AB Economic Fundamentals 2008-10

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1008CALG
Water bills expected to climb 25 per cent

One of the world`s most precious resources is likely to cost Calgarians more after a city report estimated the monthly water and sewer bill will jump 25 per cent over the next three years.

That means the average residential metered bill will eat up around $220 more a year in 2011 than it does now.

Non-metered users will be hit a little harder, paying about $260 more in three years than they did this year.

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/c...9c-25fa1a11c234

 

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1008CALG
$4 monthly fee proposed for trash collection

Homeowners could be facing a new $4-a-month fee to dispose of their garbage.

"Garbage is not free," Ald. Gord Lowe said Friday.

The city`s waste and recycling department is facing a $36-million operating gap over the next three years and a $93-million shortfall in the reserve funds used to pay for capital costs at the landfills, including scales, leachate systems and testing run-off water.

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/c...95-409d4c23f5ac

 

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1008ALTA
Alberta industry put to the test

If anyone is looking for a sign of the impact of the current financial storm on the oilpatch, the best place to start is with Petro-Canada.

The integrated oil and gas company has lagged its peers in terms of stock market performance and needs to inspire investors that it has a strong plan for future growth.

One of the cornerstones of that growth was supposed to come from the Fort Hills oilsands project. But on Sept. 18, Petro-Canada announced the costs of the Fort Hills project would be $25.3 billion.

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/c...a7-8833930f3322

 

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1008CALG
New home prices slide

New house prices in the Calgary area dropped in August by 1.1 per cent from a year ago -- the lowest annual price change since November 1991.

The Calgary census metropolitan area was one of three Canadian jurisdictions to register a year-over-year decline in new house prices, according to Statistics Canada.

The federal agency`s New Housing Price Index, released Friday, said Edmonton (down 5.7 per cent) and Victoria (down 0.3 per cent) also experienced price declines from August 2007 to August 2008.

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/c...cb-a511091c80bf

 

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1008ALTA
Alberta on track for record exports

Even with a substantial decline in Canadian energy exports in August, Alberta is set to smash its export record this year after figures Friday showed the value of shipments from Wild Rose Country in the first eight months of the year soared to $72.6 billion.

That was 34.1 per cent higher than the $54.1 billion recorded in the same period a year earlier and came as exports during the month of August shot to $9.4 billion, an increase of 34.8 per cent from the $7 billion in exports in August of 2007.

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/c...32-78370254d53d

 

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1008CALG
City within a city

Early on this morning, it`s just Lesley Conway, Paul Taylor and some tradespeople making their way through Mahogany.

But give it 10 years and there will be something like 25,000 people living, working and playing in the newest Calgary development by Hopewell Residential Communities.

That`s just a little less than half the size of Medicine Hat.

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/n...57-fa7d1c5460dc

 

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1008CALG
Market seeks balance as sales keep declining

From its May peak of 7,100 single-detached homes, resale inventory has shown a healthy decline, but sales are also slowing, says an industry report.

The number of available detached homes fell to 5,387 in September, the lowest total since February, says an activity report from the Calgary Real Estate Board.

Industry watchers say it is vital that inventory levels pull back to bring some balance and stability to the resale housing sector.

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/n...f1-a21e33278574

 

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1008CALG
Majestic living in Springbank

I don`t like doom and gloom. For sure, lots of people are hanging their heads over market losses, but best be positive if things are going to turn around. For every seller there must be a buyer who believes things are going to get better tomorrow.

Real estate in particular has received some awful ink lately and no doubt new home and condominium builders are finding business has slowed. Financially, some have real problems caused more by paying high prices for land and the cost of construction than what has happened on Wall Street.

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/l...46-a2e82d26e46d

 

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1008EDTN
Edmonton officially in the running for 2015 University Games

With financial backing from the federal government now in place, Edmonton`s effort to host Universiade 2015 is going forward.

Bid partners the University of Alberta, the municipal government and Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) will today submit intent to FISU (the International University Sports Federation), making official their pursuit of the biennial summer event.

"The Edmonton 2015 bid is an excellent opportunity to bring international university sport to Canada and showcase our own university athletes on the world stage," says Dick White, CIS president. "These games have a significant role on the high-performance sport model in Canada, and the competition is excellent pre-Olympic and World Championship preparation".

http://www.edmontonexaminer.com/ArticleDis....aspx?e=1238736

 

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1008EDTN
Aging oilfields could turn CO2 pipe dreams into reality

EDMONTON - A "bullet" truck pulls up to an oilfield battery near Redwater. The pure carbon dioxide in the long pressurized tank could have gone to the Coca-Cola plant to add the fizz to soft drinks, or to any of a number of other uses.

But today, the stop is on farmland dotted with oil wells, with the gas intended to go deep underground.

Alberta hopes to turn this declining oilfield into a giant storage area for carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas produced in large amounts by the local chemical and petroleum industry.

http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news...bd-e6d5db7b05f4

 

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1008ALTA
Small businesses on track


Canada is being affected by the tanking U.S. economy but small businesses in this country are on strong enough footing to weather the storm, according to the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.

"There`s really two elements of the economy," said Dan Kelly, senior vice-president of legislative affairs for the CFIB.

"There`s the stock market economy and then the non-stock market economy. "Our members represent for the most part, the non-stock market economy ... and in fact over 60% of the economy now is made up of small and medium-size businesses."

http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/National/2008/...058676-sun.html

 

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AB Small Town Updates: 2008-10-12

 

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1008ALTA
Wages make it tough for Elections Canada to recruit workers

The empty Westmount storefront is set up as a classroom, with 25 students -- mostly grey-haired -- sitting at long tables, poised with yellow highlighters.

"The excitement is building!" David Starko, Edmonton Centre`s chief returning officer, says, working to pump up the little crowd who will take charge of voters` ballots on Tuesday.

Each person gets $35 for coming to this two-hour training session on the Sunday afternoon of Thanksgiving weekend, so long as they show up for the real work on election day.

http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news...e0-c80c93441f73

 

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1008CALG
Industrial real estate vacancy rates on rise

The vacancy rate in Calgary`s industrial real estate market has risen to its highest level since the beginning of 2005.

A report by Colliers International in Calgary says the vacancy rate was 3.13 per cent in the third quarter of this year, up from 2.32 per cent in the second quarter. In the same period, availability rose only slightly, from 6.77 per cent to 6.79 per cent.

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/c...56-b1916b14c02c

 

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1008CALG
Finance crisis hits home

On a short stretch of Springbank Boulevard in Calgary`s southwest, placards touting houses and condos for sale outnumber election signs 13 to 1.

Cathy and Vaughan Hensrud have had their two-bedroom condo on the market for nearly as long as the federal party leaders have been campaigning.

A year ago, their realtor figures the couple could`ve fetched up to $429,000 for the three-year-old home.

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/s...0f-30796ec5107e

 

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1008ALTA
Albertans expected to vote as a Tory herd

Alberta political scientist Keith Brownsey has been reminding students to keep on their toes when they`ve talked current events lately: "After all, there`s a federal election going on in other parts of the country."

This is a province where for years Conservatives have taken their support for granted. In the last election, they easily swept all 28 ridings and most pundits expect a repeat performance today.

"This (campaign) is more a coronation out here than anything else," said Brownsey, who teaches at Mount Royal College in Calgary.

http://www.edmontonsun.com/canadavotes/new...074191-sun.html

 

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1008CALG
Rocky view starts over on development

The Municipal District of Rocky View has scrapped its plan for a massive new development west of Calgary in favour of coming up with a retooled version more agreeable to its neighbours.

The original plan envisioned up to 60,000 people living in a new community just outside the city.

Rocky View council voted to kill the area structure plan for the proposed development along Highway 8, said Reeve Lois Habberfield.

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/c...d0-08d45ea6eb35

 

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1008CALG
Private firm plans to build new arena

Frustrated with waiting for the city to build a recreation facility in the deep southeast, one Calgarian has rallied private financiers to build a $15-million twin arena. The new facility is slated to be built in New Brighton by the fall of 2010, Udo Kaufmann, president of Benevan Corporation, said yesterday.

http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Alberta/2008/1...073746-sun.html

 

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1008EDTN
Edmonton to remain mainly Tory blue

EDMONTON - Conservatives were on the verge of painting Edmonton Tory blue through a second straight federal election Tuesday as Stephen Harper`s candidates rolled up convincing victories in seven of the eight city ridings.

Political observers had predicted early in the 36-day campaign that a few fiercely contested ridings in the blue-collar capital were the only possible roadblocks to another Conservative sweep of all 28 Alberta federal ridings.

But at press time, the Conservatives, who fended off strong challenges from opposition candidates in Edmonton-Strathcona, Edmonton Centre and Edmonton East, were getting a battle from one of their own.

http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news...c3-266845483b20

 

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1008CALG
Southern Alberta remains true blue

CALGARY - Four new faces from southern Alberta will take up spots in the Conservative government benches in Canada`s next Parliament.

At press time, the Tories were on track to make another clean sweep of all 14 ridings in southern Alberta -- with room for some question in Calgary Northeast -- and the only thing that will have changed is the names of the MPs in four constituencies.

http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news...eb-2a7257373ecb