Markham Real Estate Today with Asif Khan

Simon and Garfunkel must have known this was coming. Their famous lyrics for the song Kodachrome read:

"When I think back on all the crap I've learned in high school
It's a wonder I can think at all
Though my lack of education hasn't hurt me much
I can read the writings on the walls

Kodachrome, they give us those nice bright colours
They give us the greens of summers
Makes you think all the world's a sunny day, oh yeah
I got a Nikon camera, I love to take a photograph
So mama don't take my Kodachrome away"

Well, Mama took the Kodachrome away this week. Kodak filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as they strive to save the company and transform it into a completely digital operation. With all the time I spent in the photo-retail industry, the fall of an industry leader was indeed sad news. The shift from analog photography to digital came quicker than most anticipated and hit harder than anyone expected. Like many aspects of life, change had become the only constant. My role with Canada's leading photo retail franchisor was not only to get our staff and franchisees to embrace the change and adopt the new technologies, but more importantly to manage it in a proactive way. Early adoption was not the issue, it was what you did with the tools you were provided that would determine your future. Those that looked beyond the changes and managed the same well have made it through the rain.

I've read a few blogs, status updates and tweets this week with people stating Kodak's demise was due to their refusal to change. There's nothing more absurd than that statement. Kodak has been one of the most innovative companies in the world for over a century. They invented the first hand held camera, the first film to be stored in a canister and later invented the first digital camera in 1975. Change and innovation was not Kodak's problem. It was what they did with their innovations that brought about their demise. Japanese companies took the rolled film product and perfected a way to make it cheaper and arguably better. The digital camera, which first cost upwards of $28,000 and for which Kodak first licensed Japanese companies with its CCD technology, was made more affordable by companies in Japan and China.

Ironically, after starting the change in their industry, Kodak was losing the battle. The giant had failed to use their innovations and apply them to their industry in proper ways. Change did not cause Kodak's demise, failing to manage the change properly did.

What does any of this have to do with Realtors you ask? Our industry is relatively in the same position as photo-retail was years ago. Innovative tools and industry shifts are upon us. The industry leaders are introducing new technology and tools such as QR Codes, Mobile Web Sites, SMS Technology, geo-tagging and much more. The early adopters are flocking to them without much knowledge or understanding and flaunting the fact that they simply have these new tools. Having the tool first isn't the "win". Learning to use them properly and perfecting them along the way will provide you with longevity and staying power in this industry. It's not a secret, nor is it a surprise that change is happening in the Real Estate Industry - as it does everywhere. Change is not the issue. Managing change is! Fellow Realtors: this is your "Kodak Moment". Don't stop at adopting the new technologies and tools; learn to implement them correctly and improve on them. As Simon and Garfunkel would say, "Don't let them take your Kodachrome away".

CTVNews.ca Staff

The founders of Research in Motion, Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, are stepping down as co-CEOs and chairmen of the embattled company.

In a news release Sunday night, RIM's board of directors announced the shake-up and the appointment of a new president and chief executive, Thorsten Heins.

Heins was recruited by RIM five years ago and has served as one of its chief operating officers, among other key positions.

The board said it decided on the drastic management changes "after conducting its own due diligence."

Lazaridis becomes vice-chair of the RIM board and the chair of its new innovation committee.

"As vice-chair, he will work closely with Mr. Heins to offer strategic counsel, provide a smooth transition and continue to promote the BlackBerry brand worldwide," the board said in the release.

The release quotes Lazaridis as saying: "There comes a time in the growth of every successful company when the founders recognize the need to pass the baton to new leadership. Jim and I went to the Board and told them that we thought that time was now."

Balsillie will remain a member of the board.

Pressure had been mounting on Balsillie and Lazaridis to step aside following a year of declining sales and profits for the BlackBerry maker.

The Waterloo, Ont.-based company, which used to be the darling of the Canadian technology sector, took a drubbing in 2011 as its share price dropped along with its market share when a series of blunders forced many to ponder if it had lost its edge in an industry that requires constant innovation.

It disappointed investors even further when it said that its next generation of smartphones -- the QNX-based BlackBerry 10 -- would not be on store shelves until late next year.

"It could not have happened soon enough. The company has lost its way and (Heins) has a mammoth job in front of him," said Conor Bill, president and chief executive at Artemis Investments in Toronto.

The new chair of the board is Barbara Stymiest, who has served as a director of the company since 2007.

(Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)

Via: CBC News

Bal Gosal, the minister of state for amateur sport, announces $1.5 million in funding for programs to prevent brain injuries among children and youth in team sports, at a news conference in Ottawa on Thursday.

Four sports organizations will receive $1.5 million in federal funding for new education programs designed to reduce concussions and other brain injuries in children and youth who play team sports.

The Public Health Agency of Canada's "Active and Safe" program is supporting a joint project of ThinkFirst Canada, the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport, the Coaching Association of Canada, and Hockey Canada to help coaches, trainers, parents, and athletes recognize and prevent serious brain injuries.

In announcing the funding in Ottawa Thursday, Minister of State for Amateur Sport Bal Gosal noted that an estimated 90 per cent of severe brain injuries were preventable if parents, coaches and the kids themselves knew more about the risks.

"We can't eliminate all injuries," Gosal said, "but we want to help parents and coaches predict the predictable and prevent what is preventable."

Information provided by his department says more than 40 per cent of brain injuries in children and youth aged 10 to 19 years who get treated in emergency departments are due to sports and recreation activities.

The project highlighted in Thursday's announcement will research the information currently available and identify any obvious gaps. A safety-minded public awareness campaign will follow, using online communication in particular to ensure access across Canada and keep costs down.

"The information isn't reaching everyone right now," said Rebecca Nesdale-Tucker, the executive director and CEO of ThinkFirst Canada. "Injury is a leading cause of health expenditure and a lot of these injuries are preventable."

"We want to make sure we're being role models for children," Nesdale-Tucker added.

"Helmets can't protect [against] all injuries," she also said, noting the need for safer facilities, new rules, procedures and policies in high-contact sports, and the importance of enforcing rules and policies once implemented.

Mobile app planned
Plans for the funding announced Thursday include a brain injury and concussion mobile app, downloadable concussion information cards and helmet fitting guides, and toolkits for individuals involved in particular team sports.

Hockey Canada's vice-president of membership services, Glen McCurdie, said the mobile phone application would be free of charge and suggested the development of other technologies could follow.

The NDP's critic for amateur sports, Sudbury MP Glenn Thibeault, supported the program Thursday by joining players and coaches from the Sudbury Lady Wolves hockey team for the launch of some concussion impact sensor trials, to learn more about how brain injuries happen in hockey.

The New Democrats have proposed a national strategy to reduce the number of brain injuries in amateur and youth athletics, including a national injury surveillance and data collection system for concussions.

The NDP also wants to see substantive concussion guidelines, including a deterrent mechanism to ensure athletes are not returning to play against medical recommendations. Last October, Thibeault called for national training and educational standards for coaches, as well as cash incentives to assist amateur sports organizations in implementing the new protocols.

Just read this and had to share. This was written by a Phoenix Coyotes fan back in 1996 when an presumably intoxicated NHL executive decided that the Winnipeg Jets would be better off in Phoenix, Arizona! Go Coyotes!? LOL. Don't worry dude, they'll be gone faster than you can spell KARMA!

Read on!

Shame on Winnipeg

Larry Cottle Apr 22 1996, 3:00 am

I can really understand the people of Winnipeg being upset that the Jets are leaving. I'm looking forward to going to NHL games. I've been a roadrunner fan since the '70s when we were in the WHA. What I can't understand is why you blame anyone other than yourselves. Here's some advice should you ever get another NHL team: 1. Sell out every game 2. Build a decent arena, not like that little rattrap I saw on Fox Sunday 3. Don't make an ass out of yourselves on television by booing another country's National Anthem 4. Improve your climate. What millionaire athlete in his right mind would want to freeze his ass off in Canada when he could sit by the pool and play golf in Phoenix. (you have heard of golf, right? It's a sport played in countries where they have this thing called grass) 5. Improve your economy. Why would anyone want to be paid in that monopoly money you guys call currency? 6. If you're not putting enough butts in the seats, consider getting a decent logo and color scheme. Look at the Ducks, people all over the country who never heard of hockey are buying them like crazy. Predictions are that the Coyotes will sell more merchandise in the next twelve months than the Jets have for the last twelve years. Merchandising=money. 7. When you get a new arena, make sure it has some luxury suites in it so all the local industries can buy them up for $100k/year and entertain guests. (You DO have some industry, don't you?) 8. GET OVER IT. YOU HAD A GOOD THING GOING AND _YOU_ BLEW IT!!! GO COYOTES!!!!!!!

January 18, 2012 via: Markham Economist and Sun
 
Residents in Markham’s south Unionville may finally see a resolution to the parkland deficit in their neighbourhood.
A vote to undertake an appraisal of two properties, of about 3.6 acres total, to complete the South Unionville Park was carried by the town’s development services committee Tuesday.
The current value of parkland in south Unionville is estimated at $800,000 per acre by the town’s real property manager.
At this rate, the outstanding two properties in question and designated for parkland would cost about $2.9 million.
Unionville Councillor Don Hamilton said he’s pleased for the residents.
“The parks are their summer playground and daily recreation facility,” he said. “We finally have all participants in the process pulling to resolve this issue.”
Mr. Hamilton said the appraisal will allow the town and the property owners to negotiate the sale of the parkland at a fair market value.
“Right now, neither side knows what an acre of land is worth,” Mr. Hamilton said, adding while it’s usually the responsibility of the developers’ group to provide the parkland, the town has cash-in-lieu monies to help buy the parkland if necessary.
Other options include expropriation.
“We’d rather not do that,” Mr. Hamilton said.
He said the town knew all along there is a deficit of parkland in south Unionville, where land ownership was highly fragmented with numerous smaller individual parcels — about 64 separate owners, most of them non-developers, in the early stages of the secondary plan process.
Acquiring the two properties to complete South Unionville Park would mean tennis courts and an additional full-size soccer field and swings for the community. Currently only one full-size soccer field exists.
And with the Unionville Meadows Public School, the only school in south Unionville, adding more classroom space and parking this year, it provides more incentive to have extra parkland nearby, Mr. Hamilton said.
Resident Flora Wen agrees, saying existing parks in the area are full most of the time and don’t have enough facilities to entice children to go outside and play.
“I really don’t want our kids to grow up like that — they already play too many (video) games,” Ms Wen told the committee.
Deputy Mayor Jack Heath expressed his desire for a timely resolution.
“I don’t want them to be in high school by the time we acquire the lands for the facilities,” he said.

Asif Khan, ABR
Re/Max Hall of Fame
Re/Max Chairman's Club
Re/Max All-Stars Realty Inc., Brokerage
905-888-6222

Ottawa - The Bank of Canada today announced that it is maintaining its target for the overnight rate at 1 per cent. The Bank Rate is correspondingly 1 1/4 per cent and the deposit rate is 3/4 per cent.
The outlook for the global economy has deteriorated and uncertainty has increased since the Bank released its October Monetary Policy Report (MPR).  The sovereign debt crisis in Europe has intensified, conditions in international financial markets have tightened and risk aversion has risen. The recession in Europe is now expected to be deeper and longer than the Bank had anticipated in October.  The Bank continues to assume that European authorities will implement sufficient measures to contain the crisis, although this assumption is clearly subject to downside risks. In the United States, while the rebound in real GDP during the second half of 2011 was stronger than anticipated, the Bank expects the U.S. recovery will proceed at a more modest pace going forward, owing to ongoing household deleveraging, fiscal consolidation and the spillovers from Europe. Chinese growth is decelerating as expected towards a more sustainable pace. Commodity prices – with the exception of oil – are expected to be below the levels anticipated in the October MPR through 2013.

The Bank’s overall outlook for the Canadian economy is little changed from the October MPR.  While the economy had more momentum than anticipated in the second half of 2011, the pace of growth going forward is expected to be more modest than previously envisaged, largely due to the external environment. Prolonged uncertainty about the global economic and financial environment is likely to dampen the rate of growth of business investment, albeit to a still-solid pace.  Net exports are expected to contribute little to growth, reflecting moderate foreign demand and ongoing competitiveness challenges, including the persistent strength of the Canadian dollar.  In contrast, very favourable financing conditions are expected to buttress consumer spending and housing activity. Household expenditures are expected to remain high relative to GDP and the ratio of household debt to income is projected to rise further.

The Bank estimates that the economy grew by 2.4 per cent in 2011 and projects that it will grow by 2.0 per cent in 2012 and 2.8 per cent in 2013.  While the economy appears to be operating with less slack than previously assumed, given the more modest growth profile, the economy is only anticipated to return to full capacity by the third quarter of 2013, one quarter earlier than was expected in October.

The dynamics for inflation are similar to those anticipated in the October MPR, although the profile for inflation is marginally firmer.  Both total and core inflation are expected to moderate in 2012 and subsequently rise, reaching 2 per cent by the third quarter of 2013 as excess supply is slowly absorbed, labour compensation grows modestly and inflation expectations remain well-anchored.

Several significant upside and downside risks are present in the inflation outlook for Canada. Overall, the Bank judges that these risks are roughly balanced over the projection horizon.

Reflecting all of these factors, the Bank has decided to maintain the target for the overnight rate at 1 per cent. With the target interest rate near historic lows and the financial system functioning well, there is considerable monetary policy stimulus in Canada. The Bank will continue to monitor carefully economic and financial developments in the Canadian and global economies, together with the evolution of risks, and set monetary policy consistent with achieving the 2 per cent inflation target over the medium term.

The next scheduled date for announcing the overnight rate target is 8 March 2012.

TORONTO (via CTV) — A pedestrian tunnel linking Toronto to the Billy Bishop island airport has reportedly reached its final design stages and construction is expected to start next month.

The president of the Toronto Port Authority Geoff Wilson has told the Toronto Star that a groundbreaking ceremony for the tunnel is set to take place sometime in February.

Wilson says that construction is expected to take two years.

Late last year the TPA announced that Forum Infrastructure Partners, which includes PCL, Arup and Technicore, will design, build, finance and maintain the tunnel.

Wilson says the 240-metre-long structure, which will run both above and below ground, will be a spectacular piece of infrastructure.

Passengers going into the tunnel from the Toronto side will enter the tunnel through a pavilion and head down through elevators.