SK Economic Fundamentals 2008-06

[joeiannuzzi]

Hello everyone. There are two items that I would like to update you on.

1) The Economic Fundamentals threads will be archived on a monthly basis instead of quarterly as I had originally anticipated. The threads are becoming rather long and so this will hopefully make it easier for you to find archived information.

2) The Economic Fundamentals section will be moved to the Members Only Section soon. This was mentioned to everyone at the Calgary Quickstart.

 

[joeiannuzzi]

REDAs under review

The PAREDA, along with REDAs all over the province have offered their input into provincial economic development.

A meeting was held on June 5 in Saskatoon between Regional Economic Development Association (REDA) representatives and the provincial government.

"It was a consultation meeting with our REDA partners to review proposals on how to enhance how we do economic development in the province," said Dion McGrath, executive director of policy and planning with the Ministry of Enterprise and Innovation.

http://www.paherald.sk.ca/index.cfm?sid=142731&sc=4

 

[joeiannuzzi]

Retention pond excavation underway

Summer, West Hill infrastructure work gets underway.

On Tuesday, members of the City administration and the media hopped on a bus and toured infrastructure work underway on the West Hill.

"It`s going to take 144-145 semi loads of concrete pipe to complete the project," said utility projects manager Kevin Callaghan. "If you were to start and walk the whole project, from one end to the other, I think you`d probably be covering 3-3.5 kilometres."

http://www.paherald.sk.ca/index.cfm?sid=142729&sc=4

 

[joeiannuzzi]

Insurance may be revoked on four-by-fours

SASKATOON -- A newly implemented Saskatchewan Government Insurance policy on "raised vehicles" is making waves among some four-by-four truck drivers and automotive businesses who sell and install oversized tires and "lift kits" designed to raise the trucks higher off the ground.

SGI`s decision to bring the policy into effect in late May was based on studies indicating that the after-market modifications may compromise vehicle safety, posing an unacceptable risk to other people on the road as well as the truck owners themselves, officials with the Crown-owned insurance company say.

http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/new...a9-df34dcf1d34d

 

[joeiannuzzi]

Oil prices don`t hinder plans

High fuel costs aren`t putting the brakes on road improvement projects slated for the busy summer construction season, municipal and provincial government officials say.

However, the soaring price of oil does put pressure on budgets.

"It certainly has an impact, because in road building most of our key inputs are oil-based," said Doug Wakabayashi of the provincial government`s Highways and Infrastructure Ministry.

http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/new...ac-207f44121fc4

 

[joeiannuzzi]

Cottage prices soaring

While the recreational property market is cooling down in the rest of Canada, Saskatchewan`s cottage country continues to be hot, with waterfront properties now starting at $300,000, according to Re/Max`s recreational property report.

Gone are the days of the $40,000 cottage in southern Saskatchewan, said the report, released Tuesday. Today that same property will cost $200,000.

http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/new...55-afb07aec2611

 

[joeiannuzzi]

Labour shortage predicted

A new labour market forecast predicts there will be less activity in the province`s construction industry after 2010, but demand for additional workers will remain strong, as large numbers of older workers retire.

Michael Fougere, president of the Saskatchewan Construction Association, who sat on the committee that prepared the report, said the industry will need to replace 20 per cent of its workforce by 2016 to make up for losses due to retirement.

http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/new...3a-bebc5d53b06d

 

[joeiannuzzi]

Active hiring pace forecast

About 27 per cent of Regina employers expect to hire more staff in the third quarter, up 10 per cent from the previous quarter, but 20 per cent below the same quarter last year, according to Manpower`s employment outlook survey.

Another 63 per cent of Regina employers surveyed intend to maintain their current staffing levels, while 10 per cent are uncertain about their staffing plans for the coming quarter, the survey said.

http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/new...27-87198549e388

 

[joeiannuzzi]

Alta. oilsands pollution will harm Saskatchewan: professor

Saskatchewan is on track to suffer environmental damage from acid rain similar to that Eastern Canada faced during recent decades, thanks to Alberta`s burgeoning oilsands, an authority on acid rain says.

Trent University Prof. Peter Dillon spoke in Saskatoon Tuesday and was to speak in Prince Albert today in presentations sponsored by the Saskatchewan Environmental Society and Environmental Defence.

http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix...60-6de99430fbc8

 

[joeiannuzzi]

Meeting leaves McNab Park residents with unanswered questions on future

Residents of McNab Park were left frustrated when they were unable to get the answers they were looking for at an information meeting Tuesday evening about the fate of their neighbourhood.

"We want to know how long we`ve got to live there, how we`re going to move and where we`re going to go," said McNab resident Rose Warlow following the meeting. "They didn`t tell us that."

http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix...af-a251155758ce

 

[joeiannuzzi]

Big condo project bad fit in Adelaide-Churchill area

The city is holding a meeting at Hugh Cairns School at 7 p.m. tonight to get public input on a rezoning application for a condominium development in the Adelaide/Churchill area, between Clarence and Haultain Avenues and with access to Ruth Street.

I understand the sale of this property to developer Medican group was concluded last year. There are many problems with allowing the condominium project to proceed as planned. First, a three-storey condominium in an area of bungalow residences? It`s much too tall and large for this 3.8-acre site.

http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix...0a-0cd9eeb9006a

 

[joeiannuzzi]

Saskatchewan producers still have-nots

Saskatchewan is now a "have" province, but Saskatchewan farmers and ranchers are still "have-nots" as compared to their counterparts in Alberta. Last week, the Alberta government announced another big support program for its cattle and hog producers. This newest injection totals $356 million.

The livestock industry is usually sensitive to direct financial support from government, fearing that it will lead to United States countervail action. That doesn`t seem to bother the nation`s largest livestock-producing province.

http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix...53-d45339381313

 

[joeiannuzzi]

GWMG mine, metals critical for economy, expert says

The development of Great Western Minerals Group Ltd.`s (GWMG) rare earth elements mine in northern Saskatchewan is critical to the well-being of the North American economy, says a leading industry expert.

Jack Lifton, a Michigan-based consultant on minor and rare earth metals, believes a significant portion of the North American economy will be negatively affected if GWMG cannot get its Hoidas Lake project into production by 2012. By that year, experts predict China, which produces 97 per cent of the world`s rare earths, will have a domestic need for the materials, used in everything from designer alloys to medical imaging to iPods, that matches its production capabilities. That means the Asian country will no longer be able to export rare earths, leaving North American users without a supply unless a new one, such as GWMG`s project, is developed.

http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix...36-8f46f7441147

 

[joeiannuzzi]

A new way to avoid gas prices

Laugh? You won`t be giggling much longer, not when you`re pumping another hundred bucks of gas into your car and I pass by with a big ol` wave, arms flailing in some oopsy-tipsy recovery back to full balance, on my --

http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/new...e7-1ecda01735b7

 

[joeiannuzzi]

Sask. cities lead in increases

Regina and Saskatoon once again led the nation with the largest increases in new housing prices in April, Statistics Canada said Wednesday.

For the 12th straight month, prices rose at the fastest pace in Saskatoon, with a year-over-year price increase of 44-per-cent, but slightly slower than the 46-per-cent gain observed in March.

http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/new...c2-e2b733d55c2e

 

[joeiannuzzi]

Edward Jones Canada plans Sask. expansion

The Edward Jones financial services company is making ambitious plans to more than triple the size of its operations in Saskatchewan over the next few years.

The company, which now has 24 financial advisers working in the province, hopes to expand that total to about 88 by 2012, according to Gary Reamey, the principal of Edward Jones Canada.

In Regina, the number of advisers is expected to grow to at least 15, from the existing five, over the next four to five years.

http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/new...83-4b5132c87f47

 

[joeiannuzzi]

Nordic Oil finds crude near Preeceville

Maybe you`ve never heard of Preeceville, Sask., population 1,050. But as of this week, little Preeceville is poised to become a player in one of the richest commodity markets on the planet.

Preeceville, 350 kilometres east of Saskatoon, is the latest Saskatchewan community to be connected with crude after a junior oil and gas company announced Wednesday it made a discovery in the area.

http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/new...a0-93dd33fc4dd5

 

[joeiannuzzi]

Potash Corp. plans for sustainability

Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. announced this week plans to raise its annual potash operating capacity while at the same time reduce its overall greenhouse-gas emissions.

The company`s 2007 sustainability report, which updates its social, economic and environmental performance, includes initiatives to reinvest $4.5 million to raise its annual potash operating capacity and to reduce its greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions by 10 per cent per tonne of production by 2012. Last year, total GHG emissions rose to slightly more than nine million tonnes due to increased production.

http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/new...5b-1ace9bdba3e0

 

[joeiannuzzi]

Oil revenues should be reinvested: OECD

The federal government should establish a fund into which it puts windfall revenues from soaring prices for oil and other non-renewable resources and then invest those funds in foreign currencies, a major international think-tank urged Wednesday.

The fund would provide a cushion against a fall in prices or the future depletion of the resources, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development said in its latest report card on the Canadian economy and government policies. But investing in foreign currencies would also take upward pressure off the strong dollar, which has been driven higher by the resources boom, and help prevent so-called Dutch disease -- the hollowing out of the country`s manufacturing sector.

http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/new...53-a8a55d21f5ce

 

[joeiannuzzi]

City forced to provide housing: Heidt

If you were watching Monday`s city council meeting on TV, you didn`t hear Coun. Pat Lorje wrong.

That was Lorje, a former NDP cabinet minister and one of council`s left-of-centre voices, uttering these words: "I think we should let the market decide."

Lorje was opposing a new type of zoning that combines residential development with stores and services. The idea is to build such things in clusters to limit the need for residents to drive to other areas, thus reducing the toll on the environment. So far, so good.

http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix...a0-869c53b51da6