Imperial Oil Ltd. stood up for the oilsands industry Thursday in the face of growing tension between the sector and environmental groups, saying Alberta`s vast reserves are "critically important" for improving quality of life in the undeveloped world.
Imperial`s new chief executive, Bruce March, described the oilsands as a vital global energy source in a world where billions of people live with poor sanitation, unsafe drinking water and inadequate or no electricity.
The number of people visiting Market Mall on an annual basis has doubled in less than four years and sales figures have ballooned since the popular northwest shopping centre underwent a major renovation and expansion.
And the mall keeps adding new retailers to its mix to keep those numbers growing.
MLS sales in Calgary continued to drop in April compared with a year ago while new listings climbed and average sale prices stayed steady for single-family homes, according to data released Thursday by the Calgary Real Estate Board.
The real estate board says listings are now taking twice as long to sell over last year.
Imperial Oil Ltd.`s new CEO signalled Wednesday the company is going to gradually increase output by nearly 100,000 barrels per day and improve reliability at the company`s four Canadian oil refineries in the wake of recent unplanned shutdowns.
"Our reliability track record, some of the events we`ve had in the past couple of years, (is) simply unacceptable," Bruce March, who took over from Tim Hearn as CEO on April 1, told reporters after the company`s annual shareholders meeting in Calgary. "We`re working very hard to fix it."
The U.S. "ethanol frenzy" is part of a biofuels movement with the power to dramatically alter worldwide agriculture and should be viewed with caution, says a University of Lethbridge economics professor.
"I think this is one of the biggest things that has affected agriculture, not only in this country but around the world, in my career," said Prof. Kurt Klein at the Alberta Agricultural Economics Association annual conference in Red Deer on Thursday.
Local golfers should soon have another place they can go to drool over the latest drivers and replace lost balls.
The City of Red Deer announced Thursday that it has issued a building permit for a Golf Town store at 5111 22nd St. The project is valued at $1.1 million.
Golf Town operates 38 stores across Canada, including three outlets in Calgary and two in Edmonton. It carries a full range of golf-related equipment and clothing and also repairs clubs.
Expert says Alberta`s wind power potential limited
Alberta`s wind power projects have merits but are unlikely to replace more than 15 per cent of existing energy sources, says a University of Victoria economics professor.
While wind power has been touted as the environmentally friendly alternative to fossil fuels, there are limits to what can be expected from the resource that blows across the province, said Prof. Cornelis van Kooten on Thursday during the Alberta Agricultural Economics Association`s annual conference in Red Deer.
FORT MCMURRAY - All-terrain vehicles patrolled the long, sandy beach of the Aurora tailings pond as Syncrude`s CEO, flanked by several employees, offered outsiders a look at the site where hundreds of ducks died this week.
Tom Katinas rejected suggestions that the refusal to allow anyone other than regulators a look at the oilsands company`s site on Tuesday had been a coverup.
EDMONTON - RCMP have laid charges against the owner of Smoky Lake Registries more than two months after they began investigating alleged irregularities at the office.
Richard Klem, 49, has been charged with breach of trust, fraud and obstructing a police officer. He is scheduled to appear in Fort Saskatchewan Provincial Court May 29.
The city`s cost to replace the white, tent-like roof on the Talisman Centre has climbed 61 per cent, hitting $39.4 million and exceeding the original price of the building.
City officials have been working to nail down the final cost of the roof -- recommended for replacement by 2010 -- after estimating last April it would be about $24.5 million.
CITY HALL - Detailed design plans will begin shortly for a new northeast recreation centre if a city committee approves freeing up the $70 million already committed to the project.On Wednesday, the community and protective services committee will be asked to approve the money from provincial infrastructure funding.The group is required to meet a 90 per cent funding target before the money is released.
Martin Rude had a bounce to his step for the first time in months as he walked into the plush Devonian Room at the Calgary Petroleum Club for breakfast Thursday morning.
Virtually every energy brokerage and investment dealer in the city has knocked their near-term natural gas price assumptions higher in the past six weeks.
Yes, charter members of the energy industry were celebrating the ongoing good fortune that comes with record oil prices threatening to push past the $120 US per barrel psychological barrier.
But it wasn`t happy news all around as the patch began reporting Q1 results.
The inexorable shift westward of the Canadian economy is now gaining traction even in the manufacturing sector, the very heart of the central Canadian economy in Ontario, according to a new report.
In an analysis of Canadian manufacturing in 2007, Statistics Canada found the global commodities boom is benefitting manufacturing industries in the West with sky-high prices and stronger demand, while the strong Canadian dollar and weak U.S. demand is causing Central Canada manufacturing to languish.
We`re in that in-between season where one day you grab a sweater and you`re good to go; the next, you need a parka. Moods swing like a chinook arch on the western sky. Calgary`s reality is there is never a month when we don`t need the comfort of cosy interiors.
Perhaps I should be looking at lawn furniture, but it hurts too much on a bitter day. Better to poke around Inglewood to see what`s new in stores. My favourite time to shop in Inglewood is mid-afternoon, mid-week. Here`s why.
We search our entire lives for beauty, but then what is true beauty?
It is upsetting to most of us to see people who go in for radical plastic surgery as an attempt to avoid natural change (OK, we are talking about aging).
The beauty is within, and the natural aging process brings out that beauty in honest and powerful ways.
If you think Canmore is out of your price range, it`s all relative.
The average price of homes sold in the resort town just west of Calgary in the Rockies was lower than the average price of some dwellings closer to Calgary`s core.
From January to the end of March, homes sold in Canmore averaged $718,320 for 58 sales, with a median price of $610,000.
A commercial real estate report by Avison Young says Calgary`s current office construction boom is much more in line with the anticipated GDP growth rates than the previous boom.
"Calgary has certainly learned from the oversights of its past," says the Calgary Office Market Report for spring 2008.
During the previous construction boom between 1979 and 1983 more than 22 million square feet of office space was added to the Calgary market, tripling the inventory of office space in the city, said the report.
