Amazingly, all the while, Layton was bravely battling cancer. You wouldn’t have known it from his strong and energetic demeanor during his campaign, which says a lot about his determination and dedication to being a leader. Layton is survived by his wife, MP Olivia Chow and his children Sarah and Michael.

This morning, David Akin reported that Layton’s family had issued the following statement: “We deeply regret to inform you that The Honourable Jack Layton, leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada, passed away at 4:45 am today, Monday, Aug. 22. He passed away peacefully at his home surrounded by family and loved ones. Details of Mr. Layton’s funeral arrangements will be forthcoming.”

According to Joanna Smith of the Ottawa Bureau, Layton was primed to be a politician all his life, even though he had aspirations of playing football. She traces his family roots back to a number of born leaders who helped shape Canada to be the widely-respected and forward-thinking country that it is.

His grandfather, Gilbert Layton was a cabinet minister, his father Robert Layton was a chairman of the Conservative caucus. Even his great-grandfather, Philip Layton came to Canada as a blind teenager and founded the Montreal Association for the Blind. Evidently, leadership was in Layton’s family genes.

Whether or not you agreed with his political stance, it is hard to argue that Layton did an excellent job in leading the NDP. This past federal election, the party garnered more seats than it ever had before setting itself up as the official opposition to Stephen Harper’s Conservatives.

At the end of July, however, Layton was forced to take a leave of absence to battle his second bout with cancer. On his Twitter account, Layton wrote “Your support and well wishes are so appreciated. Thank you…I will fight this and beat it.” We are saddened today to hear that Layton’s fight was lost. He was 61.

According to TheStar.com, “The daytime temperature today is expected to reach a scorching 37 C. Toronto has only been that hot once, when it reached 38.3 C on August 25, 1948 according to measurements at Pearson airport. Factor in the humidex and Thursday will feel like somewhere in the mid to high 40s.”

While not the hottest day ever, there is, however, the possibility that today may break the record for hottest July day in Toronto as the previous record of 37.6 Celcius was set back on July 7, 1988. For many people, this is welcome news. Haters of the winter just love it when the sun is out and the weather is warm. And, we have quite a few of them around the Synergy Merchant Services offices.

“I love this,” said one of our elated reps, “I have no idea what people are complaining about. When it’s winter time, we complain that there is too much snow covering our cars, that it’s freezing, that everything is a mess, that we have to put on too much clothes to keep warm. So why have a problem with shorts and t-shirt weather? It’s amazing!”

Nevertheless, Toronto has issued an extreme heat alert today. So, needless to say, it will be important for residents of the city to find ways to beat the heat. TheStar.com listed one very interesting method to keep cool that many people may not know about. Although it’s true that no driver has to worry about scraping snow off of his or her car, there is a concern about baking inside of it!

You know how cars can heat up when they’re sitting outside in the sun? Well, a Japanese YouTube video posted on TheStar.com today helps drivers by demonstrating a unique cool down method. Apparently, the trick is to push the hot air that has been concealed in your car out before buckling up.

How do you do that? Open the window on one side of your car. Go to the other side of your car and open the door, then close it. Repeat this opening and closing process several times. Essentially, the opening and closing of the car door is creating a fanning effect that will push the hot air out of the open window. No word yet on how effective this technique is, but we know a lot of Synergy reps who are willing to try it. Good luck!

Something that greatly affects small businesses in Canada, the strike has been an important news story for our industry. With that being said, we’d like to take today’s blog as an opportunity to thank the owners of small and medium-sized businesses all throughout Canada.

As has been mentioned many times over in news stories about the recession, Canadian small businesses make up the backbone of our country. In many ways, small businesses have ironically been huge factors in our nation’s ability so greatly bounce back from the global economic crisis.

Canada has been lauded as a worldwide leader in economic recovery and our small businesses have played a big role. Since small and medium-sized business owners make up our client base, it helps us to be very familiar with the fact that these are among the hardest working people in the world.

Determined and dedicated are just two adjectives that can describe the Canadian entrepreneur. Running your own business means that you need to take risks in order to get ahead. We are especially thankful to our clients who took the risk to take part in our merchant cash advance program in order fulfill their business goals.

However, in yet another ironic twist, our merchant cash advance program puts small business owners at far less risk than a traditional bank loan would. In fact, our risk-free program requires no collateral, liens, standard credit checks or fixed repayment schedules. Our clients are therefore, never considered late and do not have to worry about having their credit scores impacted.

When first hearing of our program, these unique details can sometimes be construed as strange or even unbelievable. But once learning about how merchant cash advances work, our clients come to realize that the program is the quickest and easiest way for small business owners in Canada to get money to grow.

So thank you Canadian small business owners. You do your country proud. You provide valuable goods and services to the nation, while keeping the economy strong. As always, we look forward to our continued relationships with you in hopes to make us all even stronger!

There is also the inability to sent hard copies of invoices or receive payments by cheque when postal workers are on strike. And this has been the case since last Thursday, when Canada Post began its first “rotating strike” in Winnipeg – the location of one of its newest facilities.

Today, The Canadian Press reports that Moncton, New Brunswick and Victoria, British Columbia have become the two latest Canadian cities to be hit by the rotating strikes. These strikes – lasting 24 hours and bound to impact every major city in the nation – has put thousands of employees on pickets lines.

And while the Canadian Union of Postal Workers have told their members that some positive moves have come out of their negotiations with management, there have also been some disappointments during the talks. Apparently, a recent proposal from union negotiators has been rejected.

One of the positives is that Canada Post has “backed away” from its intention to create more part-time jobs to deal with the decline in mail volumes. Said a Crown corporation representative: “With the hope that (the union) would start to address the issues facing the postal system (as) Canada Post has offered to withdraw this key proposal.”

One of the negatives is that Canada Post feels that some of the union’s requests are simply too costly. According to spokesman Jon Hamilton, “It’s just too expensive and still doesn’t help us get anywhere near where we need to be in terms of addressing the challenges facing Canada Post.”

Among those challenges are “declining mail volumes, increasing competition and electronic substitutions for traditional mail.” Without addressing these issues, it appears as if the CUPW’s proposals cannot be agreed upon. CUPW contends, however, that there are problems with how mail is being processed, as well as job cuts that impact local communities.

Most hockey fans in Canada were repulsed by the idea of a hockey team leaving a country where the sport is considered a national pastime. Add that to the fact that the beloved Jets were now to call a desert home, it felt like a slap in the face to the nation. For years, people surmised that the Coyotes were somehow bound to head back home to Winnipeg.

Even as recently as this year’s NHL playoffs – which have still not concluded as the Vancouver Canucks and Boston Bruins are set to duke it out for the Stanley Cup – there was talk that Phoenix may be losing its team to the city the team once abandoned. It wasn’t very long ago that many thought that this would be the case.

In fact, just a month ago, we blogged about the fact that the strong Canadian loonie may play a big role in having Canada land more teams. So all signs, it seemed, pointed towards the Coyotes playing their last games in Phoenix. But as it was reported yesterday, the Atlanta Thrashers would inevitably fall victim to relocation.

In Canada, of course, this has come as welcome news. Officially, the NHL will move from six to seven Canadian teams with more expected in future seasons. Even for Canadians outside of Winnipeg, this brings great excitement to what is already considered a very exciting sport.

In Calgary, for example, fans are jacked about the renewal of a new rivalry between the hometown Flames and the new version of the Jets. (It should be noted that the new NHL team in Winnipeg has not yet been officially named). Earlier today, Steve MacFarlane of The Calgary Sun commented about the exhilaration taking place in western Canada.

Calgary Flames president Ken King thinks that a new NHL team in Winnipeg is fantastic news. Said King about the NHL’s return to Winnipeg: “(It’s) great for hockey, great for the country, great for the city…We get another prairie rival — another national, prairie rival. We’ve got four teams now that are going to love to hate each other, and that’s great for competition, great fun for fans.”

Perhaps, many economists and citizens alike predicted this outcome. One thing that caught many off guard, however, was the incredible surge in popularity of Jack Layton’s New Democratic Party. The NDP now stands as the Conservatives’ official opposition winning 102 seats in the House of Commons. This marks an amazing 66 seat jump from their previous position.

Last week, QMI Agency released a report indicating that economists were not quite ready for what is now being dubbed the “Orange Wave”. The NDP’s newfound popularity is sure to create an impact on the stock and currency markets, according to the article. Layton has plans to challenge Harper on a number of economic issues.

As QMI reveals, “Layton has threatened to revoke Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s corporate tax cuts, returning the rate to 19.5%, and to impose a cap-and-trade system on the country’s energy companies, similar to one in place in Europe, to combat emissions.” Of course, Layton is not Prime Minister, but his increased number of seats in the House of Commons is sure to add strength to his voice.

A week ago, it was predicted that NDP could possibly close in on 100 seats. The election results show that they overshot that mark becoming even more successful than expected. This isn’t good news for everyone, however. Ka Yan Ng of Reuters reported this past weekend that NDP’s growth in popularity may make many investors nervous.

In an interview with Reuters, Layton insisted he would “play nice” with investors. Erasing the deficit within four years was one of Layton’s campaign promises although many worry about how such a promise can be kept. A concern for increased taxes was on the minds of voters who chose against an NDP-led government.

According to Michael Sprung – the president of Sprung & Co Investment Counsel – an “NDP-led minority…would be a negative for the market. It would be one more thing to worry about and a little bit more domestic in orientation. People would worry about higher taxes and how that might affect the recovery that we’re in.”

This is no small deal. Since the events of 9/11 ten years ago (wow, it’s been ten years already!), the world has sought the whereabouts of the man alleged to be the mastermind behind the terrorist attacks. Today, there is the feeling that a worldwide sigh of relief is being collectively released.

As Steve Holland and Faisal Mehmood of Reuters reported earlier today, bin Laden was killed near the Pakistani capital, Islamabad. He was found in a million-dollar compound and was shot after about 40 minutes of fighting. According to U.S. President Barack Obama at a quickly-called White House speech this morning, “justice has been done”.

Of course, there is no telling what type of impact this astonishing news will have on the Canadian election. There has been growing sentiment in recent years that too many lives have been lost fighting the war in the Middle East and that too much money has been spent on what some consider to be unnecessary military needs.

Liberally-minded voters may see this incident as an opportunity to welcome change by ushering in a government that would spend money elsewhere and oppose further commitment to sending troops to Afghanistan. Then again, conservative thinkers may praise today’s news as an example of how their no-quit attitude to finding bin Laden over the past decade led to his demise.

We, here at Synergy, would like to reiterate that no matter what your political views are, you should exercise your right to vote today. If there’s one thing we should all be able to agree upon, it’s that having the freedom to express your own ideas and points of view is something to be both cherished and respected.

As Holland and Mehmood point out, this sense of freedom was being celebrated today throughout the United States. “Jubilant, flag-waving celebrations erupted in Washington and New York after Obama’s announcement,” they write, “It was the biggest national security victory for the president since he took office in early 2009 and could give him a political boost as he seeks re-election in 2012.”

Easily the most talked about wedding this century, it is expected that an incredible two billion people will be watching the ceremony throughout the globe. Two billion! This is about a third of the entire planet’s population. Are the royals really that popular? Is this occasion really that important?

One look at the area surrounding Westminister Abbey – where the wedding will take place – will undeniably scream “yes”! Yesterday, Thane Burnett of QMI Agency reported that as early as this past Monday, people began setting up sleeping bags and chairs to camp along the route towards where the wedding ceremony will unfold.

In an effort to be among the first to see Will and Kate as husband and wife, people have come from all over the world to somehow be part of the royal wedding proceedings. As Burnett reports, most are older fans, including 76-year-old Terry Jones, who has come fully outfitted in the Union Jack decorated with hearts.

It appears as if the royal wedding, which will take place at 4 a.m. Eastern Time tomorrow morning, will truly be an event to behold. Here, in Toronto, many people are preparing to wake up bright and early to take in the wedding ceremony. That includes a few of our Synergy Merchant Services representatives.

“I can’t wait,” said one excited staff member, “I’m sure Kate is going to look beautiful. It will be awesome to see her dress, but more importantly the incredible pageantry that comes with a royal wedding. It’s a pretty exciting moment in history. They may be English royalty, but the world will be watching.”

“I couldn’t care less,” said her co-worker, “I mean, really? Wake up at four in the morning to watch two people I’ve never met tie the knot? Not my cup of tea (he said with a laugh realizing his unintentional pun on English customs). I really can’t believe how much of a big deal people are making of this all the way over here in Canada.”

Well, while opinions are mixed here at Synergy, the relative sentiment throughout our nation, is that Friday morning will be a time for celebration. There are many devoted individuals who – for whatever reason – would not want to miss Prince William marry Kate Middleton for the world!

Last August, we blogged about the Ontario government finally legalizing MMA. According to UFC President, Dana White, the legalization of the sport in Ontario was inevitable as the province is considered MMA’s biggest hot spot for both fans and fighters. And the people of Ontario have certainly spoken to prove White’s theory correct.

When tickets went on sale for UFC 129 several weeks ago, they sold out within minutes. In fact, the pre-sale sold over 40,000 seats leaving many fans disappointed at the prospect of not being able to attend. As Chris Doucette of The Toronto Sun reports today, this Saturday’s event will be the biggest mixed martial arts show in history.

People from all over the world will be visiting Toronto to see UFC 129 for themselves. Featuring Canadian Georges St-Pierre in the main event defending his Welterweight Championship against Jake Shields, this Saturday’s show will practically have the world watching.

The sheer number of visitors to the city is just one of the many reasons that fans of the sport encouraged Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty to legalize the sport. Once thought of as “barbaric” – and perhaps still considered so by many – MMA features athletes who compete using a variety of disciplines including Brazlian Jiu-Jitsu, wrestling, karate, and Muay Thai boxing.

Unquestionably, the sport has a ravenous following. The allowance of MMA fighters to compete in Ontario has undeniably injected a major boost to the provincial economy already with events taking place all week long throughout Toronto. Including an MMA expo at Toronto’s Direct Energy Centre, UFC is making quite the impact in the city this week.

Tom Wright is the UFC’s director of Canadian operations. Said Wright: “Without question, this will be one of those global events that if you don’t have a ticket, then you’re going to want to make sure you watch on pay-per-view.” Doucette goes on to note that tickets for the show were purchased from fans in all ten Canadian provinces and all three territories.

As well, fans from 48 of the 50 United States are on their way to Toronto. And with the exception of Antarctica, people from every continent in the world will also be attending UFC 129. Wright believes upwards of $40 million will be injected into the local economy by the end of the weekend.

“All of those people coming from out of town will stay in hotels, eat at restaurants and buy beers at bars,” he said. If this event doesn’t boost the local economy, it appears as if nothing will!

In an article posted on The Toronto Star’s Moneyville.ca earlier today, Wong explains that compared to U.S. shoppers, Canucks are less willing to spend time hunting for deals. Ironically, Canadians have expressed anger over having to pay more for products than Americans do. This has been exacerbated by the fact that the Canadian dollar is actually topping the American greenback in value, at present.

As Wong points out, the loonie currently sits at about $1.04 U.S. This is 30 per cent higher than it was two years ago. It can be argued that, as a result, prices for goods in Canada should be on par with American prices. Last week, one of our Synergy reps – an avid reader – pointed out that books are still marked with higher Canadian prices than American prices at retail.

A Bank of Montreal report published last week suggests that the increased value of the loonie has created a “price gap” for goods of about 20 per cent. Canadians, of course, are getting the short end of the stick by paying the higher charges. Americans, however, are also better at seeking out lower prices, says Wong.

According to David Soberman, a marketing professor at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management: “Shopping seems to be a very big part of what goes on in the U.S. People go down to Florida, to Georgia to the southern U.S. and one of the activities that you do there are tours going to outlet malls.”

Soberman’s advice to Canadians is to do a better job of checking out all of the retail stores that may offer the products and services that they are looking for. Do your due diligence and search for the lowest price, he encourages. He also acknowledges that not everyone is interested in spending that much time on shopping. But, if so, they shouldn’t be so quick to complain about higher prices.

Wong notes that there are some exceptions to the rule, however. He writes that not all products are cheaper in the United States. Gamers will be happy to know that “a Playstation 3 at BestBuy lists for $299.99 on both its Canadian and U.S. websites, while Electronic Art’s NHL 11 game for the game console can be had for US$59.99 in the U.S., it is on sale in Canada for C$49.99.”

And according to recent reports, the trend is growing. So much so that social networking sites are now becoming a top choice for would-be employees to find work. A QMI Agency report released yesterday announced that LinkedIn is starting to outdo newspapers as the primary spot for recent graduates seeking jobs.

A joint survey between I Love Rewards and Experience Inc. found that 28 per cent of people who are searching for employment head first to the social networking site. This is quite the jump from the 7 per cent of respondents in 2007 who said that they would use the site to find work once they graduate.

According to the survey: “Savvy members of this generation are using LinkedIn as a method of networking and exploring companies they are interested in.” QMI goes on to report that still, over 87 per cent of respondents say that they apply directly to the companies they are looking to work for.

The more telling number, however, is that just 28 per cent of those who took the survey say that they apply for work through newspaper ads. This is a whopping 34 per cent decrease from just a year ago. Evidently, the power of the internet continues to grow, and moreover, social networking sites are proving dominant in the online world.

Writes QMI: “The study found many employers are focusing more on online recruiting and spending less time recruiting on campuses or at career fairs. The study says the shift means employers need to spend more time branding themselves — particularly through social media — to the emerging workforce.”

Social networking sites seem to be taking over in a variety of ways. From becoming a number one source to connect with friends to being a chief means of business promotion to serving as a main destination to find employment, it appears as if there is no stopping social media.

Yesterday, Stefania Moretti of QMI Agency reported that Visa Canada has been working on technique that has the intent of making purchases more convenient to credit card holders. Visa payWave cards make it so that no signatures or PIN are necessary. However, these contactless cards raise questions about preventing credit card fraud or “skimming”. Doesn’t this make it easier for fraudsters to rip people off?

Earlier this week, Scotiabank, TD and Royal Bank all agreed to offer Visa payWave credit cards that “use tiny radio frequency identification antennas and don’t need to be inserted into merchant terminals. Instead, cardholders simply tap or wave their card in front of the terminal.”

Moretti goes on to explain that these contactless cards promise to cut the wait times at checkouts since both signatures and PIN codes won’t be necessary. A simple swipe or passing of the card for any transaction under $50 is all a customer will have to do. Sounds like a really convenient option, doesn’t it?

The problem, of course, is that criminals can apparently clone credit card numbers and expiry dates by simply getting a card reader. These readers are easy to find on the internet, notes Moretti. Gord Jamieson, the director of risk management and security at Visa Canada, has said that there have been no reported instances of fraud from payWave cards yet.

Explains Jamieson: “There is a remote risk that data could be intercepted but we have multiple layers of security that really address that potential, limited risk.” In addition, Visa insists that their cardholders are never expected to pay for fraudulent transactions as they will work to dispute such charges.

As well, Moretti explains that “along with transmitting basic credit card information, Visa cards generate dynamic codes that change with each transaction so the reuse potential of stolen data is limited and they do not transmit cardholder names.” The contactless cards have a radio frequency symbol to communicate this trait.

Earlier this week, the Synergy Merchant Services Blog listed a number of ways that you may be able to help out with the relief effort in Japan. We humbly encourage you to donate what you can towards this worthy cause. Just as we did with Haiti and Chile last year, we hope to assist in the relief effort as much as possible.

We also blogged, this week, about the potential impact that the Japan earthquake and following tsunami may have on the Canadian economy. Today Madhavi Acharya-Tom Yew of The Toronto Star reports that it is likely to have a minimal effect. According to experts, the impact of the earthquake on Canada is expected to be limited.

Said Paul Taylor, the chief investment officer for BMO Harris Private Banking: “Our view is that the dominant factor as we go forward will be the pace of the U.S., economic recovery, but we are very concerned with the other factors as well. While there is trade between Japan and Canada, it’s secondary to north-south trade with the U.S.”

Acharya-Tom Yew notes that while Japan is the world’s third-largest economy, only three per cent of Canadian exports go to the country. In one of our blogs this week, it was mentioned that Canada’s lumber industry may see a boost due to the reconstruction necessary in Japan.

According to Taylor, Canadian lumber products and engineering construction firms are bound to be in high demand in order for Japan to rebuild roads, bridges, power plants, ports and homes. The quake is also bound to impact the auto industry as well. Japan’s Toyota plants are currently shut down.

Long before we can consider the impact of the Japan earthquake on the Canadian economy, however, it is important to consider the impact it is having on the lives of Japan’s citizens. It is our hope that the world will remain swift and diligent in its efforts to assist the nation with all the help it can get at this extremely difficult time.

Today, Josh Rubin of The Toronto Star reports that the earthquake in Japan has “wreaked havoc on the loonie”. However, in a somewhat ironic twist, the rebuilding process in Japan will actually serve to strengthen the Canadian economy. Economists and other analysts, meanwhile, are mixed about the impact this will have on Canada.

Said Brian Bethune, the chief Canadian economist at the U.S.-based economics analysis firm, IHS Global Insight: “In the short term, it’s not good for anybody. There will be decreased imports and exports, supply chain disruptions, and reduced travel.” Rubin notes that Western Canada is usually a popular destination site for Japanese travelers.

While the decrease in tourism will reflect one of the negative impacts the earthquake will have on Canada’s economy, Rubin mentions that “In 2009, the most recent data, there were 85,575 Japanese visitors that spent at least one night in B.C. It is estimated they spent $111 million in total.”

Disruptions in the auto sector will be another result of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. So evidently, there will be an economic impact in Canada as a result of the disastrous events of last week. Japan, however, is looking at over $200 billion in reconstruction efforts.

Canadian lumber will be in high demand for rebuilding in Japan, writes Rubin. Canada’s reconstruction goods are sure to be sought after to build homes, stores and other buildings in the near future. Bethune also believes that a demand for fuel will actually provide a boost for Canadian commodities suppliers.

Said Paul Beamish, the international business professor at the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario: “I think this is going to lead to a complete change in the way things are built there, and that will lead to a huge demand for lumber. It’s going to help everybody who supplies construction materials. As horrific as a humanitarian catastrophe as this has been, the reconstruction in some ways will be a massive stimulus.”

In today’s edition of The Toronto Star, it was reported that most Canadian wireless customers are now able to make a $5 donation to the Canadian Red Cross Japan Earthquake/Asia-Pacific Tsunami fund by texting the word “ASIA” to 30333. Thus far, the Canadian Red Cross has already received $3 million in donations from generous and caring Canadians.

With the earthquake hitting a magnitude of 8.9 on the Richter scale, it is evident that the already-immeasurable damage will only increase in the coming days. For those who wish to donate to this cause online, they may do so at RedCross.ca. You may also donate over the phone by calling 1-800-418-1111.

The Christian Reformed World Relief Committee is also working towards the relief effort in Japan. They are working with their partners in Japan to find ways to send volunteers to help. In addition to setting up a donation website for Japan, the CRWRC is also asking that concerned citizens make donations by calling1-800-730-3490.

You may also donate to the Japan earthquake relief effort through the Salvation Army. The Toronto Star mentions that The Salvation Army has already allocated $75,000 to towards helping Japan and are accepting donations towards the Japan Earthquake Disaster Relief Fund through its website.

UNICEF has also announced its contributions to the relief effort in Japan. They have, in fact, already sent supplies and personnel to countries throughout the Pacific region. You can donate to UNICEF through their website as well. The Star reports that “World Vision Canada has also set up a webpage to solicit donations to provide disaster relief for victims of the earthquake.”

We encourage you to give whatever you can towards the relief effort as your help is sorely needed. The destruction caused by this earthquake and tsunami is massive. It is unimaginable just how much more lives will be lost as a result of this tragic disaster. We thank you in advance for doing your part.