by Kara Lilly, Mawer Investment Management
It has been a difficult week for residents of Southern Alberta. Heavy rainfall has resulted in swollen riverbanks, unprecedented flooding, and significant damage to surrounding communities. Hundreds of thousands of lives have been impacted. Many of our own staff and clients faced power outages, flooded basements and evacuations. It was quite the weekend (to say the least).
Operationally, our team was fortuitous and benefited from a combination of excellent contingency planning and a little bit of luck: there have been minimal interruptions to the service we provide to clients. Yet as members of our community, we feel the impact keenly. Our future as an organization may be global, but our roots remain in the prairies. This is where we first sewed the fabric of the value system that has brought us to where we are today.
It is, therefore, with considerable pride that we see the human spirit at work now. In the wake of last week’s devastation, thousands of citizens across Alberta have come forth to help rebuild. Neighbours are rolling up their sleeves to help address the damage, and donations are rolling in from across the country to help particularly hard-hit areas. Many of our clients and our own team are digging in and getting muddy: including pitching in to bail out the basements of our own President, Michael Mezei, and our Manager of International Equities, David Ragan.
We speak often about the resilience of portfolios in markets, but rarely of the resilience of the human spirit in adversity. Yet it was the latter of which we were reminded this week. Perhaps Bob Thompson, President of the Calgary Stampede, summarized it best when he said:
“We will be hosting the greatest outdoor show on Earth come hell or high water. Stampede 101 will be a testament to the desire of the community to rally and to come together in the face of adversity.”
Now that’s some old-fashioned resiliency.
Kara Lilly
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