. There is a trend towards building secondary suites in the region, as Comox, Courtenay, Cumberland and Campbell River all reported the construction of the new suites in both new homes and existing homes.

Wen sley A rch ite ctu re h a s been selected as the new architect for the rebuilding of the Lorne Hotel in Comox. A fire destroyed the historic 133 year old bu i ld i ng i n Febr u a r y of 2011 and plans to rebuild the new Lorne Hotel have been in the works for the past th ree years. Construction drawings are underway and are expected to be submitted for building permit approval in late March.

Once the building permit has been approved, construction is ex pected to beg i n for the five-storey, mixed-use building that will include the Lorne P ub, bistro a nd l iquor store along with 21 residential units and a rooftop patio. The new design includes: a two metre

clearance for the sidewalk in front of the pub and bistro, a six metre dedication for more public seating, enhancements to the front entrance and an outside historical mural. Prices of the condominiums are expected to begin at $179,900.

City of Powell River Director of Planning Serv ices Thomas Knight has provided Powell River council with an update and clarification on land-use a mend ments for con s t r u ction of the Sino Bright School campus in Townsite. Knight is recommending council support his recommendation to bring the zoning and sustainable official community plan amendment bylaws through first and second reading. Bylaws at that stage can sit and wait for the proponents to complete public consultation work for excluding the parcel from the ALR. Si no Brig ht is pla n n i ng on rolling out its public consultation soon. Construction on the school is expected to bring an increase in construction-related jobs and, once operationa l, is ex pected to create 107 permanent positions.

Clarice Coty can be reached at clarice@buildinglinks.ca, and through www.buildinglinks.ca

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FEBRUARY 2016

COMOX VALLEY RV: CELEBRATING THE RV LIFESTYLE “A car is something you The dealership will be hosting a special Grand Opening starting February 29

buy because you need it, an RV is a ‘want’ purchase, not a ‘need’

C

O M OX – Fo r D a n n y Keyes, the owner of Comox Valley RV, purchasing a recreational vehicle should be more than a transaction it should be an experience in its own right. “Our success is based on providing a strong customer experience, a good, positive customer experience.

We go all out to provide that experience, which is what our new facility is all about. Our lot isn’t cramped, all of our trailers are in neat rows, it’s all about making things really easy for them,� he said. “We want the customer to feel comfortable, that they know that we’ve invested in a facility which demonstrates that we want to make this experience the right experience for them. “ Keyes and his wife Kellie are no strangers to the Comox Valley, having moved to the region in 1998. Coming from the world of high end real estate sales and marketing, he (along with his business partner Chris KaneWhite) took his real estate sales experience and moved into the auto sales business, purchasing Courtenay’s Riverside Nissan. “While some may debate it, I think the auto industry really knows how to provide quality customer service. My work with Riverside Nissan helped me when I made the switch to RV sales. I wanted to bring the same level of exceptional sales and service people expect from a car dealership to the world of RV sales. That’s what our new facility is all about.�

In 2011 Keyes sold his interest in Riverside Nissan and made the switch to RV sales, opening Comox Valley RV on a one and a half acre parcel. “Prior to selling the Nissan store we dabbled in RVs and found customers were really excited about

purchase.�

DANNY KEYES OWNER, COMOX VALLEY RV

Comox Valley RV’s new sales and service centre is more than 13,000 sq ft and can accommodate any sized RV buying recreational vehicles,� he explained. “For them they weren’t just buying a product, they were buying fun. A car is something you buy because you need it, an RV is a ‘want’ purchase, not a ‘need’ purchase. T he selling process is completely different and can (and should) be very laid back. We quickly figured out consumers wanted more choice, more competition and service and parts availability more like those found in the automotive world. That’s the Genesis of our new sales and service facility.�

Today Comox Va l ley RV is housed in a spectacular 13,000 sq ft facility on a four acre site at 1608 Ryan Road East in Comox.

The expansive and supremely functional structure has been designed to make purchasing and servicing an RV a stress-free experience. “Our old lot was an acre and a half and people were scared to come service their vehicles with us as there wasn’t much room to maneuver. We now have four acres so there’s plenty of space, all nicely fenced, we even have three pretend campsites so you can see the RVs in use.

That way it doesn’t look like a

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The dealership’s new service centre has a large amount of space devoted to its extensive part department big compound, which is what most RV stores look like,� Keyes said. “We have a nice lot all properly drained so you’re not walking through puddles and mud to

check out our products. Our lot is nice and bright we have power and water everywhere. We’re always trying to take it to the next level and we think our customers are going to like it.�

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An overhead view of the new customer lounge, designed to make owners comfortable while their RVs are being serviced

The front end of Comox Valley RV has been designed to be bright, open and inviting for its many clients

Situated on a four acre parcel, the dealership has ample room to display its every changing product inventory main manufacturers, Forest River and Keystone. Thor Industries (Keystone’s parent company) absolutely dominates the industry. They basically have an 80 percent share of the market and we hand-picked their most popular models,” he explained.

“T hey probably repre sent something like 100 different name plates. They dominate all product divisions motorized, travel trailers and fifth wheels.

Forest River for example would be roughly 10 times bigger than Jayco just to put that number into perspective. The purchasing power of these companies is

dramatically stronger. They’re really focused on technology, especially on the manufacturing side.”

Comox Valley RV understands the ‘RV Lifestyle’ that desire to get away on a self directed adventure of your own making, often meeting other like minded travelers along the way. “They say a ca mpg rou nd is a g reat equalizer,” Keyes said. “You could be driving a beautiful Class A or towing an old tent trailer. It doesn’t really matter sitting around the campfire at night. That’s the great thing about RVing, there’s something

for everyone.”

Keyes also believes Vancouver Island in general and the Comox Valley in particular, is perfectly suited for RV sales. “One of the advantages of the Comox Valley is that a large percentage of our business is to the retirement population. We really serve the retirement community quite well and they have an appetite for RVs at every price point and at every size,” he said.

Aside from its ideal geographic location, Comox Valley RV is now one of the Island’s top RV dealerships thanks in large part to its exceptional service centre.

“Our facility is perfect, it’s all brand new and it has been designed from the outset to service RVs, it’s not an old car dealership that’s been converted after the fact,” he said.

“We haven’t forgotten the customer in our facility either. We have a customer lounge with a big flat screen TV, microwave, bottled water, leather furniture, popcorn machine and all of that, all conveniently located at the front of the store in a nice quiet area. We placed the lounge at the front of the building so that if someone needs to get picked up they can see them come through the front door. In terms of the RV world I don’t know of another store that has a customer lounge,

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certainly not one like ours.”

T he f u l l ser v ice n at u re of Comox Valley RV’s business is another element in its winning formula. “To succeed in this business you pretty much have to do it all, sales and service.

One of the reasons we built the new store is that you actually need a pretty large facility to do it all and to do it properly.

Modern RVs can be some pretty big rigs. The customers are also demanding selection, so you have to have a big lot to showcase them. One of our advantages is that we have a large and well stocked parts department.

Most RV stores don’t devote the space or the resources to their parts department. They seem to go skinny on that.”

Bei ng able to recog n ize changing tastes and trends in the world of RV sales, and being up to date on the latest in tech nolog ies a nd com for ts, has also helped the dealership succeed. “The standards of expectation with the customers are changing. As I’ve come from the automotive industry I’ve learned that customers demand more and they want a nice clean facility. One of the big differences with us is our entranceway which is massive. I can take five rigs at the same time so people aren’t worried that they’re going to run into something or hit another trailer,” Keyes described.

“T hey can come in with their big fifth-wheels or Class

A motorhomes w it hout a ny problems. They can easily find a place to park without worry.

We provide lots of parking, a big entranceway, large and sweeping lanes for everybody to get around. Everything has been desig ned for the customer’s convenience.”

Keyes a lso k nows t hat t he skills and experience of his staff of more than 20 are among the dealership’s greatest assets.

“The people we hire are quite experienced. We base how we do our business on the automotive sales industry. It doesn’t matter what anyone thinks it’s only what the customer thinks. It’s all about the customer and if you portray anything but that then you’re making a mistake,” he said. “ We b u i lt t he l a rge s t a nd nicest service facility that we could so we could do more service work. It’s equally important to have good qualified people in the service department. Our job is to communicate with the customer effectively, to figure out what they want and then doing it properly.”

A true family business, Kellie works as a Salesperson while daughters Emily and Molly help out when an extra hand is needed. The dealership is planning on hosting a Grand Opening event that will run from February 29 to March 5. To learn more visit the company’s website at: www.comoxvalleyrv.com/

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20 BE AWARDS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

s om e b a c k g ro u n d on t h o s e taking home an award.

Harbour Air Group – Business of the Year Founded in 1982 by three forward-looking pilots, the Harbour Air Group now has over 50 aircraft and is the world’s

largest all-seaplane company and North America’s first Carbon Neutral airline, servicing a rou nd 400,000 passengers e a c h y e a r. It a l s o i n c l u d e s subsid i a r ies Westcoast A ir, W histler Air a nd SaltSpring Air. Industry Hair and Body Care – Small Business of the Year Industry Hair and Body Care

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offers a full service hair salon combined with a spa section that brings big city expertise together with small town concierge service. After their first year in business they came in the Top 10 for the Prem ier’s Choice Award for the province.

Tigh-Na-Mara – Accommodation Tigh-Na-Mara Seaside Spa Resort & Conference Centre is a n a l l-season desti nation resort a nd has been proud ly offering guests and the business community outstanding service and experiences since 1981. Just one of thei r ma ny awards includes being named winner of the Humanitarian Award of Excellence from the Hotel Association of Canada.

Hol l ie Woo d O ysters – Agriculture/Aquaculture H o l l i e Wo o d O y s t e r s h a s been in business since 2010, and they supply fresh oceanwise sustainably grown se a fo o d d i re ct to h i g h-end restau ra nts a nd a lso help other smaller farms develop their businesses by partnering together to help out sma l ler farmers. T heir farms are located on Denman Island.

A ssociated T ire & Auto – Automotive Associated Tire & Auto is a loca l ly ow ned a nd operated t i re a n d a utom o t ive re p a i r f a c i l i t y i n C a m p b e l l R i ver, started in March, 2011 by Kermit and David Dahl. They

BARRISTERS & SOLICITORS

Left, Simon Philp of CIBC presents the Automotive Business of the Year Award to Kermit Dahl of Associated Tire & Auto of Campbell River prov ide ser v ice to a l l ty pes o f r u b b e r-t i r e d i n d u s t r i a l m ach i nes a nd automobi les, in all types of industry, from the Oyster River north on the Island.

Pheasant Hill Homes - Construction/Development Pheasant Hill Homes began i n 1999 when Ken Con nolly

em ba rke d on h i s lon g-h eld d re a m of b ecom i n g a qu a lity new home builder and r e n o v a t o r. I n 2 0 0 7 J a s o n Schmidt joined the company a s a pa r t ner a nd cont i nued down the path of offering clients quality, integrity, and a SEE BE AWARDS | PAGE 21

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE WINNERS, FINALISTS & NOMINEES!

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21 BE AWARDS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 20

com m itment to l isten i ng to them.

Cumberland Brewing Company – Entrepreneur C u m b e rl a n d B re w e r y i s a t i ny brewer y i n t he t h i rs t y Village of Cumberland. It was started almost one year ago by the team of Michael Tymchuk who makes the beer, Caroline Tymchuk who counts the beer, and Darren Adam who sells the b eer. Ca rol i ne a nd M ich ael opened Riders Pizza then waited for the right time and the right partner to realize the next step, building a brewery.

Gwen Clavelle of Air Canada, left, presents the Hospitality/Tourism Award to Lauren Douglas of Orca Spirit Adventures of Victoria

Dennis Cambrey, left, of York Machine, receives the Trades Business of the Year Award from Peter Iwanosky of RBC Royal Bank S ce lla Wa

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SEE BE AWARDS | PAGE 23

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FEBRUARY 2016

COASTAL COMMUNITY CREDIT UNION – TOGETHER, LET’S DO GREAT THINGS!

P

r o v i d i n g s e r v i c e s fo r almost 70 years, Coastal Community Credit Union (CCCU) is the la rgest Va ncouver Isla nd-based f inancial services organization, and among the top 25 largest credit unions in Canada when measured by asset size.

C C C U p ro v i d e s p e r s o nal, business and commercial ba n k i n g ser v ic e s, c omplemented by its wholly-owned s u b s i d i a r i e s C o a s t a l C o mm u n it y I n su ra nce S er v ice s (2007) Ltd., (offering personal

a n d c o m m e rc i a l i n s u ra n c e solutions) and Coastal Comm u n it y F i n a n c i a l M a n a gement Inc., (of fer i ng we a lt h management services through its Coasta l Com mu n ity Private Wealth Group division).

I n tot a l , t h e Coa s t a l Community family of companies ser ves over 1 10,000 p eople on Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands, from Victoria to Port Hardy.

CCCU was the first to bring c u t t i n g- e d g e I n t e r a c t i v e Tel ler M a ch i ne te ch nolog y

to the Isla nd, i ncorporati ng l ive v ideo tel ler serv ice a nd extended hours of operation.

Past recipient of the Corporate Responsibility Award for the Vancouver Island region, Coa sta l Com mu n it y i s a l so one of BC’s Top EmployersŽ for 2015. At the heart of it all is Coastal Community’s passion for improving financial h e a lt h , e n r i c h i n g p e o p l e’s l ives a nd bu i ld i ng hea lth ier communities. Learn more at cccu.ca, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.

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The evening began with a Seafood and Prime Rib dinner served by the Coast Bastion

A part of coastal communities griegseafoodcanada.com

Jason Schmidt of Pheasant Hill Homes Ltd., receiving the Construction/Development Business of the Year Award

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Canadian Bavarian Millwork & L u m b e r L td . - Fo re s t r y/ Wood Products 34 years ago, Canadian Bavarian Millwork & Lumber Ltd. sta rted as a sma l l Eu ropea n style w i ndow a nd custom kitchen producer. It has since specialized in high-end custom millwork, manufactured lu mber a nd a rch itectu ra l

Leanne Boyd of Level 10 Eurospa receives the Retail Business of the Year Award from Geoff Crawford of Invest Comox Valley products ser v i ng loca l, n ational and international markets.

Oughtred Coffee & Tea Ltd. – Green Oughtred Coffee & Tea has been a family-owned, Vancouver Island business for over 40 years. Their mission is “to foster the growth and awareness of speci a lty cof fee t h rou g h education, customer service, SEE BE AWARDS | PAGE 24

AIR CANADA THE COUNTRY’S FLAGSHIP AIR CARRIER

A

ir Canada is Canada’s largest domestic and international airline serving more than 200 airports on six continents. Canada’s flag carrier is among the 20 largest airlines in the world and in 2014 served more than 38 million customers. Air Canada provides scheduled passenger service directly to 63 airports in Canada, 52 in the United States and 86 in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Australia, the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America and South America. Air Canada is a founding member of Star Alliance, the world’s most comprehensive air transportation network serving 1,321 airports in 193 countries. Air Canada is the only international network carrier in North America to receive

a Four-Star ranking according to independent U.K. research firm Skytrax.

For companies looking to save on air travel, Air Canada offers corporate programs for businesses of all sizes including Air Canada Corporate Rewards which is designed to help companies save on business travel, earn rewards and enjoy exclusive member services every time they book with Air Canada and Lufthansa Group* carriers.

Visit www.airanada.com/corporate to enroll your business.

For more information on Air Canada, please visit: www.aircanada.com, follow @AirCanada on Twitter and join Air Canada on Facebook and LinkedIn.

THE DOOR TO THE WORLD IS OFFICIALLY OPEN. Over 192 destinations worldwide.

Learn more at aircanada.com

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FEBRUARY 2016

7th Annual EVENTS & TOURS • Kick off Dine Around at Tap Takeover – Feb 18 • Dine Around Mystery Mix – Feb 25 & March 9 • The Brews Cruise – Feb 27 • Wine Time – March 5th

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atlascafe.ca avenuebistro.ca billydspub.com bisquerestaurant.ca blackfinpub.com fluidbarandgrill.com martinesbistro.com theprimechophouse.com playtimegaming.ca crownisle.com titas.ca

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$30 Menus Atlas Café Avenue Bistro Billy D’s Pub & Bistro Bisque Blackfin Pub Fluid Bar & Grill Martine’s Bistro Prime Chophouse & Wine Bar Red 21 Gaming Tap & Grill Timber Room Bar & Grill Tita’s Mexican Restaurant Toscano’s Trattoria Union Street Grill & Grotto White Whale Restaurant

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CONGRATULATIONS to all the nominees Here’s to your continued success, from all of us at RBC® Vancouver Island Commercial Banking.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 23

relationsh ips a nd sustainability. Oughtred is a leader in environmental respon sibi l ity a nd h a s taken its passion beyond it s d o ors b y i n s p i r i n g ot her loca l bu si nesses to adopt com m itments to sustainable practices.

Victoria Eye – Hea lth Care V ic tor i a Eye wa s e stabl ished i n Ja nu a r y 2015 as the first cataract surgical facility on Vancouver Isla nd to house the latest Femtosecond L a ser Te ch nolog y a nd i m p l a n t t h e s t a te-o fthe-art intraocular lenses. It is a multi-physician practice that is equipped with the latest diagnostic and surgical technology to offer patients the h ig hest level of ocu la r care.

Orca Spirit Adventures – Hospitality/Tourism Orca Spi r it fou nder Jo h n D o u g l a s w a s i ns t r u m e n t a l i n b u i l ding the whale watching i ndustry i n the reg ion, launching the first covered vessel operation in Victoria almost 30 years ago, and helping to create the original responsible wha le watch i ng g u idel i nes desig ned to prevent their harassment and injury.

Revolution 3D Printers – Manufacturing Revolut ion 3 D P r i nters is a proud Canadian m a nu fa c t u re r a nd resea rch a nd development compa ny t h at i n 2015, launched the award winning and affordable Infinity 3D printers fo r s c h o ol s a n d s m a l l businesses.

Danny Sitnam, right, of Helijet, presents the Forestry/Wood Products Business of the Year Award to George Woernle of Canadian Bavarian Millwork & Lumber Ltd. of Chemainus

Greg Wood of Hollie Wood Oysters on Denman Island was the winner in the Agruculture/Aquaculture Category Pacific R im College – Professional Pacific R im College is Canada’s leading college of complementa r y a nd integrative medicine. It offers nine diploma and

certificate programs in natu ra l hea lth, ma ny of wh ich a re t he mos t comprehensive programs i n Nor th A merica, a nd SEE BE AWARDS | PAGE 25

RBC SUPPORTS VANCOUVER ISLAND ENTREPRENEURS

R

BC is proud to be a key sponsor of the Business Examiner’s 2016 Business Excellence Awards. This wonderful event celebrates our best and brightest businesses across Vancouver Island, a nd we at R BC wa nt to congratulate all the nominees and Award winners for this very well deserved recognition.

Entrepreneu rsh ip is a powerful force that drives innovation, productivity, job creation and economic growth. Here on Vancouver Island, more and more people are becoming entrepreneurs. T he desire to create and grow

Tom Siemens Vice-President Commercial Banking South Vancouver Island 707 Fort St. 2nd Floor Victoria, BC 250-356-4544

Kevin Gillanders Vice-President Commercial Banking North Vancouver Island 205 Commercial St. Nanaimo, BC 250-741-3516

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a business, large or small, requires a combination of character, talent, vision, energy, timing and good advice.

Successful entrepreneurs know that good practical information and advice ca n m a ke a big d i f ference i n ru n n i ng a successf u l busi ness. You r R BC Accou nt Ma nager is your business partner and advocate, providing solutions to meet you r business needs, and help your business to achieve its fullest potential.

Your RBC Account Manager will: ■ Understand your company’s goals and vision

for the future, ■ Share their in-depth industry-specific knowledge and experience, ■ Deliver products, technology and services to help your business save money, seize opportunities and reduce risk, ■ Be your Go-To Financial Partner, working closely with your lawyer, accountant, R BC specialists, and other key partners.

Contact your RBC branch. Let’s make your Someday happen.™ Congratulations to all those nominees and winners at the 2016 Business Excellence Awards.

BE AWARDS

FEBRUARY 2016

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some in the world.

The Dave Team – Real Estate T he Dave Tea m is the mastermind of Dave Koszegi, who has been in the real estate busi ness i n Port A lbern i for 25 years – and maintains a 25 per cent market share. Dave

Dave Koszegi of The Dave Team was the winner of the Award of Excellence in the Real Estate category

Bruce Williams of CTV provided ongoing entertainment as Master of Ceremonies of the evening

25 is the only Global Marketing Agent in Port Alberni, and is a recipient of the Vancouver Island Real Estate Board CARE Award.

Level 10 Eurospa – Retail L evel 10 Eu rospa celebrated 25 years of providing a “beautiful experience” in the SEE BE AWARDS | PAGE 26

Congratulations to Oughtred Coffee & Tea for winning the Green Company of the Year!

Michael Tymchuk of Cumberland Brewing Company receives the Entrepreneur of the Year Award from Alana Carroll of Coastal Community Credit Union

HAYES STEWART LITTLE & CO.: HELPING COMPANIES GROW

H

elping companies grow and succeed by integrating business excellence in their day to day practices is what Hayes Stewart Little & Co. (HSLCO) does each and every day for its clients.

That’s why Janet Rowe, a partner in the firm, says that sponsoring the annual Business Excellence Awards is a natural fit. “Due to our size we have a lot of diverse businesses as clients. We want them to succeed, to grow and create jobs in our communities. We use our business knowledge to help them make decisions that should ultimately make them successful.”

“A lot of our clients are small businesses,” Rowe says. “It’s nice to be able to recognize and congratulate them on having an outstanding, successful business.”

Hayes Stewart Little & Co. is Vancouver Island’s largest independent accounting firm with offices in Duncan, Victoria and Nanaimo. In business for more than 40 years, the firm offers specialized services and core services including auditing, accounting and tax. They also provide

While the firm prides itself on its professional services it also commits to supporting the community

many other services including strategic planning, business valuations, corporate restructuring and reorganization, business succession, and corporate and personal financial advice. “We have our own in-house specialists,” Rowe explains. “So we c a n meet a ny sp eci a l

needs our clients have.” As a side note she added “With the change in governments there have been changes to tax rates that will affect tax planning; additionally, changes have been made to Trust r u les, ch a r itable g iv i ng, and life insurance. People should meet with their CPA to ensure their current tax or estate plan still works for them.”

While the firm prides itself on its professional services it also commits to supporting the community. Among the many community organizations HSLCO sponsors are the Cowichan United Way, The Festival of Trees in Victoria and Nanaimo, the Victoria Conservatory of Music, and U Vic’s Distinguished Entrepreneu r of the Yea r Award. “We believe in participating and being active in the communities where we live and raise our families,” Rowe says. “Especially in the smaller communities on the island, we’re all interdependent. Our clients are local. They support us, so we want to give back to those communities.” www.hslco.com

We recognize the hard work it takes to stand out in today’s business world.

Congratulations to every finalist.

BE AWARDS

26 BE AWARDS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 25

Comox Valley in 2015. It was also named the Comox Valley Chamber of Commerce Business of the Year. This is a full service salon and spa with an outstanding reputation.

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It now works on some of the most interesting challenges in medical technology, improvi n g he a lt h a nd sav i n g l ives throughout the world.

York Machine – Trades York Machine Shop Ltd. was

Congratulations Oughtred Coffee & Tea on winning the Green Business of the Year Award!

FEBRUARY 2016

fo u n d e d i n t h e 19 8 0’s a n d employed fou r people when Dennis Cambrey bought it in 1992. T he business serv iced lo c a l m i l l s, m i nes a nd logging camps, and today, with 44 employees, York Machine has 65 per cent of its business in building and exporting machines all over the world.

The Official Program of the event, featu ri ng photos a nd a r t i c l e s a b o u t a l l 81 f i n a li s t s i n t h e B u s i n e s s E xc ell e n c e Aw a rd s , i s a v a i l a b l e on-line at http://issuu.com/ markmacdonald7/docs/ be_awards_book_2016lowrez For further information, visit www.businessexaminer.ca

Josh Higgins, left, of the Business Examiner Victoria presents the Green Business of the Year Award to Oughtred Coffee & Tea

Best wishes for continued success!

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Paul Drummond of Tigh Na Mara holds the award for Excellence in the Accommodation Category

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27

FEBRUARY 2016

PROFITABILITY VS. CASH FLOW – WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?

I

recently received a Notice of Intention to Make a Proposal under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act for a coffee shop chain, which by all accounts was thriving. My first reaction was surprise, but on reflection, this is a common business story. A business is formed and through inspiration, hard work, quality products and marketing savvy, it is able to grow and prosper.

When things are going well in a business, it is natural and advisable to grow that winning formula by expanding. What happens next is always critical to the business’s future. Expansion often requires additional locations, more equipment and a larger head count. It is very easy to fall into the trap of looking at the profitability of a business and assuming that it will be available to pay for the expansion directly, or through debt payments.

Rather than outline the terrible things that might happen if there is not enough cash flow, we should consider effective strategies to keep out of trouble. Let’s start with the premise that all good business must be profitable to survive. This is true - but there are other issues to consider.

Profitability is not always easily understood, and regardless of generally accepted accounting principles, its calculation might vary from preparer-to-preparer.

Profitability is not always easily understood, and regardless of generally accepted accounting principles, its calculation might vary from preparer-to-preparer

Mike Berris, CPA, CA and Partner Smythe LLP

Reliance on the stated profitability can lead to a misunderstanding of the actual cash generated by a business. This is especially true if your reviewing management or accountant prepared the compilation financial statements (e.g., Notice to Reader).

Although we need to evaluate

profitability as a starting point, it is important to understand that it does not take into account the working capital required to operate the business; capital expenditures in excess of amortization, and of course, making existing debt repayments. The cash required to finance these activities cannot be ignored if a company wants to grow and maintain profitability.

Below are common strategies used when analyzing the future cash flow of a business: ■ Understand the ongoing or immediate need to replace

equipment. Start by looking at the quality of assets, and do some research on when they need to be replaced.

■ Accurately estimate the costs associated with proposed expansion. Be realistic or even pessimistic on what it will cost to fund a business expansion.

■ Review the general ledger to get a strong understanding of the expenses required to run a business. Are there costs such as rent increases coming in the future?

■ Calculate the amount of working capital required to operate a business. Businesses need to retain revenue to finance inventory, accounts receivable and daily operating expenses.

As business volume grows, so does the amount of working capital required. The year-end balance sheet might not represent the working capital that is actually required to operate the business throughout the normal annual business cycle, or in the future.

■ Understand how much debt a business can comfortably service, and how that debt should be structured. In simple terms, operating lines should be used to fund working capital, and long-term loans should be used to fund long-term investments.

■ Determine the debt service and working capital ratios that

potential lenders require.

■ What would you do if sales fell 10 per cent, 20 per cent or even 30per cent?

We recommend that clients prepare, or hire someone to prepare a financial analysis that contains three components: 1. Three years of historical financial results, including normalized income statements, cash flows and balance sheets.

2. Two years of projected monthly financial results, including norma l ized i ncome statements, cash flows and balance sheets.

3. A data input sheet that measures the financial sensitivity of potential changes to basic assumptions. This might include changes in: ■ sales ■ expenses ■ expansion costs ■ amounts of debt ■ bank rates and covenants.

This will require time, effort and expense, but in the end, it might protect you and your business. Remember that while profitability is interesting, it’s cash flow that ultimately matters.

Smythe LLP is a team o f d e d i c a te d p ro fe s s i o nals who provide reliable accou nt i ng, ta x a nd adv i sor y services to businesses and individuals. They can be reached at 604 687 1231.

Restaurant Honours the Culinary Traditions of Crete Former commercial airline pilot flies high as city restaurateur

BY DAVID HOLMES

“It’s great to see a

N

wonderful meal come

ANAIMO – Since openi n g i n 2 01 1 b u s i n e s s has really taken off at Asteras Greek Taverna, located 347 Wesley Street in Nanaimo’s Old City Quarter. “It’s very much a family restaurant, offering authentic Greek cuisine seven days per week,” explained restaurant co owner Peter Paraskevopoulos.

Formerly a commercial airline pilot, Paraskevopoulos turned in his wings for cookware when the opportunity presented itself to acquire the more than 100 year old heritage home, a property he viewed as ideal for a restaurant.

“We’ve rebuilt it to offer a Greek atmosphere, and are showcasing many authentic family recipes, the same meals my mother used to cook.”

Work i ng a longside h is coowner and business partner Nicole Sullivan, Paraskevopoulos has helped to develop an expansive menu featuring traditional favorites that can be traced back to his native Crete.

“It’s a great partnership,” he said. “Nicole is the chef and she does the work in the kitchen and I work out here. You could have

together.”

PETER PARASKEVOPOULOS CO-OWNER ASTERAS GREEK TAVERNA

exactly the same recipe cooked in a dozen different restaurants and it would taste different each time. That’s because of the love and the special touches each chef brings to it. It’s the same here.

Nicole has done a wonderful job interpreting these traditional recipes her own way.”

Passionate about both flying and cooking, Paraskevopoulos may miss the air, but loves providing his expanding customer base with the traditional tastes of his homeland. “The two things are very similar. If you’ve flown and love flying it’s always a part of you. It’s the same thing with a cook. It’s great to see a wonderful meal come together. If I could continue f lying and still work here I would, but something would have to suffer.

Located in the Old City Quarter, Asteras Greek Taverna is a family restaurant offering authentic Mediterranean meals But you never know if the opportunity appeared!”

Open seven days per week, and with a staff of nearly 30, Asteras Greek Taverna is open for both lunch (11:30 am until 4:00 pm) and for dinner time customers

from 4:30 until late.

“It may sound like boasting, but I’ve literally had customers come in who say they’ve driven all the way up from Victoria just to have dinner here,” he said. “I can’t imagine receiving a much

higher compliment than that. I may miss flying, but it’s pretty satisfying when you hear something like that.”

To learn more visit the restau ra nt’s website at: w w w. asteras.ca/

MT WADDINGTON/CAMPBELL RIVER

28

TOURISM FORUM SCHEDULED FOR MARCH 16

NORTH VANCOUVER ISLAND DAVID MITCHELL

O

n January 13th Port Alice Council accepted the final the Economic Development Strategy report “Port of Potential.”

The report sets out six key strategies: Foundational actions, Accommodations and food services, Tourism, Small Business attraction, retention and expansion, Resident attraction, and Investment attraction. It was agreed that the most potential impact in the near-term are on tourism and small business support.

On January 30th a community-led business development workshop took place in Port Alice. Participants were able to hear from local entrepreneurs, including B and B owners and Community Futures on the challenges and rewards of starting a small business.

Port Alice, along with all the other North Island communities,

including First Nations communities, will be participating in a RegionalDistrictofMt.Waddington Tourism Forum being planned for March 16. The purpose of this Community to Community forum will be to discuss the tourism sector on the North Island, regional plans, and learn about ways other businesses are making it or breaking it - locally, provincially and internationally.

On January 25th the region played host to the Ministry of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training and the Economic Development Association of BC who provided a day long workshop on planning and economic development. The workshop was titled “Building Blocks” and addressed a range of planning and development topics to a diverse audience from across the region.

Business development training is also trending up on the North Island. Reconciliation Canada is collaborating with Cormorant Island’s Tides of Change Joint Steering Committee to create and deliver an Entrepreneur Support Program for Island residents. This holistic support program uses a ‘reconciliation lens’ to enhance the success rate of more traditional approaches to economic development.

The primary goals are to enhance the capacity of local entrepreneurs through business skills training; to stimulate creation of new, and growth of existing businesses; and to develop an entrepreneu r support fra mework

useful to support economic reconciliation in other remote and Indigenous communities. The Reconciliation Canada training is being delivered by Simon Fraser University’s RADIUS Ventures, and by Community Futures and will include on-site business coaching School District 85 is actively promoting entrepreneurship throughout the district. A great example is a program developed by Darcy Deacon, Principal, at Eagle View Elementary in Port Hardy. The Eagle View Young Entrepreneurs Club is comprised of students who have demonstrated an interest in exploring the world of business and enterprise. The program seeks to build connections for students through real-life career experience as they explore the world of business.

Young entrepreneurs map out their success with a realistic business plan. They will learn how to design their own products, conduct market research, set prices and create marketing materials. The students will then put their plans into action at the Eagle’s Den trade show; a dynamic summative event where they interact with customers, pitch their product to potential investors and earn money.

David Mitchell is the General Manager of Community Futures Mount Waddington. He can be reached at david@cfmw.ca or

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FEBRUARY 2016

FUTURE15

CAMPBELL RIVER COLLEEN EVANS

O

n Fr id ay, Febr u a r y 19 Campbell River Chamber will be celebrating with guest and over 50 nominees between the ages of 19-45 at the FUTURE15 event in Campbell River. We know Campbell River is full of amazing people under the age of 45. They are shaping the future of Campbell River, paving their own path, role models and involved and engaged in our community through volunteerism and social innovation.

The event will take place at the spectacular ocean view Maritime Heritage Centre and we invite everyone to come and join us as we profile and celebrate the success of 15 remarkable individuals in our community by awarding them each the FUTURE 15 award. These award recipients are definitely 15 individuals to watch over the next few years. The event starts at 5:30 with a networking reception and everyone is encouraged to Dress To Impress. Tickets are available at w w w.campbellriverchamber.ca Highlights on the recent Business Walk hosted by the Chamber confirmed that when asked to rate the current state of their business compared to the same time last year, 59 per cent indicated a very positive outlook and that business was good and increasing. An additional 35 per cent said it was steady and fair.

The Business Walk event was held in partnership with community organizations including

t he City of Campbell R iver, Campbell River Economic Development, The Campbell River Mirror and North Island Employment Foundation Society, Ministry of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Trades. The business community was also strongly represented with volunteers from the Downtown BIA, Immigrant Welcome Centre and local businesses.

A total of 114 in person surveys were conducted during both a morning and afternoon session.

The Chamber completed follow up with Chamber members who requested specific help to support their businesses. The most frequent request was for more information about access to local resources, specifically organizations, contacts, information and funding to help grow or expand their business.

The Business Walk was a tool to gather and track the pulse of our local businesses and organization visited on a particular day.

It further served to help all community partners share ideas and actions to work together towards a healthy economy and prosperous future.

The benefits of conducting the Walk included: ■ To understand the issues facing our business community, ■ To bu i ld work i ng relationsh ips between decision makers and local businesses, ■ To celebrate and promote our local businesses, ■ To provide local businesses with access to resources to help their business prosper, ■ To tailor our services and benefits to meet the needs of Chamber members, ■ To develop advocacy support for the issues a nd concerns ra ised by the business community.

Colleen Evans is CEO of the Campbell River Chamber of Commerce. She can be reached at colleen.evans@ campbellriverchamber.ca

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PORT ALBERNI

FEBRUARY 2016

29

PORT ALBERNI’S TRANSITION PICKING UP SPEED TRYHOMEFIRSTSHOPLOCALPROGRAM

PORT ALBERNI PAT DEAKIN

T

he second municipality in Canada (after Vancouver) to regulate marijuana dispensaries. Kiteboarding in the Inner Harbour. Scheduled float plane service thanks to Pacific Seaplanes and our Port Authority. 90 people in Char’s Landing at the first ‘Alberni Connects’ event organized by our Young Professionals. Two tables of people from the Alberni Valley at the Business Examiner’s Vancouver Island Business Excellence Awards in Nanaimo celebrating 6 local businesses that made it into the finals. A sold out crowd at Sproat Lake Landing tasting Phillips Brewing samples along with a 4 course dinner.

Cantimber Biotech as the first North American plant to produce activated carbon using a non-chemical process. Four new restaurants and makeovers for

THE CITY OF

two lounges in one month. Live streaming of Council meetings and budget sessions noticed by people in Vancouver, San Francisco and New York. Arts groups merging competing festivals to host a bigger, better event. The Centennial Belles launching a bid to enter the Guinness Book of Records with the largest Jane Austen Festival.

The Coulson Group signing an MOU with Airbus. The Uchucklesaht Tribe’s $6-million mixed use com mercia l-residentia l building nearing completion. A new Ocean Networks Canada installation on the Inlet floor.

The launch of two new tugs built at Canadian Alberni Engineering. An offer of a matching investment of up to $500,000 for a development at the Clutesi Marina Upland. Brand new residents filling coffee shops and turning up at events. The Heart of Vancouver Island Facebook page up over 12,500 Likes. Local residents Franco & Stacey Gaiga investing over $500,000 in the purchase and landscaping of a lot in the middle of the Uptown so that a new City Centre park can be created. Port Alberni’s Agog Labs as one of three companies from Vancouver Island featured at the BC Tech Summit.

These are some of the many recent signs that Port Alberni is picking up speed in the

Port Alberni

diversification of its economy.

With the most affordable housing and the second lowest taxes for homes with an average assessed value on central Vancouver Island, the community is also stepping up its marketing to folks approaching retirement age and to millennials. We note that the savings differential between the purchase of an average assessed home in Port Alberni versus every other Island community with a hospital are enough to allow one to retire early, retire better, knock off the items in a person’s bucket list or start a new business and get in on the early stages of the transition we are starting to experience.

Pat Deakin is the Economic Development Manager for the City of Port Alberni. He can be reached at 250-720-2527 or Patrick_deakin@ portalberni.ca

PORT ALBERNI BILL COLLETTE

T

he Alberni Valley Chamber of Commerce continues to see excellent growth with its membership and perhaps more importantly with the many programs it is currently working on.

Of particular note was the recent Monthly Dinner Meeting held at Drinkwaters Public House where some 60 people showed up to enjoy the agenda.

First up was the Chamber’s introduction of our three top winners from the December “Try Home First” Shop Local program that resulted in $6000.00 of $100.00 gift certificates being won by our local shoppers. Our three winners were all ‘caught in the act’ of shopping locally and from hundreds of similar folk their names were randomly drawn for our grand prizes. We introduced our $2500.00 winner as well as the next two who won $1500.00 and $1000.00

respectively. The Chamber also gave out 10 other prizes worth $100.00 each.

It should be noted that our program was supported by almost 60 local business each of whom provided us with a $100.00 Gift Certificate and the Chamber of Commerce also purchased $1500.00 worth of Gift Certificates ($25.00 for each $100.00 gift certificate collected) which in turn were given out during our surprise shops during the month of December.

Nextontheagendathateveningwas a presentation by Mr. Doug Podetz of Industry Canada who was followed by three of Alberni District Secondary School teachers who enlightened us with the wonderful programs now available through their initiatives. The evening wrapped up with a most welcome presentation from Randy and Brenda Hanna – owners of Pacific Seaplanes who that very day commenced with regular float planeservicetotheAlberniValley.The Chamber of Commerce expresses its thanks to Randy and Brenda as well as the strong efforts of the Port Alberni PortAuthorityandCityofPortAlberni in getting this most welcome addition to our community.

Bill Collette is Executive Director of the Alberni Valley Chamber of Commerce. He can be reached at 250-724-6535.

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OFF THE COVER

30 FESTIVAL NANAIMO

“Sponsors put their

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

dollars where they see the groups worked independently in promotion and advertising. The Festival’s vision brings groups together to create a multi-dimensional event promoting Nanaimo’s March events under one umbrella.

Last year, Festival Nanaimo’s inaugural launch saw more than 4,000 people in attendance at seven Festival signature events and hundreds more at the additional activities that took place.

In total 28 activities were promoted including six that showcased a variety of musical talent.

“We hosted a Piratefest Family Funday that drew 400 pirates who paraded around downtown with 35 boys joining the Pirate

most value and being a part of the Festival builds awareness not just of their organization and the city, but also of the power of community.”

MARGOT HOLMES CREATOR AND COORDINATOR OF NANAIMO FESTIVAL

Visitors enjoying the sweet treats on the Nanaimo bar tour CREDIT:MARGOT HOLMES

Choir offered by the British Columbia Boys Choir,” Holmes said.

After the success of last year, Holmes said more events are coming on board.

“Gabriola Isle of the Arts Festival has overlapping events so they’ve joined us, as have cycling tours, Nanaimo Bar Sunday, Nanaimo Chamber of Commerce Dine-Around event as well as its Business Achievement Awards and the 2016 Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association’s National Badminton Championship.”

She added that there will be concerts, theatre, art and crafts, culinary delights, guided walks, Easter weekend events, March break activities and, to round off the Festival, the Nanaimo Boat Show, and on April 2, Piratefest Family FunDay. “Piratefest is for the whole family,” Holmes said. “Everyone gets to try the instruments of the orchestra at the Vancouver Island Symphony’s Musical Instrument Zoo, and to sing sea shanties with the Pirate Choir, and to participate in a Pirate parade on foot or with decorated bicycles.”

This year the signature events will include Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Barrage 8 Fiddle Sensation, De Dannan celebrating the Luck of the Irish, two shows with the World Famous Glen Miller Orchestra, and Boots and Barbecue on the Easter weekend.

“The orchestra is only producing three shows in BC so we are

FEBRUARY 2016

More than 400 pirates turned out for PirateFest Family Funday CREDIT:MARGOT HOLMES

very excited to have two of them come to Nanaimo.”

Holmes said that the Festival concept is a win-win with events accessing a broader marketing reach and Nanaimo seeing increased visits and community participation for everyone during the extended two-week March break.

“All participating events are listed on the Festival Nanaimo website and on our social media channels.”

Last year, CTV 2 promoted the festival to Greater Vancouver and the Island with a total audience reach of 12 million people across Canada. It will be a Festival Partner again this year, as

well as Harbourliving.ca, What’s On Magazine and the Business Examiner.

“Sponsors put their dollars where they see the most value and being a part of the Festival builds awareness not just of their organization and the city, but also of the power of community.”

Festival partners include the Nanaimo Airport Authority, the Vancouver Island Symphony, T he Por t T heat re , Tou r i sm Na n a i m o a n d t h e Na n a i m o Hospitality Association, and cor porate spon sors i nclude Hu ntsm a n L aw, M ich ael L .

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PARKSVILLE/QUALICUM

FEBRUARY 2016

SUPPORT A ‘NEW TO YOU’ LOCAL BUSINESS IN YOUR COMMUNITY

PARKSVILLE KIM BURDEN

T

he Parksville & District Chamber of Com merce a re prepping to recognize Excellence in Business at the annual Business Excellence Awards Ceremony to be held on March 3 at Tigh Na Mara Seaside Resort and Spa. Awards are presented in four categories for Business of the Year with more than 15 employees, Business of the Year with less than 15 employees, Entrepreneur of the Year and the ever popular Outstanding Customer Service.

Every community holds these programs of rewarding excellence and recognizing employers and employees who go the extra mile. It is

an important function of the Chamber of Commerce. It is important to reward excellence and by example to encourage it.

T he most i mporta nt reward we can give to a business is of course our patronage. Whether it is a grocery store or a landscaper, they need and are prepared to work for our business.

We talk a lot about shopping local and the support that the community and community events receive from business. We set an example by supporting local businesses in our own day to day purchasing. The reason is simple, without local business people making the huge investment in our community it would not be the spectacular place to live that it is.

I’m not interested in driving to Nanaimo or Courtenay every week for my groceries and gas. I’m not interested in paying the extra to have someone come from outside of the community to mow my lawn or clean my house.

Our local retailers and services need a financial return to stay open.

If we do not patronize local

business they will move or close up shop. There are examples in communities that have lost their major industry where the other support businesses have closed or moved leaving citizens two options, move or travel for goods and services.

We are through the January – post Christmas blahs and moving into spring with that feeling of a new awakening. Pick a business in Parksville and the surrounding region that you have never patronized. Go find out what they have to offer. You would be surprised at what you learn.

It may not be as difficult to support our local merchants and service people as you think and they certainly support us by hiring, by contributing more than double to the local government through taxation and by generously supporting the various events that we are famous for.

Kim Burden is the Executive Director of the Parksville & District Chamber of Commerce. He can reached at kim@parksvillechamber.com

31

COMMUNITY AWARDS FINALISTS

QUALICUM BEACH EVELYN CLARK

T

he Qualicum Beach Chamber of Commerce announced the finalists for its annual Community Awards to be presented at a special gala event held on Wednesday, February 17th at the Qualicum Beach Civic Centre. Each year the Chamber honours individuals and businesses for their contributions to the community. This follows a nomination period, during which residents and visitors are encouraged to put forward names of those they consider to be deserving of recognition.

This a special year, because a few of those people being honoured were so supported by the community

that they were nominated in more than one area. The nominees for this year’s Qualicum Beach Community Awards are: Business of the Year Sponsored by Rodway & Perry- MacIsaac Group: Pedego Electric Bikes, Bailey’s in the Village and Lefty’s Fresh Foods.

Citizen of the Year - Sponsored by Qualicum Foods: Ian Lindsay and Diana La Monte.

New Business of the Year - Sponsored by Katherine Wilks –Ohs Marketing Team of Royal LePage: CrossFit Qualicum Beach, Skydive Vancouver Island and He Brews Restaurant.

Outstanding Customer Service - Sponsored

by Pharmasave Qualicum Beach: Darrin Andrews at Pharmasave Qualicum Beach, Helen Faulvel – A Step Above and Chelsea Cummings – Ohs Marketing Team.

Lifetime Achievement Sponsored by Coastal Community Credit Union - John Briuolo of Qualicum Foods.

Speaker at the Qualicum Beach Community Awards 2016 will be Kait Burgen.

It’s been said it’s the people who make a place great. Kait

Burgen knows firsthand how true that is. She gets to meet, interview and work alongside many of the inspired, passionate and dedicated people who make Vancouver Island one of the best places to live, work and play for more twenty years.

B or n i n W h itehorse, Yukon, raised in Victoria, and now living in Parksville, Kait has been an “island girl” most of her life. Since earning a Communications Diploma from the Applied Communication Program at Camosun College i n 1994, she’s worked in ever changing roles at Shaw TV, currently Host/Producer of the flagship program, go!, and the volunteer produced program, The Show; she was also a Nanaimo Correspondent for a lifestyle magazine program on CH Television, also called go!.

To reserve for dinner and the awards presentations call 250-752-0960. Cost is $42.00 per person or $315.00 for a table of 8.

Evelyn Clark is President and CEO of the Qualicum Beach Chamber of Commerce.

She can be reached at chamber@qualicum.c.ca or 250-752-0960.

32

FEBRUARY 2016

OLD-FASHIONED SERVICE PLUS TECHNOLOGY UPGRADES EQUALS NEW OPPORTUNITIES “We provide intimacy for The Beach Club Resort provides new opportunities while maintaining guest satisfaction as its primary goal

P

ARKSVILLE - We’ve all heard of them or seen them, hotels or conference centres featuring comfortable suites, magnificent views or specialized services geared to their clientele needs. Sometimes it’s difficult to determine what, if anything, qualifies an establishment to make its case for superiority.

Then there is The Beach Club Resort, known for all these things but for so much more. Situated on the former site of Vancouver Island’s historic Island Hall Resort and close to the amenities offered by the City of Parksville, it has become a destination spot for tourists and business people from across British Columbia and from around the world.

Among the distinctive features of The Beach Club Resort are the ownership model, the tourist and business patrons it serves, the current upgrades being made to the facilities and the traditional

small to medium sized events such as business events or weddings.

They are not going to just become one of many things going on at the same time!”

ARTHUR WONG GENERAL MANAGER

Leadership team: (left to right): Adam Buick (Maintenance Manager); Frances Halliday (Housekeeping Manager); Rick Davidson (Executive Chef);Karen Snider Poole (Guest Services Manager); Ian Lane (Director of Food & Beverage); and Arthur Wong (General Manager

SEE BEACH CLUB RESORT | PAGE 33

Plenty of sand for leisurely strolls down the beach

One of many opportunities for recreation near the hotel

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FEBRUARY 2016

BEACH CLUB RESORT CONTINUED FROM PAGE 32

and non-traditional activities it has attracted. General Manager, Arthur Wong detailed some of those features in speaking to Business Examiner Vancouver Island.

“The resort is owned by individuals and businesses who purchase a strata share of the company. They have a say in the ownership and what we do regarding the infrastructure but the actual management of the hotel is handled by Bellstar Hotels & Resorts, a company based in Calgary. Where a typical hotel would have one owner, we have 350 owners. There is a central board of directors from the owners’ association which operates as the governance board,” Wong explained.

The Beach Club Resort opened in 2008 and now offers 149 guestrooms, a mix of studio rooms and one bedroom suites. Wong, who has extensive experience in the international hospitality industry has served as general manager for the past two years.

“I was travelling the world prior to becoming general manager here approximately two years ago but I had been working with Fairmont Hotels and Resorts for more than a decade. I’ve worked in Vancouver, Edmonton, Shanghai, Miami, Cairo, Hong Kong, Ho Chi Minh City, Manila and now Vancouver Island but I decided the best quality of life was here.”

The corporate manager, Bellstar Hotels & Resorts is based in Calgary and also manages the following resorts: Kicking Horse Mountain Resort in Golden, BC; Solara Resort and Spa and Grande Rockies Resort, both in Canmore, Alberta; and, The Residences at Spirit Ridge in Osoyoos, BC. “All these resorts operate in a similar manner,” Wong added.

Wong went on to explain that, in order to capitalize on the spectacular waterfront location, upgrading of Wifi throughout the resort is currently underway.

Designed to address the needs of all their guests, the provider

A scenic view from hotel rooms

Patio dining

SEE BEACH CLUB RESORT | PAGE 34

Levon Uniform & Textile

Wine, Wind Wind, and Sea an ea COMOX VALLEY

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34

FEBRUARY 2016

BEACH CLUB RESORT CONTINUED FROM PAGE 33

will be able to guarantee a 15MB download speed and 5MD upload speed per device. “With these speeds we’ll be able to ensure those business travellers who need to stay connected can, and those who wish to access their online movie accounts can seamlessly stream their movies.�

Once the work is complete, Wong said guests will have Wifi access in any corner of the resort, hence the longer than usual installation period of time. He expects the upgrade to be completed within the next couple of months. “A lot of travellers are looking for good Wifi speed. This has been a hindrance [for us] in the past so now that obstacle will be removed.�

Another distinct advantage for both tourist and business clients is the strategic location of the Beach Club Resort in relation to the rest of Vancouver Island.

Situated mid-Island and close to the city of Parksville, it’s possible to travel back and forth in a day to a major centre north, south or east of the resort. “In essence it’s only a two hour drive to Victoria, to Tofino or to Campbell River. Staying with us makes it possible to reach across the Island in a matter of a couple of hours.�

Although travel to other parts of the Island is convenient, Parksville and area offers its own attractive events, events in which The Beach Resort is heavily involved. For example, the resort is a Platinum Level sponsor of the Quality Foods Canadian Open Sand Sculpting Competition. For that event alone, last year more than 104,000 people attended the competition, many of them who had travelled to the Island specifically to take in the popular attraction.

Sponsorship of the McMillan Arts Council is another avenue of providing culture and entertainment for local residents and Beach Club Resort patrons. “We’ve also partnered with the McMillan Arts Council to bring Oceanside Classical Concerts to Parksville. As a result, we have

Fine dining on the hotel premises some big names in classical music who have performed and some who have stayed at the hotel, including the musicians from the Borealis String Quartet and pianist Jane Koop. This year the Elmer Iseler singers will be here.�

A nother upcoming local event is the 8th Annual Wine and Culinary Festival, (named Parksville Uncorked). The festival, which sold out last year, takes place from February 18-21 and is hosted at The Beach Club Resort and Tigh-Na-Mara Seaside Spa Resort & Conference Centre.

Proceeds from this annual event go toward supporting Variety Children’s Charity and Rotary Club of Parksville AM. Still on the topic of food and wine, Wong noted that The Beach Club Resort’s Pacific Prime Restaurant & Lounge was the recipient of the Wine Spectator award SEE BEACH CLUB RESORT | PAGE 35

Business meeting and conference rooms

The Nature Trust of BC

Target Multi-Media Inc Cliff Craven 250-228-5499 www.targetmulti-media.com

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The Beach Club Resort PARKSVILLE U VANCOUVER ISLAND

Award winning wines Top Canadian restaurant On-site accommodations Open daily year-round

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proud coordinator of the 2016 Brant Wildlife Festival wishes to thank festival sponsor the Beach Club Resort

www.naturetrust.bc.ca

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FEBRUARY 2016

Spacious guest rooms with a view

Inviting lobby and reception areas

BEACH CLUB RESORT CONTINUED FROM PAGE 34

in 2015.

“We were one of just four winners on the Island. We continue to position The Beach Club Resort as a place to entertain family and friends in an environment

suitable for the occasion. With this award we also are looking at partnering with our suppliers to elevate our hotel as a culinary destination. Other events to further our goal include the Winemakers’ Dinner on Februa ry 21 a nd Pa rksv i l le Untapped, as well as our support

and participation in Dine About, Mid-Island Region.”

Wi ne for the Wi nema kers’ Dinner will be supplied by Hatch Winery out of the Okanagan as the resort continues to reach beyond the shores of the Island.

“We’re trying to cover the province in order to bring in wineries

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and brewers from across British Columbia. That also provides an avenue for residents and the local [area] population to try products from other parts of the province,” he continued.

And, Wong said, there’s more.

In an on-going pursuit of new opportunities, the company has been successful in attracting new and non-traditional meetings and events on the property including hosting a crew that filmed a movie in December.

“There were a couple of household names starring in the movie.

Heather Locklear and Lochlyn Munroe were here and stayed with us,” he said.

Perhaps the most impressive a nd attractive featu re of a l l the projects and initiatives in which The Beach Club Resort is involved, is the detailed attention to the needs of individuals and groups who choose to dine, holiday or celebrate here.

For example, weddings can be conducted at prime locations on the beach. Business conferences can be held in appropriately furnished areas of the resort. Guests can enjoy private beachfront

views from luxurious rooms.

Above all, all these events can be conducted in a serene and private environment.

“We provide intimacy for small to medium sized events such as business events or weddings.

They are not going to just become one of many things going on at the same time!” Wong emphasized, then noted the fact that companies as well as wedding parties appreciate knowing that they will not be competing with other guests for space and facilities.

Not to be overlooked in Wong’s list of priorities is the importance of working alongside members of the company’s leadership team in order to provide outstanding client service.

“We are able to provide year round employment for at least 60 people and we do that to ensure our standards are maintained through the summer, usually the peak tourism season on Vancouver Island. Colleague satisfaction is as important to us as guest satisfaction as one cannot exist without the other,” he said.

The company’s appreciation of staff goes far beyond words, however. Speci a l col leag ue events include: the annual Kick Off the New Year Party; Summer Barbeque; Earth Day; Arbor Day; International Housekeeping Week and Beach Clean-Up as examples.

I n add it ion helpi ng sponsor b each a nd sa nd scu lpting activities, The Beach Club Resort is proud to support the local morning Rotary Club of Parksville AM, the Parksville Cha mber of Com merce, t he Pa rksv i l le-Q ua l icu m Tou rism Association, the Parksville Downtown Business Association and Tourism Vancouver Island.

For more information about The Beach Club Resort or Parksv i l le Uncorked events v isit: www.beachclubbc.com or call 250-248-8999 For information about the McMillan Arts Centre, visit: www. mcmillanartscentre.com For i n formation about the Canadian Open Sand Sculpting Competition and Exhibition visit: http://www.parksvillebeachfest. ca/

36

TOFINO

FEBRUARY 2016

TOFINO AMBASSADOR PROGRAM HUGE SUCCESS Strong Showing from Island Companies at Recent BC Tech Summit

TOFINO JEN DART

H

appy Chamber of Commerce week Februa ry 15-19th! This week is a chance for Chambers of Commerce all over the province to celebrate – a nd showcase – what they do for their members and communities.

Chambers work to increase businesses’ profile, network and skills, while saving them money through discount programs and contributing to a positive business climate in their regions.

We offer our members various ways to connect with other businesses and the community of Tofino. Some of the Tofino Chamber’s popular events include Member Luncheons, the Mayor’s Breakfast and Green Breakfast events, as well as the new After 5 Professionals socials, and our upcoming 12@12

lunch sessions, where we will connect specific member sectors with speakers and government officials.

But the most successful program run by the Tofino Chamber by far is the Tofino Ambassador Program. This is a free training program offered to front line staff and the community as a whole. In partnership with the Raincoast Education Society, we of fer t h ree cou rse – t he Introductory course all about Tofino, the Nuu-chah-nulth Landscape course about local First Nations culture, and the West Coast Ecolog y cou rse, which gives detailed information about Clayoquot Sound’s ecology.

This program is made possible through funding from Tourism Tofino and the District of Tofino, through the Resort Municipality Initiative (RMI). Last year we had over 300 people ta ke the cou rses a nd we a re looking forward to even more in 2016. This year we are adapting the Introductory course to include more of a World Host component, but of course we will retain the valuable information about Tofino and its many aspects. Those who take the free training learn about the reg ion, its festiva ls a nd events, its business community,

bylaws and community values, and much more. Participants in the program get an Ambassador Card upon completion that entitles them to various discounts around town. To find out more about the Tofino Ambassador P rog ra m, please v isit w w w. raincoasteducation.org.

Wit h t h a n k s to t he I sl a nd Coastal Economic Trust, Tofino nearly has its first official Community Profile completed.

Thanks as well to intern Calum Matthews for completing this research. Once complete, the profile link will be available on the Chamber website (w w w. tofinochamber.org).

We are planning a number of member events this month, including our first Mayor’s Breakfast of 2016 with Mayor Josie Osborne, a Members Luncheon sponsored by Jamie’s Rainforest Inn, and a Financial 101 workshop with Geoff Greenall, a Vancouver-based financial advisor. Many thanks as always to the venues and guests that make our events so popular with our membership.

Jen Dart is Executive Director of the Tofino-Long Beach Chamber of Commerce. She can be reached at 250.725.3153. w ww.tofinochamber.org

V

ANCOUVER ISLAND — A group of technolog y companies from Coombs, Courtenay, Nanaimo, Nanoose Bay and Port Alberni recently attracted major attention from media, investors, and attendees during the first ever BC TECH Summit held at Vancouver Conference Centre, January 18 – 19. Innovation Island, the Nanaimo-based tech startup resource, hosted a booth in the BCAN Pavilion, where six member companies in the Innovation Island venture acceleration program showcased their software, projects and code during the two-day event. “It was great to see founders and companies from our region featured alongside thirty-plus other BC companies displaying their innovations in the Technology Showcase and venture capital presentations,” said Paris Gaudet, Executive Director with Innovation Island. “The innovative work happening inside these local island startups—whether in the area of virtual reality, social networks, password-management tools, or coding languages—was well received.” “Seeing some of our island startups onstage, going headto-head for votes from the audience with established Vancouver-based technology companies was definitely a highlight,” said Graham Truax, Executive in Residence for Innovation Island. The event—the first ever Tech Summit organized

by the provincial government— attracted over 3,000 people from across BC and beyond.

Companies participating at the Tech Summit from the Innovation Island venture acceleration program included: ■ Honest Renter (Nanaimo) provides a personality test for screening tenants, designed for landlords who want quality tenants, Honest Renter.

■ Kitestrings (Courtenay) is a password manager for teams, focused on the ability to easily store, securely share and track who has access to vital online account passwords.

■ Kube (Nanaimo) is a private social network that keeps data and relationships private.

■ Hypersurge (Nanoose Bay) is a gamification service that allows brands to gain customers, engagements and insight through play.

■ Skookum Script (Port Alberni) is a fast, powerful and versatile embedded scripting language that turbocharges video game development.

■ Cloudhead Games (Coombs) crafts award winning virtual reality experiences and toolsets.

This team of visionaries has actively developed new standards in VR with proprietary technology including Blink Locomotion and In-Game Performance Capture.

TIM MCGRATH: COMMERCIAL FOOD PHOTOGRAPHER

N

ANAIMO – Have you ever seen an image of food that made your mouth water?

Something that made you say ‘that makes me hungry!’ If so then food photographer Tim McGrath could very well be responsible.

“We’re the premier food photographer for Vancouver Island and the rest of BC. I create the images that make you hungry.

ITS-Food.ca is based in Nanaimo but services all of the Island and Vancouver,” he said.

O f f ici a l ly l au nched a few months ago the ITS-Food.ca website and its companion Facebook profile are online showcases of his work, a creative niche he originally identified more than four years ago. “I’ve been involved seriously with photography for the past 10 years, but I’ve been involved in photographing food for the last four.”

McGrat h’s cl ients i nclude trendy up and coming individual restaurants as well as specialty undertakings such as the ongoing Nanaimo ‘Dine Around’ event, a celebration of area restaurants being jointly organized by the Greater Nanaimo Chamber of Commerce and the BC Restaurant and Food Services Association.

“I’m very excited to be the official food photographer of the premiere edition of the Nanaimo Dine Around promotion,” he said.

ITS-Food.ca also produces

Photographer Tim McGrath has focused on producing imagery for the restaurant and food services industry com mercial food images for grocery store chains, cookbooks and food vendors/suppliers. A longtime lover of photography McGrath learned that to succeed in his chosen profession he would have to ‘focus’ on an area that would set him apart.

“To be successful in photography you pretty much have to specialize to some degree. Some people become wedding photographers some people specialize in portraits. Photographing food presents its own unique set of challenges. It has to be photographed to elicit hunger pangs,”

he said.

“A photograph of food has to affect the viewer on many different levels. It affects your emotions it makes you hungry and ideally, makes you want to taste the food item you see. Taking a photograph to make your mouth water can be as hard as taking a photograph in nature.”

Over the years McGrath has learned that there’s a psychological element to an effective food photo. “A successful image incorporates many factors to capture the essence of the food.

There’s the lighting, the setting, the container the food is served in and more. There’s definitely a psychology to it. You have to think about what triggers a reaction in your viewer. It’s more than taking a cell phone snapshot of what’s on your plate.”

The success of McGrath’s unique business is a reflection of the changing nature of the modern marketplace. “The local food markets have changed, for the better. Go back 15 years or so ago and it was all fast food, today it’s all about ‘good local food’. My forte is to take somebody’s work and to present that work to people who had never imagined eating it.

That’s the essence of an effective food photograph.”

To learn more visit his website at: www.ITS-Food.ca and www.

Facebook.com/ITSFoodca

37

FEBRUARY 2016

Kitimat Clean could be world’s greenest refinery Businessman David Black’s plan would utilize cutting edge technology while creating an estimated 2,500 jobs

BY MARK MACDONALD BUSINESS EXAMINER

K

IT IM AT – David Black wants to build the world’s greenest oil refinery in the world on the northern B.C. coast.

Kitimat Clean, which would be built on a 1,000-plus hectare industrial site between Kitimat and Terrace, could result in 2,500 direct, well-paying jobs and likely another 2,500 in petrochemical-related industries. It would utilize revolutionary technology to significantly reduce carbon output, wouldn’t require a pipeline to obtain the necessary raw material – dilbit (diluted bitumen), and would work within the parameters of Prime Minister’s announced West Coast oil tanker moratorium as it would ship less environmentally intrusive end products to overseas markets.

Over the past three years, Black has been busy speaking to anyone and everyone, espousing the virtues of such a refinery, including 30 different First Nations bands and politicians from all levels of government.

“I must have given this talk to at least 50 different groups by now,” he says, adding that he has not received any push back thus far. Polls have showed that twothirds of British Columbians were opposed to a dilbit pipeline going across B.C. to a tanker terminal, but if a refinery was put into the mix, two thirds were in favour.

Black estimates it will take two years to obtain the necessary permits and approvals, and five years to build it, at an estimated cost of $22 Billion. Black foresees the refinery yielding close to $1 billion in annual taxes to various levels of government.

“It could create 10,000 direct and indirect petrochemical industry jobs in an area of B.C. that really needs it,” he says. “It would make the sea safe, cut the planet’s

CO2 emissions enormously and help the oil industry by giving them better returns.”

But can he actually do it?

Those who know Black believe that if anyone can pull this off, David Black can. Soft spoken and understated, Black is a determined individual and has proven naysayers wrong on many occasions. If he says he can do it - and he’s been saying so publicly now for years - then people shouldn’t be surprised if he pulls it off.

At 69 years of age, one might view his drive to create Kitimat Clean as a legacy project, which it may be. But Black is also a civil engineer, and a very successful businessman, owning over 200 community newspapers in Canada and the United States, including 85 in B.C. And Black sees a profitable venture that is proving attractive to investors.

Black has been traveling the globe, garnering interest from financiers. He’s been to Asia several times, Alberta - of course - and the United States. He recently returned from meetings in the Middle East, which yielded valuable information and piqued the industry’s interest.

“They believe in refineries.

They are profit-making businesses,” he notes. “(In the Middle East) they believe in Canada, and that it’s a great place to invest.”

“This refinery will be profitable, and it doesn’t matter what the price of oil is,” he adds. “We plan to borrow 80 per cent of the money the project needs, and repay it all, with interest, within eight years.”

Raising financing is nothing new for Black.

“I’ve done this before with newspapers, so I’m familiar with the process,” he laughs. “We’re just adding an extra zero or two.

It’s looking pretty positive right now.”

David Black looks at samples of bitumen GREEN TECHNOLOGY Black plans to utilize what is known as the Fischer-Tropsch process, which eliminates all the coke left over once the refining process is completed. First developed in the 1920’s in Germany and utilized during the Second World War, Fischer-Tropsch is used extensivelyaround the world today today, but it has never been used in a bitumen refinery..

By injecting hydrogen into dilbit, it not only increases yield, but would result in nary a microgram of sulphur in the Fischer Tropsch diesel at the end of the process.

“The difference between our approach and all the other bitumen refineries in the world, which all use the coking approach, is 23 million tonnes per year of carbon dioxide emissions. In layman’s terms, that’s the equivalent of six million cars running continuously,” Black notes. That’s what it would mean in regards to saving the planet.”

Black says the end products produced by the refinery and shipped

via sea would eliminate the potential dangers of bitumen spills decimating the B.C. coast.

Refined fuels are much less dangerous to the environment than bitumen would be, since diesel, jet fuel and gasoline dissipate when exposed to air, and evaporate within a matter of days.

Black supports the idea of a West Coast oil tanker moratorium, recalling, as do most British Columbians, the catastrophic 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.

The spill of 250,000 barrels of medium light oil was one-eighth the size of today’s oil tankers.

Exxon worked for four years to clean up the spill. At the peak they employed 11,000 people and 1,400 boats. They only got back 7% of the oil. Even today, it is said that if one were to dig two inches down on northern coastal beaches, they’d hit Exxon Valdez oil.

“That was medium light oil that floated on the water and could be washed off beaches with water.

This is diluted bitumen,” says Black. “If this stuff spills, according to the federal government’s own studies, in the first hour, half of it would sink because our coast has glacial sediment and plankton. That basically would pave the bottom of the ocean. The other half would wash up on intertidal rocks, beaches and mud flats.

The only way to remove it would be with steam, but steam kills all plant and animal matter leaving a sterile coast open to repopulation by alien species.”

Any spill would be unacceptable, Black states, “but if a gasoline spill were to happen, it would be world’s apart from an oil spill.

It would evaporate within two days.”

Black’s refinery is readying to file a project description with the B.C. Environmental Assessment Office and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency.

T h e re i s o n e o t h e r g ro u p

expressing interest in building a refinery on the northern west coast, Pacific Future Energy, w h i c h h a s s u b m i t te d t h e i r paperwork to the BCEAO and the CEAA. “I don’t know if it’s a race,” says Black. “There is probably room for more than one refinery.”

DOESN’T NEED A PIPELINE “I don’t need the pipeline built to do this,” Black says. “Another idea has come up that is better.”

Black has been consulting with Canadian National Railway officials about transporting bitumen from the oil fields to Kitimat via freight cars.

“Shipping bitumen by rail is really safe, as it has the consistency of stiff peanut butter.

It doesn’t explode, and it doesn’t burn.

“If you heat it up over 60 degrees Celsius, it goes into the train cars, and you let it set up. You melt it out of the containers at the end destination. Really, it’s safer, and the people I talk to agree.”

Bitumen can only move 3-4 m i les per hou r t h roug h a pipel i ne, so mov i ng it v ia rail will be faster and cheaper.

“There isn’t any competition from North America for a Canadian export refinery. US export refineries are in the Gulf of Mexico. They can’t get their products to China easily. VLCC tankers are much too large for the Panama Canal, so they’d have to go around the bottom of South America,” Black says.

Going through Kitimat would save weeks of land tavel time and sea travel time, allowing products to get to market quicker.

“I’m excited about the refinery,” says Black. “This is going to be the greenest refinery in the world.

“I tend to look at it as a puzzle. It’s fun to unravel it,” he says. “I’m enjoying the process, and I can feel the momentum building.”

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38

FEBRUARY 2016

REPURPOSED HOUSES OFFER SUSTAINABLE AND AFFORDABLE OPTION “Instead of demolishing Two historic homes moved to make way for new 6.2 acre Capital Park development

a house, we save and remove the building, resell it to someone else

N

ANAIMO - How to save a one-of-a-kind craftsman home in Victoria from demolition? Pick it up and relocate it. The ultimate in recycling, not only does moving a house preserve history, it saves money.

Since 1956, Nickel Bros has been hefting heavy loads, and transporting equipment, houses and commercial buildings across the continent, ocean, island and street. It’s moved a castle from one com mu n ity to a not her, transported a 600 tonne piece of machinery from Texas to Alberta, and lifted and relocated a brick building from Lake Washington in Seattle to Anacortes Island.

The specialist for locating, acquiring and/or selling quality recycled homes in British Columbia and Washington State for 60 years, Nickel Brothers was created originally by Henry and Richard Nickel in Vancouver.

In 1987, following the demand for lifting and moving houses on Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands and the San Juan Islands, Nickel Brothers relocated to Nanaimo.

Today, the company is owned and operated by the second generation of Nickel brothers, Allan and Jeremy, with its main office in Port Coquitlam.

Although the company lifts and moves a range of structures, Allan Nickel said that urban redevelopment has seen a new trend in the BC housing market towards moving and recycling homes.

“I nstead of demol ish i ng a house, we save and remove the building, resell it to someone else and then move it to their property.”

He added that there is an urban problem where property becomes

and then move it to their property.”

ALLAN NICKEL OWNER NICKEL BROS

more valuable than the current house on the property.

“When the existing house is no longer viable on the property, it either gets demo’d or, if its good quality and the demand is there, it gets moved.”

With high housing costs and concerns around environmental sustainability, moving and repurposing a home is providing unconventional solutions for homeowners wanting to leave the city.

Many of the houses Nickel Bros recycle are character homes with unique custom features, high grade construction, leaded glass windows, ornate moldings, inlays and tons of character, anywhere from a 4400 sq. ft.

Victoria Tudor style mansion to a two bedroom 1920’s bungalow.

“Developers call us before they bulldoze to find out if relocation works.”

Recently two historic houses, behind the Legislative Buildings in Victoria, were trucked and barged to a new location on Dallas road. The 6.2-acre Capital Park development site, where five historic homes were located, is part of a massive project that will see a mixed use development of offices, residential and retail units. Three of the houses will stay on the project property and be a part of the development.

The two houses are now on the city’s heritage registry list, built in 1892 and 1911. Underneath their aged and tired walls stand

Allan Nickel overseeing the third generation of Nickels

Allan walks on the beach with nephew, while son Conrad, safety officer, mans the crane

CREDIT:PRESTON NICKEL

CREDIT:NICKEL BROS

Founders of Nickel Bros, Henry and Richard Nickel CREDIT:NICKEL BROS

the bones of a solid, well-crafted home made with first growth timber. Jawl Properties will be repairing the homes and in the spring, putting them on the market.

Nickel said that in many cases it is less expensive to relocate a home like these rather than

demolish and dispose of it.

“Landfills are spared thousands of tons of waste and the new owner gets an affordable, well-built home.”

The Nickel Brothers’ website showcases homes from Vancouver to Seattle waiting for relocation. Priced between $30,000

and $800,000, the cost covers moving the house within a 100 km radius.

Nickel said that the company has a big m a rket relocat i ng houses to the Gulf and San Juan Islands, especially from Seattle, SEE NICKEL BROS | PAGE 39

Congratulations to the Nickel Brothers Team 60 Years is a Milestone to be Proud of!

P 250-758-5217 F 250-758-1444

Congratulations Nickel Brothers!

2230 McCullough Road Nanaimo, BC V9S 4M8

@fly_yyj • www.victoriaairport.com

Congratulations on 60 Great Years

39

FEBRUARY 2016

Nickel Bros moves houses from Washington to BC and vice versa CREDIT:WWW.NICKELBROS.COM

Heritage building travels to new home via land and sea CREDIT:PRESTON NICKEL

NICKEL BROS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 38

Everett, Vancouver and Victoria and that is why it opened offices in those locations to better serve its clients.

He said that homeowners relocating to the islands can take the family home with them, save on new building costs and still

get top dollar for their property in the city. He added that some home owners looking to change the layout of their house or create more space, just want their houses lifted for the addition of a second floor or to have low basement ceiling heights raised.

Allan said that during economic dow ntu rns, the compa ny sees more house raisings than relocations.

There is also a real benefit to SEE NICKEL BROS | PAGE 40

Relocating a heritage home preserves history and saves money

Allan’s son checks platforms, jacks and lifts for safety

CREDIT:WWW.NICKELBROS.COM

CREDIT:PRESTON NICKEL

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40

FEBRUARY 2016

NICKEL BROS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 39

having offices in both Canada and the States, especially as the housing market and dollar fluctuate.

“When the dollar drops we see a big interest from the States, with people buying homes from BC and having them moved to the Pacific Northwest and the San Juan Islands.”

The company even has longtime clients who recycle homes for a living, purchasing the lots, finding the right house through Nickel Bros and then having it relocated, renovated and sold.

Moving a house down the road, across country or to an island ta kes ca ref u l pla n n i ng; t he logistics can be complicated, especially if multiple regions, telephone lines, trees, traffic and water are involved. Permits need to be submitted to the municipalities the house will be traveling through, a structural engineer ensures the house is sound before and after and safety and efficiency are considered at every step.

“The hardest part of moving a house is not so much the physical part but making sure the route is clear, safe, and accessible and passes the region’s permit requirements, including road load.

Our engineers submit drawings, foundation plans and reports to the regions the house will travel through on what upgrades need to be done before the homeowners move in.”

Brick house moved from Seattle to Anacortes Island CREDIT:WWW.NICKELBROS.COM

Nickel explained that the process of relocating a building initially involves a platform of steel beams built to support the house and sit under the larger floor joists and walls. The house is then jacked up in stages using hydraulic lifts.

“Depending on the weight of the building, it can take two, three

Allan Nickel said that moving a house always draws a crowd CREDIT:NICKEL BROS

or four layers of beams,” he explained. “Once the platform is in place a trailer for transporting the house is created by attaching wheels directly to the beams. The wheels or dollies are pulled either by a trailer or by the hydraulically driven dollies or wheeled on to a barge.”

Nickel said that transporting a house always draws a crowd whether it’s by barge or trailer, and that notoriety combined with the company being one of the oldest and most experienced movers in BC, has garnered the attention of reality TV shows, Massive Moves and HGTV’s Game of Homes.

In Season 2 of Massive Moves, TV crews followed the ocean odyssey of a 100-year-old character home Nickel Bros moved 150 miles up the coast to Vancouver Island. And in Game of Homes, it was elected to move four houses to False Creek to participate in a competition that had couples vying for first place and top renovation.

Today, the company is training a new set of Nickels to own and operate the company. Allan’s two sons both work at various positions, with the oldest learning his dad’s job of operation and project manager and several nephews working as foremen.

Nickel says he’s been part of the business since he was a teenager; the next generation will be able to say the same thing. That’s the type of repurposing to get lifted by.

Nickels Bros is at 1528 Broadway St in Port Coquitlam www.nickelbros.com

Congratulations to Nickel Brothers on 60 Successful Years in Business

www.centralpower.ca • (250) 748-0536 • Staghorn Rd. Duncan

FEATURE PROPERTY

Units For Sale or For Lease 1825 Bowen Road Quality Strata Office/Retail Building

i High traffic, central location i 1,049 sq ft to 8,000 sq ft

INDUSTRIAL Greenrock Industrial Park

FOR LEASE 7478 Island Hwy, Merville

4700 Hammond Bay Rd

2517-D Bowen Rd

75% SOLD! Opportunity to position your business in this new industrial development in central Nanaimo. 1 acre lots available.

For Sale | Prices Starting at $499,000

Approx. 8 acres Heavy Industrial zoned property; includes small home and 2,500 sq ft shop. Great potential!

For Sale | $589,000

5,585 sq ft lease space available next to Piper’s Pub in North Nanaimo. This modern lease space won’t last long!

Rare opportunity to position your

For Lease | $19.50 per sq ft

For Lease | $11.75 per sq ft

business in the Co-op Centre.

Approx. 18,500 sq ft commercial space.

INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES Retail, Commercial & Warehouse

Nanaimo

5352D Island Hwy N, Courtenay

975A Price Road, Parksville

Commercial / Residential COMMERCIAL/INDUSTRIAL MIX 20,000 sq ft building on 0.65 acre in Coombs. Ideal for owner-occupier &/or lease a portion of the premises.

For Sale | $1,495,000

INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY Well-maintained strip mall with residential units on upper floor, fully leased, in prime corner location.

For Sale | $2,600,000

Multi-tenanted property including residence. Property consists of three different zones.

For Sale | $1,395,000

Commercial/Industrial zoned land and +/- 20,000 sq ft building in strategic location, multi-tenanted, plenty of parking. Perfect for a business owner to use and/or lease.

For Sale | $1,495,000

DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES 1900 Griffiths Road

9.6 acre development site with possible subdivision potential. Prime central location. Zoned I-1 Light Industrial.

For Sale l $2,945,000

4901 & 4951 Jordan Ave, Nanaimo

Build-to-suit opportunity located in Nanaimo’s most successful business park. Approximately 1.63 acres.

For Sale or For Lease

2414 & 2430 Island Hwy E, Nanoose

Excellent 5.7 acre development opportunity, 3 parcels with a long-term tenant in place on one parcel.

Commercial 5 zoning. .For Sale | $2,500,000

2601 Mission Rd, Courtenay

Highly visible 2.8 acre development site adjacent to the newly constructed Comox Valley Hospital.

For Sale | $1,960,000

Information contained herein has been obtained from the owners or sources deemed reliable by NAI Commercial Central Vancouver Island Ltd. While we have no reason to doubt its accuracy, we regret we cannot guarantee such information. All measurements and other information herein should be independently verified by the reader or prospective user and is subject to the user’s own inspection of the premises and due diligence work and to the user’s satisfaction with the results of such review.

WHO IS SUING WHOM

42 WHO IS SUING WHOM The contents of Who’s Suing Whom is provided by a thirdparty resource and is accurate according to public court documents. Some of these cases may have been resolved by publication date.

DEFENDANT 0707874 BC Ltd 710 Memorial Lane, Qualicum Beach, BC PLAINTIFF Mcgorman, Maclean CLAIM $ 18,373 DEFENDANT 0714576 BC Ltd 6-2966 Kilpatrick Ave, Courtenay, BC PLAINTIFF Stamp, Briana CLAIM $ 5,700 DEFENDANT Accountability Plus Business Centre Ltd 4th Flr 888 Fort St, Victoria, BC PLAINTIFF 888 Fort St Holdings Ltd CLAIM $ 22,174 DEFENDANT ASAP GEOMATIX LTD 16-2000 Jubilee Parkway,

Campbell River, BC PLAINTIFF Hanssen, Terje CLAIM $ 5,819 DEFENDANT ASAP Janitorial Services Ltd 16-2000 Jubilee Parkway, Campbell River, BC PLAINTIFF Hanssen, Terje CLAIM $ 5,819 DEFENDANT Best Buy Canada Ltd 101-145 East Columbia St, New Westminster, BC PLAINTIFF Unisync Group Limited CLAIM $ 134,390 DEFENDANT Canadian Northern Shield Insurance Company 1900-555 West Hastings St, Vancouver, BC PLAINTIFF RA McNally Planning & Development Ltd CLAIM $ 5,199 DEFENDANT Choice Building Contractors Ltd 23766 24th Ave, Langley, BC PLAINTIFF Pacific Coast Mortgage Investment Corporation CLAIM

Tilray - Concrete Prep & Polishing

FEBRUARY 2016

$ 820,375 DEFENDANT Easy Living Holding Ltd 251 Pine St, Nanaimo, BC PLAINTIFF Iritex Pumps and Irrigation Inc CLAIM $ 5,503

DEFENDANT

DEFENDANT

Kilgours Plumbing Service 621 South Alder St, Campbell River, BC PLAINTIFF Owners of Strata VIS 252 CLAIM $ 8,743

Remax First Realty 710 Memorial Lane, Qualicum Beach, BC PLAINTIFF Lambert, Valerie Charlene CLAIM $ 7,275

DEFENDANT McMullen Mechanical 1250 Judge Pl, Victoria, BC PLAINTIFF Earthbound Homes CLAIM $ 25,105

DEFENDANT Harrison Logging Ltd 2800 – 10060 Jasper Ave, Edmonton, AB CR 92 Holdings Ltd CLAIM $ 162,845 DEFENDANT Evans Bay Contracting Ltd 4 Lambert Rd, Surge Narrows, BC PLAINTIFF CR 92 Holdings Ltd CLAIM $ 69,276

DEFENDANT Mountain Equipment Co-operative 1077 Great Northern Way, Vancouver, BC PLAINTIFF Burman, Peter Duncan, Rosetta $ 15,396

DEFENDANT Hyundai Canada 75 Frontenac Dr, Markham, ON PLAINTIFF Harlow Mortiner, Billie CLAIM $ 6,469

DEFENDANT R Parsons Construction Ltd 309-895 Fort St, Victoria, BC PLAINTIFF Copperstone Electrical Systems CLAIM $ 10,702

DEFENDANT Intact Insurance Company 1500A-700 University Ave, Toronto, ON PLAINTIFF MacNab, Williams S CLAIM $ 20,176

DEFENDANT Remax Anchor Realty 710 Memorial Lane, Qualicum Beach, BC PLAINTIFF Lambert, Valerie Charlene CLAIM $ 7,275

Custom and commercial tile work

DEFENDANT Samsung Electronics Canada 20th Flr 250 Howe St, Vancouver, BC PLAINTIFF Barclay, Chris CLAIM $ 10,792 DEFENDANT Sears Canada Inc 4750 Kingsway, Burnaby, BC PLAINTIFF Barclay, Chris CLAIM $ 10,792 DEFENDANT SLC Fisheries Ltd 166 Station Rd, Duncan, BC PLAINTIFF Altech Diesel Ltd. CLAIM $ 10,409 DEFENDANT Vancouver Island Insulation Inc 474 Hewgate St., Nanaimo, BC PLAINTIFF Commercial Construction Supply Ltd CLAIM $ 8,746

Westshore Mall- Floor Prep & Levelling

Concrete polishing and preparation

Target, Canadian Tire & Westshore Mall Projects -On Time On Budget Quality Flooring - From People you can Trust- Over 100 yrs of expertise Over 100 Years of Flooring Expertise 250 756 9996 Rd Nanaimo Marlon@cornerstone-tile.ca www.cornerstone-tile.ca 3061 Barons www.cornerstone-tile.ca 250.756.9996

MOVERS AND SHAKERS

FEBRUARY 2016

commercial properties in the Crown Isle area rose two per cent.

NORTH ISLAND

COMOX VALLEY

The former Seagate Hotel is now open for business: As the Pier Side Landing. The 55 room, four-storey hotel is owned by the K’awatsi Economic Development General Partner Corporation.

Construction on the renovation was conducted by K’awat’si Construction, with Tohm Coban of Vancouver serving as the main architect.

Lynda Smith of Lawn to Food has earned herself a spot on the Food Network’s popular Chopped Canada show. The TV program pits four professional chefs in an elimination race to turn mystery ingredients into a three-course meal, with the chef surviving the final dessert round earning $10,000.

CAMPBELL RIVER Lonnie Tkach and Brenda Carlson have targeted March to open their new Anytime Fitness 24-hour fitness club in Tyee Plaza. Jesse Horton will be the Club Manager.

Tina Oswald has joined the Dominion Lending Centres Coastal Mortgages team at 966 Shoppers Row. Congratulations to the 2015 Sales Team at Century 21 Arbutus Realty, upon earning a Production Award from Century 21 Canada Limited Partnership.

A new liquor store will be opening in the Coast Discovery Inn. Kathy Daigle has joined the office as Property Manager.

Krista Boulding will be opening a new fitness centre, KB Strength & Wellness, at 1661 15th Avenue.

A tip of the hat to Eden Street Salon and Day Spa at 2701 Eden Street, upon celebrating its 15th year in business this year.

Council has fast-tracked zoning to pave the way and allow the Beach Fire Brewing and Nosh House to set up shop on 11th Avenue. Darrin Finnerty, Matthew Fox and Laura Gosnell are behind the brewery.

Congratulations to Bill Howich Chrysler RV & Marine which is marking its 25th year in business this year. Ron May was named 2015 Salesperson of the Year at the dealership.

Campbell River Hyundai welcomes Somae Ranger back to their team.

Henry Washington has joined the team of real estate professionals at Re/MAX Ocean Pacific Realty at 2330A Cliffe Avenue. Henry returns to the Comox Valley from Burns Lake.

Congratulations to Larry Epp, for earning the Top Sales award for 2015 at Arbutus RV & Marine Sales Ltd. in Courtenay.

Dr. Colleen Clancy and Dr. Ann Lu are pleased to note they’re moving into the new location of the Crown Isle Dental Health Care Centre at 220-444 Lerwick Road, in the Thrifty’s/Crown Isle shopping centre.

On another channel, Steve Roscoe’s Woodland Flooring will be featured on a new television program on the W Network called Love It or List It Vacation Homes.

Roscoe started the award winning Knight Road business in 1998, which produces unique flooring from mature hardwoods, wind-fallen, and beetle and fire-killed trees, kiln drying, planning, finishing and staining them.

Care Automotive Service is now in a new location at 150 Mansfield Drive, beside the Whistle Stop Pub.

Motion Specialties will be opening another location in the Comox Valley this spring, in the Crown Isle complex that is home to Thrifty Foods.

Congratulations to the Comox Valley Chamber of Commerce Annual Awards winners: Business of the Year: Nelson Roofing & Sheet Metal Ltd., Business Leadership: Deana Simkin of Billy D’s Pub, Customer Service: Lonnie Almgren of Cascadia Liquor Store, Food and Farm Business: Gunter Brothers Meat Co. Ltd., Heritage Recognition: Art Knapp, Employees Choice: West Coast Expeditions, New Business of the Year: Cumberland Brewing Company, Small Business of the Year: Rattan Plus Home and Patio, Tech & Innovation: Woodland Flooring, and Young Entrepreneur: Haeley Campbell.

Comox Taxi is moving from 1507D McPhee Avenue to 1199 Braidwood Road in Courtenay soon.

Dee McDonald, owner of Willow Guest House, has been named the new president of the Comox Valley B&B Association at the group’s annual general meeting recently. Joining her on the board as vice president is Carolyn Touhey of Two Eagles Lodge, secretary Rebecca Kayfetz of Ellerslie Bed & Breakfast, and treasurer Jim Martin of Bella’s Beachfront B&B. Private senior’s home Cummings Home celebrated 20 years of operation in the Comox Valley.

The proposed five-storey senior’s facility The Berwick is chugging its way through the rezoning process in order to build an addition at 1666 Comox Avenue.

Dr. Janet Carson has joined the dental team of Dr. Terry Blasco and Dr. Bruce Burgess at their office at 1710 Comox Avenue in Comox.

Assessments of properties in the downtown Courtenay area went down seven per cent last year. At the same time

A tip of the hat to Jan Vandenbiggelaar for being named Top Salesperson for the Month at Finneron Hyundai at 250 Old Island Highway.

The Village of Cumberland is acquiring a gravel pit owned by Comox Timber.

2015 was a great year for Comox Valley Airport, which served a best ever 351,530 passengers, up 10 per cent over the previous year. Since the new terminal building opened in 20014, business has risen 90 per cent.

PARKSVILLEQUALICUM BEACH Congratulations to Clarke Gourlay and the team at Morningstar Farm, which provides the milk for Little Qualicum Cheeseworks. Clarke has added the milking robot SEE MOVERS & SHAKERS | PAGE 44

43

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44

MOVERS AND SHAKERS MOVERS & SHAKERS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 43

DelPro Farm Manager to their operation.

The Qualicum Beach Chamber of Commerce has announced that it will be vacating its downtown office and amalgamating their operations at the Chamber’s facility on the beach, merging Chamber and Visitor services.

Locally Owned & Operated since 1993 We Service what We Sell 951 A Canada Avenue Duncan (250) 748-4847

Cowichan Commons (250) 715-1599

Now Open Thursday & Friday until 7 pm

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Congratulations to Peter Munton, who was the 2015 Top Salesperson at Arbutus RV & Marine Sales Ltd. in Port Alberni.

Brewmaster Aaron Colyn will be opening his Twin City Brewing at the corner of Margaret Street and Southgate Road in the spring.

Royal LePage Port Alberni – Pacific Rim Realty is in their new home at #1-4505 Victoria Quay.

Product Development Manager Kim Bryceland tells us that CruisePlus has opened a new full service travel agency at 130 West 2nd in Qualicum Beach.

Evergreen Exhibitions is staging the Alberni Valley Spring Home and Wellness Expo March 12-13 at the Athletic Hall.

Beauty Through Balance Spa Line is pleased to announce their new Spa Luxuries Series, including Shampoo, Conditioner, Body Wash & Hand/Body Lotion. The first collection to this new series is Canadian Forest Elements, which has been created with 100% pure essential oils of Spruce Hemlock, Fir Needle, Fir Balsam, Pine & Cypress.

The new series will launch at Tigh-Na-Mara Seaside Resort & Grotto Spa. The series will launch at other spas across Canada in starting February.

Huu-ay-aht First Nation of Port Alberni has bought several properties in Bamfield including the Bamfield Inn.

Kim Mullins has joined the Parksville Qualicum Beach News in the circulation and front office departments, while Charles Burden is now an advertising consultant with the newspaper.

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accounting firm, R. Anderson & Associates.

Kate Dean, chef de partie at the Cedars dining room at TighNa-Mara Seaside Spa Resort & Conference Centre, was featured on the Jan. 23 episode of Chopped Canada on the Food Network.

A review of the Official Community Plan for Bowser and Deep Bay could open the door for Baynes Sound Investment’s plan to build retail/commercial space, 200 single family homes, and a 292 unit RV park on their 341 acre property in Deep Bay, which was turned down in 2013.

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FEBRUARY 2016

PORT ALBERNI Pacific Seaplanes has started scheduled flights into and out of Port Alberni, notes company CEO Randy Hanna. The company struck a deal with the Port Alberni Port Authority to start the service at Centennial Pier.

Tracey Anderson, PFP, has joined the team at Parker Financial Services at 4650 Margaret Street. Tracey recently moved to Port Alberni from the Fraser Valley, and her husband Bob operates a local

Kim McLennan has opened Cherry Creek Ink, a new tattoo studio in Cherry Creek.

TOFINOUCLUELET Brian Johnson is the new General Manager at Black Rock Oceanfront Resort in Ucluelet. He takes over from Adele Larkin, who served in the position for the past six years. Adele is on to her new adventures, as a General Manager for Nootka Marine Adventures, a Security Properties company. In her new capacity, Adele will oversee Moutcha Bay Resort, Nootka Sound Resort, and Newton Cove Resort on Vancouver Island.

NANAIMO Mike and Tony Harris of Harris Mazda are pleased to announce the appointment of Tony Harris as Managing Partner, following his acquisition of 50 per cent of Tom Harris’ shares in the company. Tony was appointed General Manager of the dealership in 2015. Dave Bare has been appointed Managing Partner and Dealer Principal of Harris Kia, notes Tom Harris.

MNP Regional Managing Partner James Byrne is pleased to note that the accounting firm is now in its new, larger location at 345 Wallace Street.

Kyla Karakochuk, Marketing & Communications Officer for United Way, and also of Social Sticks, will be attending Social Media Camp as a speaker in May. It is Canada’s largest Social Media Conference.

Adele Larkin Bunzl Distributors has purchased Planet Clean, which has an outlet at 625 Townsite Road.

Marshall Cooper is retiring, after selling his four A&W Restaurants in Nanaimo to Roger Milad, who owns A&W’s in the Comox Valley.

The Vancouver Island Conference Centre hosted Aboriginal Business Match, which featured 31 pre-qualified appointments connecting aboriginal and non-aboriginal decision makers, notes Ken Watts, Vice President, NuuChah-nulth Tribal Council.

Nanaimo Bar (Lounge) will be opening beside Pirate Chips on Front Street.

Dr. Gbenga Oluyede will be joining Dr. Regina Renner’s practice at 201-1801 Bowen Road. Dr. Michael Berman now has his office at 13-1599 Dufferin Crescent.

Cathy Webster, formerly an advertising representative for the Nanaimo Daily News which closed Jan. 29, is now a business manager at Nanaimo Nissan. The dealership, formerly known as Newcastle Nissan, is now owned

by Jim Revenberg, who purchased it from Laird Wheaton. Revenberg also owns Sunwest Volkswagen in Courtenay and Comox Valley Nissan.

The former Patricia Hotel on Haliburton Street will be reopening soon as the Cobra Lounge.

The new grocery manager of Pomme Natural Markets at 6560 Metral Drive – formerly Island Natural – is Jeff Severs.

Innovation Island Executive Director Paris Gaudet is pleased to note that law firm Lawson Lundell has become a partner of the organization.

Popeyes Nanaimo in Longwood Station has a new owner: Cameron McEwen.

Reed Family Wellness Clinic is now open at the recently renovated building at the corner of Norwell Drive and the Island Highway which housed Lenhart Insurance.

Cruise Holidays has a new name: Imagine Cruise & Travel.

SEE MOVERS & SHAKERS | PAGE 45

MOVERS AND SHAKERS

FEBRUARY 2016

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Nanaimo North Town Centre.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 44

Anne O’Neil Law has opened its doors at 55 Front Street.

Simple Strata Solutions is now open at 201-194 Cliff Street.

Frontrunners will soon have a new neighbour at 1825 Bowen Road, as Coal City Cycles is opening in unit 104.

Sean Fenzel Photographer is now open at 477 Wallace Street.

Dr. Paul Voorhoeve and Dr. James Laughren, orthopedic surgeons, have opened a new office at 240-1621 Dufferin Crescent.

Hodgson Law is now open at 210 Milton Street.

Subhi Imports has opened beside The Soakhouse on Bowen Road.

General Manager/Owner Rod Ekland is pleased to note that Ecklundson Construction Ltd. has opened an office in the former Tyce Carle-Thiesson office at the corner of Bowen and Northfield.

In mid-April, Scotiabank will close its Nanaimo North Town Centre branch to consolidate at their location in Nored Plaza.

My Favourite Fabric Store held its Grand Opening recently at 6 Commercial Street. The owners are Tanya and Bryan Gruszecki.

The new Healthstone Artisan Bakery is now open in Southgate Mall.

Jennnifer Fox has joined the real state team at Royal LePage Nanaimo Realty.

A tip of the hat to Dr. Ken Langelier and the team at Island Veterinary Hospital for taking second spot in a country-wide video contest sponsored by Boehringer Ingelheim (Canada) Ltd. for pain-free days for pets.

Istockhomes Marketing has opened its doors at 1595 Bowen Road.

Lindsay Shewchuk Registered Massage Therapy is open at 85 Wallace Street downtown.

Birrer Sangret Chartered Accountants is opening its doors at 4-100 Wallace Street.

Aggressive Timber Falling has moved to 3018 Ross Road from Bowen Road.

Sun Life Financial has moved into a new office in the

Steve Hansl has moved his Nanaimo Instant Shoe Repair from the Old City Quarter to 1 Irwin Street. He’s also added another business: Steve The Renaissance Man, which makes ornamental iron work, custom-made knives and assorted metal work.

Robert Fuller, Jennifer Grey and Richard Langston are the owners of Glacial Bay Organic Clay Inc., which is processing special clay harvested by members of Homalco First Nation in Campbell River, before being shipped to customers, largely in Asia.

2 Chefs Affair was voted “best borscht maker” at the inaugural Nanaimo Borschfest, an event held by St. Michael the Archangel Ukrainian Catholic Church, notes Adrian Curkowskyj, who helped organize the fundraiser.

Sponsoring the event were Country Grocer, CHLY Radio, Shaw TV, Columbia Bakery, Island Savings, Harbourliving. ca, Nanaimo News Bulletin and Business Examiner Vancouver Island. Also helping out were Simon Holt, Hyong Lan Vietnamese Restaurant, Original Joe’s, Blue Ginger, Alexandra’s Bistro and Montana’s.

Pete Maltesen has sold the popular New York Style Pizza restaurant on Wallace Street to Daisy Lin of Vancouver, a recent graduate of the Vancouver Island University culinary arts program.

After 30 years in business, Richard Perks has closed Van Isle Video on Bowen Road.

BCAA will build a new auto service centre at 6581 Aulds Road, which will be the province’s third such location.

Congratulations to Shelly Johnston for being the 2015 Top Sales Overall producer at Arbutus RV & Top Sales in Nanaimo.

The union representing locked out food and beverage workers at Nanaimo Golf Club continues to be aggressive in its tactics to force a settlement. Unite Here Local 40 is calling on members to boycott the golf club and a billboard alongside the Island Highway north of Ladysmith encouraged drivers to avoid NGC. Confirmed reports indicate NGC restaurant lost well over $100,000 the last year the restaurant was served by union members, who were already being paid wages over the industry average in Nanaimo. With a skeleton staff of management working the restaurant last year, it posted a small profit.

45

LADYSMITH/ CHEMAINUS Ladysmith & District Credit Union has had its plans to redesign its First Avenue site and three other properties at the Roberts Street corner approved by town council.

New businesses opening their doors in Ladysmith are: Virdigris Gardening, a landscaping company, at 4250 Filipana Road, Aristocrat Artic Clad Inc., an insulation business at 1301736 Timberlands Road, White Willow Event Management at 307 Roland Road, Refresh Your Space Organizing at 48-1150 Walkem Road, and Chroma Paint & Design Inc., a Benjamin Moore dealer, at 132 B Roberts Street.

Serving all of Vancouver Island

Cassidy Country Kitchen is expected to open in February in its sparkling new premises just north of the Nanaimo Airport.

Lake Cowichan Businessman Greg Adams is excited that his plans to move the increasingly popular Sunfest Country Music Festival to Youbou on Lake Cowichan have been officially approved by the Cowichan Valley Regional District. This summer’s event features Carrie Underwood.

Email: Info@FinelineMarking.com Phone:

1 888 227 5043

Website: www.finelinemarking.com

A film is being shot in Lake Cowichan, utilizing the former radio station building.

COWICHAN VALLEY Steve Aydon is Salesman of the Year – again – at Island Chevrolet Buick GMC. He has held the championship belt at the dealership for an amazing 14 years in a row.

Millstone Medical Centre

Ramada Hotel

Vancouver Island Conference Centre

Pacifica Waterfront Condos & Townhomes

Super Plumber of Duncan is planning on moving to Shawnigan Lake in the near future.

Lorne Johnson was named the 2015 Top Sales person at Arbutus RV Mill Bay, notes owners Craig and Rose Little.

The Vancouver Island Motor Sport Resort is well underway in its construction phase, off Highway 18 that leads to Lake Cowichan. The top-flight facility for high-end motor cars is being built by Chris Erb and his team at SupErb Construction of Nanaimo.

The top five producers for 2015 at Pemberton Holmes realty are Ken Neal, Catherine Hobbs, Grant Scholefield, Ray Little and Wendy Mitton>

Proudly serving Vancouver Island for 25 years

L ANTZVILLE PAINTING & MAINTENANCE

Interior & Exterior Residential - Commercial - Industrial

(250)390-3035 (250) 390-3035 | Nanaimo, BC | lantzvil@shaw.ca

OPINION

46

FEBRUARY 2016 A division of Invest Northwest Publishing Ltd. Vancouver Island Office 25 Cavan Street,Nanaimo, BC V9R 2T9 Toll free: 1.866.758.2684 Fax: 1.778.441.3373 Email: info@businessexaminer.ca Website: www.businessexaminer.ca

PUBLISHER/EDITOR | Lise MacDonald, lise@businessexaminer.ca SALES | Shawn Bishop – shawn@businessexaminer.ca, Josh Higgins – josh@businessexaminer.ca, Joanne Iormetti – joanne@businessexaminer.ca WRITERS | Julia MacDonald, John MacDonald, Beth Hendry-Yim, David Holmes, Linda Wenger WEBSITE | John MacDonald – john@businessexaminer.ca

MAYBE IT’S TIME TO MIX BUSINESS AND POLITICS IN THE OFFICE

MARK MACDONALD

W

e are often advised to separate business and politics.

Maybe it’s about time we did.

We know the logic behind this, and it is sound. Don’t contaminate the workplace with political discussions, knowing it could engender strife and division amongst the staff. Don’t use your position of influence as an owner/manager to share your political beliefs with staff, as it could possibly be viewed as intimidation. And generally, it’s not good for business. It takes away from the valuable time you’re paying for, and that is to have your workers work on your business – not ruminate about municipal, provincial or federal political campaigns.

But have we reached a point in our societal conversations that those owning or operating businesses need to inject their opinions into their companies, to make sure employees are getting important information they will need to make truly informed decisions?

Look at the landscape. Unions are unabashed of their support of the NDP. They dream of the day when a socialist party can wrest the controls from free enterprise, thinking this will bring untold prosperity to their dues-paying members. They spend thousands of dollars in union dues to try and make it happen.

While the nightmare of a decade of NDP rule in B.C. under the combined Mike Harcourt-Glen Clark-Ujjal Dosanjh-Dan Miller leadership may seem a distant memory to some, it certainly isn’t to those operating businesses during the 1990’s in this province.

The NDP produced a made-inBC recession that the rest of the country avoided. Business owners remember that. A new generation of voters does not.

We actually don’t need our memories to see what damage an NDP government can do to an economy.

We have a vivid example right next door in Alberta, where Premier

Rachel Notley’s crew is inflicting devastation on the province, with thousands and thousands of jobs lost already – and they’re only a year into the mandate.

In times past, municipal governments were viewed as the NDP farm teams, reloading for runs at provincial and federal levels.

The media can share that mantle now, almost as unofficial, unpaid NDP staff. We saw during the last federal election how the media, in general, forfeited any semblance of objectivity to push their own opinions through the news to influence the public. If you don’t believe it, watch what’s happening again, right now, with the by-elections.

With provincial by-elections underway, the political machines are firing on all cylinders. In BC, this is a two-horse race, with the NDP battling the reigning BC Liberals for two lower mainland ridings.

Premier Christy Clark’s government is being raked over the coals by the lower mainland media, as “in-depth” articles expose the supposed/alleged missteps of the provincial government. At the same time, nary a negative word is spoken or written about the NDP. Almost no one in the media holds the NDP to task for its dark

history, or even draws the link between the NDP in BC and the Notley Crew in Alberta. But it’s exactly the same philosophy that is ruining Alberta that would wait BC if voters ever decide again to give the NDP a chance here.

I have spoken to media owners, asking them directly why they, as owners of businesses, turn the most influential part of their business – the editorial departments – over to the left? Why don’t they at least insist on having something close to a balance in their newsrooms of right/left employees with differing voices and thought?

Wouldn’t that best serve the public – and their business, because an anti-business government would hurt their companies too?

And if we think students are getting a balanced view of both sides of the political spectrum from unionized teachers, then we’d better think again.

So, with all that, who is talking about the importance of government policy on creating wealth and jobs? The jobs that your company provides, which help people raise families, educate their children, and give them a great quality of life? They’re not getting that from the classroom or the media.

In fact, the media and Hollywood

seems to do their best to demonize business under the collective cloud of “corporate greed”, and developers as individuals who are intent on destroying the environment in pursuit of profit.

Maybe it’s time for you to have some fireside chats with your employees about what an anti-business government’s policies would do to their jobs, and ultimately, their families. Perhaps they’ll ponder those points and bring them up at the dinner table, so that everyone in the family receives a balanced viewpoint on the importance of not just getting out to vote, but vote with a healthy perspective on politics, period.

I know business friends of mine who are much more direct in addressing their staff about political matters, and how voting a certain way could likely affect their future employment opportunities. They don’t threaten their workers, and don’t know how they’ll actually cast their ballots, but they do have their say.

Unions do it. The media does it. Perhaps it’s time that business owners and managers get involved in that conversation with those who work for them, because a good economy is necessary for their jobs, too.

provincially is also clear. At the provincial level, the threshold for property values eligible for the provincial homeowner grant went up shortly after the assessment notices landed to protect many residents from what would effectively feel like a tax increase.

Meanwhile, the province is as guilty of charging businesses more than their fair share on the portion of the property tax bill that is under their control. For example, in Vancouver, businesses pay 4.4 times more than residents in school taxes. In dollar terms, a resident pays $2,020 on an average value property, while a business pays $8,890.

Showing leadership by reducing this inequity is something Finance Minister Mike de Jong should seriously consider for his upcoming budget, as it is considered important by 77 per cent of BC small businesses, according to a survey done by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business last September. Ninety per cent of businesses support the province limiting the amount of property taxes that businesses can pay relative to residents (e.g.

small businesses pay a maximum of twice the amount residents pay).

It’s not all bad news. For businesses, the gap between what they should pay and what they do pay is still way too high, but it has been getting better in many municipalities, including Vancouver.

Another ray of hope for business is that there is greater understanding of the problem than there was 10 years ago. Residents care about small business because they contribute so much to making our communities livable.

Increasingly, people understand that if governments are unfairly taxing small businesses, their favourite restaurants, dress shops, bakeries and dry-cleaners have less capacity to keep prices reasonable, create jobs, or even exist at all.

BC BUSINESSES WANT UNEQUAL TAX BILLS CUT A resident would pay $2,713 in municipal property taxes on that value, while a small business would pay $11,260 for a property of the same value

LAURA JONES

G

asps were heard across the Lower Mainland last week as property assessment notices landed and thoughts of, “My property is worth how much???” gave way to, “Holy mackerel, what does this mean for my taxes?”

It’s even worse for businesses.

On average, BC small businesses will pay 2.6 times the municipal property tax of an equivalently valued residence.

In many Metro Vancouver municipalities, this gap is far worse.

For example, Coquitlam businesses pay 4.2 times more municipal taxes, while companies in Vancouver and Burnaby pay

four times more than residents.

To put this in dollar terms, in 2015 an average residential property in Vancouver was worth $1,532,937.

A resident would pay $2,713 in municipal property taxes on that value, while a small business would pay $11,260 for a property of the same value. A greengrocer has to sell a lot of oranges to pay that bill.

This unfairness is even worse than it seems on the surface because businesses use fewer municipal services than residents.

A 2007 report done by MMK Consulting for the City of Vancouver found that, on average, residential properties in the city paid approximately $0.56 in property taxes for each dollar of ta x-supported service consumed, while business paid $2.42 in property taxes for every dollar of tax-supported services consumed. While the study is a bit dated, there is no reason to think the numbers would be much different today.

One automotive shop owner com ica l ly captu res how the i nequ ity feels: “I know now what it must have been like for the peasants in medieval times, as far as having to pay taxes that amounted to a lot of nothing in return.” His property tax bill is now over $60,000. “It’s like paying an employee … but this one never shows up to work!”

What drives the inequity? I have yet to hear of a sound public policy rationale for charging businesses more than residents.

But the political temptation is clear — businesses don’t vote, residents do. The reaction to this incentive both municipally and

Laura Jones is executive vicepresident of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business. She can be reached at laura.jones@cfib.ca. Follow her on twitter @CFIBideas.

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LAW

FEBRUARY 2016

47

TRANSITIONING FROM ANGEL INVESTMENT TO VENTURE CAPITAL LAW

The venture capitalist looks for rapid growth potential

V

entu re capita l ists a re generally not interested in business “start-ups”.

With business start-ups there a re too m a ny u n a nswered questions regarding the product or service, and the market.

That is why “angel” investors are needed to bridge the gap and assist the entrepreneur, both fi na ncia l ly a nd w ith business advice, until a track record is developed.

If things go well, there will likely come a stage when the b u si ne ss ne e d s a m ajor i nject ion of f u nd s to ta ke t he b u s i n e s s to t h e n e x t l e ve l .

Rapid growth can be a curse.

Without adequate fi na ncia l back i ng, rapid ex pa nsion of a successful business can involve an immediate increase in costs with a delayed increase in revenue, and may result in bankruptcy.

T he ventu re capita l ist is look i ng for a bu si ness w it h rapid growth potential and is prepared to provide the funds to fuel that growth. I compare a ngel i nvestment to a sma l l stakes poker game played

Within limits, the

If the entrepreneur does not have the skill set to guide the business to the next level, he or she may be demoted and replaced by someone who does.

I f t he bu si ness i s u n able to meet expected milestones, the business will be cut off from further funding. Those are the rules of the game. Sorry, it is just business.

angel investor will try to accommodate the entrepreneur when problems are encountered

Michael Cooper and Doug Thompson of ThompsonCooper LLP a mong friends a nd compa re venture capital investment to a high stakes poker game played with people whose only interest is the game. In the small stakes game, it is real money; but the small stakes moderate the tone.

Within limits, the angel investor will try to accommodate the entrepreneur when problems are encountered. In the high stakes game, the amount of money at sta ke i ncreases the i ntensity of the players.

To ma ke matters even more i ntense, ex pectations a re sky high. There are also time l i m its, a s t he ventu re h a s a monthly “burn rate” and must reach set milestones before the

allocated funds are exhausted.

The venture capitalist is gambl i ng. He or she k nows that out of ten businesses that receive investment capital, only one or two w ill rea lize their potential.

T he potential return must, t h e re fo re , b e m u l t i p l e s o n the i nvestment to cover the losses on businesses that do not succeed. Those multiples can be between ten and thirty times investment funds. It is not acceptable for the business to merely create a l iv i ng for the entrepreneur and jobs for a handful of employees.

The investment must result in the business “scaling up” to provide significant returns.