A Reader's Stories
AVOIDING A CONFLICT OF INTEREST
We all know how cautious the Mayor is with respect to declaring possible conflicts of interest involving City matters.
In the circumstances therefore, since he has told us that he is only a two-term Mayor, he needs to assign the commuting project to another one of the Members of Council.
As he has told us, he IS a lawyer. I would hate for anyone to think that this project was designed to allow him to practise out West to make the big bucks and then to come home at a low cost to see his wife and child on the weekend!
- “Law firms facing talent crunch
...Coupled with a rising talent shortage, firms and corporate counsel employers are finding themselves pressed to offer concessions to compensate for what they can't pay in remuneration…
Such conflicting dynamics are rendering it difficult for law firms and employers to achieve the complement of legal professionals they require. "We're seeing firms absolutely struggling to find talent," says Mr. Smith, himself a lawyer. "I'm in an odd spot where I've got more firms that want to work with us than I have lawyers."
He suggests the crisis has snuck up on the profession after a nationwide downsizing almost a decade ago during which firms shed their junior talent. "Fast forward 10 years later, the real workhorse of the law firm, the most valuable in terms of getting the work done and profitability, are the five-to-eight-year call lawyers -- and you can't find them," he says.
The resulting shortage is markedly more manageable in central and eastern regions of the country, where the market has slightly slipped, he observes, while in Western Canada, "firms really find themselves in a pickle because not only do they not have the talent to go around, but the economy is at the hottest it's been in 10 years. So it's a real double whammy..."
So far, only Alberta's energy sector is readily achieving a reputation for competitive packages. The whole environment has firms and companies looking to augment their expertise by calling on retirees.”
Retirees….Wait a minute. I am virtually retired from the practice of law. Good salaries out West, big demand for lawyers, cheap airfare home on weekends…hey Eddie where’s your survey questionnaire again.
"W"HERE IS OUR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION? NO "W"HERE!
Members from our Development Commission spent some quality time in London, England at a trade show trying to generate some business for us here.
Our Mayor was in London and then in Frankfurt trying to generate some business for us here.
Unfortunately I have not seen any new business being generated for us here from those trips. In fact, I don’t recall reading much about what they did overseas other than primarily about Red Bull.
- “Calling all Hamilton companies
The city is surveying local businesses to keep more of them here
Hamilton city staff are calling on local company leaders to learn about their businesses and what the city can do to keep them...
Losing out on a chance to lure a new high-tech manufacturer or research centre no doubt hurts. But it pales in comparison to the upheaval and distress of losing an existing employer to closure or relocation. Hamilton knows that all too well and is trying to prevent a repeat of that pain.
Listening to local companies, keeping them happy about doing business in Hamilton and helping them grow are key to the city's economic health, said Norm Schleehahn, the city's manager of business development.
"We know that 80 per cent of business growth comes from within the city's existing business. It's much easier to target businesses who already know the benefits of doing business here."
The survey's 40 questions take about 90 minutes to complete and cover everything from growth and expansion plans, labour needs and research and development investments to opinions about city taxes, planning processes, infrastructure and development charges.
Hamilton's economic development department has always gleaned information from local companies about their needs but new software called Synchronist obtained in June has made the process much more sophisticated, said Neil Everson, the department's director.”
For Eddie and the WEDC, here’s some information about the software. Mind you now that I’ve talked about it, neither of them will ever use it:
- “Business Retention and Expansion With Synchronist
Synchronist is a tool that communities across the country are using to conduct informational interviews with local industries.
The Web-based application was developed by Blane, Canada Ltd….
Using a standard 45-question survey, two-person teams conduct interviews with industry executives in approximately one hour. The data gathered from the interview are entered into the Synchronist database, yielding information on four critical topics:
A company's value to the community
Its risk of leaving or downsizing
Its growth potential
Its satisfaction with the community.
In addition to providing more than 250 reports, Synchronist can also serve as a contact management system for follow-up activities.”
ARE ENWIN/WUC NEXT
We saw that Lakeshore and Kingsville sold their interest in ELK Energy Inc. for about $12.7 million to the Town of Essex. I will wager that this deal is not finished because Chatham-Kent Energy lost out in purchasing that interest. The Star story stated:
- “Essex officials will continue to talk with Chatham-Kent Energy, he said, not ruling out future partnerships."
There is no doubt now that Hydro and water utility companies are going to be pursued by the big-money boys in the infrastructure game. I had already made this prediction a long time ago about our City-owned utilities. Those utilities could bring in substantial sums into the City’s bank account that would allow our politicians to squander that money on Canal visions for example.
If you think I am kidding, here is what one of Ontario’s biggest pension plans is investing in… a name that should be familiar to you:
- "OMERS buys stake in Texas electricity distribution and transmission system
The Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS) is buying 10 per cent of the largest electricity distribution and transmission system in Texas for $627-million (U.S.), its first major investment in this part of the power sector…
It is making the investment in Oncor through one of its investment arms, Borealis Infrastructure Management…
Many investors, including Canadian pension funds, have been buying power assets around the world for their long-term, stable cash flow, and high barrier to entry for competitors.”
Just as an interesting aside, no one in the investment community in their right mind will be involved in a P3 for a new DRIC bridge because of the competition with the Ambassador Bridge unless the Governments provide them with an ironclad guarantee of profitability. P3 investors want to ensure that they make money on their investment.
They love a monopoly situation or where there is a “high barrier to entry for competitors.”
Now you understand why the Governments have to force the Owner of the Bridge Company to sell out his interest in the company. And then they can build a new bridge where it was always supposed to go, right beside the existing one.
WE ARE ALSO-RANS AGAIN
It seems that we just cannot do anything right in this City no matter how hard we work at it.
Try as we might, our new East End Arena will not make it as one of the top 10 most expensive arenas or stadiums in the world. When we get the final figure however, including all of the infrastructure needed around the arena such as roads and bridges, then someone ought to do a calculation on a per capita basis to see where we rank compared with projects in other cities.
- “World's most expensive stadiums
… each new stadium construction project is seen as an opportunity to outdo everyone else…
Beijing National Stadium, the centerpiece of this summer's 2008 Olympics, … is on the lower end in terms of f cost, at a bargain-basement $500 million -- not even enough to make our list of the ten most expensive stadiums in the world. And a higher price tag wouldn't necessarily be a good thing, either. While bigger budgets can create stadiums that attract attention and leave a lasting impression, they can also leave decades of debt…
Montreal's fiscally controversial stadium for the 1976 Olympics, for example, has been racking up interest payments for years, and was finally paid off only in 2006. The total price tag, adjusted for today's dollars, was $1.4 billion, with more than $900 million of that being interest. But that's still not enough to top our list of the most expensive stadiums in the world.
That title goes to London's new and improved Wembley Stadium, which opened in 2006 and cost a staggering $1.5 billion.”
Come on Amherstburg Council. Keep up this region's reputation! $17.9 million for the cost of a proposed new arena? We know you’re just kidding taxpayers. It will cost way more than that in the end. However, you need to see whether you can win a gold medal in arena building too!
posted by JoeBlog at 12:01 a.m.
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