The Vancouver Business Thread

[LeftCoaster]

Vancouver isn’t in the wrong timezone, well they are but it's not the reason for its lack of business prowess. The honest to god answer is the atmosphere and mentality in Vancouver; The city breeds and attracts those who are not necessarily the most business minded. The type of person who is attracted to Vancouver and chooses to move there is often one who is more concerned with going sailing or hiking on the weekend than staying at the office to get that extra leg up. It’s not necessarily a bad thing either, it just makes Vancouver a much less business focused city. It also doesn’t help that there are so many distractions in Vancouver. Here in Toronto unless you own a million+ dollar cottage in muskoka there isn’t an easy way to get out of the city, so working on the weekend is much less painful; I know I do it more here than I ever did in Vancouver.

And head offices don’t really relocate that often, it’s expensive, disruptive and can be devastating to the employees who have lives in the city where the office is currently located. If Vancouver wants more head offices it either needs to become some SEZ tax haven (not going to happen) or it needs to cultivate its own businesses organically. In order for it to do that its citizens need to take an initiative. You guys want more head offices, go found a business… even if it doesn’t make the fortune 500 you will still be employing accountants and lawyers downtown, increasing the need for office buildings.

[s211]

Originally Posted by LeftCoaster

Vancouver isn’t in the wrong timezone, well they are but it's not the reason for its lack of business prowess. The honest to god answer is the atmosphere and mentality in Vancouver; The city breeds and attracts those who are not necessarily the most business minded. The type of person who is attracted to Vancouver and chooses to move there is often one who is more concerned with going sailing or hiking on the weekend than staying at the office to get that extra leg up. It’s not necessarily a bad thing either, it just makes Vancouver a much less business focused city. It also doesn’t help that there are so many distractions in Vancouver. Here in Toronto unless you own a million+ dollar cottage in muskoka there isn’t an easy way to get out of the city, so working on the weekend is much less painful; I know I do it more here than I ever did in Vancouver.

And head offices don’t really relocate that often, it’s expensive, disruptive and can be devastating to the employees who have lives in the city where the office is currently located. If Vancouver wants more head offices it either needs to become some SEZ tax haven (not going to happen) or it needs to cultivate its own businesses organically. In order for it to do that its citizens need to take an initiative. You guys want more head offices, go found a business… even if it doesn’t make the fortune 500 you will still be employing accountants and lawyers downtown, increasing the need for office buildings.

Got a point, to which I'd add who'd want to move a business to such a polemic province? Businesses prefer stability.

[LeftCoaster]

Smaller merger of a couple of BC based gold mining juniors:

Northgate Minerals to acquire Primero Mining in deal valued at US$409 million
By The Canadian Press | July 13, 2011

VANCOUVER - Northgate Minerals Corp. (TSX: NGX) has agreed to acquire Primero Mining Corp. in a deal valued at US$409 million that includes the San Dimas mine in Mexico.

The announcement, made Wednesday, comes with the intention of combining the two companies into a "new, leading mid-tier gold producer" they said.

The combined company will have a combined market value of about $1.2 billion, they said.

Under the agreement, Primero (TSX: P) shareholders will get 1.50 Northgate shares for each of their shares, valuing them at $4.215 based on Northgate's share price Tuesday.

Primero shares were up 35 cents or nine per cent at $4.05 in trading Wednesday on the Toronto Stock Exchange, while Northgate shares were down six cents at $2.75.

Northgate shareholders will hold a 69 per cent in the combined company, while Primero shareholders will hold a 31 per cent stake.

The combined operations will be headed by Primero's chief executive Joe Conway, while Northgate chairman Terry Lyons will be chairman of the company.

Richard Hall, who was appointed chief executive of Northgate earlier this week, will be a director of the company.

The agreement has the support of Goldcorp Inc. (TSX:G), which owns 35.5 per cent of Primero's outstanding shares.

http://www.canadianbusiness.com/arti...us-409-million

[LeftCoaster]

Junior oil and gas explorer Petro One discovers oil pool in Saskatchewan
By The Canadian Press | July 12, 2011

VANCOUVER - Junior energy company Petro One Energy Corp. (TSXV: POP) says the first hole of its summer drill program at the J5 property in Saskatchewan has yielded the discovery of an unexpected light oil pool.

The Vancouver-based company said Tuesday that the well "demonstrated an excellent flow rate... without stimulation, swabbing or pumping" and has now been shut in until a separator and tanks are installed later this week.

"The discovery of a new oil pool with our first drill hole has exceeded the company's expectations, and establishes the ability of our technical team," president Peter Bryant said in a statement.

"We look forward to determining the full extent of this new reservoir and expanding our production. This will serve as a solid foundation to build on."

Expanded exploration and development drilling at the J5 property is planned, with a drilling program of up to 17 more wells.

The company said it expects to release an update to its reserve estimates shortly.

Shares in Petro One rose seven cents or eight per cent to 94 cents in early trading on the TSX Venture Exchange.

http://www.canadianbusiness.com/arti...n-saskatchewan

[LeftCoaster]

Also a bit late but BC Business released their top 100 list this month, not much change from last year really but still worth a post:

http://www.bcbusinessonline.ca/bcbus...ies-in-bc-2011

[LeftCoaster]

Some good news for BCs biggest bank.

HSBC targets growth in Canada
Tara Perkins
From Monday's Globe and Mail
Published Sunday, Jul. 17, 2011 6:55PM EDT

On his first trip to Canada since becoming chief executive officer of HSBC Holdings PLC, Stuart Gulliver wants to make one thing clear: He does not intend to shrink, much less sell, the Canadian business.

There has been speculation among analysts and rival bankers. Rumours have swirled as Mr. Gulliver, who took the reins in January at HSBC, the world’s third-largest bank by assets, embarks on a program he hopes will position it for decades to come.

It involves slashing between $2.5-billion (U.S.) and $3.5-billion of costs in the next three years, paring back HSBC’s massive global retail banking network, and concentrating more and more on emerging markets.

Mr. Gulliver and his team have been ruthlessly combing through operations in 87 countries, deciding what stays and what goes. He has already put the U.S. credit card business on the auction block and begun to exit the retail banking business in Russia. HSBC is making headlines over plans to axe nearly 700 jobs in France and a further 700 in Britain. Critics note that the latter move, in the London-based bank’s home market, will save roughly £9-million ($13.8-million Canadian), about the same amount as Mr. Gulliver’s bonus.

Mr. Gulliver, 52, is capable of rolling with the punches as he takes the steps he believes are necessary to build “the leading international bank.” And as he wades through the vast operations of the company where he has worked for 31 years, he says he already knows one thing for certain: The Canadian unit, which is the seventh-largest bank in this country, is here to stay. In fact, he wants to retool the company’s U.S. business so that it looks more like the one north of the border.

There are a number of reasons why the Canadian operations appeal to Mr. Gulliver, but a key one is the country’s economic strength. A research report by HSBC economists forecasts that Canada will be the 10th largest economy in the world in 2050, while 19 of the 30 largest economies will be what are now considered emerging markets.

Meanwhile, “Canada is double leverage to the emerging markets,” Mr. Gulliver said during an interview in the bank’s Toronto offices. “It both supplies the emerging markets with commodities, but also the emerging market supplies Canada with its immigrant population. … In many ways you can almost bracket Canada with emerging markets in the analysis that we do as a bank. So, to be crystal clear, it’s not for sale.”

The Canadian unit currently earns nearly $1-billion (U.S.) annually before tax, and Mr. Gulliver intends to give it further capital to enable it grow, especially in Ontario and Quebec. Its Canadian business is skewed toward the West, while more than 60 per cent of the companies here that are involved in international business are based in Ontario and Quebec, HSBC Bank Canada chief executive officer Lindsay Gordon said. “We are in the process of trying to build up that capability,” he noted.

Mr. Gulliver also sees the potential for HSBC to build a significantly bigger wholesale banking business in Canada, and this is one of 18 countries in which the bank plans to build up its wealth management business. But it will stick predominantly to its “sweet spot,” Asian Canadians, Mr. Gordon suggested. “We’re not trying to take on TD or RBC in the mass market, we’re focused on the internationally-minded mass affluent,” he said.

South of the border, J.P. Morgan is advising HSBC on the potential sale of its U.S. card business, whose assets top $30-billion. “We have received a number of bids,” Mr. Gulliver said. If HSBC decides to proceed with a sale, he expects that the deal will close by the first quarter of 2012.

In another move designed to learn from the Canadian operations, HSBC is tasking the head of its commercial banking business here with overseeing a transition of the U.S. business.

As Mr. Gulliver forges ahead with the global retooling strategy, he won’t say what portion of the business he expects will come from emerging markets in the future. “Emerging markets, directly or indirectly, will be the alpha driver of our share price performance and our profitability,” he said. But he intends to have a strong presence in Europe, Canada and Australia, he added.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/repor...rticle2100136/

[LeftCoaster]

This is a long time coming, but it looks like the lumber industry is finally detatching from its life or death ties with the US market. It will be good to have 2-3 markets for BC lumber, providing more demand stability and negotiating power for BC based firms.

China is now B.C.'s top customer
Smaller sawmills back in operation to meet the new demand for lumber

By Mike Hager, Vancouver Sun July 18, 2011 6:03 AM

For the first time, B.C. companies are making more money from the wood they send to China than from shipments heading south of the border.

May's B.C. softwood lumber shipments to China, including Hong Kong, were valued at $122 million compared to $119 million in shipments to the U.S.

Jobs, Tourism and Innovation Minister Pat Bell said that while more wood - roughly 1.2 million cubic metres compared to 1.1 million - was sent to the U.S. in May, the Chinese exports were more expensive.

Bell said this puts to rest the criticism that Chinese buyers are only looking for cheaper wood.

"The Chinese are paying for high quality and they're getting high quality," Bell said.

"It's such a wide variety of uses that it's quite unlike the U.S. and makes it far more sustainable on that basis."

Bell said most B.C. lumber sent to the U.S. is used in house construction, but in China it is used for apartment buildings, trusses, commercial buildings and furniture among other things.

From January to May this year, the province exported 2.8 million cubic metres of lumber to the world's fastest growing economy, more than double the value and volume exported there during the same period last year.

The amount of wood is the equivalent of 76,000 standard shipping containers.

Shipments to all Asian countries in the first five months of 2011 were valued at $776 million compared to $464 million of lumber sent to the U.S.

These Asian exports represent almost half the total value of provincial lumber shipments so far this year, the ministry said.

"Who would have guessed just a couple years ago that the U.S. wouldn't be the dominant market?" Bell said.

During the first five months of last year, Asian exports accounted for $464 million - a third of all lumber sales - while American exports were over half of all shipments at $851 million.

The minister credited the United Steelworkers union for reaching innovative agreements with the province's forestry sector to get smaller sawmills back in operation to meet the new demand.

"There was no politics involved; it was just about making something happen," Bell said.

"It really feels good to see people going back to work and sawdust coming off the end of those blades."


Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/China+cu...#ixzz1ST30LkYA

[LeftCoaster]

This one's a little long, but in short Vancouver's ports are being run more efficently than before...

Port Metro Vancouver shakeup a victory for everyone
Railways, terminal operator gaining from collaboration at Deltaport

By SCOTT SIMPSON, Vancouver Sun July 15, 2011

VANCOUVER -- The public rehabilitation of Port Metro Vancouver began in earnest on Oct. 29, 2010.

Claude Mongeau stood before the Vancouver Board of Trade, BlackBerry in hand, and announced that Canadian National Railway was fully on-board with a plan to turn Port Metro Vancouver into one of the world’s best-performing and most reliable movers of goods.

The BlackBerry was a symbol, the president and CEO explained, of his railway’s commitment to a new relationship among the port’s primary stakeholders — one in which CN, Canadian Pacific, the port authority and the cargo terminal operators would work in harmony to hasten the movement of containers through the port.

Mongeau said his mobile device gave him access to daily information about how this vital supply chain was performing — and that he was watching it intently.

For anyone who had been tracking the port authority’s turbulent efforts to deliver on the promise of maturing as Canada’s western ‘gateway,’ Mongeau’s enthusiasm for this enterprise was welcome but unexpected, considering recent history.

Port Metro Vancouver is Canada’s largest port, moving containers and other goods with an annual value of about $75 billion. More than 2.5 million containers arrived or departed here last year, carrying lumber, household goods, wood pulp, food, construction materials and other trade goods for markets in Asia, Eastern Canada, the U.S. and elsewhere.

But it is only since last year that the port has begun to take full advantage of the opportunity at its doorstep.

The Vancouver port is optimally located. A ship departing from China arrives in Vancouver two days faster than one travelling to Los Angeles. Rail links to Eastern Canada and even into Chicago are faster than L.A.’s.

Six years ago, that advantage meant nothing. Western Canada’s largest container port hit rock bottom in January 2005 with a public acknowledgment that it was in a state of “gridlock.”

It was taking two weeks to move a container through the port.

There were 5,000 containers stalled on the docks and a backlog of work that would take two months to clear. It was an international black eye.

There was no shortage of culprits — all of whom had been warned weeks earlier that a Chinese ‘cargo tsunami’ was approaching with the Jan. 1, 2005 cessation of World Trade Organization quotas on clothing and textile imports from China, India and 38 other nations.

The port authority looked like a stereotypical government agency: ineffectual.

The terminal operators looked overwhelmed, and blamed CN for failing to maintain a sufficient supply of rail cars to support the flow of goods onto and off the docks.

CN blamed the weather and other technical issues slowing its trains — but also pointed to what it described as “productivity issues” besetting terminal operators.

Some lessons were learned.

TSI Terminal Systems Inc., the operator of Deltaport, announced “storage fees” on containers stuck in port more than five days — and backed that up with a $60 million investment in new cranes and rubber tire gantries to show it was committed to greater efficiency in its own operations.

The railways, CN and CP, found ways to harmonize freight movements. CN announced a $450-million investment in rail infrastructure projects in Western Canada, following one underway at CP.

The port authority pushed along its plan to build a third berth at Deltaport that would create more capacity for the terminal.

But it also pressed the federal government for a regulatory solution — suggesting there would be no permanent improvement until CN, CP and the terminal operators were straitjacketed into new federal regulations that would leave them no recourse except to improve their performance.

In an April 2010 submission to a federal panel reviewing Canadian rail freight service, Port Metro Vancouver reported that a survey of rail customers, conducted between November 2008 and February 2010, found that 84 per cent were either dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with rail service within the port.

Four out of 10 containers were delayed four days or more, compared to a North American minimum standard for three days of ‘dwell time’ in a port. Dwell time is a standard measurement the global port sector uses to measure the amount of time a specific item such as a container waits on a dock, between the time it arrives by ship and the time it leaves again by rail or truck for example.

The railways responded to the federal panel that they preferred negotiation over federal regulation to address the problem — CN noted it was already voluntarily signing commitments with port authorities across Canada to make operations more efficient.

The port’s tough approach worked.

In fact, CN, CP and the terminal operator now say the system has never worked better, and they believe the improvement is permanent.

“We’ve got these joint measures that we’ve [all] agreed to, and aligned to, and committed to executing against. That’s the difference,” Paul Waite, CN intermodal vice-president Paul Waite said in an interview. “Maybe we were all just looking at or own little pies selfishly and not looking at the supply chain as a whole — and how, if we worked together and we all kind of stepped up, on average we’d be much better.”

If you go back to January 2010, the average dwell time across the port was about 3.7 days, Port president and CEO Robin Silvester said in an interview. “If we look at May 2011, the average dwell time is about 2.4 days. It’s a 30-per-cent improvement in a year and a half.

“To put it in context, a train from here to Chicago or Toronto takes about four days. So it’s a significant improvement in the context of how long it takes ultimately for a garment or a flat screen television to get from Asia to the customer.

“The nice thing is that if we look at every six months over that 18-month period it has been steadily stepping down and improving in time. It’s not as if we suddenly hit 30-per-cent better. It’s a good, strong, solid trend.”

Silvester believes the improvement gives Vancouver an edge in competing for business with other North American ports.

Silvester also put himself in the middle of contract negotiations between the main terminal operator, Global Container Terminals (formerly TSI, now owned by the Ontario Teachers Pension Fund) and its unionized longshoremen — calling for long-term contract agreements that would give prospective Port Metro Vancouver customers confidence that there was labour peace at the port.

In May 2011, Global and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union announced a stunning eight-year, 22.85-per-cent deal contract for its Vancouver and Deltaport workers.

CN’s Paul Waite said the railway’s business at the port is up 18 per cent compared to a year ago.

They’re better prepared for winter conditions, and they’re diligent about a tracking potential ‘reputation killers’ — that one container out of 50 that somehow gets off track and drags down overall performance.

“I don’t believe this is just a flash in the pan, because we’re all seeing the benefits of it, the [shipping] lines, the terminals, and the railroads,” Waite said.

It is also, Waite allows, “pretty powerful when your CEO can stand up there with his BlackBerry and share with you on a real time basis what’s happened in the last 12 hours of the port.

“And he does look at it every day. It’s pretty motivating, as you can imagine.”

Jane O’Hagan, chief marketing officer and executive vice-president for CP, noted that the system in Vancouver is running well despite the fact that container ships themselves find it difficult keeping to their own schedules.

“Although only 40 per cent of the vessels were on time at the container terminals that we served by May of this year, our dwell improved 38 per cent versus May of 2010,” O’Hagan said.

“That’s a really powerful example of how the supply chain is collaborating — and dealing with the issues related to bunching [of ships at the terminals], and how the supply chain works. To see us improve our dwell by 38 per cent tells you that this coordination, and communication and dialogue is really hitting home.”

Global Container Terminals Canada president Eric Waltz has worked at ports in Africa and the Middle East, and previously worked in Los Angeles and Tacoma.

“This was the first time I’d seen this kind of collaboration among the port authority, the terminal operator, and the railroad — the first time,” Waltz said during a tour of the port with a reporter and photographer.

“It’s normally relatively adversarial. For me it was exciting to see that, to be part of an industry revolution.”

Waltz points out a row of ‘dual-host gantry cranes’ along the new berth that was added in 2010. Each one has a twin set of lifters that enable it to simultaneously load two 40-foot containers onto a ship.

This is the first North American port to use cranes of this design.

“We need to make sure this is an internationally and globally competitive gateway,” Waltz said. “Almost 70 per cent of the cargo that is imported here goes out on the rail. It has to be globally competitive, so we have to make sure we’re hitting that two days [dwell time target].

“In some cases we will throw in some graveyard shifts that maybe we wouldn’t normally have worked in the past — but we’re doing that because the railroad is saying ‘Hey, the cars are here and either some are early or some are late, but I need to get them turned.’

“In the past we might have said as a terminal operator ‘Well that’s not the best for us, we don’t need it.’”

By contrast, today there are daily performance “scorecards” that track how all the stakeholders are performance against agreed-to standards.

“We’ve taken the dwell time from two years ago where it could easily have been four to eight days. Today our target is under two days and we are consistently making that target.”



Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/Port+Met...#ixzz1ST6NG900

[Built Form]

Here's hoping other mining companies will consolidate their headquarters in Vancouver just as the oil and associated companies located in Calgary. Remember when TransCanada Pipelines was here?


Resource sector growth driving vacancy rate dip

BY DERRICK PENNER, VANCOUVER SUN JULY 22, 2011 11:06 PM

The strength of British Columbia’s resource sector is the driver pushing Metro Vancouver’s office vacancy rates back down.

Mining companies and energy firms, and service providers from engineers to lawyers, are refilling downtown office towers, in particular.

Two major commercial realtors have tracked declining vacancy rates across Metro Vancouver over the first half of 2011, with Burnaby picking up a significant amount of new activity and downtown returning to its typically low vacancy rates.

Each firm tracks a slightly different roster of buildings, but both firms releases at the end of this week showed similar trends.

Downtown, CB Richard Ellis tracks buildings with 22 million square feet of space and found a vacancy rate of 4.3 per cent at the end of June versus 5.6 per cent at the same point of last year.

Avison Young’s report tracks buildings with just under 20 million square feet of space and recorded a 5-per-cent vacancy, compared with the 5.1 per cent vacancy within its roster over the same period a year ago.

In its report, Avison Young noted that while downtown tenants leased an additional 166,702 square feet of space in the buildings it tracks, it was almost offset by the small amount of new office space completed over the first half of 2011, primarily the 71,500 square feet in the Hotel Georgia development and 60,000 square feet included in the just-completed Jameson House project.

“I would say that, overall, the market is healthy,” said Anthio Yuen, senior researcher in Vancouver with the firm CB Richard Ellis. “Downtown definitely has moved back toward pre-recession levels in terms of vacancy.”

The growth in downtown, he said, has come from within the existing market, which has seen very little new construction, rather than from big jumps in economic growth.

Brian Pearson, a corporate real estate adviser at Avison Young, said that it has been incremental growth in the sectors of B.C.’s economy that are now doing well that is bringing the vacancy rate down.

“The industries specifically driving [this] are the resource sectors, so obviously mining and energy and engineering firms as well.”

And a limited supply of downtown offices, for now, is expected to “pose challenges for both landlords and tenants” trying to expand or squeeze into the peninsula, according to the Avison Young report.

That has commercial realtors welcoming Oxford Properties’ launch of its latest office project, a 35-storey, 270,000-square-foot office-exclusive tower at 1021 West Hastings, between the Marine Building and Guinness Tower, which was unveiled earlier this month.

It will be the first purpose-built office tower downtown since the completion of the Bentall 5 tower in 2007, which should give tenants and landlords a bit of room to move when it is complete in 2014.

Pearson said that for tenants with lease expiries in the next 12 to 24 months, the new building might help create conditions for more favourable renewals, or opportunities for new space.

Yuen said given downtown’s tight market, the Oxford building will probably be easily absorbed into the market, but won’t overwhelm it.

“The market definitely needed to have some new supply, so I think it was a welcome announcement.”

Across Metro Vancouver, both firms tracked shrinking vacancies in most markets, except for Richmond, which still has a stubbornly high vacancy rate.

CB Richard Ellis tracks 42.7 million square feet of office space across Metro, where it saw an overall vacancy of 8.7 per cent, down from 9.4 per cent in the first quarter of 2011.

Avison Young tracks buildings with 46.4 million square feet of space, which showed a vacancy rate of 7.6 per cent, which was down from 8.4 per cent at the beginning of 2011.

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun


Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/business...#ixzz1SutVL2pu

[LeftCoaster]

Originally Posted by Built Form

Remember when TransCanada Pipelines was here?

No I definitely don't... Was it not founded in Calgary?

Anyway there is no consolidation necessary, mining companies have very centralizied head offices, and the firms in Vancouver all have the bulk of their operations out of the city. We can hope for some M&A activity to strengthen Vancouver firms, but there is no need to be concerned about Vancouver needing consolidation to be considered a mining town... it already is. Too bad mining companies generally dont need as much office space as similar sized oil and gas or financial services firms.

[s211]

Originally Posted by LeftCoaster

No I definitely don't... Was it not founded in Calgary?

Anyway there is no consolidation necessary, mining companies have very centralizied head offices, and the firms in Vancouver all have the bulk of their operations out of the city. We can hope for some M&A activity to strengthen Vancouver firms, but there is no need to be concerned about Vancouver needing consolidation to be considered a mining town... it already is. Too bad mining companies generally dont need as much office space as similar sized oil and gas or financial services firms.

Pretty sure that Trans-Canada was originally from Ontario before relocating to Calgary.

[SpongeG]

Facebook CEO's Vancouver visit spurs gossip


Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg uses his mobile phone at a hot dog stand in downtown Vancouver earlier this week. (@Felix_K_)

...

That rumour was doused when HootSuite CEO Ryan Holmes tweeted that "facebook isn't buying hootsuite anytime soon."

Others suggested he was in town to sign up a video game company to develop a Facebook game store, or to meet with the online game company Tiny Speck, which makes the multi-player, web-based fantasy game Glitch.

Zuckerberg was also spotted at the University of British Columbia, leading to speculation his company, which employs a lot of UBC grads, might be looking to open a Vancouver office.

...

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/st...vancouver.html

[Yume-sama]

Or he wanted a JapaDog. Why does nobody consider this!?

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by Yume-sama

Or he wanted a JapaDog. Why does nobody consider this!?

What exactly is in a Japadog, anyway? They don't sell them in Paris, and I never bought one back in Vancouver.

[Hourglass]

You could always try a Google search...

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by Hourglass

You could always try a Google search...

In fact, I did! ... do they have one with hot, green, wasabe (?sp) mustard and sushi included? ( they're pricey for hot dogs, I noticed)

[David]

Originally Posted by trofirhen

In fact, I did! ... do they have one with hot, green, wasabe (?sp) mustard and sushi included? ( they're pricey for hot dogs, I noticed)

You must not have looked at their menu then http://www.japadog.com/menu/index.html

[Locked In]

Not the big prize, but great news nonetheless:

Halifax, Vancouver win Ottawa’s $33-billion shipbuilding sweepstakes


Steven Chase
OTTAWA— Globe and Mail Update Published Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2011 4:18PM EDT
Last updated Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2011 4:22PM EDT

Shipyards in Halifax and Vancouver have won the right to build $33-billion of government vessels over the next three decades, the largest procurement package ever awarded in Canadian history. The decision by Ottawa leaves one region in the cold as rivals now prepare to embark on the greatest round of public shipbuilding since the Second World War. The Levis shipyard in Quebec was the loser in a bidding contest that pitted three regions of Canada against each other and forced a difficult choice upon the Conservative government.

...

The Halifax shipyard wins the right to build $25-billion of combat vessels including frigates, destroyers and patrol ships while Vancouver has secured first dibs on $8-billion of non-combat vessels including the polar-class Diefenbaker icebreaker.

In the first five to eight years, both packages will pour roughly the same level of investment in shipyard work – and the non-combat order is expected to grow over time to include more replacement Coast Guard vessels.

...

In the end, Ottawa's decision will dramatically change the future for the winning shipyards, which will be able to make a living as construction yards rather than repair shops. A generation of young workers in two regions will be able to plan an uninterrupted career in building new ships.

Source: Globe and Mail

B.C. shipyard awarded $8B shipbuilding contract
CBC News Posted: Oct 19, 2011 10:13 AM PT Last Updated: Oct 19, 2011 1:32 PM


A B.C. shipyard has been awarded an $8-billion federal shipbuilding contract, expected to create thousands of new jobs in the province.

The federal government made the announcement Wednesday afternoon, awarding a $25-billion contract to build naval vessels to Irving Shipyards in Halifax.

The smaller $8-billion contract won by Vancouver-based Seaspan is to build Coast Guard and civilian ships.

Speaking to CBC News before the announcement, George MacPherson with the B.C. Ferry and Marine Workers Union said either contract would be a major economic boost for B.C.

"There could be up to 30 years of work there with all the stuff that needs to be done," he said. "There are 800 to a 1,000 jobs there, and then you start doing the spin-off ... I mean there is a lot of work out there, thousands of jobs there."

Either project, said MacPherson, would trigger training and apprenticeship programs paid for by the province — and bring a lot of British Columbians home.

"We would see a lot of people that went to the oil patch coming home," he said.

"We get inquiries all the time from those people looking to come home, looking for some steady work. We think the draw would be great."

...

Source: CBC

[hollywoodnorth]

#WINNING for BC! awesome news!

[SpongeG]

'New superstar' adds wrinkle to the evolving B.C. film industry

Vancouver regarded as ideal North American hub for booming visual effects sector

By Scott Simpson, Vancouver Sun November 5, 2011

Tax, talent and time zone.

A competitive advantage in all three has allowed British Columbia to mature into a North American hub for film and television production during the past 40 years.

Now, thanks to technology, Hollywood North is evolving into a world leader in the industry's hottest sector: visual effects.

Visual effects, or VFX, aren't exclusive to science fiction and fantasy; even conventional television dramas rely on them as a cost-effective alternative to set building and location shooting, and they're also used to enhance special effects and physical stunts such as a car crash.

Eric Roth, a California-based spokesman for the VFX artists community, describes visual effects as the entertainment industry's "new superstar."

"When people plunk down $12 for their movie tickets, they're looking to see great effects, whether in 2-D, 3-D, in Imax or as a download. From Hollywood to Bollywood, visual effects is now the key to the entertainment industry's bottom line," Roth, executive director of the Visual Effects Society, said in an email.

Hollywood Reporter recently estimated that VFX now accounts for more than 2,200 jobs in Vancouver - with hundreds more coming in the months ahead.

The list of VFX and digital animation companies that have set up shop here, or plan to open in the near future, reads like a who's who of the entertainment industry, not including homegrown pioneers like Image Engine and Rainmaker Entertainment.

Your cost of shooting in a green room - essentially, an empty room with green walls where VFX artists superimpose a background after the actors have been filmed in it - could be one-fifth the expense of a physical set.

Los Angeles-based Zoic Studios was one of the first arrivals, adding a Vancouver operation in 2005 in the Sun Tower on Pender. They moved last December, over the course of a weekend amid a hectic production deadline, to expanded facilities in Gastown.

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A Vancouver expansion by George Lucas' Industrial Light & Magic is rumoured.

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