Next Tuesday Alberta and Saskatchewan politicians will sit down in Lloydminster for their first joint cabinet meeting.
Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach calls it "long overdue."
And his Saskatchewan buddy Brad Wall describes the get-together as "common sense co-operation", especially now that both western premiers consider their provinces the "engines driving the Canadian economy."
Given the dismal state of Ontario, there`s a lot of truth there, except that between now and then a significant political event is expected to occur.
EDMONTON - The city is looking to build a vastly scaled-down version of an inner-city recreation centre councillors sent back to the drawing board last summer because of the ballooning cost.
The new plan would see only a new swimming pool constructed on the south side of Commonwealth Stadium, along with change rooms, showers, connections to the stadium`s existing fitness centre and site servicing, according to a report released Thursday.
The gym and fitness centre would remain unchanged.
0908ALTA Electricity prices have to go up to fight CO2: Epcor boss
EDMONTON - Producing cleaner electricity will cost more, and Canadians will have to foot the bill through higher electricity prices, Epcor`s president told the Ontario Energy Network on Thursday in Toronto.
"We can`t conserve our way to a zero-emission future," Don Lowry said. "If we want to maximize the role of energy conservation can play, there is one very powerful tool that needs to be used more effectively -- and that`s the price signal."
Saddled with punishing fees for blocking roads and sidewalks, Calgary`s development industry has convinced city administration to take a second look at fee levels that were boosted more than four-fold in June. City council on Monday will be asked to reconsider new fees slapped on builders who need to shut down roads and sidewalks during construction that has propelled Calgary to the highest levels in Canada and has left developers who have to foot the bill fuming.
Back in April, Calgary city council cooled the heels of the planning and transportation departments by sending their Plan It Calgary program back for more study.
Ordinarily, I`d complain about council sending things back for more study, because it`s something they do all too often, but Plan It Calgary is anything but ordinary. Plan It Calgary was designed as a blueprint for growth in Calgary, which is an oxymoron, because Plan It is decidedly anti-growth in its design.
0908CALG City urged to start planning for S.W. ring road
With the province and the Tsuu T`ina maintaining a deal on the southwest ring road is close, a city alderman believes Calgary should start planning for its role in the long-awaited project.
Ald. Ric McIver will ask his council colleagues Monday to set aside money in the budget to pay for the connections between city roads and the ring road.
"If both sides said they can do a deal and we know money will have to be put aside, why not put a contingency in place?" McIver said.
Despite recent warning signs about Calgary`s residential condominium market, a developer is proceeding with plans to build an 11-storey project in Bridgeland.
"The Calgary economy is still very strong," said Alex Ferguson, development manager for Apex Cityhomes, of the Crossings at the Bridges project, which will include 142 units -- one and two bedrooms, terrace homes and penthouses.
"We`ve seen great response. This project itself we think is very different than the downtown condo highrise market."
0908ALTA Bloom is off Alberta`s boom, says CIBC economist
EDMONTON - After five years of booming, "Alberta is becoming human again," a senior bank economist told Alberta Mortgage Association members Friday.
But Benjamin Tal of CIBC World Markets says the news isn`t bad as the province begins to return to a more sustainable rate of economic activity.
"The slowdown we are seeing is a very normal situation," Tal said. "After being spoiled for so long with rapidly rising house prices and economic activity," what is happening now is just a reality check for Albertans.
The City of Red Deer plans to take away land from some businesses near 32nd Street and Gaetz Avenue after negotiations have failed.
City council will decide on Monday whether to allow administration to begin expropriation proceedings concerning land where massive intersection improvements are underway.
With the dust barely settled on a major expansion and renovations at Bower Place Shopping Centre, one of the mall`s anchor tenants is working through some big changes of its own.
The Bay is making approximately $1.5 million in improvements to its store on the west side of the shopping centre.
The project, which started in July, includes new carpeting, paint, lighting, display fixtures and interior walls, said Jim Marcenko, manager of the department store.
A look across the Calgary skyline shows a steadily growing number of glass-and-steel highrises climbing out of the ground.
Huge numbers of multi-family units are completed, under construction or approved. The level of construction starts has already set an annual record -- and there are still nearly four months to go.
But at ground level and below, there are issues within this volatile housing sector. Most of the construction starts are highrises that were sold during the boom -- highrises in which many speculators bought units in a bid to make some fast money, turning them over as soon as they were built.
It`s only fitting that an international conference called Metro Makeover will be held as Calgary continues one of the biggest makeovers of its downtown in the city`s history.
Hosted by the Calgary Downtown Association, the event by the International Downtown Association is slated for this coming Thursday through Sept. 14.
It`s quite timely, given that the ongoing redevelopment of Calgary`s downtown could -- if done correctly -- put Calgary on the list of emerging global cities.
Over the weekend I was talking with a young friend who after graduating from the University of Calgary had spent some time teaching English in the Chung Dham Institute in Seoul, South Korea. Back home now after a wonderful experience, he has secured a position with a major downtown accounting firm and he was excited to tell me he was moving in with a couple of friends in a house in Cliff Bungalow.
I was surprised that others listening to the conversation had no idea where Cliff Bungalow was located, even though so many people travel through it on a daily basis. Tucked in between Mount Royal, Connaught, Mission and the Elbow River, it is one of our oldest communities.
Stephen Harper`s Conservatives have a long way to go to win a majority in the coming federal election, reveals a new poll that shows the Tories` support is concentrated in regions of Western Canada with few seats.
While the Tories face a tough fight in battlegrounds like Ontario and Quebec, all signs point to another sweep of Alberta`s 28 seats. The Conservatives hold a 45-point lead over the Liberals in Wild Rose Country, while the Greens are deadlocked with the NDP for third.
Edmonton and Calgary were just behind Victoria in August for the lowest unemployment rate in the country, suggest data released Friday by Statistics Canada.
But while the Canadian economy added 15,200 workers in August, Alberta`s job numbers moved in the opposite direction with a loss of 4,200 jobs, marking the second consecutive month of lower employment, said Todd Hirsch, senior economist at ATB Financial.
Victoria continued to lead Canada with a 3.2 per cent unemployment rate in August, the same as in July.
Ron Esch isn`t quite sure yet where resale single-family housing prices will bottom out.
The executive vice-president of the Calgary Real Estate Board says the median and average selling prices have been declining since March, falling to their lowest point of the year in August, at $398,000 and $441,000, respectively.
0908ALTA Measures taken to protect defunct condo project buyers
Man, the rumour mill is suddenly working overtime, spinning out tidbit after tidbit about more condo projects on the verge of crashing and burning.
Ever since brothers Wallace and Barry Chow of Resiance Corp. announced a couple of weeks ago they have stopped work on their twin-tower Gateway Midtown development on 10th Avenue and 4th Street S.W., other highrises have been given the kiss of death by various sources.
TORONTO -- A memorable scene in the classic Dan Aykroyd comedy Trading Places had fallen market titan Aykroyd, penniless and drunk, screaming in agony as the street hustler who replaces him - consummate outsider Eddie Murphy - has a ballroom of heavyweights panting for his next stock tip.
Well, get used to that image, Toronto - because in the federal election launched today we are that sap in the Santa suit, stripped of our dignity and importance and forced to watch a slick upstart - in this case Alberta - steal our seat at the nation`s table.
There may be plenty of gravity left in the old centre of the universe, but its pull with the current Conservative government in Ottawa is weak and weakening.
0908ALTA Alberta stepping up the war on pine beetles
The Alberta government says to fight mountain pine beetles, to stop the "encroachment" of trees onto ranchlands and to protect communities from wildfires, it has embarked on a ramped-up program of deliberate forest burns in the southern part of the province -- dramatically increasing the area of land it set ablaze by a dozen times.
While prescribed hazard-reduction burns have been common in northern Alberta to reduce the "fuel-load" close to rural communities, comparatively few intended forest fires have been set in southern Alberta.
