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

Bank of Nova Scotia 4.56 % bond maturing October 30/13. On a yield curve, he loves the 5 year area. Not a lot of risk. You can basically hold this bond until maturity. AA rated. One of the best run banks in Canada.

George Weston 5.05% bond maturing Mar 10/14. You're looking at a yield of over 6%. Treasury bills are yielding in the mid-to high 3%’s. You can hold this bond until maturity. Investment-grade. The majority ownership in Loblaws (L-T), which he thinks is a turnaround story.

GE 5.1% bond maturing June 1/16. Extremely high quality. AAA. One of the largest and most diversified companies in the world.

Technology Stocks - He would be very cautious on any technology stocks until there is some kind of a bottom on the semiconductors.

OIL - Chart shows an uptrend from August on, but a wedge is forming, which is short term bearish.

Junior Golds - Thinks we are relatively early in the big picture of gold. Past year had a disconnect. Price of gold went up 31% and yet the juniors as a whole did very poorly. There were speculative opportunities away from gold that attracted more attention. Believes the gold price will hit $1000 and will have a salutary effect on the juniors.

Top Picks: He has decided not to do Top Picks. This would have people rifle shooting Junior Gold stocks. Unless you have a lot of money that you can have good diversification, there is a risk by buying only one or two stocks. A lot of them are slick promotions and don't really have a lot going for them.

Gold: - Is gold really going up or is the US$ going down? Looking at it in euros or the Cdn$ it is sort of going up. In terms of gold and the US$, the water is muddy. People's opinion is getting more and more bullish every day, so we are getting into the danger zone.

Uranium: - Long-term outlook for uranium is very bullish. Demand for energy in Asia is increasing while production is substantially less. Existing stockpiles have been there since the 70s and 80s. If some of the hedge funds decide to sell what they have, the price of uranium could drop.

Canadian Banks: - Have had at dreadful performance. Last year was the worst in 25 years. Watch for when they stop going down. It is almost impossible to lose money on Canadian banks. There is a dividend almost every year and sometimes twice a year.

GMAC Canada 5.10% maturing April 30,2009. GM is losing market share, but assets in GMAC Canada doesn't have residential mortgages like GMAC US. Auto finances are still pretty good. With a depreciated US$ you should see some GM market share coming back. Good risk/reward scenario.

National Bank 4.70% maturing Nov 2/2020. He is aggressively buying financial debt that has been hit hard. This one has been incredibly hard hit. They are 160/170 over Canada.

(A Top Past Pick Dec 19/06.) Timberwest 7% matured 10/01/07. When he picked this, it was giving him about 1.5% higher than Government of Canada. His objective on the bond side was to earn an extra spread of 150 basis points and hopefully get his money back, which he did.

(A Top Past Pick Dec 19/06.) First Capital Realty 5.08% maturing 6/21/12. This credit performed poorly, but much better relative to the lower investment grade sector. His objective is to matured this and earn 150 basis points over Government of Canada. Still likes.

(A Top Past Pick Dec 19/06.) Government of Canada 5.75% (then 4.09%) maturing 2029. This was the play on the fact that real rates and inflation rates would drop, which they have. Switched out of these into longer dated government of Canada bonds.