Business
Short films are becoming popular amongst ambitious realtors looking for a competitive edge to stand out in the city’s housing market.

Forget the gimmicks, fridge magnets, or free home evaluations, short films are becoming popular amongst ambitious realtors looking for a competitive edge to stand out in the city’s housing market.
A successful woman driving a Telsa pulls up and parks in the two car garage, she struts confidently through her back yard. She’s obsessed with a song by a trendy Soundcloud famous DJ, Mallrat https://www.facebook.com/lilmallrat/, from which she switches from her Model 3 electric car, to iPhone, then to her house Sonos system, seamlessly, to which she starts to dance. We’re given a cinematic tour of the smart home, from room to room has the dancer, performed by professional dancer, and successful Edmonton business woman, Larissa Kovelanko, as she rhythmically moves her body throughout the entire home. The home located at 8617 108A Street, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
While the beautifully shot film could be advertising any number of things – electric cars, dance classes, new religion for adults seeking meaning – it’s actually an ad for a home. The home, a brand new custom infill home built by Vrabel Homes in the core of Edmonton, near 109st, and Saskchawean drive, blocks south of Whyte Avenue. Edmonton’s bustling market place is prime location for people to shop, or hang out with friends at the local coffee shops within a short radius.
The film is the brainchild of realtor Nikita Gylander with Core Real Estate Group (corerealestategroup.ca), who sold Edmonton cinematographer Raoul Bhatt (https://www.facebook.com/raoulbhatt) his home which was built by the same builder. Nikita, the social and well connected Edmonton realtor who’s kept tight relationships with all her clients, approached Bhatt for a video, whom she was aware was in the movie business. The movie’s uniqueness shines throughout this 4min and 20second video, which we discover the three-storey house, visually and emotionally.
“The price point was much higher than what was common in the neighbourhood, because it’s a brand new home, an infill, and it has a unique layout, high end finishing’s and ability to generate an income with it’s basement suite, ideal for someone who wants a new home, but is investment savvy, ie the two bedroom legal basement suite could rent for $1800 a month, which would cover $350,000 of the mortgage. With university students at UofA just blocks away, and anyone that may enjoy flavourful foods and sips of chai at hip local indian fusion ‘coffee shop’ Remedy. So I knew the exposure [of the listing] needed to be greater than usual,” she explains.
With that in mind, Raoul suggested a short video that would appeal to her perceived prospective buyer… Nikita, an outside the box thinker, thought it would appeal to a young family looking for a quiet property in an attractive neighbourhood, or a professional that wants to be in the mix of it all. And it worked. The video has been viewed thousands of times, and the house with increasing inquiries for viewing, which was listed just last week, for the asking price at $1.1 million.
In Edmonton, real estate videos – from fanciful creations like straightforward virtual tours – are becoming more popular among realtors looking for a competitive edge in a saturated market.
According to the Edmonton Real Estate Board, there are some 3000 real estate agents working in the Edmonton and surrounding area. Forget fridge magnets. Some realtors are now doing anything to attract new clients, from throwing “wine and cheese night” open houses to branding ice cream bicycles that pedal around local fairs, this just shows how far agents are willing to go for their clients, in this case the builder of this infill.
Raoul Bhatt, After 22 years of running a software company, who initially got into film to create cinematic stories of his softwares, which have been used by NHL, Superbowl, WWE Wrestlemania, Fall Out Boy. Which also produced a short web series for Booster Juice in 2017. Has been increasingly been approached to produce docs and tv shows by national Canadian brands. Bhatt, still a CEO of his software company, has ventured into the movie business, being featured by Jetset Parking which got 1/2 million views (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AtsFUKho98), and Swimco.com (https://www.swimco.com/2018/06/meet-our-swimsuitmodel-raoul-bhatt/). Early into his new career, Raoul has realized, it’s doing things differently that makes his business stand out, and storytelling through cinema compliments his other ventures.
“The typical Realestate video, they’re definitely cheesy, but the films do to job, but when you make a movie, those are never forgotten, doesn’t matter what you’re offering” says Raoul Bhatt, who advocates anything he does be like a movie.
His film isn’t just showing off the space’s amenities, they’re also meant to be aspirational. For Nikita Gylander and Vrabel Homes, he tailored this video to who he imagines is the prospective buyer, whether it’s a professor, or a young successful career woman.
“These films show what life could be like if you lived in this home,” says Bhatt. “Instead of just some beauty shots where you can turn off the video halfway through, [lifestyle films] work because people want to see the beginning, middle and the end.”
2025 Federal Election
Three cheers for Poilievre’s alcohol tax cut

By Franco Terrazzano
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation applauds Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre’s commitment to end and reverse the alcohol escalator tax.
“Poilievre just promised major alcohol tax cuts and taxpayers will cheers to that,” said Franco Terrazzano, CTF Federal Director. “Poilievre’s tax cut will save Canadians money every time they have a cold one with a buddy or enjoy a glass of Pinot with their better half and it will give Canadians brewers, distillers and wineries a fighting chance against tariffs.”
Today, federal alcohol taxes increased by two per cent, costing taxpayers about $40 million this year, according to Beer Canada.
Poilievre announced a Conservative government “will axe the escalator tax on wine, beer and spirits back to 2017 levels, ending the automatic annual tax increases.”
The alcohol escalator tax has automatically increased excise taxes on beer, wine and spirits every year, without a vote in Parliament, since 2017. The alcohol escalator tax has cost taxpayers more than $900 million since being imposed, according to Beer Canada.
Taxes from multiple levels of government account for about half of the price of alcohol.
Meanwhile, tariffs are hitting the industry hard. Brewers have described the tariffs as “Armageddon for craft brewing.”
“Automatic tax hikes are undemocratic, uncompetitive and unaffordable and they need to stop,” Terrazzano said. “If politicians think Canadians aren’t paying enough tax, they should at least have the spine to vote on the tax increase.
“Poilievre is right to end the escalator tax and all party leaders should commit to making life more affordable for Canadian consumers and businesses by ending the undemocratic alcohol tax hikes.”
Business
Saskatchewan becomes first Canadian province to fully eliminate carbon tax

From LifeSiteNews
Saskatchewan has become the first Canadian province to free itself entirely of the carbon tax.
On March 27, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe announced the removal of the provincial industrial carbon tax beginning April 1, boosting the province’s industry and making Saskatchewan the first carbon tax free province.
Under Moe’s direction, Saskatchewan has dropped the industrial carbon tax which he says will allow Saskatchewan to thrive under a “tariff environment.”
“I would hope that all of the parties running in the federal election would agree with those objectives and allow the provinces to regulate in this area without imposing the federal backstop,” he continued.
The removal of the tax is estimated to save Saskatchewan residents up to 18 cents a liter in gas prices.
The removal of the tax will take place on April 1, the same day the consumer carbon tax will reduce to 0 percent under Prime Minister Mark Carney’s direction. Notably, Carney did not scrap the carbon tax legislation: he just reduced its current rate to zero. This means it could come back at any time.
Furthermore, while Carney has dropped the consumer carbon tax, he has previously revealed that he wishes to implement a corporation carbon tax, the effects of which many argued would trickle down to all Canadians.
The Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM) celebrated Moe’s move, noting that the carbon tax was especially difficult on farmers.
“I think the carbon tax has been in place for approximately six years now coming up in April and the cost keeps going up every year,” SARM president Bill Huber said.
“It puts our farming community and our business people in rural municipalities at a competitive disadvantage, having to pay this and compete on the world stage,” he continued.
“We’ve got a carbon tax on power — and that’s going to be gone now — and propane and natural gas and we use them more and more every year, with grain drying and different things in our farming operations,” he explained.
“I know most producers that have grain drying systems have three-phase power. If they haven’t got natural gas, they have propane to fire those dryers. And that cost goes on and on at a high level, and it’s made us more noncompetitive on a world stage,” Huber decalred.
The carbon tax is wildly unpopular and blamed for the rising cost of living throughout Canada. Currently, Canadians living in provinces under the federal carbon pricing scheme pay $80 per tonne.
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