Alberta is enjoying its recovery from the 2009 recession, thanks to an increase in oil and gas productivity as well as the price of oil nearly tripling from that year. Not quite strong enough to be called a boom, the rebound is healthy enough alright. New drilling is taking place, the unemployment rate is falling and investments in the oilsands continue to increase. The agricultural industry is also seeing a rebound as well, with a marked increase in price and exports of beef.

Alberta’s economy far exceeds that of Ontario and Quebec on home turf, and surges way ahead of the sluggish, uncertain quagmire in the United States. Unfortunately that quagmire is one of the problems that are causing a patch of weakness in Alberta’s economy. China is also seeing a slow in their economy and the equity market is seeing a turn after a 27 month bull-market run. Other challenges, particularly to the oilsands, are from green lobbyists who, along with some Congress members are trying to undo the plans to build pipelines from Alberta to the Texas Gulf and the British Columbia coasts.

The province is also dealing with sizable budget deficits. Also lumber and gas prices are low and housing starts as well as home prices are flat. Migration into the province is just starting to recover. Even so, Craig Wright, who is with RBC Capital Markets, expects Alberta to have Canada’s best growth figures in 2011.  Fort McMurray is a positive example of this, with housing starts and other building projects already approved and underway.

The last space shuttle came in for its last landing in the latter part of July. That in itself is a sad fact. Now it looks like the International Space Station will be ending its orbits in the year 2020. This appears to be one of those put the cart before the horse moments.

Had the shuttle program been kept in operation until the end of the space station, pieces of that station would have been brought back to earth and placed in museums or on display at space centers around the globe. Nope. Not going to happen. Just like the Russian’s Mir space station, which fell to earth in 2001, the International Space Station is headed for a watery grave. That is, what is left of it after a fiery re-entry into the earth’s atmosphere.

According to the Russian space agency’s Vitaly Davydov, it is not possible to leave the station in orbit because of its size and because parts of it may break off and create space rubbish. Instead it will head for an ocean where it will become underwater earth rubbish. It would be nice if the trajectory landed the space station in fairly shallow water. It could become an artificial reef and an underwater condo for marine creatures. If the water is shallow enough it could become an interesting dive site for lovers of all things SCUBA.
But the governments are in charge and common sense hasn’t been their strong suit lately. Don’t hold your breath. These are the people that scuttled the shuttle, (the horse), before they decided to retire the space station (the cart).