The Official Saint John, NB Project Thread

[nwalbert]

Pretty interesting article in the CBC this morning.....



McKenna says Irving could refine western crude
Build pipeline to Saint John

Alberta oil companies should look east to refine their petroleum, former New Brunswick premier Frank McKenna says.

In a recent op-ed piece in the Financial Post, McKenna suggests a pipeline to Saint John could process Alberta oil at the Irving Refinery — given difficulties with the Keystone XL pipeline out west.

In the article, McKenna said Canada should avoid putting "all of our oil into one basket."

With the extension to the American Keystone pipeline extension up in the air and delays to the Alberta-B.C. Northern Gateway project, McKenna said it's time to consider a pipeline out east.

Additions to Irving's refinery plant could handle the crude from Alberta's oil sands, said McKenna, who is deputy chairman of the TD Bank Group and member of the board of directors of Canadian Natural Resources Ltd.

"A new line could be built from Montreal to Saint John. One East Coast refinery, the Irving Refinery of Saint John, is the largest refinery in Canada and the largest refinery on the East Coast. It is capable of using heavy oil at the present time and with the addition of a coker could process raw bitumen into synthetic crude oil." he wrote in the Financial Post.

Carolyn Van der Veen, director of public affairs for Irving Oil, said it could possibly be done.

"We've processed Canadian crude in the past and may do so in the future if logistics are viable,” she said.

Edward Kallic, of Ziff Energy Group in Calgary, said the demand to refine the oil is there, but a pipeline out east would not be the first option.

"I wouldn't think that building a big line into the east coast is going to be economically viable,” he said.

Kallic said the oil sands production is exploding. Canada produces over 2.5 million barrels a day and that number will double by 2020.

[Alberta Bound]

Originally Posted by nwalbert

...oil sands...

Perfect. Even the thought of processing oil sands bitumen in New Brunswick will divert peoples attention long enough that we can get at that shale gas.

[Gnarly]

"McKenna says Irving could refine western crude
Build pipeline to Saint John

Alberta oil companies should look east to refine their petroleum, former
Edward Kallic, of Ziff Energy Group in Calgary, said the demand to refine the oil is there, but a pipeline out east would not be the first option.

"I wouldn't think that building a big line into the east coast is going to be economically viable,” he said."

I suggested this about 6 months ago....and the pipeline would only be about 200 miles further than the planned route to Texas....got to be worth it to keep all the jobs in Canada.

[mylesmalley]

It would certainly be worth looking at.

It might be a bit longer, but terrain-wise, it is considerably different than the route to Texas.

The Prairies are easy, obviously, but Northern Ontario would certainly pose some serious difficulties because the whole place is swamp and rock. To save a lot of distance, you'd also have to cut across Maine, which might cause issues over shipping oil through the USA with no benefit to Americans. Then there's the Appalachians. Going down to Texas means you're in dry plains and low hills pretty much the entire distance.

[Taeolas]

Plus, I can't see a route doing that and not raising ire in Sarnia and Quebec for bypassing the refineries that are/were there, even if those refineries can't process those fuels.

[ErickMontreal]

Metropolitan Outlook 1: Economic Insights into 13 Canadian Metropolitan Economies: Winter 2012

The Conference Board of Canada, 92 pages, January 2012
Report by Alan Arcand, Mario Lefebvre, Jane McIntyre, Greg Sutherland, Robin Wiebe

This publication focuses on the metropolitan economies of Halifax, Quebec City, Montreal, Ottawa-Gatineau, Toronto, Hamilton, Winnipeg, Regina, Saskatoon, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, and Victoria.
Document Highlights

Document Highlights

• Maturing offshore oil wells and weaker construction will limit GDP growth in St. John’s to 0.7 per cent in 2012.
• Weaker construction will offset stronger services activity in Saint John in 2012, leading to 1.8 per cent GDP growth.
• Saguenay’s economy will expand by 1.5 per cent this year as services sector growth accelerates.
• Work at the Gentilly-2 nuclear reactor will help boost GDP growth in Trois-Rivières by 2.6 per cent in 2012.
• Stronger manufacturing but weaker construction will lead to 1.8 per cent GDP growth in Sherbrooke in 2012.
• Weakness in construction will limit Kingston’s economic growth to 1.5 per cent in 2012.
• Auto manufacturing will fuel overall economic growth of 2.7 per cent in Oshawa this year.
• A drop in construction output will restrict economic growth in St. Catharines–Niagara to 1.4 per cent in 2012.
• Manufacturing growth will support GDP growth of 2.5 per cent in 2012 in the Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo area.
• A contraction in construction output will restrict GDP growth in London to 1.7 per cent in 2012.
• The Windsor–Essex Parkway project will help spur overall economic growth of 2.5 per cent in Windsor in 2012.
• Moderate growth in mining and construction will result in GDP growth of 2 per cent in Greater Sudbury this year.
• Thunder Bay’s GDP will rise 1.7 per cent in 2012, as the struggling manufacturing sector stabilizes.
• Stronger manufacturing activity will help lift economic growth in Abbotsford–Mission to 2.5 per cent in 2012.

http://www.conferenceboard.ca/e-Library/...&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=elibrelated

The Saint John Board of Trade making a big push to land Porter Airlines.

Board of Trade President Imelda Gilman tells CHSJ News there's a good reason why.........The more options for flying there are, there better it is for businesspeople also also with more options, you might also see better pricing.

A social media campaign has been launched with Saint Johnners encouraged to sign up and demonstrate to the airline the level of interest at www.flyporter.com.

The Board of Trade is also trying to get the fifty top employers in the city to write to the airline.

Enterprise Saint John and Destination Saint John are also involved in the campaign.

http://country94news.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2012-01-12T05:00:00-04:00

[ErickMontreal]

Saint Hubert Express - Saint John

We are hiring over 40 employees for the grand opening of the new St-Hubert Express Restaurant on February 14 in East Saint John. The restaurant is located on the corner of Westmorland and MacAllister Street.

http://saintjohn.kijiji.ca/c-jobs-bar-food-hospitality-St-Hubert-Express-W0QQAdIdZ345276207

[kwajo]

Nothing says "I love you" like a Valentine's Day dinner at the opening of an express rotisserie chicken chain

[ErickMontreal]

New Brunswick government sticking with Canadian Blood Services
Health Minister says province giving up bid to keep CBS from moving processing facility out of Saint John

FREDERICTON, N.B.- The Alward government is giving up its fight to keep Canadian Blood Services from moving blood processing work to Dartmouth.

Health Minister Madeleine Dube says the province will maintain its relationship with Canadian Blood Services because it's too risky to start its own blood agency.

Madeleine Dube says staying with the national system will provide safe, high-quality blood products that New Brunswickers can depend on.

The agency is keeping blood collection, storage and distribution in Saint John.

Dube says she's comfortable that the government did all it could to keep all the existing services of the blood agency in the
province.

She says she has received assurances from CBS that it would set up a national contact centre in Saint John.

http://www.news889.com/news/local/articl...nt-sticking-with-canadian-blood-services

[OliverD]

Great news. Starting our own blood services agency was a terrible idea to begin with.

[nwalbert]

Certainly disappointing as this move appears to put folks in New Brunswick and PEI at a higher risk. The Saint John regional hospital is the trauma center for both provinces and will have reduced access to blood in the event of a major crisis that required it.

From a purely economic standpoint I have mixed feelings. Clearly the call center will lead to a higher number of jobs, but this will certainly be less skilled and most likely also lower paying jobs following the trend seen throughout the province.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by nwalbert

Certainly disappointing as this move appears to put folks in New Brunswick and PEI at a higher risk. The Saint John regional hospital is the trauma center for both provinces and will have reduced access to blood in the event of a major crisis that required it.

Not to pick a fight, but despite the fact that the SJ Regional Hospital is a "level one trauma centre" and that the Moncton Hospital is a "level two trauma centre", I can absolutely guarantee you that more inter-regional trauma transfer cases end up in Moncton than in Saint John.

I am a physician working at the Moncton Hospital and we have a larger and more sophisticated neurosciences department with six neurosurgeons and the only neurointerventionist in the province. We also have a large orthopedic department with six orthopedic surgeons. We get virtually all the trauma transfers from the north and a good chunk from PEI. If the PEI trauma doesn't come here, it goes to Halifax and not Saint John.

The only reason why SJRH has the level one designation is because of cardithoracic surgery but this is only important in about 1% of trauma cases, and the last time that we had a traumatic aortic rupture here at the TMH, we fixed it ourselves (we have the largest interventional radiology program in the province, and one of our interventionists stabilized the aortic tear by inserting a stent graft). Also, we might not have cardiac surgeons but we do have the largest thoracic surgery and vascular surgery programs in the province at the TMH.

The capabilities of the Moncton Hospital for trauma care are every bit as good as the SJRH.

[nwalbert]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Not to pick a fight, but despite the fact that the SJ Regional Hospital is a "level one trauma centre" and that the Moncton Hospital is a "level two trauma centre", I can absolutely guarantee you that more inter-regional trauma transfer cases end up in Moncton than in Saint John.

I am a physician working at the Moncton Hospital and we have a larger and more sophisticated neurosciences department with six neurosurgeons and the only neurointerventionist in the province. We also have a large orthopedic department with six orthopedic surgeons. We get virtually all the trauma transfers from the north and a good chunk from PEI. If the PEI trauma doesn't come here, it goes to Halifax and not Saint John.

The only reason why SJRH has the level one designation is because of cardithoracic surgery but this is only important in about 1% of trauma cases, and the last time that we had a traumatic aortic rupture here at the TMH, we fixed it ourselves (we have the largest interventional radiology program in the province, and one of our interventionists stabilized the aortic tear by inserting a stent graft). Also, we might not have cardiac surgeons but we do have the largest thoracic surgery and vascular surgery programs in the province at the TMH.

The capabilities of the Moncton Hospital for trauma care are every bit as good as the SJRH.

Didn't mean to strike a nerve. Understand your pride in your place of employment.

At the end of day it is not good for NB that we lost the blood center that was next door to the Trauma center in Saint John which is responsible for NB and PEI.

[Gnarly]

"The capabilities of the Moncton Hospital for trauma care are every bit as good as the SJRH."

Oh please......MonctonRad......your showing your towns inferiority complex again...please tell the people on the Moncton board...cus we're not interested.

[michael_d40]

Originally Posted by Gnarly

"The capabilities of the Moncton Hospital for trauma care are every bit as good as the SJRH."

Oh please......MonctonRad......your showing your towns inferiority complex again...please tell the people on the Moncton board...cus we're not interested.

LOL - I was just thinking that as well Gnarly.

[mmmatt]

^ Well he does have a point though. While SJRH is the only level 1 trauma center in PEI and NB, really the majority of trauma cases from PEI, northeast NB and southeast NB are handled in Moncton...between TMH and the Dumont, Moncton has everything SJRH has except for the upper level cardiac stuff. We also have two air ambulances that fly from our airport and they are almost always in the air.

I don't understand why its automatically a fight / inferiority complex whenever someone corrects an error on here.

The facts are simple, why would an ambulance drive any further than it has to if it can be handled in Moncton?

Regarding CBS I think the outcome was our best option...they were moving one way or another. If we started our own it would have been much too costly, and we would have signifigantly reduced the variety of blood available...CBS is one of the best blood systems in the world and it would be foolish really to leave them. That being said it should not be leaving SJ in the first place, but that is clearly not a choice we have.

[nwalbert]

Originally Posted by mmmatt

inferiority complex whenever someone corrects an error on here.

The facts are simple, why would an ambulance drive any further than it has to if it can be handled in Moncton?

I think your missing the fact that there was NO ERROR. The Saint John Regional Hospital is the only accredited trauma hospital in the Maritimes outside of Halifax and the Government of New Brunswick has labeled it as the only Trauma 1 hospital in the province. These are facts.

The comment was that it is a shame to see the Saint john blood center close next to the Saint John hospital, and it was made on the Saint John forum.

Comparing that to the Moncton hospital for some reason and claiming "we are just good" screams of insecurity. I am sure some folks at the Moncton Hospital who do good work do feel some resentment that the Saint John hospital is considered by the province to be the "flagship" hospital.

As I said before and you agree with, the bottom line, which the original comment was about, is that its too bad for all of NB and PEI that blood is now further away when it might needed in large quantities.

[mmmatt]

Originally Posted by nwalbert

I think your missing the fact that there was NO ERROR. The Saint John Regional Hospital is the only accredited trauma hospital in the Maritimes outside of Halifax and the Government of New Brunswick has labeled it as the only Trauma 1 hospital in the province. These are facts.

The comment was that it is a shame to see the Saint john blood center close next to the Saint John hospital, and it was made on the Saint John forum.

Comparing that to the Moncton hospital for some reason and claiming "we are just good" screams of insecurity. I am sure some folks at the Moncton Hospital who do good work do feel some resentment that the Saint John hospital is considered by the province to be the "flagship" hospital.

As I said before and you agree with, the bottom line, which the original comment was about, is that its too bad for all of NB and PEI that blood is now further away when it might needed in large quantities.

Point taken, I understand its not technically an error, but the wording left something to be desired. The average Moncton forumer would have let it slide I'm sure, but MonctonRad takes great pride in TMH and I'm glad he does!

As for the folks at the hospital I can assure you that is not the case (my wife is an LPN @ TMH)...we all know if you merely built a pedway over the 5 blocks between our two hospitals this would be another story but alas bilingualism can sometimes be a curse as much as a blessing.

[cdnguys]

Moncton will never be Saint John, and Saint John will never be Moncton.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by nwalbert

I think your missing the fact that there was NO ERROR. The Saint John Regional Hospital is the only accredited trauma hospital in the Maritimes outside of Halifax and the Government of New Brunswick has labeled it as the only Trauma 1 hospital in the province. These are facts.

Sigh, it doesn't take much sometimes for the old "Moncton vs Saint John thing" to rear it's ugly head. That was not my intent.

Your initial post left the impression that SJRH was the trauma hospital for all of NB and PEI. I can assure you that is not the case. I was just attempting to correct your misperception, not start a flame war.

Your assertion above that SJRH is the only accredited trauma hospital in the province is also in error. There is another. TMH is an accredited level 2 trauma centre. We may be one step below SJRH in the pecking order but we are accredited nonetheless.

As I mentioned in my post, the only difference between TMH and SJRH as far as trauma care is concerned is cardiac surgery. It is factually true that trauma to the heart and great vessels in the chest only occurs about 1% of the time in major trauma cases.

This means that 99% of the time, major trauma patients are able to access the same level of care at TMH as at SJRH. but as I stated in my post, we have a 24/7 interventional radiology service at TMH and are able to repair traumatic aortic injuries in house. This would account for about 3/4ths of that remaining 1% so we are about as close to being equivalent to the SJRH in capabilities as can possibly be imagined.

Many trauma cases go to TMH rather that SJRH just because Moncton is the closest major trauma centre. These patients recieve excellent care. We are proud of the work that we do. We sometimes feel we don't get the proper recognition for this.

I don't believe I denigrated the level of care at SJRH in my post, and if you look at the posts I have put on your thread over the last number of months, I think you will find they have generally been quite supportive of your city. It is not my intent to put Saint John down. Sometimes I will attempt to correct errors in perception by some of your forumers but I try very hard not to put your city down. I believe that we should try to respect each other as much as possible.