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BUSINESSBCFRIDAY, MARCH 28 | 2014 | 604.605.2520 | SUNBUSINESS@VANCOUVERSUN.COM
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Microsoft unveils
▶Office for iPad
Microsoft Corp. chief executive Satya
Nadella says he will “hold
nothing back” in getting
the company’s programs
across all devices, in a
clear departure from the
software maker’s long-
time focus on its Windows
operating system. At his
first public speech since tak-
ing the CEO job last month, Nadella
unveiled Office software for Apple Inc.’s
iPad and said Microsoft’s goal was for
subscribers to its Office 365 service to
be able to use the programs on any
gadget — even if it leads to reduced
sales of Windows-based personal com-
puters or other products. He also rolled
out technology to enable developers
to create what he called a “cloud for
everyone on every device.”
Japanese airline
▶orders 70 jets
ANA is ordering 70 aircraft with a list price
of $19 billion US from Boeing Co. and
Airbus — the largest order in the Japanese
carrier’s history. Thursday’s orders under-
line ANA’s ambition to become one of the
world’s leading airlines as well as
Japan’s tourism drive leading
up to the 2020 Tokyo Olym-
pics. The country hopes
to boost overseas visitors
to 20 million a year. Forty
of the new orders went
to Boeing. But Airbus said
its share shows it is making
inroads in an important market.
The Japanese government and manu-
facturers have historically had a close
relationship with Boeing, and Europe’s
Airbus did not score a major order with
ANA rival Japan Airlines until last year.
The jets, being delivered over 11 years
from 2016, will increase the ANA fleet to
250 aircraft.
Oliver to keep hands
▶off BMO rate cut
Finance Minister Joe Oliver says he
will keep a close eye on the Canadian
housing market after the Bank of
Montreal pulled back a key
mortgage rate to levels that
had left his predecessor
feeling uneasy. However,
in a scrum later in the day
with reporters, the finance
minister called the bank’s
move a private decision
and said he was not going to
intervene. Bank of Montreal moved late
Wednesday to lower its five-year fixed-
rate mortgage to 2.99 per cent, down
from 3.49 per cent.
Internet providers
▶get low grades
Canada’s Internet service providers are
being less than forthcoming about how
they handle customer information —
including whether they routinely give
personal data to spy agencies, says a
new report. The report by University of
Toronto researchers gives low marks to
all 20 providers ranked in 10
categories of transparency.
They looked at how much
information the com-
panies posted on their
websites about commit-
ment to federal privacy
law, how and when they
hand personal data to authori-
ties, where and how long information
is stored, and whether data is routed
through the United States. The average
grade was 1.5 out of 10, with carrier
TekSavvy getting the highest grade
of 3.5 points. The report comes amid
widespread concern about surveillance
by western agencies.
But age, new contracts give fans reason for skepticism » C8
STRUGGLING SEDINS
NOT GIVING UP
DERRICK PENNER
VANCOUVER SUN
For Vincent Roumeas, a busi-
ness development manager for the
Paris Region Economic Develop-
ment Agency, Vancouver’s Globe
conference is something of a hunt-
ing trip.
He is part of a French delega-
tion on the trade-show floor at
Globe 2014 looking to find Cana-
dian “clean-technology” firms
with innovative ideas interested in
exploring the French market.
“We have a lot of cities, like Paris,
that want to welcome French com-
panies for sure, but international
companies too, interested in test-
ing solutions,” Roumeas said, “like
(creating) a living laboratory inside
the city.
“The point today is to meet the
most Canadian companies possible
(and upon returning home), notify
in the Paris-region companies or
even universities or R&D labs to
see if any connections or partner-
ships are possible.”
Globe, the biannual conference
on sustainable development, is as
much about doing business as it is
about discussing bright ideas for
reducing the impact of industry on
the environment.
And a new twist for European
delegates, such as Roumeas, is the
prospect of Canada-Europe free
trade.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper
and European Commission Pres-
ident José Manuel Barroso, last
October, signed an agreement in
principal, which commits the two
sides to finalizing a full agreement
giving each other tariff-free access
to each others’ markets.
Roumeas said it is too soon to tell
how much of a draw EU free trade
will be because he is working on
developing immediate prospects
within the next 18 months, which
would be before any benefits from
free trade would kick in, if the deal
is concluded.
However, his colleague Jeremy
Bernard Orawiec, a trade adviser for
UbiFrance, does see the agreement
as an attraction for French firms
interested in the American market.
He added that the U.S. is viewed as
a tough market to crack, so Canada
is looked at as an easier-accessed
entry point to all of North America.
“It’s really positive to see Canada
able to make an agreement before
the U.S.,” Orawiec said. “It gives us
a time frame so (companies) can
come here and explore the whole
American market.”
The United Kingdom is definitely
bullish on the prospects for free
trade, with a Globe 2014 delega-
tion led by the country’s Minister
of State for Trade and Investment,
Lord Ian Livingston.
“We reckon CETA (the Canada
Europe Trade Agreement) should
be worth about $12 billion to Can-
ada,” Livingston said.
To that end, Livingston, on
Wednesday, signed a joint state-
ment with B.C. Minister of Inter-
national Trade Teresa Wat on
establishing a framework for trade
cooperation between the province
and the U.K. And in the spirit of
Globe, they did so via video confer-
ence with Livingston in Vancouver
and Wat in Victoria.
Livingston added that the so-
called clean-technology sector is
a big factor in the U.K. economy,
worth some £100 billion per year
that supports one million jobs, and
it has a lot to offer B.C. as it works
to achieve its environmental goals
related to developing its proposed
liquefied natural gas industry.
Livingston noted that the U.K.’s
BG Group, which is one of the
major proponents looking to
develop a project in B.C., has a lot
of expertise in the sector. And a
U.K. company is working on car-
bon-capture technology designed
to inject the carbon dioxide from a
natural-gas fired power plant into
old oil wells in the North Sea that
could also be of use here.
“Where it comes together with
(Globe 2014) is that increased
trade relations will help promote
sustainable products and ideas par-
ticularly as it relates to B.C.,” Liv-
ingston said. “That is why I came
to Vancouver for it.”
He added that free trade even
helps in terms of making it easier
for universities to work together
across continents and travel for
trade shows and conferences, such
as Globe.
“We’re scratching around on both
sides of the Atlantic for that extra
0.1-per-cent growth in GDP,” Liv-
ingston said. “(Free trade) is going
to put money in the economy on
both sides of the Atlantic.”
depenner@vancouversun.com
Twitter.com/derrickpenner
GLOBE 2014
JON BENJAMIN PHOTOGRAPHY
The trade show explores reducing industry’s impact on the environment.
The French delegation is looking to make connections with ‘clean technology’ firms. From left: Vincent Roumeas, business development manager
at the Paris Region Economic Development Agency; Jacob Simpson, project manager, international business development, Yveline Conseil General;
and Jeremy Bernard Orawiec, trade adviser, energy and environment, UbiFrance North America.
Euro delegates look
to trade in sustainability
Prospect of Canada-Europe free trade entices foreign businesses
» LULULEMON LOOKS FORWARD
| C3
» GLOBE 2014 COVERAGE | C2