Edmonton’s social housing and affiliated services can mostly be found in the city’s inner core. Despite the saturation, city fathers have continued to permit developers to add more projects in this same locale, rather that trying to place new group homes such as the soon to be built Boyle Residence, in less crowded parts of Edmonton.
The reasoning behind this may be because neighbourhoods such as McCauley and Boyle have fewer residents than other areas. Many homes already fall under the definition of social housing, or are otherwise subsidized and residents are not as likely to protest if another group home built.
There are also a number of issues that need to be addressed before these neighbourhoods in general can be made more appealing to mainstream residents. There have been school closures and the efforts to upgrade the area are slow going. Current improvements that are inching their way towards progress are the LRT route and putting a new face on 118th Avenue.
The residents do care and often have to pick and choose what meeting to attend because of conflicting schedules. City council should take this into account rather than to pass legislation or grant permits based on their perception of community apathy.
Then again, it may just be easier to grant another permit for social housing in the city core rather than try and initiate such a change in some of the more affluent neighbourhoods.
Carfinco Income Fund is a hot stock market item. This Edmonton based firm, started more than ten years ago, offers loans to people who have had a run of bad luck. They may have lost homes, cars, used up their savings or may have filed bankruptcy. In short they are high risk. What Carfinco does is offer high interest loans to this group, even though the delinquency rate is roughly 12 percent.
Though that does mean that the firm did have a couple of rough years during the recent 2007 to 2009 economic meltdown, the rebounding of the economy is causing Carfinco’s stock to rebound as well. In early 2009 Carfinco stock was selling at 32 cents a share. As the first quarter of 2010 winds down, that stock is now worth $3.19 per share on the TXS, a growth of 695 per cent.
Two brokerage firms, Industrial Alliance Securities and GMP Securities consider Carfinco to be a hot enough buy to predict a target price of $4.00 per share within 12 months. Not bad for a company started by a cattle rancher who delves into a risky financial sector.
There are plenty of customers out there and little competition. U.S. firms offering similar services have gone back home to take care of issues in the states. That left Carfinco with a huge market to service.
Carfinco does not market itself to the public but rather is a referral from mostly car dealerships. The average loan is $12,000 and the interest rate is just over 29 percent. As Canadians recover from a rough 18 months, this type of loan is one way to work on repairing damaged credit that may have suffered a hit through no fault of their own.
A Direct Energy survey reveals only 33 per cent of people in Alberta know about Earth Hour, a worldwide movement to draw attention to how each of us can make a difference when it comes to conserving energy. While the survey showed awareness of the event is generally low in Alberta, it revealed that awareness is much higher amongst younger Albertans, with 70% of people under 34 years knowing about it.
Over half the people surveyed, plan to participate in Earth Hour this year. This figure represents a slight increase on last year’s participation rate.
Nearly one billion people around the world will celebrate Earth Hour by turning off their lights for 60 minutes during the evening of Saturday March 27. Governments and businesses across America, Europe, Australia and Asia will also participate by dimming the lights on public buildings and well-known landmarks such as the Golden Gate Bridge, the Eiffel Tower and the Great Pyramids.
Direct Energy will be doing its bit for Earth Hour too. They have agreed to offset an hour’s worth of power consumption across North America with the purchase of Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs). In addition, around 60% per cent of Direct Energy employees have agreed to take part in Earth Hour in their own homes.
The province of Alberta is leading the nation in the fight against homelessness. “The Plan for Alberta – Ending Homelessness in 10 Years” is a campaign that other parts of Canada are watching closely. So far, the plan is turning out to be humming along as planned.
The one year anniversary was celebrated and the progress analyzed. In home construction, Alberta is ahead of the targeted 700 shelters to be built under the program. Due to reduced construction costs more than 900 homes are in various stages of completion. The 2009 Request for Proposal grant paid for their construction. Thanks to this and the 1,300 people that have already been housed, temporary shelter use has decreased amongst Alberta’s cities.
The other part of the helping the homeless equation is making support services available. Many, but not all, homeless people have substance abuse and/or emotional issues that prevent them from succeeding in the mainstream of society. Alberta’s plan includes the creation of job training and education facilities, counselling and medical help so that more of the homeless can eventually find jobs and be self supporting.
The provincial government is working in harmony with local agencies. Alberta’s seven major population areas have created plans of their own, also with a ten year target to eliminate homelessness. The local groups are providing data to the province on the homeless issues in their communities.
2009-2010 was a good first year for the Plan. 2010-2011 appears to be off to a good start as well. The provincial government has targeted $12 million to go to the Mustard Seed Society in both Calgary and Edmonton so that an additional 112 homes can be created in Alberta’s two largest cities. The provincial 2010 budget has also set aside $100 million to cover the 2010 Request for Proposal grant and another $42 million to cover the cost of support services for the second year of a so far successful ten year strategy to help those in need.
Incandescent lights may soon go the way of the horse and buggy. Rather fitting since they were invented during the time when that mode of transportation was still commonplace. The energy hogging invention of the 1930s has been handed its walking papers by the government with a total ban going into effect by 2012.
Intuitive companies, such as CRS Electronics in Welland, Ontario are working overtime trying to come up with a replacement for the old stand-by. Not as well known as the industry giants such as Philips and GE, this modest firm has apparently come up with a light emitting diode (LED) bulb that surpasses anything put out by the big boys.
Their new bulbs were used to light the exterior of the Banff Park Museum and managed to decrease energy use by almost 88 percent over the halogen bulbs previously used. The CRS bulbs also last roughly 25 times longer. Less energy used is also less money coming out of the Museum’s budget.
The CRS bulbs also have a better, brighter quality of light, closer to that experienced with the high energy halogens. LED lights are made of silicon. Almost 80 percent of the electricity they use is converted to light, compared to incandescent bulbs which convert a mere five percent. The rest goes to heat, which is why they are so hot to the touch. Compact fluorescents do a bit better having a 25 percent conversion rate. The LED lights have them beat as well.
Right now only 10 percent of lights sold in Europe and North America are LEDs, mostly used during the Christmas season or in bike lights or other electronic devices. As their energy and money saving advantages become know, their popularity is sure to increase. That is making CRS Electronics smile…a lot.
Voices of dissension are being heard in provincial politics. A minor example is a comment made by Edmonton’s mayor Stephen Mandel regarding the lack of attention his city received versus Calgary at the Olympics Pavilion. Mandel said that he requested an investigation on why Edmonton was excluded on an opportunity to participate in the Olympics’ Alberta Day.
Mandel may be one of many politicians who are trying to assess how much criticism they can aim right now at the Tory administration led by Ed Stelmach. In previous years, when the government was impervious to competition, political factions were limited to going along with every edict, or staging highly visible protests.
Stelmach’s popularity has decreased during his reign. Although his approval ratings seem to be higher in Edmonton than Calgary, he has his share of doubters. Uncertainties about Stelmach are compounded by announcements about substantial budget cuts at the University of Alberta.
The Wildrose Alliance organized five additional riding associations for Edmonton on Budget Day. There appears to be enthusiasm in the capital, which has been leaning toward the political left. Meanwhile, the Liberals are strategizing that vote-splitting on the Conservative side might help them gain more control in Edmonton.
Political waters will be hard to navigate for Mandel, who will seek re-election. Stelmach has been outwardly courteous to Mandel, claiming he will always be available to listen to Mandel’s concerns. Stelmach has not voiced such support for political adversary Dave Bronconnier, who seeks to meet with Stelmach about the province’s infrastructure funding cuts. Bronconnier claims that the cuts are in violation of a signed agreement with the province. He has had conversations with Hector Goudreau, municipal affairs minister, to request a meeting with Stelmach, but no meeting has been arranged as of yet.
