Category: Economic

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Alberta Canada Economic Ft Mac

TransCanada Announces 185 Layoffs to Cut Costs

TransCanada, layoffs

TransCanada, a major pipeline company, has announced layoffs that will affect 185 positions. The announcements show that 100 full time employees will be laid off, and 85 contractors face the same fate. According to Mark Cooper, the spokesman for TransCanada, “These positions were removed following a restructuring of the Major Projects department that was designed to ensure we move forward with our $46-billion capital growth plan. TransCanada is committed to our customers in the Wood Buffalo region and those producers in the oil sands of whose product we ship and to who we deliver natural gas to.” This move is just the latest to impact Alberta and the Wood Buffalo region, with other companies and businesses also reducing staff and cutting programs in order to keep costs down and stay competitive in local and global markets.

In addition to 185 layoffs TransCanada has also delayed some projects. The Keystone XL and the Energy East pipeline are two major projects that have been delayed due to economic reasons. Both of these projects have received substantial publicity in recent months. When oil prices dropped TransCanada started bleeding, with much lower profits from oil sales yet high expenses that did not decrease. Cooper explained “Much of our restructuring is about recognizing the need to ensure we are keeping our overall costs down.” Since oil prices are not expected to reach previous highs any time in the near future this means that companies in the industry must find ways to be more effective and keep costs as low as possible.

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Economic Ft Mac

Early Learning and Child Care Diploma Program Suspension Plans by Keyano Leads to Resident Protests

Early Learning and Child Care Diploma Program, Keyano, resident protests

News that Keyano had plans to suspend the Early Learning and Child Care Diploma Program has caused some Wood Buffalo residents to protest. The protesters hope to pressure the administration of the school to keep the program up and running, and they worry that the planned program suspension will cause a shortage of qualified child care providers in the local area. According to Janet Huffman, who is the after school program coordinator for the Catholic School District, explained “It would be like if you had a car, you had a beautiful sports car and you need to have the engine redone on your sports car.. Are you going to give it to a mechanic who only has two years of his journeyman certificate? Or would you give it to that technician who has four years. Where would you feel safer?”

The suspension of the Keyano Early Learning and Child Care Diploma Program would not affect the one year program, but many of the resident protests make the argument that a one year option does not fully prepare individuals for child care and that there is far less preparation for this sector than what the longer program offers. According to Keyano academic vice president Catherine Koch “I think we have to review the curriculum and we will probably have some focus groups to see what potential applicants will be looking for in the way that the program has been delivered. I’m certainly hoping to bring it back by September of 2016.” One possibility is to offer the desired classes on a part time schedule instead of a full time option.

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Economic Ft Mac

Rental Vacancy Rates in Wood Buffalo are Up Sharply

Wood Buffalo, rental vacancy rates

The Wood Buffalo rental vacancy rates are up sharply, and this is caused by low oil prices, a weak labour market, and other economic factors. In April of 2014 Wood Buffalo had a rental vacancy rate of 7%, one year later in April of 2015 and this rate is a whopping 22.3%. These statistics were recently released after the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s rental market survey was performed. Braden Batch, a CMHC market analyst, blamed the labour market for the drastic increase in the rate in a single year. Batch explained that “The sources of demand in the rental market have certainly pulled back in the last survey period. I would largely attribute that to the labour market in Wood Buffalo being quite a bit weaker than what we saw in April last year.”

In addition to the rental vacancy rates in Wood Buffalo unemployment rates have also seen a spike over the last year, with the region seeing full time employment fall by 2% and the unemployment rate going from 4.2% in 2014 to 8.6% in 2015. Batch stated “Nobody’s surprised by saying anymore that the price of oil has declined considerably. Some people in that market are there solely for work … and if the work is dried up they may be leaving the town.” The Wood Buffalo rental costs can be high, with an average for all housing types at around $1,884. Bachelor suites can bring in an average of $1,326 each month, one bedroom units can cost around $1,574, and units with 3 bedrooms typically run around $2,295 each month.

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Alberta Economic Ft Mac Health

Conservatives Vote Down NDP Motion for Food Subsidy Program for Northern Communities

NDP motion, food subsidy program, conservatives

An NDP motion to make changes to the food subsidy program so that northern communities can participate was voted down by conservatives. The motion was made in an attempt to expand the food subsidy program so that more northern communities would have access. Over 40 isolated communities including Fort Chipewyan would have benefited from the program expansion. The NDP motion was sponsored by Dennis Bevington, the Northwest Territories MP, who explained that the motion included a game plan but was defeated on June 8 by conservatives. Bevington stated “Next we want to ensure that there’s adequate funding to actually do that. There’s the larger issue of ‘how do we make our northern communities more sustainable?” David Yurdiga, the Fort McMurray-Athabasca MP, voted no on the motion, and so did almost everyone else in the conservative caucus.

When discussing the NDP motion, the food subsidy program, and the votes of conservatives Yurdiga said “We’re not disagreeing [with the NDP. But we have to consider all the other communities.” The politician explained that the government was already examining methods that were more inclusive which would address the high price of food in northern communities and isolated populations. Yurdiga pointed out that some northern communities were not included in the NDP motion, in spite of the fact that these communities had food prices which were just as high and they were accessible by road. When questioned about his no vote Yurdiga said “We have to have a program in place that’s all-inclusive for all communities that suffer from the high price of food. We want to get it right so we don’t have to deal with this issue again.”

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Economic Ft Mac Health Politics

Land Transfer for Willow Square Waiting on Approved Plan

Willow Square, land transfer

The land transfer for Willow Square is still on hold from the province, waiting for an approved plan to be submitted. The RMWB council voted last week to have the Wood Buffalo Housing and Development Corporation prepare a report covering the time and cost considerations on 5 different possible options for the location. Alberta seniors ministry communications director Jessica Lucenko said “It’s really a matter of the municipality and the community taking a look at what they need, being in the best position to determine and respect those needs. We’re going to wait to transfer the land until we have an approved plan submitted.” This could delay the time required to make the development a reality, and in the meantime seniors are still facing housing shortages.

The land transfer delay for the Willow Square development is seen as another opportunity to get things right the first time. WBHD proposes a community campus setting, which offers senior and affordable housing, retail and office space, and market housing. Advocates say that this type of development makes the most sense economically. Others including Mayor Melissa Blake were hoping for an Aging in Place facility instead of the broader spectrum development. Mayor Blake commented “I knew that it wasn’t going to be economic enough to do it all on its own, independently, but the devastation is that I thought that we’d have capacity for two facilities and a range of services that would be different on the downtown site than the one on the hill.”

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Economic Ft Mac

Cost Overruns at Shell Place Given Council Approval

Shell Place, cost overruns

The Shell Place construction included cost overruns, but these added expenses were recently approved by the council. Just days before the facility was set to open to the public the project budget had a $4.3 million deficit due to cost overruns. Last Tuesday the RMWB council voted on a capital budget amendment which would increase the Shell Place project grant by the deficit amount. The amendment passed, and the reason for the deficit was cited as multiple cost overruns, but according to the RRC the main reason for the extra costs was increasing the LEED sustainable building certification from the Silver level to the Gold level. According to RRC capital projects and procurement director Rachel Orser “The RRC is confident that we would not be here tonight with this budgetary amendment had we remained in the original scope of building to LEED Silver.”

Some council members were upset that the Shell Place cost overruns were not addressed sooner. The work was already completed before the capital budget amendment was submitted, and some members felt that there was little choice at that point. Coun. Tyran Ault stated “My frustration is that we were saying ‘on time, on budget’ … and now we’re three days away from the ribbon cutting and we’re asking for money. I guess we have to approve it now … we have no choice in what we do here.” According to Michael Cachia, board chair for RRC, “We were trying to find alternate sources of funding before we came back to council to ask for it. We did remind council again and again that we still had an outstanding liability that someone would have to take on.”