Edmonton Journal from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada • 63

Canadian Wlicat Board chopping staff 112 Imperial Oil feels loonies surge 1 DOW DOLLAR NYMEXOIL $34.12 NYMEX GAS $5.71 8,588.18 10,609.92 76.62 US 0.52 EDITOR: KATHY KERR, EDMONTON JOURNAL WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 28, 2004 FRAUD MEDIA OWNERSHIP Ktarad fe Hid Boyle nabbed in U.S. WW 5 Toronto's CHUM keen could be at the front of the line in a bidding war. CHUM president Jay Switzer wouldn't confirm his company's inter-estintheA-Channel stations Tuesday.but said his company wants into Alberta. 'It's one of the most buoyant markets in the entire country. We think that Calgary and Edmonton are the most underserved markets in Canada, and we've had an interest there for a very long time." Mario Mota, president of Decima Publishing, said CHUM could go ahead and establish new stations in Calgary and Edmonton if it gets the licences.

to enter Alberta market The CRTC has already made a decision on the applications, but it is still tied up in the agency's bureaucracy, said Mota, whose Ottawa company publishes newsletters on the media industry. But it's more likely CHUM would prefer the easier route ofbuying existing stations, as it did to get into the Vancouver market, he said.Craig Media is Canada's largest private broadcaster, with A-Chan-nels in Edmonton, Calgary and Manitoba, TV stations in Brandon and Toronto, and digital specialty services. See A-CJJANNEL Back of section STOCK FRAUD TRIAL stoic as she branded a liar But defence says prosecution team overzealous STEVEN EDWARDS CanWest News Service NEW YORK Martha Stewart sat stoically at a defendant's bench of a federal courtroom Tuesday as the chief prosecutor opened the government's case against her by branding her a liar. With her hand raised to just touch her chin, as if she were posing for a portrait, the so-called diva of domesticity displayed little reaction to the harsh words of Karen Patton Seymour. Stewart maintained much the same demeanor when Robert Morvillo, her defence lawyer, presented the jury of eight women and four men with his opening argument, which described her as a victim of an overzealous prosecution team.

Stewart's careful control over her emotions has been evident in the lead- 6 6 told a secret other ImClone Karen Patton chief (Stewart) was tip that no investors in had. 9 9 Seymour, prosecutor REUTERS court in New York on Tuesday. DAVID FINI.AYSON 'journal Business Writer EDMONTON Edmonton's A-Channel, in the middle of a strike and newscast ratings slump, may soon get new owners. The TV station's parent company, Calgary-based Craig Media, is for sale for a reported $400 million after over-extending itself widi the launch of aTVsta-tion in the super-competitive Toronto market. Toronto's CHUM still waiting for a CRTC decision in its application to launch channels in Calgary and Edmonton, Stewart Martha Stewart arrives at federal Stantec builds G.

J3 If the world unfolds as expected, 2004 Inc. and its veteran CEO, Tony Frances-chini. The acquisitive Edmonton-based engineering, design and architectural services firm should see gross revenues easily top $500 million for the first time this year. Ditto forStantec's market capitalization assuming its stock continues the dazzling ascent that has seen it nearly triple in value over the past three years, to Tuesday's close of $23 on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Stantec will celebrate its 50th birthday in 2004, along with its 50th straight year of profitability and its 10th year as a public company.

Hold on folks. There's more: Pending the expected closure in March of Stantec's biggest deal to date the purchase of Rochester, N.Y.-based Sear-Brown, a 50-year-old consulting firm with 500 employees, a roster ofbig-name phar IS PAUL MARCK journal Business Writer EDMONTON Convicted stock scam artist Kevin Patrick Boyle, who fled Alberta two years ago to escape going to jail, has been arrested in San Francisco and faces deportation back to Canada. "As far as I know, he is in custody pending his deportation hearing," Greg Lepp, director of special prosecutions for Alberta Justice, said of Boyle. "He will be returned to Alberta." Lepp said once Boyle lands at an Alberta airport, he will be arrested and immediately begin serving a 30-month sentence handed down in August 2001. Boyle, 37, is the brains behind a trio that includes brothers Brian, 33, and Jason, 27, who were all convicted in Alberta provincial court in August 2001 for selling unregistered securities.

Evidence showed that they had ripped off more than 30 investors for up to $5 million. But the Boyles disappeared, and were sentenced in absentia by Judge Allan Lefever to terms ranging from six to 30 months for their roles in illegal schemes in Alberta and B.C. On Jan. 13, Kevin Boyle was initially charged with grand theft and fraud in San Francisco. Police Sgt.

George Carrington, who was investigating Kevin Boyle on behalf of the ritys film commissioner's office, arrested Boyle for entering the country illegally after finding no application for U.S. residency. "Mr. Boyle will be going home," Carrington said. "He is in a federal detention centre in Arizona and, following his hearing, he will be put on a plane back to Calgary." Carrington said Boyle's estranged wife Lisa Lee was instrumental in the investigation leading to charges against her husband.

Carrington said there is no doubt Boyle will return to California eventually, because he is contesting custody of his 15-month-old daughter. Boyle purportedly scammed merchants in San Francisco's upscale Geary Boulevard neighbourhood for $1,000 apiece, promising placement of their businesses in a movie he claimed to be producing. See BOYLE I Back of section THE TICKER One-week trends DOLLAR 8,588.18 Vol: 268,751,293 76.62 Up 0.52 8750 8500 8250 8000 Last five trading days Last five trading days DOW 10,609.92 Vol: 1,634,693,441 NASDAQ 2,116.04 Down 37.79 Vol: 2,139,195,077 2200. 10850 10600 10350 10100 2100 2000 1900 Last five trading days NYMEX OIL Last five trading days NYMEX GAS 37 36 35 34 33 Last five trading days Last five trading days Canadian Prices Oil (Edmonton par price, Imperial Oil): $45.15, down $0.64 Natural gas pergigajoule (CGPR AECONGX spot price) $9.20, up $2.64 Electricity Power Pool 30-day average 4.84kW-h Previous day average 1 1 Close Change Gold $410.00 US 3.40 Silver $8.54 Cdn 0.26 TSX Venture 1,799.72 3.68 TSX Energy Index 166.16 Bank Rate 2.50 none Prime Rate 4.25 none 1 HE CANADIAN PRESS. THE Drew Craig, CEO of Craig Media The company was being run at the time by her close friend Sam Waksal, who knew on Dec.

27, 2001, that the government was to withhold approval of a promising new anti-cancer drug ImClone had hoped to market in the U.S. Waksal and his family sold off $7.5 million of their own shares in the company before announcing the bad news publicly the next day, thus precipitating the stock plunge. Waksal is now serving a seven-year sentence after being convicted of insider trading last year. Charged with Stewart is her former Merrill Lynch broker, Peter Bacanovic, who has also pleaded not guilty. Already convicted in the alleged coverup, after becoming the prosecu-i tion's star witness in a plea bargain deal, is Douglas Faneuil, 28, Bacanovic's former assistant "She was told a se-cret tip that no other investors in ImClone had," Seymour told the jury Tuesday.

The prosecutor added Stewart and Bacanovic then "decided to lie" when federal investigators, suspicious of so much trading of the stock on the eve of the price plunge, asked them if they had known about the bad news. Seymour also said they 'Vent to elaborate lengths" to design the coverup. Seymour said that they both had a chance to come clean after federal investigators launched their probe, ex-plainingthat Stewart could have simply admitted to making a "snap" decision. Instead, she said, Stewart proclaimed her innocence both to the investigators and publicly. Her motive, said Seymour, was to protect her personal fortune.

accelerate in value as the company's growing revenue and profitstream begins to attract the interest of North America's major institutional investors. Franceschini, who recendy was named one of Canada's top-performing CEOs by National Post Business magazine, agrees with that assessment. He says Stantec's shares are beginning to attract broader interest from big institutional players and the company is considering the merits of an eventual U.S. stock market listing on either Nasdaq or the New York Stock Exchange. "It's like you reach this threshold.

We probably have a reasonably fair valuation as a small-cap company. But we're on the very low end of the mid-cap companies," he says. "So from a shareholder perspective, when you make that jump into the mid-caps you suddenly attract a whole new group of investors. And that's why the growth and the revenues and maint aining consistency is so important. The next threshold would be $1 billion in market cap." For Stantec, a company with annual revenues of less than $200 million when Franceschini took charge in 1998, that goal no longer seems farfetched.

In fact, it's starting to look almost as certain as money in the bank. its way into the elite ranks of worlds design firms Edmonton firm marks year of milestones up to her trial over an alleged stock fraud and obstruction of justice, and the start of proceedings Tuesday was no different. As the reigning arbiter ofgood taste, she has been equally attendant to her appearance, turning up to court after receiving a makeover the day before from hair and make-up artist Eva Scrivo, whose clients also include Senator Hillary Clinton and actress Carmen Electra. Stewart, 62, is charged with obstruction of justice, securities fraud and conspiracy following a probe into why she precipitously sold $227,000 worth of shares in the Biotech firm ImClone a day before its stock plunged Dec. 28, 2001.

headquarters in Edmonton over the last four years. We've consolidated our staff and upgraded our IT systems. We've got new financial, project management and business intelligence tools. We've built the foundation so we have this base for expansion," says Franceschini. "In 2003, we were actually busier on the acquisition front than we have been in many years.

We just didn't conclude many deals. But I'm pretty comfortable and confident we'll certainly do more this year than in 2003." Canaccord Capital analyst Sara Elford, one of Stantec's biggest fans, recently upgraded her 12-month target price for the stock to $28 from $25. She rates Stantec a "top pick" for 2004, based partly on the additional upside generated by the Sear-Brown acquisition. "Stantec's 49-year track record, well-defined strategy and long-term growth opportunity have the potential to attract a higher (stock) multiple than our target price implies," says Elford, in a recent report. "In fact, as the company continues its growth trajectory toward the 1-bil-lion revenue mark by 2008, we think an upward revision to its multiple is likely." 1 hmslation: Stantec's stock price should maceutical clients on the East Coast and annual revenues of $50 million US Stantec's payroll will surpass 4,000 for the first time in 2004.

That's a pretty heady list of achievements for a once-small homegrown company few investors had ever heard of until a few short years ago. University of Waterloo engineering grad who joined Stantec in 1978 and was named CEO 20 years later, makes a habit of hitting his targets and sticking to his game plan. And thatplancallsforStantectojoin the elite ranks of the worid's top 10 design firms by 2008, with annual revenues of $1 billion and some 10,000 employees across North America and beyond. So far, so good. With 2004 barely a month old, Stantec is halfway down the road toward achieving the targets Franceschini laid out more than five years ago.

In the process, he has convinced a slew of Bay Street analysts and more than two dozen institutional investors that Stantec is the real deal: a company with a viable, sustainable growth plan and the tools and smarts to execute it. "We've invested over. $30 mLUion at our.