Hicks on Biz: The smart-diaper the Canadian seniors’ health sector ignored BY GRAHAM HICKS, EDMONTON SUN FIRST POSTED: FRIDAY, JULY 31, 2015

FIRST POSTED: FRIDAY, JULY 31, 2015 02:01 PM MDT | UPDATED: FRIDAY, JULY 31, 2015 02:24 PM MDT Screen capture of Sensassure's "incontinence management solution" http://www.sensassure.com/ Article Change text size for the story Print this story Report an error Related Stories Hicks on Biz: Edmonton business quickly moving out of North America Hicks on Biz: Reason VS passion in business Hicks on Biz: TELUS fibre-optic Internet in Edmonton really is the second coming Canada guard Shona Thorburn rehabs in time for Pan Ams, ready for Olympic qualifier Hicks on Biz: You can’t blame Edmonton City Council for everything More needs to be done for abused seniors, says Alberta elders advocate It doesn’t mean anything to us now … but wait until you’re in an extended-care senior’s home, your diaper is sopping wet and one aide is attending to 40 clients with the same problem! One ... Read the rest of entry »

Hicks Weekly Dish: Taste of Edmonton simply 'awful' BY GRAHAM HICKS, EDMONTON SUN FIRST POSTED: TUESDAY, JULY 21, 2015

IRST POSTED: TUESDAY, JULY 21, 2015 11:08 AM MDT | UPDATED: TUESDAY, JULY 21, 2015 02:34 PM MDT Zinc's vegetable salad was the only healthy alternative Graham Hicks could find at Taste of Edmonton. (Graham Hicks photo) Article Change text size for the story Print this story Report an error Related Stories Hicks' Weekly Dish: Padmanadi a vegetarian's delight Hicks' Weekly Dish: Urbano Pizza offers high quality, healthy fare Hicks' Weekly Dish: The Cellar at Sofra a Turkish delight Hicks' Weekly Dish: NongBu Korean Eatery still needs work Hicks' Weekly Dish: Relish Gourmet Burgers top-notch HICKS: This spill is a disaster Taste of Edmonton Festival Sir Winston Churchill Square Through Saturday, July 25, 2015 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Cost per (small) dish: $2.50 to $6 What happened? For three years, this column has been praisingTaste of Edmonton’s food quality upgrades.  The giant outdo ... Read the rest of entry »

Hicks on Biz: Edmonton business quickly moving out of North America BY GRAHAM HICKS, EDMONTON SUN FIRST POSTED: FRIDAY, JULY 17, 2015

Toto, we’re not just in Alberta anymore. Metropolitan Edmonton’s medium-and-larger-sized companies are moving with breath-taking speed into markets outside continental North America. Figures tracked by the Edmonton Economic Development Corporation tell the story.   Excluding national gas/oil producers (but including energy sector service providers), 500 to 600 regionally-based companies are now actively selling products and services in China. Between 1,500 to 2,000 are selling in China and other countries outside Canada and the USA. We are right in the middle of “globalizing” the attitude and business practices of our small-to-medium-sized companies. About 10% of Edmonton’s smaller “export-compatible” companies are shipping containers off-shore by truck, train, boat and plane. Following the lead of Edmonton’s internationally active construction companies like PCL, Stantec and Clark Builders, service companies are sending consultants/projec ... Read the rest of entry »

Edmonton chiropractors and physiotherapists recommended by readers of my Facebook page

A week ago (July 10, 2015) on Facebook, I complained of back pain that had gone on since early April, and asked if anybody would recommend a good chiropractor.  Well the suggestions poured in.  In the interests of sharing information, here’s a list of chiropractors, physiotherapists and a few other suggestions that were recommended by those who read the Facebook post. Please do not consider this list to be any kind of endorsement from myself or Hicksbiz.com. It is merely a passing on of names of chiropractic doctors and physiotherapists as recommended by other Edmontonians from their own personal experience. This list will not be expanded. I don't want to it to become less credible through undetected manipulation.  Thanks to more visits with my physiotherapist Albert Chan at the Kinsmen Physiotherapy Clinic, and following his stretching instructions daily, I am relieved to find my own strained back is slowly beginning to heal. Chiropractors  - in alphabetical order by last name: ... Read the rest of entry »

Hicks' Weekly Dish: Share restaurant celebrates Chef O'Flynn's talents BY GRAHAM HICKS, EDMONTON SUN FIRST POSTED: TUESDAY, JULY 14, 2015

Share Restaurant, Westin Hotel 10135 100 St. 780-493-3636 thewestinedmonton.com/Edmonton-restaurant Mon. to Thurs. 6:30 a.m. to 10 a.m./ 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Fri. 6 a.m. to 10 a.m./ 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Sat. 7 a.m. to 11 a.m./5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Sun. 7 a.m. to 12 p.m./5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Food: 4.5 of 5 Suns Ambience: 3.5 of 5 Suns Service: 4 of 5 Suns Dinner for two excluding drinks and tip: basic, $80; loaded, $130 Graham Hicks 780 707 6379 graham.hicks@hicksbiz.com www.hicksbiz.com @hicksonsix Winning the 2015 Gold Medal Plates Canadian Culinary Championships was no fluke. Westin Edmonton Executive Chef Ryan O’Flynn may have catapulted to culinary fame — first by winning the regional Gold Medal Plates competition last fall, then beating far-better-known Toronto/Montreal/Vancouver chefs to take the national Gold Medal competition in Kelowna last February. But he was always, from the outset, an extraordinary culinary artist. The Westin Edmonton is ce ... Read the rest of entry »

Hicks on Biz: Be terrified ... and thrilled about Alberta's NDP government BY GRAHAM HICKS, EDMONTON SUN FIRST POSTED: FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015

Should Alberta business be terrified of this new all-orange New Democrat government? Or thrilled? Probably half and half. One thing is for sure. The day after the New Democrats pulled off Canada’s biggest political upset in the last decade – taking 54 of Alberta’s 87 provincial ridings - the business community was absolutely and utterly stunned. At every corporate executive and board meeting, at every Chamber of Commerce get-together, the same question was asked. “Does anybody know any of these people?” And the answer was 100% “nope, no idea who they are.” It’s terrifying that the reins of power and control of a $42 billion budget is being passed over to a bunch of school teachers and social workers who have never run anything besides community leagues, a few school boards and ND constituency organizations. It’s exhilarating that a huge breath of fresh air – a hurricane of fresh air – has blown out the accumulated cobweb ... Read the rest of entry »

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Start your kids on a life of artistic adventure: Take them to Cirque du Soleil's Varekai show at Rexall Place (Review by GRAHAM HICKS)

Cirque du Soleil's Varekai at the Edmonton Rexall Place arena Thursday, June 18, 2015 to Sunday, June 21, 2015 A review by GRAHAM HICKS There’s nothing quite like a Cirque du Soleil show. There really isn’t. Start with the notion of the old-fashioned circus – a series of animal, acrobatic and clowning acts, usually contracted, without any thematic connection other than the clowns  who create the bridges between acts. Drop the animals, create an overall theme – a story, a narrative, in which each “act”  is a component. Don’t contract circus performers – hire some 50 of the world’s best acrobats, trapeze artists directly, teach them how to act, teach them to be even better at their craft, and put them into one, big unified show. Don’t stop there. Make sure you have the best lighting and audio systems to be had, light and sound being just as important to the overall show as the people on stage.  Ditto for mega set-design, other-w ... Read the rest of entry »

Hicks on Biz: Dare to dream the Olympics BY GRAHAM HICKS, EDMONTON SUN FIRST POSTED: FRIDAY, APRIL 24, 2015

Of course there’s no provincial money … for now. But missing from this anything-can-happen provincial election is vision, looking ahead. Premier Jim Prentice, so preoccupied with cutting spending and raising revenue in the present, has not even hinted at a vision of what Canada’s richest province could become. When you’re up to your bum in alligators, it’s easy to forget you came to drain the swamp. It’s not only Conservatives: The New Democrats’ Rachel Notley, Wildrose leader Brian Jean, Liberal David Swann, Alberta Party’s Greg Clark … nobody is talking about what could be. Everybody forgets. It took dreams before the Commonwealth Games became a reality in 1978, before Universiad 1983, The Worlds in 2001. We dared to dream of an Edmonton Expo 2017, a dream rudely dashed when the financially-stressed feds decided not to participate. Everybody forgets. Huge dreams led to Calgary’s 1988 Olympics, Vancouver’s 2010 Olympics and ... Read the rest of entry »

Hicks' Weekly Dish: Continental Treat a classic BY GRAHAM HICKS, EDMONTON SUN FIRST POSTED: TUESDAY, APRIL 21, 2015

Continental Treat Fine Bistro Food: 3 1/2 Suns Ambience: 4 Suns Service: 3 1/2 Suns 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week Dinner for two, excluding drink and tip: Basic, $50; loaded, $90 It’s a style that never goes out of fashion. Red linen tablecloths, discreet gold-coloured walls, wood panelling, cloth napkins folded just right … even candles in wine bottles, melted wax frozen in time. Continental Treat Fine Bistro is a bit of an oddity, an old-world dining establishment that has basically just been there on the corner of Whyte and 106 Street for an astounding 33 years. It’s never been the talk of the town, never sought the limelight, just sat on that corner serving good (but pricey) Central European dishes with a touch of Polish, seven days a week, to a loyal clientele. Ryszardt and Helena Borowka and their son Sylvester have owned Continental Treat from the beginning. Elizabeth Palmowski has long run the kitchen. The Continental Treat has a dreamy, timel ... Read the rest of entry »