January 29, 2013

Everything you ever suspected about municipal employees is true:

The City of Hamilton fired 29 public-works employees Monday for time theft, breach of trust and neglect of duties.

The employees, frontline road-maintenance workers whose main duties involve filling potholes, used company time and vehicles to “go to shopping malls, go to coffee shops, go have a snooze in the park,” according to Councillor Lloyd Ferguson, chair of the public-works committee.

On one work day, the private investigators found one crew only worked for 30 minutes, Mr. Ferguson said.

he investigation isn’t over yet; now the city’s public-works managers and internal auditing staff are interviewing supervisors and doing a full forensic of work records to understand how this alleged deception took place. Supervisors could face discipline, too.

“The supervisors should know what they assign in the morning and what’s done at the end of the day. They should be going around to these job sites and checking on their crews,” Mr. Ferguson said.

But that still leaves the question of what happened to the asphalt the crews were to use to repair roads. “If they took 10 tons of asphalt in the morning and brought back nine and a half at the end of the day, it would draw attention to them,” Mr. Ferguson said. “So that’s one of the other things we’re investigating is the dumping of asphalt.”

It was another mixed day for the Canadian preferred share market, with PerpetualPremiums up 9bp, FixedResets off 5bp and DeemedRetractibles gaining 4bp. Volatility was above average and skewed to the upside, but there was no clear pattern. Volume was quite heavy.

HIMIPref™ Preferred Indices
These values reflect the December 2008 revision of the HIMIPref™ Indices

Values are provisional and are finalized monthly
Index Mean
Current
Yield
(at bid)
Median
YTW
Median
Average
Trading
Value
Median
Mod Dur
(YTW)
Issues Day’s Perf. Index Value
Ratchet 0.00 % 0.00 % 0 0.00 0 0.4683 % 2,558.6
FixedFloater 4.20 % 3.52 % 27,646 18.32 1 1.2522 % 3,875.8
Floater 2.72 % 2.93 % 68,772 19.88 4 0.4683 % 2,762.7
OpRet 4.63 % 1.56 % 53,167 0.38 4 -0.0095 % 2,595.8
SplitShare 4.59 % 4.44 % 43,779 4.29 2 -0.1990 % 2,904.2
Interest-Bearing 0.00 % 0.00 % 0 0.00 0 -0.0095 % 2,373.6
Perpetual-Premium 5.24 % -2.27 % 82,228 0.15 30 0.0858 % 2,350.3
Perpetual-Discount 4.89 % 4.92 % 140,409 15.54 4 -0.2144 % 2,626.4
FixedReset 4.91 % 2.90 % 256,266 3.56 78 -0.0535 % 2,480.6
Deemed-Retractible 4.87 % 2.86 % 132,076 0.31 45 0.0422 % 2,430.9
Performance Highlights
Issue Index Change Notes
BAM.PR.R FixedReset -1.31 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2043-01-29
Maturity Price : 23.70
Evaluated at bid price : 26.31
Bid-YTW : 3.68 %
CU.PR.C FixedReset 1.11 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2017-06-01
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 26.44
Bid-YTW : 2.76 %
BAM.PR.G FixedFloater 1.25 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2043-01-29
Maturity Price : 22.98
Evaluated at bid price : 22.64
Bid-YTW : 3.52 %
PWF.PR.P FixedReset 1.26 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2043-01-29
Maturity Price : 23.61
Evaluated at bid price : 25.73
Bid-YTW : 2.98 %
TRI.PR.B Floater 1.30 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2043-01-29
Maturity Price : 23.14
Evaluated at bid price : 23.40
Bid-YTW : 2.23 %
Volume Highlights
Issue Index Shares
Traded
Notes
IFC.PR.C FixedReset 236,939 Nesbitt crossed blocks of 150,000 shares, 50,000 and 17,200, all at 26.10.
YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2016-09-30
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 26.11
Bid-YTW : 3.03 %
HSE.PR.A FixedReset 124,745 Desjardins crossed three blocks, of 35,000 shares, 24,900 and 40,000, all at 26.40.
YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2016-03-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 26.36
Bid-YTW : 2.78 %
ENB.PR.T FixedReset 93,759 Nesbitt crossed 50,000 at 25.50; Scotia crossed 25,000 at 25.48.
YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2019-06-01
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 25.50
Bid-YTW : 3.77 %
BAM.PR.X FixedReset 80,754 Nesbitt crossed 21,100 at 25.25; Scotia crossed 50,000 at 25.29.
YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2043-01-29
Maturity Price : 23.30
Evaluated at bid price : 25.27
Bid-YTW : 3.37 %
GWO.PR.N FixedReset 69,423 National crossed 50,000 at 24.15.
YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2022-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 24.10
Bid-YTW : 3.58 %
BNS.PR.L Deemed-Retractible 66,487 TD crossed 54,000 at 25.80.
YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2013-04-26
Maturity Price : 25.75
Evaluated at bid price : 25.84
Bid-YTW : 2.75 %
There were 51 other index-included issues trading in excess of 10,000 shares.
Wide Spread Highlights
Issue Index Quote Data and Yield Notes
ELF.PR.H Perpetual-Premium Quote: 26.21 – 26.98
Spot Rate : 0.7700
Average : 0.4721

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2021-04-17
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 26.21
Bid-YTW : 4.84 %

MFC.PR.C Deemed-Retractible Quote: 24.61 – 25.00
Spot Rate : 0.3900
Average : 0.2458

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2022-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 24.61
Bid-YTW : 4.81 %

CM.PR.K FixedReset Quote: 26.15 – 26.56
Spot Rate : 0.4100
Average : 0.2706

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2014-07-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 26.15
Bid-YTW : 2.23 %

BAM.PR.R FixedReset Quote: 26.31 – 26.60
Spot Rate : 0.2900
Average : 0.2100

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2043-01-29
Maturity Price : 23.70
Evaluated at bid price : 26.31
Bid-YTW : 3.68 %

IAG.PR.A Deemed-Retractible Quote: 24.65 – 24.90
Spot Rate : 0.2500
Average : 0.1745

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2022-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 24.65
Bid-YTW : 4.87 %

FTS.PR.H FixedReset Quote: 25.65 – 25.91
Spot Rate : 0.2600
Average : 0.1904

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2043-01-29
Maturity Price : 23.72
Evaluated at bid price : 25.65
Bid-YTW : 2.85 %

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