According to the latest provincial economic outlook released by RBC, strong commodity exports will pump up Saskatchewan's economy over the next two years, with growth expected to be 3.7 per cent for 2008, rising to 3.8 per cent in 2009.

Saskatchewan's nominal exports are on a tear, running at a 40 per cent growth rate over the first four months of 2008, more than double the rate posted for 2007. This largely reflects higher commodity prices, which in turn are helping to boost household incomes and consumer spending. The province's retail sales are 15 per cent higher on a year-to-date basis, the strongest pace on record since the early 1990s. The positive impact of the terms of trade shock is also being supplemented domestically by the one percentage point cut to the GST earlier this year, ongoing job growth and the surge in migration to the province. While a robust job market and wave of new residents will continue to support residential investment, a deterioration in housing affordability will likely dampen activity in 2009.

Another benefit of the commodity boom is strong investment by businesses over the next few years. Sizable projects to further develop energy potash and uranium resources will boost near-term capital spending. Saskatchewan's economic outlook in the medium term looks equally promising with the development of various oil reserves, such as Bakken field in the southeastern corner of the province.

The RBC Economics Provincial Outlook assesses the provinces according to economic growth, employment growth, unemployment rates, personal income growth, retail sales, housing starts and the Consumer Price Index.

Western Canada is poised to far outpace Eastern and Central Canada for GDP growth, according to RBC's latest provincial outlook.

The bank expects B.C.'s GDP to grow 2.2% in 2008 and 2.9% in 2009. Canada-wide GDP projections are for 1.4% growth in 2008 and 2.5% growth in 2009. B.C.'s employment growth is similarly expected to outpace the Canadian average.

"The current decade has proven to be very prosperous for British Columbia as 2007 marked the sixth consecutive year of economic growth above of the national average," said Craig Wright, RBC's senior vice-president and chief economist. "We expect this trend to continue right through to 2010."

The three other western provinces are similarly expected to outpace the Canadian average for growth.

Wright warned that B.C.'s exporters are likely to face challenges, particularly the province's lumber producers.

B.C. retail sales growth is another challenge.

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Sleeman Breweries Ltd. is now marking its 20th year in business. It was sold to Japan’s Sapporo Brewing in 2006, but there's been one thing it didn’t change and that's chairman and chief executive, John Sleeman. He started the first brewery in Guelph, reviving a family brewing tradition dating back to the 1800s. When he was here a few years ago he was a guest at my Executive Roundtable Breakfast. He showed us the original recipe book of his great grandfather who was the original Sleeman’s Brewery. The Sleeman family has brewed beer in Guelph since 1847.

John was in the restaurant and beer distribution business before he started the company all over again, buying it from Standard Brands for one dollar. It had sat in their vault for years doing nothing after the American company bought the company.

The Okanagan Spring Brewery in Vernon has been a long-time major player in the Sleeman’s group of breweries across the country.

The Japanese recently asked John to stay at least five more years. They've been very respectful of what Sleeman has built and who is very easy to work with.

Had it been purchased by a U.S. company, they would probably not have asked him to continue. If the purchase had been made by one the large Canadian breweries they could have moved production into one of their own under-used plants.

He told us that the company wasn’t for sale, but there was a fear of one Canadian brewer (Labatt) going the hostile route. Sleeman had been making beer for Sapporo for the American market. John went to them and they said yes. Their added expertise has made breweries like the Vernon operation operate at full capacity.

Sapporo took their Quebec brewed Unibroue to Japan, where they own a chain of restaurants called the Lion pubs. Of all the beers Sleeman makes, Unibroue is the one the Japanese warmed to most. La Blanche de Chambly and Fin du Monde are very popular there. Unibroue products also are sold in Alberta and B.C.

Everyday you see those fast food restaurant commercials on TV and then when you order the burger or sandwich you wonder what it was the TV crew filmed because it doesn’t look like the item you've just purchased. A national sandwich shop is promoting a lobster sandwich on their fresh baked bread. The TV commercial shows the sandwich loaded with big chunks off lobster. I had to go and try one because I remembered a special time when I worked with my Dad at my grandfather’s warehouse on Saturdays. He would order lobster sandwiches and I would go and get them from the restaurant. It is a good memory. So I decided to go to the sandwich store and order the Lobster sandwich. I saw it on TV with at least 1½ inches of lobster and the fixings in the picture. When the server took the tray of lobster and dumped it on the bread it was maybe a quarter of an inch of little pieces with not a big piece to be seen. It tasted fine and I should have known better.
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I receive a lot of emails, mostly questions about something I have written. The following email came from a reader that had read my series on mortgage fraud. I had not heard about this approach:

“You have been talking about mortgage fraud in your recent articles and another solution to this growing problem is to always have a mortgage. After you payoff your mortgage, you can invest with the equity you have with a bank such as Manulife. You can watch your money grow and at the same time it looks like you have a mortgage on paper, but in fact you don't. This also creates tax benefits as well. Worth looking into.”

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Revelstoke Mountain Resort has a new partnership with Hawkair Aviation for flights between Calgary and Revelstoke for this coming ski and snowboard season. Scheduled air service between Calgary International Airport and Revelstoke Airport will commence on December 8th, 2008.

Hawkair operates the 37-passenger turboprop DeHavilland Dash 8 aircraft and will initially offer four return flights each week scheduled for Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.

The airport in Revelstoke is located right at the base of the mountain and new village area, and only six kilometres from downtown Revelstoke.

Hawkair has been operating scheduled and charter aircraft throughout British Columbia and Alberta since 1994.

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Strand Lakeside Resort, the new Vernon lakefront resort with beachfront facilities, is now open as a four-season destination facility on Lake Okanagan. SL Resort Management Corporation has engaged an experienced resort manager, Bellstar Hotels & Resorts, to manage and operate the Strand.

The first phase of the Strand Resort includes 1, 2, and 3-bedroom condos. Each of the 104 units is fully furnished, spacious and ideal for week-long stays. The condos feature professionally-designed custom furnishings and accessories, including a full kitchen with high end appliances and granite countertops, a wine fridge, indoor/outdoor gas fireplace, balconies/patios, a full dining and sitting room and separate bedrooms. Common services and amenities include full-service concierge, private sandy beach access, a marina with 51 slips, a swimming pool and hot tub, roof top amenities with panoramic views of the lake and valley, and a landscaped courtyard, complete with fire pit and water feature.

Bellstar manages and develops destination resorts and boutique hotels in Alberta’s Rocky Mountains and in British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley and Coastal Regions. Bellstar manages the Spirit Ridge Vineyard Resort & Spa in Osoyoos. Bellasera Tuscan Villas & Piazza at the Okanagan Golf Club, Quail Ridge and The Bear in Kelowna.

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I knew it had to happen one day soon because the demographics of the Canadian marketplace have changed quite dramatically in the last five years. The question was would a financial institution break the barrier and open some branches on Sunday? It has happened and quite successfully.

Since January, CIBC's clients have been able to bank seven days a week at its Yaletown, Brentwood Mall, Kingsway and Metrotown outlets.

CIBC branches at Lougheed Mall in Burnaby, Guildford Town Centre and Park Royal Shopping Centre will now be open seven days a week.

The increase in the number of branches offering Sunday hours is part of the bank's plan to expand its services and branch network. Since 2007, it has opened six new branches in Metro Vancouver as part of its plan to build, relocate and expand over 70 new branches across Canada by 2011.

In their new Supercentres, Wal-Mart has said they will be buying local produce. I don’t know what that means for the local stores but there should be some business there for some farmers...

TheBlue Jays were in town and Seattle was excited about the possibilities for business from the Canadian crowd who had tickets for the games between the Mariners and the Toronto club. The Seattle Team Shop opened a booth selling Blue Jays merchandise out in front of the ballpark. The owners said it sold very well. Kelowna based RCMP officer Martha Cormier, the sister of the Jay’s designated hitter, Matt Stairs, was there to see him play...

The rumour circulating now about the Jim Pattison organization interested in property just south of Osoyoos in Washington State came from down there. It is about a resort on land in that northeastern spot of Washington State. Pattison has the rights to the Great Wolf Lodge franchise in Canada. He built his first lodge in Niagara Falls, Ontario. They are quite impressive. I don’t know if the rumour is about such a lodge. His Ripley’s Niagara Falls Water Resort, owns the Canadian franchise...

I know if you read my column you can see I am fascinated by the water business and how we have bought the idea of buying are own drinking water. I am one of the worst. I wrote about this last year but I had to make this comment about water bottled in Tennessee called BlingH20. It is selling for $40 for a 750 ml bottle but they have special edition bottles going for $480. That is more than two million times the price of the wet stuff that comes out of your tap in the kitchen. Then there is the Fiji Water, from the island in the Pacific. Here is how they promote their water:

"Bottled at the source in the Fiji islands, FIJI Water is the #1 imported bottled water brand and the top selling premium bottled water in the United States. A product of one of the last virgin ecosystems on the planet, natural pressure forces FIJI Water out of its aquifer deep below the earth’s surface and into iconic square bottles through a sealed delivery system free of human contact. FIJI Water’s unique mineral profile is high in silica, which gives the water its soft, smooth taste. The cost for a 24-bottle case of 500 ml bottles is $37.50. Today, the finest restaurants and properties in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, the United Kingdom and Australia serve FIJI Water."

I first saw the FIJI in Trader Joe’s in LaJolla. Now I can buy it in Cooper’s on the Lakeshore. It is expensive. A six pack sells for $9.35. There is a larger bottle as well but couldn’t find the price of that size, maybe I didn’t want to know. They are packaged in a square bottle...

“Pierre Trudeau Still Seen as Best Recent Prime Minister of Canada”

One-in-four Canadians believe Brian Mulroney is the worst head of government since 1968.

Key Findings:

38% pick Pierre Trudeau as best PM since 1968

Trudeau is most admired in Ontario (49%)

12% of Canadians say Harper has been the best PM

25% say Brian Mulroney has been the country’s worst head of government in 40 years...

You know the thinking of all those travellers that bring everything but the kitchen sink onto the aircraft to shove it into the overhead bins. They were thinking about the charges the airlines were about to implement and those travellers were thinking they could beat the system.

If their bag wouldn’t go through the sample box displayed outside the airport gate they could grease it and it would fit through. Well don’t expect that free ride to last long. The airlines have figured out a new profit centre in what they can charge for bags and they will be watching with interest at what the travellers believe they can bring on board. There will be more staff to keep a closer watch. Everyone is going to follow the rules. In some cases it’s about time....

I received this email from Risti Nykiforuk, the marketing and events coordinator at the Kelowna Museums. She has a big job this year in producing the annual Cherry Fair to be held next Saturday.

I noticed in your column yesterday that the cherries are ready, but behind schedule. For the Cherry Fair, I bring in at least 20 different varieties of cherries for people to sample, giving them the opportunity to taste and learn about cherries they may not find anywhere else. This year, because of the frost we had in April, not only are the cherries behind, but a lot of the cherries have been lost and I have been on the phone all week trying to source cherries for my event. Brante Farrell of Westbank Harvest, a friend of mine and a supplier to the Cherry Fair, told me that he had a devastating loss this year and that it’s a good thing he has crop insurance. Despite his loss, he is still supplying cherries to the Fair for which I thank him greatly. Farrell grows an interesting cherry at Westbank Harvest, the Marble cherry, which he tells me was discovered by accident in 2002 when someone noticed this strange looking cherry growing on the branch of a Lapin tree. That strange cherry Farrell has named the Marble cherry because its flesh is marbled in colour. Last year the Marble cherry was the hit of the Cherry Fair, both for its distinctive appearance and for its terrific taste. Farrell’s crop of Marble cherries was hit just like every other crop, but there will still be some available to taste at the Cherry Fair if people are interested in checking out this unique local variety. I hope to have approximately 15 cherry varieties for people to sample at the Cherry Fair.

Take the opportunity on Saturday, July 19th to sample the Marble cherry at the 13th Annual Cherry Fair which runs from 10:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. at the Laurel Packinghouse. Also sample a variety of other locally grown cherries such as Vans, Sylvias, and Cristilinas. There will be approximately fifteen different varieties to sample.

In addition to the cherry sampling, which is the centerpiece of the day’s festivities, there will be live entertainment by the Old Time Fiddlers, Haute Aire, the Westsyde Squares, and Leila Neverland, as well as locally made cherry treats, a silent auction, hands-on children’s activities, and free face painting. Admission is at the door. $2 per person and only $5 for a family of four.

The Cherry Fair is the annual fundraiser for the BC Orchard Industry Museum with a mandate to educate and raise awareness of local agriculture and the orchard industry in particular.

The cost of dairy could rise this fall. What do I mean could rise? Will rise is probably more accurate. The Dairy Farmers have requested an increase. Usually price increases in dairy go through in February but the situation on the dairy farms across the country needs to see an increase now. They have asked for an increase of 3.5 cents per litre on industrial milk, which is used to make cheese and butter. That does not include table milk...

David Geen has always been a front runner when it came to the cherry business in this valley. His Lake Country based operation has sold the remarkable fruit he grows to a world market that is waiting for the quality of fruit he continues to produce on his 220 acres of cherries. He decided many years ago that he wanted to control how his cherries were marketed to the consumer and this year decided on producing a new brand called Jealous Fruits packed in the orchard in clamshells and distinguishing them from whatever is being sold in bulk in your produce department. He is also planning to add another fifty acres of cherries in the next five years. I also heard he was trying to grow cherries in the Rock Creek area. David also grows twenty-five acres of apples and five acres of pears. He is one of the sharp young growers that works the marketplace today...

Remember flight attendants asking if anyone had change for fifty dollars as they walked down the aisle selling drinks, sandwiches and head sets? Well, that won’t be happening anymore on Alaska Airlines. The Sea-Tac base carrier is going cashless sometime in August. Flight attendants will only be accepting credit and debit cards for on-board purchases. You will also be able to buy vouchers at the ticket counter for on-board purchases...

If you travel, then at some point you must have stayed in a Holiday Inn and there are some changes being made. A complete upgrade right out to the sign on the side of the highway. The company is investing one billion dollars to revive the brand. Before this announcement the company had made a number of moves including one where they didn’t renew contracts if the hotel didn’t meet the standards of the company. Canada has had some first class Holiday Inn properties over the years...

Wal-Mart Canada had strong sales leading up to Canada Day. Wal-Mart Canada opened two new supercentres, bringing the total number of Canadian supercentres to 34 and total units in Canada to 307.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, will revamp its logo in the coming months for the first time in 16 years as part of an effort to transform its image.

The new logo will be introduced in the fall, according to the company's website. The "Walmart" is in blue, without a star between the "Wal" and "Mart" and is followed by a yellow, six-point asterisk that resembles the sun. The logo will change for the fifth time in the Bentonville, Ark.-based company's 46-year history. The last revamp was in 1992.

The Westbank store may be one of the first we see because the developers certainly are producing a new and different design for the building and if the logo is ready then on it should go...

Retail, it seems, can easily accommodate mature workers by offering, among other things, flexible schedules and part-time or seasonal work. We can expect to see more mature workers in retail in the coming years, for a variety of reasons. There is a shortage of retail workers right now, particularly here in B.C. and Alberta. Retailers are trying to find ways of luring new people, including mature workers, into retail jobs.

Canada Web Hosting is a privately owned Hosting Service Provider with operation centers in Toronto and Vancouver. Its success can be attributed to its comprehensive approach to managed hosting, the quality of its staff and their passion for customer service. I interviewed Brian Shepard when he moved his headquarters to Kelowna from Toronto. He wanted to live here and it was perfect for his company.

Canada Web Hosting, a managed IT services and hosting provider, is honored to have been selected as one of the “Top Ten” fastest growing companies in Canada as reported by Profit magazine.

From 2002 to 2007 the company’s revenues have grown from 176 thousand to over 6.3 million, an increase of 3500%. Canada Web Hosting is the only company in the “Top Ten” to have been included for three years or more.

Brian Shepard, CEO and founder of Canada Web Hosting, credits his company’s success to the transformation of the market for managed hosting services and the demand for Software as a Service (SaaS).

“The tremendous growth of our business is a testimony to the capabilities of our people and the unprecedented demand from businesses that are trying to realize the full market potential of the Internet. We help our clients build mission-critical IT infrastructure and provision comprehensive services that support their growth objectives.”

Canada Web Hosting is Microsoft’s SaaS Incubation Center in Canada and operates two “state of the art” data centers one in Toronto and the other in Vancouver. The capacity of their Toronto location has recently quadrupled and represents the most advanced data center in Canada.

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I had just written a piece on prescription generic drugs and their cost in Canada being much higher than the United States. A recent study found that Canadian prices were on the average 112 per cent higher than the U.S. for the identical drugs in 2007.

One of my readers, who drops me emails all the time from the south while there during the winter months, had this to say:

Hi John:

I have lifelong scrip for Warfarin, a blood thinner. It is a generic.

Cost in Arizona @ WalMart was $10.00 for 90-day supply
Cost here @ Costco $ 24.00 - 140% more.

I am also on two other prescriptions, which cost much more.

Oddly, my Extended care provider, Pacific Blue Cross decided some years ago to not honor any claims generated in the US and although it would save them (14x4: $56.00 annually) on the cheapest one, they insist that to get
re-imbursed, I can only buy the "higher priced spread" in Canada.

When you go south, you’ve probably noticed that down there, WalMart/Sams
Club started it: all generics are $4.00 yes four dollars for a one month supply. The list of available generics at this rate is three pages long! My heart med, Atenolol, which I pay something like $56.00 for a 3 month supply here at Costco ($224 per annum) would cost (4x12: $48) down there. No, says Pacific Blue Cross, I can only claim if I get them here. That price has now spread through nearly all the National Chains down there: Walgreens, CVS etc., everyone's paying $4.00 or even $ 3.99.

Years back (U.S. claims were paid back then) when we lived on the Coast, we
were a short drive from the U.S. border and often shopped at Costco in
Bellingham. When I got one of my first prescription glasses, I checked the price "up here" versus Bellingham. In BLI they were over $100 cheaper so I ordered them there.

When talking this over with a rep at PacBluCross, she asked why I bought them in BLI. I told her that either way, my "plan" was going to reimburse me. If I got them in BLI, the plan (not me) would be the one that saved the
$100.00. She couldn't understand why I wanted to save the plan money.

Now of course I can only buy the higher priced ones here and PBC refuses to
let me help them save hundreds of dollars per year....sad.

There he is, the smiling Ben Mulroney saying that the Canadian Idol singers that make up this year’s show are the best ever. Not that he hasn’t said that before, at least four times. Canada has had five winners Ryan Malcolm, Kalan Porter, Melissa O’Neil, Eva Avila and Brian Melo. Will any of these young people really make it in this tough industry of entertainment? If you listen to the judges, they are on their way. Three of those judges are producers, managers and lawyers, something to do with the industry itself. I don’t know, I certainly don’t want them to fail but just how far can they go? Is there an opportunity here? I certainly hope so for someone who makes it to the top of the charts one day soon. Whatever happened to Eva’s tour with Martina McBride? The country superstar did promise her a tour this past year. Maybe I missed it. I liked some of these young people this year as well. The contestant from Calgary is sensational but I still have that nagging question of making a good living from what they do on stage? Can they crack that lucrative U.S. market? What is CTV, who make a tonne of money on this show, going to do to make this happen? You need more than being good or super good to make it all work...

In the headlines: Real Estate sales crash Real Estate Sales Slumping Is It The End of the Boom? Where Have All The Buyers Gone? Whoa! Settle down the world has not come to an end. Yes, sales are down but from where? We couldn’t keep up those numbers forever. It had to happen. We have to level off, get back to whatever normal is. Business is still quite strong out there and houses, condos and townhouses are still being built and still being sold. You can never take away people’s desire to live here, that is not going to change. Why do we like to slip into that negative mode? Is it easier than being positive and making things happen? We certainly have our share of those who think that way even in the best of times. I have been here for thirty years, I have watched the ups and downs of this marketplace and there will always be highs and lows. But we adjust and we continue on and we complain about the price of fuel for the car, house, boat and lawn mower. It bothers us that the Kraft Dinner price is at an all time high, and you need a bank loan to buy real orange juice, and yes there is too much traffic, the weather, and I think Swamp Road has disappeared. There you are, things are back to normal.

Rudy Nielson, the man behind Landcorp Data Corp Vancouver for over forty years, spoke to a group of financial folks in Kelowna and said there was a lot of long faces. He told the crowd the value is still holding and it is strong. Even dropping from a $63 billion to $55 billion in sales numbers that this is still a good market. Let me quote Rudy, “People don’t realize that. They think that the numbers must keep rising all the time. They can’t, you’ve got to level off.

The TD Bank said it has cooled to the point that it is no longer a sellers’ market. Most of the Canadian housing markets, ours included, have moved to more balanced markets. Canadian consumers are nowhere nearly as leveraged through their home equity as American consumers are...

It has taken eight years of planning to arrive at the grand opening of the Vancouver Island Conference Centre in Nanaimo this past month. The very high tech centre has 38,000 sq. ft. of flexible convention space and will support groups of up to 1,300 delegates. There are nine meeting rooms with full wireless access, digital way finding, and global broadcast capabilities so that conventions can tele-conference on a global scale. There are also plasma screens at the doors to each room to be used for information on the meeting inside or video presentations related to the convention being held on a particular day. The first convention to be held at the Vancouver Island Conference Centre will be the Pacific Northwest Economic Developers Council this summer and has more than 80 events already booked at this venue as far in advance as 2014. Jim Owen, the ex-marketing man from the Penticton Conference Centre has done an outstanding job in his new role at the Nanaimo facility as sales and marketing director...

There is so much happening on the corridor off Highway 97 N. with two developments. The Marshall Business Centre. Thirty-two lots available and twenty-five of them have been sold. Rob Archibald of Royal LePage Realty handling the marketing of the site. Down the road there is some real big activity at the Gateway Commercial Centre directly across from the airport. I drove in there the other day and the buildings are going up and some companies are already operating out of the centre. Jeff Hudson is the man to see from Colliers for this property. When you realize how big both of these spots are we could see more than fifty businesses locating in this fast growing business community...

After Massachusetts and Wisconsin, B.C. is the world’s third-largest producer of cranberries, according to the provincial Ministry of Agriculture and Lands. Almost all of B.C.’s cranberries are currently grown in Richmond, Pitt Meadows and Fort Langley, and 95 per cent of the crops are sent to two companies — Ocean Spray and Lucerne — for processing. The rest are sold as fresh berries. Cranberries are B.C.’s largest berry crops, and the British Columbia Cranberry Growers Association estimates the fruit generates $34 million annually. The cranberry farmers are now looking for other locations where they might be able to grow the berries. It is an expensive proposition...

I dropped in to talk to Michael Rampone at Rampone Farms on Gordon Drive to see what items the farmers are bringing in so far. The first load of cherries from Osoyoos were in the refrigerator and they were the Bing and Lambert varieties. Good taste. Next will be the Stella brand. Everything is behind this season...