December 2016
In this issue
In early August when news broke that Whistler Blackcomb, ranked North America’s number one resort by U.S.-based Ski Magazine, had been sold to Vail Resorts Inc. for $1.4 billion, there were mixed reactions—from concern over what merging two blockbuster brands might mean for the already-crowded mountain town to excitement about the potential for future growth. However, ownership announcements from Whistler Blackcomb’s...
The Grand Canyon had better pull up its socks. Reviews are in, and they’re not good. Mother Jones magazine recently collected a series of one-star reviews for America’s national parks. In addition to the thumbs-down for the Canyon (not enough for day-trippers to do, the reviewer said), there were one-star pans of Yosemite (“Terrible experience... unable to find parking ANYWHERE”) and...
If there’s a way to lawfully avoid Service Canada’s Labour Market Impact Assessment process, do it, advises Bruce Harwood. Labour mobility provisions in trade agreements like NAFTA eliminate LMIA requirements for certain occupations, most of which require a minimum baccalaureate degree. Intercompany transferee provisions allow a Canadian company to bring in a person who is an executive, a senior manager or...
I’m feasting on Lyndon Cormack’s brio this lunchtime. The fast-talking managing director of Herschel Supply Co. is buzzing from a weekend of wakesurfing at home in Deep Cove—we’re meeting in September—and is about to head to a trade show in China. The active schedule is part of the DNA for the Vancouver-based global bag-and-travel-accessories brand, which has grown from 25...
231,000 That’s how many people have tried to solve their way out of one of Exit Canada’s 11 “escape room” locations since founder Justin Tang opened North America’s first, in Richmond, in 2013. Tang, who has seen nine competitors crop up in Richmond alone in the three years since opening, says he expects to get even busier by the new year...
I started cooking in my early 20s. I was barbecuing a salmon, and I thought I should probably get a little fancier with my approach. I had a cookbook there for some reason, and there was a very simple recipe. You just pour some mustard, pour some honey and squeeze a lemon in there, and voilà, you have an amazing...
The enterprise software phenomenon Slack has been in its Hamilton Street offices for almost a year now. But with extensive renovations just complete, CEO Stewart Butterfield hosted a media unveiling this September. As only befits a seven-year-old company valued mid-2016 at $3.8 billion, the place makes most offices look very ordinary indeed. The Michael Leckie-designed space features brick walls and...
It’s late September, and inside the lobby of the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel, a steady stream of travellers are lining up at the check-in desk; next door, the hotel’s ARC restaurant is buzzing with the chatter of diners studying city maps and servers calling out orders to the kitchen. While not as packed as in the sold-out summer months, the 489-room...
Born in Dundee, Scotland, and raised and educated in South Africa, Alan Ruddiman moved to Canada in 1991—practising rural medicine on the Prairies for five years before settling in bucolic Oliver, where he continues a general practice to this day. Ruddiman was elected president of the rebranded Doctors of BC (formerly the B.C. Medical Association) in June 2015, after having...
In 2014, Justin Goodhew was working 60-hour weeks in Silicon Valley building his first business, Blue Perch—a job-seeking app. About three months into it, the startup fizzled, and Goodhew returned to Vancouver to consider his options. The UBC business grad received several job offers, including a position in sales development at Edvisor—an education tech company based in Vancouver—but Goodhew didn’t...