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

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.

Dynamic Income Opportunities Fund -One of the best income trust managers in the country. Not necessarily income trusts, but anything that will generate income, so there is real estate, real estate securities, high yielding common stocks, etc. In the past year he is up around 31%.

Picton Mahoney Hedge Funds - Manages about $4 billion, so there is lots of information flow. Mainly mid-to large cap on the mutual funds and on the hedge funds they can take positions in smaller companies. Performance has been absolutely fantastic in the hedge fund. Mutual fund has been great too. The hedge fund will probably close in the next couple of weeks.

Chou Funds - Mr. Chou has been rated fund manager of the decade in the past. He is not a hedge fund, but he does run a more flexible mutual fund strategy. He will build up the cash a lot and if he doesn't see value in the market, he won't invest. Doesn't think he shorts or uses any other hedge fund strategies.

Trapeze Asset Management – These are value managers, so they have a lot of capital preservation as far as their mandate is concerned. They do invest in small to mid cap stocks. Very opportunistic. They do have some proprietary stuff, which tells them what kind of risk there is in the market, which has been very good for them. Have done a good job.

Banks – Canadian banks should be traded, not a buy and hold situation. Watch for dips before buying. His current upside on banks is National (NA-T) +43%, Bank of Montreal (BMO-T) +24%, Royal (RY-T) +16%, Scotia (BNS-T) +15%, Commerce (CM-T) +5% and Toronto Dominion (TD-T) at +4%.

Cdn$ - We’re in the boom phase. Doesn't know where the top is going to be, but there is going to be a bust. We are very small in terms of population and the size of our economy. People love us now, they're buying, money is rolling in, but the hot money will roll out in a big way.