Asset protection

Cybersecurity Update – Live Webinar

Join Plurilock CEO Ian Paterson on Monday Nov 29th at noon pacific time, 1pm MT, for an update on the cybersecurity sector, an overview of PLUR’s string of acquisitions and record earnings in Q3, plus Q & A for investors considering adding cybersecurity to their portfolios. CLICK HERE to register.

Mike’s Poll Question

Hopefully you’ll get a chance to unwind over the holiday season. In order to help out over the next few weeks we’re going to ask a series of poll questions. Let’s start with which streaming tv series would be your top recommendation.

Burnaby refinery runs out of oil, halts refining

Trans Mountain Corp. hopes to have the pipeline that supplies the Lower Mainland with oil for refining, as well as refined fuels from Alberta, back in operation by the end of this week, if, as the late songwriter Jerry Reed put it, “the good Lord’s willing and the creeks don’t rise.”

The pipeline was shut down as a precautionary measure, due to the instability caused by flooding, and now more heavy rains are in the forecast.

Meanwhile, the only refinery in southwestern B.C., the Parkland Fuels (TSX:PKI) refinery in Burnaby, has run out of oil and has stopped refining.

Gasoline is being barged in from the U.S., and rules have been relaxed to allow Lower Mainlanders to skip across the U.S. border to buy gas without being subject to COVID-19 testing.

“If all planning and work continues to progress and no further issues with the pipeline are assessed, Trans Mountain is optimistic that we can restart the pipeline, in some capacity, by the end of the week,” Trans Mountain says in a press release.

“Key to successful execution of the restart plan will be access for equipment, fair weather, and no new findings of concern.”…read more.

Canadian Entrepreneurs Are Quitting While Government Employment Soars

Canada prides itself on being an ideal environment for entrepreneurs but stats disagree. Statistics Canada (Stat Can) employment data shows self-employment is shrinking. These individuals now represent the smallest share of employment since the early 1980s. At the same time, the public sector has been hiring roughly two people per self-employed job lost. Employment might be recovering but it’s a totally different labor market.

Self-Employment Drops To The Smallest Share Of Workers Since The Early 80s

Canadian entrepreneurship has taken a hit and not just because of the recession. The number of Canadians that identify as self-employed fell to 2.92 million in October, down 3.8% from last year. It’s now 12.1% lower than the peak reached in September 2019. The public health restrictions definitely accelerated this trend but it started before 2020. The environment was weakening before the recession, meaning bigger issues are present.

Self-employed Canadians have shrunk to their smallest share of employment since the 1980s. They represent 15.7% of total employment, down from 17.2% a year ago. The share hasn’t been this small since June 1982. That was also right around the last inflation crisis Canada faced.

Public Sector Employment Hits The Largest Share Of Employment Since 1992

Canada has been leaning on public employees to help pad its employment numbers. There were 4.15 million public sector employees in October, up 5.7% from last year. Annual growth advanced a point faster than general employment. This helped the sector to hit a new record high.

Public sector employment has captured its largest share of employment in three decades. It now makes up 21.8% of all people employed in the country as of October, the highest share since 1992. Canada’s public sector essentially hired two people for every self-employed person lost…read more.

Canadian Share Of Employment

The share of self-employed and public sector employees, as a percentage of total employment in Canada.

El Salvador announces plans for a Bitcoin City

El Salvador will build a Bitcoin City powered by geothermal energy from a nearby volcano, President Nayib Bukele said (not on SNL) this weekend.

The city will be circular in shape to resemble a bitcoin, and residents will encounter tributes to the crypto in the city’s museums, shops, restaurants, and even the local soccer team, the Bitcoin City Shiba Inus.

Here’s where it gets interesting. The government will help finance Bitcoin City by issuing $1 billion in sovereign bonds backed by bitcoin, with half of the proceeds going to infrastructure and the other half going toward (what else?) buying more bitcoin.

Blockstream, the crypto company that developed the bond, predicts the price of bitcoin will go to $1 million within five years, giving the bond an annual yield of 146% in a decade.
Bitcoin City would be another high-profile move into the crypto space by El Salvador. The Central American country already became the first to make bitcoin legal tender in September…read more.