MB Economic Fundamentals 2008-09

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What`s Behind the Curtain?
Manitoba
2008-09
Daily Online Edition
MB Economic Fundamentals 2008-09

The following codes will be at the top of each post using an eight sequence alphanumeric description of the month, year and area:

MMYYAREA


0908MTBA = Sept 08 Manitoba

0908WNPG = Sept 08 Winnipeg

0908PORT = Sept 08 Portage La Prairie


If you wish to view only one area, you can use the advanced search mode and select the "Result Type" > "Show results as posts".

I have also color coded each area along with the caption to make it easier for you to simply scroll through the posts and locate the ones you are interested in.

All the small towns that have online newspapers are covered on Sundays.

The daily posts will continue as there is an enormous demand for this information.

 

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0908WNPG
Smells like election

Signs are prepared and local campaign teams are at the starting gate for a federal election expected to be called this week. And the big local questions are whether the Liberal Party will hang onto its strongholds in St. Boniface and Winnipeg South Centre -- and who will essentially be awarded what many see as a job for life by winning the New Democrat nomination in Elmwood-Transcona.

http://www.winnipegsun.com/News/Winnipeg/2...627386-sun.html

 

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0908MTBA
Feds, provinces set to sign deals on infrastructure

The federal and provincial governments are expected to put aside a long-standing disagreement and sign a $280-million infrastructure funding agreement this week -- just days before a federal election is called.

Federal sources said Infrastructure Minister Lawrence Cannon will visit Winnipeg this week to confirm the final terms of a Building Canada Fund agreement with the province. Similar announcements are expected in Alberta and Quebec.

The funding has been in limbo for more than a year as the two levels of government sparred over where to find the money to complete the Red River Floodway expansion.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/sto...p-4814367c.html

 

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0908WNPG
Businesses get into the Grove

Norwood Grove has emerged from the shadow of its high-profile neighbour -- Provencher Boulevard -- to establish itself as a commercial destination in its own right.

The storefront vacancy rate in the St. Boniface enclave has dropped to a mere one to two per cent, according to Anne-Marie Thiebert, executive director of the Norwood Grove Business Improvement Zone.

She said while the rate historically has been fairly low, it was closer to four per cent when she joined the BIZ about a decade ago. And when premises do become available, most of them get snapped up a lot quicker than they did a few years ago, she said.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/subscribe...p-4814334c.html

 

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0908MTBA
Hearing could hold up pipeline construction

Aboriginal leaders and a small army of lawyers packed a downtown Winnipeg courtroom yesterday for the start of a hearing that may ultimately cause pipeline construction in Manitoba to be delayed. The Treaty 1 First Nations -- representing seven southern Manitoba bands that signed the treaty with Ottawa in 1871 -- are asking the federal court to overturn the government`s decision to approve construction of the TransCanada Keystone pipeline. The line would pump more than half a million barrels of oil per day from Alberta through Saskatchewan and Manitoba and ultimately into Illinois and Oklahoma.

http://www.winnipegsun.com/News/Manitoba/2...644796-sun.html

 

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0908PORT
Ready to move homes still popular

Portage la Prairie Planning District is reporting ready to move homes continue to be a popular choice in the Central Plains area.

Based on the figures from Jan. to July 31, 2008, there were 32 permits issued for ready-to-move homes in Portage and the rural municipality, an increase from the 30 permits issued for the same period last year.

Newton Enterprises has been sending its RTMs north and south of Portage, within the rural municipality.

http://www.portagedailygraphic.com/Article....aspx?e=1184021

 

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0908MTBA
DeFehr handing out pink slips

DeFehr Furniture Ltd. is shutting down two of its three furniture manufacturing plants in Manitoba after a strong Canadian dollar and a slumping U.S. economy took a big bite out of its U.S. sales.

Company president and CEO Andrew DeFehr said Wednesday the company will be closing its furniture factory in Morden and the furniture machining and assembly operations at its Pandora Avenue plant in Winnipeg, and consolidating all of its finished-goods operations at its factory on Furniture Park in East Kildonan.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/subscribe...p-4834019c.html

 

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0908WNPG
Housing break for students?

Want to live in a brand-new Exchange District apartment and only pay $492 a month? It could be possible next year in a heritage building near Red River College`s downtown campus.

A Winnipeg marketing firm plans to spend $5 million to convert the four-storey Frost & Wood Warehouse -- a 102-year-old heritage property that`s sat vacant for seven years -- into a five-storey, mixed-use building at the corner of Princess Street and Pacific Avenue.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/sto...p-4835552c.html

 

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0908MTBA
Highway 8 reconstruction project still on target despite heavy rain

ABOVE-average rain this summer may be causing Interlake farmers to consider slashing the size of their cattle herds, but it`s not effecting the reconstruction of a major highway through the area.

Ron Weatherburn, the province`s executive director of highway construction and maintenance, said motorists will see asphalt put on a long section of Highway 8 before winter cold shuts down the paving season. The highway between Gimli and Hnausa has been completely redone to the gravel base after similar work last year south of Gimli.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/sto...p-4838982c.html

 

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0908MTBA
Downturn puts mining in slow lane

Manitoba`s mining companies have been hard hit by the escalating rout in commodities markets -- and industry insiders are predicting a downturn in exploration as a result.

With base metal prices falling and increasing economic uncertainty sending equity markets south, junior mining companies are getting shut out of capital markets.

According to mining industry officials, it may not yet be causing a slowdown in exploration work in Manitoba, but that`s likely coming.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/subscribe...p-4838987c.html

 

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0908MTBA
Rise in rents helps cover costs for landlords

The province`s new rent spikes may mean a few more dollars for tenants to pay at the end of the month, but will help landlords dealing with spiraling utility costs, says one local owner.

"I think it`s fair to the owners and to the renters," said Bill Calder, from Clayton Agencies Ltd. in Portage la Prairie, on Friday. "If there are increased costs involved with some of the owners, of course they can ask for a higher increase."

Finance Minister Greg Selinger announced Sept. 4 the 2009 guideline for rent increases has been set at a maximum 2.5 per cent.

http://www.portagedailygraphic.com/Article....aspx?e=1187620

 

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0908MTBA
Feds hand Manitoba loot bag

The Harper government -- on the cusp of an election -- handed a $718-million deal to the province Friday to finish the Red River Floodway expansion and tackle anything else that qualifies as infrastructure renewal.

The total deal, including money that`s already allocated, means Manitoba will get an unprecedented $853.86 million to fix roads, sewers and water systems over the next six years.

The money comes just under the wire -- the province was the last in the country to sign on to the federal Building Canada Fund -- as Prime Minister Stephen Harper is expected to call an election Sunday.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/sto...p-4839632c.html

 

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0908MTBA
Stadium not in cash flow

Manitoba signed an 11th-hour infrastructure agreement with the federal government yesterday as an election in Ottawa looms, but it does not appear as though a similar last-minute agreement to fund a football stadium will be signed before the writ drops. Manitoba became the last province in the country -- albeit the third in a week -- to sign on to the Building Canada Fund, an infrastructure program that will see federal money used to build roads, bridges, sewers and other projects.

http://www.winnipegsun.com/News/Manitoba/2...680021-sun.html

 

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Manitoba Small town updates: 2008-08-31 and 2008-09-07

 

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0908WNPG
commercial real estate Historic buildings get a bath Gentler, greener ways to scrub

A Toronto real estate investment trust is spending upwards of a million dollars to spruce up the exterior of two historic office buildings in Winnipeg`s Exchange District.

"What we`re trying to do is restore the facades of these two wonderful buildings," Allied Properties REIT president and CEO Michael Emory said of the work being done on the Whitla Building (sometimes referred to as the Silpit Building) at 54-70 Arthur St., and the Merchants Building at 250 McDermot Ave.

"We need to get decades of dirt and grime off the bricks."

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/subscribe...p-4860447c.html

 

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0908PORT
City approves first tenders for PCU Centre

At Monday night`s council meeting the mayor and council voted unanimously in favour of awarding the first two of four tender packages for the construction of the Portage Credit Union Centre.

The first tender package, which includes demolition, site preparation and piling, came in at nearly $2.1 million, $174,640 under budget. While the second, larger package, consisting of several tenders including the pre-engineered building and concrete, came in at more than $6.8 million and over budget by $181,830.

http://www.portagedailygraphic.com/Article....aspx?e=1190458

 

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0908WNPG
Bus corridor plan rolled out

Winnipeg is breaking from recent tradition by borrowing money to pay for a $327-million bus corridor -- and is banking on taxes from new apartment buildings to pay back the loan.

On Monday, Mayor Sam Katz and Premier Gary Doer ended months of speculation by announcing they plan to build a dedicated busway that will eventually connect downtown to the University of Manitoba.

The first leg of the corridor -- which comes with a $138-million price tag -- will begin at Queen Elizabeth Way near The Forks and then snake 3.6 kilometres southwest to Jubilee Avenue near Pembina Highway, crossing over Osborne Street on a new bridge and then tunnelling below CN Rail`s Fort Rouge Yards along the way.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/sto...p-4860818c.html

 

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0908MTBA
Building booming in Manitoba

The private sector was back in a nail-pounding, concrete-pouring mood in July, leading the charge as Manitoba banged out the biggest provincial increase in building permit activity in the country.

New Statistics Canada figures released Monday show Manitoba municipalities issued $193.5 million worth of residential and non-residential permits in July. That was a 58 per cent increase from June`s total of $122.5 million, and halted a two-month skid that saw permit totals fall by 11.6 per cent in June and 5.2 per cent in May.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/subscribe...p-4860830c.html

 

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0908WNPG
New arrivals snap up homes

A growing number of immigrants and new arrivals from other provinces are snapping up new homes in Winnipeg and helping to prolong the city`s eight-year home-building boom, industry officials say.

Although there doesn`t appear to be anyone who tracks new-home purchases by immigrants, there`s anecdotal evidence to suggest they`re becoming a growing force in the new-homes market in Manitoba.

Officials with two local home-building companies -- Randall Homes and Qualico Developments -- said they`ve definitely seen an increase in the number of new and recent arrivals who are buying new homes in Winnipeg.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/subscribe...p-4861575c.html

 

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0908WNPG
City-area employers to hike hiring in Q4

WINNIPEG area employers plan to increase their hiring in the fourth quarter of 2008, but at a slower pace than a year earlier, according to a survey by Manpower Canada, a job services company.

The company said Tuesday that 16 per cent of local employers plan to add workers in the next three months, while six per cent expect to reduce their workforce. Another 76 per cent intend to maintain their current staffing levels, while two per cent are unsure of their staffing intentions for the coming quarter.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/subscribe...p-4861620c.html