National Post - Stinson not in my league, says the Donald
T.O. conference dust-up
Joseph Brean, National Post
Published: Monday, March 26, 2007
TORONTO - Rumours of a public showdown between Toronto's brashest real-estate developers -- local wunderkind Harry Stinson and Donald "The Donald" Trump -- turned out to be wishful thinking for attendees of a self-help and real-estate expo where both men spoke this weekend.
But the pair managed to trade jabs anyway, with Mr. Stinson telling a crowd of maybe 25,000 that he was flattered Mr. Trump considers him a competitor, and not "just a schmuck from Toronto."
"Donald wins the prize for the tallest unbuilt residential building in Toronto," Mr. Stinson joked. When the Trump building finally opens, Mr. Stinson said his own downtown condo tower would start offering free parking to steal its clientele.
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The pair have proposed luxury towers located about a block apart on Bay Street. Construction of the $500-million Trump International Hotel & Tower is scheduled to begin later this year at Adelaide Street; Mr. Stinson recently began selling his hotel/condominium skyscraper, Sapphire Tower, near Richmond Street.
Not one to shrink in the face of provocation, Mr. Trump -- wearing a nice black suit from his own line that he bought at Macy's, and just a touch of hair gel around the ears -- said, "He's not in the same league, but I'm glad he's flattered."
This retort seemed moderate for a man who also told the crowd: "When somebody screws you, screw them back in spades. I really mean that. You gotta hit hard, and it's not so much for them, but for other people watching."
Regarding Conrad Black, at whose trial he might be called as a witness, Mr. Trump told reporters, "A lot of times people are better off with a private company, that's why so many people are taking companies private."
His entire performance, both backstage and onstage at The Real Estate and Wealth Expo, was in keeping with the big talk that characterized a weekend of get-rich-quick schemes, real estate advice and positive thinking workshops. The event, hosted by the Learning Annex, featured lifestyle coach and two-time Oprah guest James Ray, famous for his promotion of "The Secret," a self-help regime that claims inspiration from Eastern mysticism and quantum mechanics.
On Saturday, he was introduced as "a modern-day Socrates," but spoke like a novelty hypnotist. Every few minutes, for example, he asked, "Does that makes sense to you?" and by the end you had agree that it did, much as a torture victim will confess to anything if you pull out his toenails.
He also kept saying that he is from San Diego, which would have gone without saying. With a pinkie ring on his right hand and a thumb ring on his left, an athletically exaggerated smile, aggressively positive thinking and armpit stains on an expensive shirt, the only way he would seem more Californian is if he were dressed as a raisin.
His presentation explained his no-nonsense, get-'er-done approach to what he calls "practical mysticism," which seems the sort of thing a paranoid mullah might imagine American spirituality to be--a sort of Tao of Exurbia.
He calls his theory "harmonic wealth," and spoke of the "morphic field" that surrounds everything, which will prevent happiness, fulfillment and wealth if it is in disharmony. Negative people, for example, are "energy vampires, sucking the lifeblood right out of you."
"Do you know we are changing the vibration of Toronto right now? We literally are. If you doubt me, my certainty overcomes your doubt, because I know what I know what I know," he said.
For truly changing the vibration of Toronto, however, you had to walk to the convention centre's north building, where a football field's worth of people -- aspiring condo flippers, Oprah fans, and Willy Lomans of every stripe -- were jumping up and down under the spell of Tony Robbins, the pope of positive thinking, who was shouting, "Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!"
If you did not leave inspired to get out there and get rich, you have no business in business.
The problem with these events, as Mr. Trump tells it, is that some people get over-inspired, and are soon in over their heads.
"A good half of them should not be entrepreneurs," Mr. Trump said of the conference attendees. He elaborated on the point in a telephone interview.
"Some people can't handle the pressure," he said. "They weren't born with the pedigree or the genes ... You know, if I can save people from destroying their lives by going out and wanting to be an entrepreneur, when they don't have the intrinsic ability, I've done a great service. There's nothing wrong with having a great job."