November 2011 Alberta Economic Fundamentals
- Thread starter Ally
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Alberta centres dominate list of Canada's most entrepreneurial cities
EDMONTON - Northern and central Alberta dominates the list of Canada`s most entrepreneurial cities, taking five of the top 10 spots in a ranking by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.
Grande Prairie received the best overall score for the second straight year. It was followed in the top 10 by Lloydminster, Saskatoon, Regina, Edmonton, Wood Buffalo, Red Deer and Lethbridge.
Other Alberta cities on the list were Calgary at 21st and Medicine Hat at 39th.
Read the full article here.
EDMONTON - Northern and central Alberta dominates the list of Canada`s most entrepreneurial cities, taking five of the top 10 spots in a ranking by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.
Grande Prairie received the best overall score for the second straight year. It was followed in the top 10 by Lloydminster, Saskatoon, Regina, Edmonton, Wood Buffalo, Red Deer and Lethbridge.
Other Alberta cities on the list were Calgary at 21st and Medicine Hat at 39th.
Read the full article here.
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Hydraulic fracturing to revolutionize world energy markets
LONDON ` The development of the extraction of gas is a potential game-changer in world energy markets, offering ample supplies in markets that could otherwise tighten in coming years.
In the United States, hydraulic fracturing, a recently developed method of shale gas procurement, has the potential to flip the country from a net importer of natural gas to a net exporter.
Shale gas now accounts for one quarter of all U.S. gas production, and the Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecasts that this proportion will double by 2035.
Read the full article here.
LONDON ` The development of the extraction of gas is a potential game-changer in world energy markets, offering ample supplies in markets that could otherwise tighten in coming years.
In the United States, hydraulic fracturing, a recently developed method of shale gas procurement, has the potential to flip the country from a net importer of natural gas to a net exporter.
Shale gas now accounts for one quarter of all U.S. gas production, and the Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecasts that this proportion will double by 2035.
Read the full article here.
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Calgary-based Grande Cache agrees to $1-billion buyout
TORONTO ` Canada`s Grande Cache Coal has agreed to be acquired by Winsway Coking Coal and Marubeni Corp in a $1 billion deal fuelled by demand from China`s steelmakers.
Hong Kong-listed Winsway ` a supplier of coking coal to Chinese steelmakers ` and Japanese trading house Marubeni will pay $10 cash for each share of Grande Cache, a 70 per cent premium to the company`s closing price on Oct. 28.
The offer, announced on Monday, is part of a flurry of deal activity in the global coal industry, including Peabody Energy`s BTU. N $5 billion offer to buy Australia`s Macarthur Coal.
Read the full article here.
TORONTO ` Canada`s Grande Cache Coal has agreed to be acquired by Winsway Coking Coal and Marubeni Corp in a $1 billion deal fuelled by demand from China`s steelmakers.
Hong Kong-listed Winsway ` a supplier of coking coal to Chinese steelmakers ` and Japanese trading house Marubeni will pay $10 cash for each share of Grande Cache, a 70 per cent premium to the company`s closing price on Oct. 28.
The offer, announced on Monday, is part of a flurry of deal activity in the global coal industry, including Peabody Energy`s BTU. N $5 billion offer to buy Australia`s Macarthur Coal.
Read the full article here.
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The stranded oil sands: A worst-case scenario
The signs are there: the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline has festered into an uncomfortable election issue for the U.S. president, Barack Obama.
The upshot for Canada: a decision on whether to grant a Presidential permit, promised by year end, could once again be delayed.
The reality is that anything short of a go-ahead in December for Keystone XL would plunge the oil sands sector into disarray until new solutions move forward. The worst-case scenario? Stranded oil sands ` for years.
Keystone XL, with a capacity to carry up to 830,000 barrels a day from Alberta to Texas, was due for startup in early 2013. There is no backup on the same scale or timeline.
Read the full article here.
The signs are there: the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline has festered into an uncomfortable election issue for the U.S. president, Barack Obama.
The upshot for Canada: a decision on whether to grant a Presidential permit, promised by year end, could once again be delayed.
The reality is that anything short of a go-ahead in December for Keystone XL would plunge the oil sands sector into disarray until new solutions move forward. The worst-case scenario? Stranded oil sands ` for years.
Keystone XL, with a capacity to carry up to 830,000 barrels a day from Alberta to Texas, was due for startup in early 2013. There is no backup on the same scale or timeline.
Read the full article here.
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Edmonton shines among Canada's biggest cities
Mark Ryski, chief executive of Edmonton-based HeadCount Corp., has seen the company he founded in 2003 grow 55% in the past three years with just 12 employees.
But his retail traffic and sales analysis firm isn`t the only one doing well. The city`s small and medium business community has been quietly thriving ` even if it doesn`t always get the headlines.
`I think Edmonton does walk in the shadow of Calgary and generally entrepreneurs [in Alberta] walk in the shadow of oil and gas,` Mr. Ryski says. `Instead of ranting and complaining about that . I think the business community is alive and well and thriving.`
Read the full article here.
Mark Ryski, chief executive of Edmonton-based HeadCount Corp., has seen the company he founded in 2003 grow 55% in the past three years with just 12 employees.
But his retail traffic and sales analysis firm isn`t the only one doing well. The city`s small and medium business community has been quietly thriving ` even if it doesn`t always get the headlines.
`I think Edmonton does walk in the shadow of Calgary and generally entrepreneurs [in Alberta] walk in the shadow of oil and gas,` Mr. Ryski says. `Instead of ranting and complaining about that . I think the business community is alive and well and thriving.`
Read the full article here.
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Why rail is moving more crude these days
The gaping difference between North American and international crude prices is spurring a boom for Canada`s railways as energy companies look to shuttle more of their output to the continent`s coasts, where they have been able to fetch substantial premiums.
A year ago, almost no Alberta or Saskatchewan crude travelled by rail, moving instead through the network of pipelines that has built up over many decades. Now, rail volumes are rising so quickly that shippers can`t find enough rail cars to pour it into as oil companies look to sell crude in parts of the country that are difficult to reach by pipeline. Companies are converting other types of rail cars to transport oil, as industry rethinks a long-standing reluctance to deliver crude by train.
Read the full article here.
The gaping difference between North American and international crude prices is spurring a boom for Canada`s railways as energy companies look to shuttle more of their output to the continent`s coasts, where they have been able to fetch substantial premiums.
A year ago, almost no Alberta or Saskatchewan crude travelled by rail, moving instead through the network of pipelines that has built up over many decades. Now, rail volumes are rising so quickly that shippers can`t find enough rail cars to pour it into as oil companies look to sell crude in parts of the country that are difficult to reach by pipeline. Companies are converting other types of rail cars to transport oil, as industry rethinks a long-standing reluctance to deliver crude by train.
Read the full article here.
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Move over, Toronto - there's a new hotspot in town
Sky-high rents. Heavy demand for downtown office space. A magnet for company headquarters. It may sound like Toronto, but this commercial real estate hotspot is decidedly farther west.
Despite erratic markets and a lingering world recession, Calgary's office and commercial real estate market rivals Toronto as the most robust in the country, driven predominantly by the continued growth plans of energy companies.
Read the full article here.
Sky-high rents. Heavy demand for downtown office space. A magnet for company headquarters. It may sound like Toronto, but this commercial real estate hotspot is decidedly farther west.
Despite erratic markets and a lingering world recession, Calgary's office and commercial real estate market rivals Toronto as the most robust in the country, driven predominantly by the continued growth plans of energy companies.
Read the full article here.
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City council makes the right call on downtown arena
Some days, we get it right in Edmonton.
We set aside our civic anxieties, our perpetual differences. After careful consideration and heated debate, we find consensus, then push forward with gusto.
On Wednesday, that`s what Edmonton city council did, lining up 10-to-3 in a decisive vote to move ahead with the downtown arena.
Read the full article here.
Some days, we get it right in Edmonton.
We set aside our civic anxieties, our perpetual differences. After careful consideration and heated debate, we find consensus, then push forward with gusto.
On Wednesday, that`s what Edmonton city council did, lining up 10-to-3 in a decisive vote to move ahead with the downtown arena.
Read the full article here.
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Calgary described as Canada's 'hot growth mecca'
CALGARY ` The big question for the future of Calgary`s commercial real estate market is whether the United States approves a new oilsands pipeline through Alberta and south of the border in the face of environmental challenges, says a report released Tuesday.
`A go signal could rev up the market to another level,` says the PricewaterhouseCoopers and Urban Land Institutehttp://http://www.pwc.com/us/en/ass...e/assets/emerging-trends-real-estate-2011.pdf`s new forecast in Emerging Trends in Real Estate 2012, a survey of experts in the field.
TransCanada Corp.`s $7-billion Keystone XL oil pipeline would transport hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil per day from the province to Texas Gulf Coast refineries.
Read the full article here.
CALGARY ` The big question for the future of Calgary`s commercial real estate market is whether the United States approves a new oilsands pipeline through Alberta and south of the border in the face of environmental challenges, says a report released Tuesday.
`A go signal could rev up the market to another level,` says the PricewaterhouseCoopers and Urban Land Institutehttp://http://www.pwc.com/us/en/ass...e/assets/emerging-trends-real-estate-2011.pdf`s new forecast in Emerging Trends in Real Estate 2012, a survey of experts in the field.
TransCanada Corp.`s $7-billion Keystone XL oil pipeline would transport hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil per day from the province to Texas Gulf Coast refineries.
Read the full article here.
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City spends $75M for land in arena deal
EDMONTON - The City of Edmonton concluded a deal with the Katz Group on Monday afternoon to purchase three parcels of land for a proposed new downtown arena and entertainment district, for a total cost of $74.9 million.
That`s significantly more than the estimated $20 million the city suggested the land might cost earlier this spring.
The money for the land purchase is not included in the $450-million cost for the arena, and will be funded out of the city`s general revenues, not from a ticket tax or community revitalization levy.
The purchase price only became public Monday, once the title transferred to the city.
Read the full article here.
EDMONTON - The City of Edmonton concluded a deal with the Katz Group on Monday afternoon to purchase three parcels of land for a proposed new downtown arena and entertainment district, for a total cost of $74.9 million.
That`s significantly more than the estimated $20 million the city suggested the land might cost earlier this spring.
The money for the land purchase is not included in the $450-million cost for the arena, and will be funded out of the city`s general revenues, not from a ticket tax or community revitalization levy.
The purchase price only became public Monday, once the title transferred to the city.
Read the full article here.
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Alberta bucks trend of shaky economies
The Bank of Canada left its overnight rate at 1% amid fears international economies are dragging down the Canadian economy, but not so much in Alberta.
A report from Ben Brunnen, chief economist for the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, asks why Alberta and Calgary `didn`t get the memo.`
`Despite continued global economic uncertainty, annual investment (and reinvestment) has grown in Alberta`s energy sector since 2009, suggesting companies expect oil prices to remain in profitable territory for the foreseeable future,` says Brunnen.
`Job creation has been relatively robust throughout 2010-11, and net interprovincial migration numbers in 2012 are expected to be comparable to those in 2008.`
(Statistics Canada reports net interprovincial migration to Alberta was 15,317 people in 2008).
Read the full article here.
The Bank of Canada left its overnight rate at 1% amid fears international economies are dragging down the Canadian economy, but not so much in Alberta.
A report from Ben Brunnen, chief economist for the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, asks why Alberta and Calgary `didn`t get the memo.`
`Despite continued global economic uncertainty, annual investment (and reinvestment) has grown in Alberta`s energy sector since 2009, suggesting companies expect oil prices to remain in profitable territory for the foreseeable future,` says Brunnen.
`Job creation has been relatively robust throughout 2010-11, and net interprovincial migration numbers in 2012 are expected to be comparable to those in 2008.`
(Statistics Canada reports net interprovincial migration to Alberta was 15,317 people in 2008).
Read the full article here.
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Brookfield residential cites strong Canadian housing market
CALGARY ` Brookfield Residential Properties Inc. says there is continued strength in the Canadian housing market.
`The Canadian operations are performing well as a result of the stable economy, and in particular due to continued strong job growth in Alberta,` said Alan Norris, chief executive of Brookfield Residential, in a statement, as the company on Wednesday announced its 2011 third quarter financial results for the period ended September 30.
Read the full article here.
CALGARY ` Brookfield Residential Properties Inc. says there is continued strength in the Canadian housing market.
`The Canadian operations are performing well as a result of the stable economy, and in particular due to continued strong job growth in Alberta,` said Alan Norris, chief executive of Brookfield Residential, in a statement, as the company on Wednesday announced its 2011 third quarter financial results for the period ended September 30.
Read the full article here.
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Calgary MLS sales increase in October
CALGARY ` Single-family and condominium MLS sales increased in October compared with a year ago, according to the Calgary Real Estate Board.
The board said Tuesday that single-family sales of 988 for the month were up by 11.39 per cent from October 2010 while condo transactions jumped by 19.87 per cent to 368 units.
The average sale price for a single-family home was up by 2.35 per cent year-over-year to $455,399 while the condo average dropped by 1.70 per cent to $282,903.
Read the full article here.
CALGARY ` Single-family and condominium MLS sales increased in October compared with a year ago, according to the Calgary Real Estate Board.
The board said Tuesday that single-family sales of 988 for the month were up by 11.39 per cent from October 2010 while condo transactions jumped by 19.87 per cent to 368 units.
The average sale price for a single-family home was up by 2.35 per cent year-over-year to $455,399 while the condo average dropped by 1.70 per cent to $282,903.
Read the full article here.
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Canada needs pipeline Plan B
As a steady stream of negative news leaks from the embattled Keystone XL pipeline proposal, the Canadian and Alberta governments are wise to turn up the volume as they extol the virtues of their most viable alternative.
That would be Enbridge Inc.'s Northern Gateway pipeline from Bruderheim to Kitimat, B.C., a $5.5-billion, 1,177-kilometre underground artery that would move 525,000 barrels of Alberta's oilsands bitumen daily to an ever hungrier market in China. While federal Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver was careful not to endorse the Gateway project ahead of next year's public and government review process, he has made it clear in the past few days that a delay or outright rejection of Keystone XL by the American government would prompt a change of course. That he made his comments while in Houston at a meeting of the World Energy Council was all the more interesting and impactful.
Read the full article here.
As a steady stream of negative news leaks from the embattled Keystone XL pipeline proposal, the Canadian and Alberta governments are wise to turn up the volume as they extol the virtues of their most viable alternative.
That would be Enbridge Inc.'s Northern Gateway pipeline from Bruderheim to Kitimat, B.C., a $5.5-billion, 1,177-kilometre underground artery that would move 525,000 barrels of Alberta's oilsands bitumen daily to an ever hungrier market in China. While federal Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver was careful not to endorse the Gateway project ahead of next year's public and government review process, he has made it clear in the past few days that a delay or outright rejection of Keystone XL by the American government would prompt a change of course. That he made his comments while in Houston at a meeting of the World Energy Council was all the more interesting and impactful.
Read the full article here.
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U.S. bactracks on Keystone decision this year
WASHINGTON ` The U.S. State Department on Wednesday backed away from its commitment to decide on the Keystone XL oilsands pipeline by the end of 2011, opening the door to potential new delays on a project that has become a political albatross for President Barack Obama.
In a briefing with reporters, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the department still hopes to complete its review of the $7-billion pipeline by year's end. But the timeline is no longer set in stone.
"We'd like to get it done by the end of the year, but if thoroughness demands a little more time nobody has slammed the door on that," Nuland said. "Our first obligation to the American people, to the president, is to ensure that we do this in a rigorous, transparent and thorough way."
Read the full article here.
WASHINGTON ` The U.S. State Department on Wednesday backed away from its commitment to decide on the Keystone XL oilsands pipeline by the end of 2011, opening the door to potential new delays on a project that has become a political albatross for President Barack Obama.
In a briefing with reporters, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the department still hopes to complete its review of the $7-billion pipeline by year's end. But the timeline is no longer set in stone.
"We'd like to get it done by the end of the year, but if thoroughness demands a little more time nobody has slammed the door on that," Nuland said. "Our first obligation to the American people, to the president, is to ensure that we do this in a rigorous, transparent and thorough way."
Read the full article here.
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Canada has to prove oilsands not dirtier fuel: EU official
OTTAWA ` The European Union will gladly listen if Canada can present scientific proof that fuel derived from oilsands is no more harmful to the environment than conventional oil, says the head of the European Parliament's trade committee.
But Vital Moreira said without such evidence, the EU will continue to consider the oilsands a dirty source of energy and treat it as such in fuel-quality standards and other environmental regulations.
"If Canada has any reason to challenge the data, it is free to do so," Moreira told reporters in Ottawa on Wednesday. "But I think no one challenges that oil coming from oilsands has a much greater degree of CO2 in their life-chains from their extraction. From extraction to the motor to the wheel, as we say."
Read the full article here.
OTTAWA ` The European Union will gladly listen if Canada can present scientific proof that fuel derived from oilsands is no more harmful to the environment than conventional oil, says the head of the European Parliament's trade committee.
But Vital Moreira said without such evidence, the EU will continue to consider the oilsands a dirty source of energy and treat it as such in fuel-quality standards and other environmental regulations.
"If Canada has any reason to challenge the data, it is free to do so," Moreira told reporters in Ottawa on Wednesday. "But I think no one challenges that oil coming from oilsands has a much greater degree of CO2 in their life-chains from their extraction. From extraction to the motor to the wheel, as we say."
Read the full article here.
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Most popular selling price points for Calgary MLS homes
We tend to fixate constantly on the average MLS sale prices of Calgary homes and forget to take a closer look at the numbers supplied by the Calgary Real Estate Board.
Here`s an example.
When CREB released its monthly data for October recently, we discovered the average price for a single-family home sale was $455,399 for the month while for a condo it was $282,903.
Read the full article here.
We tend to fixate constantly on the average MLS sale prices of Calgary homes and forget to take a closer look at the numbers supplied by the Calgary Real Estate Board.
Here`s an example.
When CREB released its monthly data for October recently, we discovered the average price for a single-family home sale was $455,399 for the month while for a condo it was $282,903.
Read the full article here.
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Calgary seen as part of safe haven
In a few days, we`ll find out just how busy those on the front lines of Calgary`s resale housing industry were in October.
But with three-quarters of the year behind them, the various real estate offices in town have seen a slow but steady growth in momentum.
In terms of new homes, the October numbers are more than a week away, but builders have been working
Read the full article here.
In a few days, we`ll find out just how busy those on the front lines of Calgary`s resale housing industry were in October.
But with three-quarters of the year behind them, the various real estate offices in town have seen a slow but steady growth in momentum.
In terms of new homes, the October numbers are more than a week away, but builders have been working
Read the full article here.
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Resale prices soar within Calgary
It looks as though Calgary`s real estate market is on the upswing.
Several communities had substantial price increases and sales from January to the end of October compared to the same period last year, says the Calgary Real Estate Board.
More than 61 per cent saw increases in the average number of sales, with Collingwood leading the way with a whopping 220 per cent increase
Read the full article here.
It looks as though Calgary`s real estate market is on the upswing.
Several communities had substantial price increases and sales from January to the end of October compared to the same period last year, says the Calgary Real Estate Board.
More than 61 per cent saw increases in the average number of sales, with Collingwood leading the way with a whopping 220 per cent increase
Read the full article here.