AB Economic Fundamentals 2008-08

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Time to Imagine Bearspaw

Bearspaw residents will have an opportunity to guide the future development of their communities in a series of public meetings this fall.

Division 2 Councillor Hopeton Louden is behind the initiative, called Imagine Bearspaw, which he says was inspired by recent changes in how the Bearspaw area is viewed by various regional authorities, including the MD of Rocky View, Calgary and the province.

"With the new Land Use Framework, there`s the whole question of what acreage development will be like," said Louden.

This could result in a big change from the two- and four-acre subdivisions that make up the bulk of Bearspaw.

"The thought is that two acre parcels are not sustainable because of a lot of issues."

http://www.cochranetimes.com/News/413793.html

 

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Tourism looking good in Cold Lake

The Cold Lake Visitor Information Centre has seen increasing numbers throughout the summer and expects to continue that trend into August.

Manager Diane MacKenzie says that between May and July, the center has received 3,113 walk-ins, with numbers increasing each month.
The website hits and phone and email inquiries have also seen increases each month. A breakdown of the months is as follows:

http://www.coldlakesun.com/News/413613.html

 

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Aging pipeline needs replacing at Crowsnest Lake

Atco Pipelines is looking into replacing an existing 46-year-old natural gas pipeline in the middle of Crowsnest Lake.
Currently, the Summit Lime Transmission pipeline lies on the right shore of the lake and provides natural gas to residential and commercial businesses for the community of Hazell and the Summit Lime plant in the Pass.
Atco`s Senior Project Leader, Pete Poohkay believes the location as well as the age of the current pipeline could pose environmental and public risks. "The integrity of the pipe is at risk due to the rock debris on the shore," pointed out Poohkay. "We would like to replace the pipeline in a more secure position within the middle of the lake." According to Atco Pipelines May 2008 report, the rock debris that has fallen on the pipeline is accumulating and causing stress, which could result in a failure of the line.

http://www.crowsnestpasspromoter.com/News/413832.html

 

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Housing still a need

Continuous need for affordable housing has been identified in Drayton Valley.

The Urbanata and two condo units at Centre Court Condominiums were filled to capacity early July. Although the units have been filled the application process is still ongoing.

The Brazeau Seniors` Foundation is working in conjunction with The Town of Drayton Valley and FCSS program co-ordinator Lola McGhie. The trio is working to determine the need to pursue additional affordable housing opportunities. Presently the Town is in the process of determining the second phase of the housing program. McGhie said she is interested in hearing from families in Drayton Valley who are in need of affordable housing. She said that if a need for a second phase is determined they will continue to focus on the same demographic: working families and individuals that have low to moderately low incomes.

http://www.draytonvalleywesternreview.com/....aspx?e=1145770

 

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Buses doing booming business

High pump prices are helping boost passenger counts on city buses.

Transit ridership figures for the first half of 2008 are up eight per cent over the same period last year.

Ken Koropeski, who has been tracking transit use since the `80s, doesn`t remember the last time ridership rose so quickly.

"It would probably be sometime in the late 1970s," Koropeski says.

Transit use grew five per cent between 2005 and 2006, and 7.5 per cent between 2006 and 2007. Ridership has increased each year since 1996.

http://www.edmontonexaminer.com/ArticleDis....aspx?e=1145438

 

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Residents, police unite to reclaim parks

For years, St. Anne Park has played host to drug-plying gangsters, prostitutes and alcohol-soaked vagrants. But the troubled green space – located in west Edmonton`s Canora neighbourhood at 10208 53 St. – may be on the verge of brighter days.

An ongoing grassroots initiative chaired by local police aims to breathe new life into some of the city`s most crime-plagued neighbourhoods by empowering residents to reclaim their parks.

And it seems to be working.

Const. Wayde Peachman has overseen the park watch program since its inaugural meeting last June. At the time, police had grown sick of sending dispatches over and over again to the same criminal hotspots, more often than not located in public parks.

http://www.edmontonexaminer.com/ArticleDis....aspx?e=1145410

 

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Kingsway mall renos take shape

The end result of the renovation work on Kingsway Garden Mall is beginning to come to light, and the mall`s general manager Brad Merchant likes what he sees.

"We`re starting to, in the last couple weeks, begin to see what the finished product will look like," he says. "We`ve got a couple sections of the mall that are 90 per cent complete and I think it`s turned out really well."

Merchant says things are right on track for the interior renovations. He says floor tiles are about 30 per cent done, and ceilings and lighting are at about 40 per cent complete. Two new escalators have also been installed.

The exterior component is set to begin within the next month or so.

http://www.edmontonexaminer.com/ArticleDis....aspx?e=1145455

 

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Ownership on the rise

Despite soaring costs, more Edmontonians own their own homes, city census data indicates.

Of about 309,742 households, 62.7 per cent are homeowners while the rest rent. The figure is up one per cent from 2005 and 5.8 per cent from 1999.

The numbers don`t surprise Richard Goatcher, senior market analyst for the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation`s Edmonton chapter.

"We`ve seen very high levels of new housing since 2002, Goatcher says. "The lion`s share of that housing has been for homeowners."

Housing starts peaked in 2006 with 9,816 in Edmonton and about 5,000 in surrounding communities.

http://www.edmontonexaminer.com/ArticleDis....aspx?e=1145441

 

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Oilsands spending doubles in three years

Capital spending in the Alberta oilsands has almost doubled to a record $20 billion in three years.

The increased spending is further evidence that oilsands development is "full steam ahead" to the detriment of regular Albertans, according to a couple of Alberta policy think tanks.

This year`s $20 billion capital outlay is up from $10.4 billion in 2005, and up from $14.3 billion in 2006, according to the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP). These one-time costs are for all three Alberta oilsands locations, and are separate from operating costs — every day expenses such as salaries, materials, chemicals.

Total Canadian production, including oilsands, is pegged at 4.8 million barrels a day by 2020. That`s about 10 per cent less than the original estimate of 5.3 million barrels because of constraints other than oil prices. Those constraints include material and labour costs, weather factors, regulatory process, uncertainty over climate change policy, tempering the pace of development.

http://www.fortmcmurraytoday.com/ArticleDi....aspx?e=1147496

 

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Annexation of county land OK`d by province

Grande Prairie is growing again, as 896 hectares of land were annexed from the County of Grande Prairie last week.



The province approved the annexation, which includes various parcels of land around the airport and the city.



The decision is retroactive to Jan. 1, bringing the Bear Creek Golf Course and the new hospital site within the city limits.



The process started about three years ago and was consensual, meaning it was initiated by the landowners.



"When it`s initiated by landowners and both municipalities agree, it`s pretty well a slam dunk," said Mayor Dwight Logan.



The driving factor, added the mayor, was development.

http://www.dailyheraldtribune.com/ArticleD....aspx?e=1145477

 

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Council to determine fate of city service centre in industrial park

The fate of the City of Grande Prairie`s service centre is up in the air.The city`s public works committee nixed a recommendation to amend the architect`s consulting fees for the design and renovation of the building last week, leaving the project in the hands of council.In 2005, the city retained Stantec Architecture Ltd., which has an office in Edmonton, to provide consulting services for the expansion and renovation of the service centre. The recommendation to approve the contract amendment – worth about $500,000 – was defeated by virtue of a tie. "I can`t support that project now," said Mayor Dwight Logan.

http://www.dailyheraldtribune.com/ArticleD....aspx?e=1145446

 

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Highway construction moving ahead

Construction season in Grande Prairie is moving well but it`s not over yet.



The 8.7 km repaving work of the eastbound and westbound lanes of Highway 43 through Grande Prairie is nearly complete, said a spokeswoman for Alberta Transportation.



Crews are now working on the curb, said Heather McLachlan, adding the $11.9 million project should be done in the coming weeks.



Construction of the $5.2 million bridge over Hwy. 2 at the Four Mile corner is progressing well.



McLachlan said the piers and the abutments are in place and the girders were installed earlier this spring. The concrete deck pour has been completed, she added. Crews are now working on the curb and this should be completed in the coming weeks, she said.

http://www.dailyheraldtribune.com/ArticleD....aspx?e=1145437

 

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New businesses good for town economy – Chamber

The new Boston Pizza opened its doors Friday night, in High River.
And according to the Chamber of Commerce president Clair Noad, the town`s commercial development needs to keep pace with the rest of the population.
"I think it`s great," he said. "We need it.
The community is growing and there are always people looking for places to go."
The pizza joint isn`t the first commercial development to open it`s shiny doors to High River residents – the Ramada Inn next door opened in February and the Super 8 Motel opened more than six years ago.
Speaking about the new Boston Pizza, Noad said the franchise would draw people from the community, from Calgary and surrounding area, instead of people going to the city for a night out.

http://www.highrivertimes.com/News/413727.html

 

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A battle of landowners and provincial government

"Ask yourself whether the dream of heaven and greatness should be waiting for us in our graves - or whether it should be ours here and now and on this earth."

— Ayn Rand

The resource is there for the taking.

A previously untapped pool at times contentious and, of late, an alternative to add to Alberta`s energy powerhouse.

But who owns it?

The people of Alberta, through the auspices of the provincial government, or landowners who hold title to the very soil this pool rests on?

In the last year, a small group of rural landowners is gaining momentum and strength in an unprecedented bid to stake their claim to the province`s burgeoning coalbed methane resource.

http://www.leducrep.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1147402

 

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Mill`s closure now permanent

The temporary closure of Drayton Valley`s OSB mill has been made permanent.

A July 8 news release stated: "Weyerhaeuser Company announced today that it will permanently close its idled Structurwood mill in Drayton Valley, AB."

Wayne Roznowsky, spokesperson for Weyerhaeuser Canada, said that most of the employees from the OSB plant had moved on in December.

Roznowsky estimates that 40 employees moved over to the company`s sawmill, which remains open, for employment.

This was able to happen because other employees at the sawmill voluntarily took their severance packages so the employees from the OSB plant had a position to fill at the mill.

http://www.leducrep.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1147410

 

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Province sets $50M for area highways

The twinning of Highway 16 east currently underway is only one of several road improvements that will benefit city residents, announced the Saskatchewan government on Wednesday.
Upcoming highway work in Lloydminster and west-central Saskatchewan will total more than $50 million to ease the effects industry has had on the region`s roads, making it the largest amount ever announced for highways in the budget.
"All of this economic activity takes a strain on our municipal roads and highways," said Lloydminster MLA Tim McMillan. "Investing in transportation infrastructure is critical to sustaining and enhancing this growth."

http://www.meridianbooster.com/News/414055.html

 

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Forestry plan to push toward new boom

Alberta`s forestry industry, along with the provincial government, announced an ambitious plan to attract employees in coming years, despite the hard times the industry currently faces.

The plan seeks to raise awareness of opportunities in the forestry industry amongst students and skill labourers, and assumes a boom will follow the current bust the industry`s facing as the US housing crash, the rising value of the Canadian dollar and the ongoing softwood lumber dispute leave the industry slowed down significantly.

"We all know that Alberta`s economy is a real star on the Canadian front," said Dan MacPherson of the Resource Industry Suppliers Association at a press conference last week announcing the plan. "But it`s also an economy that provincially has some areas that`s not doing well."

Those areas include lumber, but there was a spirit of optimism at the press conference regarding the plan.

http://www.prrecordgazette.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1145549

 

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Town sticks to billing bylaw

People who are using their own septic systems will continue to be billed for town water and wastewater systems.
The issue of the seeming unfairness of people who are not hooked up to the town`s water and wastewater system being billed for the service, was brought to council`s attention by several residents who live off Beaver Drive at the west end of the community.
Council discussed the issue at their committee of the whole meeting on June 5 and it was recommended that no changes be made to the bylaw.
On July 16 council approved that recommendation.
According to a town spokesperson, the bylaw was in place at the time the land off Beaver Drive was subdivided and when the homes were built.

http://www.pinchercreekecho.com/News/414008.html

 

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Ratepayers could pick up bill for Vista expansion

Pincher Creek ratepayers could find themselves making up the shortfall in the skyrocketing cost of constructing Vista Village`s expansion.
"Because of the increase of capital and construction costs the project has almost doubled than what was planned," explained town Councillor Sahra Nodge last week.
With the inter municipal Pincher Creek Foundation planning to lease 20 of the new beds from the Good Samaritans, which owns the senior`s facility, the foundation will be responsible for making up the difference in the cost of those beds. But with provincial caps on how much the foundation can charge seniors to rent the accommodation, the organization might have to make up the difference by increasing the amount of money it collects in municipal requisitions (which fund the foundation). Municipal requisitions are collected from both town, municipal district and Village of Cowley ratepayers. This year the Foundation received approximately $230,000 in municipal requisitions, 75 per cent of which was paid by MD ratepayers.

http://www.pinchercreekecho.com/News/414012.html

 

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Our city`s market remains strong

For Canadians looking for work, southern Alberta looks like the place to be. While the nation`s unemployment figure remained above six per cent last month, Lethbridge and Medicine Hat led the nation in the latest labour force reports.
Southern Alberta`s jobless rate dropped to an even two per cent in July, according to month-end figures from Statistics Canada. That`s down from 2.9 per cent a year ago, and less than half the rate in similar-sized markets including Red Deer and Grande Prairie.
Calgary, at 3.2 per cent, was ranked the second-best among Canada`s major cities with the province`s energy industry still fuelling plenty of activity. Edmonton, at 3.8 per cent, was third.

http://www.lethbridgeherald.com/article_11620.php