Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - September 30, 1997, Winnipeg, Manitoba September 1997 b4 Steve email my Ca Winnipeg free press business Canada life buys me life in by Sandra cordon Canadian press Toronto shakeup continued in the Canadian insurance Industry yesterday As one of the country largest players announced it was buying the British assets of new York giant metropolitan in a Deal Worth Between million heavy equipment companies merge staff Ajax a British Colum Bia heavy equipment Compa has acquired the assets of Winnipeg ran Paul enterprises and will Start construction this fall to double the size of its Winnipeg opera an 11yearold heavy equip ment distributor in the Utility and general construction listed sales of More than million last ran Paul president Paul Scharf said Scharf and Laurence Wajas senior Vic president of finance and corporate said Ajax will close its own Small facility on Oak Point Road and consolidate it with ran Pauls facilities on Annes Road and the perimeter creating a combined workforce of that the Nice thing about this nobody is going to lose their Job and the Way the Market in our Field looks right Well continue to expand in the years to Scharf Well be among the two or three largest companies in this Field in win the company will be known As ran a division of Ajax Scharf Ajax is headquartered in Van Scharf said negotiations for the merger took about eight months and included All the planning for the expansion of the vital in were meeting with the architects now to put All the finishing touches on our construction can Start before the Onset of ran Paul owns hectares but up to now has used Only half the the company distributes Timber Jack and new Holland forestry and construction equipment in the merger will integrate Wajas existing Hyster equipment distributorship into the the company plans to expand ran Pauls vital facility to about Square feet from Ellyn said that with a larger the company also plans to begin Selling cranes again in Ajax stopped Selling cranes to the local utilities Market about two years ago when it severed its ties with the Crane manufacturer it was represent but last year it acquired distribution rights to another Brand of and this is the one they will be Selling Ellyn said Scharf and other senior ran Paul managers intend to continue their careers with and will assume responsibility for the successful integration and Lon term strategic growth of the combined oper with about 100 branches throughout Canada and the Western United Sells and services Mobile diesel engines and Industrial machinery through its three distribution the company is traded on the Toron to Stock its shares closed unchanged yesterday at us and million Canada life said it intends to consolidate five subsidiaries of me life with its own British the which still must Clear Reg is the latest in a series of mergers and takeovers in a financial services Industry going through major restructuring around the this has gone from a sleepy Busi Ness to a sleepless theres a lot going quipped Rob Canada lifes chief financial Small including subsidiaries of foreign based Are being squeezed out or swallowed whole by bigger said Dick free a Toronto based partner and National director for insurance at the global accounting and professional services in today its going to be difficult for smaller companies to survive simply because you need size to achieve economies of in a related development Aetna life insurance of Canada said it will acquire Finan Cial life Assurance of another insurer specializing in business and professional term the acquisition is expected to close before the end of the year and will of e ate a combined business with More than million in direct written premiums and total assets of continued please see free press Singapore food writers watch As Brenda Pfeiffer right trims yellow embassy sponsored tour offers a taste of Manitoba by Paul Mckee business reporter Canadian governments Are Bor rowing a Hollywood marketing ploy to let the Orient know that a place like Manitoba can give the world Golden caviar As Well As not unlike other regions of has a diverse agricultural the world May know us for our Grain products but we ship potatoes to Mexico and car rots to so How do we let places like Asia know about All of this Hollywood Learned decades ago that one of the Best ways to spread the news about their products was to take journalists to los Angeles and show off their the Canadian government is doing the same the Canadian embassy in Singapore is sponsoring a National tour of asian food bringing the writers Here to see what Manitoba and the other provinces have to the delegation was in Winnipeg yesterday touring places such As the Mccain Plant in Portage la Prairie and Freshwater fish marketing in its a cos effective Way of giving visibility for Canadian food said Judy food marketing officer with Manitoba department of they go Back and write about it and peo ple read about the tour was organized by the Canadian embassy in Singapore and coordinated with the different Canadian departments of Agri hotel accommodations Are being provided by up hotels across the Terry Tan is a journalist based in London who covers food issues for a food Magazine distributed across like the other three journalists on the was stunned by the sheer size of you could put 100 Singapore in your Tan referring to Lake Canada is a huge he you can feed the also on the tour is tans to sum Kwong the editor of an asian hospitality Wong Pui sing and the editor of a thai food Visith All were impressed by the Freshwater fish showcasing that Manitoba processes Lake fish and caviar and it is a Golden Colour As Well As Grain prod it brings Back memories for said i used to work in fish Bruce freshwaters Vic president of corporate told the group the fish processed at the Centre was destined for White Tablecloth restaurants across North America and in he said the corporation was looking to Asia for More Gerry Vic president of Market said Many Manitoban would be shocked to know that Freshwater fish marketing Carpi is the largest Freshwater processing Plant in the Bank of Montreal Board meets in Beijing great Hall Canadian press Beijing the Bank of Montreal held its first Board meeting outside North America yesterday in capital of the worlds most populous country under going an economic Reform with far reaching chivas transformation is one of the great events of our Matthew the Banks said in his opening remarks at the meet the whose members include some of the bes known Canadian business met inside the cavernous great Hall of the the building is the seat of chivas it was also the venue for last weeks 15th Congress of the ruling chinese communist which con firmed the country is commit Ted to capitalist style we Are Here for the Long Barrett adding that the boards visit to Beijing is a Symbol of the Bank of Montre als commitment to it will open a full service com Mercial Branch in Beijing former prime minister Pierre Trudeau was in Beijing As a special guest of Canadas third largest Trudeau established diplomatic relations Between Canada and China in real estate game about to change global investors alter the Way Industry works by Murray Mcneil business reporter there will be Mas Sive changes in the next three years in the Way Homes Are bought and sold in North America including a consultant told a National real estate Industry Confer ence yesterday in Jeremy a Michi Gan based real estate con told the Canadian real estate associations 1997 annual convention that the real estate Industry is about to undergo a massive advances in technology and a drive by global investors to make the Indus try More profitable Means there will be substantially fewer brokers and Conaway those who survive the Industry will be better trained and More Spe he specialists for instead of just one agent handling the Sale of a House from Start to finish on behalf of a the client will be dealing with a number of different Spe Conaway one person will list and Market the another will Han dle the negotiations Between buyer and and a third agent will close the As Affinity groups More and More firms that Haven been involved in real estate trans actions will get involved in the property Conaway for in washing ton Bigboy wholesaler Price Costco has formed an Alliance with a Large real estate brokerage firm and is now recruiting new customers for the affiliated firm by offering its own customers a 25percent Dis count on things like mortgage fees and real estate appraisal and american airlines offers free trips to its fre quent flyers if they sell their Homes through its affiliated Conaway while All of these Industry changes Are More evident in the United both Conaway and Winnipeg real Tor Georges Bohemier say its Only a matter of time before the same thing Hap pens in in its started Bohemier said in an interview after Conaways for some Winnipeg real estate firms Are already using no agents to staff Ope House Bohemier which frees agents to Chase fewer agents As for consolidation with in the Bohemier said that also Well under he said there Are about licensed agents in win compared with about in the mid1970s As there have been several instances in the last couple of years where locally Independent realty firms have joined franchised operations to take advantage of their greater Bohemier one recent example of that was Bachman associates joining Century and youre going to see a lot More of Bohemier another change that already evident Here is that Consumers can now House Hunt through the which also Means local agents have had to revise they Way they Market fees unchanged Conaway said although All of these changes May not add up to huge savings for future they hopefully will help make buying and Selling a less painful experience for most Conaway was one of Sev eral guest speakers during the second Day of areas three Day gathering in win areas chief executive Pierre said about delegates from across Canada Are attending the annual con which concludes among the other topics to be discussed during the conference Are areas opposition to the Federal governments proposed new seniors Benefit which will replace the exist ing old age Security and guaranteed income supple ment programs beginning in the year Beauchamp said Crea officials believe the new pro Gram is unnecessarily harsh on seniors with incomes of More than a help at hand to upgrade workplace abcs has anyone Ever asked you about a memo that posted in the lunchroom do you have a coworker who always takes Home paperwork regardless of How Small a Load it is that worker May in fact be and the problem with that worker int that he or she asks too Many questions about memos or works too hard at the problem might be that the worker has trouble with Abc Canada is a National joint initiative of business and labour sup porting the development of an educated a recent study by the Toronto based foundation shows that 38 per cent of Canadian adults dont have sufficient Reading skills to Deal with Many everyday Reading a High percentage of the Canad an population have trouble with the rated says Colleen around the workplace Paul Mckie abcs executive director she Calls it a significant minority that should be of concern to every those people will have an Impact in their workplaces because of their literacy says with All the education that most of us go through to get any Job these How is it that some of us dont have the necessary literacy skills Albiston that the tunes they Are a Changin she says that 30 years ago you could take your car to a Mechanic at the end of your Street thai Mechanic would probably have had High school Educa maybe some technical school but could work wonders with the family station but today there Are no carburettors and computer diagnostics Are routine on the average Mechanic now needs much higher Levels of literacy and numeracy today int always aware that employees Are lacking in literacy the problems occur with people in jobs where literacy skills Arent needed Albiston says Abc has found the problems become apparent if theres a major change at the work one big she notes is Iso certifications for companies that expo tall of a sudden a productive worker from the shop for is responsible for filling out and Reading reports and participating in team Albiston says this puts demands on literacy skill Levels the worker May not there is a solution to the Abc lobbies companies to Institute Basic skills education pro our objective is to have basis skills numeracy the training says the pea is to get those work ers who need upgrading into a program that will help them and the company Abc suggests that companies have some sort of Way of assessing literacy requirements in Job without stigmatizing employees through mid visual once has determined what skills Are a voluntary training program can be Albiston says the most successful programs Are run offsite when the education is offered away from the Plant or office and is presented As an Opportunity to upgrade there is better involvement often workplaces create their own inhouse learning says Albis places like Nielsen Cadbury and the run learn ing centres for Abc also established the National workplace education Centre Wec two years ago As a research acid consulting of people want More information on Abc or Wec they can Call what we find overwhelmingly is that workplace literacy has a positive Impact for the company As Well As the says if you have news or stories about workplace please Esu Paul at ;