The Fairmont Hotel MacDonald has stood like a silent sentinel over the North Saskatchewan River Valley since 1915 and is one of the city’s most recognizable landmarks. This year it boasts a top-down renovation with refreshed guest rooms, ballrooms and common areas. One of the companies involved in this major update is Pro Co Painting – and the woman behind Pro Co Painting is a tenacious entrepreneur with an ambition that empowered her to turn a student job into a thriving career. That woman is Keiko McPherson and today, she is happy to run the business alongside Joelene Zakaluzny.    ..read more

Serendipity is nice. It’s exciting, thrilling, almost romantic. It is also fluke and luck and it usually happens by accident. However, experience and the track record of success cautions that serendipity has nothing to do with business; especially the tech business of startups.    In Edmonton, and throughout North America, business leaders, consultants and innovative startup incubators underscore the complex strategy and process it takes to successfully launch a startup. Yes, according to the cliché, it starts with a bright idea. Like intricate pieces of a big puzzle, there are criti ..read more

A perfect storm of Edmonton stats, trends and situations continues to cause an Edmonton rentals crunch. It also gives Edmonton a dubious distinction of being #1 in Canada!    According to reliable sources like CMHC, Rentals.ca, developers and others, Edmonton’s rental crunch is consistent with the national situation, but worse. Although most of Canada is dealing with the lowest rental vacancy rates since the 1980s, Edmonton’s rental situation, compounded by sharp rent increases, is subtle but surprising.     While Edmonton remains one of the most affordable for rental ..read more

The Edmonton region has the geographical advantage that it takes for a robust logistics sector to thrive, grow and succeed. On the flip side, economic growth in the Edmonton region requires an efficient logistics sector to provide businesses with a vital, reliable and effective link to suppliers and target markets. Today more than ever, the vital importance of the supply chain – and the logistics sector which makes it all happen – is a critical factor.     The logistics industry is dynamic. With the pace of supply chain changes accelerating at warp speed, agility has emerged as ..read more

Stantec, a global leader in sustainable design and engineering, has appointed Shankar Kalyana as chief technology officer (CTO). The IBM veteran brings nearly 40 years of experience and will be responsible for leading identification, deployment, application and support of emerging digital technology to support existing clients and the firm’s strategic growth initiatives, while driving shareholder value.  In this newly established role, Kalyana will report to John Take, the firm’s chief growth and innovation officer, and be responsible for catalyzing on recent organic growth in Stantec’s d ..read more

PCL Construction is pleased to announce its President & CEO, Dave Filipchuk, has been recognized as the Canadian Construction Association’s National Pinnacle Leader.  The CCA Pinnacle Leader Award recognizes leaders who apply the highest standards and principles of the construction industry and business community. The Pinnacle Leader demonstrates a pursuit of excellence in any field serving the Canadian construction industry. This award honours the memory of Robert Stollery – a past PCL CEO – whose contribution to Canada’s construction industry symbolized the qualities for which the a ..read more

The City of Edmonton’s newest installment of the Downtown Vibrancy Fund, now open for applications, will see up to $5 million invested into vibrancy efforts for the downtown core. The fund, which is part of Edmonton’s Downtown Vibrancy Strategy, helps realize the potential in the heart of the city through collaboration with dedicated downtown partners.   “The Downtown Vibrancy Fund helps create a culture of creativity and action in our downtown community,” said Councillor Anne Stevenson. “We’ve seen dozens of incredible projects come to fruition through this fund and this ongoing investme ..read more

The precarity of our supply chains was one of the unsettling realities revealed by the pandemic. All it took was a strain on a single link to cause shortages throughout the system. In some cases, it was an annoying inconvenience. In other cases, it was much more serious, including shortages of baby formula, computer chips and the contrast dye used for X-rays, ultrasounds, CT and MRI scans.   Following this worrying wake-up call, governments across Canada began scrambling to strengthen the country’s supply chains. The federal government recently announced a special supply chain office ..read more

It’s tempting to chalk business success up to being in the right place at the right time. To hold the notion that a little (or a lot of) luck can make all the difference. Though luck is undoubtedly always involved to some degree, great success befalls to the business that has positioned itself and is nimble enough to take advantage of luck’s opportunities. Put another way: everyone experiences a bit of luck, it’s what you do with it that matters.     For E3 Lithium, it’s that perfect combination of entrepreneurial vision, focused perseverance, attention to opportunity and –  ..read more

If you believe like I do, that the oil and gas industry is ready for even bigger gains, now is the time to get your stuff in order so you are ready to prosper in the next wave.  The evidence is clear, and the statistics don’t lie. While we are experiencing a massive push towards EVs and overall electrification, oil and gas consumption is up, not down.   It causes me to recall a quote by Joel Barker in his book, The Business of Paradigms, that goes like this: “Those who say it shouldn’t be done, should get out of the way of those who are doing it.” Nothing could be more truthful ..read more