Mark Kolke visits with interesting Calgarians - to catch a glimpse of what drives them, how they see the world and what they see in Calgary's future . . .
+ U-haul for offering free storage to Calgary flood victims needing to store belongings; charity with an entrepreneurial twist
+ all those, many of them large, donations to the Red Cross for relief of flood victims in southern Alberta – financial institutions, oil companies – enormous and speedy generosity!
+ to Mayor Nenshi and City Council, to Calgary city staff, first responders, water dept. folks – and contractors too, working tirelessly through the flood crisis
SAVE THE DATE / upcoming events
+ Sept. 24; Annual RealREIT Conference; Toronto Convention Centre, Toronto,info/register
+ Oct. 16; 32nd Annual National Ernest C. Manning Innovation Awards Gala, TELUS Convention Centre, Calgarytickets/sponsorship
+ Oct. 17; 2nd Annual Vancouver Real Estate Leasing Conference, Vancouver Convention Centre
+ Beltline – power restoration there is city’s focus right now, downtown still not ready – officials urging everyone to stay home today, possible return to ‘normal’ tomorrow
+ Calgary state of emergency continues – city recovering from worst flood in its history, Calgary and entire BowRiver watershed still suffering impact of unprecedented flooding
+ Calgary Stampede officials say ‘show will go on’ … just days from Stampede 2013, notwithstanding extensive flooding at Stampede Park, damage to buildings and Saddle Dome, site cleanup is in full swing as water is being pumped back into the Elbow River
+ Canadian Pacific experienced numerous instances of track damage, repairs ahead of schedule – main line through Calgary-Canmore now re-opened, south line to Lethbridge to be in service by Thursday
+ City of Calgary issued a building – DAMAGE ASSESSMENT FORM – for owners to complete and submit to City of Calgary via BOMA; also to keep a copy on-site for review by inspectors
+ C-Train now operating three lines (SW, NW, NE) to downtown; not all stops open, buses are running
+ downtown still in 'stay home' mode, should be closer to normal tomorrow
+ DOWNTOWN is now 53% energized, which doesn't mean all those buildings are lit/open or functional yet, but 53% is very encouraging!
+ ENMAX station #5 in downtown Calgary remains out – impacting east portion of downtown core and east portion of Beltline; may be down for a long time . . . stay tuned
+ Government of Alberta launching first stages of 10-year action plan to restore/rebuild flood damages in southern Alberta; Treasury Board approved $1 billion in emergency funding for rebuilding; Premier Redford appointed 3 Associate Ministers of Regional Recovery and Reconstruction - Greg Weadick (South-East), Kyle Fawcett (South-West) and Rick Fraser (High River); for starters, pre-loaded debit cards. Some estimates suggest total cost will be $3-5 billion which is premature because so much is 'yet to be assessed', but given damage to High River and unknown downtown Calgary infrastructure, those estimates might not even cover the public sector losses; check back in 10 years - lets see the tally then . . .
+ Macleod Trail to reopen today, south C-train segment will take longer, likely weeks, for track repairs at Erlton station
+ new stock exchange to be launched; Aequitas Innovations Inc. to establish new Canadian exchange; Royal Bank, IGM Financial, ITG Canada, PSP Public Markets among founding shareholders
+ North-West portion of downtown core has power restored; east portion being assessed building-by-building
+ TSX dragged down by concerns over U.S. Federal Reserve ‘tapering’ of stimulus
+ twenty-three Alberta communities still under local ‘state of emergency’ following floods
... road updates: Memorial Drive re-opened westbound, eastbound only west of 10 Street
... Stampede update: clean-up in high gear, feasibility seems to be there, site is drained, track being torn up and they will be open, 'come hell or hight water'
... Okotoks has lifted state of emergency status
... High River still in chaos and fully evacuated, waiting for Highwood River to recede and infrastructure to be stablized, tensions high as 13,000 residents are anxious to get home to assess dmange and get back to normal
NEWS REVIEW June 18 - 24
+ Alfa Group (Russians who just cashed-out $14 billion stake in OAO TNK-BP) forming new oil co. to invest in North America
+ British Banking in state of flux and British government sell its position in Lloyds Banking Group, break-up or sell Bank of Scotland while Libor scandal reverberations continue
+ Calgary flooded – both Bow and Elbow rivers swamped their banks, record levels of water and flow knocked out the city’s core for several days, 65,000 residents were evacuated, low lying areas & riverfront properties severely damaged, Calgary Stampede grounds and Saddledome inundated with water, sludge and silt . . . aggregate damage in Calgary to be in billions, across southern Alberta (Canmore, High River etc.), billions more; worst floods in Alberta recorded history
+ Enbridge Inc. shut down a portion of its Line 19 & 37 – Athabasca and Waupisoo – after a 750 barrel synthetic crude oil leak near Cheecham; cleanup and repairs underway; Line 19 now returned to service
+ ExxonMobil Corp. and Imperial Oil are planning and LNG project venture, made application for regulatory approval for WCC LNG Ltd. to export 21.6 million tonnes of LNG annually
+ IGW REIT, a private REIT, planning a public offering so investors can trade units that IGW cannot afford to redeem . . . stay tuned
+ Imperial Oil unable to find buyer for its 88,000 barrel/day Darmouth refinery; will convert it to at terminal facility use
+ Keyera Corp. expanding its sulphur treatment facilities at its Strachan Gas Plant
+ Kulczyk Oil Ventures Inc. takeover of Winstar Resources Ltd. approved by Winstar shareholders
+ Legacy Oil + Gas Inc. experienced a sour gas pipeline leak at TurnerValley when flood debris impacted the line; release of H2S was stopped
+ Leger Marketing changing its name to: Leger, The Research Intelligence Group
+ NorthWest International Healthcare Properties REIT closed its acquisition of 26% of Northwest Healhcare Properties REIT
+ Pennwest Exploration experienced produced water pipeline leak in NW Alberta, clean-up of 400,000 litres of salty wastewater underway
+ PetroGlobe Inc. closed $525,000 sale of Pembina area assets
+ Prime Minister Stephen Harper visited Calgary, met with Premier Redford and pledged Federal Government support to Alberta communities in flood recovery
+ Pure Industrial Real Estate Trust closed its acquisition of 4 properties in NW Calgary, $72 million
+ Rodina Oil Corp. strategic review process unsuccessful; curtailing operations, layoffs etc. to reduce costs
+ Trinidad drilling Ltd. agreed to sell its coring and pre-set rigs to Alken Basin Drilling Ltd. for $12 million
+ WestJet launched its Encore service, serving smaller markets
+ SableIslandNational Park of Canada – Canada’s 43rd national park created; also, offshore drilling will be restricted near the island
+ Public Works and Government services entered into a management and services contract with Brookfield Johnson Controls to manage 2 Ottawa campuses (5 million sq, ft,, 28 buildings), for 4 years, $338 million contract value
SAVE THE DATE /
charity golf tournaments
+ July 2; Play With The Presidents/Calgary Chamber of Commerce, Priddis Greens, info/register
+ July 11; COAST Hotels 11th Annual Golf Classic, Westwood Plateau, G & CC, Coquitlam info/register
+ Aug. 15; Ordinary Joe’s Country Golf Tournament, Sirocco Golf Club, info/registration
+ Aug. 20; Alberta Venture’s 2013 Most Influential Tournament, Silvertip Golf Resort, Canmore, info/register
+ Aug. 26; Women’s Celebrity Golf Invitational, Pinebrook Golf and Country Club, info/registration
+ each year The Calgary Foundation takes our temperature; surveying how we view quality of life in Calgary. Please take a few minutes to respond – click here. Survey closes July 10, report will be published October 1.
