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AB Economic Fundamentals 2008-08

Health of river being studied

The council charged with overseeing the Red Deer River watershed has budgeted $250,000 to give it a thorough checkup.

Covering a huge tract of land running from Banff National Park to the Saskatchewan border, the Red Deer is one of 11 watersheds set up under the provincial government`s Water For Life Strategy.

It includes all land draining to the Red Deer River, covering part or all of 19 rural municipalities and 55 towns and cities, said Beverly Anderson, executive director of the Red Deer River Watershed Alliance.

http://www.albertalocalnews.com/reddeeradv...ng_studied.html
 
Steel plant seeks crews for new shifts

Two months after coming under new ownership, the former Ipsco Inc. pipe mill north of Red Deer is ramping up production.

The plant, which was acquired by Russian steelmaker Evraz in March, has been advertising for labourers to operate a variety of equipment and tools.

Kelly Brossart, a Regina-based spokesperson for the company, said about 30 additional workers are needed for the mill to run three lines in its pipe-weld and threading operations.

"We`re basically adding crews to each of those facilities," she said, adding that this will push the plant to full capacity.

http://www.albertalocalnews.com/reddeeradv...new_shifts.html
 
Calgary Condo Market in Jeoopardy

Updated: Thu Aug. 14 2008

ctvcalgary.ca

Hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Calgary`s condo real estate market is in jeopardy.

The Home Builders Association says oversupply and speculators pulling out of the market could cause projects to be shelved and jobs to be lost.

Currently there are more than 2-thousand condo`s listed on MLS.

It would take nine months to sell them all, but builders fear speculators pulling out of projects could cause that figure to double, meaning there would be years of supply listed at the same time.

Norm Ross, president of the Calgary Home Builders Association says, "It means there will be lots of projects stopped. Upcoming projects that we were anticipating would be started, would be put on hold, mothballed. It might be three to four years before they`re started again."

The latest figures show the price of a condo in Calgary has fallen by eight per cent in the first seven months of 2008 to $296,338.
 
Halting subdivision will have price

The city`s corporate services committee`s recommendation to not proceed with further expansion of the Ranchlands subdivision won`t come without a price, according to the group`s chairman.

Ald. Robert Dumanowski says over $1 million of infrastructure upgrades to accommodate the last phase of the development won`t be used – at least not for the Ranchlands development.

"We see that as less significant than the other issues and variables that have contributed to us coming to this decision," he said.

http://www.medicinehatnews.com/content/view/41426/27/
 
Record surplus to spark spending spree

EDMONTON - With a potential record-breaking provincial surplus around the corner, Health Minister Ron Liepert pumped $36.5 million in extra cash into Edmonton`s Mazankowski Heart Institute.

And it appears more spending is on the way.

Liepert made the announcement Thursday as the government prepares to release its quarterly financial report in about two weeks time. Some estimates have pegged the provincial surplus at $11.6 billion.

http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news...4e-8c120ea5779c
 
Mortgage-free pot grower to forfeit home

VANCOUVER - A B.C. judge has ordered a 59-year-old marijuana grower on the Sunshine Coast to turn over his mortgage-free $600,000 home to the government.

"The value of the equity in this property would appear to be higher than that in any other reported cases," Provincial Court Judge Carol Baird Ellan wrote in a ruling ordering Roy Sundstrom to turn over his Roberts Creek, B.C., acreage to the government.

http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news...2b-0e4d939bffda
 
Pursuit of 2015 Universiade may be futile

EDMONTON - Barely out of the starting blocks, there are signs Edmonton`s pursuit of the 2015 World University Games may not clear the next hurdle in the bidding process.

That`s because the federal government, whose approval is needed for the bid to proceed, recently gave its support to a Toronto-area initiative for the 2015 Pan American Games.

While Edmonton`s organizing committee has received assurances its proposal remains on the table, insiders have suggested Ottawa will be reluctant to fund two major international sporting events in the same year.

http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news...77-6d46918106ef
 
Boardwalk profit up 13%

EDMONTON - Edmonton`s largest landlord reported Thursday a profit of $11.7 million for the second quarter as its rental revenues climbed despite greater competition posed by an oversupply of houses and condos.

Boardwalk Real Estate Investment Trust (TSX:BEI.UN) said it earned rental revenue of $105.5 million for the three months ended June 30. That`s up by 13.8 per cent from $92.7 million for the same period last year.

The results were worth 21 cents per unit for the period ended June 30, up from a year-ago loss of $97.5 million, or $1.73 a unit. Net operating income increased to $66.7 million, up 13.6 per cent from $58.7 million from the comparable 2007 period.

http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news...dd-ec7e69e2a32a
 
Pullback in Alberta drags housing market under across the country

TORONTO - The Canadian housing market got another dose of bad news with new statistics showing home prices are falling fast, led by a pullback in Alberta.

The Canada Real Estate Association says the average price of a home sold in Canada`s top 25 markets last month was $327,020, a 3.6-per-cent decline from a year ago. It`s the second year-over year drop after the June numbers fell 0.4 per cent.

The news comes after Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. said Tuesday that new home construction was down 13.6 per cent in July from a month earlier, reaching its lowest level in almost a year. Statistics Canada also said new home prices grew by only 3.5 per cent in June from a year earlier. It was the slowest rate of the growth since March, 2002.

http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news...f9-76e4f41e97d8
 
Energy companies turn to Alberta`s neighbours


Energy companies hungry for fossil fuels gobbled up oil and gas rights in B.C. and Saskatchewan this month and appear to be losing their appetite for land in Alberta.

B.C.`s Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources announced yesterday that in August it had sold oil and gas rights worth more than $501 million, bringing the fiscal year-to-date total to a record of more than $1.8 billion. Sales in Saskatchewan raked in $243 million, bringing that province`s calendar year-to-date total to $848 million.

http://calsun.canoe.ca/Business/2008/08/15/6458376-sun.html
 
Reports show CMHC right on the money

A number of reports about the Calgary housing market have been issued in the last little while by high-profile financial institutions -- Merrill Lynch, TD Economics, Scotiabank -- among them.

Each of the reports is more or less targeted at the institutions` clients and each says the Calgary real-estate market is flat, lagging far behind the last several years. As David Wolf and Carolyn Kwan write in the Merrill Lynch report released Aug. 7 "...it does look like Canadian houses finally got too expensive and builders too aggressive for the underlying demand environment. We expect this will translate into a broadly flat profile for Canadian home prices ahead, with markets in Western Canada most vulnerable to declines."

http://calsun.canoe.ca/Business/2008/08/15/6458411-sun.html
 
Calgary home prices fall 8%

Falling prices in Calgary and Edmonton are dragging down Canada`s housing market, according to a report released Thursday by the Canadian Real Estate Association.

Led by declines of eight per cent in Calgary and five per cent in Edmonton, average house prices in Canada dropped 3.6 per cent overall in July compared with a year ago, according to the report.

The average national MLS residential sale price last month was $327,020, while in Calgary it was $402,788. In Edmonton, it was $335,100, said the report.

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/s...25-8b46cbfa6957
 
$36.5M pledged for heart centre

The Alberta government promised Thursday to spend $36.5 million of this year`s projected multi-billion-dollar surplus to expand the Mazankowski Heart Institute into what it hopes will become Western Canada`s top cardiac-care facility.

The money would be used to complete three additional levels, housing a virtual cardiac centre, specialized testing and imaging services, research programs and regional cardiac rehabilitation.

The extra space would allow researchers now working at the University Hospital to move their work into the institute, thus freeing hospital space for clinical care.

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/s...fb-5f87337ca0cf
 
Landlord hit with 30 new charges

It was listed as a single-family residence in Tuxedo Park. But it housed eight tenants, had only one smoke alarm and after a fire, it killed two men who called it home.

The northwest Calgary rooming house`s owner was charged Thursday with 30 violations of the Public Health Act, on top of the 29 charges under the fire code Yan Teng Li already faces.

It`s the biggest charge sheet a Calgary landlord has faced in recent memory, and comes after inspectors found windows nailed shut, padlocked doors and no fire alarm system in the charred two-storey house. If convicted, Li could be forced to pay up to $495,000, and also be jailed.

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/c...af-bfabc2b561dd
 
Land dollars exit Alberta

Saskatchewan and British Columbia each posted huge land sale results Thursday, raising a combined $745 million and continuing a shift of exploration dollars out of Alberta.

Saskatchewan took in what the province`s energy department described as an "incredible" $243 million, its second-highest land sale tally ever and only slightly behind the record set in April.

The province is well on its way to the first billion-dollar land year in its history, at $848 million with two sales left in the year.

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/c...da-43fee2617c26
 
New Sobeys fast-tracks movement to slow food

Sobeys, a major grocery retailer, is banking on the slow food movement with the opening of its first Urban Fresh store format in Calgary on Thursday.

The store on Fairmount Drive S.E. is focused on fresh food and ready-made meals, as well as providing a licensed bistro and cafe in its 18,000-square-foot space.

"There`s a whole slow food movement where food should be more than fuel," said Gary Kerr, president of operations for Sobeys West. "It should be enjoyable."

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/c...dc-54ec22754b10
 
Billionaire sees $100 floor for oil

Energy - Texas oil billionaire T. Boone Pickens said on Thursday crude prices may soon fall as low as $110 US a barrel amid falling gasoline demand, but should not sink below $100 because the United States depends heavily on oil imports.

"I don`t think it`ll drop below $100," Pickens told Reuters. "I would say $110 is where it might go, something like that."

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/c...75-f1d22274d14a
 
Public survey rule nixed

Lacombe County residents applying to undertake development will not always be required to canvas the opinions of neighbours before going before the municipal planning commission.

The county considered changing its bylaws so that community consultation would be required before any development permit would be considered by the planning body.

The issue arose because of the growing number of non-farm businesses that are being established in rural areas.

http://www.albertalocalnews.com/reddeeradv...rule_nixed.html
 
Blowing in jobs

A wind power project worth more than $300 million will pump a wealth of new jobs and tax dollars into East-Central Alberta`s economy, says a company CEO.

Dan Balaban of Calgary`s Greengate Power Corp. said County of Paintearth can expect huge dividends once construction begins in 2009 and operation follows in 2010.

Numerous jobs will be created for the construction project itself, and maintenance staff will be needed afterwards, Balaban said.

http://www.albertalocalnews.com/reddeeradv...ng_in_jobs.html
 
City promises to be patient

If the Arlington Inn is demolished, its large corner lot in downtown Red Deer could sit empty for years waiting for the right buyer, a city official says.

"We are patient investors," said Howard Thompson, Land and Economic Development Department manager for the City of Red Deer. He allowed that the 18,200-square-foot lot on 49th Street and 51st Avenue might sit empty for six months or several years.

"If it does take longer, then we will be patient and utilize the site for temporary uses such as parking in the meantime," he said.

http://www.albertalocalnews.com/reddeeradv...be_patient.html
 
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