WATCH ABOVE: Global meteorologist Nicola Crosbie’s weather forecast from Friday’s edition of the News Hour. For more info, check out Global Edmonton’s weather page.

EDMONTON – High winds and heavy rain drenched areas across the Capital Region Friday, wreaking havoc on city roads, trees, power lines and resident’s basements.

The weather caused flight delays and cancellations at the Edmonton International Airport. As of 2:00 p.m. Friday, approximately 48 flights had been cancelled or diverted. EIA says passengers whose flights have been cancelled should contact their airlines for rebooking.

READ MORE: High winds cancel or divert dozens of flights at EIA 

Margie Balaneski, who lives in the area of 145 Avenue and 96 Street, spent most of the evening vacuuming water out of her basement after area sewer lines backed up into her home.

Balaneski says she has a back water shut off valve, but “it couldn’t hold the pressure that came through the lines.”

This isn’t the first time Balaneski has been forced to clean up following heavy rainfall; in August 2013, she was vacuuming water out of her basement after an intense overnight thunderstorm.

“We experienced the same problem. We have sewer water in the basement and we have been busy… vacuuming it up, taking it out in bucket loads,” she explained Friday night.

“History has repeated itself.”

READ MORE: Flooding in Edmonton following overnight storm

Due to the extreme weather, the Interstellar Rodeo was cancelled Friday night.  Artists that were set to play Friday - or whose flights had been cancelled or delayed – will be moved to Monday.

“Edmontonians are hearty, and not afraid of a little rain,” said producer Shauna de Cartier, “but the high winds and rain make for unsafe conditions and we decided to work on a Plan B.”

Organizers say Corb Lund and the Hurtin’ Albertans, scheduled to perform Friday, will be back Monday night. Saturday and Sunday performances will go ahead as scheduled. All Friday Interstellar Rodeo tickets will be honoured on Monday night.

The wet weather also rained on Taste of Edmonton’s parade Friday night.

More sad news. We’ll have to shut down at 7pm tonight due to flooding. Still have a couple wet hours left though! #yeg #yegwx

— Taste Of Edmonton (@TasteOfEdm) July 25, 2014

Okay update, we should be able to stay open as long as people keep coming. Restaurants will be open as long as it’s safe to cook!

— Taste Of Edmonton (@TasteOfEdm) July 25, 2014

But, earlier in the day, some brave souls battled the rain to check out the treats.

“There are no line-ups,” said Amber Durocher.  “You don’t have to push anyone out of your way and the food is just as good.”

Concerts at the K-Days midway went ahead as scheduled Friday night. Northlands staff offered free gate admission after 6 p.m.

Summerland Tour won’t be washed away! Free @KDaysyeg gate admission after 6 p.m. tonight. https://t.co/PbmMStePaQ #KDAYS

— K-Days (@KDaysyeg) July 25, 2014

The nightly fireworks show was cancelled, though, as the grounds closed following the concerts.

According to Global Meteorologist Nicola Crosbie, a cold low has moved in from Northern B.C., creating major instability across central Alberta.

Rain was falling at a rate of about five mm per hour, which Crosbie says is significant.

The unofficial rainfall amount in west Edmonton is 100 mm, which Crosbie says fell between 11 p.m. Thursday and 5 p.m. Friday. The average rainfall for July is 94 mm, according to Crosbie.

A wind warning was in place for much of the day, but it was dropped by Environment Canada by Friday evening.

Fortunately, this wet and rainy day is not expected to carry on throughout the weekend.

“The good news is the forecast really improves for Saturday,” Crosbie explains. “A strong ridge of high pressure builds in again and temperatures will head into the 30s by Tuesday.”

CALGARY – Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. is seeking approval to resume crude extraction from the part of its Primrose East oilsands property where a bitumen-water mixture was found oozing to the surface last year.

But the Calgary-based company said it’s planning to use a different steaming method that it says would avoid the problems that may have led to the high-profile leaks in eastern Alberta, which are still being investigated by the province’s energy watchdog.

Canadian Natural filed an application to the Alberta Energy Regulator last week asking for permission to inject steam at low pressure in a technique known as steam flooding.

READ MORE: 2 provinces, 2 environmental disasters, 2 very different responses

Previously, Canadian Natural had injected steam at high-pressure using a technology known as cyclic steam stimulation, the safety of which has been questioned by environmental groups. With that method – often described as “huff and puff” – a well alternates between injecting steam and drawing the softened bitumen to the surface.

On a conference call with analysts Thursday, Canadian Natural president Steve Laut says it’s “not possible” for steam flooding to create the same conditions that led to the Primrose East leaks.

Cyclic steam would enable production to ramp up more quickly, but rates over the long term are expected to be the same if steam flooding is used instead, said Laut.

“I wouldn’t see much of a drop in overall yearly average production from a steam flood at this stage versus a cyclic program at this stage,” he said.

The AER has said it won’t allow steaming to resume until it’s convinced all the risks have been addressed.

Last month, the energy watchdog said it had a better idea of what went wrong at Primrose. It said the main issues centre around Canadian Natural’s steaming strategy and on old wellbores around the site that have provided paths for fluids to flow to the surface.

Once a final report has been completed, Canadian Natural said it will apply to use cyclic steam on other parts of the Primrose East property. The section of Primrose East where the leaks took place, and where the company wants to use steam flooding, is a “unique area geologically,” said Laut.

Some 1.2 million litres of the bitumen-water emulsion have been recovered and 20.7 hectares have been affected. The company said on Thursday that clean-up is complete.

READ MORE: Steaming may have caused endless Alberta oil spills, CNRL admits

Thermal oilsands production for this year at Canadian Natural is expected to come in lower than previously anticipated, with the bottom end of the range lowered to 112,000 barrels per day from 120,000.

Some of that is due to the fact that it’s taking longer than expected to start steam flooding at Primrose East. As well, mechanical issues at Canadian Natural’s Kirby South steam plant are causing production to ramp up more slowly than planned.

Earlier Thursday, Canadian Natural said it more than doubled its second-quarter net earnings, helped by increased sales and higher prices.

The Calgary-based oil and natural gas producer reported profits of $1.07 billion, or 97 cents per share, versus $476 million, or 44 cents per share a year ago.

Adjusted profits were $1.04 per share, which beat analyst expectations by six cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters.

Company-wide production for the three months ended June 30 grew 31 per cent to 817,471 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

Realized prices for its crude oil averaged $87.03 per barrel, up nearly 16 per cent from the same period a year earlier.

Product sales rose to almost $6.11 billion from $4.23 billion.

Shares of the company were down more than 2.5 per cent at $44.68 in afternoon trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

A quartet of spills in northern Alberta has been oozing bitumen emulsion for more than a year with no sign of stopping, and the provincial regulator’s latest report finds the oil company’s own extraction method could be partly to blame.

A massive tailings pond breach sends a wall of potentially toxic mine waste flooding through central British Columbia.

Which garners more outrage?

The second one – by a long shot.

Mount Polley mine‘s tailings pond breach in B.C. has sparked a state of emergency as residents’ tap water is deemed unusable and provincial authorities scramble to determine just how toxic the spilled wastewater is, where the sludge went and what’s in the suspended solids.

Mine owner Imperial Metals has seen its share prices tank about 40 per centin the days following the breach.

Canadian Natural Resources Limited, on the other hand, has been barely bruised by the months-long series of spills at its Cold Lake site, even after an Alberta Energy Regulator report concluded the company’s high-pressure steaming is just too much for the rock, causing it to fracture and leak bitumen.

That conclusion’s a big deal, said Dinara Millington, vice-president of research with the Canadian Energy Research Institute: It suggests the operation itself is unsound, and has implications beyond these four spills, or even CNRL’s operations in that area.

“The regulator has been called by the public and Pembina Institute and other environmental institutes to  undertake a study where they would be looking at [cyclical steam stimulation] in general, and whether it’s even appropriate in a place where CNRL is,” she said.

“It will set a huge precedent for anyone who wants to get into that area.”

But shareholders don’t seem concerned: CNRL’s share price sits at about $44 now, compared to $31 a year ago.

And the public outcry in the days following B.C.’s tailings spill so far exceeds any outrage connected to Alberta’s ongoing bitumen spills.

Calgary billionaire Murray Edwards is Imperial’s controlling shareholder, as well as CNRL’s chairman and founder.

Why the divergent responses?

From a shareholder perspective, it could be a simple evaluation of risk, Millington said.

“CNRL, as a company, has large reserves, large assets large capital invested into various projects …  they could, for example, if the regulator says to walk away from the [Cold Lake] project, they have options.”

The sharply different reaction for Imperial Metals, she said, “Is directly related back to the concept of social licence: whether the company has that social licence, whether they’ve been able to obtain it and retain it. … You need to continue with what you said you were going to do, which is being the environmental steward of the land that you’re occupying. “

And the intimation from both the B.C. government and former employees that there were problems with the tailings site that should have been addressed earlier likely doesn’t inspire confidence, she said.

The tailings breach also has a more immediate and more visible human impact than the months of bitumen seeping from what is, effectively, a weapons range that’s a fair distance from even more remote First Nations communities.

But that just makes its effects more insidious, she said.

“We don’t know what the long-lasting impact can be – the emulsion can be seeping into the underground water resources or reaching small lakes and rivers and streams.”

West Village redevelopment taking back seat to twin to the east

With its eastern counterpart the darling of Calgary’s development scene, the West Village couldn’t be blamed for feeling a bit like a forgotten sibling.

Bounded to the north by the Bow River, to the east by 11th Street SW, to the south by the Canadian Pacific Railway tracks and to the west by Crowchild Trail, the area was once envisioned to be a “transit-oriented, sustainable urban community,” yet sits idle as “an auto-oriented brownfield site.”

While City officials maintain redeveloping West Village is still the plan, it remains a distant goal, at least for now.… Read More

Sibling rivalry is a post from: CREBNow

Sanitary infrastructure capacity impacting NW development

Rapid population growth in the city’s northwest is creating new challenges for planners on how to
best manage the quadrant`s already strained sewage infrastructure system.

The West Memorial Sanitary Trunk – which extends from the communities of Bowness to Rocky Ridge and impacts 24 communities overall – is, and has been for at least two years now, operating at capacity in certain areas. 

“There’s a portion of the trunk within Bowness that has a capacity constraint,” said Francois Bouchart manager of infrastructure and planning with City of Calgary Water Resources, noting the area the trunk serves has seen a 30 per cent population increase over the last decade.… Read More

Full of it is a post from: CREBNow

CALGARY – Calgary’s Muslim and Jewish leaders have condemned tensions during recent rallies in the city over the Gaza conflict.

Leaders of both religious groups met Thursday after an imam reached out to Jewish leaders and requested a meeting.

Last week, a protest at city hall in support of Palestinians killed by Israeli fire in Gaza turned violent when a handful of Israeli supporters showed up.

Some men began pushing and shoving, and one man stomped on an Israeli flag before police moved in and separated the groups.

Police have also charged a man after two replica handguns were brought to a pro-Israel rally earlier this week.

The leaders have agreed imams will invite rabbis to speak at mosques and rabbis will invite imams to speak at synagogues to promote understanding.

“Violence cannot be tolerated under any circumstances. We may disagree on issues and perspectives but we are firmly against resolving disputes and conflicts through violence,” reads a statement from both sides following the meeting.

“The only way to resolve disputes and conflicts is through dialogue and the promotion of mutual understanding.”

The meeting was held at the Beth Tzedec synagogue.

For most of the Muslim leaders, the joint statement said, it was the first time they had ever entered a synagogue and met a rabbi.

“We believe in the freedom of expression. This is a treasured value of Canadian society that every citizen has an equal right of expression. We recognize and respect the rights of both the pro-Palestine and pro-Israel individuals and groups,” the statement said.

“They have the right to protest and lobby for their causes, but these protests and rallies must be peaceful and law-abiding. We will never allow anyone to disturb the peace of our city.”

He’s one of Canada’s most prominent billionaires – co-owner of the Calgary Flames, chairman and creator of oilsands giant Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. and head of Penn West and other sundry energy companies. According to Forbes, he’s worth about $2.2 billion (but told the National Post last year he doesn’t keep track).

He chairs Ensign Energy (and paid, along with other insiders, a total of $4.37 million as a reimbursement to settle concerns around stock option irregularities earlier this year); he owns Resorts of the Canadian Rockies and chairs Magellan Aerospace.

Forbes called him “the most important billionaire in Canada” two years ago, shortly after the Globe and Mail reported he’d advised Prime Minister Stephen Harper on how to deal with ownership bids by state-owned foreign (read: Chinese) companies for Canadian resource companies.

Murray Edwards is also the controlling shareholder of Imperial Metals, whose Mount Polley mine tailings pond failed catastrophically in the early hours of Monday morning, releasing a wall of sludge and wastewater whose full impact on the people and wildlife of British Columbia’s Cariboo Region have yet to be fully felt.

READ MORE: What five million cubic metres of tailings looks like

Edwards hasn’t spoken on the spill and hasn’t returned calls from Global News requesting an interview this week.

(We feel less slighted knowing that, several years ago, he tried to flee an interview when he found himself alone unexpectedly with a reporter)

Edwards owns 36% of Imperial Metals, whose share price has tanked since Monday’s breach – down 44% by Tuesday, by noon Thursday it was sitting at about $9.55 , compared to more than $16 a week ago.

It isn’t clear what the massive tailings breach will mean for Imperial Metals, which has multiple other mines in B.C. and elsewhere, including Red Chris, which has yet to begin production.

Mount Polley was Imperials’ first mine and, as chairman Pierre Lebel told the Vancouver Sun earlier this year, it almost didn’t materialize when partner Gibraltar pulled out.

“Don’t even think about” abandoning the project, Lebel recalls Edwards saying. “We can do this on our own.”

Lebel described Edwards as a “very engaged partner” on Red Chris – someone who is “all about making things happen.”

“It always amazes me the depth of Murray’s understanding and his ability to retain details and names and events of the past,” Lebel told the Sun. “He engages people as he goes along. People really respond well to him.”

READ MORE: A closer look at Imperial Metals

Recent court cases have established a precedent for a company’s directors being held responsible for environmental misdemeanours: The Ontario government has argued directors of a now-insolvent company were responsible for cleanup at a contaminated site.

But the Canadian Energy Research Institute’s Dinara Millington thinks it’s unlikely the Mount Polley breach will hurt Edwards directly.

“Him personally beign held responsible, I don’t think so. But what might happen is you might see if he’s feeling pressure … he might be selling off shares,” she said.

“There could be pressure – internally or externally … to get him to rethink what companies to invest in.”

READ MORE: BC orders mine to plug toxic tailings release

Last year, Edwards was awarded the International Horatio Alger Award, given to someone “who has persevered through adversity to become a successful entrepreneur or community leader.”

“There isn’t a Canadian more deserving of this award than Murray Edwards – a man of extraordinary business achievement and a dedicated philanthropist,” Dominic D’Alessandro, President of the Horatio Alger Association of Canada, said in a statement at the time. “Murray’s story showcases that hard work pays off.”

An alumnus of the University of Saskatchewan (which named a business school after him) and the University of Toronto, Regina-born Edwards told the Post he grew up in a “spectacularly unspectacular middle-class family.”

“Anybody can do a deal,” he said at the time. “The tough part is doing the deal at the right time, being strategic.”

A quartet of spills in northern Alberta has been oozing bitumen emulsion for more than a year with no sign of stopping, and the provincial regulator’s latest report finds the oil company’s own extraction method could be partly to blame.

A massive tailings pond breach sends a wall of potentially toxic mine waste flooding through central British Columbia.

Which garners more outrage?

The second one – by a long shot.

Mount Polley mine‘s tailings pond breach in B.C. has sparked a state of emergency as residents’ tap water is deemed unusable and provincial authorities scramble to determine just how toxic the spilled wastewater is, where the sludge went and what’s in the suspended solids.

Mine owner Imperial Metals has seen its share prices tank about 40 per centin the days following the breach.

Canadian Natural Resources Limited, on the other hand, has been barely bruised by the months-long series of spills at its Cold Lake site, even after an Alberta Energy Regulator report concluded the company’s high-pressure steaming is just too much for the rock, causing it to fracture and leak bitumen.

That conclusion’s a big deal, said Dinara Millington, vice-president of research with the Canadian Energy Research Institute: It suggests the operation itself is unsound, and has implications beyond these four spills, or even CNRL’s operations in that area.

“The regulator has been called by the public and Pembina Institute and other environmental institutes to  undertake a study where they would be looking at [cyclical steam stimulation] in general, and whether it’s even appropriate in a place where CNRL is,” she said.

“It will set a huge precedent for anyone who wants to get into that area.”

But shareholders don’t seem concerned: CNRL’s share price sits at about $44 now, compared to $31 a year ago.

And the public outcry in the days following B.C.’s tailings spill so far exceeds any outrage connected to Alberta’s ongoing bitumen spills.

Calgary billionaire Murray Edwards is Imperial’s controlling shareholder, as well as CNRL’s chairman and founder.

Why the divergent responses?

From a shareholder perspective, it could be a simple evaluation of risk, Millington said.

“CNRL, as a company, has large reserves, large assets large capital invested into various projects …  they could, for example, if the regulator says to walk away from the [Cold Lake] project, they have options.”

The sharply different reaction for Imperial Metals, she said, “Is directly related back to the concept of social licence: whether the company has that social licence, whether they’ve been able to obtain it and retain it. … You need to continue with what you said you were going to do, which is being the environmental steward of the land that you’re occupying. “

And the intimation from both the B.C. government and former employees that there were problems with the tailings site that should have been addressed earlier likely doesn’t inspire confidence, she said.

The tailings breach also has a more immediate and more visible human impact than the months of bitumen seeping from what is, effectively, a weapons range that’s a fair distance from even more remote First Nations communities.

But that just makes its effects more insidious, she said.

“We don’t know what the long-lasting impact can be – the emulsion can be seeping into the underground water resources or reaching small lakes and rivers and streams.”

CREB’s first female board director discusses her life and her craft

Grace Turley was never one for barriers.

As a small child she would escape her family yard in order to explore the surrounding town of Ochre River, Manitoba. That sense of curiosity would lead her to the world of real estate years later when she settled with a family of her own in Calgary.… Read More

Ninety-nine and counting is a post from: CREBNow

Calgarians are invited to learn about the importance of preparing for disasters and emergencies of all kinds at the fifth annual Disaster Alley May 4.

Hosted by the Calgary Emergency Management Agency (CEMA), Disaster Alley gives Calgarians the opportunity to learn disaster preparation as well as what takes place when first responders prepare for emergencies and disasters such as floods, tornadoes, train derailments and more.… Read More

CEMA hosts fifth annual Disaster Alley is a post from: CREBNow

CREBNow’s three-part series examining the news, community and culture of cycling in the city.

April 28 saw Calgary’s city council voting in favour of a downtown cycle track pilot.

The 8-7 vote comes on the heels of months of planning, community forums and debates on whether the track would be a feasible idea for downtown Calgary.

The pilot originally called for tracks on First Street S.E., Fifth Street S.W., Eighth Avenue W and Stephen Avenue, Ninth Avenue E, 12th Avenue and Eighth Street.… Read More

Cycle pilot approved is a post from: CREBNow

CREBNow’s three-part series examining the news, community and culture of cycling in the city.

April 28 saw Calgary’s city council voting in favour of a downtown cycle track pilot.

The 8-7 vote comes on the heels of months of planning, community forums and debates on whether the track would be a feasible idea for downtown Calgary.

The pilot originally called for tracks on First Street S.E., Fifth Street S.W., Eighth Avenue W and Stephen Avenue, Ninth Avenue E, 12th Avenue and Eighth Street.… Read More

Cycle pilot approved is a post from: CREBNow

Some garden tips for Calgary’s spring season

Spring dashes in and out of Calgary like a mouse checking for crumbs at the cabin. Winter is gone and the earth is warming. Suddenly, winter is back again with flurries and frost.

As the snow melts, jobs in the garden include raking the lawn, cleaning leaves off outdoor beds and making compost.… Read More

Hurry up and wait is a post from: CREBNow

Hardy flowers for the cool spring season

A giant cardboard box of flowers arrived last week. Every plant was primly upright and not a drop of soil had escaped a single pot.

What?

Who gets their annuals shipped in?

Well, I do, but quite accidentally. Ten years ago, I filmed a television series for Home and Garden television
called Bugs and Blooms.… Read More

Punchy pansies is a post from: CREBNow

Recreation properties offer a scenic and serene home away from home

The dip of a paddle in the lake, the sizzle of a steak on the barbecue, the haunting hoot of a Great-Horned Owl: welcome to recreational living.

In a recreation survey conducted by the Alberta government, the top three favourite leisure activity of respondents was walking, golf and camping.… Read More

A little rest and relaxation is a post from: CREBNow

Government report could change rules forcing disclosure of grow-op properties in Alberta

Alberta homebuyers could soon have more protection in place to ensure they don’t buy former grow-ops without their knowledge.

Last week, the government released a report titled Grow-Op Free Alberta Recommendations concerning proposed legislation to combat the ill effects of marijuana grow operations on Albertans, their homes and
neighbourhoods.

Counted among the 37 suggestions contained in the report is a requirement that potential buyers be informed if a house was ever used as a grow-op.… Read More

Growing concerns is a post from: CREBNow

The City released the 2014 Civic Census results yesterday. Mayor Naheed Nenshi announced Calgary had its biggest year of growth ever increasing by 38,508 residents to 1,195,194 total.

Here’s a few of the things the mayor had to say about the census:

“Calgary experienced this year, its greatest single year of growth in population, as a matter of fact in my time in this job we have experienced three of our four largest years of population growth.”

“As you all know, the long term goal under the MDP (Municipal Development Plan) is to have half of development in existing parts of the city and half in new areas of the city.

… Read More

In Quotes: 2014 Civic Census is a post from: CREBNow

Residents in Cochrane who live in condos, apartments and townhouses will soon have access to home recycling.

In a release, the Town is changing its Waste Management Bylaw to include multi-family complexes.

“The revisions to the bylaw help multi-family complexes include recycling in their waste service,” said Sharon Howland, manager of waste and recycling.… Read More

Multi-family recycling in the works for Cochrane is a post from: CREBNow

The City released the 2014 Civic Census results yesterday. Mayor Naheed Nenshi announced Calgary had its biggest year of growth ever increasing by 38,508 residents to 1,195,194 total.

Here’s a few of the things the mayor had to say about the census:

“Calgary experienced this year, its greatest single year of growth in population, as a matter of fact in my time in this job we have experienced three of our four largest years of population growth.”

“As you all know, the long term goal under the MDP (Municipal Development Plan) is to have half of development in existing parts of the city and half in new areas of the city.

… Read More

In Quotes: 2014 Civic Census is a post from: CREBNow

Echeverias proving popular for summer nuptials

Two out of two brides have asked me to help them find the same plants for their wedding this summer.

OK – it’s true – I only know two brides-to-be, but I was surprised they both inquired about the same plant. My niece Ayla and the daughter of my university roommate , Kendra, asked me about succulent plants for their big days.… Read More

Wedding bell bliss is a post from: CREBNow