Calgary rewards the CBAA with sunshine, the Stampede and recordbreaking attendance.
If Toronto is the hub of corporate aviation activity in Canada, then
Calgary must surely be its soul. For it is here, wrapped in the
free enterprise culture of this southern Alberta city – its economy
fuelled by the resource-based wealth of the province – that business
aviation appears most at home.
For
three days in July, Canadian corporate aviation's focus was on Calgary
as the city played host to CBAA 2003. Over 700 individuals registered
for this year's show – a 35% increase over 1999, the last time Calgary
staged the annual convention and trade show – an association record
overall.
At the downtown Hyatt, attendees filled the function
rooms to listen to topical seminars on the transborder comparison of
fractional ownership by Bill Clark of Toronto-based Clark & Company
and Gary Garofalo of Garofalo Goerlich Hainback PC of Washington DC;
optimizing health and performance by Dr. Randy Knipping, and
establishing the business purpose of corporate aircraft to the federal
government auditor by Christina Tari, a tax lawyer with Toronto-based
Richler and Tari. Tari's spirited presentation, ‘The Royal Barge’, was
an introductory course on maximizing the tax benefits of corporate
aircraft while staying on the right side of the Canada Customs and
Revenue Agency.
"Our seminars are intended to get the audience
thinking, and not just standing up there providing solutions," Rich
Gage, CBAA’s president and CEO, told WINGS.
|
