AB Economic Fundamentals 2008-08

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Oilpatch leads Alberta to 28% jump in exports

CALGARY - Higher oil and gas prices are sharply boosting the value of Alberta`s exports, setting the province on track to obliterate its existing merchandise trade record in 2008.

Figures released Tuesday by Statistics Canada show the $9.2 billion in exports from Wild Rose Country surged by more than $2 billion or in excess of 28 per cent in June from the same month of 2007. That helped lift Canada`s exports for the month 12.3 per cent to $43.1 billion, improving the nation`s trade surplus to $5.8 billion in June from $5.2 billion in May.

"A rise in both prices and volumes of crude petroleum products drove overall energy exports up 11.5 per cent, marking the eighth straight month of gains," noted Dina Cover, an economist with Toronto-Dominion Bank unit TD Bank Financial Group. "In real terms, energy exports were up by 1.4 per cent."

http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news...e4-001129492207

 

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Calgary ahead of other Canuck cities for commercial construction


Spurred by spiking costs, Calgary galloped ahead of seven Canadian cities and recorded the largest increase in the price of non-residential construction this spring. Statistics Canada reported yesterday that in the second quarter this year, the cost of non-residential construction increased by 8.7% over the first quarter, and by 16.1% over the second quarter last year. No other city posted similar cost increases.

http://calsun.canoe.ca/Business/2008/08/13/6431871-sun.html

 

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AltaGas plant`s repairs finished


AltaGas Income Trust has resumed full production at its Harmattan natural gas processing complex in central Alberta 17 days after a fire at an oil heater shut it down.

AltaGas said yesterday that the complex, 100 km northwest of Calgary, "is processing gas at pre-incident volumes, with full extraction and fractionation capabilities." The July 24 fire shut down the gas processing complex for a few days but it resumed operations July 28 at reduced levels. It began full operations this week and is currently undergoing a previously announced $55-million expansion to boost output.

http://calsun.canoe.ca/Business/2008/08/13/6431881-sun.html

 

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Company scrambles to find drivers

Vivian Nickel admits there have been a few sleepless nights.

With the new school year on the doorstep, Nickel said school bus company First Student Canada is feeling the pinch with problems recruiting new drivers in Calgary.

And this year`s shortage of school bus drivers is even more acute than in the past, said Nickel, who is the company`s Western Canada regional safety manager.

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/c...5c-efdfdac02266

 

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Harvest Energy weighs $2B expansion

Harvest Energy Trust is eyeing a $2-billion expansion to churn out more diesel fuel from the refinery it owns in Newfoundland and Labrador but it won`t undertake such a risky investment without a partner to shoulder up to half the load.

After Harvest released bleak second-quarter downstream results Tuesday that saw the division earn a paltry $1.3 million due to soaring prices for crude -- the feedstock used by refineries -- analysts said it will be difficult for Harvest to land the financial help it needs, even though chief executive John Zahary said the company has been approached by potential allies often since Harvest bought the plant for $1.6 billion two years ago.

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/c...10-60631c30d0ad

 

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Calgary`s building cost rises top nation

Calgary`s non-residential construction cost increases are leading the country, even as consumer inflation and even new house prices in Calgary and across Alberta have been moderating in recent months, according to a new report.

Similarly, Alberta appears to be leading the way on construction cost increases among Canadian provinces.

It`s a dubious distinction as Cowtown saw non-residential construction costs surge 8.7 per cent in the second quarter alone, topping major Canadian cities, Statistics Canada said Tuesday.

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/c...2b-69b7a74a9d27

 

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Unsafe housing tip line on way

On the heels of a fatal fire at a rooming house last month, city officials are moving ahead with an anonymous tip line to report unsafe living conditions in Calgary rooming houses or other rental properties.

Members of the Safe Housing Inspection Program -- a team made up of officials from the Calgary Health Region, police, fire department and the city bylaw department -- already inspect properties but are dependent on people making complaints.

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/c...5a-87ce58c51ee4

 

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City to seek funds from government

The city will approach the province for compensation for people who experienced flooding during Friday`s storm.

Red Deer city manager Craig Curtis said they will ask the province this week if the damage fits under the Disaster Recovery Assistance program. "Essentially, it`s due to the very large volume of water during a very short period that caused the flooding issue," he said. "I think we had a unique circumstance, in a very short period of time, and we`re taking the action needed to see if we can help the citizens in that regard."

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

 

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$2.8 million available for affordable housing

Red Deer is asking for proposals on how to spend $2.8 million in government funding to increase affordable housing and combat homelessness.

About 20 people, including representatives from local community groups and the general public, were at a meeting Tuesday night to learn more about applying for a piece of the money.

The funds come from a number of different federal and provincial programs and are being distributed to projects by the city through the community advisory board.

The deadline for applications is Aug. 29 at 4:30 p.m.

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

 

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Parkland Beach waterfront land in dispute

The summer village at Parkland Beach is considering selling a piece of the waterfront after a marina was accidentally built on public land.

Wayne Danser, owner of RV Heaven and Marina on the northwest side of Gull Lake, said he thought he was following all the rules and regulations when he started building an extension on the marina two years ago. "Our plans were approved by multiple people, including the province and no one who looked at them saw anything wrong," he said.

It wasn`t until last winter, when the project to add 130 more boat slips was near completion, that Danser learned that part of the new construction was on the beach`s public reserve land next to the municipal boundary. "It was about two-thirds of the way through and it would have been unsafe to leave it, so we finished," he said.

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

 

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Value of plan queried

The city is offering too much for the purchase and demolition of the Arlington Inn, said a commercial realtor, who believes such transactions are better left to the private sector.

At the $1.5 million the city is budgeting for both jobs, Ralph Salomons figures the Arlington site would have to be re-sold to a developer for $83 a square foot, which "sets a new benchmark for property in the downtown."

Salomons is concerned the city is again stepping into the development arena. It`s already subdividing industrial land west of Hwy 2, planning the commercial-residential Timberlands subdivision, and building the civic yards and a multitude of other infrastructure projects.

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

 

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City to purchase land near airport

A community business will be closing next month and the City of Medicine Hat plans to purchase the land as inventory in preparation for expansions to the Medicine Hat Airport.

Council has approved land purchase and sale agreements involving Madanco Holdings and the owners of Wes`s Super Service on Highway 3 for three lots at a total price just over $3 million – less a $50,000 remediation hold back. The recommendation for council to finance the acquisition of land near the airport will be addressed in October.

Airport manager Jeff Huntus says an extension to the runway was recommended as part of the airport master plan approved in 2007 and is considered a plan for the future.

http://www.medicinehatnews.com/content/view/41411/27/

 

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City tour bus blues

Few people appear willing to shell out $15 for a tour of Edmonton.

The operator of the city`s hop-on, hop-off sightseeing bus service says his operation remains the city`s best-kept secret.

Already in its second summer, the EDDIE Bus - which runs seven days a week - routinely carries only a handful of passengers, who pay $15 each for a day pass. Despite this, project manager Gary Poliquin vows the shuttle will be back again in the summer of 2009, perhaps with extended hours or even a second route.

http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Edmonton/2...446736-sun.html

 

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Cross-border power line crosses another hurdle

CALGARY - Montana Alberta Tie Ltd. has crossed one of many regulatory and legal hurdles in its efforts to build and operate a a 346-kilometre, 230-kilovolt merchant power line between Lethbridge and Great Falls, Mont.

The Alberta Energy and Utilities Board said Wednesday the firm has met a condition of an earlier EUB approval, which required the firm to create a resolution process around impacts of the line`s construction on farming and irrigation. However, the estimated $140-million project faces an Alberta Court of Appeal challenge of the EUB`s original decision in January 2008 to grant the conditional permit.

http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news...9d-c7ba6815eadd

 

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Enmax profits spring up


Buoyed by new customers and increased sales of electricity and natural gas, Enmax Corp. recorded a substantial increase in profits this spring.

The city-owned utility posted net earnings of $49 million for the quarter ended June 30, an increase of 53% over the same quarter last year.

Revenues totalled $647 million, up 55% over last year. A $7-million break fee from a failed takeover bid for Cordero Resources Inc. is not included in the second quarter results.

http://calsun.canoe.ca/Business/2008/08/14/6446126-sun.html

 

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Shortage puts gas stations in a bind

More Petro-Canada stations are running dry in Calgary, forcing some retailers to wait for crucial deliveries which could be driven by truck drivers flown in from Ontario.

At least six of the company`s approximately 30 Calgary service stations had run completely empty as of Wednesday, and it`s expected they won`t be the last.

"There`s going to be more that run out over time than there are today," said Petro-Canada spokeswoman Kelli Stevens.

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/c...c2-7d76d6a279c2

 

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Housing tip line delayed

Calgarians won`t have a special hotline to report unsafe rental-housing conditions until next Wednesday, as city officials had to delay the improvement to its inspection program triggered by a fatal rooming-house fire last month.

The Calgary Fire Department had hoped to launch the hotline on Friday in anticipation of an increased number of phone calls but said it will take a little longer to implement the changes.

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/c...87-6a2aa2cff23f

 

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British ruling a hit to oilsands

The provincial government and petroleum sector -- already facing criticism over "dirty oil" from the oilsands -- experienced another setback Wednesday when a British advertising regulator ruled it`s "misleading" for Shell to call Alberta`s oilsands a sustainable energy source.

The ruling from the United Kingdom`s Advertising Standards Authority is a setback to the Stelmach government, which recently launched a public relations offensive declaring the oilsands are environmentally sustainable.

The province insisted the ruling won`t change its plans to ramp up oilsands production while caring for the environment.

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/s...9c-b70b77ca01a2

 

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GreenLab moves ahead

The County of Stettler has taken the first step toward approving the development of a biofuels complex just north of Stettler.

On Wednesday, county council passed first reading of a bylaw to rezone approximately 155 acres of land from agricultural use to direct control.

If it passes second and third readings, the zoning change could allow GreenLab Energy Canada Inc. to proceed with plans to build a multimillion-dollar facility that would extract oil from canola and produce biodiesel.

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

 

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Hit, miss for fuel supplies

Petro-Canada customers in Central Alberta are among those feeling the effects of a refinery problem in Edmonton.

At least one local Petro-Canada station, the Gasoline Alley outlet, had stopped selling gasoline on Wednesday as a result of the Aug. 3 shutdown of a catalytic cracking unit at the refinery.

Service station operators said they`ve been instructed not to comment on the situation, but the Petro-Canada stations at 3330 and 6320 Gaetz Ave. were still operating.

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