Alberta will kick off negotiations with major water license holders to strike water-sharing agreements for the Red Deer River, Bow River and Old Man river basins Thursday as concern over water looming shortages grows.

A fire that erupted from an oil lease site in east-central Alberta on Tuesday, sending a plume of toxic smoke into the air, has been extinguished and clean-up efforts are underway.

Over Christmas, Edmonton's encampment clearings made national headlines. Eight high risk encampments became the focus of a court case, pushing the city to talk about how we tackle the housing crisis. 

St. Aidan's Community Church, five kilometres northwest of the town of Barrhead, was one of two area churches intentionally burned in December. Members of the church society are raising funds to restore St. Aidan's.

As the City of Leduc sees its community growing, that's meant adapting zoning to allow for different housing options.

Passengers on Edmonton's months-old $1.8 billion Valley Line LRT system have not been able to use many of the heated and accessible shelters at stations, features that have "never worked properly from day one," according to one observer.

That same rider posted that the issue becomes increasingly unacceptable during extreme weather, such as the cold snap in mid-January. "And now, at -30, it's particularly ridiculous," they wrote on Jan. 11 when temperatures hit 50-year lows.

Ryan Birch, Edmonton Transit Service's director of operations, said those responsible for fixing the shelters recognize the challenges. "TransEd is aware of the issues regarding shelter doors and heaters at some Valley Line Southeast stops, and their maintenance staff continue to conduct repairs as quickly as possible," Birch told Taproot. "It is believed that most of the issues are the result of vandalism."

Under the public-private partnership between TransEd and government partners that include the city, TransEd will operate and maintain the southeast portion of the Valley Line until 2050.

Birch said heater and door controls have had "protective covers and other components (that) were removed by members of the public." Additionally, some sliding doors at shelters were pushed or pulled off their tracks.

TransEd began testing the shelter issues in November. During this testing, they found malfunctioning heaters as well. The heaters have been fixed but the door issues persist. "While most operational issues were addressed (in November), TransEd staff continue to respond to vandalism incidents as they occur," Birch said. "Should these issues continue, TransEd and the city will collaborate on a long-term solution."

Riders gain access to the station shelters by pressing a button that displays a wheelchair. The shelters are an important accessibility feature and this aligns with the city's Corporate Accessibility Plan.

That plan, endorsed by council in 2019 and in place since 2021, helps the city measure how well it implements the Accessibility for People with Disabilities policy. The Valley Line design pre-dates the 2019 plan, said Yogi Subramonian, co-chair of the city's corporate accessibility working committee.

Still, Birch said "accessibility was an important component" in the Valley Line's design. "These stops are designed with clear sight lines, open structures, and accessible connections to the street," he said.

Taproot spoke to city accessibility officials about ongoing work to improve infrastructure design in future.

The access design guide within city's overall plan now creates an accessibility lens that guides construction projects "above and beyond the building code" Subramonian said.

The plan functions as a city guideline but also ensures "clear, open communication with the public on what we're doing," added Heather Craig, a co-chair of the city's corporate accessibility working committee.

Craig said it also keeps the city accountable, as they track and internally update the actions quarterly.

The plan is still in progress, but tangible accomplishments have already been put in place or are in the works, Craig said.

"One of them was our accessible communication services," Craig said. "So, making sure that we are providing American Sign Language or real-time captioning in our registered recreation programs. So that was a pilot we did for a year that went really well that we are transitioning now to become a permanent program within rec centre."

Subramonian said creating awareness about accessibility seems to be working. "I hear about accessibility conversation a lot in the corporation, way more than we used to talk about it."

The plan was implemented in 2021 and closes at the end of June 2024. A progress report released in November 2023 indicated that about half of the goals were completed. The rest were in progress.

One goal that remains in progress is creating a transit rider panel of members with disabilities to gain feedback on potential changes to LRT vehicles on the Capital Line. "Panel feedback will be used to inform decisions around potential purchasing and retrofitting of transit vehicles," the report reads. "Public engagement has been conducted regarding the accessibility features of the planned Capital Line replacement of LRT vehicles."

Unfinished objectives will be rolled over into the next iteration of the plan.

"Not all actions are intended to be closed out and completed by (the) end of three years," Subramonian said. "For example, in my department, we identified a couple of actions, which are long-term goals. So it will be rolled into the next plan because it's faced with multiple implementation activities."

On this day in 1940, an Edmonton man was sentenced to hard labour for passing out communist literature.

Joseph Eisenbraun Sr. was found guilty of breaking the Defence of Canada regulations, which were brought into effect under the War Measures Act in 1939, right before the country entered the Second World War. The act gave the government extraordinary powers to censor newspapers and radio broadcasts, and to detain anyone who acted "in any manner prejudicial to the public safety or the safety of the state."

In Eisenbraun's case, he received the pamphlets from a man on 96 Street, who offered him six copies to sell to others. Eisenbraun claimed he only sold one, which unluckily happened to be to a detective. The newspaper account doesn't detail what was actually written in the pamphlets (Eisenbraun argued that he didn't "read or write" much and didn't know what they said).

What is clear is that whatever was written on the pamphlets was enough for a judge to label the defendant a "Communist sympathizer" and openly wish he could deport Eisenbraun, a naturalized citizen, back to his native Russia.

Eisenbraun's trial is one of the most striking examples of the anti-communist sentiment that spread through Edmonton (and Canada) at the time. The city had a history of labour activism. Eisenbraun's trial was less than a decade after the Hunger March of 1932, where thousands of people protested to demand changes in the face of increasing poverty and starvation during the Great Depression. Many of those present were involved in communist-supported or aligned organizations, and then-Premier John Brownlee would later claim that "communist propaganda" and not true need were behind most of their demands.

Anti-communist sentiments continued as the war progressed. In 1940, Canada banned about a dozen organizations, claiming they were a detriment to the war effort. While some were said to be aligned with fascism, many were left-wing labour organizations. Among them was the Communist Party itself.

Cases like Eisenbraun showed the government's attempt to crack down on communist ideology, but much of the so-called "Red Scare" in Edmonton came from unofficial sources. Anything that leaned too far into supporting union organization, or anti-war sentiment, risked being labelled as communist propaganda. Take the Chocolate Bar Strike of 1947, which saw hundreds of Edmonton children take to the streets, joining other movements nationwide to protest the rising cost of chocolate bars (going up from five cents to eight.) The protests gained momentum, only to fizzle out after newspapers began claiming the children were being secretly manipulated by communist agitators (for who else could convince children to be passionate about chocolate?)

The federal government lifted some restrictions on speech at the end of the war, but Alberta's provincial government continued attacking what it saw as subversive ideologies. Premier Ernest Manning and the ruling Social Credit party were loudly anti-communist. In 1946, they expanded Alberta's powers to censor films primarily to "eliminate communist thought from Alberta-shown movies." Manning was also quick to label union organizations and potential strikes as being the work of communists eager to sabotage Canadian productivity. These sentiments weren't just empty political rhetoric — they were used to reduce union support, allowing Manning's government to weaken worker strike protections.

Accusations of communism might not carry the same heft they did in the 1940s and 1950s, but the tactic hasn't completely disappeared as a way to dismiss a political opponent, regardless of whether the label fits or not.

This clipping was found on Vintage Edmonton, a daily look at Edmonton's history from armchair archivist @revRecluse of @VintageEdmonton.

There's a tectonic shift underway in how we care for and educate the youngest among us, and the consequences are enormous, not just for the children and their parents, but society at large.

The shortage of a key component of heart-lung machines sparking concern in Alberta is the latest supply problem plaguing cardiac operating rooms, health care workers say.

The Alberta government is looking at changing the province’s health care, a system many describe as broken.

A series of in-person engagements began last week, hearing from health-care providers and community members on what the government called some of the challenges Albertans are facing.

Two of those gatherings were held Jan. 24 in Crowsnest Pass and Pincher Creek. Unlike a packed town hall meeting in August 2023 at Pincher Creek Community Hall, last week’s sessions can be best described as roundtable discussions.

“I think any time that there’s change there’s an opportunity, and with opportunity a chance for folks to participate, to contribute,” said Sarah Murrant, speaking on behalf of the province.

“What I understand, and why we’re running this entire process, is not every answer is there.”

Discussion during the two-hour event centred around topics including experiences and outcomes, but also on a proposed unified health-care system the current government says will enhance local decision-making and lead to early detection and intervention. Just what that might look like is yet to be determined.

Chelsae Petrovic, MLA for Livingstone-Macleod, feels any conversation must include patient care outside of the larger centres.

“It’s extremely important that we look at rural health. That we start to see the unique challenges and some of the unique solutions that, maybe, can be brought forward,” she said.

A former nurse with 13 years in the field, Petrovic knows all too well about the challenges.

“I think it’s great to meet with front-liners, coming from that experience and understanding where they’re coming from. Being able to, I guess, sympathize,” she said. “And it was only seven months ago that I was in those same positions, so I really do understand.”

Some health-care providers at the Pincher Creek event, who didn’t wish to go on record, felt the agenda items lacked details and “weren’t sure what they were signing up for” in any future plan.

Dr. Gavin Parker, a local physician, agreed engagement is important, however.

“I think we have a system that has long failed Albertans, in particular the lack of investment in primary care and rural services. But if these conversations lead towards improving that, then it was time well spent,” he said.

One of the talking points zeroed in on Alberta’s burgeoning population and the added stress it’s putting on the health-care system.

Parker acknowledged there’s more at play.

“I think what you’ve seen in the last few years is not only an exodus of family physicians in the province or people going into early retirement, but also changing the scope of their practice.”

He said the end result is less focus on primary comprehensive care and more doctors working toward a niche practice.

“Until we train, pay and support rural family physicians better, the situation won’t change,” he said. “The problem is we’re running into a dearth of physicians who are trained as rural comprehensive physicians, and when they are trained they aren’t compensated adequately.”

Parker also noted a drop in specialty practices, like maternity, declining to less than 50 per cent in the south zone compared to when he started his training.

“So, these young doctors that want to provide comprehensive rural care, including maternity, feel utterly unsupported to do that right now because of the current situation,” he said.

The sessions in Crowsnest Pass and Pincher Creek were the second and third of more than 40 visits scheduled to communities across Alberta.

Although there aren’t further meetings scheduled for the southwest region, a complete list of the remaining sessions can be found online and you can have your say here.

The post Alberta’s health-care future front and centre at engagement sessions appeared first on Shootin' the Breeze.

Urban and rural municipalities are telling the Alberta government to restore past funding cuts now that the provincial budget is projected to end the year with a surplus. 

The way people are talking about fitness is changing and the way we workout is also changing. The creator of Antidote Movement Club, Andrea Yacyshyn, joins Nancy Carlson to talk about a different way to move our bodies.

A former coal mine in the Alberta Rockies is releasing a contaminant toxic to fish at rates dozens of times higher than federal and provincial guidelines, while another periodically disgorges water so iron-heavy it stains local creeks orange, research says.

Entrpreneur Joanna Pariseau decided to take a leap of faith and announced her startup, Taste the City, while pursuing her undergraduate degree at the University of Calgary.

An out-of-control fire at an oil lease site near east central Alberta community of Mannville has prompted an emergency alert for air quality due to toxic smoke in the area.

More than a dozen child-care facilities across Alberta closed for the day Tuesday to protest against what operators say is an untenable financial deal being imposed on them by the provincial and federal governments.

Calgary council voted Tuesday to begin a repeal process for its single-use items bylaw — two weeks after it came into effect — in the wake of what all involved acknowledged had been significant public pushback.

If it has felt unseasonably warm for Edmonton in January, that's because it has been. An El Niño year combined with melting snow have contributed to the warmer weather. 

Accused serial rapist Richard Mantha fired his lawyers on Tuesday, seven days into his sexual assault trial.

Over Christmas, Edmonton’s encampment clearings made national headlines. CBC News reporters Paige Parsons and Wallis Snowdown sit down with This Is Edmonton host Clare Bonnyman to discuss what happened then, where we are now and how the city’s approach to people living on the streets has shifted.

A day after Epcor asked the public Monday to cut down on water use, the utility says it's seen a noticeable reduction in consumption.

North American pipeline operator lists higher interest rates and economic uncertainty as headwinds faced by many industries.

Judge tells court that a jail sentence is required to emphasize the "very serious consequences" of the defendant's conduct that day. 

Emergency departments in Alberta were forced to close for more than 38,000 hours, or about 4.3 years, in 2023.

Disruptions ranged from a few hours without a physician to communities losing ER services for months on end. Of the 26 emergency departments that shut their doors in 2023, more than half had closures lasting 20 days or longer.

In almost all cases, these service disruptions were caused by staffing shortages, and the communities left without access to emergency care were in rural Alberta.

This data comes from biweekly hospital service disruption updates published by AHS, which were collected, analyzed and mapped by Great West Media.

Compiling and quantifying the extent of emergency care disruptions shows it is more than a random event, said Dr. Warren Thirsk, president of the emergency medicine section of the Alberta Medical Association and a practising emergency physician.

“It is evidence of the resource gap between what Albertans need from an emergency health-care system and what is being provided,” Thirsk said.

“I think that is important to understand that there have been cuts throughout the health-care system — in terms of personnel, in terms of training of personnel, in terms of facilities and infrastructure building — that have been going on for a long time.”

As the cuts go deeper, and the gap between the population and available resources widens, emergency rooms close as a last resort, Thirsk said.

“Then it just becomes more obvious that the system is not doing well. And it’s not funded adequately or resourced adequately to meet the needs of Albertans.”

Total length of emergency department closures in 2023

David Shepard, Alberta NDP rural health critic, said it’s troubling how access to care in rural parts of the province has been impacted, and called it “a direct result of a lot of decisions that were made by the UCP government, going back to the war on doctors in 2020.”

Since then, Alberta has lost not only clinic staff but those providing training as well, Shepard said, creating deficits in the professionals needed to keep ERs open.

“People should be able to expect that their emergency department is going to be there when they need. It should not be running like a fast-food restaurant where it closes in the evening,” he said.

Cost borne by rural Albertans

People in rural Alberta are often far more likely to turn to the emergency department for care, and the temporary loss of these care centres is a sign of deeper problems in the health-care system. Communities like Lac La Biche, Consort, Boyle and Swan Hills all went several weeks, or even months, without an ER last year.

The local populations also have emergency visit rates for semi-urgent or non-urgent problems between 2.8 and 6.5 times the provincial average, according to Government of Alberta data released in 2022.

“There are people who rely on that emergency department for every other gap in the health-care system,” Thirsk said.

If their family doctor or specialist is unavailable, the ER is often the only alternative.

“I think that is a cost borne more by the rural communities in terms of time. Because it’ll take them a lot longer to get to the next care facility that might be open,” he said.

Researchers from the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine have estimated that rural patients pay an extra $450 out of pocket every time they have to travel to Edmonton to see a specialist.

Taking a patient out of their community also removes them from their support network and puts additional pressure on already-strained hospitals in larger centres, said Mike Parker, president of the Health Sciences Association of Alberta.

During Covid when hospitals in Calgary and Edmonton were overrun, they were overrun with Albertans, not just Calgarians are Edmontonians, Parker said, because the high-level resources and intensive care required didn’t exist anywhere else.

“It all started right back where there was no community care in the areas that needed it most, that are hours and hours away,” he said.

Every year, Parker said, he sees a loss of front-line professionals. The cheapest fix would be to take care of staff that are already hired who are “the experts in the system.”

“Covid devastated our health-care system to the point where people cannot come back to work anymore. And the response from government is that we’re going to reduce hours, we’re going to reduce people, and we’re going to privatize services.”

Promises to recruit, promises to cut

“Work is currently underway to attract more doctors to rural communities. This includes increasing the number of physicians educated and trained in the province, strengthening programs to attract and retain physicians, conducting targeted recruitment campaigns, streamlining registration processes for international medical graduates to work in Alberta,” Alberta’s Ministry of Health said in a statement.

The province is also establishing regional training centres for physicians in Lethbridge and Grande Prairie, which will serve as hubs for the surrounding communities, the statement said.

“Once developed, the training centres will include interprofessional teaching clinics and the ability for medical students to complete most of their medical education outside the metropolitan regions.”

Thirsk said health-care professionals are highly skilled and the time frame to train and subspecialize new workers is measured in years.

“And we make decisions, and budget cuts are made, on a very short-term basis. And that’s where the gap is happening. It’s happening to our nursing colleagues right now,” he said.

A recent AHS memo, obtained by the United Nurses of Alberta, asks management to cut nurse overtime by 10 per cent and reduce the use of private agency relief staff — a move the union has said could put additional strains on remaining workers and worsen patient care.

Shepard said it is almost a universal truth that if you train people in a rural area, they are far more likely to return to work in a rural area. But the rural physician recruitment incentives and new training programs “mean nothing in an environment and in a province where health-care professionals know they cannot trust their government.”

What the data doesn’t show

The AHS data used to map ER closures gives some indication of the health-care crisis in Alberta. Missing from these statistics, however, is the dire situation faced by staff and patients in the ERs that have stayed open.

Alberta Medical Association president Paul Parks has said ERs are critically overcrowded, with patient wait times hitting record lengths this winter.

Last year, 190 Calgary doctors signed an open letter calling for the government to respond to “collapsing” emergency departments, which they blamed on a combination of pandemic aftermath and government policy that destabilized primary care and caused critical labour shortages.

“It is now common to have 40 to 50 people waiting to be seen by a doctor at any given time in any of our emergency waiting rooms. Frail, elderly patients languish on stretchers in hospital hallways. Patients with mental health crises are housed in the emergency room, often for several days, while awaiting inpatient beds,” the letter reads.

Hidden behind the number of hours each department was closed is also a personal cost that data can’t capture, Thirsk said.

“It’s the cost borne by every patient who’s suffering in a waiting room anywhere or driving another two hours in pain down the road,” he said.

“I challenge you to go into any emergency department in any facility or find any Albertan waiting for any aspect of health care. And to actually ask them how much they’re suffering as they wait.

“That’s where the real cost is. Because it’s not really dollars. It’s humans and human suffering that we’re missing.”

The post Alberta ERs closed for 38,000 hours in 2023 appeared first on Shootin' the Breeze.

Community members and health-care professionals gathered on Jan. 23 at the Coast Hotel in Lethbridge for the first of 45 in-person engagement sessions to be hosted throughout the province by the Government of Alberta.

The sessions looked to get input from the community on the health-care system and the overhaul that was announced in November of last year. 

During her introduction, Minister of Health Adriana LaGrange emphasized the importance of public feedback saying, “The goal of these in-person engagement sessions really is to dig deeper into our current health-care system to look at what’s working, what’s not working and what kind of solutions may exist to improve or eliminate the challenges.” 

Calling the discussions “critical” she told attendees, “The future of healthcare is in your hands,” adding, “We know the current system is broken, or at the very least not doing well, but for too long we’ve seen our nurses, doctors and health-care teams buckle under the strains and stresses of an inefficient health-care system.” 

Stresses to the health-care system have been an ongoing concern for Albertans, with rural emergency rooms regularly closed due to a lack of physician availability. Just hours prior to the event, the Milk River emergency room had announced its temporary closure scheduled to last until Wednesday morning. 

When asked what was currently being done to address these closures, Assistant Deputy Minister of Health System Refocusing Matthew Hebert was unable to comment. 

Of the 45 engagement sessions listed on the Government of Alberta website, more than half are scheduled during the day, which could impact participation. Of those during the day, all are rural locations. Only nine of the engagement sessions are scheduled after 5 p.m., including Edmonton and Calgary events. 

Following LaGrange’s address – which included an anecdote about 27 patients at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton who occupied beds because they were unable to access other supports due to issues filing their taxes – Hebert presented an overview of the planned restructuring and what issues in the current health system needed to be rectified.

Among the reasons for the restructure was the concern that despite spending per capita aligning with similar provinces, health outcomes were not as expected, in addition to long wait times – especially in rural areas and Indigenous communities, a complicated health care system, and leadership needing improvement. 

Though barriers of access for Indigenous communities were a key concern, it was not specified whether any consultation with the Indigenous community has occurred or is planned for the future. 

The overhaul will include four pillar organizations: Primary Care, Continuing Care, Acute Care, and Mental Health and Addictions. Under the umbrella of the Primary Care Organization, the government intends to ensure every Albertan is attached to a care provider, and “ensure accountability for all publicly funded providers and clinics.”

 Additionally, the primary care level is intended to “support Alberta Health in determining alternative payment models.”

The other organizations of care look to improve access to services and will contract third-party service providers with the provincial government maintaining oversight. Alberta Health Services will only provide primary and continuing care in rural areas where necessary.

Herbert highlighted in his presentation that the overhaul is intended to meet the needs of current Alberta residents while also managing the demands of a growing population. 

Since 2019, the population of Alberta has increased by nearly 42,000 people, with much of that growth attributed to the “Alberta is Calling” campaign that targeted those in urban centres like Vancouver and Toronto and encouraged them to move to Alberta.

Despite that growth – and taking into consideration the 13.73 per cent inflation rate – the 2023 health-care budget has only increased by 1.71 billion as compared to 2019, when the current government was elected. 

Herbert said “we’re looking forward to getting that direct feedback from the public just to inform how we will continue over the coming years to build and establish the new health care system.” 

Members of the media were not permitted to attend the community discussion and feedback portion of the event.

The post Province engages with public on health system appeared first on Shootin' the Breeze.

RCMP were called to a multi-vehicle collision involving five semi trailers eastbound on Highway 1, north of the 93 interchange, on Tuesday morning.

The Association of Alberta Childcare Entrepreneurs (AACE), which advocates for both for-profit and non-profit child-care centres and dayhome operators, said the closures are a result of the $10-per-day child-care program, which has created an “underfunded” and “restrictive” environment. 

While security questions following the Jan. 23 shooting attack at city hall are obvious, the effects will be felt in other ways, too, co-hosts Mack Male and Troy Pavlek observed in Episode 248 of Speaking Municipally.

The cancellation of this week's committee meetings in the wake of the attack will create a "knock-on effect" that will add to the Items Due list the city keeps, which already runs to hundreds of items.

Pavlek said he expects city hall to remain closed for a significant period. One wrinkle, he added, is that city meetings currently require staff like clerks to be at the building to run them, even if councillors stay virtual. This nearly guarantees delays. "Because we're pushing some stuff (forward), the most important stuff will get routed through a general review," he said.

The result? Sorry, downtown pedestrianization plan, which is currently scheduled to be discussed on Feb. 9 and has already been rescheduled twice. Both hosts expect that meeting to get bumped, along with many others. "I mean, if they could reschedule the police funding formula three, four, or five times, what's another reschedule on a pedestrianization report," Male said.

The question of what city hall will be like in the future also interested Taproot's civic affairs podcast. Male observed that councillors have shared sentiments about wanting city hall to remain as open to the public as possible, while also being safe.

"(T)hey're going to have to try to find some kind of a balance between real safety improvements and security improvements, and that sort of accessible, open to the public, open to the community thing that is so great about city hall," Male said.

Another question that could come up is where to hold meetings at city hall. Male wondered if future committee meetings in the River Valley Room could be pushed to the main council chambers, as it already has metal detectors and far less direct access to councillors. "It would seem to me easier to secure one room rather than multiple rooms," he said.

Speaking Municipally also chimed in on the impending closure of the Edmonton Downtown Farmers' Market after an unsuccessful stint at 10305 97 St NW. Male said he is not surprised by the institution's demise.

"It's really sad that an organization, an institution in this city, that's been around for more than 120 years, is now facing bankruptcy and about to shut down," said Male, who noted that he decided to raise his family on 104 Street in part because of the market's presence there before it moved indoors. "I don't have a lot of sympathy for them … for the most part it was handed to them on a silver platter … and all the market did in that time was refuse to go back outside, talk only about the free parking … and exclude vendors because of competitive concerns."

Hear more about these issues as well as the single-use item bylaw, Oliver's new name, and some high-profile departures on the Jan. 26 episode.

Photo: A 2013 photo of empty council chambers before the city installed some of the newest security measures, such as glass partitions between councillors and metal detectors at the single public entrance. (Mack Male/Flickr)

A couple of podiatric surgeons in Calgary are sounding the alarm about a concerning change at the hospital, spurred by the housing crisis.

Advocates are heightening calls for the Alberta government to regulate counsellors, after a former family doctor in Grande Prairie, Alta., is now working as an addictions counsellor. Brianne Hudson had her practice permit cancelled after she was found to have committed sexual abuse when she admitted to being in a relationship with a patient.

In the wake of an ongoing debate around the city’s new single-use items bylaw, a Calgary councillor is leading the pushback with a motion to consider repealing it.

A detox centre may be moving to Edmonton’s west end from the inner city if an application to rezone a building on Stony Plain Road and 156th Street is approved. 

It was an emotional day in court for a soft spoken Calgary woman who testified she was the victim of an accused serial rapist. 

The Nordic sport involves tethering a cross-country skier to one or more dogs, creating an exhilarating experience for both humans and their beloved canine companions.

Although not blistering temperature-wise, it was a record-breaking Sunday in almost every region of Alberta.

According to Environment Canada, as of 6 p.m. Sunday, 55 weather stations had either tied or surpassed previous daily maximum temperature records and several more should follow once all the numbers are crunched.

In Pincher Creek, the mercury reached 11.8 degrees Celsius, beating the old 8.7 mark set in 2005.

Crowsnest Pass, not to be outdone, saw its temperature peak at 10.4, replacing the old 2015 record of 8.7.

The Waterton Park weather station recorded a maximum reading of 12.0, up from 2016’s 11.1.

Pincher Creek also had another distinction on Sunday: the highest recorded Alberta wind gust for the day of 107 km/h, recorded overnight at the airport. Waterton was close behind with 92 km/h.

Monday should add another chapter to the story.

The forecast temperature for both Pincher Creek and the Pass is 14, surely shattering the old Jan. 29 standards of 9.3 (2017) and 7.6 (2012) respectively.

Coincidentally, Jan. 29, 2023, was also the date of the coldest-ever minimum recorded temperature in Pincher Creek, when the thermometer bottomed out at -31.1 C.

The post Warm spell sets new daily temperature marks appeared first on Shootin' the Breeze.

The company says it is fully focused on working toward an anticipated in-service date in the second quarter of 2024.

Epcor has put a mandatory ban on non-essential water use because of a pump failure early Monday at the E.L. Smith water treatment plant in southwest Edmonton.

A new public awareness campaign, launched by Alberta doctors, calls on the provincial and federal governments to prioritize women's health.

Four days after a truck spilled an oily substance over about 40 kilometres of central Alberta highway, the stretch of road coated by the industrial muck remains impassable.

Court documents show Flair Airlines owes the federal government $67.2 million in unpaid taxes, prompting the Canada Revenue Agency to obtain an order for the seizure and sale of the carrier's property.

Alberta's highest court has dismissed a former Ontario truck driver's bid for a third trial in the 2011 death of a woman in an Edmonton hotel.

A crew of 23 scientists and explorers from around the world are setting out on a journey to circumnavigate the globe. The drive will take another 17 months with stops at both the North Pole and South Pole. The group stopped in Edmonton on the way to Yellowknife to talk about the once-in-a-lifetime trip.

Drug Checkin YYC is the only mobilized drug-checking service of its kind in Western Canada. Although the pilot project is coming to an end in March, the group is planning to expand its services to Edmonton this summer.

Archaeologists had a highly productive season of excavation on the Erebus, one of Sir John Franklin's two ships that set out from England in 1845. Neither it nor the Terror — nor the 129 men they carried — ever returned.

A group of friends are taking ice fishing to new depths on Last Mountain Lake north of Regina. They purchased a small, turboprop plane and turned it into an ice shack. The plane has heaters, bench seating and has even been used for sleeping.

At around 5 p.m. on Sunday, the fire crews responded to reports of a structure fire in the 700 block of Seymour Avenue S.W.

Public art, placemaking and plenty of Goo Gone come up on This is Edmonton, a new podcast from CBC.

While they make life possible, scientists say microbes are not included in most climate modeling and emission reduction goals, which is problematic.

The city's administration says councillors must make tough and significant cuts to services if they want Edmonton to be able to reallocate $240 million in its operating budget, as council has requested.

The suggestion is part of OP12, a council directive created in December 2022 that instructed administration to find $60 million in budget cuts and a further $240 million to be reallocated in the 2023-2026 budget cycle.

Little progress on OP12 has been made public since its creation. But now, in a report originally scheduled to be discussed at a Jan. 30 council meeting, administration has presented many options to meet council's request.

The options range from creating an online Edmonton Transit Service merch store to eliminating snow clearing in the river valley, selling off city assets, and cutting funds to organizations.

Taproot examined the report before the city took its meeting agendas off its website as part of meeting cancellations for Jan. 29 to Feb. 2. Those agendas included links to the report.

In the report, administration provides council with options ahead of the spring supplemental budget adjustment, where council will vote on cuts and reallocations.

So far, the report identifies $130.8 million that could be reallocated. To get to the $240 million targeted, however, the report presents more than 60 options that if enacted could broadly result in service cuts, funding cuts, and increases to existing fees or the introduction of new ones.

Selling off-street parking lots, such as the Stanley A. Milner Library Parkade, is one option in the report. Increasing fees by up to 7.5% and implementing new parking zones on some streets and in some parks is another option.

The report suggests creating an internally managed parking team to increase both efficiency and revenue from fees by more than $2.8 million. It also suggests an option to charge for the residential restricted parking program. While that program is currently free, the report said other jurisdictions charge for similar programs, and the city could make an additional $120,000 by 2026 if it elects to charge.

The report looks at eliminating snow clearing in the river valley, as well as disposing of some park space and reducing turf maintenance. It also includes the option to pull back programs like Front Yards in Bloom, Bloomin' Boulevards, pop-up gardens, and dog parks.

Administration said it could potentially increase city revenue by $66,000 if it raises fees to book sports fields by 10%. The report said the city could save $666,000 over the next three years by eliminating funding to the Edmonton Sport Council, and save $5.13 million over the next three years by eliminating funding to the Edmonton Heritage Council.

The report also presents an option to cut heritage program grants, with the amount of savings undetermined. It also presents an option to cut funding to the city's suicide prevention strategy, saving $2.6 million by 2026.

The report suggests the city could save nearly $400,000 over the next three years by reducing its public engagement. Half of this would come from reducing engagement that is not legally required and scaling down engagement to online only. The report suggests the other half could come from reducing engagement on infrastructure projects.

The report estimates the city could generate $88,000 by 2026 if it adds a $1.50 surcharge to tickets at Commonwealth Stadium — excluding Edmonton Elks games — to support cost recovery for transit service to events. It also presents an option to introduce a transit pass option for three and seven days, and to raise transit fares broadly. The report also presents the option of opening an ETS merch store, suggesting this could generate $60,000 by 2026. Another option for shifting funds is to reduce graffiti removal on city infrastructure.

The administration report presents an option to consider charging business improvement areas for watering plants on boulevards and lighting trees, two services it now provides for free. It also presents the option to introduce fees for sidewalk patio permits. These fees were waived during the pandemic to support businesses with increased outdoor seating.

Another option presented in the report is to eliminate the window repair program for business improvement areas, which has "had a huge positive impact," according to Coun. Anne Stevenson.

Other options include:

• having firefighters wash their own bed linens instead of outsourcing
• increasing fees for commemorative benches
• eliminating the requirement for contractors to comply with the Living Wage Policy
• deferring the neighbourhood renewal program until 2026
• reducing social support and community development grants and subsidies broadly
• increasing existing fees for overweight permit fees on bridges and roads
• introducing fees for dust abatement
• increasing fees for fire inspections, permits, and false alarms by about 22%
• increasing fees for recreation centres
• increasing non-profit lease rates

There are more options, including many in a private attachment. The list had been narrowed down from more than 400 ideas submitted by council, city staff, and union partners.

The city has not analyzed every idea for its projected cost savings, and has classified some as "low-priority." Administration said it understands these ideas are likely not of interest to council but could be analyzed if council desires or if administration needs more options to achieve the reallocation targets.

While council still needs to make choices for nearly half of the $240 million in shifts, the $60 million in cuts is going better, with $45 million identified in the city report. The city said it has exercised restraint in hiring, aided by structural changes to the communications and employee services departments, and avoided filling five top executive positions, which saved $3 million. The city decreased the number of supervisors by 5.5% between 2020 and 2023, and administration said it was able to reduce total overtime expenditures by 51,383 hours in 2023 compared to 2022.

The city also restricted travel and spending on consultants.

The report is vague as to where the rest of the cuts would come from. It said it found $2 million in savings with the city's modified encampment response, $800,000 with an adjustment to fuel and utilities, and $20 million in COVID-19 revenue shortfalls, among other savings.

The dozens of proposed cuts were scheduled to be discussed at a council meeting on Jan. 30. But meetings that week have been cancelled in the wake of a shooting at City Hall on Jan. 23.

Further, council was set to decide on cuts and shifts at a council meeting scheduled for Feb. 21 and 23, but that date may now have to be altered as a result of the shifts.

The city has cancelled its council meetings from Jan. 29 to Feb. 2 in the wake of the events of Jan. 23, when a person allegedly walked into city hall with a long gun, fired several rounds, and lit several incendiary devices.

No one was hurt. Police arrested a suspect on the scene. Bezhani Sarvar, 28, faces six criminal charges.

"Public decision-making meetings are valuable because the efforts of Administration, the governance of City Council and the feedback of Edmontonians come together to build our community," Andre Corbould, city manager, said in a release on Jan. 26. "We recognize that the recent event was distressing and frightening for those present in City Hall, and we will ensure appropriate arrangements are in place for people to return safely."

City hall remains closed, the release said. There is no timeline for when the building will re-open to the public.

Corbould told CTV the shooting and fires have traumatized city employees who work at city hall. "We are going to take some time to focus on the work that needs to be done, and really focus on staff and the psychological safety that's required to make them feel better," he said.