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April 2011 Prairie Economic Fundamentals

Ally

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News articles for April 2011.
 

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Best in the West status will challenege province





It's a piece of sage advice that has a timeless appeal to it: "Go west, young man, go west."




Though it originated in the U.S. more than 150 years ago, it has been hijacked from time to time to sell other Canadians -and international immigrants -on the virtues of Western Canada.




Well, it's back -though to be politically correct and accurate perhaps we should replace "young man" with "opportunity seekers". Certainly, TD Economics is in no doubt that Saskatchewan, Alberta and B.C. will be the favoured destinations in 2011-12 for those looking for work.




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B.C.'s new energy champion



British Columbia, where the environmentalists are your neighbors and First Nations a force, is the gatekeeper today of Canadian oil and gas industry growth.





Without new infrastructure in the province, the Alberta and Saskatchewan-based oil industry, and the B.C.-focused natural gas industry, can`t get to what they desperately want ` new customers in Asia. B.C. is also the home of some of the richest natural gas fields on the continent, making it as important to gas producers as the oil sands are to the oil sector.





In Rich Coleman, B.C.`s newly appointed energy minister, industry will find a strong ally ` and other provincial governments a motivated competitor.





The province led the way under former Liberal Premier Gordon Campbell in the past decade in improving government terms and regulation to promote industry activity.





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City unveils plans for downtown Regina redevelopment




Mayor Pat Fiacco has announced the city's plans for prime property in the heart of Regina.



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Photos: Downtown Regina redevelopment plan



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Inflation in Saskatchewan jumps in March over same period a year ago: StatsCan





REGINA ` Saskatchewan saw inflation jump three per cent in March over the same period a year ago, slightly below the national average increase of 3.3 per cent, Statistics Canada said Tuesday.


"It's a lot higher than it's been for several months,'' said Doug Elliott of Sask Trends Monitor, a monthly statistical newsletter.




Elliott said the only thing holding inflation back was falling prices for clothing and other consumer goods, which tend to be imported from emerging market economies, like China.




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Canpotex to invest $55 million in new facility near Lanigan





REGINA ` The international marketing agency for Saskatchewan potash is making a major local investment.




Canpotex announced Tuesday it would invest an estimated $55 million in a new railcar maintenance and staging facility that it describes as `state of the art.`




It will be located about one kilometre south of PotashCorp of Saskatchewan Inc.`s Lanigan mine, and will create roughly 40 jobs during construction and 20 jobs once operational.




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Saskatchewan sees the biggest decline in people receiving EI benefits





REGINA ` The number of people receiving Employment Insurance (EI) benefits fell faster in February in Saskatchewan than in any other province, Statistics Canada said Monday.




The seasonally adjusted number fell in all provinces but Prince Edward Island, but the biggest decline was in Saskatchewan, where it fell 5.1 per cent from January.




Saskatchewan also saw a significant year-over-year decrease in the number of EI beneficiaries, the federal agency said.




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Saskatchewan home sales up slightly compared with same period last year





REGINA ` Residential home sales were up slightly in Saskatchewan during the first three months of the year.




Data released Friday by the Canadian Real Estate Association indicated 2,342 homes sold in Saskatchewan through the MLS system in the first three months of the year. That was up by 0.7 per cent compared with the same period last year.




A combination of higher prices and increased sales pushed the dollar value of sales up in Saskatchewan by 6.4 per cent in the first three months of the year.




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Saskatchewan's sale of oil and gas rights brings in $109M in April





REGINA ` April's sale of oil and gas drilling rights brought in $109 million, more than half of that from the Shaunavon area, Saskatchewan Energy and Resources said Thursday.




The April land sale ` third-highest on record ` brings total revenues for the two sales in 2011 to $152 million. It also marked the seventh time in the last three years that a single land sale has topped $100 million.




"This was a great sale, based on both the quantity and the quality of the bids we received," Energy and Resources Minister Bill Boyd said in a news release Thursday.




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Hit the 'reset' button



At some point this year, the Canadian Pacific Railway will formally start work on its new container yards west of the city in the Global Transportation Hub.





And with that, its existing facility between downtown Regina and the Warehouse District, and far to the west, will come open for redevelopment.





To ignore this would be to ignore what Mayor Pat Fiacco correctly calls a once-in-a-generation opportunity to redevelop not only this container yard, but also the areas to the west of it as a dramatic spur to Regina's future.





In announcing the city's plan on Tuesday, the mayor asked Reginans to, in effect, hit the "reset" buttons on their collective imaginations for this area. That is, forget what was said about inner-city in the past; let us instead start anew.





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Fuel, food prices drive up inflation





Saskatchewan saw inflation jump three per cent in March over the same period a year ago, slightly below the national average increase of 3.3 per cent, Statistics Canada said Tuesday.




"It's a lot higher than it's been for several months," said Doug Elliott of Sask Trends Monitor, a monthly statistical newsletter.




Elliott said the only thing holding inflation back was falling prices for clothing and other consumer goods, which tend to be imported from emerging market economies such as China.




But rising prices for energy and transportation fuel are working their way through the economy, driving up inflation, he said.






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Average house sale in Saskatchewan $251,997





Residential home sales were up slightly in Saskatchewan during the first three months of the year.




Data released Friday by the Canadian Real Estate Association indicated 2,342 homes sold in Saskatchewan through the MLS system in the first three months of the year. That was up 0.7 per cent compared to the same period last year.




A combination of higher prices and increased sales pushed the dollar value of sales up in Saskatchewan 6.4 per cent in the first three months of the year.




The average selling price of a home in Saskatchewan in the first three months of the year was $251,997, the statistics indicated.




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Video: Downtown Regina redevelopment plan





Mayor Pat Fiacco has announced on April 19, 2011, a "new vision" for the future of prime property in the heart of Regina.






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New Manitoba anti-crime law will hold landlords responsible



The Manitoba government tabled new legislation Wednesday that would make landlords more accountable for illegal activity taking place on their property.





The legislation was introduced by Andrew Swan, minister of justice and attorney general.





When passed into law, Bill 16 would expand the type of illegal activities that law enforcement could bring before the courts under the criminal organization provisions in the Criminal Code of Canada and under the province`s Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods Act.





If proven in court, buildings where these activities occurred could be seized.





Activities include drug trafficking, prostitution, possession of illegal weapons and selling alcohol without a licence.





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Potash Corp. reaps benefits of fertilizer demand




Last year, Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. (POT-T55.15-0.20-0.36%) chief executive officer Bill Doyle characterized BHP Billiton Ltd.`s $39-billion (U.S.) hostile bid as an attempt to get the company at such a low price that it amounted to a steal.




Ottawa ultimately blocked the proposed deal, but Mr. Doyle`s protestations that Potash Corp. was worth way more than what BHP was offering have been confirmed in spades.





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Saskatchewan to build carbon-capture coal-power plant





Saskatchewan, which depends heavily on burning coal for power, will build one of the world's first commercial-scale power plants that will capture carbon dioxide emissions, the provincial government said Tuesday.







Saskatchewan said the power utility it owns, SaskPower, will proceed with a long-planned $1.24 billion conversion of a generating unit at its Boundary Dam Power Station at the city of Estevan as the province moves to comply with new requirements for cleaner coal power.







The project will have capacity to produce 110 megawatts of electricity per year, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 1 million tones`the equivalent of taking 250,000 vehicles off the road each year, the provincial government said.







Construction will start shortly with operations beginning in 2014, the government said.







The federal government has already committed $240 million to the project, with Saskatchewan covering the $1 billion balance.





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Saskatchewan to give green light to $1.2 Billion clean coal project




The provincial government is expected to give the green light today to a $1-billion-plus clean coal project at SaskPower's Boundary Dam generating station, which will be the first carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) project of its kind in the world.




A media advisory issued Monday said Rob Norris, minister responsible for SaskPower, and SaskPower president and CEO Robert Watson will make "a major announcement on the future of electricity generation in Saskatchewan" at the Boundary Dam Power Station.




The proposed $1.2-billion CCS demonstration project received $240 million from the federal government several years ago, of which about $180 million has been spent.





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