Subway dumps its Sub Club stamp-collection promotional vehicle

Subway Ends Free-Sandwich Promotion: “The Subway restaurant chain is ending its decades-old free sandwich promotion, company officials said Thursday, amid concerns that counterfeiters were creating and selling copies of the restaurant’s proof-of-purchase stamps and cards. Under the Sub Club promotion, which had run in some form since the 1980s, customers received a stamp for every six-inch sandwich they bought. A full card of eight stamps could be redeemed for a free sandwich.”

So, AP reporter Matt Apuzzo writes that Subway, the franchisee-operated sandwich chain owned by New York-based Doctor’s Associates, Inc., has decided to phase out its Sub Club promotional campaign whereby sandwich buyers who purchase a six-inch sub get one stamp, or two stamps for a foot-long sub, are rewarded with a free six-inch sub for every eight stamps collected. It’s a smart move because I find it increasingly difficult to get the stamps to stick on the cards with which store personnel provide you and it’s very easy to lose a stamp, forcing you to wait even longer before “cashing in” on a free sub.

The report goes on to say that that, “the promotion will be phased out companywide by Oct. 1.” Company spokesperson Kevin Kane was quoted as saying, “… the company had been considering whether the promotion was outdated for some time.”

I’m encouraged that Subway, where I occasionally order a foot-long veggie sub sans any cheese, is considering a new promotional vehicle to replace the decades-old Sub Club departing October 1st, 2005. People who know me will know I’ve always said a free, plastic Subway membership card with the person’s name, membership number, and date of membership on the front, with a “swipeable” magnetic strip on the back, would be a much more effective way of offering free subs. The customer would scan their card upon purchase of a sub, receive one credit for a six-inch sub and then for every six or eight credits, the customer is automatically given a free six-inch sub. This would also serve as a very valuable, and not to mention profitable, marketing tool as Subway would have the address, phone number, and potentially e-mail address of its massive clientele. It could then bring in partners to its Subway membership program and charge other retailers a flat-fee or fee-plus-commission for the right to entice people to buy at their stores and earn Subway credits faster. This is similar to Alliance Data Systems subsidiary The Loyalty Group’s AIR MILES program or ACE Aviation Holdings’ Aeroplan, which reportedly pulled in more than $20 million in net income on several hundred million in revenue last year.

So, here’s to hoping that’s what Subway executives decide to do.

A look at a possible new Campbell cabinet

With B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell’s humbling win of a second consecutive term in government in the province in more than 22 years, albeit with a much-reduced 45 seats instead of the landslide 77 of 79 scored in 2001, it is easy to be hungry for his announcement of a new cabinet. Let’s take a look at what I view as a possibility, taking in to account regional, gender, and ethnic balance as well as skill and education.

His most high profile loss was that of Graham Bruce in Cowichan-Ladysmith on Vancouver Island. Bruce served as the controversial, labour union-busting Minister of Skills Development and Labour since 2001, and in 2004, added the additional duty of Government House Leader in the provincial legislature. Indeed, if Campbell’s strategy to move to the political centre is to be believed, as prognosticated by political pundits considering the resurgence of a centrist, rebranded B.C. NDP, then Campbell will look to a more moderate, affable minister for this portfolio. One such candidate is George Abbott, currently MLA for Shuswap and Minister of Sustainable Resource Management.

Next up, in Saanich South, is the defeat of Susan Brice as Minister of Human Resources, the ministry responsible for provincial social programs including subsidized transit passes and income assistance. Potentially, star candidate Olga Ilich, of Richmond Centre, could enter cabinet in this portfolio. She has a variety of public and private sector experience, including serving as president of a major real estate development company and has sat on various boards and committees, including a stint as Board Chair of B.C. Assessment Authority and as a director and president of the Pacific region of the Urban Development Institute. This could give her the public sector management experience to manage a tough portfolio such as this.

Long-rumoured Chilliwack-Kent MLA Barry Penner could finally enter cabinet as Government House Leader and Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food (note the likely change in Ministry name from Agriculture, Food, and Fisheries), allowing Abbotsford-Clayburn MLA John van Dongen to shift from the agriculture portfolio to say, Sustainable Resource Management. He’s believed to be wanting a new challenge, serving in the same job for four years. As for Penner, he’s proven himself as a highly knowledgeable, well-educated, and to be both a political and legislative workhorse - serving as the government’s Parliamentary Secretary to the Government House Leader since January 2004. As well, Chilliwack is known for farming so that seems fitting to give him the agriculture job, too.

Newly-minted Vancouver-Fraserview MLA, and former activist justice on the B.C. Court of Appeal, Wally Oppal is a natural fit for Attorney General and Minister Responsible for Treaty Negotiations. Expect to see him in this portfolio - hands down.

I see star candidate Carole Taylor, former Board Chair of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, wanting an economic-type role instead of a fuzzy arts one given her past business experience starting a successful company. She could become Minister of Small Business and Economic Development, dumping Chilliwack-area MLA John Les from cabinet.

Expect Islanders Stan Hagen (Comox Valley), Murray Coell (Saanich North and the Islands), and Ida Chong (Oak Bay-Gordon Head) to remain in their respective jobs of Children and Family Development, which needs stability; Community, Aboriginal, and Women’s Services; and Advanced Education, where she has proven herself highly competent. They’re the three surviving Liberal MLAs on Vancouver Island where the NDP just dominated elsewhere on the Island - and they should all expect to return to the Executive Council of the Government of B.C.

Prince George-Mount Robson MLA Shirley Bond, currently Deputy Premier and Minister of Health Services who previously served as Minister of Advanced Education prior to a 2004 cabinet shuffle, is said to “very much want out” of the always tough health portfolio. Given her experience, I see the likeliest scenario unfolding: she’ll retain the ceremonial-only post of Deputy Premier and then perform a job swap with rising star Okanagan-Vernon MLA Tom Christensen, who would take over as Health Services Minister and Bond would get the job of Education Minister.

I see no changes in Finance, which also manages Public Affairs Bureau; Energy and Mines; Forests; Public Safety and Solicitor General; Transportation; or Water, Land, and Air Protection, where affable, chummy Penticton-Okanagan Valley MLA Bill Barisoff has seemingly done a decent job, although it’s possible Campbell may revert to the ministry’s old title - Environment, in an effort to adopt a more centrist approach and thwart one of the B.C. NDP’s main campaign promises.

With the loss of cabinet minister Joyce Murray in New Westminster, it’s possible Liberal warhorse Rick Thorpe, Okanagan-Westside MLA, could jump from Provincial Revenue to Management Services. He’s a former principle in an Okanagan vineyard and is a certified management accountant. Given he privatized all non-tax revenue collection and accounts receivable management to EDS Advanced Solutions Inc. last year, Provincial Revenue is a very small portfolio now. Management Services is an important ministry that oversees Enquiry BC and its e-mail and telephone call centres that handle government service calls from people, is responsible for Government Agent offices, manages the government’s Web site, and is responsible for the independent, provincial Ombudsman, Information and Privacy Commissioner, and Merit Commissioner - among other duties. West Vancouver-Capilano MLA Ralph Sultan may finally be in line for a financial-related portfolio and slide in as Minister of Provincial Revenue. He’s often called the most over-qualified MLA in the Campbell caucus having served as a senior economist at the Royal Bank of Canada at company headquarters in Toronto, Ontario.

A couple junior-type Minister of State positions will likely be eliminated now that Campbell has a greatly-reduced size of caucus. He still has lots of hopes and dreams of MLAs to fill so don’t expect a much smaller cabinet. Here’s how the ministers of state could shape up.

Richmond East MLA Linda Reid is likely to remain Minister of State for Early Childhood Development.

Peace River South MLA Blair Lekstrom could wind up as Minister of State for Forestry Operations, with the loss of Skeena MLA Roger Harris.

The position of Minister of State for Mining is the most likely candidate for elimination, given the Energy and Mines ministry can easily take over what relevant duties this small portfolio had. This would mean Pat Bell could be dropped from cabinet and it’d be very nice to see. He’s been a political deadweight, never speaks up, and the only time he did speak his mind was when sister Kit Bell sought the B.C. Liberal Party nomination in Kelowna-Lake Country - which she lost to Al Horning, who went on to win the riding and I don’t expect to see in cabinet given the high number of MLAs in cabinet from the Okanagan region.

Surrey-Tynehead MLA Dave Hayer could go into the government of B.C.’s executive council as Minister of State for Immigration and Multicultural Services, assuming this junior position is not the second one I see eliminated.

In an effort to solidify the Liberals’ drastically waning support in Surrey having lost numerous MLAs in the area, Surrey-White Rock MLA Gordon Hogg could back into cabinet in a much more low-profile, albeit similar, post than his previous Children and Family Development portfolio where he was forced to step aside during a jobs-for-favours bribery scandal involving Community Living B.C. for which his Ministry was responsible. He was never charged, but used-car dealer Doug Walls, the former CEO of Community Living, has been and is awaiting trial - unless new developments have arisen with which I am not aware. So, you could see Mr. Hogg wind up as Minister of State for Mental Health and Addiction Services, a relevant portfolio for him and his riding given both his experience and the drug and crime problems facing the Surrey region. He managed to build up his reputation after the January 2004 cabinet shuffle and served most recently as a highly popular Chair of the B.C. Liberal caucus.

Kamloops MLA Claude Richmond wants a cabinet job and the very partisan Speaker of the Legislative Assembly is likely to be granted that request. He could go in as Minister of State for Intergovernmental Relations, an important albeit small role but one he’ll have to take given the top jobs will likely already be filled. This would bump three-term, eight-year Kelowna-Mission MLA Sindi Hawkins out of cabinet with no real positions unless Campbell creates a new one for her. That’s unlikely, given he wants to reduce the size of his cabinet, not boost. So, I see three scenarios, beginning with the least likely. She’s made Minister of the Crown without Portfolio (essentially, be in cabinet with no job function but able to maintain the benefits and extra pay that cabinet ministers get); dropped from cabinet (at least temporarily) and made Chair of the Legislative Assembly’s most prominent standing committee; or, most likely, made Deputy Speaker and Chair of Committees of the Whole or possibly even Speaker. She’s well liked and respected by all parties and could fit into either of those roles nicely.

Potentially, Delta South MLA Val Roddick could be destined for executive council as Minister of State for Women’s and Seniors Services and Bulkley Valley-Stikine MLA Dennis MacKay’s narrow win over the NDP could make him Minister of State for Resort Development.

We’ll have to wait and see. I’ll keep you posted on June 16th when Campbell announces his new team. Stay tuned.

Ask Jeeves buys Excite Europe

Tiscali: Sale of Excite to Ask Jeeves: “Tiscali announces the sale of Excite Italia BV to Ask Jeeves Inc. for a total cash consideration of EUR 6.1 millions. The divesture of Excite Italia BV, which owns the Excite brand in key European countries, ratifies Tiscali’s focus of its portal activities under the Tiscali brand and represents another step of the announced strategy of disposing of non-core assets.”

So, the Butler has made another buy, albeit a small one. It bought blog aggregation, creation, and news reading service Bloglines in February for an undisclosed amount and last year purchased Interactive Search Holdings, Inc., for $365 million in cash and stock. However, this deal, at a purchase price of approximately $7.8 million USD in cash, seems to be a bargain given that it includes the trademarks, domain names, and Web portals for Excite in the United Kingdom, Spain, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, and France. It makes sense - since Jeeves already owns Excite, not to mention, iWon, MyWay, MyWebSearch, and adware purveyor Fun Web Products.

Interestingly, it comes just a couple months before IAC/InterActiveCorp completes its purchase and integration of Ask Jeeves, Inc., while spinning off Expedia, Inc., into a separate publicly-traded business.

On Belinda Stronach’s move to the Liberal caucus

At first glance, it is very easy to consider the decision by Belinda Stronach, MP for the Ontario riding of Newmarket-Aurora, as unprincipled and hypocritical - and that’s the tact the federal Conservative caucus wants us to take. However, after taking a moment to reflect on this historic and dramatic bolt from Conservatives to the Liberal caucus, one begins to realize that she was very unhappy in caucus and in the party.

To be sure, critics of the bold departure of Stronach to the Liberals ask why she bothered to engineer the merger of the former Progressive Conservative and Canadian Alliance parties in the fall of 2003 and subsequent run for its leadership in early spring of 2004 if she had no intention of staying there for very long. Both points are valid; however, consider that the party still, over a year and a half since the merger, does not resemble that of the old Progressive Conservative Party of Canada.

Let’s be clear: it does not support marriage by couples of the same gender; waffles on whether or not it would use the Canadian constitution’s notwithstanding clause to overturn judges decisions in nine provinces and territories that guaranteed the fundamental right of equality for all citizens regardless of different character or mental traits; believes in unusually harsh U.S. style mandatory minimum sentencing; would press for a sharply curtailed National Parole Board; wants to see a return to the wrong-headed U.S.-like “war on drugs” campaign instead of a so-called four-pillars approach; and supports an increased reliance on oil, among other things. These are policies the vast majority of Canadians, including those in crucial central Canada do not, and will not, support.

Ms. Stronach differs from her party on many of those issues mentioned above, including same-gendered marriage. She’s quite socially-progressive. She may be a so-called “blue Tory” when it comes to sound economic policy and tight fiscal management, but I don’t believe that prohibits her from the Liberal Party of Canada. Prime Minister Martin shares those ideals, in fact.

Are people really so shallow that they seek to see her as a “turncoat”, a traitor, or someone without morals and ethics? I choose to take what she said at face value and strongly believe she’ll fit much better in the Liberal caucus. Besides, it’s not like she has much of a chance for the leadership of the Liberal party considering that shallow view of her that quite a few, although I’m confident not most, Canadians share. Because of this, it’s even more abundantly clear she didn’t make the switch because of “leadership ambitions” as the television media and its pundits are quick to “analyze” and ponder.

I am absolutely thrilled she has made this move and I’m not even a member of any federal or provincial political party, not just because it brings stability to the Parliament of Canada and the government but for her own personal and professional happiness where she should be much more content.

Moreover, because of that unhappiness and a feeling that she was out of place in the Conservative caucus, I believe she would have went to the Liberals to sit as a backbench MP with some sort of relatively insignificant parliamentary secretary role. However, I believe that it was probably Mr. Martin who made the offer of Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development and Minister Responsible for Democratic Renewal, not the suggestion that she sought and demanded a cabinet post.

As a footnote on the riding of Newmarket-Aurora, it is not likely she will lose the Toronto-area riding given its electoral history. In the 2004 general election as arguably the most high-profile Conservative candidate, she beat Liberal challenger Martha Hall-Findlay by only 711 votes, according to Elections Canada official voting results. So, given her already-high prominence and the riding’s electoral voting pattern, it is very likely she stands a better chance of winning now as a Liberal than as a Conservative where Hall-Findlay, who has a agreed to step down as the Newmarket-Aurora Liberal candidate of record, could’ve knocked her off in the next election - which would’ve been equally embarrassing for the Conservatives.

Pettigrew tapped as possible Secretary General to the Organization of American States

Prime minister discourages Pettigrew from mulling OAS chair as election looms: “OTTAWA (CP) - Paul Martin tried to talk Pierre Pettigrew out of any notion of leaving politics to become head of the Organization of American States after the foreign affairs minister recently emerged as a candidate. Sources told The Canadian Press the prime minister made it clear to Pettigrew during a weekend conversation that his departure would be misconstrued as unhappiness with the federal Liberals on the eve of a possible election.”

Apparently, Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew is being courted to run for the position of Secretary General in charge of the day-to-day operations of the Organization of American States after the two candidates, Chile’s Interior Minister Jose Insulza and Mexico’s Foreign Affairs Secretary Luis Derbez, continuously got 17 votes a piece from the 34-member state OAS. This is after five rounds of voting. Interestingly, Pettigrew has been campaigning for Mexico’s Derbez and Derbez is the choice of the Government of Canada, according to Pettigrew spokesperson Sebastien Theberge. “Clearly, what matters at this time and I want to emphasize it, is that Canada maintains its support for the Mexican candidate, Luis Ernesto Derbez,” Theberge said.

Melanie Gruer, Press Secretary to Prime Minister Paul Martin, had this to say: “They (Pettigrew and Martin) have discussed the impasse at the OAS (and) they’ve talked about the rumours of other candidates being brought forward as a kind of consensus measure.” So even though the Office of the Prime Minister has discouraged Pettigrew from running for the illustrious international diplomatic role, it’s still possible he could take the job should the next OAS vote on May 2nd in Washington, DC, produce yet-another-stalemate. Plus, Pettigrew speaks fluent Spanish and has indicated he hopes to be involved with an international organization following his political career.

It’ll be interesting to see what happens on this front, in terms of whether or not Mr. Pettigrew seeks the job and resigns his seat (and cabinet position) in the House of Commons and Government of Canada. It is my position that he is a remarkably intelligent, well spoken individual with a solid moral grounding and left-of-centre political ideology and he would be well placed in a position of this nature. He should take it, as Prime Minister Martin likes to be his own Foreign Affairs Minister these days having trumpeted the recently released, revised Canadian international policy statement and other government views on issues such as the Asian earthquake and tsunami disaster in December 2004. Martin should, therefore, tap a junior cabinet person, of similar ideology to Pettigrew, for the foreign affairs portfolio should Pettigrew leave. Someone like International Cooperation Minister Aileen Carroll or Veterans Affairs Minister Albina Guarnieri, who previously served as Associate Minister of National Defence in a previous Martin cabinet and has the experience necessary. Assuming the Guarnieri scenario, Parliamentary Secretary (Foreign Affairs) Dan McTeague could be elevated to cabinet, assuming the Veterans Affairs Minister position. A Liberal MP in an unsafe riding could be given the added “padding” by assuming McTeague’s parliamentary secretary duties for foreign affairs, in the event of a snap federal election at the result of a Conservative-backed motion of non-confidence in the House of Commons to bring down the government.

Del.icio.us nabs VC financing

Del.icio.us tastes funding | CNET News.com: “Web bookmarks manager Del.icio.us has drawn its first investors, selling a minority stake of the company to Union Square Ventures, Amazon.com and Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen, among others.”

This is an interesting development as it follows a flurry of other significant corporate development announcements from similar Internet e-commerce and services-based start-ups, such as Yahoo! acquiring Vancouver, BC-based Flickr owner Ludicorp Research & Development Ltd. for an amount reportedly in excess of $15 million, HP doling out undisclosed gobs of cash to take free photo-sharing and Internet photo finishing site Snapfish off the hands of mail-order photofilm processor District Photo Inc., or even United Online buying PhotoSite from, and signing a related technology licensing agreement with, Homestead Technologies Inc. for an estimated $12 million. While del.icio.us is a bare bones Web site operation that allows people to set up their own account to manage and “tag” bookmarks to, or Web resources for, other sites and the aforementioned buys of free photo-sharing sites are different business models at first glance, they’re all in the collective business of social-networking. That is, they allow people to create, share, or organize content and then gather around that content to “meet and greet” new people.

The deal, which also includes BV Capital and Internet entrepreneurial pioneers Esther Dyson and Tim O’Reilly taking small stakes in the Web resource and bookmark manager, is interesting on another, less intellectually-stimulating level. It adds yet another success story of how a one or two person team of young guys created an Internet start-up from an apartment, basement, dorm room, or garage and attracted the deep pockets of various venture capital firms to an already-growing list.

Also, of related note, one of the co-founders of Craiglist.org who was given a 25% stake in the company as compensation for his efforts sold that stake to Internet auction house and marketplace eBay Inc. in August of last year. Craigslist.org employed the same bare bones site design, basic principles of classified ad selling, and user retention practices that have it turned it into a lucrative money-making machine. Similarly, Internet search advertising seller Marchex, Inc., acquired southeast Asia-based Name Development Ltd. earlier this year for $160+ million in a cash-and-stock deal that saw Marchex buy its portfolio of 100,000 squatted domain names (ultimatesearch.com, as one example). Those 100,000+ sites use the same Web design and have entirely contextually-targeted and vertically-categorized search result advertising. It had a staff of less than five with rumoured annual revenues of $20 million and an 80 or 90% profit margin - meaning $16 to $18 million per year was pure bottom-line net income. Marchex, which until this deal had struggled with elusive profits, instantly become a profitable enterprise and now has a virtual license to print money and can subsidize its other unprofitable operations.

It remains to be seen whether del.icio.us can make money from this operation, but a look at lead investor Union Square Ventures’ current portfolio of investments offers an interesting insight. It is a major shareholder in privately-held Tacoda Systems, Inc., a start-up Internet advertising technology firm in the contextually-targeted ad market whose AudienceMatch product competes with Google AdSense. Is a deal with Tacoda to place contextually-targeted ads on its site in the cards? If past, similar deals and my own intuition are indications, I would say: “Yes, indeed.”

"What the hell!? You’re too big!"

Emperor penguins look up at a giant imposter at Tokyo’s Ueno Zoo, Japan. Zoo director Teruyuki Komiya dressed up for a stint in the penguin enclosure for the annual April Fool event to display a human being at the zoo. (AFP/Yoshikazu Tsuno)

IAC proposes to Ask Jeeves for $1.8 billion in all-stock marriage

IAC/InterActiveCorp announced on Monday it has proposed to Ask Jeeves, Inc., in an estimated $1.85 billion all-stock deal, less the cash and equivalents Jeeves has in its bank accounts, to which Ask Jeeves replied that it has accepted the marriage proposal.

The two companies’ boards of directors have approved the deal that would see Ask Jeeves shareholders receive 1.2668 IAC shares for each Ask Jeeves share they hold. Apparently, Barry Diller, who is Chair and Chief Executive Officer of IAC, had wanted to pay mostly cash but Steve Berkowitz preferred the all-stock deal so its employees could cash in the future fortunes of publicly-traded IAC - whenever the common stock of IAC decides to tick upwards, that is. And, Berkowitz, who is President and CEO of Ask Jeeves, openly admitted it in articles circulating on various online news Web sites.

IAC said its statement that it expects the transaction to close near the end of its fiscal second quarter or into the third quarter prior to the spin-off of the IAC Travel business, a collection of travel related Web properties that will be spun-off as a separate publicly-traded company under the Expedia moniker and owned by IAC shareholders. As well, it expects Jeeves, which will operate as an independent, wholly-owned subsidiary of IAC, to be accretive to 2005 earnings.

So, a look at what both companies own:

Ask Jeeves owns its flagship Ask.com and Ask.co.uk search Web sites, algorithmic search engine technology Teoma, AJkids, and Bloglines, a blog aggregation and self-publishing service it bought earlier this year for an undisclosed sum. It also owns the Excite, iWon, MySearch, MyWay, and MyWebSearch properties, MaxOnline online advertising network, and Fun Web Products adware purveyor that it collectively bought when it acquired Interactive Search Holdings Inc. in May 2004. Plus, it has a cool desktop search product that it developed since it bought the assets of privately-held Tukaroo Inc. in June 2004 and its personalized search and social networking-type site MyJeeves.

IAC is a huge Internet e-commerce, retailing, ticketing, and services business that owns a bunch of companies through its nine business lines. Some of which include CitySearch, Entertainment Publications, Evite, Home Shopping Network, LendingTree, newly-launched shopping comparison and gift idea Web site Gifts.com, social networking site Zero Degrees, Match.com, Udate.com, and Ticketmaster.

Update: Call Centre Clears Hurdle, Property Rezoned by Council

Call Centre Clears Hurdle: “At Monday’s regular (Kelowna) City Council meeting, Council approved the rezoning of a property on Leckie Place, a part of the old Western Star truck plant. The property was rezoned from heavy industrial to business industrial to allow for a call centre for a financial services company. The call centre could create as many as 400 jobs.”

This is according to Castanet.net news production staff. As well, an article in the print copy of Tuesday’s Daily Courier by newspaper staff said the company is SITEL, the Omaha, Nebraska-based operation that John Thomson’s Thomson Report rumoured was interested in the part of the property of the former Western Star Trucks plant, now owned by McIntosh Properties Ltd. — a company controlled and run by its President, Brad Bennett, who is a local businessman and the son of former B.C. Premier Bill Bennett.

I previously wrote about this story here, which contains links to the various companies’ Web sites.

Rezoning application for Kelowna, BC-based call centre

Rezoning For Call Centre: “City council will be looking at a rezoning application Monday afternoon that could create 400 jobs in Kelowna.”

Kelowna, B.C., could be getting its third major call centre if a rezoning application is approved by the Council of the City of Kelowna, according to Castanet.net news producer Ray Turner. It already has the endorsement of the City’s various departments, including Planning and Corporate Services Department, as well as Development Services. The Council’s city resident dominated Advisory Planning Commission has also recommended rezoning a portion of the former Western Star Trucks land on Leckie Place off Enterprise Way from I3 (Heavy Industrial) to I1 (Business–Industrial).

In an earlier report on Castanet.net, by columnist John Thomson in his widely-read Thomson Report, rumoured Omaha, Nebraska-based SITEL as the company eyeing part of the old plant as a new call centre that would employ between 250 and 400 people that would provide outsourced in-bound customer care services for the U.S. financial services industry. The Central Okanagan Economic Development Commission has reportedly been working aggressively to land another in-bound call centre, which are preferred by cities over telemarketing-style outbound centres, after enticing Teleperformance USA affiliate Marusa Marketing, Inc., to open up down Enterprise Way on Hardy St.

Marusa is currently in the midst of its second round of hiring for its centre, which is already operating, that handles customer calls for Sprint Corporation in the U.S. It expects that eventually, presumably in a few years, it will employ 1,000 people — or approximately 1% of Kelowna’s 100,000+ population, making it the City’s largest employer. In addition, Canada is the second fastest-growing destination for call centre operators after India, according to reports.

While approval of the rezoning is widely expected, it remains to be seen if Thomson was accurate in reporting on a rumour he had received that SITEL is the company. He’s had a number of journalistic (not to mention spelling and grammar) missteps in the past.