AB Economic Fundamentals 2008-07

[GlennLasiuta]

City of Red Deer 2008 Census resultsA census is an official door-to-door count of the number of homes and people living in Red Deer. Results of the 2007 Census indicate that Red Deer continues to grow at a healthy rate.

Current Population
There were 2,111 new residents who made Red Deer their home in 2008, an increase of 2.46 per cent over 2007. The increase brings Red Deer`s total population to 87,816 people.

Strongest Growth
The strongest growth occurred in the areas of Oriole Park West with 622 new residents, Johnstone Park with 608, Vanier Woods with 599 and Lancaster with 374.

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New ambulance operator takes over in Sylvan Lake

A new ambulance operator has taken over in Sylvan Lake.

Lakeside Emergency Medical Service was given the contract when town officials became concerned that the existing ambulance contractor was unable to consistently provide paramedics for advanced life support services, protective services director Dennis Krill said on Wednesday.

Lakeside is a new service, set up by Nina and Gary Beresford of Rocky Mountain House specifically for the Town of Sylvan Lake. The Beresfords have an existing business contracting medical services to oil and gas companies, said Krill.

http://www.albertalocalnews.com/reddeeradv...ylvan_Lake.html

 

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Tourism Red Deer promoting businesses through video clips

Video clips of Red Deer businesses can now be seen around the world.

Tourism Red Deer and iMediaTV.ca have joined forces to launch Tourism Red Deer TV, said Tourism Red Deer executive director Darren Kuz.

"We`re excited about the venture. Through our partnership we`re able to showcase tourism news, marketing videos and business profiles."

The video can be found at Tourism Red Deer`s website at www.tourismreddeer.net.

http://www.albertalocalnews.com/reddeeradv...ideo_clips.html

 

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Home property sales down 18 % in second quarter

Residential property sales in Central Alberta continue to lag behind last year`s record pace.

A total of 1,530 homes changed hands through the Multiple Listing Service during the second quarter of 2008, said Central Alberta Realtors Association president Randy Weins on Thursday.

That`s down 18 per cent from the same period last year, when 1,878 deals were struck.

In the city of Red Deer, 731 sales were completed during the April-to-June period, added Weins. That represents a 13 per cent decline from the same quarter in 2007, which saw 638 deals closed.

http://www.albertalocalnews.com/reddeeradv...nd_quarter.html

 

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Sustainability process revisions postponed

A year after instituting a screening process to gauge the sustainability of Canmore`s future development projects, council is trying to make the process better.

And while a checklist for the sustainability screening report (SSR) was passed last week, further amendments to the overall process were postponed after a number of concerns caused considerable debate.

http://www.albertalocalnews.com/rockymount...s/22866009.html

 

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Pine beetles increase hold around Canmore

Canmore and Kananaskis have seen the greatest increase in mountain pine beetle in Alberta over the past year, according to a survey conducted this spring and released last week by the Alberta government.

It was hoped that cold weather this past winter would result in an increase in beetle mortality, but while frigid temperatures may have had some effect, the recently released survey shows that overall numbers have increased, mountain pine beetle prevention specialist Erica Lee said during a teleconference Thursday (June 26).

http://www.albertalocalnews.com/rockymount...s/22865959.html

 

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Medicine Hat has highest tax gap

For the second time in the past couple of weeks the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) has taken the City of Medicine Hat to task.

First it was in its Alberta Municipal Spending Watch report, where it warned that the city`s operating spending per capita was the third highest of 18 cities survey in the province for 2006 and not sustainable.

This week, the CFIB study "Property Tax Fairness in Alberta" noted that among municipalities in southern Alberta, the tax gap between commercial and residential property tax rates is the highest in Medicine Hat.

In 2007, commercial property owners paid $2.97 for every dollar in property taxes paid by residential property owners.

http://www.mdhnews.com/content/view/33942/27/

 

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City of Red Deer wants federal funds

The City of Red Deer, with $300 million in debt, is waiting anxiously for the start of a long-delayed federal infrastructure grant program.

While billions of grant dollars were set aside in 2007 by the Conservative government for nationwide infrastructure building projects, none of this money is yet available.

Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon is reportedly still negotiating how the program will work with provincial governments.

http://www.albertalocalnews.com/reddeeradv...eral_funds.html

 

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Expect tax jolt for city refit

EDMONTON - Edmonton homeowners could face double-digit tax hikes until 2017 to help pay for $27.2 billion worth of roads, LRT, recreation centres and other projects, according to figures in a city report.

But even with provincial grants, more borrowing and property tax increases that include a four-per-cent annual rise just to repair crumbling neighbourhoods, the city will still have less than half the money it needs, according to the Preliminary 10-Year Capital Investment Agenda.

http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news...66-2cea46fffa42

 

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Parents fume over school field

EDMONTON - A group of parents in the Greenfield community are fuming over plans to rip up a popular soccer field to make way for a new student drop-off area beside the local school.

While the public school board says the project is badly needed to improve children`s safety along a busy street, the parents say the plan is being rushed through before their concerns are heard.

Chief among those concerns is the loss of the small soccer pitch north of Greenfield School at 3735 114th St., which the parents say is the most highly valued green space in the neighbourhood.

http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news...a5-af06dde4ca5e

 

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Alberta forest industry `still in crisis`

Alberta`s battered forest industry suffered another quarter of declining sales, under pressure from the U.S. housing crash, the high loonie and rising costs.

"Our industry is still in crisis mode, with operators doing everything in their power to keep their mills running and their people employed," Brady Whittaker, Alberta Forest Products Association executive director, said Friday.

http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news...e5-1711d3b8f9e6

 

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Get ready for water recycling

Growing urban populations are putting pressure on water resources. Many people are practising water conservation strategies in the struggle for more sustainable living, and in fear of future water shortages.

Harold Verburg, owner of Trimline Design Centre in Edmonton, is leading the pack with the distribution of Brac Greywater Recycling Systems, designed to reclaim household water from sources such as the washing machine, shower or tub and use it to flush toilets.

Grey water is non-toilet household water, Verburg explains, and these units are designed to take grey water, store it, pressurize it and send it out to be used for toilet water.

http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news...2d-1596f51bf1c0

 

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Dion`s green `shaft` hard sell in Cowtown

CALGARY -- Federal Liberal Leader Stephane Dion rode into the heart of cowboy country yesterday to lasso support for his green plan in a province that snorts at any whiff of the old national energy program.

The policy brought in by the Trudeau Liberals in the early 1980s is still despised by many in Alberta who felt it siphoned oil revenue from the province and sent it to Central Canada.

It`s a spectre that has been raised by Prime Minister Stephen Harper as Dion travels the country selling a green plan that includes a carbon tax. "The NEP was a program to change the oil price in order to accommodate nine provinces," said Dion in an interview with The Canadian Press. "What we are doing this time is to be in full conformity with the world economy - and what the world is expecting from a developed economy like Canada is to have carbon pricing. If we don`t, we are in trouble in our ability to trade and to export."

http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Alberta/20...072716-sun.html

 

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Closure sparks merchant fear


Some Edmonton Trail businesses fear a three-month construction closure of the main artery could choke off their livelihoods.

Starting July 14, Edmonton Tr. will be closed between 15 Ave. and 16 Ave. N.E. with all traffic detoured to Centre St. through either 12 Ave. or 20 Ave.

In September, a block north of 16 Ave. will be shut until upgrading of underground utilities is completed in mid-October. But some businesses fear they might not last until then, with vehicular traffic cut off, said Suzanne Delaine, owner of What`s in Store, a clothing retailer at 1600 Edmonton Tr. N.E.

http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Alberta/2008/0...073381-sun.html

 

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Calgary bank close to major merger

First Calgary Savings and Credit Union, along with Envision Financial and Valley First Credit Union, both of British Columbia, said Friday they are in talks to closely align themselves and create a $7 billion financial services organization that would be the largest of its kind in Canada.

The trio said the talks are not aimed at producing a merger -- which a number of rivals have done recently -- but rather a model that will allow each to retain its local identity, community focus and local decision-making. It would represent the largest interprovincial credit union network in Canada.

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/c...76-fbb58c20f9aa

 

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Calgary resale market seen as turning corner

June may have provided the first tentative signs of positive change for single-family resale homes in Calgary this year, says an industry official.

Sales through the Calgary Real Estate Board`s MLS system reached their highest point of the year last month when 1,439 detached homes changed hands.

At the same time, the number of listings dropped to 6,543 from the year`s high of 7,099 in May, and the average price dropped in June by nearly $6,000 from the previous month to $473,774 -- the lowest it`s been since February.

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/n...2c-8efbfd6e4608

 

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Prices rising faster within inner city

Despite new subdivisions constantly sprouting up on the outskirts of Calgary, buyers continue to mostly favour an urban address in the inner city during the last decade, says a recent national report.

Prices in Canada`s urban neighbourhoods -- including those in Calgary -- slightly outgained those found in suburban areas between 1998 and 2008, says a price appreciation report by Royal LePage Real Estate Services.

An average two-storey house in an urban setting appreciated by 129 per cent from March 1998 to March 2008, while a similar property in the suburbs saw its price rise by 110 per cent.

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/n...87-585677a0050b

 

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Industry faces worker shortage

Whether a particular housing market anywhere in Canada is running hot or cold, there is one common thread binding them together -- the continued need for skilled workers.

Right now, residential construction levels in Alberta aren`t as strong as they have been in the past couple of years while Saskatchewan is seeing its markets strengthening. And in Ontario, where the manufacturing industry is struggling, housing starts are weaker than in the recent past.

John Hrynkow, an Edmonton-area builder who took up the gavel as president of the Canadian Home Builders` Association in April during the group`s annual conference, says that like any other successful business the housebuilding industry requires a strong team of skilled people.

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/n...29-624422b43660

 

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Developer unfurls flag to boost area`s profile

It was Canada Day, after all.

Harmony Park, Calgary-based developer of Heritage Hills in Cochrane, took the opportunity to celebrate the country`s 144th birthday this week by raising a 10-metre by five-metre flag on the property.

"It was as much to celebrate Canada Day as it was to help with our marketing efforts," says Mike Jansen, development manager for Harmony. "We just wanted to let people know we were here, just past the Highway 1A and Highway 22 intersection, developing a new lifestyle community."

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/n...a2-802ef36c2c21

 

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Developer puts money where his mouth is

The following is part of an ongoing series on Calgary`s condo developers, published the first week of each month.

A developer with major condo projects in Vancouver and San Diego is not a typical downtown Calgary tenant.

The head office of the Intergulf-Cidex Group of Companies is tucked away between Staples and Sundog Printing along Ninth Avenue, across from Shaw Millennium Park (ICGC).

The location seems to fit with the company`s strategy.

Its signature Calgary project is Westgate Park, a three-tower condo development located across from the Westbrook Mall on an old motel/nightclub site -- not a typical place for a highrise condominium.

When the 545-unit project was approved in 2005, it was not only the largest condo development in Calgary`s history, it was the first major highrise project in decades that was outside the downtown core.

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/n...69-7011cab5c175