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CALGARY GETS PROVINCIAL GREEN FOR THE GREEN LINE, AS CITY GEARS UP FOR LAUNCH OF ITS LRT MEGAPROJECT
The Government of Alberta has promised a large cash infusion for Calgary’s ambitious Green Line LRT project . Likely decades in the making, the 46-km line — the largest public infrastructure project in the city’s history — will connect the future neighbour- hood of Keystone Hills in the north to Seton in the city’s south, and include 28 stations. This summer, the province announced it would cover a third of the costs of the first stage of construction, or up to $1.53 billion over eight years. Stage 1, with construction starting in 2020, will cost
an estimated $4.65 billion and include 20 kilometres of track, 14 stations, eight bridges, and three tunnels. The stage is expected to create 12,000 direct jobs and more than 8,000 support jobs, for such services as engineering, planning, and administration. Provincial funding will come from the Climate Leadership Plan, including the carbon levy. The Government of Alberta estimates that Stage 1 will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 30,000 tonnes a year, because it will convince more Calgary drivers to use their cars less often.
ALBERTA CONSUMERS LOOSEN PURSE STRINGS BUT THEIR DEBT IS HIGH
Does this mean the recession is really is over? Pundits and experts are starting to say so, and some of the statistics support their analysis. Albertans are beginning to spend more money on retail purchases, data from Statistics Canada show. June retail sales hit a record $6.9 billion in the province, exceeding the previous high of $6.7 billion in October 2014 (shortly before oil prices dropped).
However, Albertans also remained, at least on average, firmly in debt. In the second quarter of 2017, consumers in the province owed an average of $27,800 in non-mortgage debt, a report by the credit reporting agency TransUnion Canada shows. That’s the highest among the five most populous provinces. Meanwhile, Statistics Canada data show that the unemployment rate in the Wood Buffalo-Cold Lake region of the province dropped to 6.7 per cent in July — its lowest level in two years. Workers arriving in the area in search of jobs drove the overall labour force up to 91,000 people, the highest recorded level since January 2016. This marked improvement
is attributed to a post- wildfire construction boom, which has bolstered the region’s construction sector. In May 2016, about 2,400
homes and other buildings in Fort McMurray were destroyed in the fire.
Fort McMurray Wildfire
FALL 2017 PEG | 31
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