Parsad

I agree with your comments John. Virtually no one was spared in this environment. At the same time though, there are plenty of lessons for everyone, including many of the Tiger Woods of investing, since we've all learned exactly what Buffett meant by how a long string of successes multiplied by one failure can be catastrophic. Cheers!

Thanks very much epictetus! Prem is very fortunate. He has a very lovely family. His wife Nalini is also as caring as Prem. Each year, she says hi to me and asks me how I am and how the funds are doing. Those things trickle down to everyone else. Cheers!

Jeff Stacey of Stacey Muirhead is on the board of trustees overseeing Waterloo's endowment fund. Jeff has been a long-time shareholder in Fairfax...many, many years through the good times and bad. So there are two value guys at Waterloo now! Cheers!

You're only repeating my words. Well, actually I wasn't. I believe this is what you said: That's her field of legal skill, and besides, she's restricted by law from touching specific matters she dealt with during her incumbency. My comments related to her defending those under SEC investigation, not just cases she dealt with. The point is that a public servant violates no ethical boundries as long as he/she doesn't deal with the same persons he/she dealt with on the "other side". To claim otherwise is hypocritical and violates his/her rights of self-employment. In certain countries it is even permitted to deal with the same matters or entities a public servant dealt with during his incumbncy, after a year or so from his/her leave. Just because something is permitted, doesn't mean it's averse of any moral quandry. Why are audit firms prevented from directly owning shares of companies they deal with, but attorneys are not? Isn't it the same thing? The moral and ethical dilemma is perversely obvious, yet it is permitted. As for you second point - perhaps it wasn't Byrne's main point, but it was yours. Again, I don't think your reading the actual subject matter before posting. This is a direct quote from Byrne's article: That would be the same Linda Thomsen who, for the entire 14 year duration of her service in the Enforcement Division of the SEC (the last four as Director), missed the $67-billion-and-counting walking Ponzi scheme/human brown stain known as Bernie Madoff, though concerned citizen Harry Markopolis not only did the work for the Enforcement Division, he all but spray-painted his findings on the lovely Italian marble of the SEC’s posh new DC headquarters.

Hi Folks, I would just like to say it was great to meet everyone again this year in Toronto. I apologize if we didn't get to spend as much time as in the past, but more and more people are attending the dinner, Fairfax AGM and now MPIC AGM. I sort of try and meet everyone and then move from table to table, and then quickly from function to function. I saw many people who I wanted to say hello to, but there were usually scrums of people around them, or they were also moving from group to group trying to say hello to everyone. Most of you have my email address, so email me whenever you like. If you post here, I virtually see or read every post. Our dinner was easily the best one yet! - We started the dinner four years ago with just eight people. Francis Chou was our guest that year. - The following two years increased to about 19 and 33 people respectively, with both Sam Mitchell and Francis Chou attending and answering questions. Some fantastic anecdotes and answers were given by them during those two years, that probably saved alot of people a great deal of financial pain. - This year we had about 42 people attend, and our guests were Francis Chou, Sam Mitchell, Wayne Cadwallader. They brought Brian Bradstreet as a surprise guest for everyone. That was a real coup! We were very fortunate to have them all attend. I think there were some surprising things we learned this year from what they all had to say. These are difficult times and very uncertain times going forward. On behalf of the "Corner of Berkshire and Fairfax Board", I'd like to thank Brian, Francis, Sam and Wayne for taking the time out of their busy schedules to come and support our dinner. I'd also like to thank Prem and all of Fairfax for all the support they've always shown us. A special shout-out to Prem's assistant and my dear friend, Jo Ann Butler, who is facing some personal challenges which I know full-well she will beat the hell out of! My trip just wasn't the same without seeing her this year. I wish her the very best. Cheers!

That's her field of legal skill, and besides, she's restricted by law from touching specific matters she dealt with during her incumbency. Would you like your fund's legal advisor to come from the legal arm of a public health department? She's restricted from dealing with specific matters she dealt with, but that does not preclude her from defending other parties under SEC investigation. I think Byrne's point wasn't necessarily her remaining within her legal field, but that Markopoulos handed them a file on Madoff, including Thomsen. They chose not to pursue it. She, along with Cox and a number of other directors, completely missed the largest fraud in U.S. history. Perhaps the legal arm of a public health department could have done better! ;D Cheers!

Does he think that she now has to be unemployed for the rest of her life, or leave her profession? Is there some kind of a junkyard where you put public servants following their public duty? No, but you would think that someone who prosecuted for the SEC for 10 years, would not be going out there to defend the same type of people she used to investigate. Cheers!

Patrick Byrne wrote a terrific column on former SEC director of enforcement Linda Thomsen, who has now gone back to her old law firm which defends those under SEC investigations. Don't you just love how lawyers can so easily move ethical boundaries to fit their needs! Cheers! http://www.deepcapture.com/

New article this morning on Fairfax's investment in Abitibi. I have to go through Fairfax's old annual reports, but this is going to be a very interesting debtor-in-possession case study to watch, and probably the largest Fairfax has ever been involved with relative to its size. The largest newsprint manufacturer in North America, and can it be made profitable again in an industry in decline? Definitely one that the business schools need to watch and see how it unfolds. Cheers! http://www.globeinvestor.com/servlet/story/GAM.20090417.RABINEXT17ART1939/GIStory/

I think people will fill you guys in shortly, but we had Sam Mitchell, Francis Chou, Brian Bradstreet and Wayne Cadwallader come to our dinner. Brian was the surprise guest and stayed till well past 10:30 pm! Everyone had a fantastic time, and I can't thank the guys who came out and Fairfax enough for everything! I'll fill in some more details when I get back to Vancouver on Thursday night, including pictures from the dinner. Cheers!

No, it still doesn't open. I wonder if it is the hotel's ethernet connection that is somehow not able to connect. Cheers!

Are any of you guys having difficulty getting to Berkshire's website? Every time I try and go there, internet explorer tells me that it cannot display the webpage. Cheers!

Terrific stuff! And that's with a marketing company that hasn't done a good job of getting the ads out. Cheers!

You know, I sent some ideas to Sardar several months ago, and one of them was the sliders and another one was updating their website with targetted marketing. He was already working on both things. The sliders were shortly being tested in Atlanta, and within a month or two, they were already being offered across all regions. Yet the website has not had anything really updated, other than information regarding the company on the "Investing" page and the new franchises available in different regions on the "Franchising" page. I'm guessing that Varnson was sitting on their ass and taking their sweet time getting things in motion. Has anyone seen any advertising for the new mini burgers? Is there even a picture of them on the website? They've gotten rid of several things on the menu and added some things, yet the website menu is the same as last year. Sardar issued equity to these guys to incentivize them, yet here we are almost two months into the sliders and I've yet to see any ads pertaining to them. We get a Chicago station and they show Steak'n Shake commercials on there. I've seen commercials for the value menu deals, but none for the the new hotdogs or sliders. As John said in his interview, talk is cheap with Sardar. He likes to get things done, and he's probably somewhat impatient with service providers when he's working 17 hour days himself. He's away from his family for the week because he has alot at stake, and Varnson aren't viewing the situation with the same sort of urgency. We'll find out eventually exactly what happened, but if a lawsuit means getting a more efficient marketing company, or getting these guys off their butts, then I'm ok with that. Cheers!

No, but I would just bring your proxy card or your brokerage statement just in case. I've never had to present anything. Cheers!

Wells won't have any problems right now. The spreads are just too wide when paying deposits and lending funds. That spread will narrow over time, and then you may see some headwinds. But at the moment, they are at historic margins and banks will do very well this year. Cheers!

Stupid! Just plain dumb! I'm sure Massachusetts has their target at 9% annually. Cheers!

We bought a ton! We were so overweighted in financial stocks, that we sold our WFC shares at $17 after an 80% gain in two weeks...but we've still got our options. We bought heavily into financials through the end of February and the beginning of March. Cheers!

Looks like the SEC will try and implement some short-selling curbs. I'm not so concerned about short-selling as I am about naked short-selling, which is the real problem. Cheers! http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aYOyiufVeHdY&refer=home

Anybody know anything about this guy Bob Dhillon, who runs Mainstreet Equity Corp. Somebody gave me a copy of a local community magazine saying this guy was the "first Sikh billionaire". I've read a few articles, seen a couple of videos of him on the internet, and read their annual and quarterly report. He seems like he's completely full of shit. This thing is so leveraged it makes the U.S. real estate companies look conservative. They've been losing money for the last few years. Mainstreet has a market cap of $96M, while equity is only $15M. They've got $355M in debt! I took a quick look at the most recent proxy circular, and this guy is milking the company for what he can in compensation, related party transactions and his termination clauses ensure he's taken care of for three years. I'm surprised that there are a few people related to the Richard Ivey School of Business on his board of directors. Something smells fishy here! Cheers!

Gurufocus does an interview with Mr. Eveillard. Cheers! http://www.gurufocus.com/news.php?id=52565

Oldye, Just email me at sanjeevparsad@shaw.ca . Will you be there for the dinner? Thanks!

Thanks very much Mark! We'll see you next year.

With less than a week to go, we have 41 guests coming to the dinner this year. To date, the list of attendees includes: - Sanjeev P. - Alnesh M. - Andrew C. - Paul R. - Eric A. - Jim B. - Yuriy B. - Brian B. - Feidhlim B. - Stephen C. - Stephen C. (Crip) - Jordan C. - Marc C. - Vahe D. - James E. - Gregory F. - Stuart F. - Stephane G. - Leon G. - David H. - Simon H. - Gary H. - Tom J. - Charles K. - Alex K. - Stephen K. - William M. (possibly a guest) - Stefaan M. (possibly a guest) - Eng-Chuan O. - John P. - Norm R. - Al R. - E. San Pedro - Keith S. - Jeff S. (uncertain) - Nicholas S. - G. Van Arsdell - Jack W. - Ilya Z. If you haven't already given me your RSVP for the shareholder's dinner, then please do so. If you may be bringing a guest or were "uncertain", please let me know for sure over the next day or two. Details for the dinner are below: For the fourth year in a row, we will be holding a Fairfax Financial Shareholder's Dinner in Toronto. About nine people showed up the first year, and last year we had about 30 shareholders attend. For the last three years, Sam Mitchell and Francis Chou have graciously attended, where they have entertained questions from shareholders for over an hour. Many attendees left with sage advice that served them well through the volatility of 2008! Fairfax Financial Shareholder's Dinner Tuesday April 14, 2009 Joe Badali's 156 Front Street West Toronto, Ontario (416)977-3064 Drinks: 6:30pm-7:00pm Dinner: 7:00pm-9:00pm RSVP: sanjeevparsad@shaw.ca Cheers!

Wade may actually be able to work for free now anyway! ;D I'm sure he's done very well for himself since he's been at Cundill. Cheers!