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Alberta reports record-breaking 30 COVID-19 deaths – CBC.ca

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Alberta recorded 30 COVID-19 deaths Thursday, the highest number ever reported on a single day, prompting the province’s top health official to reflect on the “heartbreaking” number and the importance of following restrictions.

“This is a heartbreaking figure,” Dr. Deena Hinshaw, the province’s chief medical officer of health, said Thursday at a news conference. “While these deaths did not all occur yesterday, this is the highest figure that I have had the sad task of reporting. 

“If anyone still needs reminding of the seriousness of this virus, of the importance of the restrictions that are currently in place, and the importance of doing everything possible to limit our interactions and break the chains of transmission, this is it,” Hinshaw said.

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“There are now 790 Albertans who have died as a result of COVID-19.”

The province reported 1,571 new cases over the 24-hour period that ended at midnight Wednesday. There were 763 people being treated in Alberta hospitals for the illness, including 138 in ICU beds.

There were 19,865 active cases as of Wednesday, the first time that total has dropped below 20,000 since Dec. 5.

The regional breakdown of active cases was:

  • Edmonton zone: 9,525
  • Calgary zone: 7,043
  • Central zone: 1,462
  • North zone: 1,214
  • South zone: 541
  • Unknown: 80  

Laboratories completed 19,800 more tests, for a positivity rate of 7.9 per cent.

‘We can and must celebrate differently’

Hinshaw noted that seasonal holidays are about a week away and reminded the public to follow the restrictions put in place by the province.

“This year we can and must celebrate differently,” she said. “Holiday gatherings with people outside of your household are not only against the restrictions that are in place, they are also the wrong thing to do right now.”

The safest way for people to celebrate this year is within their own household, or with two designated close contacts for those who live alone, Hinshaw said. 

“I want to be clear that the compassionate choice is to follow the rules. It may not seem like a big deal to get together with your extended family or group of friends. If you all feel fine, you may think that there is no risk of catching COVID-19 or passing it on to others. But that is simply wrong.”

Hinshaw said there have been many examples of people attending gatherings when they have mild symptoms such as headaches or stuffy noses that they didn’t connect with COVID-19, or were infectious and didn’t know it.

“The result has been one case spreading to many,” she said. “That is how cases rise and outbreaks start. These orders are not recommendations. They are legal restrictions, and for them to be effective we need everyone to do their part. Thank you to all those who are changing plans and finding joy in different ways this year.”

During her update, Hinshaw said as of Wednesday evening 394 health-care workers had received their first doses of vaccine.

“I know that many people want to be vaccinated immediately, and that is a good thing,” she said. “There are about 4.4 million Albertans. It will take time to get enough vaccine to offer to everyone who wants it.

“Please be patient while we all wait for our turn, and be supportive of those who are in the initial groups to be immunized.”

The distribution plan will begin with critical health-care and long-term care workers and residents in continuing care.

“These are people who are most at risk, and who are putting themselves in harm’s way every day,” she said.

Public health teams fanning out

The Alberta government announced this week that public health teams will fan out across the hardest hit parts of Edmonton and Calgary to help residents try to slow the spread of COVID-19.

The province identified 11 areas with high transmission rates where those efforts will concentrate, nine in Edmonton and two that cover all of northeast Calgary (east of the Deerfoot Trail)

Here’s what case numbers look like in those areas, according to the latest update:

  • Calgary, Upper Northeast, 1,305.5 cases per 100,000 population, and 1,501 active cases
  • Calgary, Lower Northeast, 760.1 cases per 100,000 population, and 732 active cases
  • Edmonton, Northeast, 904.4 cases per 100,000 population, and 804 active cases
  • Edmonton, Northgate, 821.6 cases per 100,000 population, and 677 active cases
  • Edmonton, Castle Downs, 769.9 cases per 100,000 population, and 543 active cases
  • Edmonton, Woodcroft West, 676.9 cases per 100,000 population, and 684 active cases
  • Edmonton, Woodcroft East, 756.9 cases per 100,000 population, and 457 active cases
  • Edmonton, Jasper Place, 828.6 cases per 100,000 population, and 390 active cases
  • Edmonton, Eastwood, 957.3 cases per 100,000 population, and 695 active cases
  • Edmonton, Abbottsfield, 729 cases per 100,000 population, and 106 active cases
  • Edmonton, Mill Woods West, 895.9 cases per 100,000 population, and 548 active cases

For comparison sake, here are four other urban areas in Alberta:

  • City of Lethbridge, 206.1 cases per 100,000, and 204 active cases.
  • City of Medicine Hat, 124.9 cases per 100,000, and 85 active cases.
  • City of Red Deer, 393.6 cases per 100,000, and 417 active cases.
  • City of Grande Prairie, 162.8 cases per 100,000, and 120 active cases.

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Calgary breaks all-time record in housing starts but increasing demand keeps inventory low – CBC.ca

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Soaring housing demands in Calgary led to an all-time record for new residential builds last year, but inventory levels of completed and unsold units remained low due to demand outpacing supply.

According to the latest report from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), total housing starts increased by 13 per cent in Calgary, reaching a total of 19,579 units with growth across all dwelling types in the city.

That compares to a decline of 0.5 per cent overall for housing starts in the six major Canadian cities surveyed by CMHC.

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Calgary also had the highest housing starts by population.

“Part of the reason why we think that might have happened is that developers are responding to low vacancies in the rental market,” said Adebola Omosola, a housing economics specialist with CMHC.

“The population of Calgary is still growing, a record number of people moved here last year, and we still expect that to remain at least in the short term.”

Earlier this year, the Calgary Real Estate Board also predicted that demand, especially for rental apartments, wouldn’t let up any time soon. 

Industry can cope with demand, expert says

According to numbers from the report, average construction times were higher in 2023 for all dwelling types except for apartments.

The agency’s report suggests the increase in the number of under-construction residential projects might mean builders are operating at or near full capacity.

However, there’s optimism the construction industry can match the increasing need.

Brian Hahn, CEO of BILD Calgary Region, said despite concerns around about construction costs, project timelines and labour shortages, the industry has kept up with the demand for new builds.

Demand is expected to remain robust, but the construction industry can keep up, according to BILD Calgary region CEO Brian Hahn.
Demand is expected to remain robust, but the construction industry can keep up, according to BILD Calgary Region chief executive officer Brian Hahn. (Shaun Best/Reuters)

“I’ve heard that kind of conversation at the end of 2022 and I heard it in 2023,” Hahn said.

“Yet here we are early in 2024, and January and February were record numbers again.”

Hahn added he believes the current pace of construction will continue for at least the next six months and that the industry is looking at initiatives to attract more people to the trades.

Increase in row house and apartment construction

Construction growth was largely driven by new apartment projects, making up almost half of the housing starts in Calgary in 2023.

The federal housing agency says 9,034 apartment units were started that year, an increase of 17 per cent from the previous year. Of those, about 54 per cent were purpose-built rentals.

Apartments made up around two-thirds of all units under construction, CMHC said, with the total number of units under construction reaching 23,473.

Growth, however, was seen across all dwelling types. Row homes increased by 34 per cent from the previous year while groundbreaking on single-detached homes grew by two per cent.

“Notwithstanding challenges, our members and the industry counterparts that support them managed to produce a record amount of starts and completions,” Hahn said.

“I have little doubt that the industry will do their very best to keep pace at those levels.”

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Ottawa real estate: House starts down, apartments up in 2023 – CTV News Ottawa

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Rental housing dominated construction in Ottawa last year, according to a new report from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).

Residential construction declined significantly in 2023, with housing starts dropping to 9,245 units, a 19.5 per cent decline from the record high observed in 2022. But while single-detached and row housing starts fell compared to 2022, new construction for rental units and condominiums rose.

“There’s been a shift toward rental construction over the past two years. Rental housing starts made up nearly one third of total starts in 2023, close to double the average of the previous five years,” the report stated.

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Apartment starts reached their highest level since the 1970s.

“The trend toward rental and condominium apartment construction follows increased demand in these market segments due to population growth, households looking for affordable options, and some seniors downsizing to smaller units,” the CMHC said.

Demand from international migration and students, the high cost of home ownership, and people moving to Ottawa from other parts of Ontario were the main drivers for rental housing starts in 2023. The CMHC says rental and condominium apartment starts made up 63 per cent of total starts in 2023, compared to the average of 37 per cent for the period 2018-2022.

There was a modest increase in rental housing starts in 2023 over the record-high seen the year prior and a jump in new condominiums. The report shows 5,846 new apartments were built in Ottawa last year, up 2.1 per cent compared to 2022.

Housing starts in Ottawa by year. (CMHC)

Big demand for condos

The CMHC said condo starts reached a new high in 2023, increasing 3 per cent from 2022 numbers.

“As of the end of 2023, there were only 13 completed and unsold condominium units, highlighting continued demand for new units,” the CMHC said.

Condominum starts increased in areas such as Chinatown, Hintonburg, Vanier and Alta Vista, as well as some suburban areas like Kanata, Stittsville, and western Orléans. Condo apartment construction declined in denser parts of the city like downtown, Lowertown and Centretown, the report says.

Taller buildings are also becoming more common, as the cranes dotting the skyline can attest. The CMHC notes that buildings with more than 20 storeys accounted for nearly 10 per cent of apartment structure starts in 2022 and 2023, compared to an average of 2 per cent over the 2017-2021 period. The number of units per building also rose 7 per cent compared to 2022.

Apartment building heights in Ottawa by year. (CMHC)

Single-detached home construction down significantly

The number of new single-detached homes built in Ottawa last year was the lowest level seen in the city since the mid 1990s, CMHC said.

“The Ottawa area experienced a slowdown in residential construction in 2023, driven by a significant decline in single-detached and row housing starts,” the CMHC said.

Single-detached housing starts were down 45 per cent compared to 2022. Row house starts dropped by 38 per cent compared to 2022, marking a third year of declines in a row.

“Demand for single-detached and row houses also declined in 2023. Higher mortgage rates and home prices have led to a shift in demand toward more affordable rental and condominium units,” the report said.

There were 1,535 single-detached housing starts in Ottawa last year, 208 new semi-detached homes and 1,678 new row houses.

The majority of single-detached and row housing starts were built in suburban communities such as Barrhaven, Stittsville, Kanata, Orléans and rural parts of the city.

“Increased construction costs resulting from higher financing rates and inflation that occurred in 2022 and 2023 contributed to the decline in construction in the region,” the CMHC said. 

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Trump’s media company ticker leads to fleeting windfall for some investors

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Open this photo in gallery:

A man looks at a screen that displays trading information about shares of Truth Social and Trump Media & Technology Group, outside the Nasdaq Market site in New York City, U.S., March 26.Brendan McDermid/Reuters

Possible confusion over the new stock symbol for former President Donald Trump’s Truth Social (DJT-Q) saw some investor brokerage balances briefly jump by hundreds of thousands of dollars on Tuesday, the first day Trump’s “DJT” ticker traded.

Several people complained on social media about briefly seeing the value of their DJT stock holdings on Charles Schwab platforms inflated to figures more in line with what they would be worth if the shares traded at the level of the Dow Jones Transportation Average.

Some users said they faced a similar issue in pre-market hours on Morgan Stanley’s E*Trade trading platform.

Shares of Trump Media & Technology Group opened Tuesday at $70.90, while the Dow Jones Transportation Average started the session at 15,937.73 points.

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For one trader, the Schwab brokerage balance jumped by more than $1 million due to the error, according to a screen grab shared on social media platform X. Reuters was unable to contact the trader or independently verify the brokerage balance.

“It sure was nice seeing millions in the account, even if it wasn’t real,” another person, going by the username @DanielBenjamin8, who faced the issue in his E*Trade account, posted on X.

Two X users and one on Reddit surmised that the inflated balances were due to the ticker symbol for the company being nearly identical to the index.

A spokeswoman for Charles Schwab said that certain users on some of Schwab’s trading platforms saw their brokerage balances briefly inflated due to a technical issue.

The issue has been resolved and investors are able to trade equities and options on Schwab platforms, she said. Schwab declined to describe the exact cause of the issue.

E*Trade did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside of regular business hours.

Trump Media & Technology Group and S&P Dow Jones Indices, which maintains the Dow Jones Transportation Average Index, did not immediately comment on the issue.

While social media users said the issue appeared to have been resolved, many rued not being able to cash out their supposed gains from the error.

“I better go tell my boss that I’m actually not retiring,” the trader whose account balance had briefly jump by more than $1 million, wrote on X.

Trump Media & Technology Group shares surged more than 36% on Tuesday in their debut on the Nasdaq that comes more than two years since its merger with a blank-check firm was announced.

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