Wal-Mart Native Land Expansion

From Canadian Grocer Magazine’s newsletter, Wal-Mart has set its sights on B.C.’s First Nation’s communities as it proceeds with expansion plans in British Columbia. Wal-Mart is said to be looking at setting up shop on some of the province’s reservations, a move that would allow the giant retailer to potentially avoid zoning requirements and save millions of dollars, online newspaper The Tyee reports.

According to the report, Wal-Mart is in the final stages of negotiations with two First Nations communities—the Cowichan Tribes in Duncan and the Adams Lake Band in Salmon Arm. The story goes on to say they have agreed to let the retailer set-up box outlets on their lands as early as next summer. Wal-Mart would pay taxes to the First Nations, but would be exempt from municipal taxes, saving it millions and giving it another edge over the tax-paying competitors. So the story goes…

That new service Shaw has where they label the spam for you to delete if you so desire is helpful-- good idea.

We just learned that Viagra is the “king of spam.” Every day on my computer there it is. I thought they were trying to give me a message. The anti-spam software people just told us that they believe hundreds of millions of those messages were delivered in a six month period and 14.1% were for some kind of a Viagra deal. In the first six months of the year 350,000 a day, but that quickly went up to 500,000 messages a day.

Viagra is a prescription drug. I asked Craig Tostenson the owner of Pharmasave in the Mission and Glenmore just to confirm. “Yes, you do need a prescription. I would also be worried about where these drugs were coming from and what they are made of. That should be a concern.”

You have also got to understand this could very well be a scam - send us the money and goodbye. Your word for today is DELETE…

I haven’t heard this one in a long time, but if you have a mother or grandmother or an older friend living here – this is a warning. A reader of mine sent me note on something that happened to her mother-in-law. First she received a call from a man who told her it was her lucky day, she was going to get a home cooked meal free. He did come, and did cook lunch for her and then can the sale — pots and pans — a thousand dollars worth.

She said she couldn’t afford $1,000 and the sale schmuck got angry with her. I’m sure she was afraid and ended up buying the pots & pans and was told if she wasn’t happy she could get her money back. That of course was not true. So be aware these people are around and a $1,000 for pots and pans at the door is ridiculous…

Three o’clock in the afternoon came a call from a young women to tell me that the inspectors from Water Canada would be in my neighborhood and they could do a test of our drinking water, at no cost to us. She said that we should have our drinking water tested every year. I guess what they are telling me is that our city water people are not doing a good job of checking our water supply.

I asked her what happens after the test. Is your company going to try and sell me something? She couldn’t answer that question. Then I asked a couple of other questions and there was a pause and she again said I can’t answer those questions. “I’m just supposed to book an inspection of your water.”

What is Water Canada? Have you heard about this company? Have they done an inspection of your water? What are they selling? Let me know…

If you have been out in traffic here these past few weeks you have been in a traffic jam. It is busy and the traffic is heavy. The price of gas doesn’t seem to be bothering anybody at the moment.

Ipsos Reid Canada just completed a cross Canada study on the subject of gas prices with interesting numbers. Sixty eight per cent of us don’t believe that the recent rises in gas prices at the pumps are temporary, and more that 37% think prices will get even higher. 31% believe high gas prices are temporary and will fall.

The report went on to say that Canadians have a adjusted their finances and spending. They have made a lot of cutbacks. Certainly can’t tell those facts from here. Then Canadians were asked what they considered to be the reason for higher prices. Thirty five per cent believe these higher gas prices have been thrust upon us because the oil companies are working together to gouge consumers and jack up their profits. The majority seem to understand the marketplace and the oil problems of the world. This is not going to change no matter what the world does with producing more crude. It’s part of life today, and is not going away…

Her dad was one of my best friends - Gerry Frederick. For years he was the bossman at the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce. I still miss him. Daughter Jackie has been in the hospitality business for many years and the beginning of this month has changed jobs. Because of the many changes in the future direction of the Coast Inn at the Apex Mountain Resort, her employer Coast Hotels is no longer associated with the hotel at the mountain. Jackie was offered an opportunity to move with the chain to one of their other locations, but like all of us didn’t want to leave the valley. So she will be doing sales work with the hotel group and has taken on a position with the new Valley First Vees junior hockey team in promotion and public relations. She knows her stuff…