Archive for April, 2009
Bridgewater plays it smart
30 April 2009In a tradition that began with Spar Aerospace circa 1997, Bridgewater Systems (BWC:TSX) is the latest Canadian public company to agree to a negotiated settlement with Eric Rosenfeld, Chief Chanter at activist hedge fund Crescendo Partners (aka The Crooner©). In the Bridgewater case, Crescendo got three board seats, just as they did with Dalsa [...]
George Stephanopoulos set the standard for memory loss
29 April 2009Unlike other observers, I don’t have a particular opinion about former PMO Chief of Staff Fred Doucet’s appearance before the Oliphant inquiry. Despite the fact that we both worked in Langevin Block during the Mulroney years, I don’t think we’ve ever met; so all one has to go on is what you see and [...]
A medical perspective on Swine Flu part 2
28 April 2009My doctor is finding it hard to take the “swine flu” email updates I send to him seriously. It may well be that he understandably fails to see what the swine fuss is all about, given that 3,500 Canadians die each year from “the flu”. According to one CNN story, “Worldwide annual death [...]
CVCA Annual Conference May 27-29/2009 in Calgary
28 April 2009Canada’s Venture Capital & Private Equity Association’s Annual Conference is going to be held in Calgary in late May this year. The conference is a great conduit for industry professionals to network, participate with colleagues in panel discussion on various topics of the day, and listen to industry heavyweights via Keynote addresses. The highlight of [...]
Porter investors show grit
27 April 2009Expanding your business during a recession? Might not be as crazy as it sounds.
As Chairman of the Toronto Port Authority, I spent the morning at the Toronto City Centre Airport (owner of the TCCA). For every entrepreneur thinking about “what to do now?”, the $45 million expansion of the Porter Airlines terminal at [...]