Alekbaylee

I mean there is no Aboriginal President anywhere around the corner There's Evo Morales in Bolivia... By the way, just so you right-wingers don't think I'm completely a leftie, I'm voting for Harper...again! Really? You must be the only one in Vancouver! ;D

But at least we are making attempts at treaties and creating an environment that will perhaps help foster a more equitable life for Canada's aboriginals. Aboriginal's are also a sixth of the size of Canada's population relative to the black population in the U.S. Agree. Was refering specifically to the % of aboriginal in correctional facilities : 18,5 % inmates serving a federal sentence are aboriginal. It's a lot and points to a systemic problem.

Well said, Sanjeev, except that we do treat our Aboriginal people as bad as the US treats its black population. IMHO. And of course, it's very sad in both case.

but also the CEO's of Megablocks, Sandridge, Abitibi-Bowater, Kennedy-Wilson & The Brick! Wow! You guys are spoiled! Just to put things in perspective relative to the whining regarding the website... Don't you worry, Sanj. There's always somebody whining about something. It's just human nature. Plus, FFH has become sort of a boring stock now... Cheers!

One thing that board members might be interested in is that some of the FFH employees, including Prem, read this board regularly. Well, then Hi Prem and FFH team! Keep up the good work! Alek

Have no idea. We shall know more when our fellow board members return from the AM and post their notes. Meanwhile, another hint of Prem's future investments : By The Canadian Press TORONTO - The head of Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. (TSX:FFH) says the Toronto-based company is eager to expand it's property insurance business in India as soon as its government relaxes current restrictions. The Canadian insurance and investment company currently has a 26 per cent stake in an Indian insurance business, which is in-line with the amount the government stipulates for foreign ownership. However, Fairfax chief executive Prem Watsa said Wednesday that if India's government follows through with expectations that it will likely raise that cap to 49 per cent, Fairfax would jump at the opportunity. Only about one per cent of people in India currently have property insurance, Watsa said. But with a rapidly growing middle class, there are tremendous opportunities for growth, he said. Watsa says Fairfax's investments in other emerging markets such as China and Malaysia are also being limited by government rules in those countries. Fairfax says it's first-quarter balance sheet will be hit by the impact of the recent Japanese earthquake but declined to say how much. It says the impact of the catastrophe there will inevitably have " knock on" effects on disaster insurance rates at operations across the globe. Prices for property insurance could increase as much as five to ten per cent. Meanwhile, Fairfax says operations in Bahrain, Egypt and Syria have mostly returned to normal following a spate of violence in those countries. It expects to pursue acquisition opportunities in the Middle East and Latin America.

By Sean B. Pasternak - Apr 20, 2011 10:51 AM ET Tweet inShare.0More Business ExchangeBuzz up!DiggPrint Email .Prem Watsa, chief executive officer of Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. (FFH), recommends shares of Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Kraft Foods Inc. (KFT) and US Bancorp. (USB) The Canadian insurer holds a combined $1.9 billion in the four U.S. company shares. Watsa spoke at the insurer’s annual meeting today in Toronto.

Gold is going much higher. We could see shocking gold prices, maybe Alf Fields’ target of $10,000 per ounce or Martin Armstrong’s target of $12,000 per ounce. I think that my price target of $1,650 per ounce gold is going to be so low it will be considered silly. Sorry, but when I see this type of comments, I just stop reading.

http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/Interest-rates-shoot-Spanish-capress-568345483.html?x=0 Sanjeev, I think you're right. Euro (zone) is gonna implose!

I don't know much about China, but here's an interesting comment that suggests RE there is like a casino... This article is misleading. MarketNews stated that prices plunged suddenly in Beijing due to government curbs. This was then reposted as China’s bubble popped by someone who may not be familiar with the way things work over here in China. RE is pretty much treated like a stock market, the herd gets in, prices jump by like 40%, some crackdown is announced, people jump to the sides and observe, very few deals happen in that period. Some people start panicking and cut prices 10-20%. This correction can happen within a very short. But that doesn’t mean that cash isn’t ready to buy back in as soon as the first uptick appears. I think Melster gave a good description of the mentality above. A bubble usually pops when all credit is exhausted and there is no more money to prop up the market. I don’t believe this is happening in China. This is very unusual for a Canadian observer where most people buy houses to live in their homes and prices remain fairly stable over the short to medium term. I think Vancouver is one of the few places where Chinese buy in higher numbers, so it does have it share of volatility as could be seen during 2009. This is crazy/scary altogether though...

Apologize if this has already been posted... http://www.zerohedge.com/article/chinese-real-estate-bubble-pops-beijing-real-estate-prices-plunge-27-one-month

US inability to raise rates without blowing the recovery. That, in my mind, applies equally to Canada. I agree with Cardboard on the insanity of the RE market in Canada. Pure speculation everywhere IMO. And you still get headlines like this : More young Canadians looking to buy homes in next two years: RBC study The Canadian Press, On Thursday April 7, 2011, 7:24 am By The Canadian Press TORONTO - More younger Canadians, between the ages of 18 and 34, likely to buy a home over the next two years. About 43 per cent say they are looking to buy in that period, compared to a national average of 29 per cent, says RBC Homeownership Study. ... that keeps encouraging the bubble... ::) stumbled across this recently : “A cup of coffee at the Subway on Bank Street cost me $25,000,” moaned one investor, who found the lineup at the sales centre backed up along Gladstone halfway to O’Connor Street by the time he arrived back in line Thursday at 5:45 p.m., coffee cup in hand. “They gave me a number and told me to come back Saturday,” said the middle-aged technology professional, who is investing in real estate to bolster his retirement nest egg. He did return to buy an 855-square-foot Madrid, which boasts a modest den, one bedroom, two bathrooms, a large terrace and a smaller balcony overlooking Bank Street. On Thursday, his condo was priced at $299,900, plus $27,500 for a parking spot and $3,500 for a locker to stash a bike or artificial Christmas tree. By Saturday morning, prices had been upped by two to three per cent on all of Central’s condo plans, pushing his basic investment to $324,000. http://www.centralottawa.com/ Mind boggling!

http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/Portugal-seeks-bailout-capress-3807495371.html?x=0 Who's next now?

"We expect softwood pulp prices to remain near record levels until mid-2013," he said in reports on Mercer International and Canfor Pulp. That would be great! Wonder how long before a Chinese Co starts shopping mills and/or pulp Cos in NA though?

Pulp prices approaching $1000/ton. All Cos up, with the usual one lagging behind... ::)

Just came back from Costco. They now sell bags for compost bins (small kitchen containers and big green boxes). Looks like it's made from recycled paper (RBK?). Anyway, compost is now mandatory in most Canadian cities. So I guess the demand will not falter as people have been complaining about how those containers smell in summer (hot weather). And it's not cheap too : roughly $12 for a few of these bags. Long FBK...

Not directly related to FBK, but still interesting... http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/Dealmaking-forestry-sector-capress-764972211.html;_ylt=AkUlTfWsyMay_O6zQ3oUMYJyzJpG;_ylu=X3oDMTE4Ym9qbmx0BHBvcwMyBHNlYwN5ZmlUb3BTdG9yaWVzBHNsawNkZWFsbWFraW5naW4-?x=0

Well said, Al. I'm not a selling a single share. This one should finally start to reward our patience. US NBSKP – Shipments on pulp to the North American market were fairly weak in February, reflecting the declines seen in paper shipments. The PPPC data showed shipments of paper grades market pulp down by as much as 9.6% against February 2010. Supported by good demand elsewhere – and by the approaching high season for paper and maintenance downtime period for pulp – the US BSKP market has remained tight. Price increases have been announced separately by several major producers, typically by 30 USD/ton from April 1. If fully successful, the attempted hike would bring the gross contract price up to 1020 USD/ton. The data reported was again in a range between 960 and 990 USD, with 990 USD clearly the most common individual quote. Our PIX NBSKP US index moved up by 83 cents, or by 0.1%, and closed at 985.19 USD/ton. http://www.paperage.com/foex/pulp.html

$250,000 Exclusion on the Sale of a Main Home Individuals can exclude up to $250,000 in profit from the sale of a main home (or $500,000 for a married couple) as long as you have owned the home and lived in the home for a minimum of two years. Those two years do not need to be consecutive. In the 5 years prior to the sale of the house, you need to have lived in the house for at least 24 months in that 5-year period. In other words, the home must have been your principal residence. You can use this 2-out-of-5 year rule to exclude your profits each time you sell or exchange your main home. Generally, you can claim the exclusion only once every two years. Some exceptions do apply. Looks very appaling, but may have encouraged the speculation...

Some fresh news for those considering buying in the US... http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/Home-prices-falling-19-major-capress-765065925.html;_ylt=Al0_Q92wfV2Nk9EX9e7nIGdyzJpG;_ylu=X3oDMTE4c3FwaGlrBHBvcwM3BHNlYwN5ZmlUb3BTdG9yaWVzBHNsawNob21lcHJpY2VzZmE-?x=0 Home values in Atlanta, Las Vegas , Detroit and Cleveland are now below January 2000 levels. A majority of the metro areas tracked by the index now have home prices at levels dating back to 2003, just as the housing boom began

Now Mercer has just completed a feasibility study on the cost to convert to "swing mills". Ones that can produce either NBSK or DP. The idea is to be able to capitalize on the pricing of whatever output makes the most sense. Mercer suggests it's costs to convert the mills is likely $30M - $40M. Looks very smart to me!

Yup and was up nicely this week. Wonder if and how the oil spike will impact their bottom line though (as well as their competitors's for that matter). Any comments/insight?

AIG anticipates close to 1 Billion $ loss from disasters this quarter... Ouch! http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704713004576209150315279710.html?ru=yahoo&mod=yahoo_hs

Apologize if this has already been posted, but didn't see it... UBS Says U.S. Is Probing Possible Libor Rate Manipulation UBS AG (UBSN), Switzerland’s biggest bank, said it received subpoenas from U.S. authorities investigating possible attempts to manipulate the setting of the London interbank offered rate. The company received subpoenas from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the U.S. Justice Department, Zurich-based UBS said in its 2010 annual report. The bank also received an order to provide information to the Japan Financial Supervisory Agency concerning “similar matters,” it said. “UBS understands that the investigations focus on whether there were improper attempts by UBS, either acting on its own or together with others, to manipulate Libor rates at certain times,” the bank said. “UBS is conducting an internal review and is cooperating with the investigations.” Libor rates are set daily by the British Bankers’ Association, based on data it gets from a panel of banks on what it would cost them to borrow funds for various periods of time and in different currencies. UBS didn’t say in yesterday’s report what time period the Libor investigation is focused on. A spokesman for the bank wasn’t immediately able to comment beyond the statement in the report. A BBA spokesman wasn’t immediately able to comment.

Looks like insiders bought some shares recently : Mar 15/11 Mar 10/11 Young, Brian David Direct Ownership Subordinate Voting Shares 97 - Other 2,354 Mar 15/11 Mar 10/11 Wacek, Michael Direct Ownership Subordinate Voting Shares 97 - Other 1,108 Mar 15/11 Mar 10/11 Salvesen, James B. Direct Ownership Subordinate Voting Shares 97 - Other 277 Mar 15/11 Mar 10/11 Lovell, Peter H. Direct Ownership Subordinate Voting Shares 97 - Other 693 Mar 15/11 Mar 10/11 Christiansen, Jan Direct Ownership Subordinate Voting Shares 97 - Other 970 Mar 15/11 Mar 10/11 Bennett, Robert Direct Ownership Subordinate Voting Shares 97 - Other 1,108 Mar 15/11 Mar 10/11 Barnard, Andrew Direct Ownership Subordinate Voting Shares 97 - Other 3,461