The Mortgage division at Capri Insurance Centum Lending Max Corp. received some very prestigious awards this year as being the number two
franchise in Canada in dollar volume and the number two franchise in mortgage unit volume. Also, seven of their brokers received personal achievement awards. Kelly Rowe and Murray Dawson were ranked in the top twenty in Canada for both mortgage units and dollar volumes. Five more of their brokers were also in the top twenty. The competition was from 200 franchises and 1200 mortgage brokers across Canada. Big winners for the company and the clients...

It must be May because the Lavender Farm is open once again and the fields look good. Wait till you try Lavender Ice Cream fresh. That is different...

Do you remember the Vancouver 20/20 Group? They are building the Lakestone Resort in Lake Country. Listed as a $1.5 billion project it includes 1,350 residential units, a winery, golf course, hotel and marina. They have a new proposal as they shop a new investment trust to investors in Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver. They are raising $4 million to develop the first phase of Hudson Bay Mountain Resort in Northwestern B.C. The first phase of the development is supposed to start sometime this summer...

After Brenda Martin was released from the Mexican jail and flown back to Canada to serve her time, that leaves twelve Canadians in prison in Mexico...

When Sitel told us in 2006 they were going to close their telemarketing site in Kelowna for the credit card company Capital One, it was because they couldn’t hire enough people to do the job. The company spokesperson at that time said it was difficult for them to hire the 400 to 500 operators they needed to make the centre operate 24/7. The firm relocated the Capital One jobs to the Philippines. But all was not over. Rogers, the Canadian media company, wanted a call centre so the new and well-equipped centre wasn’t going out of business locally. This has all changed again and 160 people will be out of work August 5. Which country will the Rogers business land in? I received a call from Roger’s last month and I couldn’t understand the caller at all, so Roger’s is already doing business offshore. Was it just too expensive at the $9, $10 or $11 an hour that these operators were earning?

Of the top 100 high-tech companies in B.C., as compiled every year by BIV, we have two Kelowna based companies making the list. At 44th spot this year, four up from where it was last year, is Northern Airborne Technology Ltd. The company is a leading manufacturer of specialized aircraft communication equipment for Air Ambulance, Law Enforcement, SAR, EMS, Electronic News Gathering, Military and Marine Applications and now has 180 people working. That is also up from 159 last year. Northern Airborne was started in Kelowna in 1979.

In 88th spot is Canada Web Hosting. The last time I spoke to Brian Shepherd, the CEO of the company, was just after he had decided it was time to live in Kelowna and he moved the company headquarters from Toronto to the Okanagan Valley. They are still maintaining offices in Toronto and Vancouver. He started the company in 1997 and now has 76 people employed. It is such a good story...

It is a blind call. In other words only the dialing machine knows who is on the line and the call itself is probably from Michigan. It shows up on the screen as Unknown Name-Unknown Number. The woman’s voice going a mile a minute tells whomever answers that after checking their records you are paying too much interest. If you would like to pay less press one. If you don’t want to be called again press three. Here we go again the same people who were giving away vacations to exotic lands. Don’t touch either of those numbers. Don’t ever let that machine know you are there and are waiting for calls just like this one. Of course who wouldn’t want to pay less interest?

NASCAR's Canadian circuit, which has western stops in Edmonton and Vernon, is looking at the new Saskatoon speedway for a 2009 date. Executives have been in town to look at the track and talk to Speedway members...

We certainly complain about it, I get emails about it every day – the price of gasoline at the pumps and where does it all end? But that’s about it. I was in filling up last week as I always do every Monday. It feels far less expensive that way and it is kind of a mind game isn’t it? You don’t hear any complaints when you’re at the pumps. No one seems to be changing his or her driving habits at all. I certainly haven’t but I should organize myself better. We are not driving less. There was a little break in crude prices but that meant nothing. When you have the profit machine rolling, the fuel company directors don’t want things to stop. Lots of pundits pointing to the holiday weekend as the next big jump, and then who knows what? In a city like Edmonton the drivers can’t figure out why gasoline is less expensive in Toronto than it is in their city, when it’s the same product? MJ Ervin & Associates' Michael Ervin says we continue to resist cutting back on gasoline and that could change when Canadians pay $100 at the pumps for a full tank in your average car. He also believes the price this summer will be in the $1.40 column. One thing that is never discussed is the bank credit charges, which have doubled, two per cent of every sale. It was back in the early '80s when there was another gas crisis and the U.S. lowered their highway speed limit to 50 mph...

It was expected that something like this would take place in Salmon Arm because of the lumber market difficulties across the U.S. Coe Newnes McGehee were granted protection under the Companies Creditor Arrangement Act by the B.C. Supreme Court. 330 people were employed in the operation in Salmon Arm until the 105 were laid off last week. The company will continue to operate. Certainly some others will be affected as they go into the marketplace for new jobs, as these are talented people. This has been such a good company for the city with their highly skilled people including many engineers and technicians. Those people could leave the growing community. Although I suppose there are some that will retire there and who could blame them?