A Comment -- General Comments From an Expert (A Commentary)

New Visa IPO: - The MasterCard IPO has done very well. The appeal to these credit card companies is that they don't take any of the credit risks. Make most of their money on the transaction. She is a little nervous about IPOs because there is a little seasoning that goes on but it would be very dependent on what the price is and the market environment. There would be a drop in the value if there were a sharp drop in transactions.

Canadian Banks: - Yields are enormous and are above 10-year rates. Earnings power is going to slow down because of the economy and the de-leveraging of the balance sheets but they are still going to make money and they're still going to grow their earnings and bottom line. They'll also slowly increase dividends. They offer some tremendous value at this point but the technicals are lousy. Some verification that this is the bottom is needed.

Saskatchewan Oil Sands Development: - going through a delineation process of defining the field, core samples and assessing the resource. Long process and fairly expensive. They are far from infrastructure, which is important in the oil sands market. These are in situ leases, which are less profitable than the mining leases.

Canadian Banks: - You should feel comfortable owning these. No Canadian bank has cut its dividend in 25 years. You can now get yields of more than 5% in 3 of the big 6 banks with the others paying more than 4%. This gives you the dividend tax credit as well.

Canadian Banks: - Financial industry is in a great deal of turmoil. Subprimes, etc. take time to work through the system. It could be a year or longer. For longer-term holders, the dividends will be a very generous return. Most of the banks have a good capital base that the dividends should not be in jeopardy.

Silver: - Will trend higher over time like gold. The biggest use for silver is in its industrial applications. Most of the silver mined has been used up by industry. There isn't a big above ground stock that can be drawn on. For 16 years the mining industry has produced much less silver than what is being used. There is a huge deficit. The silver bullion held by governments is now all gone. There will come a time when there is no silver left above ground. And pullback in price will only be temporary.

Junior Golds: - Have absolutely lagged the seniors and the gold price. This is a usual trend. Seniors start to move first and then it trickles down to intermediates and then to juniors. This time around, it is even more pronounced. Investors in North America are scared silly and have become risk adverse. This is one of the greatest buying opportunities out there.

Market Weighting: - He has 15% to precious metals, 17%-18% energy, 7%-8% iron and steel and 15% agriculture. There are a lot of sectors that are not going to make it, so you have to be selective.

Banking Sector: - Has no Canadian banks and only one small holding of a US bank. You have to watch for the spread in corporate debt of treasury bonds in the US or Canada bonds in Canada. Spreads have continued to widen and investors are looking for an even larger premium to get paid to take the risk to put on the debt. When spreads are widening the market is telling you there are still increasing risks going forward.

Golds: - Likes golds and has taken a basket approach using 5 or 6 stocks. Some of these include Kinross (K-T), Goldcorp (G-T) and Yamana (YRI-T) as well as Barrick (ABX-T).

Precious metals: - His favourite commodities. He is very bullish on gold (his target is $1250) and silver (up to $30). He owns streetTracks Gold (GLD-N) and iShares Silver (SLV-A). A more conservative way to play. Scorpio Mining (SPM-T) is his only stock play in this area.

Gold: - He thinks it goes through $1000. Looking for lower rates in the US and problems in the economy for the next few months, and therefore gold will have the momentum to go through $1000. There are a whole bunch of juniors that haven't moved and he could see some acquisitions.

Canadian Banks: - Trade all Canadian banks here and you should do quite well. Do not buy and hold.

Small-Cap Financials: - Pretty cautious on the financial station in general as he thinks there will be more negative news over the next several quarters. There is no real rush to move into this area.

Silver Certificates: - Silver looks like it wants to go higher. These are in US dollars so you won't make as much in Canadian dollars.