November 2007 Research Discussion

[BMironov]

Globe and Mail:Time for McGuinty to live in tax harmony (Nov 1, 2007)
http://www.reportonbusiness.com/servlet/st...lumnsBlogs/home

QUOTE Turns out there was a missing phrase in Jim Flaherty`s election speech - er, fiscal update - on Tuesday. Luckily, we`ve uncovered the phantom text. When he talked about giving Canada the lowest business taxes in the G7, he meant to add: "As long as Dalton McGuinty goes along with it."
...
Ontario is holding back the country now, and the McGuintyites are part of the problem.
...
The pressure will be on to cut it in the next provincial budget. But even that will only do so much for the smelly old factories that line the QEW and 401 highways. To benefit from corporate income tax cuts, after all, you`ve got to have income. When 90 per cent of your sales are to U.S. customers and the loonie is climbing a cent every bloody week, profits get rather slim, rather quickly. What could the McGuinty government do instead to provide some relief? It could drop its silly insistence on having its own separate sales tax and harmonize with the GST. Just get it over with.
...
By some estimates, more than $6-billion of the $16-billion the province collects in RST is paid not by consumers, but by companies, buying stuff to run their businesses. If you need an office chair, Queen`s Park will grab an extra 8 per cent, thanks very much. Dial long distance, pay 8 per cent. Go see a customer and stay in a hotel, pay 5 per cent. Take that customer out for a drink, it`s 10 per cent. Unlike the GST, businesses can`t get refunds for the RST they pay on business inputs.
...
There`s little reason to assume it would result in a major loss of provincial revenue. Finn Poschmann, the senior policy wonk at the C.D. Howe Institute, says a universal sales tax could easily be designed to be revenue-neutral, probably at a rate not too far from 13 per cent (Ottawa`s 5 per cent GST, plus the 8 per cent RST). For most economists, the issue is almost beyond debate. Harmonization is the way to go.

 

[BMironov]

Globe and Mail:Chrysler ditching 2 made-in-Canada cars (Nov 1, 2007)
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/sto...NStory/Business

QUOTE Chrysler LLC is scrapping two vehicles made in Canada, a move the Canadian Auto Workers union fears could wipe out at least 250 jobs in already battered Windsor, Ont.The No. 3 Detroit auto maker will announce today that it will no longer produce the Pacifica crossover utility vehicle in Windsor or the Dodge Magnum in Brampton, Ont., and will also eliminate the Chrysler Crossfire sports car and a convertible version of the PT Cruiser, senior industry sources in Detroit said.
...
The sources said cutting the vehicles will not mean the elimination of shifts at either the Windsor or Brampton plants.
...
The Magnum is one of three vehicles made in Brampton, and Chrysler is scheduled to add production of the new Challenger muscle car there next year. It is also shifting assembly of right-hand drive models of the Chrysler 300C and Dodge Charger to the Brampton plant from a Magna operation in Europe.

The vast majority of the Windsor plant`s production is dedicated to minivans. Chrysler has redesigned its minivan for the 2008 model year and although the minivan market is declining, both Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp. have stopped selling minivans altogether, leaving the market entirely to Chrysler for North Americans who want a minivan assembled by a Detroit-based auto maker.

But whether either of Chrysler`s Canadian plants is able to maintain three full shifts and a combined 8,000 jobs depends on the market, Mr. Lewenza said.

 

[BMironov]

Financial Post:Five things that could burst our balloon (Nov 3, 2007)
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/financi...40-dcc573957959

Among Canada`s run of good fortune are warning signs

QUOTE What an amazing week for Canada: Our dollar reached its highest level on record, Ottawa announced tax cuts and unemployment hit a 33-year low. Soon, shop clerks in the United States will gripe about arrogant Canadians strutting around their outlet malls like we own them.

But if our chests are more puffed out than usual, there is good reason to be anxious as well. There are five things Canadians should be concerned about during this run of good fortune.

• INFLATION
  Prices of everything from chocolate bars to diapers are going up by double-digits.
  
  The impact may be mitigated somewhat for now by our high dollar, but this is a global phenomenon, and is here to stay.
  
  If you haven`t factored a much higher grocery bill into your plans, start now.
• THE CREDIT CRUNCH
  "If that were at the end of a hospital bed you`d be ordering flowers for the widow," says Donald Coxe, global portfolio strategist with BMO Financial Group. "The worry to Canadians is that all sorts of aspects of the economy can suddenly get in trouble at once because of the failure of the financial system to flow properly." If central banks are forced to cut interest rates drastically to prevent a system-wide collapse, that will only step up inflation even more.
• PETRO-POLITICS
  High energy prices encourage bad behaviour by despots and dictators in energy-rich nations with poor governance. In Alberta, the province has decided to raise its cut from the oilsands by raising royalty rates.
  
  For evidence of more distortions, look at China. Much of its growth is due to the fact it heavily subsidizes domestic fuel prices, which is increasingly harder to do as costs soar. Domestic refiners have cut back on buying crude oil; shortages have ensued. China and other subsidy nations such as Myanmar and Iran can`t afford to be as generous any more. Early attempts to cut subsidies -- see China`s move this week to raise prices by 10% -- have led to social unrest, not to mention the threat of slower economic growth and inflation. China faces a choice between more fuel system bottlenecks and unhappy citizens paying much more for fuel. Something has to give. If inflation sweeps through China, the world will feel it. Any drop in demand for oil and base metals due from slower growth in China will hit Canada`s economy, and the dollar.
  THE RISE OF THE IRRATIONAL GLOBAL INVESTOR
  Pension funds and other institutional investors have been buying into "alternative" assets such as real estate, infrastructure, hedge funds and private equity. This has driven up prices around the world, but you ain`t seen nothing yet. McKinsey Global Institute recently pointed to four rapidly growing "power brokers" -- petrodollar investors (such as Abu Dhabi Investment Authority), Asian central banks, hedge funds and private equity -- that represent "a structural shift in global capital markets." They control US$8.4-trillion, or 5%, of the world`s financial assets. That will rise to US$21-trillion by 2012, McKinsey says.
  
  All of this new money has created risks, starting with inflating bubbles in prices for increasingly sought-after assets.
  THE U.S. ECONOMY
  The main reason for the loonie`s rise is the U.S. dollar`s fall. The world`s fortunes may be less tied to its largest economy than before, but Canada is still in the same boat with the U.S. -- more than a third of our GDP comes from exports there.

 

[BMironov]

Financial Post:Blame slower demand, not the loonie: Flaherty (Nov 2, 2007)
http://www.canada.com/components/print.asp...5d0&k=71792

When talking about Canada`s auto and forestry sectors

QUOTE Slowing demand from the United States is to blame for troubles in Canada`s auto and forestry sectors, rather than the strong loonie, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said on Friday.

"In the auto sector, there is weakness. In the forestry sector, certainly there is weakness," he said. "That has a lot to do with the reduction in demand in the U.S. economy. Most of the vehicles built in Canada are exported to the United States."

Similarly, he added, the American housing market is in decline, dragging down Canada`s forestry industry.The high Canadian dollar crimps domestic manufacturing and exporting industries because it makes their products more expensive abroad. When Chrysler LLC eliminated 10,000 jobs on Thursday, 1,100 of them were in Canada. But Mr. Flaherty said the Canadian dollar is not the culprit.

"There is market weakness in the auto sector," he said, "and the government can`t correct that."

 

[BMironov]

Hamilton Spectator:Ready, set ... Red Hill! Runners pound parkway (Nov 5, 2007)
http://www.thespec.com/News/Local/article/277045

QUOTE More than 3,000 runners pounded the parkway`s fresh pavement to mark the completion of the four-lane, eight kilometre, $225-million highway.
...
First formally proposed in 1957, the parkway is set to open to vehicles Nov. 16 after some final touches, like signs and guardrails, are complete. More than 70,000 vehicles are expected to use the controversial highway daily.

Mayor Fred Eisenberger, who lives beside the valley, had his first chance to experience the parkway legally when he ran the five-kilometre race Saturday morning.

A few weeks ago, he was stopped by security and served an injunction notice for riding his bike on the road.

"I`m the mayor," he recalled sheepishly telling the security guard. "They said `Oh sure you are.`"

 

[BMironov]

Hamilton Spectator:A long road to Red Hill (Nov 3, 2007)
http://www.thespec.com/News/Local/article/276303

Will it be Hamilton`s salvation -- or its greatest mistake?

QUOTE The road is done, its fresh asphalt and white lines waiting. Runners will be the first to experience the parkway when the red ribbon is cut this afternoon.

Within two weeks, the ramps will open to vehicles and residents will begin to learn what this road really means for Hamilton.
...
No construction project in the history of the city has been so contentious or costly. The Red Hill Valley Parkway was first formally proposed in 1957. It has taken half a century and $245 million to get to this point. The eight-kilometre road -- a six-minute drive at the 90 km/h speed limit -- cost roughly $33,000 a metre.
...
The predictions of success and failure have been argued to the extreme. The parkway`s backers see it as the path to economic development on the east Mountain. They predict the four-lane highway will attract investors to the North Glanbrook and airport industrial lands, securing desperately needed jobs and tax dollars.
...
Will the parkway just become a way to bypass Hamilton? Will transport trucks clog the Linc to shave minutes off their drive to Highway 403?

Will the parkway encourage economic development or just more residential growth on the ever-expanding Mountain?

Will the east end`s air quality suffer? Will run-off from the road contaminate the newly aligned creek? Will the valley`s creatures, including the infamous flying squirrel, survive?

McMaster geography professor Walter Peace is waiting for the answers. An opponent of the road and author of a book about the valley, he`s willing to be proven wrong. But he`s not betting on it.

He predicts it will be at least five years before either side is proven right.

 

[BMironov]

Toronto Star:House bidding wars stretching budgets (Nov 6, 2007)
http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/273856

Many stretched to limit as area prices jump 11%

QUOTE Yesterday, the Toronto Real Estate Board reported the average home price in the Toronto area is now $394,646, up 11 per cent from a year ago, although, like the Rodrigues family, you can count on paying a lot more if you want to live downtown.
...
October was an all-time high for the month with 7,915 sales, the board said, a 15 per cent increase from the previous year, putting 2007 on track for a record year.
...
The Rodrigueses, who are in their early-30s, got it for $20,000 over asking. And so, the couple that wanted to spend $450,000 just a year ago ended up spending almost $300,000 more.
...
According to Statistics Canada, Canadians owed $760 billion in total debt in 2005, three-quarters of which was in mortgages, up 43 per cent from 1999. Household debt has been increasing annually at 4.7 per cent for the past three decades, outpacing gains in disposable income.
...
A study released by Statistics Canada last month found young adults who lived in a rural area or small town were most likely to be homeowners at 71 per cent, versus living in a more expensive city, such as Toronto, at 53 per cent.
...
The housing market can be the perfect stressor, since mortgages are long term and seem never-ending. Toronto`s heated market creates the perfect storm with multiple offers frequent in popular neighbourhoods, which cause some buyers to go beyond their financial comfort zone, said Marg Green, a mortgage planner with broker Mortgage Architects.

"It`s a huge decision and sometimes it`s easy to let your emotions get the better of you," Green said. "The mortgage-burning party for my generation was a rite of honour, but one reality is that most Canadians of this generation will likely not pay off their homes."

 

[BMironov]

Statistics Canada:Savers, investors and investment income (2006) (Nov 6, 2007)
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/071106/d071106c.htm

QUOTE The number of taxfilers reporting investment income, as well as the amount of investment income they reported, both increased for the third consecutive year in 2006. Investment income refers to the sum of dividend income from taxable Canadian corporations and interest income from investments in non-tax-sheltered vehicles.

Nationally, over 8.2 million people reported $40.9 billion of income from investments, according to income tax returns filed in the spring of 2007. This is the highest number of people to report investment income since 2000, when some 8.5 million did so.
...
The proportion of taxfilers reporting investment income at the Canada level increased from 33.4% in 2005 to 35.1% in 2006.
...
The median investment income at the Canada level increased from $469 in 2005 to $530 in 2006, after adjustment for inflation. In other words, one-half of those reporting investment income in 2006 reported more than $530, and the other half reported less.

Median investment income rose in all provinces and territories. British Columbia had the highest median investment income at $680, followed by Alberta at $560, and Ontario and Saskatchewan at $550.

Among census metropolitan areas, taxfilers in Victoria reported the highest median investment income at $860. They were followed by taxfilers in Vancouver at $700, and Calgary at $580. This ranking was unchanged from 2005.

 

[BMironov]

TD Economics:Oh CDOs, CDOs, Wherefore Art Thou CDOs? (Nov 6, 2007)
http://www.td.com/economics/special/rk1107_cdo.pdf

QUOTE As the quarterly earnings season rolls forward, we are finally getting our first concrete statements as to exactly who lost what as a result of this summer`s financial turmoil. So far, financial institutions have booked losses of around $30 billion, with the grand total likely to come in at about double this amount when all is said and done. While not an insignificant sum, if spread evenly across investors worldwide, this would equate to just a nickel loss for every $100 invested in global bond and stock markets.

HIGHLIGHTS

• There has been an unfortunate relationship – those investors with the least transparency have been increasingly buying the riskiest financial products.
• Two-thirds of U.S.-originated corporate mortgage-backed securities held by foreign investors went to offshore and intermediary financial centres such as the Cayman Islands.
• The uncertainty of the structure of these products is compounded by a hazy understanding of their ownership around the world.There will be further reported losses by financial institutions as a result of this summer`s turmoil. On a global scale, though, the magnitude of these losses is manageable.However, the lack of clarity over their global flow is one factor slowing the resolution of the current market disruptions. After all, you can`t fight what you can`t see.

 

[BMironov]

If you want to compare Canadian economy to European read the following report:CIBC World Markets:
European economic research. Monthly outlook (Nov 2007)
http://research.cibcwm.com/economic_public...nload/nov07.pdf

QUOTE Eurozone industrial production reported a firmer than expected +1.2% monthly increase in August, which followed an upwardly revised +0.7% monthly rise in July and corresponded to a yearly rate at an impressive +4.3%, up from +3.9%.


Data from graphs:
Unemployment rate in Eurozone is about 7.25%

Inflation rate is about 2.75%

Report presents detailed data about:

• Eurozone
• United kingdom Sweden Switzerland

 

[ChrisRichards]

On Monday, Nov 5th, 2007, Enbridge Inc. announced pipeline projects bringing bitumin from north of Ft McMurray to Ft. Sask area refineries and a return line for the dilutent.

"The estimated cost of the pipelines and related facilities is approximately $2 billion with planned in-service dates in mid-2011, subject to finalization of scope and detailed engineering, and regulatory approvals. "

http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?a_id=52429

 

[BMironov]

Financial Post:Poor public image has cost oilpatch billions (Nov 7, 2007)
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/financi...5c-7e60a2993b8a

`We have to regain out voice:` Producers group

QUOTE The general view of the oil sector -- some of it showing up in its own opinion polls -- is that it`s greedy, crooked, environmentally and socially irresponsible, unneeded and, technologically, a dinosaur.

Yet the industry can sincerely assert that it is generous, environmentally and socially responsible, honest, essential and smart.
...
Until recently, the oilpatch couldn`t care less. Oilmen seemed quite content to go about the business of producing and selling oil, doing it as responsibly and as intelligently as possible, while keeping contact with the outside world -- i.e. most people outside Alberta unsympathetic to high oil profits --at a minimum.

All that changed in the past couple of years. Their poor public image -- sometimes fuelled by a few malcontents with Internet access and long distribution lists of politicians and the media, or low-budget environmental groups -- is costing them billions in adverse government decisions.

In the past year alone, the Canadian sector, or large factions within the sector, arguably lost every public policy battle it engaged in: It failed to sway the federal Tories to reverse their decision to tax oil and gas trusts; it lost the climate change debate; it lost the accelerated capital cost allowance federally and provincially; a consortium led by Imperial Oil Ltd. failed to convince the federal Tories they should gain fiscal breaks to build the Mackenzie pipeline; it lost the energy policy debate with Newfoundland and it lost the royalty debate in Alberta.

Of all those hits, the Alberta royalty battle cut the deepest, since oil companies never expected such a punishing blow from their own home team.
...
The group is staffing up to launch a major long-term communications efforts on many fronts -- from empowering its employees to talk up the business, to working more closely with the media. If there is a silver lining, it`s that Canada`s oil industry`s reality is better than the perceptions.

 

[BMironov]

Hamilton Spectator:Sewer upgrade may top $500m (Nov 7, 2007)
http://www.thespec.com/News/Local/article/278019

Growth, harbour cleanup cited

QUOTE Expanding Hamilton sewage treatment facilities to keep up with growth and clean up the harbour will cost more than half a billion dollars over the next six years.

The federal and provincial governments have so far pledged $105 million toward the work, but without further aid, most of the money will come from rates paid by everyone with a water meter.

Jim Harnum, the city`s senior director of water and wastewater, will reveal how much those rates will go up when he presents a 2008 budget Dec. 10.
...
Harnum told council`s public works committee this week that expanding and upgrading the Woodward Avenue sewage treatment plant will cost an estimated $420 million, and capturing overflows from the combined storm and sanitary sewer system will add $81.7 million.

The plans will be subject to a 30-day public review once approved by the full council next week.
...
The city is asking the carpenters to exempt the Woodward project, and Harnum said the city is talking to contractors about better terms to get more interest in bidding.

On the positive side, Harnum said the combined sewer overflow work is designed to all but stop storm overflows that dump raw sewage into three sensitive areas of the harbour -- Cootes Paradise, Sherman Inlet and Windermere Basin.

The Woodward plant upgrades won`t quite meet targets of the Hamilton Harbour Remedial Action Plan. However, Harnum said, the plan implementation team believes the improvement will be enough to remove the harbour from the International Joint Commission`s list of Great Lakes pollution hot spots by 2015.

 

[BMironov]

Hamilton Spectator:Baird coming with cash for Randle Reef cleanup (Nov 8, 2007)
http://www.thespec.com/News/Local/article/278455

QUOTE Canadian Environment Minister John Baird is expected to announce a $30-million federal contribution to the $90-million cleanup of Randle Reef tomorrow.
...
With $30 million promised by Premier Dalton McGuinty during the recent provincial election campaign, a federal commitment would clear the way to cap and contain enough toxic mud to fill Copps Coliseum to the roof three times.

It`s a significant issue because Randle Reef is the second-worst case of coal-tar contamination in Canada after the tar ponds in Sydney, N.S. And it is the biggest remaining obstacle to getting the harbour off the International Joint Commission`s list of Great Lakes pollution hot spots.

The final $30 million is expected to come from the Hamilton Port Authority and in-kind donations from industry and other local sources with an interest in creating an eight-hectare peninsula for cargo storage and two new shipping piers.

 

[BMironov]

Financial Post:150,000 jobs at stake because of loonie`s rise: economist (Nov 9, 2007)
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/financi...e22&k=69668

QUOTE The unprecedented appreciation in the Canadian dollar could lead to a "brutal" squeeze in manufacturers` earnings and up to 150,000 job losses, says a report released Friday by a leading Bay Street economist.

The bearish outlook was provided by Ted Carmichael, chief Canadian economist at JP Morgan Chase Canada. And it comes amid calls by the premiers of Ontario and Quebec for immediate action from the federal government and the Bank of Canada to deal with the ever-soaring Canadian loonie.

"Based on developments through October, we expect the manufacturing profit squeeze to be brutal, cutting profits in the sector more than 50% over a year ago by early 2008," Mr. Carmichael wrote in a note to clients, noting the Canadian dollar has appreciated roughly 12% against its U.S. counterpart since September, when it hit parity.

"Recent experience suggests that manufacturing employment, which has fallen 284,000 from its peak in [late 2002], is likely to fall another 100,000 to 150,000 over the coming year," he warned. "While some of these job losses will be offset by further gains in the services and construction sectors, it seems likely that total employment is also set to slow quite sharply."

Even though the manufacturing sector will be hit hard, Mr. Carmichael said the Canadian economy "does not" appear to be headed for a recession.

Mr. Carmichael, who has been among the most bearish economists on Bay Street, said his negative outlook on manufacturing is based on two key factors: an expected sharp decline in Canadian exports, due to the high dollar and weak U.S. demand; and continued hefty increases in labour costs.

 

[BMironov]

Globe and Mail:Premiers inflate their monetary expertise (Nov 10, 2007)
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/sto...PStory/Business

QUOTE Who is better qualified to set interest rates? You decide. In one corner, we have David Dodge, a Princeton-educated economist, Canada`s former deputy to the G7 and once the most senior public servant in the Department of Finance. In the other, we have Dalton McGuinty, real estate lawyer from Ottawa.

Now, we`ll grant you that negotiating the finer points of a condo sale has its tricky side. It`s just that it doesn`t quite compare with the complexities of, say, controlling the levers on a $1.2-trillion economy that`s spread over the world`s second-largest land mass. Mr. McGuinty, the Ontario Premier, thinks the Bank of Canada is keeping rates too high and should chop them. Sounds like a swell idea, except if you`re trying to buy a roof and four walls in Calgary, where the price of a single-family home is up 65 per cent in two years.
...
So why, oh why, do they persist down this dead end? Because it`s free. It`s good politics. And every so often, they fool somebody, such as the Toronto Star, Mr. McGuinty`s official publication, which this week backed its man with an editorial titled, "Bank`s job to cool overheated dollar." Hmmm: actually, that`s not true. The Bank of Canada`s job is to promote the economic and financial welfare of the nation, which, as Parliament has defined it, has more to do with keeping inflation in check.
...
The best-case scenario for the premiers is that Ottawa falls for it, sends them a cheque and watches as the dollar takes an overdue plunge back below parity. Then they`ll try to grab a share of the credit, without ever having done the hard things, like cutting provincial taxes or knocking over interprovincial trade barriers.

Mr. Dodge is doing just fine without all the unsolicited advice, thank you, and so is Canada. Wouldn`t we all be better off if the premiers stopped trying to do his job and concentrated on something else - as in, their own?

 

[BMironov]

Financial Post:A simple `thank you` can help build long-term relationships for your business (Nov 12, 2007)
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/financi...76-c73a2917b166

QUOTE "Thank you" is an easy way to build relationships. Even a "no" can be made warmer with a simple "thank you." Imagine how saying those two words more often could build relationships in your business. Business over time is built on relationships. Remember how you felt when you expected a thank you, but did not receive it? Who have you neglected to thank recently who might feel the same way? Saying thank you demonstrates respect, appreciation and warmth. Those are relationship builders. And strong relationships make for good business. Try sending a handwritten thank-you note to prospects, customers, staff, suppliers and associates. It`s personal and unique because we receive so few. And it will be remembered longer than a verbal thanks or an e-mail. - George Torok is co-author of the national best-seller Secrets of Power Marketing. He helps his clients gain an unfair marketing advantage.

 

[BMironov]

Globe and Mail:As with the oil sands, most workers come from away (Nov 12, 2007)
http://www.reportonbusiness.com/servlet/st...y/Business/home

QUOTE For Saudi Arabia, a crude oil producer and refiner, the site is a first step into a future of doing more with the black gold that lies in vast quantities beneath the desert kingdom.

A $10-billion (U.S.) petrochemicals project is about 60 per cent complete, set for operation late next year, and while the site is half a world away from Fort McMurray in northern Alberta, the similarities between the two places are striking, beginning with the huge scale of these projects.

Petro Rabigh, a 50-50 joint venture between Saudi Arabian Oil Co. (Aramco) and Sumitomo Chemical Co. Ltd. of Japan, has seen its costs double since it was first conceived in 2004.

The project, like the oil sands and other major industrial developments around the world, suffers from surging steel prices.

And even with an astounding 38,000 workers on the site, construction has been hampered by a continued shortage of skilled labour.

The project has been several thousand workers short for more than a year and the cost of employing them, even at the relatively low wage rates here, is rising.

During shift changes, the site`s roads are choked with rush-hour traffic to match Manhattan – and the highway north of Fort McMurray to the oil sands mines.
...
The one striking difference between Alberta and Saudi Arabia is the work force. With the construction boom in the oil sands, Alberta builders have brought in thousands of foreign workers but the large majority of the crews remain Canadian. The Alberta Federation of Labour has argued that Alberta is exploiting foreign workers by bringing in their expertise without offering them the opportunity to immigrate.

Such a debate doesn`t exist in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where the 15 million or so nationals don`t dirty their hands in matters such as actually building major industrial projects. Of the 38,000 workers on the job at Petro Rabigh, all are foreign, many from India, Pakistan and China. All the technology employed is also foreign. The only stamp of Saudi Arabia on Petro Rabigh is senior management and the billions of dollars in oil money to build it.
...
The project, its managers said, will be among the largest petrochemical facilities in the world. Given its massive economies of scale with the existing and connected 400,000-barrel-a-day refinery and its central location to ship products worldwide, Petro Rabigh looks like it will instantly be a significant player in Saudi Arabia`s first foray into a new international market.

 

[BMironov]

Toronto Star:Condo demand sparks lineups (Nov 13, 2007)
http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/276009

QUOTE Today is day when the condo hysteria at Bloor and Yonge will finally end.

For the past week, almost 90 people have taken turns camping in a sidewalk lineup outside One Bloor East. They have been holding spaces for real estate brokers, who want to snap up luxury units in the new 80-storey tower in the heart of downtown Toronto.

Today, the agents will pay them as much as $2,000 each for their time, then step into the line themselves before the condo sales finally begin at 6 p.m.

Can you imagine standing in line on street for few days just to get a chance for any condo?

 

[BMironov]

Financial Post:Sell yourself, then sell the house (Nov 14, 2007)
http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news...61-f25f408c065a


Forget the company, create a personal brand, advises iconic realtor

QUOTE Terry Paranych is bigger than Re/Max -- at least in his ads.

Canada`s best-selling realtor is a Re/Max agent but his brand is pure Terry Paranych.

To sell 650 homes per year -- his team`s average since 2000 -- "I have to set myself apart from the competition," he explained at the start of a two-day Superstar Agent Boot Camp attended by 77 Canadian realtors, each paying $4,000 to $5,000.
...
Paranych spends $600,000 per year on advertising including a monthly flyer to 228,000 Edmonton homes.

His forceful ads always emphasize Terry Paranych, he said. "I`m branding me. Forget about Re/Max."

Distributing the same flyer for 10 years "burns the brand" into the mind of homeowners who one day may decide to list their homes.

Most realtors avoid mass advertising, Paranych said, because they think it costs too much, don`t know how to do it well or are not confident of the results of the advertising.
...
Through advertising, "I could go into any market and be the brand of choice in 90 days," he said.

Paranych has a team of 10 realtors and five support staff at Re/Max Elite but says he still visits homeowners to obtain listing agreements, show homes and present offers. He has held his Boot Camp once or twice yearly since 2004.