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John Thomson  

Rumours and things

Ernie Blumke, a man about radio and TV has joined the South Okanagan Events Centre in Penticton as the Director of Marketing. I have known Ernie for thirty-two years when I made my first trip to the media in the Kootenays. Ernie was doing the morning show on Grand Forks radio and we have been friends ever since. They made a good choice - he knows the valley well and can make a few things happen that maybe haven’t so far. I'm glad he is back in the valley media picture.
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According to the Stats Canada figures from the Canada Business Register, small business, defined as being those with fewer than fifty employees, represents approximately 97.8 percent of the total business establishments in Canada.
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People that live in the Sallows Road area in Kelowna are surprised that they haven’t been informed that a hotel is being built in their neighborhood. It is a large foot print of 18,000 square feet but it is not a hotel but a home with a large bed and breakfast as I understand it. Team Construction is the builder. It is a numbered company whom I believe have purchased other properties in the area. That’s what my sources are telling me.

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Dr. Greg Appelt and a couple of medical partners are building a new office for themselves in the lower Mission. For Dr. Appelt it will be a move down the street from his present clinic at KLO and Lakeshore Drive. He has a very busy practice with allergies and asthma as his specialties. Their new building in going up as I write next to Mission Meats on Lakeshore Drive.

I have also been told that Dyck’s Pharmacy will open their fourth location in the city. Specialists in dispensing information and medication, Dyck's Pharmacists has served the people of the Central Okanagan for over 45 years. They are good at what they do.

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There goes the Halloween stuff out for sale in some of the retailers. It’s sometime in October isn’t it? But just you wait, Christmas décor is going to go up earlier this year than you have ever experienced. The retailers are not going to miss a beat on this sales period. Sleigh bells ring are you listening...
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Keep in mind that wiring money is like sending cash: the sender has no protection against loss. Con artists often insist that people wire money, especially overseas, because it’s nearly impossible to reverse the transaction or trace the money. Don’t wire money to strangers, to sellers who insist on wire transfers for payment, or to someone who claims to be a relative in an emergency (and wants to keep the request a secret).

Don’t agree to deposit a cheque from someone you don’t know and then wire money back, no matter how convincing the story. By law, banks must make funds from deposited cheques available within days, but uncovering a fake cheque can take weeks. You are responsible for the cheques you deposit: when a cheque turns out to be a fake, it’s you who is responsible for paying back the bank.

Don’t respond to messages that ask for your personal or financial information, whether the message comes as an email, a phone call, a text message, or an ad. Don’t click on links in the message, or call phone numbers that are left on your answering machine, either. The crooks behind these messages are trying to trick you into giving up your personal information. If you get a message and are concerned about your account status, call the number on your credit or debit card — or your statement — and check it out.
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Here is a bulletin from the U.S. for RN grads. Even with a national nursing shortage everywhere many of the newly graduated nurses are finding it difficult to find jobs. The change in the financial world has delayed retirement for experienced nurses.

This must affect the recruiting of nurses by American hospitals for jobs in the U.S. by our nurses here in Canada?

Those who are finding work are not getting the jobs in the better paying hospitals they had hoped for and have turned to nursing homes for employment.

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I don’t know about you but I never thought there were Canary seed farmers but there are and the business in Saskatchewan is worth about $100 million annually. Canary seed is used mainly for birdseed for parrots and other pets.
The province is the largest producer of Canary seeds in the world. Who knew?

Most of the crop is exported into Central and South America. They are the biggest customer with about 41,000 tonnes. Mexico told the Canadian growers they were not going to accept product containing buckwheat. Actually, they said they would turn back any shipments that contained one buckwheat seed. The battle is on.

We probably have ex-Canary seed growers retired in the Valley.


More John Thomson articles

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About the Author

John Thomson is the Okanagan's pre-eminent business columnist writing his column, Rumours and Things, for over 24 years. Plugged in to the valley's who's who, John keeps his readers coming back for more with his straight talk and optimistic perspective on where we are headed next.

When John is not writing his column, he runs a sixteen year old think tank called the Executive Roundtable and holds his popular "Thomson Presents" quarterly business speaker seminars.

Have a comment, question, or tip for John? 

E-mail John at
[email protected]
or send him a fax at 250-764-8255.

 



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The views expressed are strictly those of the author and not necessarily those of Castanet. Castanet does not warrant the contents.

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