It’s been a nice surprise.
For the economy, business, government, the stock market, for the country itself.
The worry about a tsunami of penniless retirees descending upon the social assistance safety net and the health system is quickly diminishing.
Of course some baby-boomers continue to work out of necessity – i.e. they need more money.
But so many of the post-60 crowd are healthy, mobile, have positive attitudes, sufficient pensions/savings … and choose not to retire!
At least not entirely.
To the relief of Alberta companies needing all the skilled personnel they can find, large numbers of retired 60-to-70 year olds have no problem going back to work.
It’s just not conventional work. It’s on contract, maybe three days a week, or two days one week, four the next, or full-time for three months working on a particular project. And all on the understanding they could be gone two months in the winter.
Edmonton Sun freelance columnist Marty Forbes, who writ ...
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Three cheers for the Taste of Edmonton production team.
The grand snack-until-you-drop food festival, running through Saturday at Churchill Square, boasts 63 restaurant booths, food trucks, beer and wine gardens, entertainment, culinary workshops and sip ‘n’ savour events.
What’s most impressive is the ongoing, year-over-year, serious improvement of the food quality on offer. The deep fryers are being used far less often, there’s far more choice, much of it is adventurous, most of it is delicious.
The other change, and it’s a slight shocker, is a deliberate price correction.
Last year, there was push-back from the public on the prices — more and more of the small-plate items were being pushed out for four or five tickets @ $1 each.
The smart response: The per-ticket price has been pushed to $1.25, but almost all the 2014 booth food prices are two or three tickets ($2.50 to $3.75) thus representing good value.
This year marks the festival’s embracemen ...
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