Politics

Reputation risk: Is Delta Airlines the Mel Gibson of aviation?

June 24, 2011

Has Delta Airlines become the Mel Gibson of air travel?  As Riskczar.com reported recently, Delta Airlines took a reputation hit because it was charging US soldiers $200 for shelping their four piece of luggage when returning from the War on Terror. Now, they are coming off like anti-Semites. When Delta Airlines took over Northwest Airlines and their Detroit hub, they added Saudi Arabian Airlines to its SkyTeam Alliance of partner airlines. As a result of Saudi’s discriminatory policies, Delta will ban Jews and holders of Israeli passports from boarding flights to the Kingdom. After this story came out, Delta of course had…

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Managing the risk of risk management

April 6, 2011

An article by Jared Wade in Risk Management Magazine references the death of luger Nodar Kumaritashvili and includes an email from VANOC head John Furlong relating to the safety concerns about the luge track raised before the Vancouver Games. Furlong wrote: “…someone could get badly hurt… An athlete gets badly injured or worse, and I think the case could be made we were warned and did nothing. Our legal guys should review at least.” Furlong had the right approach to manage the related legal risk. But do we do risk management only to mitigate our potential legal risks or the…

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Pierre Curzi is an idiot

September 17, 2010

Sometimes I am puzzled. I look around and see lots of people who are all basically made from the same genetic material as me, yet why is it that some of my genetic cousins are insane? (I apologize for casting aspersions on all people with genuine mental health issues so let me cast my aspersion on Pierre Curzi specifically.) This fool, ce mangeur de hot-dogs and the Quebec opposition language critic, is trying to stir up the poutine by suggesting that the Government of Canada uses its control over the Montreal Canadiens Hockey Club to keep Francophone players off the…

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Stadium risk management

September 10, 2010

With news coming out of Quebec City that billionaires are trying to get the Government of Canada to foot the bill for a new area (one that might lure the Nordiques back and be part of a future Olympic bid), this week’s story in the New York Times is very timely. Ken Belson’s story describes how publically funded stadia rarely turn a profit and often leave the taxpayers footing the bill. What’s more, some stadia that have been demolished or no longer have a pro sports team and still carry debt.  For example, the Kingdome in Seattle was built in 1976, demolished…

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I’m not dead yet

September 10, 2010

This story in today’s Globe and Mail kills me. I guess it’s true what they say about death and taxes. If you were looking at the financial data from Toronto-based funeral company, Arbor, you might think that people were dropping dead left and right in Canada recently. Is swine flu claiming lives? Are Leaf fans finally jumping off the Bloor Viaduct realizing their team has no chance of making the playoffs let alone win a Stanley Cup (ever)? It seems the company reported a 242% increase in preneed funeral contacts. (Preneed is a funny term by the way sort of…

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G20 Friday – Eve of destruction

June 25, 2010

This is how most people and organizations predicted Friday would turn out: Eve of destruction. The expectation was that protests would build in Toronto throughout the work week and peak on Friday. To that end, most people planned on staying home today. Perhaps it’s quiet right now because everyone is watching the Portugal-Brazil match. (Even anarchists like the World Cup action.) On my way in today, the commuter train was about 1/3-full and less than yesterday. The weather was nice and the police seemed to outnumber the commuters walking up Bay Street. On the northwest corner of Front/Bay there were a…

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