A week ago, the Fraser Institute released a report that showed how bad the financial situation is in Ontario:  The Ontario government debt is almost double that of California. They have only a third of the population (14 million vs. 38 million) and double the debt? California is really working on getting it down – Ontario seems to be really working on continuous increases. They’re already spending 10% of all their revenues on interest payments.

According to a BMO survey last week, 44% of Canadian homeowners intend to buy another home in the next five years. Boy, if that’s even close to true, that’s a lot of economic activity in the next few years! Not just for realtors and real estate prices but the average person spends over $10,000 on new appliances, renovations, etc.

Yesterday, the payday lender Cash Store Financial, with 510 stores, filed for bankruptcy. How sad (he says sarcastically). BC laws allow $23 of charges on a $100 payday loan. That wasn’t enough, as a BC court ordered them to pay back $1 million in overcharged fees. And then there’s the U.S. class action lawsuit and huge problems in Ontario…

I didn’t know a bunch of listeners have been saving thousands of dollars on eye glasses. I’ve heard from three people that Zenni Optical (zennioptical.com) and their $20 to $30 prescription glasses are actually a hit in the Okanagan! Can’t blame people…oh, and there’s another online seller now: goggles4u.com. For both, you’ll need to just enter your prescription with your P.D. (papillary distance) from your optometrist.