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

Technical Analyst Perspective- Believes we are in a bear market. A lot of the sectors are faultering. Small caps are weak. It will be "tough sledding". Believes that crude oil is a bit overpriced and natural gas has been improving. If you are looking for opportunities there are bargoons in the producers and income trust side of natural gas.

Large global tech stocks-Global economy is strong. Corporate profits are still good in the US. There is growth in cell phones, consumer electronics, flat panel screen and PC's. Recommends having 12-15% of a typical portfolio in global tech stocks.(min. 5%, max. 20%)

Gold - He sees a growth in buying from India and China and on the supply side, he sees more problems because of lower grades, lower productions. He feels gold will go higher.

Sprott Small Cap Hedge Fund – Only 10 days old. Manager has proved to be one of the best small-cap managers over the last 15 years. Just moved from managing $1.5 billion to $30 million fund where he can be more flexible. He is up around 20% on the year.

Dynamic Power Hedge - 5 years old and has gone up 10X since inception. Averages about 60% a year. Good management. The small size allows him to concentrate his positions. Will be volatile.

C. I. Trident Global Opportunities-Manager has one of the brightest hedge fund minds in the world. Has been treading water for the last couple of years because he has expected a credit crunch to happen, and when it finally happened he was there. This fund would be for the bears.

Hedge Funds - There are about 20 different hedge fund strategies, but 3 basic types. Relative Value-More arbitrage based, which may exploit the inefficiencies of markets. Event Driven- Basically when companies are merging, taken over, coming out of bankruptcy, distressed securities. Directional-This could be a global macro fund.

Hedge Funds versus Mutual Funds- Hedge funds are generally more flexible. He describes these as a car with breaks. A hedge manager can put on the brakes, but with a mutual fund, that is not necessarily the case. In bull markets, sometimes mutual funds will do better.

Vertex One - Based in Vancouver and manage about $1 billion in capital. Has about a 10-year track record, which is quite long for a hedge fund. Use a multi-strategy approach. A lot of what they did at the beginning was “merger arbitrage”. Experts in this trade. Have also done well in the resource space in the last few years. Have a limit and can only short 15% in the portfolio. Well managed.

Salida Multi-Strategy Hedge - Have done a fantastic job. Started the fund in 2001. Will be more aggressive than Vertex One. Generally will be less than 100% net market exposure, but will be more when needed. Very good in the mid to small-cap space.

(A Top Pick July 6/06.Up 19.4%.) Epic Limited Partnership - Have very good risk controls but are also very good stock pickers in the small to mid cap space. Started the fund in 2000 and had double-digit returns in 2000, 2001 and 2002. Up 66% in 2003.

(A Top Pick July 6/06. Up 17.78%.) Sprott Opportunites - The manager, Jean Tardiff, has a real aversion to risk. Currently up 15% year to date. Has averaged about 30% a year for the last few years.

(A Top Pick July 6/06. Up 14.15%.) Goodwood Fund-A has no resource compared to most funds. Prefers consumer-based stocks.

Front Street Canadian Hedge Fund - Manager has compounded money at almost 20% over 20 years. Great product. It will be resourced based, but will be in other areas also. When market gets a bit toppy, instead of short positions, he will build up cash. About one quarter of their own money is in the fund.

BluMont’s Hirsch Performance – Fund – Veronica Hirsch has run this since 1998 and has basically doubled the market. Fee structure is very good. One of the only funds that has no management fee. She takes 20% of the profit if she makes money for you. $25,000 minimum.