April 16th: Boomers to Zoomers!

It’s interesting. Other than some black humour jokes about it, we’re not much into talking about being isolated. We’re more into keeping up with one another or events arounds us. National Take Out Day was Wednesday, April 15th. Not to worry, though: Take-Out Day is now every Wednesday. Jim Bladon suggests CanadaTakeOut.com and he encourages us to use it.

Brett Bain and Vicki: are enjoying spring and the outdoors, on their acreage. The snow is more or less gone. There are geese on the pond. Bald eagles in the sky. It’s downright idyllic but for the shooting! Not to worry, it’s just Vicki getting rid of the gophers.

•• Business – if one could call it that – is staggering. He’s looking into the emergency loan program and also the wage application program, too (You can go to the CRA website and it’ll do the wages calculation for you.) 

• Remember when Pierre was PM and they called it Trudeaumania? Well, now, Brett says it is Trudeauphobia.

Sean Baylis: Sean’s Home Office is operating smoothly. While some clients are looking for good deals in what they see as being a market of opportunity, others are very nervous. Sean points out that there’s been a pretty good bounce since the end of March: up 20% in some instances. He’s liking corporate bonds. (Rather than try to explain the current market, I mention that Sean will be sending out a report. I suspect it will be more informative than my scribbling.)

Jim Bladon: As Ross will attest, the business community and people in Toronto do not “get” Alberta. Case in point: breakfast TV in TO was raving about their virtual tour of Lake Louise. It sounded pretty much like they just discovered this wilderness gem. 

• Jim says there’s been a large uptake of the emergency business loan program. 

• For updates from ATB, go to https://www.atb.com/covid-19/updates/   

• And keep up with Todd Hirsch on The Owl. Get started at https://www.atb.com/company/insights/the-owl/

Paul Boucher: As host, Paul performed more than he talked.

Ian Campbell:

Matt Dart:

Todd Dean: 

George Doherty: George sends kudos to Ian and his hearing-aids “aid stations”: they’re staying in touch with customers and have a ‘drop off’ service and repair program so you never have to be without your ‘hearing’. 

• Some of George’s friends are getting a bit nervous about what’s happening …

Don Doolan: He’s not impressed by the power struggle between Jason Kenny and Canada’s Chief Medical Officer. Surely there are better. more important things to do than squabble about procedures and such.…

Tony Fisher:

Gord Forsyth:

Mel Gibson: Even a person as acquainted with fine print as is Mel … will find the rules of play at the Copper Point Golf Course tedious and extensive. Course opens on the 24th for three days … but golfers are encouraged to prepare by getting the rules of protocol now. 

•• A big topic in insurance circles right now is the application of the rules around the concept of ‘force majeure’. It has large implications for commercial renters. 

• There is a class action suit, launched by Merchant Law, on behalf of a large restaurant chain. 

• The following clip may help: Acts of God are unpredictable natural events such as storm, earthquake, flood … Force Majeure is, human-initiated action that cannot be predicted or controlled by the party to the contract.

Henry Heuver:

David Hicks:

Dan Kennelly:

Matt Litke:

Andy Lockhart: He’s been reading a medical group’s findings: how people in homeless shelters seem to be testing positive  – at a rate of 36% – and yet showing no symptoms. This is disturbing news and so Andy warns us not to get too optimistic yet. We need to learn more. 

•• For those of you who know Andy’s past business partner, Mike French: he’s still stuck in Australia (3 months now).

JD MacDonald:

Michael McLennan:

Ross Mikkelsen: There is some online selling happening. BBQ season is here and Barbecues Galore has the things people need at https://barbecuesgalore.ca   AND remember this: The Barbecues Galore site is quite a bit easier to navigate than the big box stores’ are. So you can find what you want with way less hassle. And better yet, Ross’ will meet or beat any other Canadian store’s prices. PLUS, if you ever need parts, Ross likely has them  — the ones that actually fit your barbecue … as opposed to the universal fit parts which will take you all day to fart around with … before you realize that they’re never, ever really going to fit. (This ad was neither paid for nor endorsed by anyone. Suffice to say it is written by someone who has tried to apply Universal-fit parts to relative’s BBQs with frustratingly ineffective results.) 

The government’s “hey, let’s use tax payer dollars to pay people something programs” are working so well, Ross is having trouble enticing his temporarily laid off staff, back to work. Surprise, surprise … they’d sooner do nothing at home than work. 

••As for landlords, it seems the local commercial property owners are realistic: let’s work together and figure something out, they say. The big landlords out of Toronto are so arrogant and ignorant they’re very difficult to chat with. They have never figured Alberta out and they likely never will. (As Andy says, start working your way up the totem pole until you find someone that knows the lay of the land. And remember, you’re not the lay.)

Mike Mikkelson:

Brad Pachal:

Gerry Parcells:

Dwayne Vinck: There’s a great and growing need for phone support for kids and adults in this country. The current crisis has kicked this need up several notches. And the Kids Help Phone service has shown that it has the chops to provide this vital service (to Kids and Adults). It has become the backbone of helplines across Canada. Here in Alberta, there are now 3 Directors and 19 Staffers and numerous volunteers. 

Bob Wiggins:

George Roberts:

Associates

Gregg Callander:

Alumni

Ken Eades:

Bill Hoogstratten:

Tom Olson Further to Ross’ and Jim’s comments about Toronto’s insensitivity to Alberta realities, Tom adds that BC is just as bad if not worse. 

• Tom is concerned about current and on-going government power grabs. Our Civil Liberties do matter – maybe more so now than ever before. If we don’t stand up for them , we will lose them. 

•• Meanwhile, Tom suggests you take time to stop and smell the flowers and smoke your pot every night. 

Bruce Roblin:

Chris Wright: