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December 2011 Alberta Economic Fundamentals

Ally

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Alberta investors hit 'sweet spot'



`While home prices across the province are still in a slump, net in-migration and the country`s strongest wage growth are helping keep rents high across most of the province,` said Greg Head, co-author of The Canadian Investor`s Guide to Secrets of the Real Estate Cycle. `We`ve seen a real uptick in the number of renters.`





Those new workers, drawn by the province`s oil and gas industry, are renting rather than buying. Generally, they and other migrants don`t make that leap until after two years in a new market, said Head.





That`s created an advantage for landlords also benefiting from a shrinking jobless rate, now more than 2 percentage points below the national average. The phenomenon is also helping drive demand for a finite number of rental units.





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Energy sector fuels Alberta economic growth




CALGARY ` Alberta`s economy is significantly outperforming the national average in 2011, with real GDP on track to grow 3.3 per cent, says a report released Wednesday by BMO Capital Markets.




`High oil prices are fuelling activity in the energy sector, which in turn is driving strong labour market performance. Alberta should remain near the top of the growth leaderboard next year, running almost a full percentage point above the national average,` said the report.




BMO is forecasting Alberta GDP growth of 2.8 per cent in 2012.





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Canada caught between European downturn, U.S. growth






OTTAWA ` The Canadian economy will walk the line in 2012 between a downturn in Europe and continuing growth in the United States, according to a an outlook issued Tuesday by RBC Economics.







Of course, that`s all assuming European policy-makers finally take action to deal with the currency bloc`s debt crisis, said RBC chief economist Craig Wright.







But if they do, Canada will experience moderate growth in the economy of 2.5%, Mr. Wright said.






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Critics fume as Canada approves Total's Joslyn oil sands project





OTTAWA - The federal government, in a move critics say is a direct affront to the climate change talks in South Africa, announced Thursday the go-ahead of a major oilsands project in northern Alberta.




The construction of the Joslyn North Mine will inject up to $9 billion in new capital investment across the country and generate $10 billion in revenues for the federal and Alberta governments over 40 years, said Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver.




But Oliver said the six-year approval process for the Joslyn mine was far too long, and he said Ottawa will work with the provinces to ensure projects get underway roughly two years after applications are filed.




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Canadian oil sands expects capital spending before 2020 Syncrude expansion





Canadian Oil Sands Ltd expects some capital spending this decade in advance of the next big Syncrude Canada expansion even though the project`s startup has been pushed back into the early 2020s, chief executive Marcel Coutu said on Thursday.




The partners will likely begin some engineering and construction on Syncrude`s Aurora South oilsands mine before the end of the decade, Coutu said during a conference call to discuss the company`s 2012 budget. The Syncrude partners have postponed major expansion at Syncrude to concentrate on reliability of existing assets.






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Republicans push Keystone pipeline, pinning decision on payroll-tax bill





WASHINGTON ` The Keystone XL pipeline on Thursday became the key pawn in a holiday-season game of political brinkmanship between congressional Republicans and President Barack Obama, with the GOP linking construction of the oilsands project to approval of White House-backed legislation extending jobless benefits and tax cuts for middle-class Americans.







House Speaker John Boehner said he would introduce a bill that would force the Obama administration to make a final decision on Keystone XL within one month, instead of waiting until early 2013 to complete a new environmental review.






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Bus service to Edmonton airport will cost $5 a ride




EDMONTON - Transit service to Edmonton International Airport is `cleared for takeoff` after a council committee recommended funding Tuesday to try out the program for three years.




Edmonton Transit and the airport authority want to start daily bus service from Century Park LRT station next May, running every half-hour at peak times and once an hour off peak in regular vehicles equipped with luggage racks.




The cash fare would be $5, or a $100 monthly pass, with no transfers to the rest of the ETS system.





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New Edmonton bus route could link LRT with international airport




EDMONTON - Another public bus to the Edmonton International Airport could be running by next spring under a proposal to operate a full-day, direct route between Century Park LRT station and the airport.




`There has been some criticism that the city of Edmonton is one of the only major Canadian cities that doesn`t have public transportation to its airport. So this has the potential to address the transportation needs to the airport at a reasonable cost to the taxpayer,` said Ken Koropeski, director of service development and fleet support for Edmonton Transit.


A report outlining the proposal, which would be jointly funded by the city and the airport, is scheduled to be discussed by the transportation and infrastructure committee on Tuesday. The discussion comes about one year after the city and county of Leduc started its C-line commuter bus service between Leduc, Nisku, the airport and Century Park.





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New Alberta oil sands project pleases industry, outrages critics




OTTAWA - Environmentalists howled and industry rejoiced Thursday when the Harper government, in apparent defiance of the United Nations climate conference in South Africa, approved a major oilsands project set to begin production in northern Alberta in 2018.




Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver gave industry even better news when he said the time it took Total E&P Canada to get its $7- to $9-billion Josyln North project approved ` six years ` should be cut to two years for future projects.





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Housing starts down in Edmonton




EDMONTON ` Housing construction declined slightly across the country last month, including in Edmonton. Data released by the Canadian Mortgage Housing Corporation Thursday showed 17,000 fewer housing starts across the country in November after 208,000 began in October.




`Housing starts declined in November, reaching a level which is more consistent with the rate of household formation,` said Mathieu Laberge, CMHC`s deputy chief economist. `The decrease in housing starts was due to a moderation in the multiples segment.`





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Is it too soon to cheer good news?







The news the federal government has approved a 100,000-barrel-a-day oilsands mine in the midst of a key UN climate change conference essentially confirms that Ottawa is not about to bow to international pressure that would potentially harm the economy.




Canada has been singled out repeatedly during the United Nations conference in South Africa for a perceived lack of commitment to reducing the country's fast-rising greenhouse gas emissions.




In the face of the global criticism, Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver announced Thursday the approval of the $9.5-billion oilsands project.




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Canadian Oil Sands Ltd. confirms Syncrude expansion delay





Canadian Oil Sands Ltd. confirmed Thursday a series of major expansions at Syncrude Canada will be delayed into the next decade to improve reliability at existing facilities.




Canadian Oil Sands, which owns 37 per cent of Syncrude, noted Wednesday the massive bitumen mining and synthetic crude production facility has yet to achieve its 350,000 barrel per day capacity due to a stream of equipment malfunctions.




"The priority of developing our Aurora South leases has shifted by a few years to allow some time to improve the economics of these new projects and reduce the risk profile that we see today," said chief executive Marcel Coutu during a conference call.






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Calgary region housing starts in November highest in five years





CALGARY ` Boosted by a strong multi-family market, Calgary region housing starts rose dramatically in November, says Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.




The agency said there were 1,106 starts during the month in the Calgary census metropolitan area, an increase of 99.3 per cent from November 2010.




Multi-family starts, which include semi-detached units, rows, and apartments, totalled 660 units in November, up from 189 units in 2010.




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Global real estate firm setting up office in Calgary



CALGARY ` A global financial and professional services firm specializing in real estate has opened a new office in Calgary.





Jones Lang LaSalle has also hired Andrew MacLachlan to develop its business in the region.





The company said MacLachlan will be executive vice-president and he will provide advisory and transaction services to Jones Lang LaSalle`s clients in Alberta. The new Calgary office follows the Jones Lang LaSalle expansion into Vancouver in January this year.



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Crews working through winter to keep Calgary airport expansion on track



Just east of the airport, rows and rows of rebar emerge from a half-kilometre of snow-covered ground, as a small section of the massive new runway waits for spring and its next precisely calibrated layer of concrete to arrive.





But the huge site where a 4.2-kilometre long runway will be operating by 2014 is not hibernating over the winter.





Operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week, about 200 workers will continue to move another three million cubic metres of dirt to make sure the area is ready when the weather co-operates.



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Calgary MLS sales activity picking up in December






It`s still early in the month but after a week in December the city`s resale housing market is showing signs of some positive momentum.




According to the Calgary Real Estate Board, from Dec. 1-7, there have been 200 single-family MLS sales at an average price of $464,459. For the same period in 2010, there were 179 transactions for an average of $432,942.





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Calgary luxury home market booming



CALGARY ` Calgary`s luxury home market has seen a spike in demand this year with sales in the upper-end approaching the record levels of 2007.





Brendan Hughes, a realtor with RE/MAX Real Estate (Central) in Calgary, said sales in the upper-end market are a sign of a good economy in the city.





`It`s vibrant and it`s growing. Jobs are being created. People are moving here,` said Hughes.





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Fracking test results likely won't change the energy game



EDMONTON ` The growing debate over the environmental risks of hydraulic fracturing ` or `fracking` ` raged anew this week.





In a headline-grabbing announcement Thursday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency found that drinking water from an aquifer in the tiny community of Pavillion, Wyo., was fouled by fracking fluids from an Encana natural gas field nearby.





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Fracking opponents gear up on Wyoming tainted water report




The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has handed a potent weapon to opponents of shale gas development in North America, as its report of tainted ground water linked to gas drilling in Wyoming lends credence to the worst fears of people living near drilling operations.




For years, leading industry executives have insisted there is no evidence that the method used ` hydraulic fracturing, or fracking as it is commonly called ` has ever polluted groundwater. Exxon Mobil Corp. chairman Rex Tillerson told a U.S. congressional committee last year that there had never been a reported case of contamination of a fresh-water aquifer resulting from fracking.





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Alberta economic outlook remains bright: RBC





CALGARY ` Alberta is once again positioned as one of Canada`s provincial growth leaders, according to the latest RBC Economics Provincial Outlook report released Monday.




The provincial economy is set to grow at a rate of 4.0 per cent this year and 3.9 per cent in 2012.




`Amid the heightened global economic uncertainty, Alberta`s steady progress towards full recovery from the recession is refreshing,` said Craig Wright, senior vice-president and chief economist, RBC, in a statement. `Were it not for the even stronger performance by Saskatchewan, Alberta would recapture the crown of Canada`s fastest growing provincial economy.`






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