AB Economic Fundamentals 2008-08

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No big shock -- cutting back on electricity not an option

January 29, 2008, as you may recall, was one nasty cold, dark day.

The temperature was -32 C, but with the windchill, it felt more like -44 C. The sun didn`t rise that morning until just before 8:30 and it set again just after 5 p.m.

Little wonder that Edmontonians maxed out their electricity use that day, with a record-high draw of 23,746.95 megawatt hours over 24 hours.

http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news...03-03ef85d757f4

 

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Meet Alberta`s $75B man

EDMONTON - He`s the $75-billion man.

No, I`m not talking about the high-profile American tourists who visited

Alberta`s booming oilsands this week -- including software magnate Bill Gates, or his rich investor-pal, Warren Buffett.

I`m referring to Leo de Bever. Huh? Wuzzat? Leo who?

OK, so he`s not a household name yet. But plenty of senior execs in Canada`s financial-services industry know who de Bever is, and he certainly needs no introduction on Bay Street.

The Netherlands native, who earned a PhD in economics from the University of Wisconsin in the 1970s, has held a string of key posts at major financial institutions in Canada and abroad over the past three decades.

http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news...4b-6e7d04a5ba03

 

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Explosion warning saves two


Moments before a natural gas explosion destroyed a southwest duplex yesterday, a plumber working there managed to warn its two occupants of the danger.

Tony Boudreau was on the upper-level balcony of his home in the 3700 block of 36 Ave. S.W. with his mom, Angela, when plumber Peter Hansen shouted he`d ruptured a gas line.

"He came upstairs and said `everyone get out,` " said Boudreau, 15. "I went to get my mom and two seconds later, the place exploded."

http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Alberta/2008/0...522361-sun.html

 

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Shadows shroud oilsands visit


Reasons for this week`s Alberta oilsands sojourn by two of the world`s wealthiest people remain murky, as none of the parties directly involved in the visit were prepared to say much more than confirming Warren Buffett and Bill Gates did pay a surprise visit to the province.

The visit was kept so low key, even representatives of Alberta`s government were oblivious of the fact two of the world`s most recognizable and influential businesspeople toured the tarsands. Gary Mar, Alberta`s envoy in Washington, D.C., said he was not aware of the visit, and neither was Alberta Energy.

http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Alberta/2008/0...522401-sun.html

 

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Drought hits Peace River farms

The National Farmers Union has appealed to the provincial and federal governments to help Peace River area farmers facing the worst drought on record.

Grande Prairie and Birch Hills counties have also joined the fight for aid after declaring themselves disaster areas following a long, dry spell that left dugouts empty and grazing pasture virtually non-existent.

Sexsmith cattle rancher Neil Peacock said Wednesday the lack of rainfall and skyrocketing input costs for grain and livestock have put farmers in an impossible situation.

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/s...aa-43739ca377d2

 

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The new multiple face of Internet threats

E-mail viruses are so yesterday. These days, it`s your browser that has online criminals salivating.

Network worms and viruses spread by mass e-mails are unlikely to ever become extinct, but they are no longer the primary weapon used by the bad guys of the virtual world to steal your identity or life`s savings.

As the world catches on to the dangers of opening unknown e-mail attachments and better spam filters are created, the focus of attacks is turning to the web itself.

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/s...5d-9996d1d39732

 

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Rental safety tip line hindered

The city`s much-touted inspection team for unsafe rental housing will be able to inspect only five or six buildings a month based on complaints to a new tip line, city officials said Wednesday.

The new phone service was unveiled in reaction to the fire last month that killed two tenants of a rooming house that inspectors later found had windows nailed shut, a shoddy electrical system, padlocked doors and only one smoke detector for a cramped, eight-suite home.

Despite the influx of calls the Safe Housing Inspection Program expects from frustrated renters or neighbours, the team doesn`t have time to go out more than it currently does -- one day a month, inspecting perhaps five or six buildings.

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/c...93-2d00b4549e1e

 

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Plan for $1-billion tower goes to city for approval

A proposal for a "state-of-the-art" 30-storey office tower with a commercial podium in the downtown Eau Claire district goes before the Calgary Planning Commission for approval today.

The office tower is the first phase of the $1-billion development plans by Cadillac Fairview Corp. Ltd. for the entire block, named Calgary City Centre, which would eventually include Calgary`s first five-star luxury hotel and spa, private residential condominiums and retail space, the Herald has learned.

Cadillac Fairview has lined up a hotel for the site, but that isn`t being announced at this time.

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/c...c1-7573080eb544

 

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Artopex sets up shop in southeast Calgary

A Quebec-based family-owned international manufacturer and distributor of flexible and multi-purpose office products and systems has opened it first Calgary showroom. Artopex has been in business for 25 years and is today one of the largest office furniture manufacturers in North America; its newest showroom is located at 3619 8th St. S.E. and will be managed and represented by a new Calgary firm called InteriorPerspective.

Artopex has five modern plants totalling 575,000 square feet in capacity: two are in Granby, two in Laval, and one in Sherbrooke, Que.

It has a large North American distribution network and three Canadian showrooms -- in Montreal, Toronto and now Calgary.

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/c...e1-ce9f40961286

 

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Gleniffer Lake development examined

A long-delayed plan that will direct development around Gleniffer Lake will go to the public for input today and Saturday.

"I think that the main thing is we want to know what the public is looking for in terms of development," said Red Deer County Councillor Jim Lougheed. "We`ve got proponents on either side of the spectrum — people who want there to be very restricted development and people who have developments proposed."

The first open house for the Gleniffer Lake Reservoir Shorelands Area Structure Plan is tonight at 7 p.m. at the Spruce View Community Hall. The second starts at 10 a.m. on Saturday at the Cottonwood Gordon Hall, 13 km west of Innisfail on Township Road 354.

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

 

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Speaker explains relationship between pine beetle, fungi

The mountain pine beetle gets all the bad press. But it`s actually fungi the beetles carry that are killing the massive tracts of forest in Alberta and B.C., a researcher says.

Janice Cooke said various fungi that ride on the back of beetles help attack trees by blocking their water distribution systems.

Many scientists now believe that without the fungi, the beetles that eat and lay eggs in the soft under bark of lodgepole pines would disable the trees, but not necessarily kill them, she added.

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

 

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Work continues on proposed Dow, Kuwaiti venture

A proposed joint venture involving Dow Chemical Canada Inc. and Petrochemical Industries Company of Kuwait is expected to come together later this year, with Dow`s Central Alberta facilities among those included in the deal.

Dow announced last December that it had struck a deal with Petrochemical Industries Company — a subsidiary of state-owned Kuwait Petroleum Corporation — to create a petrochemicals company with assets worth about $19 billion.

Dow will roll its polyethylene, ethyleneamines, ethanolamines, polypropylene and polycarbonate assets into the joint venture, with Petrochemical Industries Company buying half of these.

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

 

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Grow-op culprit gets three years

Growing a major marijuana crop in his southwest Calgary home has landed a city man a three-year prison term.

Justice Peter Clark yesterday rejected a call for a conditional sentence for Kin Wa Ngai on charges of possession of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking and producing the drug. Defence counsel David Andrews explained loneliness after his wife had returned to their native Hong Kong to care for her parents triggered Ngai`s criminal behaviour.

http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Alberta/2008/0...522491-sun.html

 

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Mexico blocks Alberta cattle

Mexico has banned imports of live cattle from Alberta, following the discovery of Canada`s 14th case of mad cow disease in the province last week.

Mexico is banning imports of beef and dairy breeding cattle -- but not stopping the flow of beef into the country -- in a move Federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz said has no legitimacy from a scientific perspective.

Canada and Mexico are both considered as controlled-risk status for BSE, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, as recognized by the World Organization for Animal Health, or OIE.

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/c...8a-b6581f5389bd

 

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Retail sales growth slows

Retail sales in Alberta grew by 0.6 per cent in June from the previous month, hitting $5.18 billion, according to data released Wednesday by Statistics Canada.

The federal agency also said retail sales in the province have grown by 0.2 per cent from June 2007 to June 2008 -- the weakest yearly growth among all provinces.

For the first half of 2008, total sales in Alberta are up about 2.1 per cent -- far below the combined rate of inflation and population growth, said Todd Hirsch, senior economist at ATB Financial, in a commentary on the retail sales numbers.

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/c...cd-1723b86d4c05

 

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City clears way for solar panels on rooftops

The city is trying to make it easier for Calgarians to install solar panels on their homes, removing a step in the process to improve access to renewable forms of energy.

"I think it`s part of the future for our energy sector and for our environmental responsibility," said Ald. Bob Hawkesworth, who asked for the changes. "I think more and more people would want to purchase and install them as part of living responsibly, as well as helping to manage the high cost of energy.

"It`s very important the City of Calgary reduce its barriers."

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/c...0d-81424ed0c34b

 

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The oil sands and the Buffett Effect

Warren Buffett has cash. Oil sands producers need it – tens of billions of dollars. Is this a match made in heaven, or what?

Every investor in Calgary, in Canada, in the world, would like to know, because when The Oracle decides to place his chips somewhere, others will soon be lining up behind him, chequebooks in hand. This is the downside of being the world`s richest man. Every twitch and grunt and rumour is dissected and analyzed. All Mr. Buffett had to do was take a little tour of the oil sands, with Murray Edwards leading the way and Bill Gates in tow, and he became the talk of Bay Street.

Were Warren and Bill scouting out an investment idea? Satisfying their intellectual curiosity? Maybe they wanted to see what the surface of the moon looks like, and heard that the landscape around Fort McMurray is the closest approximation on Earth? No one knows. But Canadian Natural Resources, Mr. Edwards` oil sands play, shot up 71/2 per cent anyway. He may be an old man, but the Buffett Effect is as strong as ever.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/sto...ory/energy/home

 

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End near for `rat hole`

One of the city`s most important infrastructure projects, and also one of the most overdue, is only weeks away from getting the go-ahead.
Infamously dubbed "the rat hole", the tunnel connecting the two sides of the city along Yankee Valley Boulevard and Big Hill Springs Road has long been a black hole for commuters and city officials in more ways than one.
While the roadway currently operates at 50 per cent above capacity, according to alderman Shawn Howard, the city hasn`t been able to do anything with the area because it falls under provincial jurisdiction.

http://www.airdrieecho.com/News/415290.html

 

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Council approves changes to Bailey Theatre building

Historical resources, like the Bailey Theatre, need council`s approval to make changes or renovations and on Aug. 11, council granted acceptance of proposed renovations.The old Bailey Theatre was designated as a Municipal Heritage Resource in January 2000, and as such, is obligated to obtain council`s approval to alter, restore and repair the building.
A statement of significance was prepared outlining the importance of the structure and what parts of it require protection and conservation to preserve character- defining elements.

http://www.camrosecanadian.com/News/415389.html

 

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Petro-Can refinery repairs hurt gas supply

The shutdown of a key piece of Petro-Canada`s Edmonton refinery hasn`t affected Cochrane`s customers yet, but with no firm date on when it will come on line, a company official is urging caution on long trips.

"To the best that they can, it`s a good idea if you`re driving up to Banff to fill up as best as you can," said Petro-Canada spokeswoman Kelli Stevens.

A catalytic cracking unit at the refinery, the last step towards producing gasoline, had to be shut down on Aug. 3, during regular maintenance on the plant, taking its 135,000 barrel per day production off line.

http://www.cochranetimes.com/News/415378.html