Calgary & Alberta Economy

[Chowda7]

Increasing wildfires drive demand for De Havilland Canada’s new waterbomber

In a warehouse on the southern edge of Calgary International Airport, De Havilland Canada is developing the DHC 515, a rugged flying boat and the only airplane solely designed to scoop water from a lake, river or ocean and drop it on a wildfire.

www.ctvnews.ca

 

[Chowda7]

https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/canada-may-drop-oil-emissions-cap-part-new-climate-plan-sources-say-2025-09-11/

 

[Surrealplaces]

Calgary tech talent grows to 7.9 per cent of economy - LiveWire Calgary

A recently released CBRE report has identified Calgary as one of the fastest-growing tech talent cities worldwide, giving Calgary an outsized presence in the city’s GDP from tech firms. Those figures in Scoring Tech Talent 2025, released on Sept. 9, show that Calgary’s tech sector has grown to...

livewirecalgary.com

As usual with these reports you usually have to dig through all the data to get to the bottom of things, but either way, it's good news for Calgary.

Here are the Canadian cities the rankings of the top 50 North American cities. Canada represents very well with 7 cities in the top 50, and 3 in the top 10.

Some interesting notes: Toronto passed NYC, to take #3 spot. KW moved up 11 spots. It's ranked ahead of Montreal even though it was a quarter of Montreal's tech workforce. Edmonton's tech workforce shrank over the period. Not sure what the story is behind that.

North American Rank	City	Number of Workers	Employment Growth 2021-2024
3	Toronto	334,200	14.7%
7	Kitchener Waterloo	39,400	58.2%
10	Vancouver	125,100	5.2%
11	Ottawa	95,900	13.2%
15	Montreal	154,900	6.9%
17	Calgary	64,600	61.1%
43	Edmonton	32,300	-1.2%

Source

 

[CalgaryTiger]

https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/canada-may-drop-oil-emissions-cap-part-new-climate-plan-sources-say-2025-09-11/

Everyone is saying Carney has abandoned environmentalism but I see it another way. He's trying to find ways to actually reduce emissions other than symbolic gestures. Charging the carbon tax changed no one's habits. The emissions cap had never actually been reached. I'll take actual action over symbolism.

 

[darwink]

Everyone is saying Carney has abandoned environmentalism but I see it another way. He's trying to find ways to actually reduce emissions other than symbolic gestures. Charging the carbon tax changed no one's habits. The emissions cap had never actually been reached. I'll take actual action over symbolism.

The sector specific caps make the overall target harder to reach not easier.

The massive oil sands decarbonization project was on the second phase list.

I suspect that there will be a grand bargain — Pathways actioned by the oil companies; federal government strikes a few provisions that are more symbolic than real from the statue books; oil pipeline proposed; oil pipeline added to federal project list.

 

[Surrealplaces]

Data centre firms want clarity on Alberta’s ‘surprise’ AI infrastructure levy - The Logic

The province’s plan for a “server tax” on data centres connected to the grid risks slowing investment in the still-developing sector, executives say

thelogic.co

The province’s plan for a “server tax” on data centres connected to the grid risks slowing investment in the still-developing sector, executives say

In other AI data centre news, Rockyview County rejected the latest proposal for an AI data cente.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/rocky-view-county-data-centre-proposal-1.7630860

 

[InfrastructureEnthusiast]

Data centre firms want clarity on Alberta’s ‘surprise’ AI infrastructure levy - The Logic

The province’s plan for a “server tax” on data centres connected to the grid risks slowing investment in the still-developing sector, executives say

thelogic.co

The province’s plan for a “server tax” on data centres connected to the grid risks slowing investment in the still-developing sector, executives say

In other AI data centre news, Rockyview County rejected the latest proposal for an AI data cente.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/rocky-view-county-data-centre-proposal-1.7630860

Wise choice. We shouldn't be bending over backwards to accommodate the latest meme bubble. The entire Alberta advantage for data centers is access to direct energy generation with little or no ties to the grid.

Like him or loathe him, Kevin O'Leary's plan for the area around grand prairie was sound.

I'm sure there's similar viable locations in the southern part of the province where its much cheaper to run a fiber line than a pipeline..

 

[InfrastructureEnthusiast]

Of course it isn't. Neither is high speed rail. The major projects intitiative was positioned as unblocking projects that would expand export markets. Was the container port tied up by Canada's Byzantine regulatory regime? Is the port anywhere near capacity? This probbaly plays into the Laurentian fallacy of exporting more to Europe. Expanding the Port of Churchill likely only makes sense from military and mining perspectives. Building six plus months of storage for oil or gas to manage the short shipping season is likley insurmountable. The Feds have been pushing Churchill for over a hundred years and failed. Exporting LNG to Europe likely involves building more west coast export capacity to Asia and swapping that for existing US LNG contracts, redirecting US LNG to Europe.

The Carney Liberals are the same as all Liberals. Their main objectives are to expand Federal government scope and to buy votes through transferring wealth to Eastern Canada. I would argue that Eastern Canada already has the St. Lawrence Seaway and limited access highway connections to its waterborne ports and Interstate connected US ports of entry and doesn't need anything to open up export markets.

The project list should include a continuation of the Gateway program from the Harper years: twinning the TCH through BC, upgrading the highway 99 corridor through the Lower Mainland to provide limited access road connections to I-5, DeltaPort and port facilities on Burrard Inlet, removing at grade rail crossings to expedite port access. It should also include additional gas and oil pipelines to the Pacific, which are the projects most in need of regulatory relief. Additional east-west power transmission probbaly doesn't make sense as BC Hydro struggles to meet in province demand and has been a net importer for several years.

Yeah that project list is predictably disappointing..

Didn't realize Montreal was shipping so many stolen cars east that a port expansion was required..

The new nuke plant is neither small nor modular, if it can't fit in a seacan it doesn't deserve the title. Seems like ON would be much better off continuing with the known knowns of the candu reactors.

Overall the whole nation building project initiative seems to be focused on projects where millions can be shovelled at various planners and consultants while delivering little to nothing.

Four years until shovel time for HSR sums it up perfectly, just enough time for the gov to change and find new priorities!

 

[trtcttc]

Yeah that project list is predictably disappointing..

Didn't realize Montreal was shipping so many stolen cars east that a port expansion was required..

The new nuke plant is neither small nor modular, if it can't fit in a seacan it doesn't deserve the title. Seems like ON would be much better off continuing with the known knowns of the candu reactors.

Overall the whole nation building project initiative seems to be focused on projects where millions can be shovelled at various planners and consultants while delivering little to nothing.

Four years until shovel time for HSR sums it up perfectly, just enough time for the gov to change and find new priorities!

The SMR project is not just about electricity but is partially an industrial policy project, to have the talent and manufacturing capacity in Ontario for a future energy technology. Capital Power and the AB Government are also partnering with OPG on this in Alberta.

On the MTL port, obviously there's concerns with stolen goods, but its also the reality if we were to diversify away from the US, we'd need port facilities to actually ship exports to Europe and Africa.

Four years of planning for HSR is probably too optimistic, and if they do get it done in 4 and shovels in ground, that would be incredibly impressive. These take a long time to plan, not just in North America, but worldwide. It may seem like other countries build much faster, but that's partially because we don't follow their projects that closely, so we only hear about a project when it's partially done, while it's already been in planning for 10 years locally.

 

[darwink]

Four years of planning for HSR is probably too optimistic, and if they do get it done in 4 and shovels in ground, that would be incredibly impressive.

Its been in process for awhile. This is now turning a much of the non-regulatory work into regulatory work.

The bid was supposedly very good, like, the CIB/project office wondered if the bid sent the wrong version with the support required from government too low, or the specs too high. Benefited a lot from Air Canada knowing the demand/price/frequency optimization for demand on the corridor I think (they know how many carts are abandoned as prices go up, not only final demand)

 

[InfrastructureEnthusiast]

The SMR project is not just about electricity but is partially an industrial policy project, to have the talent and manufacturing capacity in Ontario for a future energy technology. Capital Power and the AB Government are also partnering with OPG on this in Alberta.

I'm supportive of the high level goals, it's just the chosen technology seems like a has been.. Plus if I'm not mistaken it generates more waste than the candu reactors, giving Canada yet another problem to solve.

IMO the time and money being slated for the so-called SMR would be better spent developing a naval reactor, that could not only be used for the next gen of RCN warships, but would also be small and portable enough to be used to support industry and communities in remote locations where grid extensions aren't practical.

On the MTL port, obviously there's concerns with stolen goods, but its also the reality if we were to diversify away from the US, we'd need port facilities to actually ship exports to Europe and Africa.

What eastern exports would Canada need containers for though? Energy, sure I get that, but oil and gas don't go into cans, those are for finished products (and stolen cars)

Much like Canada, Africa is a resource colony. I don't see enormous amounts of trade happening there anytime soon.

Europe is well on its way to being de-industrialized, so no idea what they'd do with raw materials either.

It really does seem the Laurentians are stuck in a 20th century groundhog day, where the RCN will be hunting zee uboats for all eternity, and that Europe still has any political or economic relevance.

Time to get with the times Ottawa...

 

[Alex_YYC]

Wise choice. We shouldn't be bending over backwards to accommodate the latest meme bubble. The entire Alberta advantage for data centers is access to direct energy generation with little or no ties to the grid.

Like him or loathe him, Kevin O'Leary's plan for the area around grand prairie was sound.

I'm sure there's similar viable locations in the southern part of the province where its much cheaper to run a fiber line than a pipeline..

Agreed. If they were data centers with no connection to the grid I couldn’t care less what they do, but projects that draw that much power could have an effect on the grid.

 

[DougB]

Agreed. If they were data centers with no connection to the grid I couldn’t care less what they do, but projects that draw that much power could have an effect on the grid.

Four issues with data centers:

1) they have high uptime requirements meaning they typically want backup for their behind the fence generation.Can they draw from the grid when that happens? Can they sign PPA's for backup?

2) typically data centers colocate with generation so they don't use transmission infrastructure. If they aren't colocated, what is the mechanism to pay for the transmission? Related to 1 above, PPA's for backup would almost definitely require transmission

3) even if they meet all of the generation needs behind the fence, they will draw significant enough gas volumes to drive up gas prices and hence pool prices to grid customers

4) can they offer volumes into the ancillary services market? Basically, if pool prices are forecasted to be high for the next day, they could offer to curtail their consumption and offer volumes into the grid. While this would benefit consumers, it would potentially disrupt the market and draw the ire of incumbent generators

 

[DougB]

Wise choice. We shouldn't be bending over backwards to accommodate the latest meme bubble. The entire Alberta advantage for data centers is access to direct energy generation with little or no ties to the grid.

Like him or loathe him, Kevin O'Leary's plan for the area around grand prairie was sound.

I'm sure there's similar viable locations in the southern part of the province where its much cheaper to run a fiber line than a pipeline..

Fiber is much easier to build than gas lines. Gas prices are lower in the north due to massive production from the Montney

 

[DougB]

I'm supportive of the high level goals, it's just the chosen technology seems like a has been.. Plus if I'm not mistaken it generates more waste than the candu reactors, giving Canada yet another problem to solve.

IMO the time and money being slated for the so-called SMR would be better spent developing a naval reactor, that could not only be used for the next gen of RCN warships, but would also be small and portable enough to be used to support industry and communities in remote locations where grid extensions aren't practical.



What eastern exports would Canada need containers for though? Energy, sure I get that, but oil and gas don't go into cans, those are for finished products (and stolen cars)

Much like Canada, Africa is a resource colony. I don't see enormous amounts of trade happening there anytime soon.

Europe is well on its way to being de-industrialized, so no idea what they'd do with raw materials either.

It really does seem the Laurentians are stuck in a 20th century groundhog day, where the RCN will be hunting zee uboats for all eternity, and that Europe still has any political or economic relevance.

Time to get with the times Ottawa...

...
Carney did call Canada the “most European of non-European nations".

Besides irritants like supply management standing in the way of expanded trade deals, what constrains trade other than Europe having stagnant population and economic growth? Being stylish and progressive does not make Europe an attractive market