Where's the Corporate Giving? Hicks on Biz originally published Edmonton Sun, Dec. 15, 2012

“Are there no prisons? Are there no poor houses?”So were uttered some of the most prophetic words ever written in English.The great Charles Dickens put them into the mouth of his merciless capitalist character Ebenezer Scrooge in a story that, 170 years later, still rings as true as the day Dickens put pen to paper.I’m thinking about Scrooge now, as Christmas approaches.Not only because of the Citadel Theatre’s stellar 13th annual production of A Christmas Carol, but because Scrooge’s attitude to charity (before being put to rights by the ghostly good guys) has become subtly ingrained in 21st century business ethics.For all its talk, big business in Canada doesn’t seem that committed to giving back to the communities from whence their profits flow.Imagine Canada is a credible non-profit organization that reports on, and advocates for, increased corporate philanthropy.Imagine Canada suggests Canada’s companies should give 1% of their pre-tax profits to charity … a penny deducted from every dividend dollar.And ... Read the rest of entry »

Smart manufacturing, as typified by Drader, is alive and well in Greater Edmonton: Hicks on Biz column, Edmonton Sun, Dec. 8, 2012

Blanket statements about doing business in Alberta are dangerous things.Conventional wisdom says manufacturing, outside the oil patch, is impossible.We can’t compete against the Chinese. We can’t compete against the oil patch for wages. We can’t compete in transportation. And our input costs are too high.The business folks who don’t actually make real stuff have accepted these “truths” without critical examination.There’s a minor problem. Those truths are not true.Plastic products manufacturer Drader Manufacturing Industries Ltd, 55 years old, is not only going strong, but has expanded into Ontario. Most of Drader’s customers are not oil patch-related.Drader is hardly alone. According to Stats Canada figures passed on by EEDC, an astounding 1,791 manufacturers with less than 100 employees have plants in Greater Edmonton. How many serve customers outside the oil patch is not broken down.Drader caught my attention at the ASTech Awards in November, honouring scientific achievement in Alberta.It was the only indu ... Read the rest of entry »

Learning to love Alberta's pipelines: Hicks on Biz originally published in Edmonton Sun, Dec. 1, 2012

Former premier Ed Stelmach used to call it 'the invisible industry." Even excluding urban water/sewer lines and residential gas lines, we have more pipelines running through the extended Greater Edmonton neighbourhood than just about anywhere else in the world. Maps attempting to illustrate all of central and northern Alberta energy pipelines are just about useless. If the colour blue is used to show all the pipelines, that map would be near solid blue from Red Deer to Fort McMurray. All of Alberta – excluding urban services – has about 400,000 kilometres worth of pipeline. Collector lines are everywhere in conventional oil/gas producing areas; from wells to mini-hubs, mini-hubs to bigger hubs, to major pipes heading to rural primary processing plants, to even bigger pipes transporting crude oil or natural gas into local refineries, or to the super-highway pipelines that send raw or processed hydrocarbons out of province. Thanks to the oilsands northeast of Edmonton, and oil an ... Read the rest of entry »

AIMCo: A fabulous Edmonton Success Story: HIcks on Biz, originally published in Edmonton Sun, Nov. 24, 2012

AIMCo is a fabulous Edmonton business success story. We’re not talking about its rate of return on $70 billion worth of assets - a healthy 7.9% return that assures provincial and municipal employees their pensions are secure. We’re talking about what AIMCo has done, in four short years, to create new wealth in Edmonton. Rewind to 2008, when the Ralph Klein government, spurred by indomitable cabinet minister Shirley McClellan, gathered up its piggy-banks – its pension funds, the Alberta Sustainability Fund, the Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund and others – to create one arm’s length investment management firm. AIMCo, the Alberta Investment Management Corporation, is a crown corporation with its own board of governors and only one mandate: That it make money. There is no directive that AIMCo must invest (or not invest) in Alberta. In fact when AIMCo did make a multi-million dollar investment in Calgary-based Precision Drilling, there was momentary uproar ... until ... Read the rest of entry »

The Oil Sands are Fine: Hicks on Biz, originally published in the Edmonton Sun Nov. 17, 2012

Doom! Suncor is hauling on the reins, slowing oilsands expansion plans to a walk, if not a crawl. Gloom! With no Keystone XL pipeline to the south and no Northern Gateway pipeline to the west, our bitumen and synthetic crude oil is stranded in Fort McMurray. Toil! North America is awash in oil. There’s more of the stuff thanks to new discoveries and new recovery technology in the USA. Consumption is dropping as the American economy remains stagnant and vehicles use less fuel. The price is dropping. Gasoline is below a buck a litre at the pumps. Great for Martha and Henry's day-to-day budget. Not so great if Henry loses his oil-services job. Trouble! The new, improved Environment Canada watch on Fort McMurray is reporting oilsand residue contamination in lakes 100 kilometres from oilsands activity. Double trouble! The Chinese have conquered us with their money. The Communists are taking over the oilsands. If you were determined to paint a grim picture of ... Read the rest of entry »

Advice on a frugal lifestyle: Hicks on Biz originally published in Edmonton Sun, Sat. Nov. 10, 2012

Welcome to the Hicks on Biz Guide to Living Frugally. Canadians are now carrying record levels of household debt, owing $1.64 for every $1 in income. I’m sure Edmontonians are more sensible than most of our fellow citizens. But if you can’t even pay a fifth of your credit card debt this month (at 20% annual interest in the unpaid balance), get your act together, impose a little financial discipline and STOP SPENDING! You may have champagne tastes. But, buddy, you only have a beer budget. Apart from moving into cheaper apartment, turning in the BMW for a used Cavalier and cancelling that Club Med holiday, here are a few small cutback tips that add up to thousands of dollars not spent annually. Coffee: Drip versus cartridge versus Starbucks These new coffee cartridge machines are all the rage. Excuse me. Coffee cartridges cost 50 cents each. Home-drip coffee, even premium brands, rings in at under two cents a cup. A 737 gram tin of Safeway Edwards coffee (darned ... Read the rest of entry »

Talking about Edmonton Trash: Hicks on Biz column originally published in Edmonton Sun, Nov. 2, 2012

It’s one of the most intriguing, and unusual, business propositions ever to come out of this city.  Waste RE-Solutions Edmonton, a new city-owned business, has the same challenges and doubts as surround any other brand-new company … except for the six extra zeros in its start-up costs. Over the last 25 years, as much by circumstance as by design, Edmonton has emerged with one of the most advanced and sophisticated waste management systems in the world. At the Edmonton Waste Management Centre (EWMC), everything possible is recycled or composted in multiple public and private partnerships. We recycle everything in our blue bags, deconstruct ancient TVs and computers, have the world’s biggest composter, recycle construction and demolition waste, and, in 2013, will open the world’s first industrial scale municipal-waste-to-biofuel project. The $80 million Enerkem plant will somehow convert garbage that can’t be composted or recycled into methanol fuel. Soon to come at the E ... Read the rest of entry »

Future prosperity depends on regional government: Hicks on Biz column originally published in the Edmonton Sun, Sat. Oct. 27, 2012

I recently dined with a senior City of Edmonton manager, part of the leadership group around City Manager Simon Farbrother that’s getting a great deal done.We talked about global energy/petro-chemical companies, how decisions are made about where multi-billion dollar plants will be built.“We’re part of the Pacific rim,” our manager said. “The guy making that decision is based in Shanghai or Beijing. He’s deciding if that plant should be built in China, somewhere else in Asia, Canada, the USA or Mexico. His only interest is the well-being of the company he works for.“He has hundreds of options – countries and states and cities are all offering economic incentives.“If we (Greater Edmonton) want to compete, we have to have the complete package – land fully serviced and ready to go, feedstock, infrastructure, labour, financing, tax incentives. In fact, we have to offer more. Their future consumers are all over there, not here.“How do we compete,” he said, pointing his fork at my nose, “ when we don’t have a singl ... Read the rest of entry »

How Edmontonians invest their money: Hicks on Biz column originally published in Edmonton Sun, Sat. Oct. 20, 2012

Do Edmontonian invest, and if so, what do we invest in?I approached two of the city’s better-known financial advisors, CHED and Global Edmonton analyst Angus Watt of National Bank Financial and Ron Hiebert of Scotia-McLeod, host of CFCW’s weekly Making Money show, to ask these simple questions.(As always, think of “Edmontonians” as shorthand for Edmonton Sun readers, usually living in Alberta between Red Deer and Fort McMurray.)Right off the bat, we’re talking about a minority of you.About 70% of adult Albertans still live paycheque to paycheque, not saving enough to invest in anything besides your house. But 70% of you actually own a home, and, hopefully, are increasing your equity with every mortgage payment.But the time comes when the 30% have a tiny bit left over, after groceries, car and housing costs, the son’s hockey equipment and one holiday a year, to actually start making investments.Usually it’s in tax-deferred RRSPs (Registered Retirement Savings Plans — you don’t pay income tax until you make wit ... Read the rest of entry »

Parkallen Restaurant a Lebanese delight: Weekly Dish, Edmonton Sun, Oct. 3, 2012

Parkallen Restaurant 7018 109 St. 780-436-8080 www.parkallen.comFood: 4 of 5 starsAmbience: 4 of 5 starsService: 4.5 of 5 starsDinner for two (without beverages): Basic, $25; fully loaded, $100If you have a favourite restaurant, dollars to doughnuts you have dishes you return to, time after time.You may not be sure why, but there's just something about how that particular chef prepares that particular dish. It keeps calling your name.I have a problem with the Parkallen Restaurant. It's not just one or two dishes. It's five, six, seven ...It's the quality of the kitchen, for 28 years presided over by Habib and Nahia Rustom, and now their son Joseph Rustom.There are no shortcuts. Everything is from scratch, or custom-made locally to Rustom specifications.To try their "mezza" combinations (a tapas-style collection of up to 12 mini-entrees) is to feast your way through Lebanese cuisine, to be taking mental notes on which dish you will order as a full entr e the next time around.Why do I love thee, ... Read the rest of entry »