Friday Catch-Up

Some quick thoughts on some loose ends as the work week draws to a close...

Rebranding Canada? - In yesterday's post, I mused about the possible reasons that there was an increased engagement regarding Remembrance Day. John Ivison in today's Post reflects on the new Citizenship Guide released by Immigration Minister Jason Kenney yesterday, which includes a more robust version of Canadian citizenship. Ivison suggests that this is part of the Conservatives "having a creeping victory in the brand war" rebranding Canada to be a conservative country, with the hope that it will reap electoral rewards. I don't doubt that partisan interests are at play but I suspect the reason the Conservatives are pursuing the promotion of these values is that they truly believe in them -- not just that they want to be reelected.

Ignatieff Starting Over - So the Liberal leader is cleaning house in his office, and basically starting over with a new team. Some critics will use this to say "if he can't hire right when he becomes leader, then is really ready to be Prime Minister." Others will give him credit for recognizing that things were not going well and having the courage to fire even long-time loyalists and hire experienced pros. Ignatieff is hardly the first leader to have substantially changed their teams when things were not going well. In the long run, if the new team performs well the downsides of this move will quickly be forgotten.

Airlines Customer Service? - I purchase in 75-100 airline tickets a year and try to be thrifty in the process. Hence, price, schedule convenience, airport (I prefer the small ones like Hamilton and Abbotsford to the Pearson and Vancouver alternatives) and (if all of the above are equal) friendliness of staff and in-air entertainment (I like live satellite TV as watching live news and sports becomes an option) are the deciding factors. I notice this morning that Air Canada is going to add a fee to the emergency exit and bulkhead rows. Although the criteria above has led to Air Canada already being my less preferred carrier (they used to be chosen for at least half of my flights, now it ends up being less than a third), this new twist is hardly going to help them win my business. I manage to get an emergency row seat more than 2/3 of my flights at no extra cost -- very unlikely to pay more to an airline I like less to get what I already got. Hint to the analyst who is charged with evaluating the success of this feature in six months - be sure to factor in the reduced general ticket revenue and market share factors as an offset to the "new found" revenue of extra seat premiums.