Enterprise Saskatchewan

Carlyle
Dunn Transport, a family owned business started in 1951, is constructing a new building to accommodate the growth of the business. It is to be finished by the end of this year. (Carlyle Observer, February 26, 2010)

The Flower Focus held a grand opening. (Carlyle Observer, February 26, 2010)

Cornerstone Childcare Co-operative has closed their doors. (Carlyle Observer, February 19, 2010)

Estevan
Kramer Ltd., a company with offices in Swift Current, Tisdale, Kindersley, North Battleford, Regina and Estevan, was named as one Canada’s 50 Best Managed Companies. (Estevan Mercury, February 24, 2010)

Redvers
Redvers Activity Life Lease Estates Inc. is planning the construction of a life lease condominium. The building would consist of 12 two bedroom condos. (Redvers Optimist, February 27, 2010)

Weyburn
The city held an open house to present a range of concepts for the former Souris Valley Hospital grounds. The concepts include an acute care hospital, residential area, and institutional and or recreation facility. (Weyburn Review, March 3, 2010)

Bar Engineering has opened an office in the city. Oil and gas are the primary focus of the new business. (Weyburn Review, March 3, 2010)

NorAmera Technologies Inc. (NTI) is in final planning for construction of a $6 million project that would generate energy by burning flax straw and specified risk material (SRM). The NTI facility would provide heat to the NorAmera Bio Energy ethanol plant and would also benefit from destroying SRMs, which are animal offal. Construction of the new facility needs to be substantially complete by the end of March in order to meet program requirements for a federal/provincial incentive related to SRM handling and disposal. (Weyburn Review, March 3, 2010)

Belle Plaine
Potash One has submitted an environmental impact statement to Saskatchewan Environment for its proposed $1.9 billion Legacy Potash Solution mine, near Belle Plaine. The final decision on environmental approval is expected before the end of 2010. (Moose Jaw Times Herald, March 2, 2010)

Chaplin
Saskatchewan Minerals Inc. which is a world leader in the production of sodium sulphate, was named as one of Canada’s 50 Best Managed Companies for 2009. This national award program honors Canadian private companies that demonstrate the highest levels of business excellence. (Saskatchewan Press Release, Saskatchewan Minerals Inc., February 16, 2010)

Moose Jaw
Moose Jaw City Council has laid the foundation for more affordable housing in our city. The council appointed and approved the city’s first-ever Housing Advisory Committee. There were 14 people appointed to the committee, which will come up with recommendations for council when it comes to affordable housing, social housing and other items that deal with the housing market. (www.discovermoosejaw.com, February 24, 2010)

Riverview Collegiate and the Moose Jaw Transition House officially became partners for the Transition House outreach program which was looking for a new space outside of the shelter. (Moose Jaw Times Herald, March 3, 2010)

Goodsoil
Stan’s Autobody opened for business. Stan Schroeder is the owner. (Beaver River Banner, March 3, 2010)

North Battleford
BATC has been awarded $3.46 million from the Federal Government to address landfill problems/issues on member First Nations. The project includes construction of solid waste transfer stations on the Sweetgrass, Moosomin, Saulteaux and Red Pheasant First Nations. (Daily News Online – North Battleford, February 25, 2010)

Ulmer Chev Olds Dealership will become the new Hyundai Dealership for the Battlefords. This change comes following General Motor’s bankruptcy and decision not to renew Ulmer’s franchise. Owner, Ross Ulmer, says they have been able to retain 90 percent of the staff and are looking forward to this new opportunity. (Daily News Online, March 3, 2010)

Nipawin
Andres Cleaners Ltd., owners Bruce and Miriam Jacobs, received the Achievement in Business Excellence (ABEX) Heritage Award at the Nipawin and District Chamber of Commerce annual president’s dinner and awards night in January. (The Nipawin Journal, February 24, 2010)

Dairy Queen owners, Cathy and John Ukrainetz, received the Achievement in Business Excellence (ABEX) Retail Award at Nipawin and District Chamber of Commerce annual president’s dinner and awards night in January. (The Nipawin Journal, February 18, 2010)

Prince Albert
The city, provincial and national representatives participated in a sod turning at the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) Prince Albert’s branch housing complex for young persons with disabilities. The apartment building, will have two units with two bedrooms and six with one bedroom. Funding of $679,500 was made available for the initiative through Canada’s Economic Action Plan. Money from Homelessness Partnering Strategy, Saskatchewan Housing, City of Prince Albert and the Prince Albert branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association have also been combined to complete the $1.2 million project. (Prince Albert Daily Herald, February 27, 2010)

River Bank Development Corp. held the official opening of the 10 new units of affordable rental houses created by the . (Prince Albert Daily Herald, February 27, 2010)

Wynyard
Markham, Ontario based Sofina Foods Inc. is acquiring Lilydale Inc. in a deal worth over $130 million. Representatives of both Lilydale and Sofina say the proposed transaction will bring very few changes to Wynyard’s Lilydale poultry processing plant. (The Advance Gazette, February 22, 2010)

Fort Qu’Appelle
The Fort Qu’Appelle Takin’ Care of Business trade show and sale will take place on April 17th and 18th at the Fort Qu’Appelle Rexentre. (The Fort Qu’Appelle Times, March 2, 2010)

Regina
Dad’s Organic Market, located on Victoria Avenue, opened for business. The owners, Ann and Carl Dyck, opened their first Organic Market in Saskatoon in 1989. The grand opening of the Regina location will be March 25th. (Leader Post, February 24, 2010)

The Stadium Study has been completed and it was determined that a 33,000 seat covered stadium would cost approximately $386.2 million or $431.2 million if the roof is retractable. It was determined that the stadium could operate successfully in downtown Regina. The report projects the stadium could have an annual cash operating surplus once up and running, and annual operations would have $30.6 million in direct and indirect GDP impact. The next phase will include a review of capital accumulation required. (Leader Post, March 2, 2010)

The Vintage Tea Room, which gives residents the taste of Britain, has opened. Karen and Doug Howden decided to pursue their dream of opening a tea and coffee shop upon retirement. The Vintage Tea Room is located on Broad Street. (The Leader Post, March 3, 2010)

A record high for selling prices of homes was set in Regina in February. Statistics released by the Association of Regina Realtors indicate the average selling price of homes in Regina and the nearby metropolitan area was $263,753 in February. That February average was also the record for any month in the history of the Multiple Listing Service System. (The Leader Post, March 4, 2010)

White City
With all the developments such as, Stone Point Estates, West View Place, Garden of Eden and Crawford Estates, occurring in White City and vicinity, the area is booming. Currently the combined population of the three towns and surrounding RM is estimated to be between 8,000 and 9,000. Predictions peg the population to be approximately 25,000 in the next 10 to 20 years. Much of that new population could come from Clear Vistas, south of White City, a proposed development which could eventually house as many as 10,000 people. Many residents are hoping to see a permanent RCMP detachment and a new elementary school. Since the start of the 2006 school year, enrolment at White City’s elementary school has jumped 23 per cent to 463. (Leader Post, February 27, 2010)

Three Saskatoon businesses have once again been included on a list of Canada's 50 Best Managed Companies. Concentra Financial, Walker Seeds Ltd. and West Wind Aviation have proven sound business practices and innovative value-creation methods to the judges of the Deloitte, CIBC, National Post and Queen's school of business-sponsored program. (Star Phoenix, February 19, 2010)

Members of the Greater Saskatoon Chamber of Commerce have elected a new board of directors for 2010. Newly elected are Debby Criddle, Nathan Flaman and Stacey White. The incoming president is Brian Chalmers. The 2010 board of directors also includes Tracy Arno, Gerry Bonsal, Christian Braid, Bill Brooks, Troy Davies, Lynn Hnatick, Monica Kreuger, Troy Larmer, Jamie McIntyre, Rhonda Speiss, Melanie Stroh, Tammy Van Lambalgen and Stacey White. (Star Phoenix, February 23, 2010)

Living Sky Winery, is the first of its kind in the Saskatoon area and one of the first artisan wineries in Western Canada. Just a 30-minute drive west of Saskatoon, it has begun production on a range of wines from local fruit, the majority of which is grown in 10 acres of orchard they cultivate on their property. Echlin and Lester had careers in Saskatoon when they bought their quarter-section of land in 2003 to raise horses, grow hay and enjoy the country lifestyle. Their orchard was planted later and was designed to produce fruit that would make the best quality wines. (Star Phoenix, February 23, 2010)

A new program at one of the province's major post-secondary educational institutions has coordinators hoping to help aboriginal students achieve success. Officials with the Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Science and Technology (SIAST) unveiled their new aboriginal student achievement plan (ASAP) at SIAST's Kelsey campus in Saskatoon. (Star Phoenix, February 24, 2010)

The City of Saskatoon has awarded an $11.5 million contract to Hamm Construction to build a pipeline under the South Saskatchewan River to connect the new water intake facility with the water treatment plant. The supply main is part of the $45 million intake facility, which is under construction on a massive dam outside the city. The pipeline is due to be completed in March 2011. (Star Phoenix, March 2, 2010)

The president of Novozymes Biologicals Inc. said its Saskatoon branch is cultivating the right conditions to catalyze its growth. Ted Melnik, who is visiting the city from company headquarters in Salem, Virginia, said since Novozymes purchased Saskatoon's Philom Bios for $25.6 million in 2007, the company has hired several additional employees, invested $5 million in capital and has opened a new production facility. The Saskatoon branch is the headquarters of the company's BioAg Group, providing the base for the creation of crop inoculants that use live microbes to promote crop yield. (Star Phoenix, March 2, 2010)

A drop in the price of gasoline and cautionary consumer spending led to a nearly $2 billion drop in sales for Federated Co-operatives Ltd. (FCL) in 2009. Saskatoon-based FCL recorded sales of $6.5 billion last year, $341 million of which will go back to its member owners and individual Co-op members. In 2008, the company noted sales worth $8.4 billion, giving back nearly $524 million to its retail and individual members. (Star Phoenix, March 2, 2010)

The Creative Industries Flexible Loan Program, a $1.15 million initiative of the Saskatchewan Arts Board and the Ministry of Tourism, Parks, Culture and Sport, was announced. The program is designed to increase the entrepreneurial and economic capacity of artists, businesses and non-profit organizations in the craft, music and sound recording, publishing and visual arts sectors. The loan program offers short-term, low-interest, demand loans of up to $25,000 for eligible commercial-sector activity. Applications are approved based on a viable business plan. (Regina Leader Post, March 3, 2010)

Office space in downtown Saskatoon has grown to a size large enough to fill one of the world's biggest fine art museums. According to a new office market report released Thursday by Colliers McClocklin, the city has reached a record two million square feet of office space in the downtown core which is the same amount of area covered by New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art. Saskatoon is in a strong position to accommodate new business to the downtown core as additional office space enters the market. This is a welcome change after experiencing restrictive vacancy levels. (Star Phoenix, March 5, 2010)

NEW BUSINESSES:

Snap Fitness, owner Anne-Marie Cey. (Star Phoenix, February 20, 2010)
H67 Donair, owners Malik Kashif and Mohammad Hanif. (Star Phoenix, February 20, 2010)
Satisfaction Hearing Systems Ltd., owner Gerard Marcoux. (Star Phoenix, February 20, 2010)
Nagoya Japanese Restaurant, owners Janet Chung and Richie Wang. (Star Phoenix, February 27, 2010)
Tiny Treasures Designs, owner Lynette Lemieux-Shinkaruk. (Star Phoenix, February 27, 2010)

Kerrobert
The developer hoping to bring a new condo development to town believes there is the right kind of interest in town to continue to pursue the opportunity. More than a dozen people showed up for a meeting to discuss the project. The next step will be to round up any people interested and take them on a walk through of a unit in Macklin or Wilkie. (Kerrobert Citizen, February 10, 2010)

Kyle
The Villa on Main has opened in the old Kyle Bakery building. Tony, Danny and Christie Hannouch are the partners. (The Kyle Times, February 19, 2010)

Maple Creek
Members of Southwest Co-operative have voted against amalgamating with Pioneer Co-operative. (Maple Creek News, February 25, 2010)

Cypress Hills Vineyard and Winery has been recognized as a tourism hot-spot, as it was nominated as a finalist for a Saskatchewan Tourism Award of Excellence. The winery was chosen by the Southwest Tourism Association to be a contender in the Business of the Year under 50 Full-time Employees section. The winery received 19,000 visitors last summer. (www.maplecreeknews.com, March 4, 2010)

The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce celebrated 50 years of being part of the Maple Creek community. (Maple Creek Times, March 4, 2010)

Rosetown
The Rosetown Eagle turned 100 years old in December. (The Rosetown Eagle, February 22, 2010)

Southwest
Several projects in the southwest will be benefitting from the Provincial government’s infrastructure funding including water treatment projects in Climax and Lac Pelletier, the Sask Landing Regional Water Pipeline Project and a new water system in the hamlet of Meyronne. (www.swiftcurrentonline.com, March 3, 2010)

A workshop was co-hosted by Semi-Prairie Arid Research Centre (SPARC) and Southwest Enterprise Region to strengthen the link between science, technology and economic development in the region. (www.swiftcurrentonline.com, March 5, 2010)

Swift Current
Eleven building permits were issued for a total value of $1,688.045 in the City of Swift Current for the Month of February 2010. (City of Swift Current, February 2010)

According to a survey by the Swift Current and District Chamber of Commerce 96 percent of members expect the regional economy to grow or stay the same. When it comes to the provincial economy, 94 percent of those surveyed expect the economy to grow or stay the same. (The Southwest Booster, February 25, 2010)

It has been four months since Swanberg Air started flights in and out of the Swift Current Airport. They are reporting that the first few months have been good. A lot of flights have held three or four people which is an acceptable amount with a split between personal and business passengers. (www.swiftcurrentonline.com, March 2, 2010)

The Swift Current and District Chamber of Commerce held their Annual General Meeting and appointed a new Chairman. Curtis Wiebe takes over as Chair from Jason Regier. He says he is looking forward to the new role, saying the Chamber has a great board and executive and he is looking forward to serving the business community in Swift Current. (www.swiftcurrentonline.com, March 4, 2010)

Broadview
The recently formed Broadview and District Health Foundation’s main focus is finding new Doctors. The non-profit organization is also looking at obtaining a dialysis unit for Broadview. (The Broadview Express, March 1, 2010)

Canora
The Canora Economic Development Commission (EDC) has been revived and an interim executive was elected. The commission is looking at creating its own strategic plan, outlying goals and priorities for the commission. (The Canora Courier, March 3, 2010)

Grenfell
Nathan Bender and Van Bot have taken over the Last Chance Saloon. They are also looking at opening the restaurant as well. The Granite Bar and Grill expects to hold an official grand opening on April 10, 2010. (The Grenfell Sun, March 1, 2010)

Yorkton
A local food seminar hosted by Saskatchewan Agriculture was held in February. Trends Affecting Consumers by CJ Katz, founder of Savour Life Magazine, indicated one of the biggest trends is to know more about where food comes from, indicating Farmer’s Markets are a good fit. Matt Lucas also gave a presentation on web marketing, and how Internet social networking is a useful marketing tool. (Yorkton This Week, February 24, 2010)

Maira Waelchli has opened up Florissima Flowers and Plants. (Yorkton This Week, February 24, 2010)

Harvest Meats, based in Yorkton, was chosen as part of the Saskatchewan Pavilion at the Olympic Games in Vancouver. Harvest is the number one hot dog in Saskatchewan and number two in Western Canada. They are also the sponsors for the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers. Their products are now being distributed at Costco stores throughout Canada. (Yorkton This Week, February 24, 2010)

The 2nd Annual Employment Fair, Working Together, will be held on March 5, 2010. The fair is hosted by Parkland College, Career and Employment Services, Ministry of Advanced Education, Employment and Labour, Yorkton Dreambuilders, Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technology and Yorkton Tribal Council. (Yorkton This Week, March 3, 2010)