One evening my husband took our car in for a routine oil change. While he read the paper, the mechanics changed the oil and checked the air filter.

When they finished, the car wouldn't start. Its main computer had shorted out, possibly from a 12-volt jolt. Coincidence? That's what the shop concluded. That oil change cost us $1,159.71. Everyone has heard the horror stories, the mechanic who forgets to refill the car with oil after an oil change, or forgets to put the oil plug back on, the new belt that breaks before the customer leaves the lot damaging the engine. 

If possible, find a good mechanic you can stick with. And always ask who will be doing the work - a mechanic, or an apprentice.

In 1999 the Better Business Bureau of Central and Northern Alberta fielded sixty calls from people with auto repairs disputes. So what can you do? 

"Get a written estimate," notes Glen, a technical representative for Alberta Motor Association's Approved Auto Repair. He recommends you shop around, get a few estimates, then make sure the garage you choose guarantees the estimate, and is willing to call you before doing any extra work. Glen also notes, "that the work should never vary more than ten percent from the original estimate." 

If possible find a good mechanic and stick with him. Always ask who will be doing the work, a mechanic or an apprentice. An apprentice may be trained to do the repairs, but a licensed mechanic should always supervise. 

Make sure the garage is properly equipped to do the job. Often newer cars need computerized diagnostic testing to locate problems quickly and efficiently. Educate yourself. Ask questions, lots of questions. If you don't understand, get them to show you. "We have a special hoist for our advisors to show customers exactly what we are going to do," notes Ken Lauinger, service manager at Kentwood Ford in Edmonton. "After all it's your money, you have a right see what the repairs are all about".

Get the old parts. Some parts like starters and alternators have a core charge, part of the price is refunded back to the garage when the old part is returned, but most parts are thrown out, so be suspicious if they're not willing to give you the old parts. 

If you find yourself in a dispute try calling the Better Business Bureau, or your local TV station, many of which have consumer advocates who can take on your causes. The Canadian Automobile Association also offers mediation services for its members - www.caa.ca. 
 

Michael MacLean, the manager of airside operations and
environment with the authority, says now that the project has
proven itself worthy, scepticism is melting away, and airports
in the United States, Australia and Sweden have
inquired about the process.

"Id like to say I entertain, but I'm not an entertainer, I divert," says Bill Matheson as he breaks into a roaring rendition of "Make Em Laugh". He explodes onto the ITV weather set with the same intensity. He's having fun. His enthusiasm is contagious.

"He's an absolute joy," declares ITV's other primetime weathercaster Claire Martin. "It is like working with a charming old school boy who pulls out your chair and brings you candy. And it's not a persona. I have never seen him down, or not smiling.  Matheson is always having a blast, it seeps into everything."

Matheson quips about the "dreaded of all meteorological phenomena the siberian high." He delivers the weather simply, without "all the gimmickry", a style that suits him. And one that "played pretty well in Paris" he says referring to the 1995 Meteorological Conference in France, where, out of a field of seventy broadcasters from around the world, Matheson was voted the "World's Best Weather Man".

Born in Lethbridge in 1926, the oldest, was only ten when his mother died, leaving his "poor father to bring up a brood of five kids. But we all made out all right" he adds with pride. Even if Bills first media job was delivering newspapers in Lethbridge's "red light" district at the tender age of twelve.

Matheson's first experience with weather forecasting came when he joined the Department of Transport's Meteorological Branch in 1948. After receiving six months training, Bill worked a year and a half as a weather observer in Edmonton, then transferred to Fort Simpson, were he worked as a Radiosonde technician. It was his job to launch the large weather balloons used to gather high altitude atmospheric readings, and as the only man there, he was classified as the officer in charge, which netted him an extra seventy five dollars a month. "It was a very lucky break," he notes, "back in the fifty's that was a lot of money".

In 1954 while working in Suffield, a friend mentioned that a new television station was being built in Lethbridge, CJCO. "Back then no one knew anything about the approach you should take to weather or how to put it up on a board," he recalls, "so I auditioned. I got the job and I have been at it ever since." During his twenty years in Lethbridge he worked in news covering among other things the city desk and police beats, and co-hosted a radio talk show with, the late, photographer Terry Bland.

Then in 1974 a phone call changed his life. "This guy from WABC called me up and asked if I would like to work in New York? And do the weather for the ABC network?" Matheson and his family moved to New York. "I was lucky" he explains, "you always hear about the rats, corruption and other terrible things about New York or any big city. But we immediately latched onto a new three-bedroom apartment right across from the station, on Broadway and sixty-six. It was a block from Central Park, and across from Lincoln Centre, where Pavoratti, and all the good people meet to eat".

His daughter Tricia was accepted at Fordham University, and his son Christopher landed a great job walking Mary. Mary was a large dog, who belonged to President Nixon's speechwriter who lived across the hall. He paid Christopher, who was fifteen at the time, ten dollars a day to walk his dog.

Always staunchly Canadian Matheson returned to Canada in 1976, amidst union pressures for him to take out U.S. citizenship. "That was another lucky break," he says. On his return both CJCA, and ITV offered him a job.

At CJCA he and Bill Jackson, created the extremely successful afternoon radio talk show, The Bill and Bill show. Its success was due in part to the fact that they "let the listeners drive the show", notes Gord Whitehead CHED's morning deejay, who also worked at CJCA. "They would get off on the darndest things, like which way to put the toilet paper on, or one of their favourite pet peeves, dogs running at large. And people would call in. They appealed to the average person."

The other reason it worked was that the Bill's were so different. "They were like gasoline and matches", notes Gord. "Matty at that time liked to have a few pops; Bill Jackson was a reformed alcoholic. They were diametrically opposed politically, one was a flaming liberal, the other a staunch conservative. And at best I think Matty might be an agnostic, and of course Bill Jackson is a born again Christian." But through it all they always managed to remain friends. As Matheson notes "you can't work with someone for seventeen years and not get along."

After his "third annual retirement show" in 1993 Matheson left CJCA, but public outcry prompted CHED to pry him out of retirement. "I agreed," he says "under the condition that I didn't have to take anything seriously." He finally retired from radio in the spring of 1997.

Over the years Matheson has acted in more than fifty plays. He also wrote a one act play called Chinook, which won a Centennial playwright contest in 1967. It's a play about a guy who's tempted by the Greek goddess Aphrodite. She appears when the wind blows like the chinook. It is still staged occasionally in Lethbridge.

His wife Carmen, acts as his agent. "You need an agent in this business," he laughs, "You can't just go around saying oh what a great guy am I". But then it’s no secret. As See Magazine noted in their 1996 Best of Edmonton - Reader's Choice Awards, "Edmontonians just plain love Bill Matheson".

He's says he's not considering retirement. "Instead of having two jobs I only have one now" he says. "I come in about four and do my broadcast, its not very harrowing". Not for a guy with his zest for life. "We all hope we have his energy in our mid-seventies" notes Gord. Adds Claire "the fire still burns very brightly within that man".

Note: Bill Matheson retired from ITV on November 24, 1999. He is now working on his autobiography.

It's no secret - almost everything affects insurance rates. That's one of the reasons why Jim Rivait, vice-president of the Prairies, NWT' and Nunavut division of the Insurance Bureau of Canada, has decided to take on Alberta's lawyers.

From his Edmonton office, Rivait has launched a complaint with the Law Society of Alberta over the practice of lawyers, like Bruce King of Edmonton of lending money directly to their clients.

Rivait took action after spotting King' s billboard advertising his cash advance service. According to King's Web site, "it is all too easy to take the first and perhaps unfair offer of money from insurance companies - this is what they're counting on. The cash advance program takes any financial pressure off you, allowing you to pursue a just settlement."

No one is opposed to "a just settlement," but Rivait is concerned about the legal, financial and ethical questions regarding money lending. "Just the practice itself can be viewed as driving up insurance costs," says Rivait. "I believe things can get a little bit out of hand; it drags settlements on and drives up prices.

"Contingency fees already take up a good portion of any settlement and Alberta's contingency fees are probably the least regulated - they can be as high as 50 per cent. Add interest at very high rates, sometimes close to 40 per cent, and suddenly you are not out to get what's fair but you now have a target. You need `this' amount of money.

"Say someone is expecting to receive $200,000, so they borrow $50,000 at an interest rate around 40 per cent. If it takes three to four years to complete the case, that's $80,000 in interest. Add a 35-percent contingency fee plus costs and disbursements," and there's very little left, notes Rivait. In 1976, Louisiana was the first U.S. state to permit lawyers to lend money against future settlements. In 1976, Louisiana was the first U.S. state to permit lawyers to lend money against future settlements. The idea was to assist destitute clients but the practice soon became widespread and problematic. Charles Plattsmier, the chief disciplinary council for the Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board, suspects that over the years courts have witnessed many misuses of the system. In a recent case, Chtttenden versus State Fann Autornobile Insurance Co., Justice Jeannette Knoll of the Supreme Court of Louisiana was asked to rule on the validity of interest charged.

The question hinged on the fact that the claimants had borrowed money from their lawyer, Darryl J. Carimi. After discharging him and hiring new counsel, the claimants agreed to pay Carimi $46,162.54 (US) for costs and funds advanced but balked at Carimi's claim of $40,859.25 in interest. Justice Knoll concluded that $40,000 did not constitute reasonable interest and limited Carimi to ,,simple interest." She then directed the court to strike a committee to recommend changes to the lawyer's Code of Conduct regarding financial assistance to clients.

After a year-and-a-half of deliberations, the committee came up with some interesting final recommendations, including the suggestions that: Lawyers be allowed to lend money to clients, but be barred from charging interest or any fees to do so. Lawyers not be able to advertise or offer the service to prospective clients. Outside loans guaranteed by lawyers could only carry interest rates of three points over the prime rate set each Jan. 15th by the U.S. Federal Reserve Board.

Since the recommendations have been made public, the committee has received hundreds of comments, leading Plattsmier to speculate that the process might not be over.

Saskatchewan, British Columbia and New Brunswick all have policies that expressively or effectively prohibit money lending by lawyers, and Rivait believes it should be prohibited in Alberta, contending that it is "both ethically and morally wrong because lawyers can end up having a greater stake in the outcome of the case than the plaintiff." Rivait questions the Law Society's acceptance of the practice, noting that the Alberta bar exam asks if it is ethical to lend money to a client and the answer, if a candidate wants to be admitted to the bar, is no.

Trevor Farrow, an assistant professor of law, who teaches professional responsibility at the University of Alberta, also has qualms about the practice. "On first blush, the notion of lending money to someone isn't in itself unethical," he explains. "But when we import it into the context of lawyers and clients, when there is a trust and power relationship involved, ethics start to become a potential problem.

"This is where the subtle differences between a lawyer's role and a businessperson's role come into play. No one would think twice about a business lending money to the client - but they have a serious problem if a lawyer does." The Supreme Court of Canada agrees that the public's trust in the legal system is as motivated by the appearance of conflict as by actual conflict.

Farrow believes a lawyer's underlying role is twofold - "to zealously represent her clients within the boundaries of the law and to act as an appropriate officer of the court, which includes acting in the best interest of the public." To do so, he notes, "you have to be able to give appropriate legal advice without having any kind of conflict of interest or financial interest with the client. If you lend money to your client you can suddenly have a financial interest in the result of their case - such that your advice becomes tainted."

The Law Society of Alberta's Code of Professional Ethics doesn't implicitly outlaw money lending, but it does strongly discourage it. Chapter 6, Rule 9 of the Code states that "the wisest course for a lawyer is never to engage in a business transaction with a client." it lists money lending as an example of a business transaction.

Edmonton lawyer Mark Feehan has had his share of bad experiences making loans to clients. "I stopped lending money because clients start looking at you as a source of money and they won't leave you alone," he says. "You spend your time on the phone arguing with these people, then they end up firing you; it just creates .I conflict that I don't need."

Feehan says he had one client who managed to borrow, from a variety of sources, more money than he was going to receive from his settlement, leaving him little incentive to settle. But he still believes there's nothing unethical about lawyers lending money. "The system is set up to discourage people from pursuing cases," he says. "I have lots of people who say I can' t take it any more, I'm broke, I need the money, and decide to settle. "People often don't have the wherewithal to survive for three or four or five years. Insurance companies aren't stupid; they are astute at Knowing, when people are vulnerable."

Terrence Kulasa, who also practices in Edmonton, agrees and goes one step further by blaming the reluctance of third-party insurance companies to give advances under section 636 for forcing lawyers to lend to their Clients. "In most automobile liability situations liability is clear, yet insurance companies try to intimidate innocent victims by withholding money," says Kulasa. "For ever voluntary advance request I make under section 636, I get one out of 10."

Rivait is surprised by Kulasa's low success rate for 636 advances. "I don't have an exact rate but I've been told that where 636 advances are needed they are given," says Rivait. He goes on to stress that he's not against clients borrowing money against their settlements; it is the direct conflict of borrowing from their lawyer that worries him.

Some Alberta lawyers agree lawyers should not be in the money lending business. Barry Vogel, QC, the practice advisor for the Law Society's Calgary office, is investigating changes to Alberta's Code of Professional Conduct to regulate or outlaw money lending, as well as questioning advertising of the service. His own opinion, given in his primer on lending money to clients, available on the Law Society's Web site, is that he disproves of the practice because "it muddies the water of the lawyer/client relationship."

Vogel stresses that the commentary- to Chapter 6, Rule 9 of the Code of Professional Conduct says lawyers "must carefully consider the fiduciary (trust) obligation of the lawyer and the likely presumption of undue influence should the client later became dissatisfied." The onus is on the lawyer to prove that the transaction was fair and reasonable.

In November 2002, Vogel polled society members and his subcommittee is now considering the complaint. The society's deliberations are always done in private, without input from the public or the complainant, a practice that irritates Rivait. He believes that if the society truly wants to govern itself, it must be consistent and transparent. The University of Alberta's Farrow agrees, pointing out that lawyers have a duty to install trust.

"Clients must put their trust in their lawyer to give them proper legal advice," he says. "Some might argue that just lending money doesn't give someone an interest in a client's affairs. But I always advise my students to err on the side of their ethics. If there are questions - why do it?"

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