Calgary health officials are scaling back plans for the new south hospital -- cutting bed numbers and some specialized treatment rooms in the initial phase of development -- as the construction price tag again spikes.
The cost of the long-anticipated hospital is now expected to hit $1.41 billion, up from $1.25 billion, despite eliminating 32 in-patient beds from the first phase of building, said Ted Braun, a Calgary Health Region vice-president.
"It`s that old problem that we`ve been having in Calgary now for several years -- cost escalation of construction," Braun said.
Another chapter was added Wednesday to the ongoing saga over the southwest ring road, when Premier Ed Stelmach and officials from the Tsuu T`ina reserve said an agreement between the two sides is all but complete.
The province and Tsuu T`ina have been negotiating for decades on a deal that would see the southwest section of Calgary`s ring road run through reserve land.
Both partners indicated in May they hoped a deal could be struck by the end of June. On Wednesday, Stelmach said they`re down to the short strokes.
Calgary housing starts fall to lowest level since 1995
The pace of new home construction in the Calgary area continues to fall, according to data released Wednesday by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.
The CMHC said housing starts in June for both the single-family home and multiple-family home markets were the lowest they have been for the month of June since 1995 and 1996 respectively.
In multi-family construction, the numbers recorded their first monthly year-over-year drop.
TransCanada Corp. expects the next phase of its Keystone oil pipeline to the southern United States from Alberta will cost $7 billion as the company tries to attract anchor shippers, an executive said Wednesday.
The Keystone expansion would run 3,200 kilometres to refineries in Port Arthur and Houston, Texas, from Hardisty, Alta., moving 700,000 barrels a day.
All right, he`s not out there advertising himself as Boxcar Eddie.
But Premier Ed insists commuter trains to and from Calgary are much more than a trial balloon floated to see which way the political wind is blowing. In fact, he is clear. He wants Calgary and area communities to get on track and pitch a plan to get commuters choo-chooing to and from the big-city towers.
Day before yesterday, Ed announces $2 billion for public transit so the cash is there, now it`s up to them to use it. One thing you can say about the premier is he`s been the provincial boss of building and is the kind of guy who likes a to-do list in front of him and then one-by-one checks off another assignment to be tossed into the hopper of projects ready to roll.
Central Alberta Businesses encouraged to participate in a National Job Fair, September 30 – October 1, 2008
(Red Deer / Central Alberta) – Red Deer Regional Economic Development (RDRED), the Central Alberta Economic Partnership Ltd. (CAEP), and B&M Recruitment Solutions are inviting Central Alberta businesses to take part in the upcoming National Job Fair in Toronto September 30 to October 1. The three partners would like to see as many Central Alberta businesses represented at the fair in Toronto as possible and are offering services that allow companies to participate in the trade fair in a variety of ways.
Alberta Transportation is clearing the way for Sylvan Lake Mounties to use Segways on trails and in the town`s provincial park.
Sylvan Lake RCMP are among several police forces in Alberta that want to permanently use the two-wheeled, self-balancing vehicles after successful trial runs.
Dennis Krill, protective services director for the town, said a letter was fired off to Transportation Minister Luke Ouellette on Monday.
EnCana has launched a pilot project to bury a pipeline along a Red Deer County road allowance to reduce the impact on local landowners.
County council gave unanimous approval to the one-time pilot project, which would allow pipelines to be buried within the 30-metre strip of land set aside along roads to allow for future widening.
The plan, first presented to the municipality in February, is to run a sweet, low-pressure natural gas plastic pipeline within the 30-metre road allowance in a rural area about 10 km northwest of Bowden.
A year ago, the prospects of Red Deer`s booming residential construction sector generating just one single-detached housing start per day might have been unbelievable for overworked tradespeople in the city.
But building activity has dropped below this level, with Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. reporting on Wednesday that there were just 28 single-detached starts in Red Deer last month. By contrast, the tally was 129 in June 2007.
Alberta is leaving competing provinces and U.S. in the dust when it comes to economic freedom, a new study issued by the Fraser Institute suggests.
The report shows in North America, Alberta trails only Delaware and is tied with Texas for maintaining the highest levels of economic freedom, which the B.C.-based think tank says is thanks to a combination of low taxes, smaller government and flexible labour markets. Amela Karabegovic, one of the report`s authors, said while people living in the highest-rated jurisdictions don`t necessarily have more money in their pockets than the lowest rated, it is an indicator of better opportunities for economic prosperity.
EDMONTON - Alberta`s thousands of temporary foreign workers will finally get some much-needed government assistance.
On June 1, the provincial government quietly launched a $1.4-million pilot project to help temporary foreign workers. The two-year project will give money to nine immigration service organizations across the province, allowing them to expand to help temporary foreign workers.
Previously, government funding for immigration service providers was earmarked for immigrants only. At least 23,000 temporary foreign workers have flooded into Alberta over the last few years, and when they seek help from service providers, centres are often forced to turn them away.
Calgary firm plans province`s first carbon-dioxide pipeline
CALGARY - A small Calgary company unveiled plans on Thursday for Alberta`s first carbon dioxide pipeline to increase oil production from old oilfields.
Enhance Energy Inc., a private firm that specializes in enhanced oil recovery (EOR), is proposing to build the system to link upgraders and processing facilities around Edmonton to old fields in the south-central area of the province to increase oil production.
When it`s operational in 2011, the system will remove 5,000 tonnes of CO2 gas per day that would have been vented into the atmosphere -- the equivalent of taking 1.6 million cars off the road. Eventually, the line will be expanded to 25,000 tonnes per day, or nearly 10 million tonnes per year.
Councillors cramp up over cost of new rec facilities
City councillors are agonizing over whether to spend tens of millions of dollars on recreation facilities, including a $167-million centre at Commonwealth Stadium.
And at least one civic politician warns with 80 neighbourhoods also in dire need of repair, the city will have to prioritize projects or clobber residents with unprecedented tax hikes to pay for it all. "Either you keep increasing taxes, double-digits year after year to fulfil all the wish lists, or you start to reduce the wish list and concentrate on the priorities the city has to set," Coun. Tony Caterina said yesterday.
While more than 750,000 people will enjoy the music, rides and shopping at Capital Ex this summer, not all Edmonton residents are counting down the days until its July 17 opening.
An admission pass for a family of four for one day at "Edmonton`s biggest summer celebration" comes in at $60, and that`s excluding extras like food, water and treats. It`s a price not everyone can afford, say workers from outreach organizations in the inner city. That`s why, for the last 23 years, local groups that comprise the Urban Core Support Network have organized an Inner City BBQ to coincide with Capital Ex for people who can`t afford to attend the festivities.
Renowned chuckwagon announcer Joe Carbury`s call for Americans to make some noise at the Stampede`s races usually gets loud cheers.
Not this year.
"It was noticeably quieter," said Michael Sieger, president of the Calgary Hotel Association.
"I think that`s a good indication of what`s missing."
It`s the drop in American attendance that Sieger pinpointed as the reason for a fall in hotel occupancy during this year`s Stampede.
A survey of 20 hotels that each have 200 rooms or more found occupancy rates were down around five to 10 per cent over the past week compared to the same time last year.
Facing gas price hikes and rapid growth just like the big city, Calgary`s bedroom communities are floating a $500-million plan to double existing heavy rail lines that would create a commuter rail system connecting them to existing LRT.
On the heels of this week`s $2-billion provincial funding announcement for public transit, officials in Airdrie, Cochrane and Okotoks are expected to meet in the next month to look at speeding up development of commuter rail, hoping to have it done within five years.
The goal would be to either build rails alongside existing CP Rail lines south and west of the city, or use abandoned CN tracks in the north. Publicly run commuter buses are also planned to start in some districts in two years to deal with burgeoning growth.
The owners of Calgary`s Holy Cross Centre are considering a major residential development on the former public hospital property in trendy Mission and have applied to the city to redesignate land use at the site.
Enterprise Universal, the company that owns the old hospital where a private surgical facility and other businesses now operate, has asked the city to redesignate the land to accommodate a mixed commercial and residential development.
Holy Cross representatives said they will work with city administrators to come up with a plan for the site after the Calgary Planning Commission recommended city council turn down the proposed change.
The number of homes damaged by the Canada Day flooding in Lethbridge is much higher than originally thought, but it could be weeks before the province decides if it will offer financial assistance to victims.
More than 300 homes are now thought to have suffered damage in a flash flood caused by an intense rain storm on July 1. That`s five times the initial estimate of 60.
"The latest estimate is 300 -- it could be more," said Lethbridge Mayor Bob Tarleck. "We`ve asked for the provincial relief program to be implemented and we`re hoping that will be announced quickly."
In a lonely industrial park a long way from downtown Calgary`s cluster of flashy oil towers, E-T Energy Ltd. prepared this week to reveal what it believes will be an oilsands coup.
There is a buzz building again around the tiny, private company, whose chief executive, Bruce McGee, a 51-year-old doctor of electrical engineering, has spent the past 20 years trying to crack a complex puzzle.
E-T Energy considers itself at the forefront of a growing movement of oilsands producers hoping to tap massive underground reservoirs by heating the bitumen-soaked sand with electricity.
