C M Y K PAGE B7

BUSINESSEDITOR: SHANE MINKIN 204-697-7308 business@freepress.mb.ca I MARKET DETAILS B8 I winnipegfreepress.com

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2013

B7

JORDAN Vedoya still needs acouple of credits to graduate fromthe Asper School of Business, but

he can already lay claim to being abusiness trailblazer — he’s openedthe first storefront e-cigarette shopin Winnipeg.Fat Panda Vape Shop opened on

Notre Dame Avenue about a week be-fore Christmas.The articu-

late, soft-spokenVedoya tookplenty of timeexplaining theproduct to aregular streamof customerscoming throughhis shop oneafternoon afterChristmas.“I’m passion-

ate about theproduct,” Ve-doya said. “Istarted using it in September and itchanged my life so drastically I want-ed to share it with others.”E-cigarettes have been on the mar-

ket for about five years but becausethe products exist in a grey marketarea when it comes to Health Can-ada’s seal of approval, retailers haveto be coy. Vedoya said he is not ableto sell it as a smoking cessation de-vice.“Smoking is popular,” he said. “The

product speaks for itself. If you areable to switch from smoking to this,then good for you.”Fat Panda sells re-chargeable units

that vaporize a food-grade vegetableglycerin and propylene glycol mix-ture. The mixtures come in a sur-prising range of flavors from SmoothCanadian Tobacco to Grandma’sApple Pie.The vaporizers cost between $25

and $120.Vedoya said he wasn’t planning to

open until the new year when moreof his stock was scheduled to arrive,

but when he was testing the signagepeople started coming in, so he’s upand running and doing good busi-ness.“I’m selling out of my supply pretty

quickly,” he said.The North American market is al-

ready very large with established

suppliers and a booming online trade.Vedoya said he knows of others whoare about to open shops in Winnipeg.His store has a bare-bones elegance

to it, with low lighting and a collectionof easy chairs and bar stools at a wallledge with a wide-screen televisionand hot coffee for the customers.

“We wanted to make sure we lookedprofessional. We didn’t want to turn itinto a head shop,” Vedoya said. “Wewant to make it a comfortable hang-out with a lounge feel to it.”Jessie, a 49-year-old bus driver, was

in the shop with his girlfriend. She’s abig fan of the product and is happy to

have a comfortable spot in Winnipegto re-stock her supply of juice.“I smoked for 40 years and tried

all sorts of things to stop,” she said.“Since I started using e-cigs I havenot had a real cigarette for 37 days.”

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca

Student opens city’s first e-cig shopFalls in grey areaunder health rules

By Martin Cash

NO matter what angle you takeor how hard you look — andbelieve us, we’ve been looking

hard — the economic performance ofManitoba in 2013looked gener-ally the same as itdoes most years.A survey of the

bank and institu-tional forecast-ers has taggedManitoba’s GDPgrowth rate at 2.6per cent for 2012,1.9 per cent for2013 and 2.2 percent in 2014, effectively mirroring theCanadian national experience.The big picture didn’t change much

in 2013 for the same reason as always— economic diversity. But it’s withinthat mix where the good stories arecooked up.

Not a national player... Until it is —The big national telcos were at warwith the federal government all yearand MTS once again seemed on theverge of being swallowed by one of theBig Three. A much-debated change inforeign ownership regulations madeMTS’s national business fibre-opticsnetwork, Allstream, eligible for aforeign capital infusion — a mechan-ism the company believed would bethe saviour for the underperformingdivision. Accelero, a very successfulgroup led by Egyptian nationals, cameforward in an orderly way to buy All-stream. The vetting process took placewith no clue from anyone the Ottawasecurity apparatus had any problemuntil the very last minute, when theyspiked the deal. It threw Canada’sreputation as a place that is friendly toforeign investment into question andhas put MTS back on its heels to comeup with plan B for Allstream.

What do you mean there’s no water?As a concept, CentrePort has beenmarketed as having the potential to bethe city’s most important developmentin a generation. The concept includesactual greenfield development, whichmeans water and sewer service will

eventually be required. That meansunderground water pipes and anactual supply of water. A $212-mil-lion highway was finished this year,political leadership as high up as theprime minister himself was on board,all that’s needed now is... water? Howhard can that be? Very hard, it turnsout. Legal issues with the city’s legacywater supply cropped up just whenanchor tenants (a Facebook serverfarm?) started to show interest. Anew water-delivery scheme is nowin the works and the current genera-tion is counting on increasing longerlife expectancy so they will be ableto experience CentrePort’s impact onthe economy.

They’re giving it away. For a longtime now, the development of a func-tioning high-tech sector has been agoal for the province’s big pictureeconomic planners. And some realheadway has been made with develop-

ment of world-class medical devicesand medical therapeutic technology.But this year IMRIS and DiaMedicaleft town and Monteris and IntelligentHospital Systems were forced to movesome of the production assets out ofprovince. However, in an inspiredmove, the University of Manitoba in-stituted a new policy allowing privatesector entities to use technologies de-veloped by the university with no feesor strings attached until they becomepart of commercialized offerings. Itcould be a game-changer.

Meet the new boss.... In a rareinstance of minority shareholderssuccessfully ousting management theybelieved had lost sight of sharehold-ers interests, Manitoba tribal councilsfired Allan McLeod, CEO of Tribal

Councils Investment Group this year.They might have waited just a littletoo long to pull the trigger. It seemsdespite the awards and goodwill TCIGhad garnered, several of the businessunits were ailing and the bank lenderwas already getting antsy. So now,months after the palace coup, there’sstill no CEO in place, two of the unitshave been closed and an 11th-hourre-financing has apparently fallenthrough. The news early in 2014 willbe either the arrival of a saviour ortotal liquidation for TCIG.

Explorer discovers New Flyer —New Flyer Industries had the kindof year that solidifies a company’sposition in the competitive landscapefor years to come. In January, itclosed a $116-million strategic invest-

ment with Brazilian bus company,Marcopolo S.A., for 20 per cent ofthe company. That was followed bythe purchase of the parts businessof shuttered competitor, Orion, fromDaimler Buses North America andthe all-out acquisition of another com-petitor, North American Bus Indus-tries. It’s already working on an all-electric prototype and will soon startintroducing a smaller, medium-sizedtransit bus for the North Americanmarket in partnership with a Britishfirm. Meanwhile, aging bus fleets areforcing cities across North Americaback into the market and New Flyer’sred rockets are looking better thanever.

ContinuedPlease see REVIEW B10

2013Yearinreview

BUSINESS

Fascinating stories lie behind the big picture

MARTINCASH

JOHN WOODS / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES

Prime Minister Stephen Harper (right), Premier Greg Selinger and Diane Gray, CentrePort’s president and CEO, opened the firstsection of the new CentrePort Canada Way expressway in November.

Ex-TCIG CEO Allan McLeod

JOE BRYKSA / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS

Jordan Vedoya said demand prompted him to open Fat Panda Vape Shop early. The store has easy chairs, a wide-screen TV and coffee for customers.

‘I startedusing it inSeptemberand it changedmy life sodrasticallyI wanted toshare it withothers’

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