Quoting Michael Loo to Jim Weller <=-

Things started to go downhill for him in 2008 when the
American stock market crash pulled down the Canadian market

Everything's our fault, eh.

I didn't say that, but yeah! [g]

money for mining exploration dried up. Diamond sales and prices
dropped too and the mines went on austerity programs

I suppose that made you suffer a bit as well.

Not really. We entered into an era of super low interest rates (to
lessen the effects of the recession that hit southern Canada,
especially industrial Ontario which depends on strong American
markets) that made it easier for young people to buy their first
place sooner and to afford a better one than before. The builders
just shifted from McMansions to entry level condos to meet the needs
of the new buyer profile. Our prices stopped going up but our volume
remained high. Plus I got to go to work on resorts, hotels, B&Bs
and restaurants.

We are still feeling the effects of the mining turndown ...
a regional airline that depended on charter work recently went
into creditor protection.

Which? Hope it didn't have anything to do with your friend
Buffalo Joe.

Joe has no debt load and is still doing OK. A highly levered
holding company called Discovery Air which owns Air Tindi, Great
Slave Helicopters and Discovery Mining Services, an expediter, is
the basket case. I don't know the executives of the holding
company but I do know the three entrepreneurs who built those
companies up and then sold out in 2007. They're OK too!

The uptick in tourism doesn't begin to replace the lost mine
revenues

The diamond industry still eked out $2B in revenues and our fantastic
growth in tourism (it has doubled in recent years) is still just
bringing in $200M.

he landlord subsequently locked the doors as soon as one
month's rent was past due. The LL then negotiated a buy out
fixtures with the lender. I do not and will not ever shop there.

Pretty unforgiving, that landlord - were there
difficulties between the parties before?

Not until the crisis hit. There was some ill feelings when the LL
changed the locks on the store and seized the inventory (which he is
legally allowed to do). But they had a fist fight when the LL also
tried to (totally wrongly) impound a delivery van in the parking
lot. Pierre, being younger and fitter, won that one.

How many of the revenues went up his
nose, also a question - I know people suspected
that at one time.

I thought so for a while but I now believe he ran those last two
years on just sheer nerves, determination and coffee.

BTW tiny little (500 souls) Deline is getting in on the Chinese
winter tourism action. It is located on the shore of Great Bear Lake
where the Great Bear River, which flows into the Mackenzie River,
drains the lake. Deline means "Where the water goes" in the Bear
dialect of the North Slavey Dene language. It's English name is Fort
Franklin, named by the Hudson Bay Company after some mad fool
explorer.

It is smaller than a village, even smaller than a hamlet. It is
called a "charter community" which means there is a collection of
homes there that get some basic government services (a fire truck,
police, a nurse, a couple of school teachers and a post office kiosk
inside the general store) but very little municipal government.

There is an 11 room hotel there which is currently adding 4 more
rooms. To get there one flies from Beijing to Vancouver, to
Yellowknife, to Norman Wells up north and then get on a North-Wright
Air Cessna or Otter to go to Deline. The airline and the hotel are
selling package deals in China, but just 24 per week. This will be
an expensive trip for some truly adventuresome tourists.

Roslind has been there and tells me it is very scenic.

MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.06

Title: Dene Trout Chowder
Categories: Soups, Native, Canadian, Jw, Trout
Yield: 1 batch

1 Great Bear Lake trout or
-other firm fleshed fish
Flour
Oil
Water
Milk
Assorted veggies: onions,
Potatoes, green peppers,
Carrots, celery, etc
S&P, cayenne to taste

From Gina Neyelle of Deline [Fort Franklin] on the shore of Great
Bear Lake, NWT: "the reason I do that [deep fry the trout chunks
before making the chowder] is if you just cut up the fish and
throw it in the pot it gets mushy."

Cut a Great Bear Lake trout up into cubes, place it in a plastic bag
with flour; shake. Put some oil into a pan and deep-fry until they're
golden brown.

Simmer some milk and water in another pot and add vegetables plus a
little salt, pepper and cayenne. After a few minutes add the fried
fish cubes and continue simmering until the vegetables are done. If
the chowder is too thin add a little more flour.

Recipe by: Gina Neyelle, Deline, NWT.
Source: News/North, www.nnsl.com
Posted by: Jim Weller

MMMMM

Cheers

Jim

... Bankers: a relationship like one between a lamprey and a trout.

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