Fair taxation a mere illusion

Everyone loves a magician, especially children.

They squeal with delight when rabbits are pulled out of empty hats.

While the young are entranced, adults understand magicians are merely creating an illusion of these seemingly impossible feats.

Although they do not use bunnies or bandannas, Calgary’s civic leaders also conjure up some impressively clever magic tricks.

Council has done an amazing job telling homeowners they pay the third-lowest property taxes in Canada. Copious data is available on residential levies, including the taxpayers’ information website, yet there is scant information on how much it collects in municipal business and non-residential taxes.

If you dig deep enough, you discover that more than half of the $1.1 billion in tax dollars city hall accumulated in 2009 came out of the pockets of those renting office and store space, the shoppers at local malls and anyone who purchases anything in Calgary. That’s the illusion.

According to an Edmonton civic survey of 21 municipalities, Calgarians pay an average $421 per capita in residential property taxes, just behind Surrey residents ($347 averaged annually) and Winnipeggers (at $408). Pity the people living in Fredericton who shell out $1,040 every year. Last year, Edmonton collected $408.5 million ($522 per person) in residential taxes and $423 million ($541/capita) in taxes on business ($360.8 million in non-residential tax and $62.5 million in a separate business tax).

By contrast, Calgary homeowners paid $449 million in property taxes in 2009 ($421/person). The city also accumulated over $646 million ($606/capita) in business taxes — made up of $451.4 million from your local dry cleaner, food court, grocery store, car dealership and manufacturing plant in non-residential tax — and $195 million in an extra business tax.

Alas, out of the Canadian cities surveyed, Edmonton and Calgary are two of only seven still levying a separate business tax. Edmonton’s is being phased out, while Calgary collects the most of any jurisdiction.

While some consumers believe the business community should shoulder half the tax load, most fail to understand these rates are added to the price of local goods and services. And small companies may hire employees at lower wages because of this tax burden.

The business community contributes almost 60% of total municipal tax revenues, so the magic of half-and-half doesn’t hold up to scrutiny when the smoke clears.

Shops and offices also consume a smaller proportion of municipal services. If a company needs garbage removal, for instance, it is charged directly or has to hire it privately. Is it fair to charge three times the residential tax rate, plus an additional 6.5% on the rental value of business properties, but deny access to the same services?

Maybe we would agree to disagree, but at the end of the day, there is only one taxpayer — the resident — and Calgarians long ago decided it was a bad idea to engage in taxation without representation.

More than 80% of Calgary Chamber of Commerce members support the consolidation of the business tax with the non-residential property levies, provided it reduces the overall tax burden.

Thanks to the ongoing advocacy work of the Chamber, the business tax rate has at least remained the same for the past 19 years.

City hall maintains the highest standards of transparency and accountability when it comes to residential homeowners.

The Chamber applauds that approach absolutely.

All that remains is to remove the illusion surrounding the taxation of business.

Then no one will be forced to pull rabbits out of hats to succeed — even during tough recessionary years.

Prudent Reasons for Optimism

Forecasting Calgary’s weather is a bit like predicting the city’s economic future.  Pity the poor meteorologists standing before their maps declaring one of their ‘severe weather warnings’ hours after a blizzard has swept across the prairie landscape.

Then, nicely timed to coincide with the afternoon commute, the temperature suddenly rises for no apparent reason, causing piles of melting snow and slush.  Naturally, heavy snow will fall again, immediately forming pools of black ice (usually after the graders, plows and sanding equipment are back to their barns).  During the night Chinook winds may blow in and thaw everything again.  Or, it might be frigid at dawn, unseasonably warm by noon, balmy for the weekend, or pure El Nino for Rocky Mountain skiers.

Calgarians love to whine about their weather almost as much as they enjoy grousing about the economy.

Pity the local establishment pundits who failed to see the recessionary storm clouds gathering in 2007 as commodity prices soared to unheard of heights (oil peaked at $147 a barrel).  They neglected to announce the coming deluge as prices dropped precipitously and, almost overnight, in 2008, Calgary’s supercharged growth went into free-fall.

Economic activity dropped so dramatically, executives, owner/operators, investors and consumers – all chased the economy down.  They froze or cut salaries, cancelled business trips and eliminated expense accounts.  Then, as things unexpectedly got worse, many laid-off core employees, stopped plant expansions and some remortgaged their homes to pay company bills.

As the economy shrank, unemployment rates climbed from 3.3% (2008) to 7.3% (December 2009).  Pessimism grew.

Fortunately, the jobless rate seems to have hit a plateau and, although many sectors shed jobs, a number of local industries actually are on a hiring spree.  Statistics Canada reports the city’s business, building and support services are up 36%, education services expanded 17.4%, information, culture and recreation rose 16.7%, public administration added almost 12%, transportation services rose 11% and the fiscal stimulus package helped construction grow by a modest 6.5%.

The Calgary Chamber of Commerce is prudently optimistic that 2010 will be good for the local economy.  The truth is this city has a lot going for it.  The population is young, educated, smart, teck-savvy and has a roll-up-your-sleeves good work ethic.

“Many organizations are quietly finding ways to work off the excesses of the boom,” says Export Development Canada.  “Once the market is back in balance, demand will boost production and sales back toward sustainable levels, and based on current activity, implies a lot of growth.  It won’t happen at once, but momentum is expected to intensify toward the end of 2010. It’s best to prepare now.”

The challenge the Chamber’s members still face is how to access capital, buy upgraded equipment, expand and hire new workers.  Retailers want to capitalize on the post-recession, pent-up spending needs consumers have.  This translates into employee productivity gains of two to four per cent per worker, per year, to return Calgary to full employment levels.

Certainly $80 oil is ample to spur drilling and investors have more cash to fund low-cost discoveries. Housing prices have stabilized and are starting to climb.  The Bank of Canada continues to keep interest rates low, signaling the recovery is underway.

Remarkably, Calgary has survived the latest recessionary blizzard the global market threw at us.  Let’s hope for unseasonably warm, balmy weather to nurture the proverbial green shoots now visible to Chamber members.

Local meteorologists and economists can agree that positive anything is better than negative nothing.

Our Oilpatch Needs Christmas Miracle

NORTH POLE (Satirical Canadian Press) – The Alberta oilpatch can expect a Christmas miracle, reports Mr. S. Claus, president and CEO, Santa’s Packaging & Financial Forecasting Inc.  “The provincial government has conducted a robust flurry of studies and consultations and, in 2010, Alberta will regain its rightful place as the star atop Canada’s economic tree,” he says.

In a follow-up interview, the Day-by-Day Oil Bulletin says Alberta has decided to revise its royalty regime, attract global financial capital, stimulate trade and commerce, and enable the oil and gas industry to create challenging jobs for the unemployed.

“Evidence of this phenomenon will soon be seen across the province,” Mr. Claus told the Bulletin.  “I anticipate the cold weather will cause a spike in natural gas prices, drilling contractors will be hired to explore for oil and suspended wells will be pumping once more.”  He chuckled.  “By next Christmas, Alberta will be well-positioned as a leading energy super-power.”

The Calgary Chamber of Commerce commends the province for undertaking its Natural Gas and Conventional Oil Investment Competitiveness Study.  Most, if not all, of our members benefit from a healthy energy industry – including our dry cleaners, car dealerships, computer teckies, hair salons and engineering consultants.

Chamber members are pleased the government is developing a long-term energy vision.  They like the fact that Alberta is working to establish an attractive framework for all investors and producers.

Our companies believe certainty of rules and competitiveness in the fiscal and regulatory regime will attract the global capital markets to fund projects.  They are encouraged by the potential for technological innovation.

Our members are eager to have all Canadians understand the benefits of this dynamic sector.

According to the Canadian Energy Research Institute (CERI), the oilpatch has the potential to create a $2.9 trillion GDP impact on Canada’s economy (2010-2035).  This amounts to $311 billion in taxes to the federal government and $189 billion to Alberta, plus $12 billion a year in royalties to the province.

Today, the industry represents 42% of Alberta’s GDP with $23 billion (or 15%) coming directly from upstream operations.

Once the oilpatch gets busier, CERI estimates it will create 13,750 thousand person-years of employment within the province and another 4,780 thousand person-years of work across the country.  These jobs will generate prosperity locally, regionally and nationally so Canadians profit from Alberta’s energy wealth.

The Chamber offers these recommendations to help Alberta once more become the engine of Canada’s economy:

• Attract investors by ensuring adequate upside return potential to compensate for investment.
• Build investor trust and confidence by creating a predictable and stable royalty regime (fewer short-term incentives and wait at least five years before conducting another major review).
• Establish a royalty mechanism for the development of emerging unconventional resources (shale, tight and sour gas).
• Develop alternate fiscal and regulatory frameworks to recognize the fundamentally different nature of various extraction methods (enhanced oil recovery, shale gas) and resource plays (from one-well to multi-well projects).
• Consider a consolidated approach to environmental assessment, public and Aboriginal consultation for intensely developed regions.
• Encourage the development of new recovery and environmental technologies through various taxes, royalties and other incentives.
• Create a permanent and on-going forum for constructive dialogue with industry, investors and regulators.

When will Alberta learn its lesson?

Commodities have always driven Alberta’s economy.

Inherent in this is the critical need to stick to basics.

The province must anticipate the ever-predictable boom-and-bust cycles as it manages its financial affairs.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, the commodity of choice was fur and England decided how much a pelt was worth.

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Albertans raised cattle and grain and Eastern Canada set the price.

Since the late 20th century, royalties from coal, oil and natural gas have poured into Alberta’s bank account. But Europe, the U.S. and OPEC determine how much a ton of coal or a barrel of oil is worth.

The pattern is obvious. A natural resource is discovered. Albertans rush to develop export markets. Unfortunately, the purchasers set the commodity’s price and the province rides a cycle of revenue growth and prosperity, followed by a painful crash and recession.

The treasury expands and shrinks depending on royalties and taxes paid into the government’s bank account.

Since it was founded in 1891, the Calgary Chamber of Commerce has periodically urged the province to write a back-to-basics budget because of low (or lower than expected) commodity prices.

Elected officials promise they’ve learned their lesson to adopt a back-to-basics budget, then as coffers fill, start spending again.

In the 1890s, our founders advocated for the railway to come through Fort Calgary so they could export cattle and grain. During the world wars, Depression and expansions of the 1920s, ’50s, ’70s and ’90s, the Chamber was the voice of reason.

Today, the Calgary business community recognizes the progress the province has made to cut spending this year, but remains concerned expenses are higher than the budget promised. Crucial decisions must be made, therefore, about the short and long-term fiscal policies and Alberta’s international competitiveness position.

Always striving to offer ideas solutions, Chamber members recommend the province:

1. Limit the percentage withdrawal from the Sustainability Fund to the percentage drop in provincial revenues. In 2009-10, the expected decline is 19%, equating to a $3.29 billion withdrawal (not the current $4.37 billion).

2. Control spending so any short-term deficit equals the same percentage decrease in GDP. Limit annual spending increases to a smart spending bandwidth (between population growth plus inflation and real GDP growth plus inflation). For 2010-11 the upper limit is 3.5%.

3. Amend the Health Care Act to protect patients during surgery by streamlining the current regulatory environment, sharing economies of scale benefits, transferring non-acute patients into long-term care facilities and carving out a larger role for private industry to work within the publicly funded system.

4. Make Alberta the most competitive fiscal, regulatory and environmental oil and gas regime anywhere to maximize commodity revenues.

5. Either increase the basic personal income tax exemption rate from $16,775 to $20,000 or lower the current flat tax rate to 9% from 10%.

6. Reduce the province’s reliance on non-renewable resource revenues — we can expect $5.56 billion in 2009-’10 resource revenues (a 55% reduction from last year).

It’s almost 2010 and the Chamber has dusted off its back-to-basic budget request, updated it with new solutions and again challenges the government to avoid long-term debt and deficits.

The province must ensure we remain a successful, attractive place to do business and be competitive in the global investment markets.

Commodity prices are volatile. Alberta must use great discipline to control its spending and save revenues.

Is this too hard a lesson to learn?

What? No tax revolt?

Blame the pharaohs for the occasional tax revolt that unhappy citizens pursue.

Although the truth is buried in the mists of prehistoric Egypt, Horus Ka, a king in about 3000 BC, is credited with levying the first taxes on his people.

According to ancient papyrus records, every six months the royal retinue would travel along the Nile to collect one-fifth of the food and animals raised by the inhabitants.

These taxes fed the pharaoh’s army, family and herds. They also allowed his noble household to survive and flourish, despite seasonal floods and famines.

Subsequent rulers added increasingly complicated regulations about what was taxable, how much could be levied and when extra tariffs and duties should be decreed to nicely supplement the imperial treasuries.

Tax revolts were ruthlessly suppressed.

Today, modern officials no longer collect a portion of the harvests, gardens or family pets to ensure prosperity for the next year. Nor do they traverse the Bow River to fill municipal coffers.

Tax rules remain complex and opaque.

Calgary city hall continues to debate how much more money every taxpayer and business should shell out to meet the 2010 budget. Council’s challenge is to judiciously raise tax rates high enough to pay the bills while keeping the total sum modest enough to prevent a taxpayer revolt.

City hall knows citizens and companies are willing to pay for police, firefighters, transit, new roads, upgraded public utilities, garbage collection, snow removal and the odd civic celebration if our athletes win the ultimate cup at season’s end.

Calgarians also recognize the city has enjoyed a decade of unprecedented growth to its taxpayer base, as people moved here from across Canada and around the world to share in the energy boom.

However, times have changed. Last fall, the city’s unemployment rate doubled (from 3.4% to nearly 7%, about 18,000 lost jobs) and real GDP growth plummeted (from 0.4% to about -2.5%).

Calgarians are struggling as individuals and business owners.

Although council believes Calgarians generally accept tax increases without much fight, it is making a pre-emptive effort to prevent any mutterings turning into an uprising.

Ever eager to act as mediator, the Calgary Chamber of Commerce urges council to include these six recommendations in its 2010 budget:

1. Commission a priority study to determine core and discretionary services and prioritize core spending when setting the budget.
2. Limit annual spending increases to within a smart spending bandwidth (between population growth plus inflation and real GDP growth plus inflation). For 2010 this is between 2% and 3.4% — requiring a reduction from the city’s 3.6% forecast.
3. Introduce competition into service delivery (solid waste management, trash collection, pools, recreation centres and golf courses) to lower costs, improve services and encourage innovation.
4. Improve the municipal tax system by decreasing the ratio of taxes paid by business versus residents from 57.5% to 50% by 2015, harmonizing business and non-residential property taxes and telling Calgarians the true costs of services and the tax burden on businesses and residents.
5. Change from a three-year binding budget to a three-year rolling budget to better respond to economic conditions.
6. Strengthen the role of the city auditor to making the audit plan, budget, reporting and appointment conditions more independent of council.

Although tax revolts seldom happen in progressive cities like Calgary, occasionally a group of unhappy, but highly-organized taxpayers do band together to impose their will on those who hold power.

Blame it on the pharaohs.

Global Employment Trends Meets Talent Crunch

The great recession of 2008-2009 highlighted two startling trends in the global economy.  Both impact workers – from CEOs to entry-level employees and tomorrow’s recruits.

The possibility of the first trend frightened the father of cybernetics, Norbert Weiner (1894 – 1964), long before the current reality hit.  An American child prodigy, he graduated from high school at 11, was awarded a BA in mathematics at 14 and received his PhD from Harvard at a mere 18. His dissertation was on mathematical logic.  During World War II, he applied this logic to automate the aiming and firing of anti-aircraft guns.

Afterwards, Weiner gloomily predicted the high-tech world he and his colleagues were inventing would “undoubtedly lead to factories without employees…and the unemployment produced by such plants could only be disastrous.” 

While the United Auto Workers understood that automation would shrink the ranks of the unskilled labour force, they failed to grasp the single-minded determination CEOs and managers had to replace workers with machines — the core dynamic of automation.  Not only did these actions reduce labour costs, but also increased quality making customers happy and boosted profit margins, benefiting shareholders.

Then one day there were too many cars.  North America was left with Saturn and Pontiac’s eerily silent assembly lines and hundreds of thousands of unemployed wage earners.  GM had filed for bankruptcy.

Mums and dads who had urged their children to train for these previously high-paying, assembly-line jobs were suddenly wrong.  And math-wizard Norbert Weiner was right there would be serious consequences to local communities, suppliers, small businesses and especially people’s lives.

Automation eliminated those positions.  Many others were purged by the second global trend, which quietly gained steam during the past decade – outsourcing.

To save the costs of workforce salaries and sweeten bottom lines, CEOs of manufacturing companies discovered they could produce their goods cheaper overseas.  Those positions departed.  Next, call centres were located abroad, followed by information technology and business process services. 

Abruptly, North Americans found educated workers abroad were performing tasks their neighbours previously did.

Outsourcing, predicts American writer Daniel Pink, will gain momentum. “Left-brained work – legal, accounting, computer programming – can and will be done more inexpensively in developing nations (especially in China and India).” 

As traditional assignments disappear, parents and guidance counselors need to assist young people to make wise career choices.  Outplacement groups want the same for their unemployed clients.

The Calgary Chamber of Commerce and the Talent Pool Development Society are jointly hosting their annual Career Show (October 30 – 31 at the BMO Centre, Stampede Grounds) to connect Chamber members, other Calgary businesses, industry associations and educators looking to provide career information and possibly hire talented entry-level and experienced professionals interested in job opportunities.  The current economic downturn offers an excellent chance for Calgarians to prepare for the jobs of the future.

Julie Ball, the Talent Pool’s executive director and manager of the Career Show, reports the show targets, amongst others, high school and university students.  “We want attendees to discover interesting and exciting jobs they might want to pursue after taking their post-secondary courses and training.”  The show also supports under-represented groups of talent – mature workers, Aboriginals, people with disabilities, immigrants and youth – to become valuable contributors to their families and the economy.

“The Show was originally launched to help the business community deal with the 13-year labour shortage Calgary endured,” Ball states.  “Today’s show focuses on employers who will need to attract and retain gifted workers capable of giving those companies a real competitive advantage.  That’s an issue for the CEO, the executive team and line management.”

Calgary companies need astute human resource strategies to ensure they attract the best and brightest to their organizations.  “Create a strong employer brand to attract ideal talent,” Ball advises, “plan ahead to map out your strategic advantage, invest in your current workforce and train your exceptional workers to run the business tomorrow.”

So what careers should Mum and Dad encourage their young people to choose, whether high school aged or adult offspring who have moved home to weather the recession?

Manpower states the top 10 jobs Canadian employers are trying to fill are:  skilled trades, sales representatives, engineers, technicians, secretaries and administrative assistants, teachers, drivers, accounting and finance, labourers and nurses.  Interesting since the global talent shortage is exactly the same in the first four and differs in the order of the last six (managers and executives, followed by accounting and finance, labourers, production operators, secretaries and administrative assistants, and finally drivers).

Daniel Pink believes Canadian and American companies need to concentrate on right-brained assignments – research, development, design, marketing and sales, global supply chain management – to survive and thrive.  “Right-brain abilities are those creative and big-picture thinking skills that can never be reduced to a formula,” he reports.  “Businesses need right-brained thinkers who can think up products and ideas, like the Apple iPod, that we didn’t even know we needed.

As comedian Sid Caesar used to say, “The guy who invented the first wheel was an idiot.  The guy that invented the other three, now he was a genius.”

Time to Scrap Unnecessary Law

One of the greatest documents ever written was the Magna Carta, the Great Charter of Freedoms, in 1215.  It bound King John of England to give rights to his subjects, whether they were free or fettered, and allowed prisoners the right to appeal against unlawful imprisonment.

Historians agree this document was the cornerstone for both constitutional and common law in the English-speaking world.  Although many of its clauses were renewed in the Middle Ages, by the mid-1850s, most of the original articles had been repealed.

Under Premier Klein’s leadership, the legislators acknowledged Albertans cherished their publicly funded and administered health care system.  Everyone – from the government to the doctors, nurses, technicians and therapists – wanted to deliver efficient, timely and compassionate care to those in need.

With the noblest of intentions, the Alberta government passed the Health Care Protection Act (Bill 11) in April 2004.  In essence, it prohibits the operation of private hospitals, bans the practice of queue jumping and regulates the delivery of surgical services in hospitals and clinics. 

The good news is surgical success rates rose for urgent procedures and several Alberta hospitals are now renowned for their heart, cancer and spinal operations, complemented with excellent patient care.

Meanwhile, the waiting lists for routine surgeries – such as hip and knee replacements or cataract removals — grew longer and longer.  It is a tragedy that sick Albertans and their families – those who are most harmed by the lack of quick access to medical care – must endure the delays.

Employers are burdened by the loss of their skilled employees, away on disability. 

As the complaints grew nosier, the government realized this was an unintended consequence of the Act.  It rescinded the piece on private hospitals and allowed a number to become centres of excellence for certain, standard surgeries.  All are paid by Alberta Health Care.  Wait times were dramatically reduced and patient satisfaction rates rose.

The Calgary Chamber of Commerce believes the Health Protection Act has served the province well, but its best before date has expired. 

The legislation triples the regulatory bodies that oversee public and private surgical facilities – Alberta Health Services (AHS), the College of Physicians and Surgeons (CPSA) and Alberta Health and Wellness (AH&W).  Not only does this create a mountain of duplicated paperwork, but it also gave conflicting oversight to the three groups.

The Chamber, ever a proponent of streamlined regulatory environments, recommends the following important articles should be saved if the current Act is scrapped or replaced:

• Ensure all facilities, whether public or private (and paid by the public system), operate at the highest, most stringent conditions and all prioritize patient safety and wellbeing.
• Make Alberta Health Service and the College of Physicians and Surgeon accountable and responsible for the quality of patient care and safety, thus decreasing the need for ministerial authority over surgical facilities.
• Encourage competition between surgical units to promote technological and clinical innovation – this will help attract private capital to purchase new diagnostic and treatment equipment (such as the prostate laser equipment at the Rockyview Hospital).
• Order the majority of pharmaceuticals in bulk (by the thousand) and buy unusual and seldom- prescribed drugs in units of 10 or less to save costs and prevent waste.
• Create a level playing field for all health providers distributing resources fairly and equitably.

Since the Magna Carta, governments have passed pieces of legislation.  By law, Alberta spends billions every year to deliver a quality health care to its citizens.  Smart legislators will eliminate unnecessary paperwork and focus precious resources to help the sick heal.  Isn’t that what we all want?

World feels heat in Copenhagen

In April 1940, Germany invaded Denmark.

For a couple of hours the Danish army fiercely resisted but was quickly subdued.

King Christian X led the nation’s passive resistance against the Nazis.

Every morning, he mounted his horse and rode unarmed and unaccompanied through Copenhagen to emphasize his claims for national sovereignty. He always recognized the greetings of his citizens while ignoring the salutes of the German army.

This fall, another invasion will happen in Denmark and Christian’s great-grandson, Crown Prince Frederik, will preside over it. The Danes hope it results in an environmental agreement signed by the countries of the world.

On Dec. 7, more than 190 nations will descend on Copenhagen to sign a new global climate treaty.

It is designed to replace the fatally flawed Kyoto Protocol, adopted in 1997 and ratified by 184 countries.

In 1997, former PM Jean Chretien called a snap election, defeated Reform’s Preston Manning that June, then signed the Kyoto agreement in December.

Canada was obliged to reduce its emissions to 6% below 1990 levels by 2012.

Not only was this unrealistic, but the federal bureaucracy had done little analysis of the potential economic impact this would have on the country’s then red-hot economy.

Worse still, they failed to consult with the energy-producing provinces.

Fast forward to 2009. Federal Environment Minister Jim Prentice and Michael Martin, chief negotiator and ambassador for climate change, will lead the Canadian delegation to Copenhagen.

The team is committed to an overall reduction in Canada’s GHG emissions and is prepared to support a sustainable energy future. They have sought input from the provinces and territories in an attempt to reach consensus.

Canada’s position is to:

• Acknowledge GHG reduction is a long-term challenge and must be done gradually to reduce costs for consumers.
• Balance environmental protection and economic prosperity with the need for low-cost energy security.
• Reduce GHGs at the source through technology development.
• Reach agreement with major economies and trading partners to avoid international competitiveness issues.
• Recognize that Canada is a growing exporter of energy intensive commodities and should not be put at a competitive disadvantage.
• Allow regional flexibility to avoid pitting areas of the country against each other.
• Avoid wealth transfers internationally.

Opponents argue the Copenhagen signatories will sign away portions of their national sovereignty for global climate change.

Others say the recession has already dampened the economy and lowered emissions by 2.6%. The International Energy Agency calls it “unprecedented and the steepest drop in 40 years.” The Danes have a long track record of doing what’s right for humanity. In 2008, Forbes ranked Denmark as the best business climate in the world.

The Global Peace Index said the country is the happiest place to live (based on health, welfare and education) and among the most peaceful. Obviously, Danes have practised this ethos for many years.

In September 1943, the Nazis decided to deport Denmark’s Jews to German death camps. The Danes collectively smuggled their Jewish friends and neighbours to neutral Sweden, which offered asylum to all who reached its shores. Almost 8,000 lives were saved.

After the war, returning Jews elsewhere in Europe discovered their homes and valuables had been ransacked. When the Danish Jews went back, their fellow citizens had cared for their homes, possessions, pets and gardens.

Pandemic Planning Toolkit for Business

The Chamber released A Pandemic Influenza Planning Toolkit to provide its members, and other interested organizations, with an easy-to-use guide for developing an internal pandemic influenza response strategy.

The Chamber wishes to thank GlaxoSmithKline for providing an unrestricted educational research grant to support this toolkit. The Chamber also wishes to recognize the funding support and subject-matter expertise provided by Global Consulting in the writing of this toolkit.

For a copy of the toolkit, please visit www.calgarychamber.com or email pandemic.preparedness@calgarychamber.com to receive a complimentary CD.

Getting ready for the flu

The most damaging influenza pandemic to strike Canada (and the world) was the Spanish flu that hit right after the First World War (1918-1919).

Interestingly, it was an early subtype strain of the H1N1 virus.

Like today’s disease, it demonstrated a perverse tendency to kill the young and healthy.

Spanish flu was brought to Canada by returning veterans and spread to even the remotest hamlets. Children were orphaned and many families lost their breadwinners.

These deaths caused social and economic disruption. Commerce decreased from a lack of demand for goods and services as workers were sick and businesses could not fulfil their contracts.

In an attempt to halt the disease, municipal governments closed all but necessary services. Provinces enacted laws mandating the sick be quarantined and citizens wear masks in public.

That pandemic killed 50,000 Canadians and about 21-million globally. Most victims, weakened by the virus, generally died of pneumonia. Fortunately, the discovery of penicillin now saves lives.

This year’s H1N1 virus was a novel strain of influenza with no vaccines to provide protection. Thankfully, the medical community has invented and tested the appropriate nasal sprays and injection vaccines. The Canadian government ordered 50.4-million doses at a cost of $400 million.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported children have no pre-existing immunity to the virus while a third of seniors have the appropriate antibodies to fight the disease. Translation? Children and healthy young adults are most at risk.

This poses a unique challenge to employers and employees in Calgary where the average age is 33.

Ever helpful, the Calgary Chamber of Commerce has developed an Influenza Planning Toolkit for Business to help its members with their business continuity planning.

Many companies have not clearly thought through the potential absenteeism even a medium-sized pandemic could create.

• Do your clients know how your business will respond and what services you will keep or temporarily drop?
• Do employees understand if you plan to close the business or maintain a skeleton workforce?
• What types of precautions will your company enact to protect front-line service delivery people and clients visiting your premises?
• What safety measures will you take to encourage wellness amongst employees?

Many organizations have posted notices advising staff and visitors not to enter if they have influenza symptoms.

Other signs advise workers to wash or sanitize their hands, cover their mouths and noses with their sleeves and avoid touching their faces. Employees must stay home if they are ill or must care for sick children.

If all Calgarians make the extra effort to get vaccinated and take the precautionary measures to avoid transmitting the virus, this city will prove the prophets of pandemic doom wrong.

Worker absenteeism might cause declines in productivity elsewhere, but not here.

Other regions may see the projected drop of 4.8% to their gross domestic product because tourism sagged, planes, trains and automobiles were grounded and malls and grocery shops closed. British insurance giant, Lloyd’s of London, envisages a pandemic on the scale of the Spanish flu has the potential to reduce global economic activity by up to 10%.

Last week, the World Health Organization announced at least 3,486 people had died from H1N1. Tragic, yes, but 4,000 Canadians die annually from normal seasonal flu. Hardly a pandemic so far.

If every employer, employee, and family takes the necessary steps, we can prevent the next wave of H1N1 from causing social and economic disruption here.