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Monday, March 4, 2013
Alberta session to feature Home industry ‘watershed’ budget HOME SHOW
optimism on rise
REDFORD PLANNING CENTREPIECE FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT ACT BY THE CANADIAN PRESS
BY HARLEY RICHARDS ADVOCATE BUSINESS EDITOR If the Red Deer Home Show is an indicator of the health of the local housing market, then the sector is doing all right. As of Friday, the 2013 edition of the annual show, which will run March 8 to 10 at Westerner Park, had a record 296 exhibitors confirmed and about 15 more on a waiting list. Kevin Wilkie, first vice-president of the Canadian Home Builders’ Association — Central Alberta, the organization that stages the event, said optimism among the businesses taking part is high. “Everyone is kind of feeling the turn in the market here,” said Wilkie, who is vice-president of sales with True-Line Homes of Red Deer. He said the local economy appears to be strengthening, with increased interest in new homes, renovations, and products and services associated with both. “Last year (attendance) was around 11,000, so we’re expecting to hit that or hopefully break that,” said Wilkie, a Home Show veteran and chair of this year’s event. Scheduled to run Friday, Saturday and Sunday, the 2013 show will mark the return of Carson Arthur, of Global TV’s Room to Grow and HGTV’s Green Force. “He did a good job last year,” said Wilkie. Arthur will conduct two presentations on Saturday: one at 11 a.m. on environmental changes to a home’s outdoor space that will improve its value, and another at 2 p.m. about landscape design trends. Taking the stage on Sunday will be Vicki Skinner of Canadian Closet. She will speak at 1 p.m. about decluttering using storage and organizational tips and tricks. Following Skinner at 2 p.m. will be Ellen Walker of Ellen Walker Design Solutions. She’ll discuss space planning, remodelling and replacement strategies. Wilkie said the products and services on display at the show will be many and varied. “There’s just about everything. “There’s always something new every year.” Hours for the 2013 Red Deer Home Show will be noon to 8 p.m. on Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday. ‘Admission is $10 for adults, $8 for students and seniors, and free for children under 12 who are accompanied by an adult. Westerner Park parking charges will be in effect. hrichards@reddeeradvocate.com
EDMONTON — Alberta politicians — facing billions of dollars in red ink — get back to business in the house Tuesday to pass what Premier Alison Redford calls a watershed budget along with a new centrepiece Financial Management Act. “It’s been some time in Alberta since we’ve taken the time to be thoughtful and deliberate about setting that fiscal framework, and I think it’s going to be a really exciting session,” said Redford in an interview. “I’m really, really proud of this budget,” she added, referring to the 2013-14 spending document to be unveiled Thursday by Finance Minister Doug Horner. “(And) I’m proud of the work that we’ve done on our financial management structures, and the legislation that you’re going to see with respect to the Financial Management Act.” The spring sitting of the legislature, a continuation of the fall sitting, will focus on what Redford has called a “once in a generation” budget to begin moving Alberta away from its dependence on the roller-coaster revenues of oil and gas. While Alberta’s economy remains strong, falling prices for oilsands crude are expected to halve the $13 billion in oil and gas revenue Redford’s team had hoped to take in for 2013-14. Those same falling revenues have ballooned the current year’s budget deficit from $886-million to $4 billion. On top of that, Alberta’s rainy day savings Sustainability Fund has fallen from a peak of $17 billion four years ago to $3.4 billion, and it may be gone altogether by this time next year. For the last six weeks, Redford and Horner have warned Albertans that while spending will
continue in key areas like health and education, lean times have arrived. Provincial politicians are forgoing their inflation-linked salary hikes this year, and Horner has announced a three-year freeze on management salaries along with a 10 per cent cut in management jobs. Public sector unions have been told that there’s no extra money. Redford’s promises of a balanced budget have been shattered. The government is now borrowing for major infrastructure projects like twinning the overburdened and often-dangerous highway to the oilsands hub of Fort McMurray. Horner has warned it will take a lot of work to even balance the day-to-day operating side of the upcoming budget. Redford has repeatedly rejected claims by opposition critics that she’ll bring in a sales tax to balance the books. “So much of what I’ve heard from all opposition parties has been an awful lot of rhetoric without an awful lot of specifics, lots of crying wolf and suggesting that the government will do this and will do that — none of which we’ve ever done, nor will we,” said Redford. However Official Opposition Wildrose leader Danielle Smith said Redford has only herself to blame. In last year’s election, Redford campaigned on returning the budget to the black while also spending more on schools, health clinics, and to help those in need. Smith said the PC government’s conversion to sound fiscal management is too little, too late after three years of spending hikes culminating in a record $41-billion budget last year. “I wish they had taken the fiscal agenda seriously three years ago when we started raising the alarm and putting forward our alternative budgets,” said Smith.
“The spending promises that (Redford) made during the election were absolutely unattainable, and now she’s trying to backpedal. She’s created the problem that she now finds herself in.” The Wildrose has championed cuts to what they term bloated civil service management, extending timelines on infrastructure projects to save money, and abandoning speculative big-ticket publicprivate initiatives like carbon capture and storage. Opposition Liberal Leader Raj Sherman agreed that the PCs created the problem, mainly by moving to a flat tax on personal income over a decade ago. The 10 per cent flat tax, said Sherman, saw levies go down for the wealthy and up for everyone else, he said. “We’ve essentially had a multibillion-dollar giveaway to the top three per cent (of earners). This is the reason we’ve had six successive deficits at a time the economy is booming,” said Sherman. He called for Redford to return to a progressive tax on individuals to go with a “modest” boost to corporate taxes. “The reality is you can’t cut $4 billion and improve services. We have to address the issue of revenue,” said Sherman. NDP House Leader Rachel Notley noted that all economic indicators show Alberta’s economy is not doom and gloom but in fact strong and growing. She said Redford’s reluctance to hike oil royalties to the levels of comparable jurisdictions, coupled with her refusal to increase taxes on the wealthy, is a familiar PC refrain that calls for those with the least to give to give more. “Redford is going to make Alberta families and perhaps those who are most vulnerable pay for the mistakes of her government’s inability to manage our fiscal situation,” said Notley.
City launching backyard composting during Home Show
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Red Deerians can get rid of their vegetables and other food scraps and make good compost from them through a free green initiative. The City of Red Deer’s backyard composting program will be launched for the second year during the 2013 Red Deer Home Show running Friday through Sunday. The first year was a hit for the pilot program. A total of 259 households signed up. This year’s second phase of the program hopes to attract 200 households, less than last year so it’s more manageable. Registration will get underway at the show at Westerner Park and will continue until May 13, or until the 200th household is signed. Environmental program specialist
Lauren Maris said they’re looking for people who want to learn how to compost, but aren’t composting already. They will also make a one-year commitment to compost and will need to attend a workshop. In exchange, they’ll receive a free composting bin, a kitchen catcher to store organic waste from their kitchen, and an aerating tool, plus training and access to expertise help. Workshops begin on April 13 and end on May 14. “The response (from last year) has been incredible and I’ve been so pleased,” said Maris. “People have said to us so many times how they’ve wanted to do this for so long, but they didn’t know what composter to get, didn’t know where to put it . . .” Anyone who is interested can check out www.reddeer.ca/composting Andrea Malyon and her husband and their teenaged daughter were part
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“It’s really a matter of knowing what to put in it and how to layer it, so it pretty much does it all itself.” It’s become a real habit. The family is down to about a garbage bag and a half from about two and a half. ltester@reddeeradvocate.com
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of the first-year project. The West Park family received a lot of knowledge about composting and now hope to have their first vegetable garden this spring. They’ve been doing the program since last spring. “It was very surprising how easy it was,” said Malyon.
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