Early Birds, September 29, 2022

Early Birds, September 29th, 2022

In any case, the point Dan was making was that these devices are part of Canada’s safety regimen around pipelines which is easily the strictest in the world. 

As another example of the safety precautions taken around pipelines, Dan mentioned the red planes that fly very low through Calgary airspace. If you were following along from above the red plane, you’d see it tracks directly above the pipelines/pipes that lead from the large fuel storage depot in the NE part of the city. Every Tuesday and Thursday, these planes go from one end to the other and back again. Remarkable.

Reid Colbran – is enjoying the challenge of the almost-information-overload of his new job at BFL Canada. The form is global and specializes in risk management and insurance. As an example of the difference in the scale of things at the new job, Reid was working on policies for working directors and officers of corporations with a value of $400,000,000. In his former line of work, a large policy was $2,000,000. 

BFL is also working with a large entity buying up oil wells near end-of-life and then shepherding them through to the “orphan” status. These assets are valuable and a risk, so a perfect fit for a company like BFL. 

Reid also reported that the entire insurance industry is keeping an eye on the storms out east. The dollar values involved will ensure we’ll feel the ripple effects within a year or three.

Brett Bain - on pipelines, pipes, etc. Apparently in Scotland, they’ve taken to using drones to inspect inside sewer lines, which inevitably led Brett to say that the Scots full of shit. 

In other business, Brett relayed the story of a First Nations client up north that OSI has always sold hardware too. Like most businesses that sell computer hardware, the sweet spot for OSI is the combination of services to support the hardware and the hardware sales. This particular client has been a hardware-only client until this year. THEN, their entire computer infrastructure was subjected to a ransomware attack, and rather than do anything about it right away, they simply shut everything off when they realized that all of their data had been encrypted and was unusable. Their backup wasn’t “off-site” so it was targeted and encrypted as well. So NOW, they want service.

They’d like OSI to come up and either fix their existing hardware, or if not possible replace the hardware. When Brett explained that he had to have some idea of budget to provision the staff and services (this won’t be a one-day job!), he was told essentially, “…don’t worry about it. We have lots of money.” SO, off to Northern Alberta OSI will go. 

Tony Fisher – was present at a presentation on Tuesday night when Jeromy Farkas talked about his Big Brothers and Sisters fundraising adventure of the past seven months that saw him run and walk the Pacific Crest Trail. 168 days, 14 pairs of shoes and 4, 270 km later, he’d raised $200,000 for BBBS. One of the first questions Farkas addressed in the presentation was “why?” His explanation: “I asked, ‘what do you do when you know that you’re in the world to change it for the better, but the world says no?'” It was a remarkable evening and you can read more about the presentation here: https://livewirecalgary.com/2022/09/21/jeromy-farkas-run-for-big-brothers-big-sisters-raises-nearly-210000/. To contribute and see more detail on Jeromy’s big run, you can visit his web site for the adventure at https://bbbscalgary.ca/news-events/jeromys-big-run/. 

Tony has been busy outside of business, also taking a Beatles tribute show at Jack Singer. His 2 ½/4 star review was summed up with “good show, just not the best one he’s seen.” That prompted him to plug the venue and some of the other shows coming there. Take in the arts here when you can. It’s a special place.

Matt Dart – work at Johnson Controls is evolving quickly with another reorg proposed. It’s resulting in a lot of long-time veterans inside the company to be “thanked for their service” and shown the door.

While that goes on, one of the benefits of the re-org already in progress which split the equipment side into its own business that it’s allowing Matt and his team to pursue third party suppliers to plug holes in JC’s product line. A lot of people come to Johnson Controls looking for package solutions. As an example he mentioned a theoretical 5-piece equipment package a client might ask about, for which JC only has 4 pieces. The third party suppliers Matt’s seeking could plug in that 5^th piece and then JC gets the sale. 

The biggest obstacle to developing relationships with third-party suppliers is corporate head office. They have 90-day net payable terms, rather than 30, and a lot (read, most) suppliers want nothing to do with that. 

That initial re-org also still has the possibility of a new position for Matt. He’s waiting on that.

Don Davis – happened to spot someone snooping around the back of a neighbouring house in Lake Bonavista and offered to help. The “snooper” turned out to be inspecting the property in preparation to move the entire structure (NOT a small house) to its new home in Fairview, 7 hours away and north of Edmonton. She apologized in advance for the coming disruption, to which Don replied that at this age, “…anything new is exciting.” She continued by telling Don that they can only move the house during the overnight hours and that it would take 3 days to complete the move. 

Don then picked up a thread from a recent conversation about productivity by citing “productivity” as the principal reason he picked Calgary for his office rather than Vancouver or Toronto. 

He’d had experience with Vancouver with staff coming in at 8:30, immediately grabbing a coffee until about 9:15 then taking off for early lunches at 11:30. He said Toronto was worse – but for a different reason: traffic. It didn’t matter how good his salespeople were if they spent 4 hours every day in traffic. When he came to Calgary, he realized that people actually came to WORK at 8:30, were out in the field by 9 and doing exactly what he’d want them to do: spend time in front of customers persuading them to part with their money. 

Dave Hicks - seconded that and noted an interesting thing on a recent trip out to Vancouver. He heard ads promoting Calgary in Vancouver. They’re paid for by the AB government and talk about all the things we’d all talk about. How you can find superior work-life balance here, actually afford home ownership, even near downtown among other things.

He was out there to help a friend set up a portable mill on his hobby farm on Keith Island (https://mapcarta.com/24326298) 

Dave also observed something interesting on the Trans Mountain Pipeline sites he passed. Each supplier segregates their supplies and equipment separately from one another along the section of the line they’re contracted to work on.

Dave also passed on what sounded like generic advice, that became quite specific: he advised to note when things aren’t right and to take care of yourself. He told the tale of an employee, young guy, who wasn’t feeling well and took a couple of days off. He went to the doctor and had a bunch of tests done. They couldn’t figure it out. Went back for another battery of tests after missing more work days and this time, the doc took an X-ray, and it turns out he’s full of shit. Literally. So take note when something is “off” and perhaps avoid being told anything “painfully” obvious like….maybe you haven’t had a bowel movement in 2 weeks. 

Mike Boyles – is recently back from a fabulous European trip that started with a memory-filled and fantastic trip to Croatia courtesy of Sail Croatia: https://www.sail-croatia.com. 

Mike and his wife were with 34 other people on a yacht he gave a 10/10 score too. Terrific experience all the way around. There were endless and endlessly interesting sights. Weather was great. If a picture is worth a thousand words, visit that site. They have several images that will make you want to book your ticket! 

After Dubrovnik and other sites, they were off to Rome which they found busy and vibrant – but Tuscany was the jewel of the Italian portion of the trip.

After all that it’s back to the work of coaching groups at work on ESG which is still the frontier they’re working on. More clients would be good. 😊 

Sean Baylis – started by announcing it had been another “fun” week in the market. The US wasn’t leading the way in news this week, it was the UK’s turn with their moves back and forth between quantitative tightening and quantitative easing. The various policies of the new Truss-led government haven’t exactly inspired confidence in the UK’s direction.

It’s reinforced a trend of investors sitting on their cash waiting to see what’s happening next.

RBC’s experience with investors is that they tend to be primarily two different types. The valuation based investor (think tech companies, huge valuations and cash generators), and the growth investors, looking for profitable companies, but more in the Buffet buy and hold school. 

RBC’s advice to both at the moment is that they should turn their focus to dividend stocks. Right now, those are the companies providing some decent returns.

Fortis here in Alberta is a good example, with a 5.6% increase in their dividend again this year. They have an annual target of 6% dividend growth per year.

Enbridge is another fine dividend paying stock that’s not going anywhere. They’ve just recently secured what they hope amounts to social permission by selling a stake in a pipeline to a First Nations group in BC. They’re also continuing to diversify with the recent purchase of Tri-Global Energy in the US, a Wind and Solar company in the US. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/enbridge-renewable-project-developer-1.6600392. 

On a personal note, Sean’s son who was recently playing in an NCAA hockey tournament was being scouted by Boyden school in Massachusetts. High quality school which would offer Sean’s son great academic and athletic possibilities.

Sean may be on and off at Birds through the fall since there’s lots of business travel coming up.

Andy Lockhart – picked up on the hockey theme with a quick note that number 4 grandson is enjoying some success with his U 16 Double AA hockey team.

Then Andy circulated a wonderful article that appeared in the National Post written by Bill Gates’s favourite author (as it happens), Vaclav Smil. The article was called titled “Canada’s long economic retreat shows no sign of abating”, and you can find it here: https://nationalpost.com/opinion/vaclav-smil-canadas-long-economic-retreat-shows-no-sign-of-abating. 

One of the reasons that Smil is Gates’s favourite author is his literacy on so many things, including, and especially energy. Smil’s latest book among over two DOZEN is called How The World Really Works. Highly recommended in any format: https://www.amazon.ca/How-World-Really-Works-Science/dp/0593297067/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=how+the+world+really+works&qid=1664491540&qu=eyJxc2MiOiIxLjE5IiwicXNhIjoiMS4wMiIsInFzcCI6IjEuMjEifQ%3D%3D&sr=8-1. 

From Andy’s bedtime “Scotch on the deck” files comes this wee anecdote: It was about 9:30 the other night when they saw a LINE of bright lights up in the sky. They assumed they were satellites, but these weren’t just any satellites, thank you very much. They’re Elon Musk’s satellites, and part of his Space X Satellite internet network called Starlink. On further investigation Andy learned some interesting facts. Astronomy-minded folk were NOT happy with these low-orbit satellites since they obscured the night sky because of how bright they appeared in the foreground. There are over 2300 of these satellites currently in orbit with many more planned. So, Space X has been painting the more recent satellites black.

After Andy told Sue about how a friend of theirs has Starlink and how impressed he’d been so far with every aspect of the service, including the price – which was just over a third of what he HAD been paying. This prompted Sue to get on the phone, and come back into the room announcing that she may have just subscribed. 

2^nd Round Quickies

Dan Kennelly – passed on to anyone who hadn’t been in the know that the Trans Canada through Golden is closed until December, so they’re detouring through Radium. Watch out for wolves among other wildlife, particularly between marble Canyon and Kootenay Crossing. Dan’s seen a female wolf there with pups many times. 

Tony Fisher – seconded a recommendation made by Dave Hicks recently of a new restaurant, Borough, in University District. Tony recommended it highly. This place sounds like the current “it” spot in the NW. Turns out there’s a Dan Kennelly connection – a relative is the Marketing director for the University District and she’s been traveling all over the US getting ideas from similar areas there. U/D is a great example of a holistically well-planned and executed area. There’s more on Borough here: https://myuniversitydistrict.ca/uncategorized/boroughud/. 

Tony ended the meeting on a note that sounded bittersweet at first, but then turned positive. He’d spoken to Henry Heuver recently, but not before speaking to Joan who filled him on Henry breaking his leg recently. Falling from tractors and other high places jokes abounded from our sensitive Birds. 🤣

The good news is that when Tony spoke with Henry, he sounded good and was definitely on the mend and planning to be on his feet again (if not tractors) soon. 

And that’s all folks!

See you next Thursday at Inglewood if you’re able.