land prices?

[cowman]

Interesting note on land prices. 155 acres(5 acres out with all buildings) sold down the road a couple of miles for $460,000 or$2967/acre. Roughest quarter around, hilly and a lot of brush! Bought by a suprvisor at the gas plant at Joffre.
Guess we'll have to up the oil lease money around here to reflect the new reality?

[cowman]

Land prices in Alberta are causing some of the livestock industry to look to the east to expand. I was advised today that the cost per sow unit to build an operation in Manitoba is $250.00 and $100 more in Alberta due to land prices.
Of course the fact that there is a large slaughter plant in Manitoba is another factor. Even in my part of the province people are buying up small acreages 12 miles from town and putting up mansions on them. Mind you they all seem to want a horse or two but have no clue what a fence should look like.
I am afraid that if there is another downturn in the industry there will be a lot of people wondering how to pay off high mortgage payments.

This boom that the industry is in is unreal. I stopped to pick up somethings at Home Hardware the other day and the fellow that has worked inside at the service counter for years was out loading trucks because they cannot get any help. All the kids that used to work in those jobs are out working on service rigs or swamping on trucks somewhere in the 'patch'.

[cowman]

Emerald: Alberta now has the largest hog plant in Canada. The Olymel plant in Red Deer just added another shift to make it the largest plant. Their capacity is now 90,000 pigs a week with a staff of 2,400 needed! They are currently killing 55,000 with a staff of 1800. They intend to bring in more workers from the Phillipines and El Salvador. They will kill all the hogs in Alberta.
It is little wonder that places like Home Depot, Walmart etc. are having a hard time recruiting staff? In the Red Deer paper there are a ton of jobs advertized, with most of them paying better wages than Home Depot?
The neighbors 16 year old kid got a job at a convention center cleaning up tables for $14.50! Kind of makes you wonder why anyone would go to work in a hell hole like Olymel or Lakeside for $11?

[cowman]

or in a hog barn either for that matter. I wonder what is going to happen if the oil patch ever goes into the doldrums again.

[cowman]

It will make the wreck back in the NEP days look like a picnic! Everything has got so darned expensive and Albertans are up to their necks in debt.
When the feds make their move to rob the oil and gas this time, I don't think you are going to see the people of Alberta roll over like last time? Think we've travelled down the road quite a bit since then?
Martin and his gang of thugs are caught between a rock and a hard place...not a lot of options? If they want to keep Quebec in they need more money...and there is only one place to get it! Hopefully old Ralph will have one more good fight left in him?