Recent Katch Kan ltd. appointments

putting business in focus
403.283.2225
www.baxterbean.com
BUSINESS EDGE
Vo lum e 1 4 , Issu e 3
News Magazine
Katch Kan captain
ramps up rig safety
convincing first one and then
another of the major drillers
(including Ensign, Precision
and Akita plus many more) to
s a very young man
adopt his systems and purchase
working on oil rigs,
his revolutionary products.
Quinn Holtby suffered
It’s a real rigs-to-riches story.
more than his share of crushed
Founded in 1994, the company
fingers and cracked elbows,
failed to turn a profit until 1996
not to mention routine drenchbut today, on the brink of its
ings with drilling fluids and
20th anniversary the company
muds. While he worked, many
employs 125 people in offices
of his colleagues suffered more
across Canada and the U.S and
serious injuries, including one
does business
young man whose
arm was broken
Special Report in more than 60
countries, includin eight places
on Energy
ing Mexico and
when an operaseveral in the
tor hit the wrong
Middle East.
control on a rig’s drawworks.
Its products and systems
At that time, rig safety didn’t
include a number of patented
seem to be a major priority
processes that differentiate
for many drillers. But Holtby
Katch Kan from the competiresolved to do something to
tion, including the Kelly Kan,
improve the situation. And he
Rig Safety Solution (RSS) and
succeeded.
Zero Spill System (ZSS).
After working on his own to
1. You work in a highly
develop proprietary technolospecialized sector, relating
gies to promote drilling fluid
to safety and environmental
containment, rig safety and environmental protection, he built protection within the Canadian oil patch.
Katch Kan Ltd. from scratch,
See ‘Safety’
Page 10
Tom Keyser
Business Edge
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20 Questions with Quinn Holtby
Title: Founder, president/CEO of Katch Kan Ltd.
Born/raised: Edmonton, Alta./Swift Current, Sask.
Family: Lives with his longtime companion, Debra Timar;
Father to one daughter, age 24.
Career Highlights: Winner of an Ernest C. Manning Innovation Award, 2000; EnCana Global Champion Award, 2002.
Co-ordinates: www.katchkan.com, 1.800.840.2877
Business Edge
Page 2
Index
Pipeline pros
Guest columnists Sean Spear and
Kenneth Green explore the issue
of government revenue losses
during the pipeline construction
stalemate.
Page 4
Optimism on the rise
A CFIB survey shows that
national confidence among small
business owners rose slightly in
February. BC and Alberta lead
the way, but it’s a mixed bag
nationally.
Page 6
Federal budget response
Canada’s oil and gas industry
groups respond to the recently
released federal budget.
Page 8
Ice Storm 2013
Business Edge spoke with a
number of smart and resilient
Ontario businesses to find out
how they successfully weathered
Ice Storm 2013.
Page 9
Year of the House?
Kicking off the Year of the
Horse, guest columnist and real
estate jockey Amie Hautz was
behooved to take a look at the
Calgary housing market hay-day.
Canada’s big cities aren’t the only
ones struggling with affordable
neighhh-bourhoods. A recent
trip to Hong Kong raises the
equestrian of how to find decent
housing options in one of the
world’s most densely populated
cities.
Page 13
LNG infrastructure
Between the oil sands and
liquid natural gas industries, an
estimated $55 billion is going to
be spent on infrastructure over
the next seven years.
Page 18
Out of the norm
A recent UBC study indicates
that social media is turning
people into “slacktivists” by
making it easy for them to
associate with a cause without
committing real resources to
support it; $5-million donation
to SAIT intended to bridge
the gap between skills-based
education and labour-market
needs; Team Canada ties
with team Italy in trading
competition held by U of T’s
Rotman School of Management.
Page 22
2014 projections
The Conference Board of Canada
reports on projected 2014
municipal economic growth
across the country. The prairies
look strongest, but most cities in
central and eastern Canada will
still see growth over 2013.
Page 23
TechStyle drones on
Resident tech specialist Tom
Keenan takes a bird’s-eye view
of the emerging drone industry.
Whether it’s delivering Amazon
packages or flying surveillance
for the resource industry, drones
are coming soon to an air-space
near you.
BUSINESS EDGE
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Page 28
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Business Edge
Page 3
Speedpro continues to REACH for stars
T
here are any number
of excellent reasons
why Joanne Ruston’s
northeast Calgary sign shop
has been named the country’s outstanding Speedpro
Canada franchise for three
of the last five years. First
and foremost: she cares.
Ruston’s sophisticated
customer-service model is
the primary reason for the
landslide success she has
enjoyed since 2001, when she
purchased a franchise from
Speedpro Canada, the country’s largest chain of sign makers and the industry leader in
sign-design innovation.
Ruston is one of those
rare individuals who positively
thrives on a deadline. Her expert and efficient staff prides
itself on delivering quality
product on time, while making
a strenuous effort to exceed
customer expectations.
“I think that’s what sets us
apart from our competitors
or at least that is what I hear
from many of our customers,”
says Ruston. “We take the
time to acquaint ourselves
with the specific needs of the
people we serve.
“We will go to their place of
business in order to determine
what are their exact needs.
Once we understand what
they are trying to accomplish,
we can help them decide on
the nature of the message
they wish to deliver, as well
as the most effective way to
deliver it.”
Ruston describes this
approach as REACH:
R is for reason: what is the
reason for your sign?
E is for effect: what is the
intended effect you wish
for your sign?
A is for audience: whom
do you wish to target?
C is for context: what is the
optimal size and location
for your sign?
H is for hardware: which
medium of signage is best
suited to your needs.
And Speedpro Canada
delivers just about any kind of
message you would care to
name. That includes vehicle
graphics, reception signage,
window or washroom signage
Joanne Ruston, owner (left) and Joe Yee, production manager, holding Calgary northeast Speedpro
Signs’ Franchise of the Year award.for 2012.
and signs for boardrooms
and offices. As for the exterior
of your corporate headquarters, large or small, Ruston’s
team will set you up with
vehicle and storefront signage, lawn signage, outdoor
banners, teardrop flag banners, LED and electric signs,
as well as permanent lockable
Trac signs.
“As we tell our customers,
brand recognition is extremely
important to them,” Ruston
explains, adding, “we do have
a highly skilled designer on
board, so we can create a
new logo for you as well.”
It’s all about turnkey solutions at Speedpro Canada.
Return business is another
key to Ruston’s success.
Many of her customers are
small to medium corporations
which are either just starting
out or aiming to ramp up their
marketing efforts via improved
brand recognition. Generally,
they start out just needing
the basics, but Ruston finds
many come back from year to
year as they either expand or
redecorate their premises or
their vehicle fleets. It tends to
result in a snowball effect.
The team also does
quite a bit of work on behalf
of residential/industrial
development and property
management companies,
which generally require significant quantities of safety
and direction signage during
each stage of construction.
Event planners love to
bring their most creative ideas
to Speedpro, where Ruston’s
crack team invariably rises to
the challenge, creating magical settings for special events
of every conceivable kind.
“That’s not the majority of
our business, most of what
we do is more corporate
focused.” Ruston hastens to
add, “But our event planning
customers love us because
they know that we’ll go the
extra mile to help them make
their creative vision a reality. And, the fact is, our staff
enjoys these challenges. We
have fun responding to this
type of request.”
Speedpro has risen to the
top of a highly competitive
field by means of its spectacular customer-service model
and a lengthy history of positive word of mouth.
Much of that enthusiastic
feedback has been generated by Ruston’s dedication
to quality control, plus her
insis-tence on following
through with each and
every customer. With the
help of an automated survey
delivered to all of Speedpro’s
clients, Ruston and her team
are able to monitor followup customer comments and
satisfaction levels.
“Usually, we get a nine
out of 10 or 10 out of 10,”
she elaborates. “But every
once in a while, a customer
will register a complaint
or express some level of
unhappiness with our work.
When that happens, I’m on
the phone to them. Sometimes it’s just a matter of
communication breakdowns,
but we always try to learn
from the feedback the
surveys generate.”
Joanne Ruston cares
deeply about customer
service – and it shows.
For additional information,
please visit her website at
www.speedpronorth.com
or phone the shop directly
at 403.239.2169.
Page 4
Business Edge
Pipeline construction would boost government revenue, job growth
Sean Speer & Kenneth Green
Guest Columnists
to East and West Coast ports
is key for Canadian resource
companies to diversify their
iscussions surrounding customer base and to raise
Canadian export
the need
prices relative to
for new
global benchmarks.
pipelines to transBut the cause of
port Canada’s oil to
new pipelines - not
market have been a
to mention the
dominant economreassignment of
ic, environmental,
existing ones - has
and political issue
become politicized
for the past several
and run into opyears.
position.
Canada’s overSean Speer
At present the
whelming reliance
Guest Columnist
debate has reached
on the United
a stalemate of
States as a customsorts. The economics of greater
er, the U.S.’s growing energy
market access for Canadian
self-sufficiency, and limited
resources has run directly into
pipeline infrastructure have
an environmental backlash led
placed a low ceiling on the
by some with concerns about
prices Canadians are able to
pipelines in particular and
secure for our energy exports.
some who are just generally
New pipeline infrastructure
D
Association of Petroleum
opposed to fossil fuel resource
Producers (CAPP), production
development.
of oil from Alberta’s oil sands is
One aspect of the debate
expected to more than double
that seems to have attracted
between now and 2030, rising
little attention, however, is
from 3.2 million barrels of oil
the impact that the current
per day to 6.7 million barrels
impasse has had on government finances. Specifically, low per day.
What are the economic
energy prices stemming from
benefits of such
limited transport
development?
options have
ENERGY/
A 2011 study by
come to reflect
themselves in
TRANSPORTATION the Canadian
Energy Research
less revenue for
Institute (CERI)
Canadian govprojects that investments and
ernments.
revenues from new oil sands
The economic case for new
projects would be over $2 trilpipelines is well-documented.
lion between 2010 and 2035.
Canada has the world’s third
This would result in a $2.1
largest proven oil reserves, is
trillion increase in the Canathe fifth largest exporter of
dian economy, and job growth
crude oil, and is the fifth largin the oil sands industry from
est producer of crude oil. And
75,000 in 2010 to over 900,000
that is only expected to grow.
According to the Canadian
See ‘Price’ Page 17
Business Edge
Page 5
Page 6
Business Edge
Small business confidence
bounces back in February,
according to CFIB report
Business Edge
I
n recently released survey results, the Canadian
Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) reports
that Alberta’s small business
confidence index bounced back
3.5 points in February to 70.6,
which completely erased the
drop they observed in January.
“It’s certainly good news to
see a healthy upward jump in
the index for February. Better
yet, the index has broken back
through that 70 point barrier
that clearly shows entrepreneurs in Alberta, on balance,
are feeling good about the
future,” says Richard Truscott,
Alberta director for CFIB.
The hiring intentions of independent business owners in Alberta remained quite strong in
February compared to the rest
of the country. Thirty-one per
cent said they were planning to
hire full-time employees in the
next three months compared to
only five per cent who said their
workforce would shrink.
Nationally, the small business confidence index rose by
0.4 points to 64.4 last month,
expanding on its 1.7 point gain
in January. The index now runs
about half a point better than
its 2013 average.
“This is a sign that small
businesses see the glass as more
than half full for February,”
said Ted Mallett, CFIB’s vice
president and chief economist.
“And, the reading’s in line with
last month’s trend, where we
already saw optimism levels
rebounding.” Notably, the rapid
downshift in the value of the
Canadian dollar in late January
has shown up in business pricing plans. After averaging 1.4
per cent through 2013, expected
annual price increases surged
to 2.1 per cent in February as
importers scrambled to adjust
to the new currency level.
Although up overall,
optimism levels are slightly
scattered from coast to coast.
Business owners in British Columbia (71.4), Alberta
(70.6) and Newfoundland and
Labrador (67.2) are the most
optimistic, seeing little change
from January. Quebec (59.6)
and Prince Edward Island (61.0)
saw slight improvements but
still remain below the national
average. And, while Ontario
(62.9) experienced a surge in optimism in January, its February
index score fell this month, as
did Manitoba’s (58.7). Optimism
among small business owners
in Saskatchewan (63.6), Nova
Scotia (57.6) and New Brunswick (56.6) stayed virtually the
same.
According to past CFIB
results, “index levels normally
range between 65 and 70 when
the economy is growing at its
potential.”
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Business Edge
Page 7
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Business Edge
Page 8
Federal budget well received
by oil and natural gas industry
Business Edge
ity to attract investment.
Over the next decade, total
anada’s oil and natural
hiring needs for direct oil and
gas industry responded
gas jobs in Canada will range
positively
between 125,000
to the recently
and 150,000
Special Report jobs – both
released federal
on Energy
budget, particuprofessionals and
larly regarding
skilled trades–
the increased
as a result of
funding in support of job skills
forecast industry activity,
training.
retirements and turnover, says
The Canadian Energy Pipethe Petroleum HR Council of
line Association (CEPA)
Canada.
welcomed the increased funding and believes that the
Oil & gas service
potential for high quality jobs
firms grow sales
and access to excellent training
are essential to the long term
leads by 300%
success and economic developompanies in the oil and gas
ment of Canada.
service sector are reporting
record returns on investment
“Throughout the supply
thanks to Calgary-based FP
chain, across Canada, good
iMarketing’s innovative approach
to lead generation.
jobs are being created by our
One of their control and
industry and specialized skills
instrumentation clients, also headare needed,” said Brenda Kenny,
quartered in Calgary, is one of the
growing number of oil-patch supply
president and CEO, CEPA.
firms that are benefiting from FP
The Canadian Association of
iMarketing’s unique formula for success. Responding to the customer’s
Petroleum Producers also reccall for better lead flow from their
ognized the budget’s measures
website, FP iMarketing implemented
to foster growth and developits unique three-step process utilizing
a cleverly designed website, potent
ment of Canada’s future skilled
SEO (search engine optimization)
trades workforce.
program and FP’s signature lead
“Our industry is the larggeneration software.
The result? The client saw its
est employer of skilled trades
sales leads rise by 300 per cent in
workers in Canada so we
the first year.
For companies targeting sales
strongly support government
in the oil and gas sector, capturing
measures to promote careers in
and streamlining lead flow is of
this sector,” said Dave
critical importance. Airdrie-based
United Safety saw almost identical
Collyer, CAPP president.
results with FP iMarketing’s three“Meeting the labour requirestep process.
FP iMarketing, under the guidments of a growing economy
ance of software entrepreneur Fred
is crucial to the oil and gas
Yee, has earned many awards over
industry, particularly in the oil
the last decade. More importantly,
the company has established itself
sands and for plans now under
as a reputable online lead-generation
consideration to build a liquecompany specializing in helping
fied natural gas industry in Britthose in the B2B realm, particularly in
the oil and gas and industrial sectors,
ish Columbia,” said Collyer.
achieve superior marketing results
Worker shortages have inflathat translate directly to a healthier
bottom line.
tionary implications, including
To be FP iMarketing’s next sales
cost increases for construction
lead success story and to benefit
projects and increased project
from FP’s proven Active Conversion
software and mobile marketing tool,
execution risk, and could
visit www.AlbertaSalesLeads.com
impact the private sector’s abilor call 403.508.9889 (x127).
C
C
Business Edge
Page 9
Lessons in crisis and opportunity from Ice Storm 2013
Heath Applebaum
Business Edge
B
usiness Edge spoke with
a number of smart and
resilient Ontario businesses who not only weathered
Ice Storm 2013 but emerged
stronger and more profitable.
On Friday, Dec. 21, 2013,
Ontario, Quebec and Eastern
Canada were paralyzed by one of
the worst ice storms in Canadian history. Combining a flash
freeze of nearly three inches of
rain, -40°C temperatures and 50
kilometre per hour winds proved
to be a recipe for disaster. Eerie
cracking sounds echoed through
neighbourhoods as massive
trees snapped and crushed cars,
houses and power lines.
When asked about the situation at the time, Toronto Hydro
CEO Anthony Haines said, “It
truly is a catastrophic ice storm
that we have had here, probably
one of the worst we’ve ever had.”
Nearly 800,000 people across the
Greater Toronto Area alone were
impacted, forced to abandon
their homes and businesses for
up to 12 days. Public transit and
Pearson airport experienced
massive delays, traffic lights were
out and Canada Post was unable
to deliver mail during the most
important two weeks of business
in the entire year.
December is a make-or-break
period for Canadian retailers,
with typical sales of roughly
$40-billion industry-wide, which
represents 20 per cent of annual
sales, according to the Retail
Council of Canada.
A City of Toronto report assessed the cost of storm damage
at $106 million and preliminary
estimates from the Insurance
Bureau of Canada have reported
$200 million in ice storm insurable losses for December 2013
alone, with weather related damages in 2013 costing the insurance industry $3 billion.
The silver lining from this
crisis glistens around companies
that not only managed to survive
but thrive, rising to the challenge
and delivering reliable service
and products for their customers
when it mattered most.
The symbol for crisis in Mandarin means “dangerous opportunity,” and some companies saw
this crisis as an opportunity to
not only answer the call for their
customers and communities, but
also as an opportunity to learn
and improve. Five factors proved
crucial to those who successfully responded to the dramatic
situation.
1. Communication
Businesses that were able to
answer the call with sufficient
staff to effectively field and manage customer enquiries proved
to be essential. Given the reliance on smart phones during the
power outage, companies that
had mobile friendly websites to
enable customers to book online
or call certainly profited. Hotels
are a perfect example of this, and
were able to help families who
needed shelter on short notice.
Savvy restaurants who were
either fortunate to have power,
or who managed to secure backup power by renting high output
generators, enjoyed a very busy
week of sales. Those with online
reservation tools and staff working the phones had customers
lining up outside the door to feed
hungry families on the move.
Other retailers adapted:
sending out Tweets and emails
to their customers, in addition
to updating their websites to
inform their loyal followers that
they were opening earlier and
staying open later. These simple
communication efforts helped
some retailers recover and make
up for a portion of lost sales during the power outage.
2. Adaptability
Businesses that were able to
adapt and scale their offerings
to meet the increased demand
for products and services were
able to take full advantage of the
situation. Staffing, equipment,
and having a generous stock of
products in their inventory was
key to such scalability during the
crisis.
Home Depot of Canada is an
example of successful adaptation as it played a role in helping
both businesses and homeowners with essential supplies and
advice during and since the ice
storm across their 86 Ontario
stores. According to company
spokesperson Erika Botond,
“We monitor upcoming weather
events and took immediate
action when the ice storm hit,
working with our stores across
the province, making sure they
could open and stay open later,
to help our customers.” Botond
adds, “Due to the storm there
was a high demand for products
such as salt and generators” so
staff worked very closely with
their vendor partners to try to
keep up with customer demand,
regularly replenishing their
stock. Home Depot teams held
daily status calls to stay on top of
things, delivering products every
day from their locations across
the province including 252,000
bags of salt to its stores after the
ice storm.
3. Planning
Businesses that fail to plan
are planning to fail. A common
theme among many organizations that were able to successfully skate over the challenges of
the ice storm was being prepared.
“The tough lesson companies
have learned with the recent ice
storm is how important business
continuity and emergency management plans are to protect
their bottom line” says Jason
Reid, President of National Life
Safety Group. Reid is an emergency management expert who
does risk assessments and develops plans to prepare Canadian
companies in all sectors from
universities and shopping malls
to industrial plants and foreign
embassies around the globe. As
the expression goes, the only real
mistake is the one from which
we don’t learn, and this certainly
is true of preparing for the next
power outage.
Based on a recent Pollara
research report prepared for the
Ontario Energy Board, people
across Ontario have an average
of nearly five power outages per
year. Also Toronto Hydro admits
that half the power grid is past
its useful life and has warned of
more frequent blackouts. “We
expect not only power outages,
but an impact on overall service
and public safety,” according to
Toronto Hydro vice-president
Blair Peberdy. Clearly the future
holds more “opportunity” for
similar outage crises, so it is crucial that businesses take charge
and prepare.
4. Meeting consumer demand
One company that was poised
to benefit from the recent power
outage was Cozy Comfort Plus,
one of the largest gas fireplace
retailers in Ontario. With a
renewed interest in reliable heat,
owner Brian Kar says “We have
seen a 500 percent increase in
gas fireplace sales since the ice
storm and a dramatic increase
in new customer inquiries.” He
expects his sales to continue to
grow because gas fireplaces do
not require electricity and can
See ‘Preparation’ Page 21
Page 10
Business Edge
From Page 1
Safety: ‘There really wasn’t any safety equipment on the drill floors’
What factors sent you down
your eventual career path?
After I turned 18, I went to
work on the rigs. My mother
wouldn’t let me go until I
turned 18 because in those days
drill rigs were too dangerous.
A lot of people from my area
of Saskatchewan had been
injured. My mother owned a
restaurant and heard all these
stories, so she was reluctant to
let me go.
2. So how did you finally get
your start?
My brother-in-law, Larry
Trottier, said, “Hey, you can
come and work with me. I’ll
be able to keep an eye on you.”
So I took the job shortly after I
turned 18. I wound up in Fort
St. John, on a drilling rig known
as Baltic 16 or 46, I can’t remember which. I started on the
drill floor as a roughneck.
3. Was on-the-job safety an
issue at that time?
You bet. That rig was old. It
was quite worn out and very
dangerous. The first thing
to happen to me was to get
“hosed”. Nearly the second connection we made, my brotherin-law popped a wet connection
and hosed the whole works of
us on the drill floor. It was an
initiation process. He wanted
to hose the guys early in their
training because if it happened
later on and a guy quit because
of it, you’ve wasted all the time
you spent training him.
4. What were some of your
other early experiences on
that rig?
Larry and I worked together on that particular rig
for some time and we saw a lot
of things that weren’t necessarily healthy for people. Slips,
strains, sprains. People getting
hurt. Larry was a conscientious
driller but in those days we had
people who weren’t quite so
conscientious. Sometimes they
had other things on their mind
Fully equipped rig in Mexico with an extended high-temp Kelly Kan
or in their body, if you know
what I’m saying.
5. What would you describe
as the most unsafe condition
of a rig at that time?
Throughout my transition
from roughneck to driller, I
observed a lot of unsafe conditions. Most of them had to
do with wet and slippery drill
floors due to uncontrolled
discharge of fluids. You were
supposed to push heavy (300 to
400 pounds) pieces of equip-
ment around on the wet floor
and somehow not get hurt.
6. Were you able to avoid serious injuries?
I had several fingers crushed,
a thumb crushed and other
See ‘Prototypes’ Page 12
Business Edge
Page 11
Page 12
Business Edge
From Page 10
Prototypes: ‘Most of the
technology didn’t exist as yet’
injuries that were related to
slips, sprains and strains. There
really wasn’t any safety equipment on the drill floors. When
you got hosed, as I mentioned
before, with a water-based drilling fluid and the temperature is
minus 40°C, you start to freeze
up and a whole cascade of
events tend to follow that and
that leads to injuries.
7. Can you walk me through
the process of how these
experiences led you to search
for better ways to promote
safety on a drill rig?
I’d say it began in 1981. We
were building a drilling rig in
Calgary. There was a particular
piece of equipment called a
dead line stabilizer, a rubber
thing that held the dead line in
place. Every time you worked
the stick, you had to pull the
drill pipe back. And every time
you did so, this thing was in exactly the right spot, you’d crack
your funnybone on this sharp
metal.
So I asked the engineer if we
could move it down a foot or up
a foot, just to get it out of the
way of the elbows. He answered,
“If we move anything on this
rig, I won’t warranty it.” And he
didn’t say it in the nicest manner. That confirmed to me the
conviction that I was going to
help the industry to change.
8. What steps did you take?
I drilled for about 18 months
after that. The industry started
to slow down about that time.
A gentleman came to me and
proposed that I should be a
relief rig manager or tool push,
in other words overseeing the
operation of the rig. That’s when
I made a decision that if I was
ever going to change anything
in the oil patch, it wouldn’t be
from the inside of a rig manager’s shack. I decided at that time
to resign from the oil patch and
learn to improve my sales skills.
9. How did you propose to do
that?
In around 1986, I decided to
go into real estate sales, which
is a tough business. Studies
show that only one of 100 realtors survive their first year. I set
a goal to stick with real estate
for 10 years. After that time,
I planned to return to the oil
patch and hopefully change the
industry.
10. How did your real estate
career pan out?
It’s strictly commission and
you had to work bloody hard.
I was always a hard worker
anyway so that didn’t bother
me. About my eighth year, after
I had won several awards and
made the Top Five club a few
times, I turned my attention to
other things. I started studying
certain books relating to super
polymers. I studied the Encyclopedia of Plastics for about two
years.
11. Where did your studies of
plastics lead you?
I started by building a little
mockup of a drill rig as a prototype. I made the drill pipe out
of a piece of fencepost, the drill
floor out of a piece of acrylic.
The wellbore was a coffee can
and I actually made a mini-prototype of the tool we currently
market as the Kelly Kan.
12. And what did you do with
the prototype?
I took it over to a contact of
mine at Akita Drilling and got
a meeting with the operations
manager at the time. I showed
him my little mockup and I said,
“If I build you some prototypes, would you use them?
And should they be successful,
would you put them on all your
rigs?” And he said yes. So Akita
See ‘Challenge’ Page 14
Business Edge
Page 13
Edge Real Estate
Don’t be slow out of the gate in the Year of the Horse
Amie Hautz
Guest Columnist
K
ung Hei Fat Choi!
Celebrating Chinese
New Year in Hong Kong
recently, I couldn’t help but get
excited about the coming Year of
the Horse.
The Year of the Horse, according to astrologist Susan Levitt, is
“a time of fast victories, unexpected adventure, and surprising
romance. Energy is high and
production is rewarded. Decisive
action, not procrastination,
brings victory. But you have to
act fast in a Horse year.”
Not that I am a big believer
in astrology, but there is indeed
little time for horsing around if
you are looking to purchase real
estate in Calgary this year. Inventory remains at extremely low
levels, with less than two months
worth of single-family listings at
the current rate of sale. There are
just 1,671 single-family houses,
577 condos and 277 townhomes
listed in the entire city right now,
a total of of 2,525 for the City of
Calgary. Compare this to almost
13,000 listings currently in the
Greater Vancouver area and just
under 12,000 listings in the City
of Toronto.
I always enjoy seeing the way
people live in different cultures
and, being in real estate, am
curious about what their residences are like.
Although there are many
grand, luxurious properties in
Hong Kong with incredible views
of the ocean, outlying islands
and city skylines, there are also
hundreds of thousands of tiny
apartments. According to mostly
reliable Wikipedia, Hong Kong is
the fourth most densely populated nation in the world at 6,516
people per square kilometre. In
contrast, Canada is the 230th
most densely populated at 3.6
people per square km. If you are
still feeling crowded, you could
always relocate to Greenland
which is the least dense nation
at 0.03 people per square km!
Canada’s big cities are not
six feet by three feet, and just tall
the only ones struggling with afenough to sit up in. Residents
fordable housing these
share a common bathdays. In Hong Kong,
room with a dozen or
if you can’t afford to
so other caged resirent an apartment
dents. The images are
(which is usually in the
quite appalling if you
thousands of dollars
google “cage homes
per month), you can
Hong Kong”.
rent out a bunk bed
If you want to
that is surrounded by a
purchase real estate in
metal cage so you can
EYE ON REAL ESTATE Hong Kong, even modAmie Hautz
keep your belongings
est condos run into the
securely inside for
millions of dollars Ca$1,300 HKD/month (about $185
nadian. A 384-square-foot unit
CAD). The “living space” is about with a tiny kitchen and located
in a trendy, central location is
listed for sale at $8,700,000 HKD,
roughly $1,200,000 CAD.
There are very few condos
this small in Calgary – just 24
units listed right now under 500
square feet, with the smallest
being a 307-square-foot studio
in Bankview for $90,800. This
comes out to $295 per square
foot.
Amie Hautz is a Calgary-based
real estate agent with Century
21 Bamber Realty. She can be
reached at Amie@RiverLifeReal
Estate.com.
Page 14
Business Edge
From Page 12
Challenge: The big challenge was ‘re-engineering the impossible’
Drilling was very instrumental
in the launch of our Rig Safety
System, especially the first component.
13. Did Akita help you to
manufacture your working
prototype?
I went out and fabricated
them and they allowed me to
test them on Akita rig 32. So we
tested on the rigs, they bought
two or three of my prototypes
and that supplied me with the
financing I needed to start the
process of engineering and
manufacturing these units.
14. Where did you go to get
the prototypes manufactured?
Well, this was really something new. Most of the technology relating to super-polymers
didn’t exist as yet. We really
had to dig in and come up with
ways and means of fabricating
these prototypes. There were a
lot of obstacles. We managed
to fabricate them in my garage
but there was a lot of trial and
error. I struggled with many of
the materials I tried to work
with, rubber being one of them. I
found that it just wouldn’t work
as a sealing material.
15. What was the problem
with rubber?
At minus 40°C on a drilling rig, rubber freezes stiff as
a board. We needed a material
that was able to compress in
cold temperatures and rubber
just didn’t cut it.
16. But eventually you arrived at your design for the
patented, lightweight mud
bucket that you call the Kelly
Kan, correct? How long did
the entire process take?
About 18 months. Our product is designed to replace a steel
mud bucket that weighed 270
pounds. It was very difficult and
dangerous, wrestling that thing
around on a slippery surface,
frozen stiff. Plus, they always
leaked. In the old days, when we
had a wet connection – which
we always did with a Kelly drive
– we’d either pop the Kelly and
soak down the whole rig and the
crew or we’d wrap a plastic bag
or a gunny sack around it to try
and control the discharge.
17. Can you describe more
of the challenges you had to
meet at this stage of
development?
The big challenge was “reengineering the impossible”, in
the words of the two engineers I
consulted with. First we had to
come up with the right material,
and then it was a whole other
experience working with the
material because nobody had
ever used that amount of superpolymer before. It took us nearly
100 tries to get it right.
18. The oil patch is notorious
for being reluctant to adapt
to new methods or products.
Did you encounter resistance
when bringing your product
to market?
What we’ve done is create
a paradigm shift from reactive
strategies in the field to proactive strategies. Because now
there are effective tools to use.
The secret to getting the message across is persistence. It’s
tough to ask an industry to accept a new technology. There’s a
hesitancy there, for good reason.
If you’re operating an oil rig in
Western Canada that’s 250 miles
from the nearest town, and you
bring in a new technology that’s
going to fail, you’ve just caused
a whole bunch of down time.
It took people a long time to
understand that the materials
we were using are stronger than
steel. They’re lighter, roughly 10
per cent of the weight of steel.
You can pound on them all day
long with a sledgehammer and
never hurt them.
19. You’ve said all along that
your primary motivation in
the development of your new
products and systems was the
promotion of rig safety. But
they also contribute a great
deal to environmental sustainability, don’t they?
Safety and environmental
protection really go hand in
hand, along with significant
cost savings. When we eliminate
fluid spillage on the drill floor or
control and re-direct it, we cap-
ture it beneath the drill rig, it’s
very good for the environment.
A study we conducted for one
of our customers showed that
we saved them $500,000 worth
of drilling fluid on just one well.
Plus there’s the matter of lost
See ‘Expertise’ Page 16
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Business Edge
Authorized Provider of
Page 15
Page 16
Business Edge
From Page 14
Expertise: ‘Drillers shouldn’t sacrifice quality or safety’
equipment that gets dropped
down the annulus.
Four per cent of the global
drilling budget is spent on the
recovery of lost tools and slip
dies that have dropped down
the annulus. Part of our Zero
Spill System is designed to
protect the annulus. In terms of
client cost savings, the people
who use our products get a 200
per cent return on their investment, based on time saved, fluid
conservation and other factors.
20. Since you came on the
scene in 1994, a number of
competitors have emerged.
How do you manage to stay
one step ahead of them?
Well, we’re very proud of our
certifications (ISO9001 & 14001,
COR, Certificate of Recognition)
which guarantees quality assurance and superior products. Our
competition can’t match our
expertise. Bottom line is, drillers shouldn’t sacrifice quality
or safety. Katch Kan makes the
safest, most durable product on
the market. However, there is
still a large segment of the market that we haven’t been able to
penetrate. There are still drilling
rigs in Canada that are following
the old industry practice of zero
discharge, which means you can
spill on location, as long as you
clean it up. But right now, there
are almost 100,000 abandoned
wells in Alberta and the people
are on the hook to clean it up.
The bill on that is roughly $9 billion. It doesn’t do much for the
public image of the oil patch.
As an industry, I think we can
do better. There are a lot of companies that want to do better.
We have to keep trying to get in
to see corporate officials at the
highest levels, so we can show
them they can achieve higher
returns and vastly diminish
spillage volumes by using our
products and systems.
Recent Katch Kan Ltd. Appointments
• George De Rappard appointed as COO for Katch Kan Holdings
• Nancy Bland appointed CFO for Katch Kan Holdings
• Shane Lindsay appointed VP Sales and accountable for world wide sales
Regional Katch Kan Ltd. Contacts
• David Hawkes, General Manager, Eastern Hemisphere, Katch Kan Ltd.
Muscat, Oman
• Stuart Britton, General Manager, Katch Kan USA West - Denver, Colorado
• Jacque Goodwin, General Manager, Katch Kan USA - Houston, Texas
Business Edge
Page 17
From Page 4
Price discount on energy equals less provincial, federal tax revenue
by 2035. And it is worth noting price discount for its energy
exports also means less tax
that this study’s estimates are
revenue for the federal and
based on considerably lower
provincial
production foregovernments.
casts than those
The numbers
published by CAPP.
are considerable.
The lack of safe,
Alberta collected
low-cost transpor$2.4 billion less in
tation capacity to
oil sands royalties
move oil to world
in the most recent
markets is the
fiscal year while
major barrier to
Saskatchewan has
this substantial
also lowered its
economic developKenneth Green
projected royalty
ment.
Guest Columnist
revenue by $287
Oil transport
million in 2012-13.
limitations are
Governments are further
reducing revenues from Caaffected by lower personal and
nadian oil sales by at least $17
billion per year and, depending corporate income tax revenues
resulting from slower employon market fluctuations, those
ment growth and reduced
losses could reach $25 billion
business profits.
per year according to a 2013
The federal department
study by the Frasier Institute.
The fact is, Canada’s current of finance, for instance, has
estimated that if Canadian
prices for crude oil and natural
gas were to return to historic
norms for crude oil and half
the prevailing natural gas
prices in Europe, the federal
government would collect an
additional $4 billion in
revenues.
To put this in perspective:
$4 billion in new revenue
would almost wipe out the
$5.5 billion budgetary deficit
the government is currently
projecting for next year and is
more than the size of budgetary surplus it anticipates for
2015-16.
So the potential for additional government revenues
is not insignificant, and they
could be put to good use
increasing Canada’s tax and
economic competitiveness.
For example, this additional
revenue could be used to lower
personal incomes tax rates in
Canada which are high relative
to other jurisdictions such
as the United States. It could
also be used to reduce government debt and in turn lower
debt servicing costs freeing up
room for other budget priorities.
The current debate about
new pipeline construction
typically fails to account
for the potential impact on
government revenues. It is an
important aspect of the issue.
Sean Speer is the associate director of fiscal studies
and Kenneth P. Green is senior
director of energy and natural
resource studies at the Fraser
Institute (Troy Media
www.troymedia.com).
Page 18
Business Edge
Building out and buying into the LNG infrastructure industry
Business Edge
structure supplier to coordinate
all services with one phone
f you build it, they will
call,” says Desmond O’Kell, SVP
explore. Then drill. Then
and director of conglomerate
transport by pipeline.
Enterprise Group (TSX:E), a diBut first, you have to build it. versified construction, utilities
The “it” is the infrastrucand oilfield services company.
ture necessary to support the
“Global companies such as Shell
anticipated $55-billion spend in and EnCana demand the kind of
Northern B.C. to facilitate liquid established and experienced opnatural gas (LNG) extraction
eration that not only knows the
and transport over the next
space, but can deliver a costseven years.
effective, end-to-end solution
Before and afrather than boltter the LNG flows,
ing infrastructure
ENERGY/
however, those
assets together
same global com- TRANSPORTATION using disparate
panies will likely
sources.”
spend another
Enterprise
$55 billion on infrastructure,
recently fully integrated its
including site construction,
$22.6-million acquisition of Hart
pipelines, drilling equipment
Oilfields Rentals, an Albertaand platforms. Between the oil
based private oilfield service
sands and LNG, this area could
provider, just 10 days after the
see substantial investment and
Jan. 3 closing. The acquisition
spending for at least the next
adds state-of-the-art construcquarter-century.
tion and specialized equipment
The British Columbia provin- rental assets to co-ordinate with
cial government notes the proEnterprise’s other divisions: Arjected demand for LNG in the
tic Therm, a leader in flameless
Asia Pacific region alone is set
heat technology, and Calgary
to increase 250% by 2020 and
Tunnelling & Horizontal Augerlikely for many years beyond.
ing, a construction technology
Ignoring exposure to the infraleader in underground infrastructure space would likely
structure.
produce a large and significant
Given its forward planning
dry hole in your portfolio.
In a Jan. 30 research note,
Dundee Capital Markets says,
“We estimate the capex spend
over the next 20 years when accounting for incremental drilling, gas processing and gathering pipelines could hit the $88
to $219-billion range (lower end
of range assumes one large project goes ahead, while the higher
end assumes three projects get
sanctioned); this figure does
not include capex related to the
construction of exporting LNG
terminals and sales pipelines,
which could add another $16 to
$43 billion.”
“The issue for exploration
and production companies is
identifying a top-quality infra-
I
and experience, Enterprise is
in excellent position to garner
major facilities and pipeline-related business as the large LNG
projects unfold over the next
several years.
Tom Varesh, analyst at M
Partners in Toronto, forecasts
Enterprise’s revenue for 2014 to
reach $90 million, with EBITDA
(earnings before interest, taxes,
depreciation and amortization)
at $35.7 million. Those figures
are up significantly from 2012
actuals at $18.5 million and $4.4
million, respectively. Varesh has
a 12-month target for the shares
of $2.25, up more than twofold
from the current 30-day trading
range of $0.75- $1.01. Market
capitalization is roughly $108
million, and there are 108 million shares outstanding.
According to M Partners’
Varesh, Enterprise’s forward
price-earnings ratio (P/E)
comes in at a compelling 4.3
times for 2014. In his Jan. 14
note, he says “Our confidence
in our 2014 estimates is derived
from the visibility we already
have with respect to each business segment.”
Adds O’Kell: “Our business
is infrastructure, utilities and
energy, the latter primarily in
the pipeline and drilling sectors.
In addition to the exceptional
business potential of LNG and
the oil sands, there is a massive
See ‘LNG’ Page 19
Business Edge
From Page 18
LNG buildout to move fast,
requires right mix of services
influx of people into Alberta,
the only province with measurable net population inflows.
“This surge is driving 53
transmission projects worth
$13.6 billion. These are simply
the result of the need for increased loads or new generation
connections to service new and
existing subdivisions. Alberta
and northern B.C. will define
the regional provincial economies for decades to come.”
Things will move fast in the
LNG buildout, and only those
companies prepared and having
the right business and services mix will deliver consistent
shareholder value.
Enterprise has a history of
technological advances that
save clients time and significant
money. Enterprise holds 14
design patents including site
infrastructure modules that “fit
like Lego,” according to O’Kell.
Given the design and construction challenges in these remote
areas, not to mention the critical need for the least possible
impact on the environment,
ease of transport to site, and
fast, seamless construction are
paramount.
The metrics are compelling,
the management world class
and the business mix on target.
While not the largest player
in the infrastructure space –
yet – Enterprise is a shining
example of a company poised
to take advantage of massive
business opportunities in the
coming years.
(Files from
www.FinancialPress.com)
Weak on Geek?
Page 19
Page 20
Business Edge
HRI offers hope with new hair transplant technology
T
hose who suffer from
premature hair loss endure
a special brand of psychic
pain. It’s not simple vanity, but it
can certainly be a source of serious angst, almost akin to a loss of
self. That face staring out of the
mirror just isn’t the same any more
and that hurts.
That kind of interior, emotional pain is bad enough on its
own. But, add it to the discomfort, inconvenience and physical
pain that’s generally associated
with traditional methods of hair
transplantation, and you’ve got
a compound issue. Fortunately,
newer techniques have emerged
that minimize the painfully invasive
nature of traditional strategies.
And you’re going to love the way
you look!
In Western Canada, that
means the NeoGraft system of
hair transplantation, now available
in Southern Alberta at the Hair
Rejuvenation Institute (HRI)
of Calgary.
“NeoGraft is a process that
helps us harvest hair while
preventing scarring.
It’s essentially a tool that allows us
to separate hair, harvest hair and
to preserve hair,” says HRI physician Dr. Bobby Sreenivasan. “We
believe it’s preferable to the more
traditional approach, which we call
the strip method. When the strip
method is used, the result is a
large, long linear scar on the back
of the patient’s head.”
NeoGraft enables such
qualified practitioners as Dr.
Sreenivasan to harvest individual
grafts of hair from the back
of the head – but without scarring. Therefore, those who opt
for Neograft, which has quickly
established itself as a global
leader in hair restoration treatments, are able to wear their
hair short, if they so choose.
That’s rarely possible for those
who submit to traditional transplantation methods.
“With NeoGraft, you’re going
to be completely satisfied with
the results of your procedure,”
Dr. Sreenivasan continues. “No
unsightly plugs, no scarring and
not as much down time overall.
Post-restoration, your hair will
look absolutely natural and you’ll
feel terrific about yourself. And,
of course, it’s perfectly safe.”
Several men – and women
– who have gone through the
procedure have been happy to
share their experience. “Other
than some minor swelling a
few days after the procedure,
I felt no discomfort,” wrote
one satisfied customer. “I will
definitely recommend the NeoGraft procedure . . .”
As Dr. Sreenivasan says,
it’s time to allow up-to-theminute technology to work its
remarkable magic.
“The more you handle or traumatize hair, the more damage you
do. So, under traditional transplantation processes, you cut off a
big strip of hair and then cut it into
a bunch of little pieces and then
transfer those individual pieces
onto a person’s scalp. There are
so many steps in the process
that a lot of things can go wrong,”
he explains.
The precision machine used
in the NeoGraft process at HRI
eliminates that margin for error.
This is, most definitely, the future
of hair transplantation.
The NeoGraft system of follicle unit extraction (FUE) was
specifically developed to limit or
eliminate that margin of error, to
standardize the procedure.
It all adds up to a much
shorter period of down time, an
absence of scarring and a much
more attractive final result. As Dr.
Sreenivasan asks, “Why wouldn’t
you want the best possible result
for your procedure?”
Featured on CNN, NBC and
ABC News, NeoGraft attracts
people from all walks of life,
including the corporate world.
It also works well for burn
victims and sufferers from
medical conditions, male
and female alike.
For more information, consult
the informative HRI website at
www.neograft-calgary.com,
stop by the clinic at 8730
Country Hills Boulevard NW
in Calgary, place a call to book
a complimentary consultation
at 403.262.7424, or email
[email protected].
Business Edge
Page 21
From Page 9
Preparation key to success in contending with future blackouts
be turned on with the click of
a button. His customers like to
have the peace of mind that they
will always have a safe source
of heat and won’t need to leave
their homes for a hotel during
the next power outage.
5. Customer service
Quality customer Service is
always important to differentiate from the competition, but
it is absolutely essential during
a crisis or emergency. Case in
point, when companies fall short
like Canada Post forgetting to
tell customers why the mail had
stopped; or the airline industry
when Pearson Airport was shut
down, cancelling some 600
flights and affecting thousands
who were left in the dark, searching for answers.
Research shows that it costs
five times more for businesses to
attract new customers as it does
to retain an existing one, so ensuring your existing customers
are taken care of first is key. Just
ask Robert Boffo, co-owner of
Boffo Landscaping, whose team
was working around the clock
with their 12 salt trucks and 24
plows to clear snow and salt
treacherous roadways and parking lots so that their customers
could stay open for business.
“We’ve been in this business for
nearly 20 years and we’ve learned
to go above and beyond to take
care of our customers; that’s
why they are so loyal to us. We
deliver on our promise and word
travels fast to neighbouring
property managers, they know
they can rely on us,” says Boffo.
Making matters more challenging during the ice storm was
the massive, province-wide road
salt shortage. “The weekend of
the ice storm, to do the job right,
we needed the equivalent of 1/3
of the volume we normally use
in an entire winter season of
salt,” said Boffo. Fortunately they
had prepared with significant
stockpiles, requiring far fewer
costly and time consuming trips
to their salt distributors. Salt
distributors actually had to
ration salt per customer who
experienced two and a half hour
line-ups for refills. Canadians
use an average of five million
tonnes of road salt a year according to Environment Canada
and based on the unprecedented
demand following the ice storm,
that figure is sure to skyrocket.
Similarly, Iain Pike, A Certified Arborist Owner of Upper
Canada Tree Services continued
to work non-stop to service his
customers from 8 am – 10 pm
due to the massive number of
trees damaged from the storm.
He has been in the business fulltime since 1995 and has never
seen damage to this scale. “The
reason we are successful and
busy is because we’re honest and
we treat our customers exactly
how we’d want to be treated,”
says Pike. In the aftermath of
the storm he was receiving 50
calls, emails and text messages
per day from customers at a
time of year when his staff are
usually on vacation, “but Mother
Nature had other plans,” he
laughs. The secret to his success
he says, “This is a word of mouth
business, and we don’t need to
advertise.”
If businesses can learn anything from the 2013 ice storm,
it’s to be prepared and adapt or
suffer the consequences. Perhaps
Charles Darwin said it best, “It is
not the strongest of the species
that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”
Heath Applebaum is a freelance business reporter and the
Owner of Echo Communications,
a leading reputation management
consulting firm based in Toronto.
Page 22
Business Edge
Out Of The Norm
‘Liking’ on Facebook may mean less charitable giving
Business Edge
U
more privately, such as confidentially signing a petition, they
were more likely to give later.”
“If charities run public token
campaigns under the belief that
they lead to meaningful support,
they may be sacrificing their precious resources in
vain,” says Kristofferson. “If the goal
is to generate real
support, public
facing social media
campaigns may be
a mistake.”
niversity of British Columbia’s Sauder School
of Business found that
charities that encourage people
to follow them on
social media like
Facebook may
actually be hurting
not helping their
fund-raising efforts.
“Charities incorrectly assume that
connecting with
people through
social media always
leads to more
$5 million domeaningful supnation helps SAIT
port,” says Sauder
students achieve
PhD student Kirk
their goals
Kristofferson, who
co-authored the forthcoming
David Bissett, who recently
Journal of Consumer Research
made a $5 million donation to
article.
Calgary’s Southern Alberta In“Our research
stitute of Technol“Charities incorrectly ogy (SAIT), has a
shows that if
people are able to assume that conreputation of helpdeclare support for necting with people
ing Alberta young
a charity publicly
people find their
in social media it through social media
way into new and
can actually make always leads to more
exciting careers.
them less likely
“Education
meaningful support.”
to donate to the
- Kirk Kristofferson is the door to
cause later on.”
opportunity and
The study reSAIT is the place
sults indicated that social media in Calgary that’s graduating
is turning people into “slacktivstudents with the skills they
ists” by making it easy for them
need to be successful. We have
to associate with a cause witha real mismatch between kids’
out committing real resources to skills and the needs of the marsupport it.
ketplace. This donation is good
According to a UBC media
not only for the individuals, but
release “ín a series of studies,
good for the Alberta economy”,
researchers invited participants
said Bissett.
to engage in an initial act of free
The donation will go to
support for a cause – joining a
establishing bursaries and
Facebook group, accepting a
scholarships at the school and
poppy, pin or magnet or signing
a petition. Participants were
then asked to donate money or
volunteer.”
The researchers found that
“the more public the token show
of endorsement, the less
likely participants are to provide
meaningful support later. If parHale Ke’oke’o
ticipants were provided with the
White House ~ by the Sea
chance to express token support
according to SAIT, “is the largest
endowment ever established
by an individual for a college or
polytechnic scholarship program in Canada.”
Bissett, the founder of
Bissett and Associates Investment Management in Calgary,
is a well-known businessman
and philanthropist. The Bissett
School of Business at Mount
Royal University in Calgary is
also named after him.
“We offer a sincere thank you
to David Bissett and his family
for recognizing the importance
of a skills-based education,” said
SAIT president and CEO David
Ross. “Investing in the success
of SAIT students is critical for
the future of our community,
economy and global prosperity.”
According to a SAIT media
release, “The Bissett Scholar
Program will allocate nine entrance bursaries of $7,500 each
year to graduating high school
students who are engaged in
their community and school,
and require financial assistance.
The Bissett Scholars will be selected in consultation with high
school principals at Calgary-area
schools.”
Team Canada ties with team
Italy in Trading Competition
hosted by U of T’s Rotman
School of Management
In late February 52 teams
from 47 different universities
from Canada, the United States,
Europe, Africa and Asia gathered
at the University of Toronto’s
Rotman School of Management
to compete in the 11th annual
Rotman International Trading
Competition (RITC).
According to the U of T “The
RITC utilizes simulated trading cases that closely mimic
different aspects of real world
markets — including those for
commodities, fixed income and
options — as well as particular
strategies such as algorithmic
market making. In addition,
there were two outcry sessions
which recreated the traditional
trading floors.”
The competition was held at
the state-of-the-art BMO Financial Group Finance Research
and Trading Lab, which opened
last fall at Rotman School.
“The participants demonstrated their skills making realtime decisions to manage risks
and opportunities associated
with complex issues in financial
markets,” said professor Tom
McCurdy, who is the Bonham
Chair in International Finance
and founding director of the Lab.
Two teams representing
LUISS University in Italy and
Université Laval in Canada tied
for first place while a team of
Master of Financial Engineering
students from the University of
California Berkeley placed third,
a team of Master of Financial
Engineering students from The
City Univeristy of New York’s
Baruch College finished fourth
and fifth place was secured by a
team of Bachelor of Commerce
students from the Haskayne
School of Business at the University of Calgary.
Norman Leach is a
business consultant, speaker
and writer. He can be reached
at [email protected].
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Business Edge
Page 23
Prairie cities to see most economic growth in 2014 – report
Business Edge
A
ccording to a recent
Conference Board of
Canada report, Calgary, Regina, Edmonton, and
Saskatoon will lead Canadian
metropolitan areas in economic
growth in 2014. The economies
of most cities in central and
eastern Canada are expected
to grow faster this year than in
2013.
“Along with Calgary, prairie
cities will have the fastest growing economies in 2014, although
that growth is expected to
moderate,” said Alan Arcand,
principal economist, Centre for
Municipal Studies.
According to Arcand, “Most
cities in central and eastern
Canada will see their economic
fortunes improve this year. The
growing strength in the U.S.
economy and a slightly weaker
dollar will help to stimulate
exporting activity and in turn
bolster economic growth.”
The devastating flood in the
summer of 2013 temporarily
shut down the city of Calgary
and resulted in slower growth
for the year as a whole. In 2014,
Calgary’s economy is expected
to improve slightly, thanks to
broad-based growth in most
industries, including accelerating activity in both construction
and manufacturing. Economic
growth in Calgary is on track to
rise by 3.7 per cent in 2014, the
fastest among the 28 metropolitan areas covered in the report.
Economic growth in Edmonton is set to moderate from 4.6
per cent in 2013 to a still-solid
3.4 per cent this year. Energy
activity will continue to drive
gains in the city’s primary and
manufacturing sectors. Even
though employment growth
is expected to slow, domestic
demand will remain strong.
The construction of a new
professional football stadium
will help boost Regina’s con-
struction sector, however GDP
growth is forecast to rise by a
more moderate 3.5 per cent this
year, down from five per cent in
2013, as growth slows in manufacturing and in the overall
services sector.
Following impressive growth
of 6.5 per cent in 2013, Saskatoon’s GDP will expand by 3.2
per cent this year, as ongoing
strength in the services sector is
offset by slower activity on the
goods-side of the economy.
Real GDP in Winnipeg is
forecast to rise two per cent
this year, up from 1.6 per cent in
2013, thanks to stronger growth
in manufacturing, wholesale
and retail trade, and public
administration.
Renewed strength in the
manufacturing sector is expected to contribute to economic
growth across Ontario.
Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo’s economy will grow by 2.9
per cent this year, as construction starts on a light-rail system
and manufacturing regains its
stride.
Stronger growth in manufacturing and in many services industries will lift GDP growth to
2.8 per cent in Toronto in 2014,
up from 1.9 per cent last year.
Renewed demand for goods
produced in Oshawa is expected to boost growth in both
manufacturing, and transportation and warehousing. Oshawa’s
economy is expected to expand
by 2.6 per cent in 2014, following
a 1.8 per cent gain in 2013.
Hamilton is forecast to
grow by 2.5 per cent this year,
a big improvement over the 0.7
increase in 2013. The opening
of Maple Leaf ’s new processing
See ‘Non-residential’Page 24
Business Edge
Page 24
From Page 23
Non-residential construction to boost growth in B.C.’s municipal areas
plant will help lift manufacturing output and, in turn, support
a turnaround in transportation
and warehousing this year.
Economic activity has been
low in London, St. CatharinesNiagara, and Kingston in recent
years. While all three cities are
expected to see stronger GDP
gains this year, thanks in part
to a recovery in manufacturing,
growth will remain below the
national average. GDP growth
is expected to reach two per
cent, 1.9 per cent, and 1.8 per
cent, respectively, in London,
St. Catharines-Niagara, and
Kingston.
Sudbury’s economy is forecast to grow by 1.6 per cent this
year, as increased mining activity boosts its primary, utilities,
and manufacturing sectors.
Although Windsor’s economy is expected to pick up in
2014, led by improvements in
manufacturing and construction, growth will remain moderate at 1.6 per cent.
For the second year in a row,
Thunder Bay’s GDP will expand
by 1.5 per cent in 2014, thanks
to gains in non-residential construction and manufacturing.
Thousands of public service
job cuts limited economic
growth to just 0.3 per cent in
Ottawa-Gatineau in 2013. With
fewer public sector layoffs
expected this year and with
non-residential construction activity expected to pick up, GDP
growth is forecast to improve to
1.4 per cent.
Non-residential construction is set to boost growth in
British Columbia’s municipal
areas this year. AbbotsfordMission’s economy will expand
by 2.9 per cent in 2014, thanks
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C
anadian businesses seeking to protect their most
critical assets and mitigate risk
on various levels need not look
any further.
SCL Security Services
provides up-to-the minute
research, training and consulting on security and strategic
issues to security providers
and end users.
Services include everything
from event security to risk assessment to executive protection services.
Recently, two would-be
vandals entered an SCLprotected building, then under
construction.
“As soon as they crossed
onto the property, our cameras
picked them up and sent an
alarm to the monitoring station,
myself and the site manager,”
said Maritza Leach, SCL’s VP
Operations. “Police were
dispatched and I watched
things evolve – live – on
my cellphone.”
Racing to the scene, Leach
was there in time to assist the
police in finding the suspects.
“We had sent a colour
photo of the suspects to each
officer so they knew who they
were looking for,” said Leach.
“The suspects were spotted in
the crowd watching the search
and were arrested.
“It is a great feeling to know
that our planning, design and
security teams stopped damage – or worse – to a client’s
business.”
SCL protects high-value,
hard-to-secure properties.
“We are a true systems
integrator,” added Leach. “We
are not beholden to any one
supplier or technology. We use
whatever is best for the client
including alarms, cameras,
guards and physical barriers.”
SCL Security Services
(www.sclsecurity.com)
provides security consulting,
planning and services
across Canada.
in particular to gains in primary
and utilities output.
Vancouver and Victoria will
both benefit from rebounds in
non-residential construction
and improvements in the services sector. In 2014, Vancouver’s
economy is forecast to expand
by 2.8 per cent, while Victoria’s
real GDP growth will come in at
1.8 per cent.
Following three years of
growth below two per cent,
Montreal’s economy is forecast
to expand by 2.2 per cent in
2014, led by improvements in
the manufacturing and construction sectors. In Québec
City, growth in the goods sector
will help boost the city’s economy by two per cent in 2014, up
from 0.8 per cent in 2013.
Strength in manufacturing
and in the overall services sector will help lift the economies
of Sherbrooke and Saguenay by
2.1 per cent and 1.4 per cent,
respectively, in 2014.
Real GDP growth in TroisRivières is forecast to rise 0.5 per
cent in 2014 after two years of
contraction.
Business Edge
Page 25
Alberta Safety Codes
Council presents annual
conference June 4-6 in Banff
T
he Safety Codes Council
is pleased to present its
annual conference, June
4-6, 2014 at the world-class
Rimrock Resort Hotel in
beautiful Banff. The theme
of the conference is “Vision.
Leadership. Sustainability.”
“These are the pillars
of endurance for any
organization. The Safety
Codes Council and its
many partners share a
connecting vision; a vision
for Alberta: a safe place
to live, work and play. We
believe vision, supported by
strong leadership, results
in sustainable outcomes.
For more than 20 years
the Safety Codes Council
has worked closely with
stakeholders to ensure
the highest in safety code
standards for all Albertans,”
says Council president and
CEO, Brian Alford.
At conference 2014, Dan
Gardner, columnist and
senior writer with the Ottawa
Citizen and The National
Post, presents “Getting
Risk Right”. He joins an
impressive list of in-demand
keynote speakers including
television host, pundit,
media personality, brand
and corporate culture expert,
Max Valiquette and author,
teacher, 21st century housing
guru Avi Friedman.
Tom Marriott, the
managing partner with
Brownlee LLP Edmonton
joins this year’s impressive
line-up of keynote speakers
to discuss trends in case
law, citing local, national and
international examples of the
best and worst of what’s new
and what’s trending in safety
codes legislation, regulation
and precedent.
In addition to attending
keynote presentations,
delegates participate in
engaging breakout sessions
in one of three information
streams: technical, municipal
or professional development.
Delegates can choose one
stream and follow it through
or sign up for three of nine
sessions across multiple
streams on topics that are
most relevant for them.
Delegates can explore
the need for a disaster
preparedness plan and the
challenges involved in rolling
out necessary measures
during an environmental
crisis in the session “A City
Under Water: Rebuilding
Fire Alarm Systems After the
Flood” with Randy Brown.
Join Peter Francis for
“Confessions of a Factory
Builder”. Discover more
about “Lifelong Learning:
Continuing Education for
SCOs”.
Complete topic and
content descriptions for
all breakout sessions are
available on the conference
2014 home page available at
www.safetycodes.ab.ca.
“Our annual conference
presents a unique opportunity
for industry partners:
government, municipalities,
corporations, agencies and
safety codes officers to
meet and discuss issues,
opportunities and challenges
related to the safety codes
system. We encourage these
stakeholders to attend. The
conference also gives us an
opportunity to say thank you
to these valued partners, as
well as the many committed
volunteers who participate
on the Council’s 10 industrySee ‘Safety’ Page 29
Safety Codes Council
Conference 2014
Vision, Leadership and Sustainability.
June 4–6 Banff Alberta | Rimrock Resort Hotel
Don’t miss the Conference event of the year!
Space is limited, Online registration opens in March.
Visit safetycodes.ab.ca for information and to register.
The information you want
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system leaders, government, agencies,
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Page 26
Business Edge
Choose Fraser Patridge Group for your Okanagan Dream Home
I
t’s no secret that Gerry
Fraser and George
Patridge have become
the go-to guys for residential
real estate in the Central
Okanagan region of
B.C. They’re known as
knowledgeable sales pros
of extraordinary patience,
who’d rather lose a limb
than try to push a client into
a hurried sale.
The Fraser Patridge Group
lays its extensive local
knowledge and its tradition
of outstanding customer
service at the feet of every
single client. These guys
CARE. And it shows.
Based out of the
province’s busiest real
estate office, ReMax
Kelowna, Fraser and
Patridge specialize in
bringing the best possible
purchase opportunities to
a broadly-based clientele,
including many Western
Canadians who are
contemplating retirement
in the hospitable climate
of the Okanagan Valley.
“We specialize in lifestyle
homes for Canadians who
are either already retired or
who are planning to retire in
the Okanagan. That being
said, we also sell a lot of
vacation properties to people
in Saskatchewan and Alberta
who just want a recreational
getaway,” explains Fraser.
“We’re really talking about
the whole package. Some
clients are looking for
investment properties, others
are looking for vacation
homes and others wish to
live here permanently.”
Each of the partners
agrees that it’s an opportune
time to be on the lookout for
property in this recreational
paradise. In short, there’s
still time to get in on the
ground floor. For the past
few years, buyers have pretty
much had the advantage
because of general soft
market conditions in the
region. But that seems to be
changing. Increasing activity
in residential construction
trends supports the theory
that the former buyer’s
market is in the process of
Gerry Fraser
transitioning to a more stable
and balanced market. And
that’s encouraging news for
buyers and sellers alike.
There are a number of
reasons for this swing to
stability in the Okanagan
Valley. Patridge points to
one of the main factors as
increasing stability in U.S.
markets, particularly those of
vacation destinations such
as Arizona and Southern
California.
“A few years ago, when
the U.S. housing market
took such a dramatic
nosedive, we noticed a lot
of discretionary income
siphoned off from our region
to the purchase of distressed
properties down south,” he
says. “Even though most
of our clients continued to
prefer the Okanagan, they
couldn’t resist jumping on the
Phoenix and Palm Desert
bandwagon because prices
dropped to such ridiculously
low levels in those areas,”
Patridge continues.
But since then, prices
have firmed up below the
border. And the interest
of new clients is focused
George Patridge
primarily on Canada’s No.
1 vacation destination once
again.
So, why hitch your wagon
to the Fraser Patridge group,
when the Central Okanagan
boasts more than 500 real
estate agents, many of whom
are as good as anyone in the
game?
Because this closely-knit
team has seen and done
it all. Both partners have
served as senior executives
at the highest levels
of Canadian business,
bringing a world of savvy
and experience to the
table. They understand the
requirements, needs and
demands of their clientele
and bring their own inspired
style of customer service to
satisfy them.
It’s an approach they
describe as relationship
selling.
“We’ve worked hard to
become good listeners, to
pay close attention to the
details that are important
to our customers,” Patridge
says. “They trust us because
we listen and we deliver.”
Combined with top-notch
negotiation skills and
unbeatable knowledge of
the product they sell, it’s
a trust-based customer
service model that’s been
working for the group
since 2005. It works for the
clients too. Just ask them.
As one satisfied couple
wrote in gratitude, “A huge
Thank You goes out to ...
the gang at The Fraser
Patridge Group Realty
for finding us our dream
home. Being from out of
town and house shopping
is not the easiest thing
to do. George gave us
his undivided attention
while we were up in
Kelowna shopping for
homes. He was extremely
accommodating and
assuring and took the time
to get to know us and what
we really were looking for in
a new home...Completion
of the sale was efficient and
stress free.”
Everybody knows that
Kelowna and the Central
Okanagan are among
the most desirable
retirement destinations in
the country. Mild weather
and an unlimited choice of
recreational options (skiing,
golf, boating, fishing and
just plain hanging on the
beach) are some of the
reasons. So are the topshelf medical care facilities
that you’ll find here. Find out
more via a look at the Fraser
Patridge Group website
(fraserpatridge.com) or
place a quick call to Gerry
(250.868.1594) or George
(250.868.5000) for additional
information.
Business Edge
Page 27
Page 28
Business Edge
TechStyle
Drones: coming soon to an oil patch near you
Business Edge
A
mazon founder and CEO
Jeff Bezos grabbed headlines recently by suggesting that, in a few years, your
books and other lightweight
purchases from Amazon will
be delivered by an unmanned
aerial vehicle
(UAV), commonly
know as a drone.
The concept,
called Amazon
Prime Air, would
automate the
delivery process
and, given the
announcement
that Canada Post
will be phasing
out home delivery,
definitely seems to
be the way of the
future.
The resource industry
already makes extensive use
of aerial surveillance, and as
drones enter the marketplace,
will undoubtedly be among the
early adopters of UAVs.
The place to watch on this
front seems to be Alaska, where
Fairweather LLC has partnered
with several native corporations
to develop the use of UAVs for
remote sensing and weather
observations in places people
just don’t want to go. According
to a news report the plan is to
convert a $1.2 million plane, the
Diamond Aircraft DA42, for dual
use, either flown by a pilot or as
a drone. “By replacing the pilot
seat in the DA42 with a remote
control conversion kit, the $1.2
million aircraft becomes a UAV
with a 44-foot wingspan,” writes
Elwood Brehmer in the Alaska
Journal of Commerce.
The regulatory framework for
commercial drone flights is still
a work in progress. Brehmer explains that, until recently, those
operations were banned by the
US Federal Aviation Administra-
tion (FAA). However, “On Sept.
24, ConocoPhillips announced
it had completed the country’s
first commercial UAV flight
off of Northwest Alaska in the
Chuckchi Sea.”
In Canada, Richmond, B.C.based MDA Corporation runs its
drone operations out of Suffield,
Alberta. They note
the usefulness of
UAVs for pipeline
monitoring since
they “eliminate the
requirement for
owned or leased
aerial surveys, and
traditional visual
analysis of image
data.” In addition,
drones can “fly
for more than 24
hours per mission,
at altitudes up to
32,000 feet, acquiring optical
and infrared imagery. Over time,
archived image data provides
a rich resource for automated
change detection.”
Combining data acquired
by drones with artificial intelligence technology is one of the
most promising areas in image
analysis. I discovered this while
researching my forthcoming
book, Technocreep (OR Books,
New York.) In it, I quote Joseph
Schuldhaus, vice president of Information Technology for Triple
Five Group, which runs the
sprawling West Edmonton Mall
and as well as Minnesota’s Mall
of America. He predicts that
The use of drones for
much greater intelligence will
Amazon-style package delivery
appear in video systems, and
in urban areas is fraught with
likens what they will do to the
Shazam smart phone app which problems, and not just with the
allows you to identify a song just aviation regulators. A wag posted a “we tried to deliver your
by letting it listen in.
package” notice with humorous
You can preview this kind
options like “package has been
of technology simply by going
left out of reach in a neighbour’s
through airport security, where
tree” and “we will fly again
the video analytics system will
alert the scanner operator to the tomorrow with a camera to take
pictures of your hot neighbour
water bottle or disassembled
getting dressed.”
rifle you have in your carry-on
Others have suggested
luggage by drawing a helpful
that the drones
box. However,
Houston-based
Special Report might be stolen,
captured and reBRS Labs says
on Energy
purposed by drug
that their
dealers, or suffer
technology is so
from collisions
advanced that it
should not even be called “video with other drones. The good
news for pipeline operators, and
analytics.”
others in the resource indusTheir AISight™ system is
try, is that many of the places
shown on their homepage
they’d like to fly their drones
catching a pedestrian walking
are far away from complaining
where only cars should go, and
neighbours, airport traffic, but
an intruder (not clear if nude or
not, unfortunately, birds. Birdclothed) trespassing on “Beach
drone collisions are already an
Perimeter 18.” Unlike competissue. The FAA has tracked over
ing systems, their software does
121,000 reports of bird-drone
not require any decisions about
collisions since 1980. Drones,
acceptable behavior to be desmall ones anyway, look to birds
fined. The system learns what’s
like…other birds. So they attack
normal and tells you when it
with their talons.
seems something unusual. As
Given the advantages of
they explain “no rules were
drone use in the resource indusset, trip wires drawn, zones or
try, I’m sure they’ll find a way to
programming of any kind were
deal with the problem of Angry
used at these sites.” In TechnoBirds. And, I wouldn’t want to
creep, I explain how this type of
meet the hawk or eagle that was
approach can work both ways,
ready to tangle with something
and be used against the system
with a 44 foot wingspan.
operator.
Business Edge
Page 29
From Page 25
Safety codes system built on collaboration
specific sub councils,” says
Alford.
“Each year, our goal is
to provide current, relevant
information that safety
codes system leaders need
to do their job effectively
and efficiently; what’s new
in safety codes, what’s
changing, how does it affect
me and my industry? The
conference provides very
specific information that
municipalities, agencies,
corporations and safety
codes officers need today.
The speakers can, and
often do inspire new ways
of thinking about tomorrow,
and the things that have
an impact on a business’s
bottom line or its ability to
remain competitive and
sustainable,” says Alford.
“Balancing out the
robust agenda are many
opportunities to mix,
mingle and have fun,” says
Erin Stroud, manager of
stakeholder relations. “It’s
the whole package that
has made the Council
Conference a must-attend
event on the calendars of so
many of our stakeholders and
partners. Last year’s event
broke previous attendance
records; delegates were
very engaged and had a
wonderful experience at the
conference. 2014 will be no
exception.”
On the evening of
Wednesday, June 4, the
Council rolls out the red
carpet and officially kicks
off the conference with
a welcome reception.
Delegates and guests will
enjoy an evening of inspired
appetizers and culinary
delights from the Rimrock
Resort Hotel kitchen and
award-winning executive
chef, Ralf Wollman.
New for 2014 is a beertasting event sponsored by
the Banff Avenue Brewing
Company. Delegates will
enjoy superior quality, handcrafted beer made with
fresh Rocky Mountain water.
The reception is warm, the
beer is cold and the food
is outstanding. Attending
delegates will not want to
miss this year’s welcome
reception.
James Cunningham
returns to deliver hilarity and
co-host this year’s Partners
Dinner event on Thursday,
June 5, with emcee,
Canadian television and film
actor, Fred Keating. From
cocktails to main course
and dessert; a memorable
evening of fine dining and
fun!
On Friday, June 6,
delegates can attend the
Retirees Luncheon and join
Safety Codes Council in
acknowledging significant
contributions to the safety
codes system, made by
outstanding individuals.
Remarks and award
presentations follow an
elegant lunch.
Working with Alberta
Municipal Affairs, the Safety
Codes Council is charged
with ensuring that Albertans
have safe places to live,
work, and play. Robert
Blakely, chair, Safety Codes
Council Coordinating
Committee comments,
“As Council moves into its
third decade of operation,
we remain focused on our
mandate, working with
industry partners, to ensure
the safety of structures,
facilities, and equipment
in our communities. The
conference builds a sense of
camaraderie and fellowship
– we are all in this together,
no piece of the safety
codes system works without
collaboration.”
Ivan Moore, assistant
deputy minister – public
safety division, congratulates
the many partners,
stakeholders and staff
who have contributed
over the years to “creating
an exemplary system
that continually achieves
the highest standard of
excellence. Each year at the
conference, the commitment,
enthusiasm and energy from
everyone involved in the
safety codes system in this
province is apparent. If you
are, in any way, involved in
the safety codes system in
Alberta – you should be at
this event.”
The Safety Codes Council
is a statutory corporation
that formulates and oversees
the development and
administration of safety
codes and standards
throughout the province.
Working with its partners in
government, labour, industry
and education, the Safety
Codes Council provides
innovative, effective, and
efficient public safety codes
programs to industry and
communities.
For complete information
on Safety Codes Conference
2014 visit www.safetycodes.
ab.ca. Convenient online
registration is available in
early March.
Business Edge
Page 30
Words are
important to
your business.
For example, our use of onomatopoeia
has people buzzing.
When it comes to employing personification
and metaphor, we are a tower of power
that takes your hand and leads you
to marketing's promised land.
When it comes to hyperbole,
we are the best the world has ever seen!
At Versatile,
we're good
with words.
Our puns are almost never
unindented.
We even engage in a little alliteration,
and if we were to pick a plucky palindrome
to label a Lucas film about a feisty farmer's
fight against foot fungus, it would, of course,
be "Straw Warts".
Indeed, if a picture is worth a thousand words,
our brains are like really big art galleries full
of nice pictures ...
(OK, that one needs some work.)
Book us any time!
Versatile
CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS
We have some choice words for you,
so give us a call.
4O3 968 7638
www.WeAreVersatile.ca | [email protected]
MARKETING STRATEGY
PRESS RELEASES
•
•
ADVERTISING
COPY WRITING/EDITING
•
•
REPORTS
GRAPHIC DESIGN
Business Edge
Page 31
Business Edge
Page 32
YEAR-ROUND
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within a 2 hour drive.
CONTACT US FOR OWNERSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
www.bighornmeadows.ca
1–888-766-9637 | [email protected]
Western Canada's finest fractional resort offerings. Invest in Luxury, Relaxation and Quiet Escapes.
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