january 2006 > a living history > edmonton

Hotel Macdonald sold! >permalink<

Long dwarfed by modern counterparts, Edmonton's Macdonald hotel has stood proud atop the city's downtown riverbank for over nine decades.

Despite being boarded up for eight years in the 1980s, the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway-built hotel has served as an emotional and visual centrepoint that has defined Edmonton to citizens and world-travellers.

On January 30th, 2006 it was announced that the 'Mac' has been sold (again) -- this time to the world's fifth-richest man.

A 'sympathetic' restoration of the Mac was completed by then new owners Canadian Pacific Hotels & Resorts, who re-opened the hotel to its former grandeur in 1991. Since that time, ownership of Edmonton's crown jewel passed on to Toronto-based Fairmont Hotels. Fairmont also owned the Jasper Park Lodge, the Chateau Lake Louise and the Banff Springs Hotel.

On January 30th it was announced that the Mac and other properties were sold to Colony Capital and a Canadian firm owned by Kingdom Hotels International. Kingdom is owned by Saudi Arabian Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Abdulaziz Alsaud. The price was $4.5 billion CDN, including assumed debt.

Under the terms of the sale, Kingdom and Colony plan to combine the former Fairmont holdings with the Raffles hotel chain already held by Colony. Raffles owns and manages 33 properties primarily across Asia and Europe, while Fairmont owns and operates 87 hotels in Canada, the United States, Mexico, Bermuda, Barbados, the U.K., Monaco, Kenya and the United Arab Emirates. Fairmont will remain an independent company headquartered in Canada and Raffles, based in Singapore, will also retain its independent brand.

Whatever the name of the current owner, the Mac will always be home to memories new and old. For more about the hotel on the hill, visit Lawrence Herzog's tribute to the Macdonald on its recent 90th anniversary.

We're in the money >permalink<

Prince Klein No doubt about it. When it comes to feeding the planet's appetite for fossil fuel consumption, Alberta is on top of the world. Heck, the province's prime resource was even the focus of a piece on the CBS news program 60 Minutes. With oil at a gazillion dollars a barrel, there's a lot of money floating on top of the province's political waters.

Recently, ~~King Ralph~~ Alberta Premier Ralph Klein announced that some of the privilege of living near the world's most friendly source of oil would be returned to its citizens in the form of ~~revenue rebate~~ ~~prosperity bonus~~ Alberta 2006 Resource Rebate cheques. The total amount of 'privilege' to be divided up is $1.4 billion dollars. That works out to roughly $400 for each Alberta resident.

News of this windfall has spread like wildfire, even earning an entry in Wikipedia (which outlines some of the fine print lest the hopeful impoverished buy a one-way ticket north or west thinking black gold paves Alberta streets). Political wags see the funds as a bribe to ensure permanent Conservative Party supremacy in the province and Ralph's enduring legacy as a just-plain nice guy.

Ralphbucks.com With the challenge of spending 400 big ones, Albertans have been courted from many sides. "Come on down!" cry local businesses, offering incentives to drop the energy bucks at their place of commerce. A web site, Share The Prosperity.ca, has sprung up challenging Albertans to proclaim their intentions to donate to charity.

Then there's Ralphbucks.com, which invites web passersby to purchase windfall-celebrating souveniers (with a percentage going to charity, of course).

However, Albertans have a long memory. Mention "National Energy Program" and you'll be quickly high-tailing it on the Yellowhead or Trans-Canada highway out of town. Perhaps the best illustration of how Albertans really feel about their 400 smackers can be found in this montage of Alberta Prosperity Cheques as assembled by the Last Link.

The town with no name >permalink<

Always open! Edmonton's mayor Stephen Mandel gets no respect -- and neither does his city. Despite being in the provincial capital, Edmonton's public institutions seem to forget where they're located.

There are such facilities as the University of Alberta, the Royal Alberta Museum, the Art Gallery of Alberta, the Capital Health region, the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology, the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium, Grant MacEwan College, Alberta College, Rexall Place, the Shaw Conference Centre, the Winspear Centre, the Stanley A. Milner Library and the Telus World of Science to name but a few.

The personality puzzle perplexed the mayor enough that he announced a $480,000 "awareness" campaign at the end of last year to bolster Edmonton's presence on the internet. Perhaps he should start with the printed page.

It seems that Mapquest, the big-time U.S. based cartographer owned by America Online, has just issued a pocket-sized pamphlet locating Canadian cities and forgot to put Edmonton on the map. In the area between such prominent centres of population as St. Albert, Leduc and Fort Saskatchewan sits a lonely little circled star -- the provincial capital.

To save Last Link visitors the trouble of rushing out to try and find one of these little Mapquest souvenirs, the omission can be viewed here.

Generically speaking, what does a town have to do to get a little respect these days?

Come on down! >permalink<

Enough already Already home to four national (CTV, CBC, Global, and CHUM) and one province-wide broadcaster (Access) one wonders who is behind the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC)'s January 12th, 2006 decision to invite applications for yet another TV outlet in Edmonton.

It appears the CRTC "has received applications for broadcasting licences to carry on television programming undertakings to provide television services to serve Edmonton and Calgary."

The CRTC notice warns it "has not reached any conclusion with respect to the licensing ... [or authorizing] such a service at this time" but who in the woodwork feels that either market can withstand another local broadcaster? Stay tuned (and read the CRTC's notice here).

This just in -- full analysis at 11 >permalink<

there are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics For over a decade, CFRN TV continues to dominate the Edmonton television news market. The latest ratings book released January 9th, 2006 shows the local CTV affiliate maintaining its hold on their 143,300 adult viewers from Fall 2004 for the supper hour newscast.

While the fan base for Daryl McIntyre and Carrie Doll has remained stable, viewership at the other stations shifted around somewhat -- read here for the full story.

LRT Surfaces on the South Side >permalink<

LRT at Health Sciences Station After 13 years of terminating below ground, Edmonton's Light Rail Transit system has finally seen the light of day south of the river.

On January 1st and 2nd, 2006 Edmontonians were treated to free rides aboard the LRT with trips ending at the new Health Sciences Station at 114 Street across from the University of Alberta Hospital and the Jubilee Auditorium. The new station extends the service 640 metres (or barely one minute of travel time) south of University Station, which opened in July of 1992. Cost of the project was on budget at $108 million.

The Health Sciences Station is the first stop on the transit system's eventual expansion to the former Heritage Mall location at 23rd Avenue, soon to be developed as Century Park. The next phase will bring the line south to 76 Avenue by the end of 2008, with plans in the works to extend service to Southgate and Century Park by 2010. The total cost is estimated at $595 million.

For more about the LRT's journey south, visit this edmonton - a living history entry and the Edmonton South LRT Expansion web site.

While the initial ride to the Health Sciences Station was free, 2006 sees increases in transit ridership fares. As of February 1st, adult cash fares are going up 25 cents to $2.25 from $2. Ticket books of ten go up $2.50 to $18.50 for adults and $16 for senior and youth while monthly adult passes remain at $59.

Staying with mass-transit news, Edmonton Transit and the City of Spruce Grove announced on January 3rd, 2006 a new commuter transit service between the two cities.

Two routes will operate within Spruce Grove city limits and will run on a 30-minute peak hour frequency stopping in Edmonton at NAIT, Grant MacEwan College and Churchill Square. The pilot project is to last a year and mirrors a service that extends ETS service to Fort Saskatchewan and Beaumont.

Related Pages

deadmonton
The murdered and the missing in the metro area.
edmonton history and museums
The Last Link guide to local history.
final credits
Reflecting lives that have contributed to Edmonton and area culture.
it's our heritage
The Last Link guide to Lawrence Herzog's articles as published in Real Estate Weekly.