TELUS Corp. is spending $650 million this year to upgrade its networks in Alberta, as it expands the reach of its Internet and digital-TV services.
Canada's second-largest phone carrier said Wednesday it continues to bulk up its landline system, while beefing up its wireless service in the province amid growing competition.
The upgrades may give TELUS an edge, one analyst said, as the industry seeks to gain customers by packaging services from Internet, television and phone together.
"This isn't just TELUS versus new entrants," said Greg MacDonald, a Toronto-based analyst with National Bank Financial.
"The future is that personalized devices will increasingly be sold with the communal products," he said.
The payoff for carriers such as TELUS is lower churn -- an industry measure of customer turnover -- by allowing companies to give bundle discounts, said MacDonald. TELUS said it's expanding its wireless broadband network throughout the province, building on the November launch of its new wireless network. TELUS spent about $700 million on upgrades last year, largely aimed at launching high-speed packet technology. That allows for faster data transmission and video service on handset devices, such as Apple's iPhone and Research In Motion's BlackBerry.
"This is some of the most critical investment we have ever made as a company in Alberta," said Karen Radford, president of TELUS Business Solutions, noting that nearly 98% of Albertans now have high-speed Internet access because of the upgrades.
"I don't think any other place in Canada can boast those kinds of numbers," she said.
The investment comes as the company faces growing competition in the wireless market across the country. Globalive recently launched its Wind Mobile service, with Calgary among its first locations. It will be joined by new entrants Videotron, Public Mobile and Mobilicity later this year.
Another competitor will be Calgary-based Shaw Communications, which paid $190 million for a chunk of the wireless spectrum in 2008, but has been slow to launch.
In January, the company said it expects to start its new wireless division early next year.
Ottawa is also preparing new rules to allow foreign investors to buy Canadian wireless carriers, a move seen to bolster competition in the industry. Last month, TELUS reported lower fourth-quarter revenues, as the company signed up fewer new customers and earned less per subscriber.
Radford said main rivals BCE Inc. and Rogers Communications have shown similar subscription trends. If you include TELUS, the three companies control about 95% of Canada's wireless market.
This latest investment in TELUS' Alberta network is less about getting ahead of emerging competitors, she added.
"It's important for us to retain that position, but more importantly, with the economic downturn and the fact that it's been tough across all of Canada, we realize how critical this kind of technology is for the economic competitiveness of the region," said Radford.
TELUS shares went up by 23 cents to $35.93 on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Wednesday.
A weekend admission by former Alaskan governor and U.S. vice-presidential hopeful Sarah Palin over her family's use of the Canadian healthcare system while growing up in Alaska has critics of the outspoken hockey mom crying foul online.
"My first five years of life we spent in Skagway, Alaska, right there by Whitehorse," Palin said during a speech in Calgary on Saturday. "Believe it or not -- this was in the '60s -- we used to hustle on over the border for healthcare that we would receive in Whitehorse. I remember my brother, he burned his ankle in some little kid accident thing and my parents had to put him on a train and rush him over to Whitehorse and I think, isn't that kind of ironic now. Zooming over the border getting healthcare from Canada."
It was little surprise that Sarah Palin's first visit to Canada would be in Calgary. And there was little shock that she was able to curry favour with the local Albertan crowd by speaking at length and with much authority about the Alaska government's process of securing TransCanada for the Alaska Pipeline Project.
But given Palin's previous warnings about the ills of expanding government role in U.S. healthcare, American media and the general blogosphere were buzzing over the claim.
On the Daily Kos website, one post -- entitled Sarah "The Death Panel Queen" Palin Went to Canada for Healthcare -- called the former Alaskan governor "opportunistic" and "hypocritical."
"It's good enough for her, but not for the rest of the American people who don't have easy access to Canada and a system that isn't based on wage discrimination?" the post made on the left-leaning political blog stated.
And Gawker.com also pointed out Palin's comment, writing that her family put her brother on a train "and sent him to Canada for the socialism."
Palin has previously claimed Canada should dismantle its public healthcare system and called the push by U.S. President Barack Obama to nationalize the American system "irresponsible," suggesting the move would allow "death panels" to choose whether Americans would live or die.
The Yukon reference was the only time healthcare was mentioned in Palin's speech or in her subsequent interview with Conservative Senator Pamela Wallin, who is still best known as a veteran TV journalist.
Wallin instead pressed Palin on why she wanted to be a political leader if she was warning members of the Tea Party Patriots -- a disparate group of anti-tax, libertarian activists -- not to take someone on as their leader because "a politician will disappoint."
Palin also spoke about how, as governor, she significantly hiked state taxes for oil companies, or, in her words, "readjusted the value" of extracting a resource that belong to Alaskans.
Several conservative Alberta politicians were in attendance at the Calgary event, including former premier Ralph Klein, federal cabinet minister Stockwell Day, Calgary MPs Rob Anders and Lee Richardson, and Wildrose Alliance leader Danielle Smith -- who has drawn many comparisons to the former U.S. vice-presidential hopeful.
With a sense of humour and a populist vision, Sarah Palin on Saturday evening brought her message of lower taxes, free markets and energy development to the heart of Canada's oil and gas industry. It was a receptive crowd in Calgary that listened to the 2008 Republican vice-presidential candidate in her first public appearance outside the United States since she stepped down as governor of Alaska.
She drew on some Canadian connections in her family history, and recalled how when she was young, those who were ill went to Whitehorse for medical treatment. She lauded the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, noting the Canadian men's hockey gold medal win over the Americans, and the connection of her own family to the game.
But what she really struck on before an audience of more than 1,000 was a message of energy development, competition, smaller government and doubts that climate science is a settled thing.
"We've got to become more energy independent," she said.
Her concern, she said, is waiting for unfriendly regimes to develop their resources. Relying on those puts the United States in a less safe and less prosperous position, she said.
She also brought up the East Anglia climate change e-mail scandal, saying it made "settled science feel a little unsettled." And cap-and-trade proposals to reduce emissions would lead to job losses and a heavier tax burden, she said.
Lauding Canada's approach to the environment, she said that Canada has sought to balance environmental progress with economic concerns.
As she has been before, she was critical of some of the coverage she received when running with John McCain, and said her patience wore thin with the "mainstream media." She noted a reporter told her she had a Canadian accent. "So?" Palin said she responded.
"That interview didn't go very well," Palin told Saturday's crowd. "Not many of them did."
Her low-tax, small-government assertions went down well with a Calgary audience that appeared sympathetic to her vision. The massive debt the United States has incurred is "immoral," she said, as the bill will be left for today's children to eventually pick up.
In the audience were both Calgary business leaders and politicians.
One of those was Conservative MP Lee Richardson. "I thought it was impressive," he said.
Another in the audience was Gary Holden, president and CEO of ENMAX, an energy company. He said Palin is someone of high principal whose conservative views went down well there.
But he also noted the part of her speech in which she spoke of the Alaska pipeline. That pipeline, Holden said, can be viewed as competition to Alberta.
"That's an important thing for the United States to recognize, is that we see ourselves as within on our border being a supplier of oil and gas to the United States," he said. "We aren't necessarily going to benefit if the Alaska pipeline goes ahead."
Calgary Mayor David Bronconnier has announced he won't run in the fall election. Delivering his annual State of the City keynote address to the Calgary Downtown Rotary Club, Bronconnier said he has completed his political agenda as mayor and won't seek re-election in the fall civic vote.
Bronconnier said he intends to return to private life in October. Citing Calgary's massive infrastructure program as an example of accomplishing the goal of "moving Calgary forward," Bronconnier said now is the right time to step away from public life.
"Looking back, I have a feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment because the goal that was set back in 2001 has largely been reached," he said. "Therefore, this is my final term as Calgary's mayor – I will not be seeking re-election in October."
In his speech, Bronconnier pointed to the expansion of Calgary roads and LRT, parks, sports facilities, environmental services, and investments in protective services and ENMAX, as examples of his commitment. He said the city has fought hard to get its fair share of funding from higher levels of government.
"All totalled, since becoming mayor, we've signed agreements with other orders of government worth $5 billion for Calgary's infrastructure.
"Some of you might remember a few years ago when we had a little disagreement with Premier Stelmach. Back in 2007, there was some uncertainty about whether or not the promise for more municipal funding would be kept. For our part, Calgary pushed to get that commitment in writing, in the form of a contract. And we got that."
He defended his three-year budget plan. "It's not popular. No one, least of all politicians, likes to see three year's worth of tax increases splashed in newspaper paper headlines for a month," he admitted. "But it's prudent – it lets us plan better and budget better. It lets us see the implications of today's decisions, next year and the year after that."
The mayor encouraged those with a "love for this city and a burning desire to make it better" to consider public office, noting that he signalled his departure early to allow anyone interested in being mayor ample time to put together a strong campaign.
He also offered some advice to the person who will become Calgary's 36th mayor, "Have an agenda. Be ever mindful of the goal to make Calgary better. Strive for better and work every day to make it happen. And be determined. Never be disheartened or dissuaded by naysayers. Great cities are not built by those who say 'no.'"
The Alberta government released a plan Tuesday to cut down waiting times for surgeries.
A six-week plan from Alberta Health Services is intended to boost the number of high-priority surgeries by the end of March. The number of surgeries will get a further push from April through June, when more operating-room time and medical staff become available.
Surgeries for cancer, heart, orthopaedics, gynecology, neurosurgery and cataracts are all being targeted, according to a news release from Alberta Health Services and Alberta Health and Wellness.
It is expected that at least 2,230 additional procedures will be conducted in these areas in the next six weeks, at a cost of about $8 million.
The Government of Alberta performed a budget balancing act yesterday by slashing spending across 15 ministries and cutting more than 700 jobs... but also bolstering funding for healthcare and holding the line on social programs.
For the second straight year, the government will run a deficit, which is estimated at $4.7 billion. Spending is projected at a record $38.7 billion. That deficit is projected to shrink during the next two years because of improving oil and gas prices. In 2012, the government projects a $505-million surplus, fulfilling its goal of being "back in the black" in three years, just in time for an election that Premier Ed Stelmach has pledged to call that spring.
Finance Minister Ted Morton admitted the cuts will present challenges to many Albertans. But he said the budget successfully balances a number of competing interests.
"These choices, we believe, strike the right balance between spending too much and spending too little, between fiscal discipline and protecting essential services and between funding services today and also not saddling future generations with debt," Morton said.
The government says it has found $1.3 billion in savings, including $17.5 million in cuts to Alberta Environment, $36 million to Children and Youth Services and $87 million in Employment. Roughly 700 jobs, both union and non-union, will be eliminated from the public service. Of those positions, about 250 people will actually lose work; others will be shuffled elsewhere in government.
The savings, combined with improving revenue from oil and gas royalties, means that the government was able to bring cash back into areas it says are priorities -- mainly health and education. Alberta Health Services will get a one-time debt repayment of $759 million and a massive 17% increase in its operating budget. School boards will also receive $250 million. Funding for programs for people with developmental disabilities will stay the same.
The government's improved economic outlook rests primarily on improving commodity prices. Oil prices are forecast to rise from $78.75 US per barrel this year to $89.50 in 2012-13. At the same time, natural gas prices and bitumen prices are also projected to rise. This year's budget deficit will be covered by the government's sustainability fund, which is now roughly $15 billion. By budget day 2012 it will have been drained to roughly $2.8 billion.
Start-up cell phone company DAVE Wireless Inc. Yesterday introduced the consumer brand name it will use once its network is complete and can begin offering services.
John Bitove, the chairman for Data & Audio Visual Enterprises Wireless Inc., introduced Mobilicity and said that wireless users in Toronto can expect a launch this spring.
"There's three words [in the brand name], mobile, simplicity and city-based services," he said in an interview. "It's an everyday value offer for everyday Canadians."
After Toronto, Mobilicity will launch in other major cities, such as Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Ottawa later this year, he said. The new carrier paid $243-million during the Government of Canada's wireless spectrum auction in 2008 for airwave licences that allow it to operate in 10 of Canada's 13 biggest markets.
"We're looking for customers that live, work and play in the communities that we have networks," added Dave Dobbin, the fledging carrier's chief executive.
He said that there was room to grow in each market that Mobilicity will operate in, despite the fact that seven in 10 Canadians already own a cell phone or smart-phone.
"Thirty percent of customers don't have mobile phones today so our customers will come from there. Only 8% of Canadians have replaced their landline phones [with wireless], so our customers will come from there," he said.
He also said that Mobilicity will target customers dissatisfied with their service from the current three companies that dominate the market.
"We will get customers from that segment as well," he said.
Mobilicity will compete against Canada's three major cell phone firms in Rogers Communications Inc., BCE Inc. and TELUS Corp. alongside rival start-up WIND Mobile, which launched in Calgary and Toronto in December and plans to have services Ottawa and Edmonton as soon as this month. Rogers, TELUS and BCE are preparing to report their financial performances for the final quarter of fiscal 2009 in the coming two weeks beginning Thursday when BCE reports.
Despite some pressure from WIND and increasing competition among themselves, analysts expect each company to continue adding wireless subscribers without any significant pressure on profit margins yet. However, that may change through fiscal 2010 as more new entrants arrive, including regional cable TV players Shaw Communications Inc. in Calgary and Videotron Ltee. over in Quebec.
The host of new players, including Mobilicity, are not expected to wage risky price wars with the incumbents, instead offer more services like mobile Internets for less money, which could erode earnings at the major carriers if they are forced to match it in an effort to guard market share. Although Mr. Dobbin was mum on pricing, he said Mobilicity would attempt to attract subscribers through value-added services as opposed to aggressive price cuts. "Our strategy is not to attack the incumbents," he said.
It is expected though that Mobilicity will follow a strategy pursued by WIND of offering wireless devices from traditional voice-and-text cell phones to smart-phones such as the BlackBerry at lower costs and with no contracts. WIND, the only new operator in the market, offers cell phones and smart-phones as well as data sticks that plug into laptops and allow users to access the Internets through its wireless network. Its pricing model offers "unlimited" voice and mobile access to Internets for flat rates that are cheaper than what the incumbents charge.
Yet, with 10,000 subscribers, the demands on WIND's network are relatively mild compared with its larger rivals. Once it fills up, analysts suggest WIND could be hard-pressed to cope with network congestion if it continues offer unlimited data.
Mr. Bitove said Tuesday that Mobilicity is "fully funded" to build an advanced 3G network in each of the five markets it will introduce services in this year.
Ah yes... the competition in Canadian wireless markets are finally starting to heat up, and it's going to be an interesting war.
Officials at the University of Calgary are floating tuition hikes of as much as 47% in professional programs for next year, which are figures that student representatives call "terrifying."
The university is taking advantage of a one-time offer from the Government of Alberta to apply for increases in base tuition amounts in certain programs.
At least four core faculties, which include engineering, business, law and medicine, are targeted for the hikes, although masters programs for education and business administration are also being scrutinized and none of university's professional programs is necessarily off the table, officials said.
Medicine students, for example, face a $4,000 "market modifier" increase. Added to the 1.5% hike typically allowed each year, fees would jump by 27.8% to $18,600, from $14,384 the year before.
The figures are only preliminary and have not yet been sent to the Government of Alberta for approval, said Colleen Turner, the university's vice-president of external relations. The increases would bring tuition in line with other universities and take into account the likelihood of post-graduation income in the first few years after graduation, Turner said.
Further, the tuition hikes would ease the burden on the post-secondary facility, which has seen education costs rise while government funding fell in recent years.
"The reality is that costs are increasing and government grants aren't," Turner said. "We need to be able to continually evaluate our tuition rates, in particular in the professional schools, where the cost of delivering those programs are so much higher."
Under the new proposal, law students would fork out $13,800. Business students would pay $7,638 for a full 10-course load, an increase of about 47%, and engineering students $7,238, an average 39% increase for courses over the year before.
Students' union president Charlotte Kingston said the potential hikes are "absolutely massive" and suggested they could drive away potential students.
"What we're seeing is shocking," Kingston said. "It's going to create inequality of access in our programs."
Well, does this mean prospective students will move to other cities to attend university classes, such as Saskatchewan?
Ralph Klein is downplaying any notion of a rift between him and his successor, Premier Ed Stelmach, but the former and current Alberta premiers are at odds over a policy issue they've both struggled with: the prescription for Alberta's ailing health system.
The political heavyweights shared the spotlight at a ceremony at Olds College, just north of Calgary, that saw the institution's new multi-use facility, which includes a health centre, government offices and high school... named after Klein.
Much like his predecessor, Stelmach is grappling with rising healthcare costs and mounting public backlash over quality and access in the $13-billion medical system, with a report released Monday suggesting emergency department wait times have soared since 2007.
Klein said the solution to improving patient access and alleviating the financial burden on government coffers is to adopt a "two-tiered" health system. Such a model could offer both publicly and privately funded options.
"I tried it twice -- the Third Way and the Mazankowski report -- and I failed," Klein said about offering a private and public system that parallel each other. "I wanted to take the best of the world (on healthcare)... and incorporate that, but I failed."
Adopting both public and private options "moves people out of the line" and saves the cash-strapped system money, he argued.
In 2006, the Klein government backed off Third Way reforms that would have allowed Albertans to buy private medical insurance and enabled physicians to straddle the public and private health systems. The 2002 Mazankowski report recommended more privately delivered care to improve access to the crowded public healthcare system.
Stelmach, however, has championed a publicly funded system and has resisted venturing down the path of his former boss.
"We have committed as a government, to a publicly funded, publicly administered healthcare system," Stelmach said.
The deficit-plagued government will review a report introduced last week from the minister's health advisory committee and take it to Albertans in the summer for feedback, the premier said. The report highlighted profound mistrust with the system, but also recommended adopting an Alberta Health Act and patient charter, among other measures.
Klein, who sat next to Stelmach during the ceremony and engaged in cordial conversation with him, has taken a few verbal swipes at his successor in recent months over the premier's relationship with the business community.
But on Monday, Klein insisted there's no friction between him and Stelmach, who was a longtime minister in Klein's cabinet.
"Eddie always was a good minister," he said, arguing "it's a misconception" there's been tension between them.
While the two disagree on how to deliver care, health-policy experts argue there's no evidence to suggest a multi-layer system with public and private options will improve access or reduce costs.
"Increasing private-care delivery does not reduce public waiting times and that's particularly true when you have a doctor shortage," said Dr. Tom Noseworthy, director of the Centre for Health and Policy Studies at the University of Calgary.
Increasing the supply of health services often boosts public demand for care when it's not always required, he said.
Wildrose Alliance Leader Danielle Smith said she has no qualms with public tax dollars paying for privately delivered services, such as MRIs and some minor surgeries already available at private facilities. But she said there's no appetite among Albertans to adopt a two-tier system that lets people queue-jump if they cough up the cash, while others can wait for years in the public system to access urgently needed care.
"It's not on under the Canada Health Act," Smith said.
Liberal Leader David Swann, a medical doctor, said competition between hospitals is necessary to improve best practices and find efficiencies. However, the public health system doesn't need additional financial competition from a privately funded sphere, he argued, because it will only erode quality of care.
"That would push us to the bottom and attract away some of the limited physicians we have," Swann said.
Remember that night that Stephen Harper became the 22nd Prime Minister of Canada? Yeah, we remember it like it was four years ago.
On January 23, 2006, Mr. Harper and the Conservative Party of Canada ended the 13 years of Liberal rule in Ottawa, beating a man and political organization, Paul Martin and the Big Red Machine' that had once seemed invincible.
"They predicted it could not last," Mr. Harper said on Friday to a Parliament Hill meeting of his MPs and senators. "They gave us 18 months at the absolute most, but we survived, we persevered, we won re-election and tomorrow we enter our fifth year of serving Canadians."
The Conservative victories then and later in 2008 were not resounding ones, unfortunately. Against what turned out to be relatively weakened Liberal opponents, the Conservatives have won two minority governments and have yet to win a seat in either of Canada's largest cities: Toronto or Montreal.
"Everybody -- even the Conservative party in 2005-2006 -- assumed that the Liberal party had this super-strong resilient brand and by having that brand, that not much work would ever be required for them to reassert their political force," said Tim Powers, an Ottawa-based lobbyist who is a frequent Conservative commentator and a long-time party activist. "Four years on, we're seeing that the brand that was a powerhouse for 140 years needs to be reinvented. It's not just a case of changing the leader. So the structure of Canadian politics has changed a little bit because of that."
But, it's not just politics in Canada that has changed. Canada itself is very different.
But other than that, Canada has had the same minority government for more than four years now. How long did Paul Martin's Liberal minority government last? Not as long.
The Olympic torch is returning to Calgary for the first time since 1988, when the city hosted the games. And, the city is essentially rolling out the red carpet!
During its three-day visit to the city, January 18-20, the torch is bound to trigger memories for many people living in Calgary.
"Olympic history will be relived here in Calgary," Mayor Dave Bronconnier said Wednesday, announcing a downtown festival to welcome the torch's arrival. "We do want people to participate, catch a glimpse of history and see what the future looks like."
"Calgary well knows what the city of Vancouver is about to experience. This is a chance to get behind our athletes on home turf."
Shaw Communications Inc. is expanding, again. Following the company's annual meeting in Calgary today, the company's CEO Jim Shaw confirmed that his company is in the race to snap up beleaguered Canwest assets.
Mr. Shaw told reporters he has met with the Asper family, who currently run Winnipeg-based Canwest Global Communication currently under bankruptcy protection.
"I'd call it exploring right now. There's no deal or anything," he said.
At this time, it is still unclear which Canwest assets, including the National Post, Global Television and specialty cable TV channels, might be of interest to Shaw. And in its first quarter results report released earlier Thursday, the Calgary-based company announced plans to enter Canada's growing wireless market at some point.
"During fiscal 2010 we also plan to take initial steps to commence wireless activities, with build out planned over the next several years," Shaw said.
The company reported higher revenues thanks to an increase in bundled television, Internet and phone services. Revenue was up 11% for the period ended November 30, 2009 to nearly $906 million up from $817.5 million for the same period last year. But, company profits took a hit due to higher non-operating costs, including debt retirement of $82 million. Net income fell to $114.2 million, or $0.26 per share, from 123.5 million, or $0.29 cents per share.
"The successful debt offerings at attractive rates completed during the quarter demonstrate the financial and operational strength of the business," Shaw said.
The company's digital customer basis, including Internet and phone subscribers, grew from 88,259 to 1,409,983.
"Our first quarter is off to a solid start," Shaw said.
Revenue in the cable division was up 13% driven by acquisitions and rate increases, the company said. Shaw bought Hamilton, Ont.'s Mountain Cablevision adding 41,000 cable subscribers as well as 30,000 Internet users and 32, 000 digital phone customers. Service revenue for Shaw Direct was also up, the company reported.
"Through high quality customer service, attractive and compelling product choice, and valuable bundled service offerings, we continue to successfully compete in the current landscape."
Calgary, Vancouver and Ottawa were among Canada's largest cities that made it to the 'A' list in terms of places that are attractive to migrants, according to a study released Wednesday. Some of the smaller locales to make it into the top tier in this report from the Conference Board of Canada included Waterloo, Ontario; Richmond Hill, Ontario, and St. John's, Newfoundland.
"Cities that fail to attract new people will struggle to stay prosperous and vibrant," Mario Lefebvre, the board's director of municipal studies, said in a statement.
The cities were assessed in the following categories: society, health, economy, environment, education, innovation and housing. Vancouver was lauded for its warm climate and "young, diverse, and multicultural population."
Calgary was ranked at the top of the list in terms of its economy and innovation, and also showed strength in the housing category.
Ottawa, the nation's capital, received high rankings for education and innovation, and scored well in all other categories except health.
Waterloo, home of BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd., was the top ranked city for education, and also scored high for innovation, economy and housing. Richmond Hill, just north of Toronto, was judged to be exceptionally attractive to migrants for its diverse population, and it scored well in innovation and education.
St. John's was among the highest ranked cities in terms of health and environment.
Toronto, Edmonton and Victoria were among the cities in the 'B' category for being well suited to newcomers. Toronto (Canada's largest city) was the top ranked spot in the society category due to its ethnic diversity and culture. However, the Conference Board said things such as air quality and access to health care kept it out of the 'A' list.
Calgary-based Suncor Energy plans to lay off another 1,000 workers this year as it continues to digest the assets of Petro-Canada picked up in a $20 billion merger last fall.
The action, unveiled at an investor's conference in New York on Tuesday, will double the staff reductions to 2,000, and comes as the company plans $2 billion to $4 billion in asset sales, with about half to be completed by mid-2010.
"Where most of the synergies are coming from are reductions in workforce," said John Rogers, Suncor vice-president of investor relations, while discussing corporate cost control during a presentation to the BMO Capital Markets Unconventional Resource Conference in New York. "To date, we've laid off about 1,000 people. By the end of this year, 2010, we would expect we'd lay off an additional 1,000, which will bring us to a total of about 2,000 people laid off through the merger."
Suncor spokesman Brad Bellows said that while as many as 1,000 people could leave Suncor's payroll this year, many will be rehired by the companies that are buying Suncor's assets.
The northern Ontario town of Dryden turned in a gold-medal performance when the Olympic flame arrived yesterday afternoon.
The relay hits Falcon Lake just west of the Ontario-Manitoba boundary this morning and will make its way into Winnipeg late in the afternoon, prior to a fireworks celebration The Forks later tonight.
The Olympic torch is expected to hit Saskatoon on January 11, 2010 and then Calgary on January 18, 2010.
Two Alberta Progressive Conservative backbenchers are abandoning their party in favour of the upstart Wildrose Alliance party, stating that their concerns and those of their constituents have not been addressed by the long-reigning Progressive Conservative government.
Two Calgary-area MLAs, Rob Anderson (Airdrie-Chestermere) and Heather Forsyth (Calgary-Fish Creek) announced this morning that they are abandoning their party to join the right-of-centre party led by Danielle Smith.
"The current PC party leadership has failed to address my constituents' concerns and will not permit me to speak publicly about these issues," Anderson said. "I have no interest in investing any more of my life and taxpayers' money defending poor public policy that has been developed by a small band of out-of-touch government appointees and insiders."
Forsyth said Alberta needs a stable economy and strong fiscal policies, something she thinks can be found with the Wildrose Alliance.
"I am confident we can work together to build the province that Albertans deserve," Forsyth said. "This is a new year and a new beginning."
The two members "crossing the floor" will mean that the number of MLAs from the Wildrose Alliance will increase from one to three.
You know what's fun to do when you handle the money? It's fun to give yourself a raise, just like the City of Calgary did at one point. Well, now, the top five executives increased their base salaries by an average of 28% in the past fiscal year as their overall pay, including bonuses and options, hit $49.2 million, up 13% from $43.5 million a year earlier.
And yes, one of those executives includes Jim Shaw.
In a Calgary Herald survey of 55 top Calgary companies published last summer, Jim Shaw had the highest base salary and second-highest overall annual pay of $11.7 million.
Shaw and Canada's other cable television companies have been fighting against a proposal to give new fees to Canada's ailing conventional broadcasters, such as CTV and Global TV.
Are you from another country and looking to work in another? Well, perhaps you should head to Canada or Australia (we strongly suggest Canada)... or Thailand. According to annual global survey, Britain was one of the worst locations to live for expatriates.
The second annual Expat Experience Survey, commissioned by HSBC Bank International, revealed that expats in Canada have the best quality of life and found it among the easiest places in the world to integrate with the local population.
Australia and Thailand also came in the top three in the survey of 3,146 people working in 30 different industries and 50 different countries, even though Thailand was one of the worst countries to be hit by the recession.
Well, that's a shame.
For the horror stories, if any, check out the article.
For those of you living here in Saskatoon and other parts of Saskatchewan who thought it was cold yesterday, you were wrong. Try being one of those guys in Edmonton...
Yesterday's weather was the coldest in Edmonton's history.
Last year's record for December 13 was -36.1°C. Yesterday, it was -46.1°C, not including the wind chill. If you include the wind chill, it went down to -58.4°C.
So, if you thought Saskatoon and Regina were cold yesterday, think again!
The surging Wildrose Alliance party would form the next provincial government in Alberta if an election were held tomorrow, according to a new poll that gives the right-of-centre party a double-digit lead over the long-ruling Progressive Conservatives.
The Angus Reid Public Opinion survey of 1,000 Albertans suggests 39% of voters would cast a ballot for the Wildrose Alliance. The ruling Progressive Conservatives were tied with the Opposition Liberals for second place with the backing of 25%.
The UN climate chief says that Canada is leaving a difficult past behind and is a constructive negotiator in the current process to find a new global climate change pact. When asked whether Canada has been hindering an agreement, as domestic and international critics have charged, Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC), said no.
"Canada has been negotiating very constructively in this process," de Boer said Wednesday. "Canada has a tough period behind it in terms that Canada did rise and ratify the Kyoto Protocol, but its main trading partner the United States, did not, which left it in a very unbalanced situation."
But de Boer added he hopes the global talks result in a "strong and ambitious Canadian target." Although Canada said it would abide by the terms of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, its greenhouse gas emissions actually increased by about 26% between 1990 and 2007.
Going forward, the country's climate change target, a 20% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 2006 levels by 2020, is nearly identical to that of the U.S. Canada has now been the target of an international campaign by environmental groups who say the country has done little to halt its rising emissions and its future targets are too weak.
Just a few days into the Copenhagen meetings, it appears that some provinces will go to great lengths to distinguish their climate change policies from those of Ottawa.
In a roomful of international media Wednesday morning, a senior staff member from British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell's office handed out a polished package highlighting British Columbia's commitment to reduce emissions by 33% by 2020, with a tag line that the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in 2010 will be the "greenest ever and carbon neutral."
Campbell is pictured shaking hands with former U.S. president Bill Clinton, who has praised British Columbia's implementation of a carbon tax. A news release quotes Campbell saying that he will be in Copenhagen next week to support the federal government and also to "represent British Columbia as a sub-national jurisdiction that is taking significant steps towards addressing climate change." In British Columbia, Campbell said it's important for provincial leaders to be at the Copenhagen conference.
"We can give national leaders a sense of confidence that this (commitments on reducing climate change) can be accomplished and that they've got willing partners who are trying to accomplish these things," he said this week.
"One of the lessons from Kyoto is you don't get very far in Canada if you don't include the provinces," he said. "The Kyoto Protocol was done without any provincial input; there was no discussion about it."
The Honourable Jim Prentice, the Government of Canada's Minister of Environment, invited all premiers to the conference in Copenhagen this year, the premier said.
Campbell, who will be speaking at multiple conference events, will be in Copenhagen from December 14 until the 16th. Other premiers, such as Quebec's Jean Charest, Manitoba's Greg Selinger, Nova Scotia's Darrell Dexter, and Nunavut's Eva Aariak, will also be travelling to Copenhagen.
With both Prentice and Prime Minister Stephen Harper hailing from Calgary, critics have said Canada's greenhouse gas reduction targets are being managed by the Conservative government to protect the continued growth of Alberta's oil-sands. The oil-sands now make up about 5% of Canada's total emissions, but Environment Canada predicts oil-sands emissions will be the largest contributor to Canada's emissions growth in the near future, and could triple by 2020.
Canadian negotiators note that environmental critics do not consider Canada's special circumstances, including the country's rapid population growth in the last two decades. The meetings in Copenhagen this week and next are part of a United Nations process to find an agreement to replace the Kyoto Protocol from 2012 onwards.
The early days of the conference are focused on a number of detailed, technical discussions before environment ministers and world leaders begin arriving this weekend and early next week.
The Government of Canada will send a plane to bring kidnap victim Amanda Lindhout and her family back to Canada early this week, according to media reports and a website of supporters.
Lindhout, a native of Sylvan Lake, Alta., has been in Nairobi, Kenya, since she and companion Nigel Brennan were rescued on November 25 after being held captive for 15 months in Somalia, where the pair were freelancing as journalists.
The report that she will step foot on home soil this week was not confirmed yesterday by any members of Lindhout's family, nor a family spokeswoman, none of whom responded to messages.
The Department of Foreign Affairs would also not confirm the report.
"As you can appreciate, the Lindhout family needs to be together now undisturbed," said spokeswoman Lisa Monette. "We are respectful of the family's wish for privacy and will not provide further information at this time."
But as the young woman prepares for the eventual journey back to Canada, friends of Lindhout say there is an unsung hero in the drama who has gone un-thanked and unacknowledged, a Somali native whose life was endangered by his efforts to find the kidnapped Canadian and Australian and first confirm they were alive back in August 2008.
Eva Manasieva-Singh, a co-creator of a Facebook Group advocating for Lindhout's freedom and former Press TV Iran colleague of Lindhout, said Ahmed Muhammed, a video journalist, continues to receive threats for his efforts. He made the initial contact with the Somali bandits who kidnapped Lindhout and Brennan. The lives of his family members were also put at risk when he arranged for telephone conversations between hostage negotiators and the kidnappers.
Yet, those efforts have never been mentioned amid the stories of the heroic efforts made to rescue the pair last month.
Manasieva-Singh said that despite his invaluable contribution, Muhammed now "feels used, abused and tossed aside."
Chris Gelken, who co-created the Facebook group, also said that "the governments of Canada and Australia made various vacuous and what can only be described as misleading statements to Ahmed," and that his "usefulness was forgotten."
"But the gunmen haven't forgotten Ahmed," Gelken said.
While a ransom, possibly as much as $1 million, was paid to the kidnappers, Ahmed never received a dime for his help, Gelken said.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars were also spent on the rescue effort, partly raised by Calgary businessmen and used to hire a British mercenary agency.
"Ahmed is not seeking financial reward," said Gelken, "despite the fact his involvement actually cost him at least $3,000 US to $4,000 US in direct expenses, not to mention his lost earnings."
"His name or picture doesn't appear among the list of Amanda's 'friends' on Voice for Amanda Lindhout," said Gelken, referring to the group that has almost 2,000 members. "He left no words of encouragement or support. What he did was so much more."
Cops in Saskatchewan say that they were 'given the slip' this week by the founder of the Calgary Aryan Guard, a guy facing charges of attempted murder for a botched bombing in Calgary.
An RCMP officer approached a truck on Wednesday that was parked on a gravel road near a drive-in theatre just south of Regina, said RCMP Sgt. Carole Raymond.
The driver, who was asleep at the time, identified himself as Kyle Robert McKee, 24, who is wanted on a Canada-wide arrest warrant for two charges of attempted murder in what appears to be a feud between white supremacists in Calgary.
There was also a teenager in the truck who identified himself as a 17-year-old as well.
When the cop returned to his cruiser to run the names of the jerks, the guy sped off in his red 1996 Dodge Dakota, with Alberta plate TEB 713.
It is alleged that McKee and a different 17-year-old left two explosive devices near the door of a Calgary home last weekend. The bombs exploded moments after a neighbour discovered them and threw them into a parking lot.
Cops in Calgary say that the attack was targeted.
As of yesterday, Raymond said that McKee faces additional charges in Saskatchewan for failing to remain at the scene and fleeing from the police.
The Grey Cup show will go on, but the week-long celebrations won't be the same without the defending champions competing in the CFL final on home turf, say dejected diehard Calgary Stampeders fans.
"I'm sad. What more do you say?" said long-time Stampeders loyalist Brian deHaan, who dreamed of seeing his team defend its title in McMahon Stadium.
Across the city yesterday, whether in bars or basements, fans watching on television had held tight to the hope the Stamps would pull off a win against the favoured Saskatchewan Roughriders, especially as Calgary jumped out to an early lead.
When things took a turn in the second half, that hope turned to prayer. But midway through the fourth quarter, it became clear that not even prayer would be enough to see the Stamps play in the 97th Grey Cup championship against the Montreal Alouettes.
At Schanks Sports Bar on Macleod Trail, where there were almost as many green shirts as red ones donned for the West Division final, Riders fans began to chant "Stamps suck" with a minute left on the clock and a score of 27-17 for Saskatchewan. Those jerks...
When the last whistle blew, Stamps fans hung their collective heads in grief.
"I made a lot of noise on my Facebook page, how I was going to guarantee a win," said Lincy Mathew, 29, who works with a lot of people from Saskatchewan. "It's going to be a rough Monday morning at work."
Loyalty runs deep on both sides, with some Riders fans gloating over the win and revelling that the melon heads will be able to watch their home team play in their adopted home town.
"Calgary sports fans are not real fans," said Saskatchewan-born Ryan Rasmussen. "Rider fans are true. We're the green pride," added the 26-year-old who has lived in Calgary for the past four years.
"The celebration is going to start now and it's not going to end until the Grey Cup is over," he added.
Rasmussen and his buddy, Dustin Francis, 27, were already shopping for tickets minutes after the game was done, offering fellow patrons at Schanks as much as $500 for a seat in McMahon Stadium next Sunday.
"We're getting tickets by the end of the night," vowed Francis.
Indeed, many Riders fans are now scrambling for a ticket to the sold-out contest. Within an hour after the game, Riders fans were posting 'Ticket Wanted' ads on the popular buy-and-sell site Kijiji. Tickets that officially went for anywhere from $195 to $370 are being scalped for as much as $2,000 a pair on the same site.
On eBay, 37 new ads were posted Sunday, with bids also starting at $1,000 per ticket. While some Stamps fans are ready to unload their tickets to the Grey Cup, others vow to be in their seats despite the devastating loss.
"It's a fun week with lots of fans from all over the country. You see the same people every year, it's very Canadiana," said deHaan, who has attended every Grey Cup game since 1995.
But it just won't be the same watching the Grey Cup in a home stadium without any red jerseys in the game, admitted deHaan, who'll be there supporting the league -- not the Riders.
"My team is Calgary. I'll be happy to go to the game and support the CFL. But I will not cheer for the Riders," said deHaan, equating the loss to Saskatchewan to "losing to a little brother."
"I wouldn't expect them to cheer for us. It's just not my team."
DeHaan's friend went one step further, saying he'll throw his support behind Montreal. "(The Riders) are too arrogant," said Jason Pigeon.
Paul Lehmann, a.k.a. Dancin' Paulie, had promised to make a comeback if the Stamps won.
Lehmann, who's had the same seat in McMahon for the past 15 years, was once famous for his gyrating dance to the Village People's YMCA during home game breaks. He had retired his hips in 2002.
But even though the Stamps won't be there, Lehmann said he "may pop up" if the song is played, revealing that Calgarians' spirit can survive a loss.
"I would rather be watching the Stamps play next week, but at the end of the day, there's always next year. It will still be a lot of fun next week."
You know what I hate about school? I hate homework. Well, one Calgary-area family has somehow made a deal to stop teachers from issuing homework to their kids.
As Tom Milley and his wife Shelli shuttled their children to and from speed-skating practice and music lessons, then raced to put dinner on the table, they dreaded the hours of homework still before them.
Spencer, 11, and his sister Brittany, 10, could spend up to three hours a night completing math problems and word lists with the help of their parents. Well, that's mo longer. The Milleys have struck a blow for family freedom -- by getting their kids' teachers to promise to lay off on the homework indefinitely.
Last week, the Milleys signed a unique contract with teachers and the principal at St. Bridget School to eliminate homework completely for Spencer and Brittany.
"The general (homework) policy of the school was 10 minutes per grade per night and I think each teacher took that quite literally to mean each teacher should assign 10 minutes per grade per night," a frustrated Tom Milley said.
This mounting homework hung like the "sword of Damocles" over his children as they tried to enjoy extracurricular activities.
"The later it gets, the more stressed out they become."
Their no-homework contract is the result of two years of lobbying the school and district. And it doesn't mean the kids are completely off the hook. Shelli still quizzes Spencer at night to prepare for an upcoming science exam while Tom works with Brittany to improve her spelling. The difference is the family can now choose when and how it studies at home.
"Instead of blithely completing homework sheets we thought were of dubious value, this allows us more time to concentrate on their weaknesses," said Milley.
Many parents work with their teachers and principals to determine how much homework is too much for their child, said Calgary Catholic School District spokesperson Tania Younker.
"Parents are the primary educators. Their role when it comes to homework, in engaging and supporting the child in homework, supports the notion of them as the primary educators," said Younker.
The district created its own homework regulation in 2000 which talks in general terms about homework being an integral part of the student experience. But, a committee has been struck to examine research and best practices when it comes to homework, said Younker. Recommendations should be prepared by this spring, with the new homework guidelines to be implemented in September 2010.
The homework debate is hardly new to those living in Calgary. But, parents are largely divided on the issue, with some wanting more homework for their children and others calling for less, said Laura Shutiak, president of the Calgary Association of Parents and School Councils. Keeping after-school projects and assignments to a minimum is seen by many parents as most important in the early years.
"Kids need to learn to like school. If everything becomes a chore then they're not creating an environment where kids are going to love learning," Shutiak said.
Homework demands on today's students are increasing and even kindergarten children are coming home with daily assignments, said Vera Goodman, a retired teacher and author of the book Simply Too Much Homework!
Goodman praises the Calgary Catholic School District for moving forward with the Milley family homework agreement, which she says could lead to more families coming expressing their homework concerns to schools.
"It's a real step forward for getting people to talk about the issue," said Goodman.
"Parents should have the right to choose how their children spend their free time at night. Children already spend seven to eight hours a day at school, including riding the bus. Why should they have to face hours of homework on top of that?"
The City of Calgary and Government of Alberta expect to have a signed agreement by the end of the month on how to proceed with a southwest ring road, as the Governments of Alberta agrees to look at options with lower speeds.
"It's excellent news, from my perspective," Mayor Dave Bronconnier said Monday. "To date, administratively, they've been very tenacious about wanting to keep universal design speeds, which are generally 110 km/h."
"Which means you need more land and a much higher impact on adjacent communities. It's about taking a realistic approach."
Transportation minister Luke Ouellette was quoted on the weekend saying that his staff ahve been asked to ease the 110 km/h requirement and look at further options.
Bronconnier said that if a modified southwest ring road had to be built accommodate traffic travelling 110 km/h, more land would be required and what would greatly affect communities, such as Lakeview, Glamorgan and Rutland Park.
Dropping the speed limit means a smaller road and less impact on existing neighbourhoods, while still building a thoroughfare for free-flow traffic.
"We are very hopeful with the minister's very strong signals that they're prepared to look at all options," Bronconnier said, adding that would include 37th Street, 14th Street and upgrades to Glenmore Trail SW.
The city is already moving ahead with plans to build an interchange at 37 Street and Glenmore Trail, which is a project that has been on hold for years while the province and Tsuu T'ina negotiated the possibility of running the southwest ring road through nation land. That deal fell apart this summer when band members rejected the proposal.
That led the city move ahead on the interchange, with construction slated to begin by March. The new interchange is being designed so that it can be incorporated into any future ring road plans.
Premier Ed Stelmach remained the leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta yesterday, collectiong 77.4% support from his own party members, despite weeks of speculation that he could fare poorly.
The party counted 1,191 ballots on Saturday, and 922 people voted against starting a new leadership race.
"We have a very big tent party, it's a democratic party, it's open, it's inclusive and I know that with such a large tent, a large party, there will be a variety of opinions," Stelmach said.
"Yes, (I'm) listening very closely, changes will be coming but they will be done in due course."
The week leading up to Stelmach's leadership review was marked by criticism of the Government of Alberta's handling of H1N1 vaccination clinics, poor poll numbers for the Progressive Conservatives and rumours the premier could fare poorly in the eyes of party members.
About 1,400 Conservatives met at the Capri Hotel in Red Deer over the weekend for their annual general meeting.
A former employee of a construction company said yesterday that a pile of building material was only loosely secured at the time a sheet of metal blew off 20 floors above downtown Calgary and landed on a child.
Michelle Krsek, who was 3, died on August 1, 2009, as she walked down the street with her family during a wind storm.
"It was always on my mind thinking about it," Paul Majcan told Global News in Calgary. "I feel everybody should know why this little girl died."
Majcan no longer works for Flynn Canada, which, along with Le Germain Residences and general contractor Grenville-Germain, currently face charges under the Alberta Safety Code. The companies appeared in court Wednesday but the case was laid over until December 16, 2009.
"Nothing was to be left on the roof unattended. It was not supposed to be on the deck because it's dangerous," Majcan said. "Any little bit of wind -- especially up there -- it's so much stronger than on the ground. It would just rip it off."
He said the materials had been on the roof for about a week while the crew was re-assigned to another job site.
"It's just sitting on the roof with little tiny screws... in them," he said. "All the garbage we were using, the scrap, I put them under the deck and screwed them down like crazy to each other and put stuff on top of them. Why couldn't we have done that with the rest of the scrap? Get home early or what? It would-a taken us 10 minutes to have it under that deck."
Majcan, who admits to having a criminal record, also spoke about drug use.
"It's probably not the smartest and safest things to do on a job site," he said. "We blazed weed all the time on the roof."
Nevertheless, he said he had to speak out about the death of little Michelle.
"It's not like the deck fell down and nobody got hurt. Somebody got killed over this."
Both Majcan and Flynn say he quit the company. When contacted, company president Doug Flynn issued a statement:
"We are of course saddened by the tragic events of Aug. 1 and our sympathies are with the Kresk family.
"We continue to co-operate with the authorities involved and are unable to comment in any detail on this matter as it is presently before the court."
The Krsek family has a lawsuit pending and would not comment.
Every year, 250,000 jerks in grade 9 take part in Take Our Kids to Work Day, but only one of those kids gets to go to work with the Prime Minister of Canada.
Chandler Blott, who is a grade 9 student from Claresholm, Alberta, met with Prime Minister Stephen Harper at his house at 24 Sussex Drive on Wednesday morning before traveling with him over to Parliament Hill to make fun of the opposition parties.
Chandler was also the Prime Minister's guest in the House of Commons during Question Period. The young girl, who is the great-niece of Conservative MP Ted Menzies, earned the opportunity to meet Mr. Harper by winning a photo contest organized by The Learning Partnership and Scotiabank, celebrating the fifteenth anniversary of the Take Our Kids to Work Program.
"I was pleased to have this opportunity to share my day with Chandler," said Harper. "Take Our Kids to Work Day is a valuable initiative that brings families closer together, inspires young Canadians to excel and teaches respect for the value of work."
However, the young girl said that the experience was a "bit boring." She also said that she didn't enter because she wanted to meet the Prime Minister of Canada. She only entered because she wanted to show off her artwork. Man, if I were her, I would be proud to go to work with the Prime Minister of Canada. So, that leaves us with one question, which bastard allowed this young lady to win the contest? She didn't even appreciate the prize. But, what really pissed me off is that she may have said that Question Period was "boring." I don't know about you guys, but I love Question Period! That's where Prime Minister Stephen Harper said that the NDP was completely irrelevant to Canadians!
A large portion of southern Alberta and Saskatchewan was an active desert just 200 years ago, with forbidding expanses of shifting sand more commonly associated with Death Valley or the Sahara. Hmm... that's how old my dog is... ha ha!
"Think Lawrence of Arabia," quips federal geologist Stephen Wolfe, whose team has uncovered the "footsteps" of desert dunes that in the late 1700s were moving across much of the landscape between Medicine Hat, Alta., and Swift Current. The drought that caused them was more severe that anything seen in the last century, he says, and shows how dramatically and quickly the landscape can change.
"The Prairies are more sensitive than we realize," says Wolfe. Particularly to slight changes in rain and snow, he says, which have increased over the last two centuries transforming southeast Alberta and southwest Saskatchewan into grasslands.
"You drive out there and you think it's been like that forever," he says. "It changed so rapidly."
In the 1700s, it was "a much different place," says Wolfe, with sand fields and swarms of locusts and enormous wildfires keeping grass in check. Aboriginal people used the dunes to corral and trap bison, says Wolfe, while early land surveyors found it tough going. "The men and horses were in great want of water, and the heat was very great while travelling through miles of burning sand," Capt. John Palliser noted when trekking across the region in 1859 as the drought was tapering off.
Today, only a few active dune fields remain, which helps explain why the Prairies have so many of Canada's rare and endangered plants and animals? Creatures like the endangered Ord's kangaroo rat need bare open sand for burrows and are now restricted to a few spots such as the Great Sand Hills in southwest Saskatchewan.
"Animals that depend on sand have been forced onto these small islands of bio diversity," says Wolfe, of the Geological Survey of Canada, who has long been fascinated by the sand that underlines much of the Canadian Prairies.
It was left behind as giant glaciers retreated at the end of the ice age. "Almost immediately the sand started to blow and produce dune fields... right next to the receding glaciers," he says.
Grass and trees eventually moved in and stabilized the sand. "In the north, most of the dune fields are covered in forest, you wouldn't even know they were there," says Wolfe. In the south, they tend to be covered in grass and are used as rangeland for cattle. He and his colleagues have shown most of the sand has been stable for 14,000 to 15,000 years, while some fields in northern Saskatchewan were active a few thousand years ago.
They assumed the same was true of south-western Saskatchewan and south-eastern Alberta until they took a closer look.
"When I first started working in the area I thought these dunes were going to be thousands of years old," says Wolfe. But "optical dating," which shows the last time sand was exposed to sunlight, revealed the southern hills were blowing, moving dunes just a couple of hundred years ago.
Then, Wolfe and his colleague, Christopher Hugenholtz, at the University of Lethbridge, took to the air to get a better view using LIDAR -- for light detection and ranging, which bounces light off the ground. The detailed images, one of which is on the cover of the journal Geology this month, show distinct "footprints" left as the dunes moved across the landscape.
"Not galloping," says Wolfe, noting they moved a few metres a year. But over 10 years, that adds up to 25 metres. In 100 years, it would be 250 metres.
Most of the dunes, which measure up to 15 metres high, are now covered in grass. However, a few are still active, and home to increasingly rare plants and animals which the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society wants to see better protected from gas development and roads that it says are a serious and growing threat. Then there is climate change with long-term forecasts predicting warmer, wetter conditions for much of the Prairies in coming decades. This likely means grass and shrubs will continue to encroach on the dunes, says Wolfe, who does not expect desert-like conditions to return anytime soon.
Wow! I have problems believing this... but I guess it's true. The problem is that it is hard to picture sand in Alberta or Saskatchewan. Because, when you think of sand and the desert, you would imagine really hot weather. And if you were to base it on that matter, you too would find it hard to believe.
Controversy raged Wednesday over the decision to release H1N1 vaccine to Calgary Flames players, as an Alberta health authority employee was fired, and the scandal grew to include the club's B.C. farm team.
The government's health authority announced that it had fired the most senior staff member involved in the decision to give the Flames players and their relatives the vaccine while many Albertans considered to be at high risk for contracting the virus, including small children, continued to be unable to get shots.
Meanwhile, it emerged that members of the NHL club's top minor league farm team had also received early shots.
"Like most Albertans, I am deeply offended that this circumstance has occurred," said a statement signed by Ken Hughes, Alberta Health Services' board chairman, and Stephen Duckett, the authority's CEO.
The statement was specifically about the firing of an employee identified as the most senior staff member involved in the Calgary Flames vaccination decision.
"AHS board and management have a fundamental commitment to serve all Albertans according to their needs, in medical priority. This circumstance was a clear departure from that principle. We set the expectation that this should not have happened and should not happen again," the statement said.
The name of the dismissed staff member was not released. The scandal also moved west, as B.C.'s chief medical health officer blasted a decision to vaccinate members of the Abbotsford Heat, an American Hockey League team affiliated with the Flames.
Dr. Perry Kendall said a doctor's decision to vaccinate the hockey team against H1N1 was inappropriate and against provincial guidelines. He said there has been no directive to give priority vaccinations to professional or amateur sports teams ahead of those more at risk and he will be speaking with the doctor involved.
"I'd love to say it was an Alberta vaccine and it was a rogue doctor," Kendall said. "It was a recommendation by the team physician. I'm going to have a discussion with him, saying it wasn't appropriate."
The investigation into Flames players' inoculations is continuing to determine exactly how the hockey players managed to jump the queue and get their H1N1 vaccinations before Albertans designated priority cases because of their risk of becoming dangerously ill. News that the players, along with some of their family members, coaching staff and management, had arranged to jump the queues faced by most people in Alberta wanting swine flu vaccine cause outrage this week, with Premier Ed Stelmach vowing to get to find out what had happened.
Alberta struggled to meet demand in the first week of its vaccination campaign, in which it tried to offer the vaccine to all people in the province. Over the weekend, the province had to shut down its clinics, and plans to reopen them Thursday, but only for those at high risk of getting the flu.
They include pregnant women, people under 65 with chronic health conditions, children between six months and five years old, people living in remote communities and health-care workers. So far, the Flames are the only Canadian NHL team to be accused of queue-jumping. The Vancouver Canucks, Edmonton Oilers, Ottawa Senators and Montreal Canadiens all told Global National their players will wait until the vaccine is available to the general public. The Toronto Maple Leafs declined to comment, saying the distribution of shots was an internal matter. A few members of the Toronto Raptors have received the H1N1 vaccination, the team said in an e-mail Wednesday.
"The special treatment for the Flames and their families is unacceptable to us and contrary to all of our existing protocols and processes," Duckett said in his statement. "I apologize for this breach of our duty to Albertans."
Dr. Gerry Predy, senior medical officer of health for Alberta Health Services, said he believes the Flames' faux pas was the only such incident of queue-jumping in Alberta.
"We're reasonably certain (the incident was isolated), but nothing is 100 per cent," Predy said.
Alberta Health Services is the only body in Alberta that receives vaccine doses from the provincial government. The provincial health authority then dispenses it to clinics and hospitals across Alberta.
"It's a deplorable situation," said Dr. Andre Corriveau, Alberta's chief medical officer of health.
The vaccination of Abbotsford players was conducted at a clinic in the Lower Mainland, Kendall said. Team president and chief executive officer Tom Mauthe said the decision was made to immunize the team members following a recent road trip where several players became ill.
"At this point, at first blush, it does not in any way jive with the guidelines the province has set out, so it is concerning," said B.C. Health Minister Kevin Falcon.
Members of Alberta's upstart Wildrose Alliance Party chose Danielle Smith as their new leader on Saturday, embracing her vision of building a mainstream conservative party to challenge the current Progressive Conservative dynasty.
"My No. 1 job is to turn Alberta back into a real democracy again," Smith told an enthusiastic crowd of more than 400 people. "Change is coming."
The race gained considerable attention in recent weeks after a surprising by-election in Calgary gave the seat to a Wildrose Alliance member, after many years of being a stronghold for the Progressive Conservative Party.
Smith, who is 38, is a former journalist and activist. She pitched herself as a fiscal conservative and social moderate and the only candidate who could bring new people to the party and challenge the government in the next election.
The party had been leaderless since April, when Paul Hinman stepped down as leader.
If you think about it, at some point, someone's going to want to "unite the right" again like Preston Manning did before the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada became the new Conservative Party of Canada. Could Danielle Smith be the person to do that? Who knows? Well, she is pretty good-looking, and so is Stephen Harper, and looks usually have a lot to do with aspects. And Stephen Harper is the one who merged the Progressive Conservatives and the Canadian Alliance.
After two decades of good times, the party in Alberta appears to be over for the Government of Alberta. And as for the party running the government, it is taking pains to project a new air of austerity.
With an escalating deficit and a tide of grassroots support defecting from the ruling Progressive Conservatives to a new rival party on the right, Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach announced on Thursday that he and his ministers will take immediate cuts to the extra compensation they earn for their cabinet positions.
Stelmach said that he is cutting his $81,312 premier's allowance by 15%, which amounts to a $12,196 reduction. Cabinet ministers will also see their $63,912 cabinet pay reduced by 10%, amounting to $6,391 per minister. Stelmach and his cabinet will still hold on to most of the pay hikes they voted themselves with last year.
Remember that old and creepy filmmaker guy that recently got arrested in Switzerland because he had sex with someone that was 13 years old at Jack Nicholson's house?
According to a news released by the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office earlier this week, authorities there were talking to the RCMP about detaining the creepy filmmaker in Calgary and having him extradited in December of 1986 when it was discovered that the director was thinking about shooting a movie in Canada.
Alberta film industry veteran John Scott can't recall the project that Polanski was considering, but he remembers that there was excitement among Alberta's film industry bigwigs about the director's arrival. Scott also remembers the reason that Polanski decided not to come to Calgary.
"They were going to arrest him... that's why he didn't come," Scott said Wednesday. Polanski, now 76, was wanted by American authorities for having sex with a 13-year-old girl at a party at actor Jack Nicholson's home in 1977. Even if the girl agreed to have sex with him at the time, it's still considered rape for some reason, because she was young.
Polanski pleaded guilty to a charge of unlawful sexual intercourse but fled the United States in 1978, before he was sentenced, seeking exile in France. Since then, American officials have sought to have the Academy Award winning Polish-French filmmaker brought back to America to face sentencing.
The director was arrested by authorities in Switzerland on Sunday when he tried to appear at a film festival in Zurich, where he was to receive a lifetime achievement award.
Seven former and current NFL players are among the 3,000 investors who were apparently fooled into investing roughly $100 million in an Alberta-based Ponzi-type scheme, a pyramid allegedly run by two men who had prior run-ins with the law.
Milowe Allen Brost and Gary Allen Sorenson, who have both been charged with fraud over $5,000 and theft over $5,000, ran the alleged fraudulent scheme between 1999 and 2008, according to the RCMP's white-collar crime squad.
The scam is alleged to have continued even after Brost was slapped with the largest individual fine, $650,000, which was handed down by the Alberta Securities Commission in July 2007. The case started in October 2005 and involved some of the companies tied to Brost, who is on probation after an Ontario conviction for possession of stolen property, and Sorenson's alleged scam.
Further, the U.S. Justice Department in February 2008 filed two lawsuits against two U.S. accountants who pitched investments tied to Brost's Institute for Financial Learning, the umbrella company of the alleged pyramid.
"Ponzis are not that unusual. Ones of this size are," said Eric Mattson, the officer in charge of the RCMP's Alberta branch of the Integrated Market Enforcement Team. "They were very, very out there publicly. You couldn't get much more public. They had a (sponsorship) tarp (on a chuck wagon) at the Calgary Stampede a few years ago."
Graham McMillan launched a website warning against the Institute for Financial Learning in 2006, after his elderly parents invested. His parents, who live in Brandon, Manitoba, attended IFFL seminars in which Brost gave reasons why traditional investments such as the stock market are terrible. Then he pitched a gold company, Merendon Mining Corp., as a place where investors could pocket returns between 30 and 40% per year by lending the company money, McMillan said.
Brost would tell audiences banks would love to loan Merendon money, but he wanted nothing to do with the "evil" institutions and wanted to give regular investors a chance to share in the riches, McMillan said. Against his advice, McMillan's parents invested. He was, however, able to get their money back by threatening to make the company look bad.
However, McMillan did not entirely disappear. He reported Brost to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the RCMP, and other authorities like the Alberta Securities Commission. An SEC spokesperson said that the regulator does not confirm whether it is working on a particular case.
This is the first time the Alberta branch of the RCMP's Integrated Market Enforcement Team has laid any charges. The ASC referred the case to the RCMP in October of 2005. Brost was granted bail, but his passport has been confiscated; he cannot travel outside of Alberta without advising a Calgary-based RCMP officer; he is subject to weekly reporting conditions; and he provided a $100,000 surety, the RCMP's Mattson said. Brost, who did not return a message seeking comment, is scheduled to be in court on October 19, 2009.
Results from yesterday's by-election in Calgary-Glenmore indicate that Wildrose Alliance candidate Paul Hinman captured a narrow victory over his Liberal opponent, as Premier Ed Stelmach's Conservatives finished third in a riding that has voted for the Progressive Conservatives for four decades. That should be a major blow to the Progressive Conservatives.
With 65 of the 66 polls reporting, and his opponents conceding, Hinman grabbed 37% of ballots cast (3,735) compared to 34% for the Liberal hopeful Avalon Roberts and 26% for Conservative candidate Diane Colley-Urquhart.
"Isn't it great to do the impossible," Hinman said as he hugged a supporter.
Yesterday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced that Calgary will host the meeting of the Inter-American Development Bank in 2011.
The bank was created in 1959 to help support economic development in Latin America and the Caribbean through lending and grants.
The exact date of the annual meeting wasn't announced.
"For 50 years the Inter-American Development Bank has been arranging multilateral financing that has... fostered economic, social and institution development throughout Latin America and the Caribbean," said Harper during a speech in Calgary.
"This will be the first time in over 20 years that the bank has held its annual meeting in Canada. The return of the IDB to our country will open doors for all Canadians to do more business in the Americas. And the thousands of bankers, business people and national leaders who are expected to attend the meeting will provide a significant boost to Calgary's hospitality industry."
Currently, Canada is a non-borrowing member of the bank. In April, Mr. Harper announced that the Government of Canada would temporarily make up to $4 billion available to the bank to increase its lending capacity.
Ice cream cones are selling the same way doughnuts at Tim Hortons Inc., which said Thursday it will extend its test run of the Cold Stone Creamery brand into outlets across Canada.
Cold Stone recently opened inside 40 U.S. Tim Hortons locations and six Toronto outlets as part of a joint venture, and the two companies plan to open three more of the co-branded outlets in Halifax and three in Calgary because of strong consumer response, chief executive Don Schroeder said.
"We want to do the test right across the country to get a feel if this is something to roll out across the system," said Schroeder.
Cold Stone's ice cream is made on-site and customers can add candy, fruit and nuts to their order, which is mixed by a server on a frozen slab of granite. It operates more than 1,450 locations in 11 countries, including Japan, Korea, China and Taiwan.
If you lived in Canada and enjoyed a Big Mac in the morning at your local McDonald's restaurant, you'd be consuming a shit-load of a salt. But if you went overseas and ordered one in say... England, the salt content is a lot less.
A group dedicated to reducing salt consumption, called World Action on Salt and Health, analyzed more than 260 products from big-name food manufacturers that included McDonald's, Kellogg's, Burger King, Subway, Nestle and KFC, and found that not one product from those companies had consistent salt levels from one country to another.
Several foods from the Canadian branches of those companies led the pack for salt content when compared to the same products in other countries. They included KFC's popcorn chicken and Twister sandwich, Burger King's onion rings and Kellogg's All Bran and Special K cereals.
Most companies explained that the difference was because of the difference in regional taste buds. Yeah... right.
Mexico's government on Thursday said that it would require visas of all Canadian diplomats in retaliation for the Government of Canada's announcement this week that Mexican visitors to Canada will immediately need visas to enter the country.
Mexican Foreign Secretary Patricia Espinosa informed the Government of Canada of the decision during a bilateral meeting with Minister of Foreign Affairs Lawrence Cannon at the U.S. State Department in Washington, telling him that she was "strongly against" the decision and warning that Canada's move would fail to deter the flood of refugee claimants that Ottawa says triggered its action.
"We were in disagreement with this measure," Espinosa told reporters during a news conference here with Cannon and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. "This is not something that is going to help Canada solve the problem."
Canadian Immigration Minister Jason Kenney announced the new visa requirement for Mexicans, as well as residents of the Czech Republic on Monday, sparking widespread anger in both countries.
According to data released yesterday by Statistics Canada, manufacturing sales were up in Saskatchewan in May but down in other parts of the country. That's kick ass for Saskatchewan.
The information indicates that manufacturing sales were down 6% nationally in May, compared to April. However, sales in Saskatchewan were up by 3.6% in that one-month period.
Doug Elliott, who publishes the Sask Trends Monitor newsletter, says that "Saskatchewan industry has been holding up really well."
However, despite the increase, the picture isn't that good-looking if you do a 12-month comparison, which shows that manufacturing sales in Saskatchewan are down by 9.6% of this year compared to May of last year, Elliott said.
TELUS Corp. is spending $650 million this year to upgrade its networks in Alberta, as it expands the reach of its Internet and digital-TV services.
Calgary Mayor David Bronconnier has announced he won't run in the fall election. Delivering his annual State of the City keynote address to the Calgary Downtown Rotary Club, Bronconnier said he has completed his political agenda as mayor and won't seek re-election in the fall civic vote.
The Alberta government released a plan Tuesday to cut down waiting times for surgeries.
The Government of Alberta performed a budget balancing act yesterday by slashing spending across 15 ministries and cutting more than 700 jobs... but also bolstering funding for healthcare and holding the line on social programs.
Start-up cell phone company DAVE Wireless Inc. Yesterday introduced the consumer brand name it will use once its network is complete and can begin offering services.
Officials at the University of Calgary are floating tuition hikes of as much as 47% in professional programs for next year, which are figures that student representatives call "terrifying."
Ralph Klein is downplaying any notion of a rift between him and his successor, Premier Ed Stelmach, but the former and current Alberta premiers are at odds over a policy issue they've both struggled with: the prescription for Alberta's ailing health system.
Remember that night that Stephen Harper became the 22nd Prime Minister of Canada? Yeah, we remember it like it was four years ago.
Shaw Communications Inc. is expanding, again. Following the company's annual meeting in Calgary today, the company's CEO Jim Shaw confirmed that his company is in the race to snap up beleaguered Canwest assets.
Calgary, Vancouver and Ottawa were among Canada's largest cities that made it to the 'A' list in terms of places that are attractive to migrants, according to a study released Wednesday. Some of the smaller locales to make it into the top tier in this report from the Conference Board of Canada included Waterloo, Ontario; Richmond Hill, Ontario, and St. John's, Newfoundland.
Calgary-based Suncor Energy plans to lay off another 1,000 workers this year as it continues to digest the assets of Petro-Canada picked up in a $20 billion merger last fall.
The northern Ontario town of Dryden turned in a gold-medal performance when the Olympic flame arrived yesterday afternoon.
Two Alberta Progressive Conservative backbenchers are abandoning their party in favour of the upstart Wildrose Alliance party, stating that their concerns and those of their constituents have not been addressed by the long-reigning Progressive Conservative government.
You know what's fun to do when you handle the money? It's fun to give yourself a raise, just like the City of Calgary did at one point. Well, now, the top five executives increased their base salaries by an average of 28% in the past fiscal year as their overall pay, including bonuses and options, hit $49.2 million, up 13% from $43.5 million a year earlier.
Are you from another country and looking to work in another? Well, perhaps you should head to Canada or Australia (we strongly suggest Canada)... or Thailand. According to annual global survey, Britain was one of the worst locations to live for expatriates.
The Government of Canada will send a plane to bring kidnap victim Amanda Lindhout and her family back to Canada early this week, according to media reports and a website of supporters.
Cops in Saskatchewan say that they were 'given the slip' this week by the founder of the Calgary Aryan Guard, a guy facing charges of attempted murder for a botched bombing in Calgary.
The Grey Cup show will go on, but the week-long celebrations won't be the same without the defending champions competing in the CFL final on home turf, say dejected diehard Calgary Stampeders fans.
You know what I hate about school? I hate homework. Well, one Calgary-area family has somehow made a deal to stop teachers from issuing homework to their kids.
Premier Ed Stelmach remained the leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta yesterday, collectiong 77.4% support from his own party members, despite weeks of speculation that he could fare poorly.
A former employee of a construction company said yesterday that a pile of building material was only loosely secured at the time a sheet of metal blew off 20 floors above downtown Calgary and landed on a child.
Every year, 250,000 jerks in grade 9 take part in Take Our Kids to Work Day, but only one of those kids gets to go to work with the Prime Minister of Canada.
A large portion of southern Alberta and Saskatchewan was an active desert just 200 years ago, with forbidding expanses of shifting sand more commonly associated with Death Valley or the Sahara. Hmm... that's how old my dog is... ha ha!
Controversy raged Wednesday over the decision to release H1N1 vaccine to Calgary Flames players, as an Alberta health authority employee was fired, and the scandal grew to include the club's B.C. farm team.
Members of Alberta's upstart Wildrose Alliance Party chose Danielle Smith as their new leader on Saturday, embracing her vision of building a mainstream conservative party to challenge the current Progressive Conservative dynasty.
Remember that old and creepy filmmaker guy that recently got arrested in Switzerland because he had sex with someone that was 13 years old at Jack Nicholson's house?
Seven former and current NFL players are among the 3,000 investors who were apparently fooled into investing roughly $100 million in an Alberta-based Ponzi-type scheme, a pyramid allegedly run by two men who had prior run-ins with the law.
Results from yesterday's by-election in Calgary-Glenmore indicate that Wildrose Alliance candidate Paul Hinman captured a narrow victory over his Liberal opponent, as Premier Ed Stelmach's Conservatives finished third in a riding that has voted for the Progressive Conservatives for four decades. That should be a major blow to the Progressive Conservatives.
Yesterday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced that Calgary will host the meeting of the Inter-American Development Bank in 2011.
Ice cream cones are selling the same way doughnuts at Tim Hortons Inc., which said Thursday it will extend its test run of the Cold Stone Creamery brand into outlets across Canada.
If you lived in Canada and enjoyed a Big Mac in the morning at your local McDonald's restaurant, you'd be consuming a shit-load of a salt. But if you went overseas and ordered one in say... England, the salt content is a lot less.
Mexico's government on Thursday said that it would require visas of all Canadian diplomats in retaliation for the Government of Canada's announcement this week that Mexican visitors to Canada will immediately need visas to enter the country.
According to data released yesterday by Statistics Canada, manufacturing sales were up in Saskatchewan in May but down in other parts of the country. That's kick ass for Saskatchewan.
