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.”

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.

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.”

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.”

CALGARY – Employees at a vehicle auction house in Airdrie made a shocking discovery this week.

RCMP received a call from staff at Adessa on Tuesday, saying what appeared to be a grenade had been found inside the glove box of a vehicle.

Officers cleared the area around the vehicle and called in the RCMP Explosive Disposal Unit (EDU) from Edmonton.

Experts were able to determine the grenade was inert, at which point it was removed and taken to Airdrie Detachment to await proper disposal.

EDMONTON – Alberta opposition parties are calling on the minister of finance to step down and requesting for a public inquiry into the entire government’s travel spending.

The requests came the same day Alberta’s Auditor General, Merwan Saher, publicly released a report on government travel and other expenses which concluded that Alison Redford and her office used public resources inappropriately while she was premier.

Read More: Redford’s misuse of travel spending caused by ‘aura of power': auditor general

The Wildrose has demanded Minister of Finance and president of Treasury Board Doug Horner resign, citing it was Horner’s responsibility to protect taxpayer’s dollars.

The auditor general report identified that it’s the responsibility of the Department of Treasury Board and Finance to approve flight requests from the premier’s office.

Wildrose MLA Kerry Towle says the Progressive Conservatives have tried to put all of the blame on Redford, but there are plenty of examples in the report that show planes were used inappropriately used by other MLAs.

The report provided details of Redford using government aircraft for trips that allegedly only involved partisan business, and incidents when she travelled on government aircraft with her and her daughter’s friends.

The report also identified two occassions when Redford’s daughter travelled on the aircraft without her.

Read More: Redford resignation: Premier directs justice minister to call for RCMP investigation into Redford’s flights

Alberta’s NDP is calling for a public inquiry. The party says the report implicates other ministers for inappropriate travel expenses.

The Alberta Liberals are also calling for Horner’s resignation, and would like to see the auditor general inspect other ministers’ travel expenses.

Premier Dave Hancock released a statement Thursday morning which read:

“Governments are entrusted to put the interests of the people they serve ahead of their own and to use public resources for public purposes only. That trust has been broken.”

Justice Minister Jonathan Denis said the RCMP will look into the report.

“As Attorney General, I have a duty to uphold the laws of Alberta and ensure everyone is treated fairly and equitably. I have instructed Tim Grant, Deputy Minister, Justice and Solicitor General, to forward the report and its attachments to the RCMP,” explained Denis.

“Any investigation that the RCMP does will be fully independent of my office and, as such, I will have no further comment on the matter.”

The RCMP has confirmed it’s received the referral from the justice minister, but is not sure if it will investigate.

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

Originally a “suburb perfect” vision of Englishman John Hextall, Bowness dates back to the early 1900s.

A popular destination for Calgarians looking for a weekend getaway was Bowness Park, constructed in 1911 and still one of the most sought after parks in the city today.

Bowness was annexed by the City of Calgary in 1964 and continues to be a destination for homebuyers, recreation enthusiasts, foodies and more.… Read More

In photos: Bonus Bowness is a post from: CREBNow

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.

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

Celebrate Terra Madre Day with good, clean, fair food

When Brennan Anderson was moving a box of books from his basement this past fall, a big, fat spaghetti squash rolled out from behind it.

The squash, leftover from his mom’s food delivery the previous October, was wedged between the wall and the box.

Was it gross and mouse-chewed?… Read More

Fast facts on slow food 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

*Sandstone City: A series looking at the people, architecture and culture of Calgary’s sandstone glory days

Stephen Avenue fire almost 130 years ago sparked Calgary’s sandstone era

As the Calgary Stampeders celebrated their Grey Cup win Dec. 2, little did they know they were revelling on the site of a once-tragic fire.

On Nov.… Read More

On the avenue is a post from: CREBNow

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 – 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

Celebrate Terra Madre Day with good, clean, fair food

When Brennan Anderson was moving a box of books from his basement this past fall, a big, fat spaghetti squash rolled out from behind it.

The squash, leftover from his mom’s food delivery the previous October, was wedged between the wall and the box.

Was it gross and mouse-chewed?… Read More

Fast facts on slow food is a post from: CREBNow

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.

Making holiday wreaths from nature’s bounty

* photo courtesy Rocky Mountain Wreaths

It’s that time of year, when the days grow short, your windows need scraping and your plastic sparkly wreath comes out from storage for its repeat seasonal appearance.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.You could start cutting greens in your own landscape and bring the rich evergreen smells of the season into your home.… Read More

‘Tis the season 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.

CALGARY- Friends and family gathered to remember well-known Calgary-based political strategist Rod Love at a memorial service in the southwest Saturday.

The service was held at the Calgary Golf and Country Club.

Attending the ceremony was premier Jim Prentice, opposition leader Danielle Smith and former Ontario premier Mike Harris.

Love died on Sunday at the age of 61. He had been battling pancreatic cancer.

Love served more than 30 years as a political consultant and was chief of staff in all three levels of government.

He is perhaps best known for serving as Chief of Staff for former premier Ralph Klein.

Love is survived by his wife Charlene, son James, and daughters Katie and Haley.