EDMONTON - An Edmonton push to annex a big part of Leduc County could create discord on the new regional board charged with co-operatively creating a metro-area growth plan, Parkland County`s mayor says.
"If anything, it`s going to make us all think of why we`re there, and maybe make us rethink the motives for Edmonton being there," Rob Wiedeman said Tuesday.
"Edmonton officially wants to sit down at the table and co-operate, but they can`t have it both ways. They have to let the process take its course."
Just when the party is underway in Saskatchewan and Newfoundland -- when, after decades of hard times and "have not" status, the money is finally rolling in and business is booming -- along come the killjoy economists with a sobering message.
Beware, they say, the "curse of natural resources," a potentially debilitating affliction that has wreaked havoc with other booming, resource-based economies.
Soaring commodity prices are pushing Saskatchewan, and Newfoundland and Labrador, to the forefront of economic growth in Canada -- along with Alberta -- at time when other parts of the country, particularly the manufacturing heartland of Ontario, are titling toward recession.
EDMONTON - High gas prices, a weak U.S. economy and a strong Canadian dollar should mean a tourism disaster, but hotels and conference centres in Edmonton say businesses is bustling.
As tourism in the rest of the country lags, downtown hotels are reporting the hot economy here means good things for their bottom line.
"The numbers in our hotels are the highest they`ve ever been, not only on an Edmonton standard, but on a national standard," said Jim Taylor, executive director of the Edmonton Downtown Business Association, which represents more than 2,000 businesses in the downtown core.
Me? I`m calling it a clear case of premature annexation. City council clearly jumped the gun politically with its scheme to annex a huge tract of land in Leduc County.
Rabbit Hill, Shalom Park granted more time to resolve road dispute
EDMONTON - A local ski hill and a water-skiing facility were given a reprieve Tuesday night.
Leduc County council unanimously passed a bylaw to temporarily keep open a road through private land to Rabbit Hill ski resort and bike park, and Shalom Park.
There is only one road to the popular sites. The road lease is in private hands and expires in September.
CALGARY - Alter NRG Corp. plans to build Canada`s first plant to convert coal into transportation fuels near Fox Creek for $4.5 billion.
The plant, about 240 kilometres northwest of Edmonton, may produce as much as 40,000 barrels a day of fuels, including diesel, according to a disclosure document on the Calgary-based company`s website.
The project will likely be developed in stages, with the first phase producing about 20,000 barrels a day.
Stampede Park is willing to discuss housing the Calgary Farmers` Market if the popular facility is unable to secure a new lease at its Currie Barracks site.
The news comes on the same day an Ipsos Reid poll showed 93 per cent of Calgarians view the farmers` market as important to the community and 72 per cent support keeping it where it is.
"We have had some initial discussions with the folks at the farmers` market," said Stampede spokesman Doug Fraser.
Let`s get one thing straight: the bottom isn`t falling out of the oil market, it`s just readjusting. Oil prices have now fallen $17.23 in one week -- but at $127.95 US a barrel they are still well above the $75-a-barrel mark, which is where prices were trading at this time last year.
What gives? In the economist`s lexicon, it`s called demand destruction. When the price of a product rises too quickly, buying behaviour changes, and this is what is happening right now.
The most recent weekly survey by MasterCard showed that gasoline demand in the U.S. fell by 3.3 per cent last week, marking the 13th straight decline.
Oil prices will hit $300 US a barrel in 10 years if the United States fails to reduce its dependence on foreign imports, billionaire oil investor T. Boone Pickens told U.S. lawmakers Tuesday.
The U.S. imports nearly 70 per cent of its oil and Pickens said the world`s top petroleum-consuming nation would import 80 per cent in a decade if it does not aggressively tap its own natural gas and renewable resources.
"If we continue to drift, oil will hit $300 a barrel in 10 years," he testified at a hearing of the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
The U.S. Interior Department issued proposed rules for commercial development of oil shale deposits in the West, preparing for an end to a congressional moratorium on developing the fuel source.
There are an estimated 800 billion barrels of oil in shale formations in western states, according to the department, or three times the proven reserves of Saudi Arabia. President George W. Bush and Congressional Republicans say lawmakers should lift a measure that blocks final rules governing commercial development of oil shale.
People living in Springbrook will get a brand new set of pipes.
Working with a $2.5 million grant from Alberta Infrastructure and Transportation, Red Deer County Council on Tuesday approved hiring M. Pidherney Trucking to replace aging water and sewer lines within the hamlet.
"The project will not have a negative impact on county finances," Director of Operations Frank Peck said while introducing the item to council.
Developers are seeking permission for a number of new residential projects throughout Red Deer County.
Councillors gave first reading on Tuesday to a variety of subdivision and redesignation requests, affecting parcels at Pine Lake, Benalto and Balmoral Heights.
First readings set the wheels in motion for each of the projects, including approval of outline plans and re-zoning. Further processes, including advertising and public hearings, will be required for the applications to move forward.
Two new Blackfalds operations will provide services for oil and heavy industries
BLACKFALDS — A pair of corporate heavyweights are preparing to set up shop in a new industrial park here, with more than 250 jobs and contract positions expected to result.
Cord WorleyParsons and Wajax Industries Ltd. have committed to locate operations in Blackfalds Industrial Park, which is northeast of the intersection of Hwy 2A and Secondary Hwy 597.
Cord WorleyParsons, which is a division of WorleyParsons Canada, has already constructed buildings on site and expects to start operations there on Aug. 1.
BLACKFALDS — Two years ago, Schlumberger Canada appeared poised to establish an administrative centre in Blackfalds — a move that would have brought hundreds of jobs to town.
The oilfield services giant never came, but the town appears to be doing just fine — thanks to the pending arrival of two other big industrial companies.
Cord WorleyParsons and Wajax Industries Ltd. have both confirmed that they will be locating operations in Blackfalds Industrial Park on the south side of town.
Inflated construction costs for footbridge, field house approved
A soaring increase in the cost of building a footbridge across the North Saskatchewan River near Fort Edmonton Park and expanding walking trails was approved Wednesday by city council.
The project was expected to cost $20.4 million in April 2007, but even taking the cheapest bid for putting in the bridge, that price would go up to at least $28.2 million, a city report says.
There could be further price hikes once bids are received for trail work, which faces uncertainties around the Wolf Willow creek crossing and other construction issues, the report says.
There`s been one constant in Koru Mohammed`s life since he arrived in Edmonton as a refugee almost 13 years ago: every month he sends money to family in his native Ethiopia.
"There is no limit," said Mohammed, who drives a taxi in the city. "But at a minimum, it`s $200 a month, and the maximum is $500 to $600 a month."
A Statistics Canada study released Wednesday showed Mohammed is among thousands of immigrants in Alberta who regularly send remittances back to their homelands. Immigrants in Edmonton and Calgary are more likely to send money home than their counterparts in other parts of the country, and they tend to send more money, the study showed.
Albertans` cost of living jumped 4.4 per cent in June -- the second highest in the country -- as food joined energy in fuelling inflation.
Food prices -- padded by increases of 44 per cent for flour, 36 per cent for pasta, and 12.3 per cent for baked goods -- rose three per cent in June from a year earlier, Statistics Canada said Wednesday.
Gasoline prices, which were 26.9 per cent higher -- the steepest spike since hurricanes Katrina and Rita ripped through the Gulf oilpatch in 2005 -- remained the major inflation culprit.
Spurred by concerns over credit-card fraud, WestJet Airlines said Wednesday it will no longer allow travellers to use credit cards to check in at self-serve kiosks across the country.
The decision will be implemented at 28 airports "as soon as possible," said Gillian Bentley, a spokeswoman for Calgary-based WestJet -- the country`s second-biggest airline.
The decision comes as 150 of the self-service kiosks at Toronto`s Pearson International Airport are at the centre of an investigation by credit card companies into possible fraud.
Construction of a long talked-about movie studio in Calgary to improve the city`s floundering film industry may be near, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
The Los Angeles-based movie industry publication reported late Wednesday the Alberta government is set to unveil plans for a Calgary studio, quoting Alberta film commissioner Jeff Brinton as saying the idea "has a lot of momentum."
