SK Economic Fundamentals 2008-07

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Futures Works funding benefits Southwest

A total of $10,000 in community improvement projects are receiving funds through the Community Futures Works program.

The program was a unique opportunity for communities to access funding to assist with a beautification or other desinated project.

Funding was awarded to:

Town of Cabri - $2,000 for a Veterans Way project.

Village of Cadillac - $2,000 for a Village restoration project.

Town of Herbert - $1,462 for an Indoor/Outdoor Spruce-up project.

Town of Morse - $1,275 to support the Make Morse Pretty project.

Village of Stewart Valley - $1,262 for a Tree beautification project.

Village of Vanguard - $2,000 for an Entrance Sign project.

http://www.swbooster.com/index.cfm?sid=151692&sc=40

 

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Building permit values remain strong

Building permit totals released by the City of Swift Current show that last year`s construction boom is not slowing.

Building permit totals to the end of June show over $13.8 million in building permits were issued in the first six months of this year compared to $14.9 million issued for the same period in 2007.

http://www.swbooster.com/index.cfm?sid=153930&sc=39

 

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Small-town Saskatchewan rides high on gusher of oil

Doug Maurer drives his pickup down a strip of asphalt that runs, straight as an arrow, across the windswept plains of southeast Saskatchewan.

On his left, a long row of steel pumpjacks, pulling oil from a kilometre below the surface, guards the roadside as far as the eye can see. On the right-hand side the wheat fields sit empty, for now.

"That will eventually be lined with pumpjacks too," says Maurer, a local manager for the Calgary-based oil firm Petrobank Energy.

http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news...b1-7d3cd3bfe673

 

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Soccer centre improvements up for consideration

Improvements proposed for the soccer field house will be considered by city council Monday.

At a press conference held on July 11, the city announced proposed alterations for the Alfred Jenkins Soccer Centre.

Mitch Holash, chairman of the joint soccer committee, said that fundraising efforts had yielded $1.735 million more than required.

Enhancements proposed for the facility include two outdoor soccer pitches, a larger parking lot, a climbing wall, an expanded lobby and an upgraded running track on the third floor.

Coun. Lee Atkinson noticed funds for the centre derived from a tax levy have also been increased.

http://www.paherald.sk.ca/index.cfm?sid=154440&sc=4

 

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Water transcends politics

SASKATOON -- Richard Robarts is a professional border-crosser.

The Saskatchewan-based limnologist -- an inland water scientist -- has spent the past 10 years as the director of GEMS Water, a United Nations global water quality program. One of the organization`s major roles is to protect the quality of the world`s water supply against global phenomena like climate change and pollution.

That gets to be tricky business when water refuses to maintain a national citizenship.

http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/new...67-bae1e4de4a0f

 

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Plan raises concerns

Some Katepwa Lake property owners are overflowing with concerns about a residential development planned for an area prone to flooding.

Katepwa Land Development Corp. purchased roughly 25 acres of land in an area that was part of the former Luther Lodge property. The developer plans to subdivide the land to create roughly 35 lots for cottages.

Cottage owner Ron Palmer, who represented worried property owners at a public meeting held Saturday regarding the development, said that local residents don`t want the area developed because a creek that runs through it often floods in the spring.

http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/new...de-d5aa7f6a8600

 

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A small town`s big doctor issue

Dr. Bev Karras dislikes using the word `crisis` to describe the shortage of doctors in rural Saskatchewan, but she says it reflects the reality.

"There`s no question we are in a crisis time," said the Nipawin family doctor in a recent interview. "I hate to use that word because it seems to be overused in medicine but I think it`s true and has been for a while."

Until recently Nipawin had enough physicians, but now it`s one of many communities across the country experiencing a shortage.

http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/new...80-729a522b68ca

 

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Sask. accepted as member of PNWER

Saskatchewan`s new membership in a cross-border organization will help boost the province`s trading opportunities, says Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Bill Boyd.

Saskatchewan was announced Monday as a member of the Pacific NorthWest Economic Region, or PNWER, during the group`s annual summit in Vancouver.

"Saskatchewan is keenly focused on maintaining and expanding our relationships with our neighbours to the south and to the west of us," said Boyd, part of a Saskatchewan delegation attending the five-day gathering.

http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/new...06-0c47e7ee06fb

 

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Hope`s Home rezoned

Two emotional firsts were celebrated inside and outside Regina`s city council meeting Monday night.

After appearing before council, Melanie Kohlruss, the mother of a six-year-old son with high medical needs, and registered nurse Jacqueline Tisher exited the meeting with dignity. But outside the forum`s doors they jumped up and down and tightly hugged each other because their application to have Hope`s Home at 350 College Ave., rezoned was unanimously approved.

http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/new...c6-72df68573f38

 

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Lakeview gets flood protection

Lakeview residents are getting a new defence against soggy basements.

By fall, the flood-prone neighbourhood will be protected by a 1.5-million-litre pipe east of Boychuk Drive in what will eventually be the Rosewood neighbourhood.

The 590-metre pipe has a capacity of more than half an Olympic swimming pool and is intended to temporarily store storm water, not move it.

http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix...e8-541fbcdb0b84

 

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Coal rush attracts junior miners

Goldsource Mines Inc., the junior mining company that discovered high-grade coal in the Hudson Bay area in April, expressed disappointment Monday with results from the first drill hole since the discovery.

But that announcement is unlikely to diminish the enthusiasm Canada`s junior miners have for Saskatchewan`s coal rush.

In fact, in the last six weeks, about 10,000 permit applications have been received by Saskatchewan Energy and Resources for coal exploration in the province`s northern and east-central areas.

http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix...06-91a64f9c8a45

 

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Time to cash in on flax: expert

Saskatchewan can play a major role in the international bio-fibre market if provincial flax and bast producers are able to accelerate the growth of their product, a well-known agronomist said Monday.

John Cross, founding partner of the Saskatoon-based innoculant development company Philom Bios Inc., which was purchased by Denmark`s Novozymes in November, believes researchers and farmers need to work together to develop methods to increase high-quality flax volume in Saskatchewan. Stems from flax and other bast plants, such as hemp, can be made into fibres for clothing, Cross explained.

http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix...22-1185eb1334bb

 

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Upgrades approved

Enhancements proposed for the Alfred Jenkins Field House as a result of greater than expected fundraising were passed by city council Monday and a bylaw was passed to expedite the construction.

"I congratulate the fundraisers who did an exceptional job," said Coun. Lee Atkinson.

However, he added that monetary excesses could be put to better use — to alleviate the burden on taxpayers, for example.

"We haven`t seen what the operational costs are going to be to this date," Atkinson said. "Maybe we should`ve looked at a green initiative."

http://www.paherald.sk.ca/index.cfm?sid=155183&sc=4

 

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Park neglected: reeve

SASKATOON -- Blackstrap Provincial Park should be run regionally in response to the park`s ongoing deterioration, suggests the reeve of the RM of Dundurn.

Fred Wilson says Blackstrap park and ski hill have been steadily going downhill under provincial management, with little attention being paid to the roads, camp grounds and especially the ski hill, which was was closed by the government this past winter due to high operation costs.

"We feel that the park itself hasn`t been fully utilized over the past number of years, and that it`s been neglected," Wilson said Tuesday.

http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/new...fc-55dacec831dc

 

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Claims could cost millions

Insurance adjusters have been busy processing hundreds of wind and hail damage claims as residents recover from a series of powerful storms that blew through southern Saskatchewan earlier this month.

It could be months before a final tally is available on the total dollar amount in damage claims across the province. It`s been a summer where severe weather has residents watching the skies and Environment Canada is warning the chances of more severe weather is not over yet.

http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/new...99-033d562f4a86

 

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Project Porchlight promotes energy-efficient fluorescent bulbs

If one energy-efficient, greenhouse-gas-emissons-reducing compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulb can make a difference, imagine what 200,000 could do.

"About 9,300 tonnes of GHG emissions reductions, which is equivalent to taking 2,400 cars off the road,`` said Garry Tollefson, supervisor of business development for SaskPower.

"Each (CFL) is at least 66 per cent more efficient than a standard bulb,`` added Rebecca Fiissel, residential lighting program leader for SaskPower. "So the message is, simple actions matter."

http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/new...3c-310629146e83

 

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Modus to build portable units for Suncor Energy

A $54-million contract awarded to an Alberta company to build temporary accommodations for workers at an oilsands project in Fort McMurray is good news for Swift Current.

Modus, an Alberta-based manufacturer of modular structures, has been contracted by Suncor Energy to provide 1,500 portable accommodation units for its multi-billion dollar Suncor Voyageur upgrader project.

The Suncor Voyageur project is designed to increase the company`s oilsands production capacity to 550,000 barrels per day in 2012.

http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/new...7b-3ee50f6e84a6

 

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Drilling begins at Bakken

Crown Point Ventures Ltd. announced last week that the first of two drills the company has scheduled to test the Bakken formation was to begin working Friday.

The Vancouver company says drilling is expected to take four days per well at a total cost of $384,000. Crown Point, which holds mineral leases with its partners on 5,000 acres of land in southeast Saskatchewan, has a 47.5 per cent working interest in both wells.

http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/new...de-30807ada4f4d

 

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A step toward an urban reserve

The work is already underway on Prince Albert`s fifth urban reserve.

"It`s a very long process, and the actual application for an urban reserve hasn`t even been made yet. There are a number of things you have to do in contemplation of that," said CEO of Peter Ballantyne Developments Ltd. Trevor Ives.


http://www.paherald.sk.ca/index.cfm?sid=155646&sc=4

 

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Future of building uncertain

Despite a deadline extension, DistributionCanada.com failed to honour the terms of its agreement with the City of Weyburn to develop the defunct Souris Valley Extended Care Centre building.

"That deadline came and went June 30. (The company) was hoping for more time but council denied that request. We are hopeful now of bringing the deed back into the city`s hands,`` Mayor Debra Button told the Leader-Post on Wednesday.

http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/new...bc-97916e2325f4