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Sam would understand.

As General Motors clings to life, propped up by government funding, it’s worth remembering that the forerunner of General Motors of Canada, long-time fief of R.S. "Colonel Sam" McLaughlin, endured an eerily similar fate 110 years ago.

McLaughlin was just 28, a young partner but already a driving force in the family business, when the clan watched disaster strike the McLaughlin Carriage Company buildings on Dec. 7, 1899.

"We were helpless," he later wrote. "We could only stand and watch our life’s work go up in flames, not only we McLaughlins, but the 600 men who depended for a living on the carriage works."

Then, as now, Oshawa’s biggest private employer was staring into the abyss. Then, as now, governments scrambled to offer cash and save jobs.

The works were "still smouldering" when a call came from Belleville, McLaughlin remembered. "The city was ready to float a bond issue, we were told, to provide us with a big cash bonus if we would rebuild our factory in Belleville."

Quickly, 15 other Ontario towns and cities made similar offers, but Oshawa came up with a then-whopping loan of $50,000 (more than $2 million today) to be repaid "when convenient."

Oshawa, carriages and then cars have been intertwined ever since, thanks largely to Colonel Sam, a nickname he picked up after becoming Honorary Colonel of the 11th Ontario Regiment.

It was said McLaughlin, who ran GM of Canada for much of the 20th century, had "wheels in his head." Not everyone knew this had started as a family joke about his "first recollection of the carriage business."

He was 5 at the time, and had wandered into the room where his father’s small company hung carriage wheels from the ceiling. One wheel fell, gashing McLaughlin’s head and knocking him out. Eventually, he would see a lot of wheels. After rebuilding in the wake of the fire, McLaughlin Carriage was soon the biggest in the British Empire, producing more than 25,000 carriages a year.

McLaughlin, 100 years old when he died in 1972, often confessed that he did not remember the first time he saw a motor car. But it was likely around 1904: a Ford owned by a McLaughlin bookkeeper with the wonderfully Dickensian name of Oliver Hezzlewood instant payday loans.

Hezzlewood had one complaint. When it rained, he and his passengers got soaked. McLaughlin had an idea. He had started out in the family business as a 16-year-old apprentice upholsterer earning $3 a week, $2.50 of which his father held back for room and board. So McLaughlin had a way with scissors. His solution was a rubberized sheet that fit over the vehicle’s body, with holes cut out for the heads of the driver and three passengers, all of whom then donned sou’westers.

Not long after, McLaughlin went to Detroit to see William Durant, head of the upstart Buick Motor Co. and soon-to-be creator of General Motors. McLaughlin wanted to strike a co-production deal, but the two couldn’t come to terms.

So the McLaughlin Motor Car Co., with Colonel Sam as president, set out on its own in 1907. But after its chief engineer fell ill, McLaughlin again turned to Durant for help. The ensuing accord saw Buick engines shipped to Oshawa and installed in vehicles built by McLaughlin. The car was dubbed the McLaughlin-Buick Model F. In 1908, the first full year of production, 154 of them rolled off the line.

McLaughlin became a director of GM in 1910 and, five years later, he was striking a Buick-like deal to built Chevrolets in Oshawa.

In 1918, with the lucrative Buick contract nearing its end and no obvious heirs to take over the family firm, McLaughlin sold out to GM. He stayed as president of the newly minted GM of Canada, and would be its chairman almost until his death.

An avid sportsman and horse breeder, he was certainly feisty to the end, not least in the wake of Ralph Nader’s Unsafe at Any Speed campaign against GM and its Corvair model in the 1960s.

Enormously wealthy and in his 90s, McLaughlin was chauffeured to GM in Oshawa every day. Then one day he arrived in a Corvair that was parked from then on in the chair’s spot.

Suffice to say, if Washington had summoned Sam for bailout hearings, chances are he’d have driven there himself in the least luxurious GM product he could find.

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Dallas Federal Reserve President Richard Fisher said there was no sign of a problem with U.S. inflation at the moment, and revealed that Chinese officials had quizzed him on the Fed’s purchases of U.S. government bonds.

Fisher, who is not a voting member of the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) in 2009, said research by his staff indicated that inflation was currently not a threat.

“I don’t think that’s the risk right now,” Fisher told the Wall Street Journal in an interview published on Monday. “Price increases are less and less. Ex-energy, ex-food, ex-tobacco you’ve got some mild deflation here and no inflation in the (broader) headline index,” he was quoted as saying.

Fisher, who is viewed as one of the Fed’s more prominent inflation hardliners, however, highlighted the need to reverse eventually the United States’ scheme to buy up billions of dollars’ worth of debt to help the nation out of recession.

Policymakers have to be “always mindful that whatever you put in, you are going to have to take out at some point. And also be mindful that there are these perceptions (about the possibility of monetizing the debt), which is why I have been sensitive about the issue of purchasing Treasuries,” he said fast payday loans.

Treasury purchases were also a hot topic on a recent visit to China during talks with officials, Fisher revealed.

“I was asked at every single meeting about our purchase of Treasuries. That seemed to be the principal preoccupation of those that were invested with their surpluses mostly in the United States. That seems to be the issue people are most worried about,” he said.

Fisher added that central bankers had to stand up to politicians calling for ever more financial stimulus.

“Throughout history what the political class has done is they have turned to the central bank to print their way out of an unfunded liability,” he warned.

“We can’t let that happen. That’s when you open the floodgates. So I hope and I pray that our political leaders will just have to take this bull by the horns at some point. You can’t run away from it.”

(Reporting by Marc Jones; editing by David Stamp)

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FRANKFURT – German automaker Daimler AG said Tuesday it has acquired a nearly 10 per cent stake in California-based electric car maker Tesla Motors Inc. as part of plans to ramp up its own electric car production.

The two companies are already working together on using Tesla's lithium-ion battery packs and charging electronics in Daimler's electric version of its two-seat Smart car.

The stake's value was not disclosed, but Weber said it was in the double-digit millions.

Thomas Weber, research and development chief at Daimler's Mercedes-Benz Cars unit, said the stake will let the two companies work more closely on developing better battery and electric drive systems for vehicles destined for the consumer market.

Tesla chief executive Elon Musk said in a statement that the partnership would help it bring the Tesla Model S car to production faster and "ensure that it is a superlative vehicle on all levels."

As part of the deal, Daimler vice-president Herbert Kohler will take a seat on Tesla's board of directors.

Daimler, along with other automakers, is working on developing more battery and electric-powered cars. Earlier this year, it founded the Deutsche Accumotive GmbH, a joint venture with Evonik Industries AG low fee payday loans.

Daimler has been testing a fleet of 100 electric-powered Smart Fortwo cars in London and, later this year, will start production of up to 1,000 of the cars at its assembly plant in Hambach, France.

"The next step will be an electrified Smart with a Tesla battery pack," Weber said. "This car will be available on the market at the end of this year."

Tesla, headquartered in San Carlos, California, has earned praise for its low-slung Roadster, the $109,000 (dollar figures U.S.) two-seat electric sports car that can get more than 320 kilometres on a single charge with an acceleration of zero to 96 km/h in just under 4 seconds.

The Tesla Model S is an all-electric, five-door sedan that can carry up to seven people as far as 483 kilometres on a single charge. It was unveiled in March and production is set to begin in late 2011.

The sticker price for the Model S will be $49,900 after a $7,500 federal rebate for buying an electric vehicle.

The Model S and the Roadster can be charged by plugging into wall sockets.

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The recession is easing? Not so fast. An unexpected drop in sales of just about everything from cars to clothes sent a sobering message Tuesday: The economy is still vulnerable.

With Americans still losing jobs, a major fear is that people will cut back even further on spending, and that could plunge the economy into a sharper tailspin. Tuesday’s report that retail sales fell 1.1 percent in March deepened concern.

The economy shrank at a 6.3 percent rate in the final three months of 2008, its worst showing in a quarter-century. Some estimate it fared about as poorly in the first three months of this year; others estimate a 4 percent to 5 percent rate of decline. The government will release its initial estimate at the end of April.

A big drop in auto sales led the March decline in retail sales. Business was way down at clothing, appliance and furniture stores, too quick cash.
Still, analysts say there’s reason to hope. Shoppers’ appetites should get a lift from the tax credits of $400 per worker and $800 per couple in the government’s $787 billion economic stimulus package. Most workers in April started seeing a $10 bump in their weekly paychecks.

As for the March sales decline, some analysts didn’t think it was as bleak as it looked. Part of the decrease was simply because prices have fallen, depressing sales totals.

Some analysts said they remain hopeful the economy actually will start to grow again later this year, possibly in the final quarter.

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Advisers to bondholders of General Motors Corp said on Monday they have presented a framework plan to U.S. President Barack Obama’s autos task force and the ailing No. 1 U.S. automaker that provides the company’s best chance for an out-of-court restructuring.

In a statement, advisers to the ad hoc committee of GM bondholders said the framework plan for a debt-to-equity exchange was “consistent with the government’s restructuring requirements under the terms” of emergency government loans provided to the automaker.

“It (the framework) provides the best chance … of completing an out-of-court restructuring by securing a high level of acceptance among a diverse group of GM bondholders — from mutual funds to pension funds to retail bondholders,” the statement added.

The plan, which was presented to the autos task force and GM several weeks ago, “is one of several options on the table that seeks to achieve a successful out-of-court restructuring,” the statement said.

The statement from bondholders came the same day task force adviser Steve Rattner was quoted in a Detroit Free Press newspaper interview as saying bondholders were being “quite difficult” in talks intended to cut GM financing costs.

Rattner also was quoted as saying the United Auto Workers had been “very constructive” in talks with GM and Chrysler over restructuring payments due union retiree healthcare trusts.

Rattner also told the newspaper that bankruptcy was not the task force’s goal, saying it was “never a good outcome for any company, and it’s never a first choice.”

A representative from Treasury could not be reached immediately for comment.

GM Chief Executive Rick Wagoner was in Washington on Monday to meet with task force members, according to a person familiar with the meeting who was not authorized to speak publicly free credit score. The meeting was described as ongoing fact-finding by the panel.

Wagoner also met with the German Economy Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg on Monday night. Guttenberg told reporters after the talks that GM appeared willing to help Europeans in saving the automaker’s Opel Unit.

Guttenberg, in Washington ahead of a meeting Tuesday with U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, said it was essential for GM to find a private investor. One scenario could involve GM taking a minority stake.

Guttenberg said there were still many open questions that needed to be addressed.

Germany is open to the possibility of helping Opel but has said it needed to be sure no state support would find its way to GM, which is seeking more bailout help from the U.S. government to survive. Opel has said it needs financial support to survive.

GM bondholders face pressure under the terms of the automaker’s bailout from the U.S. government to reduce by two-thirds the roughly $27 billion they are owed, through an exchange for new equity in a recapitalized company.

Bondholders have balked at those proposed terms, saying they are unfair given the payout terms being offered to workers represented by the United Auto Workers union and the remaining debt at GM.

GM and No. 3 U.S. automaker Chrysler LLC — 80 percent controlled by private-equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP — face a March 31 deadline when the autos task force must decide whether the companies can be restructured successfully. 

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NEW YORK–Bernard Madoff pleaded guilty Thursday to an epic fraud that robbed investors worldwide of billions of dollars, avoiding eye contact with swindled investors before he was led out of court with his hands cuffed behind his back.

U.S. District Judge Denny Chin denied bail for Madoff, 70, and ordered him to jail, noting that he had the means to flee and an incentive to do so because of his age.

Madoff spoke steadily in court as he addressed the judge before his guilty plea was accepted.

"I am actually grateful for this opportunity to publicly comment about my crimes, for which I am deeply sorry and ashamed,” he said.

"As the years went by, I realized my risk, and this day would inevitably come. I cannot adequately express how sorry I am for my crimes.”

Madoff did not look at any of the three investors who spoke at the hearing, even when one of them turned in his direction and tried to address him.

After arguments began as to whether Madoff should remain free on bail, his lawyer Ira Sorkin described the bail conditions and how Madoff had, "at his wife’s own expense," paid for private security at his $7 million penthouse.

Loud laughter erupted among some of the more than 100 spectators crammed into the large courtroom on the 24th floor of the federal courthouse in lower Manhattan. The judge warned the spectators to remain silent quick payday loans.

The fraud turned a revered money man into an overnight global disgrace whose name became synonymous with the current economic meltdown.

Madoff described his crimes after he entered a guilty plea to all 11 counts he was charged with, including fraud, perjury, theft from an employee benefit plan, and two counts of international money laundering.

Prosecutors say the disgraced financier, who has spent three months under house arrest in his $7 million in Manhattan penthouse, could face a maximum sentence of 150 years in prison at sentencing.

Madoff explained his scheme by telling the judge that he believed the fraud would be short-term and that he could extricate himself.

The plea came three months after the FBI claimed Madoff admitted to his sons that his once-revered investment fund was all a big lie – a Ponzi scheme that was in the billions of dollars. Since his arrest in December, the scandal has turned the 70-year-old former Nasdaq chairman into a pariah who has worn a bulletproof vest to court.

The scheme evaporated life fortunes, wiped out charities and apparently pushed at least two investors to commit suicide. Victims big and small were swindled by Madoff, from elderly Florida retirees to actors Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick and Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel.

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Offers of huge rebates and tempting low-interest loans weren’t enough to entice car buyers out of their bunkers in this economic crisis, causing U.S. auto sales in February to hover near historic lows.

General Motors’ sales tumbled 53 percent from a year earlier, while Ford’s U.S. sales fell 48 percent and Chrysler’s dropped 44 percent. The major Japanese automakers fared only slightly better.

Things are so bad that GM, which marked its worst February sales since 1967, is considering a program to let buyers keep their cars for a time without making payments if they lose their jobs.

The overall slide casts further doubt on the financial viability of GM and Chrysler, which need to sell cars and generate critical cash to supplement the $17.4 billion in government loans that are keeping them in business.

Overall, U.S. auto sales were down 41 percent from February 2008 but up 5 percent from January, according to Autodata Corp. and Ward’s AutoInfoBank.

The increase was a good sign, but it’s far less than the usual 14 percent sales bump from January to February, and it doesn’t necessarily mean sales have hit the bottom, said Jesse Toprak, executive director of industry analysis for the auto website Edmunds.com.

"It does mean that there’s some life out there," Toprak said.

Automakers and analysts have been predicting sales will rebound in the second half of this year, but they are becoming less certain. Massive layoffs, the stock market decline and sliding home values are prompting people to hold on to their vehicles, while those who are buying are more often buying a used one.

Emily Kolinski Morris, Ford’s top economist, said retail sales to individuals had been stable for four months but dropped in February. Ford’s forecast still calls for a modest second-half recovery as economic stimulus measures take hold, Morris said.

Analysts say that when all the numbers are tallied, February sales could be worse than January’s total of 656,976 light vehicles, the lowest monthly total since the industry sold 656,310 vehicles in December 1981, according to Autodata Corp new car loan rates. and Ward’s AutoInfoBank.

The trough is likely even though automakers spent more on rebates, low-interest financing and other incentives to lure buyers. "If it wasn’t for the generous level of incentives now, we probably would be seeing even lower sales, if you can believe it," Toprak said.

Industrywide, the average incentive per vehicle last month rose 8 percent from January to $2,914 per vehicle sold, according to Edmunds. Incentives climbed to an average of 20 percent of a new car’s sticker price, topping more than $10,000 on some vehicles.

Chrysler executives said its incentive last month of employee pricing plus cash discounts and zero-percent financing helped spur sales of some vehicles, and it will continue the program in March. Still, February sales for the Dodge Ram pickup, made at the Fenton plant, fell 36 percent from a year ago.

Meanwhile, Toyota Motor Corp.’s U.S. sales plunged 40 percent. Honda Motor Co.’s sales dropped 38 percent, and Nissan Motor Co.’s fell 37 percent.

Within GM’s decline, sales of its GMC Savana fell 47 percent from a year ago, and its Chevy Express dropped 67 percent. Workers in Wentzville make the full-size vans.

Most automakers posted significant declines, but Subaru of America Inc.’s U.S. sales edged up 1 percent in February as sales of its top-selling Forester model doubled. Kia Motors Corp.’s sales were about flat from a year earlier.

Angela Tablac of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.

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For at least the last five years, AmerenUE has doggedly worked for approval of a fuel surcharge that would allow it to more quickly recover millions of dollars in coal and natural gas expenses from its 1.2 million electric customers.

The St. Louis utility, a subsidiary of Ameren Corp., lobbied the Missouri Legislature to get a law passed in 2005. For three years, it pleaded to regulators, claiming it was at a disadvantage to utilities in other states. Finally, the state Public Service Commission approved AmerenUE’s request on Jan. 27 as part of a rate increase that lifted revenue by $163 million a year.

Now, just two weeks later, AmerenUE is back on the PSC’s doorstep asking for a temporary change to the new rules, which haven’t yet taken effect.

Because of last month’s crippling ice storm in southeast Missouri and a bizarre set of circumstances, what would have been a $31.4 million windfall for Ameren shareholders becomes a $73 million gusher for utility customers.

AmerenUE says the potential $100 million swing in revenue ultimately threatens to wipe out almost half of last month’s rate increase.

The issue centers on Noranda Inc.’s aluminum smelter in New Madrid County. The plant, which is outside AmerenUE’s geographic service area, is the utility’s biggest electricity consumer. In 2005, the PSC approved a 15-year electric supply agreement between AmerenUE and Noranda.

The ice storm knocked out Associated Electric Cooperatives Inc.’s transmission lines that deliver AmerenUE’s power to the plant. Noranda said the outage cut plant capacity by 75 percent, and restoring full capacity could take a year.

The outage leaves AmerenUE with excess electric generation that it can sell for a higher price on the wholesale power market.

Under current rules, Ameren could sell the power at market rates. That would mean an additional $31 cash advance america.4 million in pretax earnings for AmerenUE and its parent’s shareholders.

But the PSC-approved fuel surcharge will require that 95 percent of the additional revenue from the sale of excess power go to utility customers.

AmerenUE said in its filing that "giving customers a windfall caused solely by an act of God that reduced Noranda’s production would be unjust, unreasonable and unfair."

"We never anticipated an ice storm like we saw in southeast Missouri," utility spokeswoman Karen Foss said. "All we’re asking for is a one-time exception for this extraordinary situation."

But consumer groups that vehemently opposed the fuel surcharge balked at the idea of taking revenue from customers and giving it back to utility shareholders.

"I’ve been doing this for a long time, and I can’t remember a time when I was so appalled at the greed and callousness of a utility," said Lewis Mills Jr., Missouri’s public counsel. "They’ve literally spent millions of dollars getting this particular fuel adjustment clause through. That’s why it’s so outrageous."

Foss said AmerenUE is only asking the commission to "be made whole," so that it isn’t penalized from the storm and damage to transmission lines it doesn’t own. Customers would still benefit from any additional profit on power sales above what’s needed for the company to recoup lost revenue.

The utility has asked the PSC to rule on the request by Feb. 19. The fuel surcharge and higher electric rates are expected to take effect March 1.

jtomich@post-dispatch.com | 314-340-8320

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NORTHFIELD–Kraft Foods Inc. said Wednesday that its fourth-quarter profit fell 72 percent due to costs related to a restructuring program, and the company cut its 2009 guidance because of the stronger dollar and pension costs.

The maker of Velveeta, Oreo cookies and Maxwell House coffee reported net income of $163 million, or 11 cents per share, compared with $585 million, or 38 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding one-time items related to asset impairment, exit and implementation costs, and an adjustment on a gain from its split-off of Post cereals, net income was 43 cents per share. That is a penny short of the 44 cents per share analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, on average, expected.

The Northfield, Ill.-based company said revenue rose 6 per cent to $10.77 billion from $10.14 billion last year. That missed analyst predictions of $11.29 billion as North American volume fell amid markdowns and inventory reduction by retailers, and as the company pruned less profitable items. Overall volume was down 5.2 per cent in the quarter.

The strongest product category was U.S. convenient meals, including DiGiorno and California Pizza Kitchen pizzas, helped by price increases and as consumers continued to eat more from the grocery store rather than restaurants instant cash advance.

Chief Executive Irene Rosenfeld told analysts on a conference call the company is able to respond faster to changes in the marketplace and raise prices more quickly to recoup higher costs. In the quarter, Kraft's pricing contributed 9.8 percentage points of growth.

"We priced aggressively because it was the right thing to do to address rapidly rising input costs and to preserve our ability to invest in our brands," she said.

The company cut 2009 earnings guidance to $1.88 per share from $2 per share, due to the stronger dollar weighing on international markets and pension costs. Analysts expect a profit of $2.02 per share. It said if the U.S. dollar weakens, earnings per share will improve more.

It expects 2009 revenue to grow about 3 per cent excluding acquisitions, from a previous expectation of about 4 percent.

For the year, profit rose 12 per cent to $2.9 billion, or $1.92 per share, from $2.59 billion, or $1.62 per share. Revenue rose 17 per cent to $42.2 billion from $36.13 billion a year ago.

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The clock with the lavender plastic rim on the back wall of H&H Convenience is an hour and 18 minutes fast. This means nothing to Almaz Nebai. She tells time by the front door.

Starting at 4:30 p.m., it opens every few minutes. That lasts three hours. After that, every 20 minutes or so for another hour, then it tapers off until midnight.

A young Hispanic woman wants her regular small pack of Podium cigarettes, the cheapest at $6 with tax. A man in Docksiders and khakis buys two cans of Arizona tea and stuffs them into a backpack. An Asian woman in heels pulls money from her Louis Vuitton wallet to pay for two packs of DuMaurier. A middle-aged man wants a small Peter Jackson Light with his two cans of Arizona.

"If I get a dollar from the cigarettes, I’m happy," says Nebai.

"With Arizona, there’s not much profit, a few cents, but my customers love it. It’s good for you."

Times are tough all over, but "not much profit," that might as well be the theme song for Ontario’s convenience stores, which have been struggling to get by since the province banned the open display of cigarettes last summer. Between 45 and 65 per cent of corner store profits came from cigarette sales; since such "power walls" were banned that’s been cut by 30 to 50 per cent.

Dave Bryans, president of the Ontario Convenience Stores Association, expects a third of Ontario’s 10,000 convenience stores will be out of business in five years unless the province curbs illegal tobacco sales and starts letting proven, reliable stores sell beer and wine.

But, for now, shopkeepers like Nebai, earning just pennies per hour, make do selling what they can.

Cigarettes, snacks and drinks pay the bills, but not all of them. Since she bought the business in April and moved into the flat at the back, she’s been hunting for deals at Costco and Cash and Carry, clicking through Internet sites to find better suppliers. Rent is $1,600 a month.

A woman at Cash and Carry sent Nebai to Imperial Tobacco, so she gets some brands delivered. The rest she buys every morning, before she opens, whatever she is low on. Podium, made in Caledonia by Lanwest Manufacturing for sale off-reserve, comes from Costco.

With a diploma in accounting from Algonquin College in Ottawa and marketing courses from Seneca, Nebai has plans for this corner north of the Dundas West subway station. There’s a Slovenian deli next door, a Jehovah’s Witness temple down the street. Budget, Price Chopper and Shoppers are nearby. Houses on the streets behind her sell for just under a half-million. The store was Lee-Bee’s West Indian Grocery for years before a couple tried it as a variety store, then gave up and sold to Nebai. She inherited candles, ceramic frogs, hair extensions and shelves of Christmas decorations with the hardware, Pringles, canned spaghetti sauce and kitchen stuff.

Around 11 one morning, she grinds Van Houtte beans for a fresh pot, splits a pack of Hostess cupcakes on two napkins and settles down to talk.

"I loved Ottawa, but when I came here, I loved Toronto, too. It was my first time driving on a highway when I came here from Ottawa."

"I found this place online for a reasonable price. It’s a really good location, the main customer is from the subway, people back and forth in the morning and evening guaranteed approval payday loans. During the day, they come from the neighbourhood. There are a lot of East Bloc people living around here. Everyone is very nice, very nice. It was a struggle at first. I was sometimes shocked that nobody was here, but it’s picking up, slowly."

She and a friend left Asmara, the once-lovely Italianate capital of Eritrea, in 1985, when the 30-year civil war with Ethiopia was at its most brutal, walking for 11 days into Sudan. She was 25. "It was a terrible time. We were hiding from Ethiopian soldiers and Eritrean fighters. But the land around us as we walked was beautiful and we made a promise, my friend and I, that we would come back. She went to Sweden. She called me a few years ago to ask, `Remember the promise?’ But she is dead now, of cancer."

There’s not much room for sentimentality. A woman in a hijab and long skirt with no time to waste floats in looking for a toy for her son, who is 4 today. She leaves with Spider-Man and a long-distance calling card.

"I am so happy here," Nebai says. "There is hope for the future. I’m always thinking, planning the strategy."

She’s been asking the Ontario Lottery Corporation for a terminal and might just get one this month. If she gets approved and there is a machine available, the security deposit runs from $2,000 to up to $6,000 for a full-scale Lotto Centre.

A key-cutting service, cellphone cards, movie rentals, maybe stamps although a store not far away already sells them and Canada Post picks its spots based on postal code. If she buys 60 DVD movies, a company will throw in another 1,000 but she needs a $100 Film Exchange Retail Licence to rent them. Her cut from the ATM machine is half the $1.50 service fee; if she buys it for $2,500, her cut is 85 per cent.

"I tried bread but I had to eat it myself. Perishables are a waste of time – people go to Price Chopper."

She tours the shelves, rating each item. "Bathroom goods are well-demanded. The house materials are really working well."

She brought a Zippo lighter display cabinet up from the basement and added cigarette cases to the stock because customers asked for them. If she gets the lottery machine, if she gets the cell phone card business (a $1,500 down payment, then $14 a month), if she can buy the ATM machine, if she can rent DVDs, if she builds up enough loyal customers, she might make it.

The store opens at 9 a.m., closes at midnight. "Sometimes, it can be like a prison." Then she smiles. "I didn’t marry, I tried to. Now I like not answering to someone."

Her sister and two brothers, one with a master’s in engineering and another with a degree in economics, wanted her to move to Germany to reunite the family, but she prefers Canada. After a refugee camp in Sudan, she had gone to England for surgery on her leg, gnarled with polio. A United Church in Ottawa sponsored her as a refugee.

"It is amazing. I never thought that I would live in Canada. We studied it in geography in school – lots of snow! – and now I’ve become a Canadian. I feel at home here. Everyone is from far away."

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