Alberta’s economic success

People are talking about Alberta’s economic success due to oil and gas revenues. And how the province paid down its provincial debt. Alberta province can afford to pay high salaries to public service professionals, doctors, nurses, engineers and teachers. There’s talk over there about tax reduction, even getting rid of tax altogether. It is no wonder that more and more Filipinos are immigrating to Calgary and Edmonton. Calgary covers the largest area of any city in Alberta, a modern city with an air of a frontier town.

On the other hand, Edmonton sits in the center of Alberta province and is now the focus of Canada’s prosperous oil industry. Edmonton will be enjoyed by Filipinos because it has the world’s largest shopping center. Another part of Canada that is beginning to economically grow (after Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal) is Central Canada which covers the provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Eastern Alberta. They encompass the most productive agricultural and energy-rich part of the country.

A new survey of six major Canadian cities showed that Calgarians love their city the most, while Vancouverites are a little affectionate about where they live which I personally found strange, if not unbelievable. The national study on the quality of life in Canadian communities was conducted in six cities: Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa-Hull and Montreal.

Fifty percent of Calgarians expressed strong and enthusiastic pride in their city, while Edmonton rated 46 percent and Toronto and Vancouver tied at 42 percent. Ottawa-Hull came in at 37 percent, compared with just 33 percent of Montrealers. Calgary came first when it came to rating the quality of life offered by a city, with 89 percent of Calgarians saying their city offered a good or excellent quality of life. Edmonton came in second at 85 percent. Survey respondents named quality schools and universities, green spaces and parks, quality infrastructure and good public transit as indicators of what constitutes quality of life. Albertans claim that they have the most comfortable weather in Canada. Some Vancouverites won’t agree with that statement.

The Philippine ethnic newspaper business in British Columbia is already overcrowded with six publications serving over 95,000 Filipinos. It was a wise move for Philippine Asian Chronicle, published by Bodeng and Erly Juatco for several years to branch out in other provinces, specially those with booming economies. An Alberta edition was recently launched by the Juatcos to serve the Edmonton-Calgary-Fort McMurray-Lethbridge areas, all showing signs of a growing Filipino community.

Another newspaper on the move is Peryodiko Radikal, Toronto’s new but progressive Philippine newspaper published by Rodel Garcia and Anna Carina Pineda. It is about to launch its Alberta edition to expand its Scarborough, Ontario market.

Beer remains the favorite booze of Canadians. Beer sales grew four percent in the country to $8 billion, but imported beer grew 13.5 percent while domestic brands grew only 2.7 percent. Most of the imported beer came from the United States (Budweiser), the Netherlands (Heineken) and Mexico (Corono). One wonders why our outstanding San Miguel Beer is not in the beer race in Canada. Sales of wine grew at more than twice the rate of either beer or spirits. Red wine is still the strongest seller.

Let me share an advice from James Friel, professor of Nutrition and Pediatrics from the University of Manitoba, Winnepeg. "It is a myth to believe that what we put in our mouths does not affect us. Every cell in the body is made only and completely from the food we eat. Every mechanism that drives our metabolism is comprised of elements that are derived from the food that grows out of the earth and contains all the known nutrients, pesticides, fertilizers, growth enhancers and every other molecule that we put into the environment. In other words, we will become what we eat, so we must choose wisely."

Statistics Canada reported that each Canadian man, woman and child is worth today an average of $135,000. This is due to increasing wealth and decreasing debt which boosted the national net worth to $4.4 trillion. The stronger performance in the second quarter for the acceleration in the growth of national wealth was brought about by the rising value of Canadian homes.