One of two new digital advertising signs installed by the St. Albert Chamber of Commerce is up and running, with the second to follow shortly.
Past chair Charlene Zoltenko confirmed the new sign located at St. Albert Trail and Hebert Road is officially lit. The second sign, at the city’s north end on the trail, has been installed but still requires a little work to hook up power.
“We are working with Fortis and it’s coming,” Zoltenko said. She anticipated it would take another week to 10 days before the sign was ready to go.
Zoltenko said all the feedback she has received to date has been positive.
“The people I’ve talked to, I think it’s been positive and they are really welcoming it,” she said. “Even just the general public have said that it looks nice.”
Zoltenko admitted she spent some time this week just watching the sign in action.
“It looks really good. I’m really proud of it,” she said.
She said space is still available for any retailers interested in advertising on either sign. Businesses should call the chamber at 780-458-2833 if they have questions.
The number of people in the Edmonton area applying for employment insurance continues to drop despite national trends showing little movement in the month-to-month numbers.
According to Statistics Canada, the number of beneficiaries in the Edmonton region dropped by 7,700 people or 37.7 per cent in the 12 months leading up to November, the last month for which statistics are available.
The trend appears to be province-wide as 11 of the province’s 12 largest centres had fewer beneficiaries during that period. Besides Edmonton, large decreases were noted Grande Prairie, Calgary, Cold Lake, Red Deer and Lethbridge.
The municipal trends stand in contrast to provincial and national trends, where the number of claims and beneficiaries has dropped only slightly. In total, four provinces saw fewer people receiving regular EI benefits — P.E.I., Ontario, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador — while B.C. and Quebec saw 1.2 and 0.7 per cent increases respectively.
Nationally, the number of Canadians receiving regular EI benefits remained unchanged at 539,000 people. That total is still significantly lower than the peak of approximately 825,000 claimants nationwide in the early months of 2009. Besides some small spikes in the latter parts of 2009 and 2010, the number has been falling steadily since.
Roughly half of Canadians told a recent Harris/Decima poll commissioned by CIBC that they do not feel they are financially ready to retire.
In total, 44 per cent of Canadians between the ages of 25 to 64 said they don’t feel they are ready, according to the survey. The number was highest in the 35-44 demographic, with 29 per cent feeling unprepared but the most significant statistic was the number of baby boomers (aged 55 to 64) — 31 per cent— who said they don’t feel prepared. Many baby boomers also said they are starting to feel pressure to save because they feel that time is “running out” for them to save.
But it’s whether or not individuals have a long-term plan in place that dictates how comfortable they feel that they will be ready when retirement comes, the poll suggests. Of those surveyed, only 53 per cent said they have a long-term investment plan for retirement. But of that subset, 76 per cent said they felt financially ready for retirement, compared to just 25 per cent of those who do not have a plan.
“Our poll results reveal a split in the country when it comes to retirement, with those who are actively planning ahead about three times more likely to feel prepared for their future retirement than those who have not yet mapped out their retirement strategy,” said Chrstina Kramer of CIBC.
The poll also revealed that individuals aged 45 to 64 named retirement planning as their top priority for 2012.
