Alberta Finance is probing a St. Albert organization that offers a tax shelter for taxpayers who donate AIDS drugs to Africa.
Alberta Finance spokesman Bart Johnson said department officials are concerned about claims made by a group called Fight AIDS Save Taxes on its website.
One small patch of road in Stettler caused a hiccup for town council this month when four members abstained on a decision over improvements because of a possible conflict of interest.
"It`s unusual," said Stettler town manager Ron Stoutenberg, reflecting on his 21 years with the town. "It`s the first time that we`ve had such a large conflict of interest."
EDMONTON -- A long-awaited report set for release today on a new Edmonton arena must suggest ways to build it without boosting city taxes, Coun. Bryan Anderson says.
"I don`t think there is support in the city of Edmonton for any kind of surcharge on property taxes like St. Albert ... and Sherwood Park did to support their recreation centres, or a tax increase," he said on Monday.
It`s called the Boyle Renaissance. Depending on who you talk to, it`s either a visionary plan to revitalize one of the downtown`s bleakest pockets while providing state-of-the-art supportive housing -- or it`s a naive disaster-in-the-making that could turn blocks of central Edmonton into an American-style urban ghetto.
Today, as part of his address to a sold-out Downtown Business Association luncheon, Mayor Stephen Mandel will officially outline his plan to redevelop a parcel east of the main downtown police station, near the seedy York Hotel.
EDMONTON -- Businesses and local politicians in the Barrhead area are talking about bringing in family video conferencing and a Spanish-speaking priest to make life in Canada more comfortable for temporary workers from Mexico.
The first of more than 200 workers from the Chipala region west of Mexico City should soon be living in and near the primarily agricultural town where they will fill vacant jobs at BarrCana Home Manufacturing.
The top-performing North American bank stock of the past five years is based in Edmonton, has 35 branches, and is led by a chief executive officer who has no voice mail and says he isn`t smart enough to understand complex debt investments.
Canadian Western Bank knows about lending to companies in oil-rich Alberta, however, and that helped the company avoid quarterly losses for the past 20 years. The value of Canadian Western`s stock more than quadrupled in the five years ended Dec. 31, six times the return of the 24-member KBW Bank Index, which includes Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc.
The total dollar volume for residential land transactions in Calgary ballooned to $712 million in 2007, more than doubling what it was two years ago.
Data compiled by RealNet Canada Inc. shows residential land sales in Calgary have been on a steep rise since 2001 when they totalled $136 million, but they began to soar in 2005 when they reached $350 million and then went to $572 million in 2006.
Bombardier`s newest, most expensive corporate jet departed Calgary International Airport on Monday on an inaugural flight for its first Canadian customer, yet another sign the oilpatch is rolling despite turbulent times shaking other North American business sectors.
In a move that echoes the recent arrival of luxury car makers Ferrari and Bentley amid sky-high oil and natural gas prices, Bombardier Flexjet said it too is honing in on Calgary.
Alberta `standout performer,` Canada West Foundation says
EDMONTON - Recent economic uncertainty in Ontario and the United States will better highlight phenomenal growth in Alberta, a western think-tank predicts.
The Canada West Foundation today released its 2008 State of the West report, which is published every five years and provides economic and demographic data on Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia
Consultant guides people through pitfalls of divorce
EDMONTON - The secret to Dawn Hawley`s success as a certified divorce financial analyst appears to be that she can think as nefariously as some of the people involved in settlements she handles.
In a presentation to the Edmonton Estate Planning Council, Hawley told of a chartered accountant who, in splitting up with his wife, proposed an equal division of their equity shares based on the market value.
FORT McMURRAY - Northern Alberta is big and busy and clamouring for their share of services and infrastructure improvements.
With all the resource wealth being pumped into Alberta`s economy, the North is impatient to see transportation, education, health, and housing bottlenecks cleaned up.
"There`s a six-inch pipeline going south and a two-inch pipeline coming back," suggests John Brodrick, chief administrative officer for the Town of Manning.
FORT McMURRAY - With $20 billion slated for oilsands investment this year alone, job-wise, housing-wise and business-wise, there can be no doubt Fort McMurray is on fire.
"It`s exciting. There`s lots of action. People have a pretty good attitude," says Milly Quark, president of the Fort McMurray Real Estate Board.
However the immensity of development may be lost on many Albertans and Canadians.
EDMONTON - Cold Lake sits in the middle of one of the richest oil-producing areas in Canada. The economy is booming, work is everywhere, but the community is hurting for cash flow, says Mayor Craig Copeland.
With 4 Wing, the Canadian fighter base, one of the most scenic lakes in Alberta, and an oil boom all around, Cold Lake still needs financial help, Copeland says.
GRANDE PRAIRIE - Alberta`s northwest has boomed in tandem with its colleagues in the Fort McMurray area, although activity is taking a bit of a breather due to weaker resource prices in forestry and natural gas.
"There is a bit of a slow down, and a healthy one at that. Some of the holes that needed filling are starting to fill," says Walter Paszkowski, a former minister of municipal affairs for the province, and now economic development officer for the County of Grande Prairie.
EDMONTON - Communities in north-central Alberta are feeling the pressures of growth in forestry and oil and gas industries, pushing up their populations and increasing pressures on housing.
Athabasca is found in the picturesque Athabasca River valley, but there`s not a lot of housing available to go along with the scenery, confesses Mayor Colleen Powell.
"Housing is very tight. Our problem is the same as the rest of Alberta: when properties are developed we will have a lack of rentals," Powell says.
Strong energy prices, particularly for oil, are doing little and will do little to effectively increase global supply, providing strong share price fundamentals for explorers and service firms, says a major new report.
It also positions Alberta and Calgary in a sweet spot, experts say.
EDMONTON - The agricultural community in the Peace Country has decided that it`s time to stop hiding their light under a bushel.
Peace Country farmers have long believed they have a lot to brag about -- and now they`re getting the scientific proof to back it up. Add in some marketing savvy, and Canada Peace Country may one day become a world-wide symbol for quality agricultural products.
At least, that`s the goal of the Branding the Peace Country initiative.
PEACE RIVER - Exporters in the Peace River region want easier access to containers in their area to ship products such as hay and lumber to Asian markets.
It is a landlocked region with an economy based on commodities and in need of dependable transportation to buyers, but the system isn`t working well enough for people like Marc Lavoie.
Lavoie is general manager of Entreprises Macay, a timothy hay exporter based in St. Isidore in Northern Sunrise County, 16 kilometres south of Peace River.
Like a second-generation Canadian masking her immigrant roots, Alberta`s shiny new image as a financial powerhouse lets people forget how very recently this was a farm-based have-not province.
The rural population has poured into a handful of urban centres along with almost all of the newcomers to Alberta over the past three decades.
But those left behind want to contribute to Alberta, too.
