City Council started talking budget today, starting with a presentation on Calgary’s Action Plan for 2015-18 by Chief Financial Officer Eric Sawyer.

The Action Plan, released Nov. 4, shows the City has a budget of roughly $22 billion for the next four years.

“Over 50 per cent of the capital program you’re seeing here is going towards growth and new development,” said Sawyer.… Read More

Action Plan: City council budget talks begin is a post from: CREBNow

As debate starts at City Hall on a proposed four-year budget plan, some Calgarians worry the added costs will leave them behind.

Calgary leads the nation in economic growth, salaries and population increases, and now the city’s budget calls for big hikes in taxes and fees to pay for it all.

Troy Johnson spent his adult life providing for those in need, but the likely tax increases leave him wondering who will look out for him.

“Us folks in the front line working with disabled folks in Calgary, due to government cutbacks on funding and what not, (mean) every penny is super important for us,” said Johnson.

“We just have to really put a lot of work into our budgeting, and make sure we can make it through every week and every month.”

Budget plans include a 4.7 per cent tax increase for each of the next four years.

They also call for significant increases in utilities, including water and waste/recycling fees.

By the end of 2018, the average homeowner will have paid an additional $900 to the city.

However on Monday, councillors claimed it’s a tight, no-frills budget.

“It’s been a part of the conversation that we’ve had on council throughout this whole process, how do we keep the taxes as low as we possibly can while also maintaining some services for those same Calgarians who need them?” said Evan Woolley, councillor for Ward 8.

Calgarians could also pay more for annual transit passes. Tammy Poirier appeared before city council on Monday calling for a freeze on low-income passes.

“Right now with the rent and food increase, it’s going to be impossible for me to be able to afford my bus pass and to get around,” said Poirier.

Disability Action Hall said projected increases may be small, but to many struggling below the poverty line, it could mean staying home and doing without.

“We want to see those low-income transit passes frozen until September 2015 when the data is there to actually make an educated decision on financial impact,” said Colleen Huston with Disability Action Hall.

Huston said it does not make sense to add more buses to transit lines if they will just be passing by poor people, leaving them behind.

The city has set aside two weeks for the budget debate.

City council has approved a new four-year budget that will see property taxes in the city rise by 4.5 per cent next year, followed by three consecutive years of 4.7 per cent hikes through to 2018.

The increase means the average Calgary household will part with an extra $71.40 in property taxes
next year.… Read More

City council approves new budget is a post from: CREBNow

CALGARY- Some animals at the Calgary Zoo were treated to pumpkins, yams and gourds over the Halloween weekend.

The Amur tigers and otters enjoyed snacking on the orange treats Saturday.

Two species each day received special enrichment items.

On Halloween, Friday October 31st, it was also Lobi the hippo’s 8th birthday.

WATCH ABOVE: As Carolyn Kury de Castillo reports, website surveillance is one of the areas that is being looked and MP Jason Kenney is pushing for legal changes that would grant more powers to preventative detention.

CALGARY- Prominent Calgary MP Jason Kenney says there are lessons to be learned from the attack on Parliament Hill.

Kenney said in order to combat terrorism in Canada, police need more powers.  So he is pushing for legal changes that would grant more powers to preventative detention.

The Calgary MP pointed to the man who killed Patrice Vincent, who was under RCMP surveillance, but could not be detained.

“We are consulting with police and intelligence agencies to see where there are gaps and we will respond accordingly. The most important responsibility of government is to keep Canadians safe and we know that there are terrorists in our country who are under surveillance and if they need to be detained because they are likely to commit an act of violence, then we need appropriate powers to do so.”

Kenney paid tribute to the two soldiers killed last month on Canadian soil.

At Saturday’s poppy parade at Chinook Centre, veterans, cadets, and reservists marched past stores and shoppers, all reminders of those who defend our country.

But this year, many of those watching the poppy parade are even more thankful of men and women in uniform. Joey Bleviss from Calgary’s Poppy Fund said the citizens of Canada have now come to recognize that it can happen on our own soil.

“That was just devastating. It just doesn’t happen overseas. I think that has brought awareness to the citizens that there is a need for protecting and for valuing our men and women who go to war for us.”

“These men were targeted and killed by a terrorist because they were Canada’s uniform,” Kenney said.

“I think it’s a pointed reminder that every person who serves in Canada’s uniform is putting their lives on the line. To the defense of all of us. It’s also a reminder that there are  people around the world who would do us harm and that we can never take our national security for granted,” Kenney said.

Kenney also says that Canada may need to look at getting tougher on websites that are recruiting possible terrorists and  that website surveillance is one of the areas that is being looked at.

“There are no legal powers to do so. So we are looking at what powers we may need to prevent online radicalization of individuals,” Kenney said.

Jonathan Denis, Alberta’s justice minister says more police powers are on the table, but he also wants to work with the Muslim community to prevent recruitment.

“I hate to make a knee jerk reaction. I think we need to look at the broader perspective, look at the reports and see what can be done to prevent this in the future,” Denis said.

But civil rights groups caution, the calls for new police powers may be an overreaction.

A joint statement this week from 15 privacy and information commissioners raised concerns that proposed measures could infringe on civil liberties and privacy rights.

On Monday, Canada’s public safety minister tabled a bill that would expand the powers of CSIS to monitor and track suspected terrorists and provide increased protection for confidential sources.

“We are consulting with the appropriate authorities and we will be responding accordingly. We have a bill in Parliament right now to add additional powers for CSIS our intelligence agency, to be able to monitor Canadian terrorists abroad but there are clearly some more things we need to do here domestically learning from the two recent terrorist incidents in Canada.”

As debate starts at City Hall on a proposed four-year budget plan, some Calgarians worry the added costs will leave them behind.

Calgary leads the nation in economic growth, salaries and population increases, and now the city’s budget calls for big hikes in taxes and fees to pay for it all.

Troy Johnson spent his adult life providing for those in need, but the likely tax increases leave him wondering who will look out for him.

“Us folks in the front line working with disabled folks in Calgary, due to government cutbacks on funding and what not, (mean) every penny is super important for us,” said Johnson.

“We just have to really put a lot of work into our budgeting, and make sure we can make it through every week and every month.”

Budget plans include a 4.7 per cent tax increase for each of the next four years.

They also call for significant increases in utilities, including water and waste/recycling fees.

By the end of 2018, the average homeowner will have paid an additional $900 to the city.

However on Monday, councillors claimed it’s a tight, no-frills budget.

“It’s been a part of the conversation that we’ve had on council throughout this whole process, how do we keep the taxes as low as we possibly can while also maintaining some services for those same Calgarians who need them?” said Evan Woolley, councillor for Ward 8.

Calgarians could also pay more for annual transit passes. Tammy Poirier appeared before city council on Monday calling for a freeze on low-income passes.

“Right now with the rent and food increase, it’s going to be impossible for me to be able to afford my bus pass and to get around,” said Poirier.

Disability Action Hall said projected increases may be small, but to many struggling below the poverty line, it could mean staying home and doing without.

“We want to see those low-income transit passes frozen until September 2015 when the data is there to actually make an educated decision on financial impact,” said Colleen Huston with Disability Action Hall.

Huston said it does not make sense to add more buses to transit lines if they will just be passing by poor people, leaving them behind.

The city has set aside two weeks for the budget debate.

CALGARY – A Calgary couple is looking for help after their honeymoon took a tragic turn.

Recently married Peter Ingram and Lihsuan Law were honeymooning in Colombia on November 16th, when Law suffered a massive brain hemorrhage.

The incident hospitalized Law, who has now undergone numerous surgeries and tests.

The young woman is in the ICU at E.S.E. Hospital in Medellin, Colombia, but her family hopes to move her back to Canada as soon as possible to ensure she receives the best medical care available.

An online fundraising campaign has been established to help pay for Law’s transportation back to Canada, as well as her medical costs. The cost of flying her back to Canada alone is expected to be more than $100,000 and won’t be covered by her insurance.

According to the online campaign, all donations made through the fund will go directly to Law’s care.

Their fundraising goal has been set at $164,000.

Travis Dickie worked with Law for several years at a café in downtown Calgary, and hopes people will step up to donate.

“[Peter is] doing the best a new husband can… a man who loves his wife. He’s staying strong, he’s by her side,” says Dickie. “He’s updating us regularly… but ultimately, what do you do? You know? You’re hit with massive bills from insurance companies that just won’t pay up or just don’t cover this part of something.”

CLICK HERE to donate to Peter Ingram and Lihsuan Law’s online fundraising campaign.

CALGARY – A portion of southbound Highway 2 was closed for several hours on Tuesday as police investigated a crash.

Two vehicles were involved in a collision near Veterans Boulevard just before 4 a.m.

The incident sent a teenage male to hospital with minor injuries, and forced the closure of Highway 2 between Veterans Boulevard and Yankee Valley Boulevard.

Police say it was indicated to them that a second male may have been involved, but didn’t stay at the scene of the crash.

Investigators believe the trucks weren’t actually driving on the QEII, but had traveled through a fence off of Edmonton Trail to enter the busy highway.

Police were involved in the pursuit of at least one vehicle on Tuesday morning in relation to a break and enter, but won’t confirm if that incident is in any way connected to the collision.

The QEII highway was reopened just before 7:30 a.m.

WATCH: Peter Simons, CEO of Simons, discusses the company’s plan to expand across Canada including stores in Calgary and Vancouver

TORONTO – After 175 years, Quebec-based Simons is primed to make a major expansion push beyond the province with stores in five new cities across Canada.

The family-owned company will launch in Vancouver, Calgary, Mississauga, Ont., Ottawa and Gatineau, Que., beginning next year and into 2017. With the exception of West Edmonton Mall, the eight other existing Simons stores are based solely in Quebec.

“We had a vision of what we wanted to accomplish and be able to do in terms of design and innovation in retail, and I felt that we had to enlarge,” CEO Peter Simons said in a phone interview.

“We’ll still be a very small company in the context of competition today, but we had to expand our footprint a bit to give us the freedom and flexibility to accomplish what we wanted to do.”

Simons didn’t offer specifics on the number of people they plan to employ, but reasserted the company’s commitment to quality service.

“We understand you have to have people there. So I can tell you the density of service per square foot is way more intense than any other store our size in the country.”

The new stores will range from 80,000 to 113,000 square feet and will be built within both new and existing structures.

The first location is set to launch at Les Promenades Gatineau in Quebec next August, followed in October 2015 by the opening at Park Royal in West Vancouver. In 2016, Simons stores will open at Square One in Mississauga in March and Ottawa’s Rideau Centre in August. Simons is slated to open at The Core in Calgary in March 2017.

John Simons originally founded the company as a dry goods store in Quebec City in 1840. Brothers Peter and Richard Simons are now at the helm. Simons has more than 2,000 employees and offers an extensive range of apparel from moderately priced separates to higher-end offerings from a stable of homegrown and international designers.

The retailer also has sub-departments spanning the spectrum of sartorial tastes. On the women’s side, there’s the youthful, style-forward Twik, Icone for the young professional urbanite and classic elegance from Contemporaine. Menswear offerings include chic eveningwear in Le 31, and trendy streetwear in DJAB.

Accessories, leisurewear and a vast array of products for home are also carried, but Peter Simons eschewed the “department store” label.

“We’re unique,” he said. “I don’t do cosmetics. I don’t do hard goods and washers and dryers. I’m not a department store. I’m a large-scale specialty retailer.”

Simons said customers are savvy in how they pair fast-fashion pieces with pricier garments, and that the breadth of items available at his stores correlates to existing consumer habits.

“You can mix up a Dries Van Noten jacket if you want with a basic T-shirt,” he said. “That’s how people are shopping, and at some of the pure private label players that are coming in from overseas, you can’t do that.

“I like that about our assortment. I think it’s very customer-centric, and even if you don’t buy the higher-end pieces, there’s a whole educational value and fashion interest. It’s about creativity and beauty and expression and stylism.”

Despite its lengthy history, Simons said the transition from regional player to the national stage marked a big change. He was also candid in acknowledging the retailer still remains unknown in much of the country.

“After 175 years, people really understand our exclusive merchandise and appreciate the value and quality that’s there. And in new markets where people don’t really know us, there’s a discovery process that has to go on that just doesn’t fall from the sky.”

Simons is joining an increasingly crowded field of retail players expanding within Canada.

Holt Renfrew recently launched its first stand-alone store for men, with plans to update flagship stores in Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto and to unveil new stores in Montreal and Mississauga.

American companies are also clamouring for a slice of the Canadian retail pie with the anticipated launch of the first two Saks Fifth Avenue stores north of the border in the spring of 2016. Seattle-based Nordstrom Inc. has already opened its first Canadian location in Calgary, with new stores in Vancouver, Ottawa and Toronto in the works.

Simons said the company will be “globally competitive in all of the core things” and expressed pride in being a homegrown brand at a time when many competitors are headquartered outside of Canada. He pointed to Simons’ support of the arts community – which includes showcasing works by homegrown talents – among the retailer’s distinguishing characteristics.

“We’re part of the fabric here. We want to participate in the community,” said Simons.

“We’re not owned by Wall Street; we’re not being driven by the next quarter. And when your name’s on the door, it makes a difference.”

EDMONTON – It’s a campaign that asks men in Alberta to show their support for stopping violence against aboriginal women.

The provincial government, along with the Alberta Native Friendship Centres Association, wants men and boys to wear moose hide swatches to show support for the cause.

“The more that we talk about the issues of violence against women the better it is,” says David Dorward, associate minister of aboriginal relations. “We need to elevate the understanding that it’s inappropriate, and then to be able to see concrete changes come as a result of that in our society.”

“It’s a time to celebrate because we are taking a look at that and taking a stand and moving towards changing things,” says Merle White, president of the Alberta Native Friendship Centres Association.

Read More: Premiers, native leaders call for forum on missing and murdered aboriginal women

As part of the campaign, the province is contributing $75,000 to promote honour and traditional values among boys and men.

“It’s not only a women’s issue and it should never have been a women’s issue,” says Marggo Pariseau with the Institute for the Advancement of Aboriginal Women. “It should have been men, family and the community.

“Violence has been around far too long and we don’t talk about it.”

Read More: Senators make case for missing women inquiry

The RCMP says aboriginal women are over-represented among Canada’s murdered and missing women. They account for more than 15 per cent of the murdered or missing. The latest count shows 1,200 aboriginal women have gone missing in recent decades.

There has been a call from a growing number of groups for a national inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women.

“The province is not opposed to an inquiry but we are moving ahead with initiatives that will recognize that the aboriginal women in the province of Alberta do have higher incidents of violence,” says Dorward.

“It may not resolve, but it would definitely increase the awareness,” says Pariseau.

“If the government says and has an inquiry, it’s saying it’s true, it does exist, and it’s not a part of our imagination and it’s not something we created in our kitchen.”

Read More: Harper on wrong side of history in opposing aboriginal inquiry: Trudeau

The federal Conservatives have resisted calls for an inquiry, saying dozens of studies have already been done and now is the time for action.

The government’s latest budget included a five-year, $25-million renewal of money aimed at stopping violence against aboriginal women and girls.

EDMONTON – Alberta’s newest Progressive Conservative members will sit in the legislature as far away as possible from their old Wildrose colleagues.

A seating chart shows that Kerry Towle and Ian Donovan are to sit in the back row on the government side of the house.

Because there are so many PC members, some of the governing party’s backbenchers sit on the opposition side of the house. If Towle and Donovan had been put there, they would have been just a few feet away from their old boss Danielle Smith.

READ MORE: Wildrose MLAs leave party to join PCs 

Towle and Donovan crossed the floor on Monday, saying they like what Premier Jim Prentice has to offer and that the Wildrose party has organizational and leadership problems.

Tory backbenchers Doug Griffiths and Pearl Calahasen have been moved to the opposition side of the house to make room for the newcomers.

New seating plan in the Alberta Legislature chamber, Nov. 25, 2014

CALGARY- About a dozen members of Calgary’s Sudanese community gathered outside the Harry Hays building downtown on Tuesday to call for an investigation into the alleged rape of 200 girls in North Darfur.

Looking to Calgary’s future growth, the City’s Main Streets initiative will both engage citizens and utilize economic research.

At present, the initiative is gathering local perspectives about main streets issues through a number or workshops throughout the city. There are 24 main streets currently in Calgary, according to the Municipal Development Plan, many of which were formed along historic streetcar lines.… Read More

A look at Calgary’s Main Streets initiative is a post from: CREBNow

City Council started talking budget today, starting with a presentation on Calgary’s Action Plan for 2015-18 by Chief Financial Officer Eric Sawyer.

The Action Plan, released Nov. 4, shows the City has a budget of roughly $22 billion for the next four years.

“Over 50 per cent of the capital program you’re seeing here is going towards growth and new development,” said Sawyer.… Read More

Action Plan: City council budget talks begin is a post from: CREBNow

Calgary City Council continued it’s budget talks for Action Plan 2015-2018 today.

This morning council continued its discussion on the city’s utilities and environmental protection, including Calgary’s water services.

“The numbers are extraordinary and I start to worry that we are building a system in water and wastewater we will just not be able to afford in future generations,” said Mayor Naheed Nenshi to city staff.… Read More

Budget #YYC: Water talks is a post from: CREBNow

Once destined for freeway construction, historical community now a local jewel

* Old neighbourhoods, new Calgary: A look at some of Calgary’s earliest communities and how they’re evolving with the times 

Few neighbourhoods in Calgary can match Inglewood’s storied history. From its beginnings in 1875 as the city’s first main street to its more recent resurgence as a hot spot for boutique shopping, fine dining and live music, the inner-city community has reimagined itself to keep pace with an evolving landscape.… Read More

Inglewood is a post from: CREBNow

How the future of oil and gas in Alberta will affect Calgary’s housing market

The plummeting price of oil is unlikely to affect Calgary’s housing market in the immediate future, but a prolonged slump could eventually leave its mark on the local landscape, say Canadian economists.

“If the recent slide in oil prices turns down the migration taps, construction activity could begin to soften again in Calgary,” said BMO senior economist Robert Kavcic, noting that, in the interim, Calgary’s housing market remains red hot.… Read More

Power of the pump is a post from: CREBNow

Calgary City Council continued it’s budget talks for Action Plan 2015-2018 today.

This morning council continued its discussion on the city’s utilities and environmental protection, including Calgary’s water services.

“The numbers are extraordinary and I start to worry that we are building a system in water and wastewater we will just not be able to afford in future generations,” said Mayor Naheed Nenshi to city staff.… Read More

Budget #YYC: Water talks is a post from: CREBNow