Articles

Our second contest is officially over and completed! The three Medicine Hat News packages have been given out to the winners:

Trent Keays

Winner of the Medicine Hat News at work package. Trent on Twitter

Honda Canada Inc. received top honours from ALG as the winner of the “Mainstream Brand Residual Value Award” as part of ALG’s Canadian Residual Value Awards that honour vehicles that are predicted to retain the highest percentage of their original price after a conventional retail lease.

Honda was ranked the best overall brand out of 19 mainstream automotive brands in Canada. Acura, the luxury division of Honda Canada Inc., received a second-place award in the Luxury Brand Residual Value category, placing ahead of 11 other luxury brand competitors.

The awards are based on 2009 model year vehicles. The awards are derived after carefully studying segment competition, historical vehicle performance and industry trends, and are based on analysis using only Canada-specific data. ALG, based in Santa Barbara, California, provides data and consulting services to the automotive industry and publishes the “Automotive Lease Guide” in both Canada and the U.S.

Article submitted by Tony Zuback This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

You may be thinking about refinancing your mortgage. Mortgage rates are fairly low right now, so why not take advantage of them? But is that really a good idea? Let’s take a closer look at the why, how and when of mortgage refinancing.

Why refinance?

• Get a mortgage at a lower rate than your current mortgage.
• Reduce payments – restructuring your current mortgage and paying it off over a longer period can reduce your monthly cash flow obligations.
• Consolidate debt by increasing your mortgage – to obtain a lower interest rate than conventional loans or credit cards, lower overall monthly payments, and lengthen the repayment period (mortgages can be amortized up to 25 years).
• Improve cash flow – to make monthly payments or balance your budget.
• Equity take-out – that can be used for anything you wish, from renovations to purchasing a car or a second property.

All of this will then help you with other areas that need review, such as investing, insurance and establishing an emergency reserve.

Post by the Medicine Hat Meat Traders

On a recent trip to Edmonton to attend a convention sponsored by the Alberta Food Processors Association, a local company found gold. Medicine Hat Meat Traders took home 1st Place for the best Beef Jerky at the bi-annual meat convention. The top award was a great honor to the local company as it enters it’s fourth year of production. Specializing in natural local beef from local producers, MHMT combines great ingredients with professional knowledge to produce this award winning Jerky. At this event they also captured Bronze in all three sausage categories, as well as in two categories for cured hams. Having recently opened a store in the middle of Medicine Hat on Kingsway Avenue, they hope to share the fruits of their labors with old and new customers alike.

www.mhmt.ca

Post by the Medicine Hat Meat Traders

Medicine Hat Meat Traders is preparing for its own Olympian sized contest in Mid-March. They go for gold in several categories of meat production. Cured meats like back bacon, bone in hams, boneless hams and bacon have their own category. There is also a sausage division which includes large sausages like salami, small diameter casing sausage and also emulsions like wieners or bologna. They will also be competing in the Peoples Choice Jerky and Pepperoni contest.

This is all part of the Meat Industry Convention and Trade Show which is put on by the Alberta Food Processors Association. This is a great opportunity for butchers across Western Canada to get together and share resources. There are presentations involving the various parts of meat production. Many industry suppliers put on a trade show to showcase the latest in equipment, process controls, spices, and other butcher supplies. There is a banquet to recognize individuals who have contributed to the meat industry.

This is also the time where they award the meat contest winners which Medicine Hat Meat Traders hopes to be a part of. We are excited to hone our skills to do well in this contest, as well as increase the types and kinds of meat products we can offer our customers. Drop by the store on Kingsway Ave to sample some of our entries and see which is your favorite.

Link to AFPA: http://www.afpa.com/main.shtml

Link to Meat Industry Convention Info: http://www.afpa.com/opp/meatTS.shtml