SK Economic Fundamentals 2008-08

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Land rules could change

Rules that limit foreign ownership of Saskatchewan farmland to 10 acres may be due for review, Agriculture Minister Bob Bjornerud says.

The minister said the case of an American man who is fighting an order to sell Saskatchewan land owned by his family for nearly 100 years has highlighted some issues with the current law.

Even though the province`s Farm Land Security Board already has the power to grant exemptions to the 10-acre foreign ownership limit, legislative changes are also an option the Sask. Party government could consider, Bjornerud said Wednesday.

http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/new...a3-60b166f023d9

 

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Residential development going ahead

Developers strike further into Crescent Acres, while Mark Hoehn mourns his garden.

Hoehn has owned his house on Barton Drive for about 20 years.

"Our house was one of the first ones there," he said.

Upon purchase of the property, Hoehn was under the impression the city would begin developing the area north of his property at Olive Diefenbaker Drive and gradually proceed south to his area.

http://www.paherald.sk.ca/index.cfm?sid=164017&sc=4
http://www.paherald.sk.ca/index.cfm?sid=164138&sc=4

 

[joeiannuzzi]

Saskatchewanians, Manitobans more eager to recyle than others

Residents of Saskatchewan and Manitoba are more likely to properly recycle and dispose of their garbage than the national average, according to a national survey.

The survey conducted by Angus Reid Strategies on behalf of the TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup and released Wednesday revealed 70 per cent of Saskatchewan and Manitoba residents recycle and manage their waste properly. Nationally, 58 per cent of Canadians make the same claim although only seven per cent say they are purchasing products with less packaging.

http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/new...fa-cd8fcb798e30

 

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Improvements to facilities awaited

The renovations that are to take place at IPSCO Place in the next year are about more than just improving the facility.

They also are key to retaining events that are vital to Regina`s economy.

IPSCO Place`s contract as the site of the Canadian National Arabian and Half-Arabian Championship Horse Show -- also known as the Royal Red -- was renewed last year based on proposed improvements to the facilities used to house the stables, warmup rings and show rings.

http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/new...52-a671659a769d

 

[joeiannuzzi]

Hey Saskatchewan, we`re becoming big retail spenders

Retail sales in Saskatchewan jumped 13.5 per cent in June, Statistics Canada said Wednesday.

That increase, compared to June of last year, was above the four-per-cent national average and higher than in any other province.

Douglas Porter, the deputy chief economist with BMO Capital Markets, said those numbers reflect Saskatchewan`s strong economy.

http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/new...c1-c995a29a8bff

 

[joeiannuzzi]

Sask. OK despite lower oil prices

While oil prices have tumbled since the provincial government revised its financial picture, Saskatchewan is still coming out ahead, said Finance Minister Rod Gantefoer Wednesday.

At the end of July, the government released its first quarter financial report, which revised the budget`s projected average oil price from US $82.36-a-barrel to $119.78, increasing the government`s estimated revenue from oil royalties by $745 million.

But while oil prices had earlier flirted with US $150-a-barrel, they have in the last few weeks dropped as low as US $112. Gantefoer said that while royalties may decline with the price of oil, the province is gaining from a related drop in the Canadian dollar.

http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/new...0e-bc1682624d98

 

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Cost of clean coal project could rise

The provincial government`s planned $1.4 billion "clean coal pilot project will face significant cost overruns if current trends continue, Crown Corporations Minister Ken Cheveldayoff acknowledged Wednesday.

Inflation of construction costs is an increasing concern, with the Saskatchewan Party government last week announcing an additional $100 million for the new D wing of the Health Sciences Centre at the University of Saskatchewan as projected costs have grown by at least $45 million.

http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/new...99-ec400b788396

 

[joeiannuzzi]

Town celebrates oilsands deal

An agreement between the northern Saskatchewan village of La Loche and Oilsands Quest Inc. about oilsands exploration in the area was celebrated at a Regina news conference Thursday.

Georgina Jolibois, the mayor of La Loche, said the agreement will facilitate exploration in the area, provide employment for people in the La Loche area and address environmental concerns.

"Today is a very, very exciting day for us,`` Jolibois said at the press conference at the Hotel Saskatchewan Radisson Plaza.

http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/new...20-f520be71194d

 

[joeiannuzzi]

Canal announcement expected next week

Wakaw`s watery dream appears to be about to come to fruition.

Provincial Environment Minister Nancy Heppner will be in the town next Thursday on behalf of Premier Brad Wall to make an announcement on the Wakaw canal.

A proposal to build a one-kilometre canal to link Wakaw lake to the town as part of a multi-million dollar resort development dates back to the late 1990s. Calls to the town office were not returned Thursday afternoon.

http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix...2f-e08bb3561333

 

[joeiannuzzi]

American allowed to keep Sask. farm

REGINA -- An American man will be allowed to keep the Saskatchewan farmland where his grandfather set up a homestead nearly 100 years ago, a provincial board ruled Thursday.

Dale Kreimeyer received a lifetime exemption to a Saskatchewan law that usually limits foreign ownership of farmland to 10 acres.

Kreimeyer, who lives in Bethany, Okla., had argued that the Midale-area farm settled by his grandfather, Paul Berndt, in 1909 should stay in his family. The land was passed to his Saskatchewan-born mother, who later became an American, and about 10 years ago was inherited by Dale and his sister, both U.S. citizens.

http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix...8a-5e7e1581fa40

 

[joeiannuzzi]

Canal`s link to lake will create prosperity

The development project that will be launched next week in Wakaw is unprecedented in recent provincial history and will fundamentally transform the town into a resort community, said Wakaw mayor Ed Kidd Friday.

"I liken it to a Banff, a Jasper, a Waskesiu," he said in an interview.

A proposal for the construction of a one-kilometre canal to link the town to nearby Wakaw Lake and the subsequent development of housing, a hotel-spa-convention centre, marina and golf course has been under consideration since the 1990s.

http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/new...87-ef167602752a

 

[joeiannuzzi]

Is Wakaw the new Banff?

REGINA -- The development project that will be launched next week in Wakaw is unprecedented in recent provincial history and will fundamentally transform the town into a resort community, Wakaw Mayor Ed Kidd said Friday.

"I liken it to a Banff, a Jasper, a Waskesiu," he said in an interview.

A proposal for the construction of a one-kilometre canal to link the town to nearby Wakaw Lake and the subsequent development of housing, a hotel-spa-convention centre, marina and golf course has been under consideration since the 1990s.

http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix...f5-87561e613545

 

[joeiannuzzi]

New communiplex for Melville closer to reality

REGINA -- A new "communiplex" for Melville will give the city more than just a new 1,700-seat ice arena, community leaders say.

They expect the proposed facility will also house a cardiac care and fitness centre offering rehabilitation to heart patients and preventive programs to help combat obesity and Type 2 diabetes.

The Melville Communiplex took another step closer to becoming a reality Friday when the provincial government announced it has set aside $3.7 million for the project under the Building Communities program.

http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix...5d-b46830b31845

 

[joeiannuzzi]

Megaprojects boost construction trades

Tens of billions of dollars in major infrastructure spending and commercial development in Western Canada are fuelling a sustained shortage of skilled trades people in construction, just as energy projects in the east ramp up and compete for a dwindling pool of workers.

A slowdown in the residential construction sector hasn`t eased the need for trades workers as any surplus of labour is quickly eaten up by the booming institutional and commercial sectors in B.C., Alberta and Saskatchewan, says Larry Rosia, dean of construction at SAIT Polytechnic in Calgary.

http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix...33-1403bd841b3a

 

[joeiannuzzi]

Still no limits to the amd rush known as Bakken

There are no limits so far and the fax machines are humming 24 hours a day at the Energy and Resources headquarters in Regina with oil companies expressing more and more interest in the Bakken play in southeast Saskatchewan. "We`re setting all the records and there is no doubt as to what`s driving it," said Ed Dancsok, director of the geology and petroleum lands branch for Saskatchewan`s Energy and Resources ministry. "The Bakken limits haven`t been set yet. The perimeters continue to be stretched," he added. Saskatchewan`s Minister responsible for rising income, sometimes referred to as Energy Resources, is Bill Boyd who told The Mercury last week that infrastructure needs of southeast Saskatchewan will have to be "ramped up. Wait for some fall announcements because according to the industry experts, these land sales are important indicators. Each well drilled represents a seven-fold increase in investment, so it`s about hundreds of millions ... billions of dollars," he said.

http://www.estevanmercury.ca/data/stories/...again/News.html

 

[joeiannuzzi]

Growth on MLAs` minds during northwest tour

New Democrat MLAs Darcy Ferber from Prince Albert and Len Taylor from North Battleford visited Meadow Lake Thursday, August 21.

Ferber stated a concern, "The government gets rich while people get poor".

Ferber and Taylor were touring Northwest Saskatchewan to get a handle on issues that are important to people in the area.

Caucus met in North Battleford earlier in the week to discuss what they had heard in their own ridings and they were traveling to opposition ridings to hear what people are saying there.

http://www.meadowlakeprogress.com/This%20W...ess/415597.html

 

[joeiannuzzi]

Higgins wants to see some government action on hospital work

Moose Jaw Wakamow NDP MLA Deb Higgins is calling for the Saskatchewan Party to keep its election promise and start work on the Moose Jaw Union Hospital expansion and upgrades.
"We need to see some action on this," she said Friday.
The New Democrat noted Premier Brad Wall declared Union Hospital expansion was a "top priority" during the 2007 provincial election. He reinforced the expansion`s importance by mentioning it again during the spring budget.
Yet, after nine months in office, the new government is no closer to starting work on the project then the NDP when it was in power, she said.

http://www.mjtimes.sk.ca/index.cfm?sid=164898&sc=3

 

[joeiannuzzi]

Expect to see oil prices rise after Olympics

A rebound in oil prices has been credited to everything from Warren Buffett`s tour of the northern Alberta oilsands to Premier Danny Williams deal to develop the Hebron oilfield off Newfoundland and Labrador to tension between the United States and Russia over Georgia.

But the event that should cause energy stocks to continue their rebound is the end of this summer`s Olympic Games.

http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix...67-8fc132cd848b

 

[joeiannuzzi]

Oilsands land on the market

With the words "for sale" stamped across parts of Saskatchewan`s oil sands, plans for development are once again in the spotlight.

The next oil sands exploration license sale is scheduled for October 6. The provincial government posted nearly 810,000 acres for sale on May 29, and announced the results earlier this month. There were no successful bidders for exploratory oil sands permits.

http://www.paherald.sk.ca/index.cfm?sid=165347&sc=4
http://www.paherald.sk.ca/index.cfm?sid=165635&sc=4

 

[joeiannuzzi]

Area residents have no issue with new skateboard park

Skateboarding is not a crime, but people sometimes associate the sport with excessive noise, vandalism and other loutish activities.

But people using the new skateboard park located next to the Saskatchewan Science Centre on Monday said they haven`t encountered any problems since it opened last month.

"Most of the people who come here don`t do anything bad. They don`t smoke, drink or swear at you; they just ride and they just do their own thing," said Phoenix Ebach, who`s going into Grade 9 at F.W. Johnson Collegiate.

http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/new...fe-60d4155e6a94