By Christian Granholm

On or about this date in the year 1002, Leif Ericson and his band of thirsty Vikings set foot on the banks of the St. Lawrence, where they established a base to plunder the riches of what is now our proud country.

One thousand and sixteen years later, we’re keeping the Viking tradition alive by developing and exploiting all that the Canadian market has to offer. Skol, boys!

October 9^th

It was a short week for the CSE (closed for Thanksgiving holiday).

A piece of Canadiana is cemented in a way only the CSE could bring about/appreciate.  FSD Pharma (CSE: HUGE) commenced construction on it’s combination heritage museum/dispensary.

The former CERTO factory (later a KRAFT plant) was the first company to produce commerical pectin in the British Empire. In a uniquely Canadian twist, the heritage museum will also host FSD Pharma’s flagship dispensary, selling their own brand of “high grade organic product”. 

I hope in some way, our little corner of the empire is still making the Queen proud.

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NanoSphere Health Sciences, Inc. (CSE: NSHS) in partnership with Vertical, the largest fully integrated company in the legal medical cannabis industry, started production to bring its commercial cannabis brand, Evolve Formulas, into the California market.

Vertical utilizes a 1.2 million square foot grow facility to supply over 220 retail outlet stores including the production of approximately 250,000 grams of oil per month.

If only the hippies at Haight/Ashbury could see us now.

All Hail (Corporate) Flower Power!

October 10th

Appia Energy Corp. (CSE: API) complete their summer exploration program on the Alces Lake Property in northern Saskatchewan. The property encompasses some of the highest-grade total and critical Rare Earth Elements mineralization in the world with average grades ranging from 2.0 to 47.2 weight% Total Rare Earth Oxide.

This can only be good news for the company and the nation as reliance on foreign sources (read: China) for REE continues to be a major limiting factor in the growth of domestic technology such as electric vehicles.

Assay results for the 2018 exploration work are still pending and will be announced as they are received.

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In a move that will help its portfolio companies build next-generation artificial intelligence and machine learning solutions, Victory Square Technologies Inc. (CSE:VST) added prominent AI pioneer Dr. Fakhri Karray to its Advisory Board.

Focused on Blockchain, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, VR/AR and other immersive technologies, Dr. Karray is the University of Waterloo’s Research Chair Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering and the co-director of the Institute of Artificial Intelligence. He holds the Loblaw’s Research Chair in Artificial Intelligence, has co-authored two dozen US patents and chaired/cochaired 14 international conferences in his area of Artificial Portfolio expertise.

I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords.

October 11th

Atari founder Nolan Bushnell’s X2 Games to be acquired by Global Blockchain (CSE: BLOC).

Nolan Bushnell – the godfather of the video game industry (and creator of Chuck E. Cheese), has been a busy bee. X2 Games is an independent Games Publisher for cutting edge games that integrate Blockchain Technology and Cryptocurrency into the user’s game experience.

Global Blockchain is creating a subsidiary to spinout critical mass assets, merging its remaining media and entertainment investments and projects with those of X2 Games Corp.

And Nolan, I’m still waiting on a reboot of Asteroids.

October 12th

Lake Louise Inn is the first hotel in the world to install Sharc International Systems Inc. (CSE: SHRC) Piranha System, thereby reducing energy, waste and water consumption.

The Piranha system’s self-contained heat pump uses a proprietary direct expansion heat exchanger to extract thermal energy. In this application, it will collect hot water from the Lake Louise Inn’s laundry machines. Rather than draining into a sewer as is the currently accepted waste water practice, the heat energy in this water will be recovered. The water will act as a source for the heat pump, which will then be used to heat incoming cold water for future loads, drastically reducing energy requirements.

Does this mean that hotels can start cleaning ALL of the bed linen in-between guests, INCLUDING the top quilt? When my wife bought a blue light off of Amazon to find the source of cat pee in our carpet, I decided to bring it along on our spa trip to Whistler. After turning out the lights in our decidedly upscale hotel and shining the blue light on the bed… I mean frankly the spray was… impressive.

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Chemesis International Inc. (CSE: CSI) and Rapid Dose Therapeutics Inc., a Canadian bio-technology company have signed a definitive agreement enabling Chemesis to produce QuickStrips infused with cannabis oils.

RDT’s innovative QuickStrip is an easy-to-use, safe and effective oral fast-dissolving drug delivery system, developed in conjunction with McMaster University through the renowned Adronov Research Group, which provides accurate dosing and potency.

The convenient drug delivery system will allow users to imbibe cannabis products in a new way. But only in the state of California.

Here in Canada, we’re still waiting at least another year or two before we even see legislation on edibles, much less next-gen sub-lingual technology.

Why can’t we have all the nice toys too, Mr. Trudeau?

The Overall

The CSE opened at 990.88 on Tuesday, experiencing a sharp, temporary decline to 956.51 on Thursday, but rallying back up on Friday, putting it up overall for the week at 991.56.

New Listings

The CSE welcomes the following new listings:

Devices International Inc. (SDZ)

CannAmerica Brands Corp. (CANA)

Zenith Exploration Inc. (ZX)

Next Green Wave Holdings Inc. (NGW)

Rubicon Organics Inc. (ROMJ)

Flower One Holdings Inc. (FONE)

The Closer

While commuters across the nation grumble at the price at the pump ($1.64 per litre in Vancouver!) we are reminded of one other piece of ancient Canadian history.

In October, 1981the Ontario government bailed out Suncor with a $650m loan. The move came as price of Saudi crude reached an unprecedented $34 a barrel.

As a pick-up truck owner feeling the squeeze, I have just one question: y’all got any more of those bailouts?