St. Albert news

• Former TransCanada executive 'optimistic' pipelines will be built

  07-12-2017 23:28 via edmontonjournal.com
  A former energy industry executive said Thursday all three proposed oil export pipelines will likely be built, but this will require strong support from the federal government.
  TransCanada should make a final decision by the end of January to proceed with Keystone XL and Enbridge will probably resolve concerns in Minnesota so it can finish the Line 3 replacement, Dennis McConaghy said following a presentation to the Economics Society of Northern Alberta.
  McConaghy, TransCanada’s former exe
  
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• Driving hungover can be as bad as driving drunk, Edmonton police warn holiday revellers

  07-12-2017 23:23 via edmontonjournal.com
  Getting behind the wheel with a splitting headache, bleary eyes and a deep sense of regret can be just as bad as driving drunk, Edmonton city police say. 
  Ahead of the holiday season, members of the Edmonton Police Service’s Impaired Driving Unit — along with the city, Ford and the Oilers Entertainment Group — issued a warning about driving while hungover at a Thursday presentation at Rogers Place. 
  “It happens quite a bit, where you have somebody being called i
  
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• 'There will be consequences' — Licence plate skirmish continues

  07-12-2017 22:25 via edmontonjournal.com
  The clock is ticking for Saskatchewan to roll back its new rules for Alberta contractors, or “there will be consequences.” 
  Alberta Trade Minister Deron Bilous issued that warning Thursday morning. 
  Bilous wouldn’t expand on what the consequences might be, saying only “Talk to me in six days.”
  He said he has been left to communicate through the media because neither the trade nor transport ministers in Saskatchewan are picking up the phone or returning cal
  
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• Edmonton calls out the dandelion troops and approves 3.2 per cent budget hike

  07-12-2017 22:24 via edmontonjournal.com
  City council embraced a new eco-spray for dandelions Thursday and approved a property tax increase that — if the neighbourhood renewal levy is removed — is roughly equal to inflation. 
  After more than a decade of steep increases, Mayor Don Iveson said this budget is now in line with how he wants to see budgets come in for the future, especially since Edmonton’s crazy labour market has now calmed.
  “We’ll hopefully land increasingly close to general inflation in
  
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• Goodbye? Coliseum gets a lifeline while Northlands announces farewell weekend

  07-12-2017 22:18 via edmontonjournal.com
  City council offered a thin thread of a lifeline to the Coliseum Thursday, asking administration to look at issuing a formal request for proposals that could include demolition or a new use for the building.
  “Hail Mary. There might be someone out there that has an idea that wouldn’t infringe on those (downtown arena) agreements,” said Coun. Tony Caterina, arguing strongly for keeping that door open.
  City administration believes previous council votes to permanently close the st
  
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• Ukrainian artist converts ammo boxes to religious icons, shifting death to life

  07-12-2017 22:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  An artist visiting Edmonton from Ukraine is attempting the magnificent — transfiguring symbols of death back towards the light of life.
  Oleksandr Klymenko flew 27 hours from his hometown of Kyiv with a handful of ancient Byzantine-style icons he and his wife, Sofia Atlantova, wrote on ammunition box lids. (Such icons are not “painted,” they are “written.”)
  Originally used in war, sales of the beautified wooden lids go to fund Ukrainian hospitals, flipping the meanin
  
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• Goodbye Northlands Coliseum: free farewell events next weekend

  07-12-2017 20:42 via edmontonjournal.com
  Northlands Coliseum is going out with a bang.
  A free Farewell Weekend at the site is being hosted next Friday, Dec. 15 to Sunday, Dec. 17.
  Events include:– Fri., Dec. 15: Spruce Grove Saints vs. Okotoks Oilers; doors open at 6 p.m., game 7 p.m. Ryan Smyth’s Spruce Grove Saints will face off against the Okotoks Oilers in a free charity hockey game to kick off the weekend. All individuals who attend will receive one a ballot for a chance to win authentic Northlands Coliseum seats signe
  
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• NDP bill has 'unintended consequences' for elections: Chief Electoral Officer

  07-12-2017 20:15 via edmontonjournal.com
  The man in charge of Alberta elections wasn’t consulted before the government tabled a 105-page piece of legislation making major changes to advance polls and political donations. 
  In a letter sent to the minister for democratic renewal, Christina Gray, chief electoral officer Glen Resler lays out a host of concerns with the “potential unintended consequences” of Bill 32, An Act to Strengthen and Protect Democracy in Alberta.  
  In short, Resler wro
  
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• Crisis team at Centre High in wake of teacher stabbing

  07-12-2017 20:12 via edmontonjournal.com
  A crisis team was at a downtown Edmonton school Thursday after a teacher was stabbed in the Mill Creek neighbourhood Wednesday afternoon.
  Edmonton police are investigating the attack as an aggravated assault and personal robbery, and the victim is in stable condition in hospital, said a Thursday news release.
  On Thursday morning, Edmonton Public Schools’ critical incident support services (CISS) team was at Centre High Campus, 10310 102 Ave., which is a school that focuses on high school c
  
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• 10 things to do in Edmonton this week: Shatter, Jay-Z, and The Good Lovelies

  07-12-2017 20:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  Undaunted
  Emily Carr might be the best known name associated with the current exhibition of Undaunted: Canadian Women Painters of the 19th Century that just started over at the Art Gallery of Alberta, but there are plenty of slightly lesser-known artists well worth checking out. Like Mary Ella Dignam, founder of the Women’s Art Association of Canada, or Charlotte Schreiber, first woman elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts and first woman to be represented in the National Gallery o
  
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• Alberta premier to address Edmonton Chamber of Commerce

  07-12-2017 19:19 via edmontonjournal.com
  Premier Rachel Notley will deliver a speech to the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce on Thursday on the heels of a cross-country tour promoting pipelines. 
  Notley’s tour has included pitstops in Toronto, Ottawa, Calgary and Vancouver, where she has advocated for Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain expansion project. 
  She criticized a decision by the National Energy Board to include downstream emissions in pipeline proposals, calling it historic overreach. She also hailed th
  
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• Random drug and alcohol testing at Suncor blocked by injunction

  07-12-2017 18:57 via edmontonjournal.com
  Suncor will not be able to start randomly testing employees at its oilsands site for drugs and alcohol after an Edmonton judge granted an injunction on Thursday.
  The injunction blocks the energy company’s plan to start random testing for about 4,600 safety-sensitive and critical management positions at its mine site north of Fort McMurray while its five-year court battle over the program with its workers’ union continues. 
  During a hearing on Nov. 30, Unifor Local 707A, which re
  
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• Couple face mountain of charges after 29 firearms seized, most of them stolen

  07-12-2017 17:16 via edmontonjournal.com
  A man and a woman are facing nearly 150 charges after 29 firearms, the bulk of them stolen, were seized by Red Deer RCMP.
  Red Deer RCMP executed two search warrants in the central Alberta city on Nov. 5 and Nov. 22.
  Investigators are releasing more details about the case later Thursday but say officers also seized other stolen property.
  The case comes in the wake of a mid-November gun, drug and stolen property seizure in Lloydminster where RCMP charged 22 people. 
   
  
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• RCMP issue warning after laser hits aircraft near Villeneuve Airport

  07-12-2017 16:48 via edmontonjournal.com
  Alberta Mounties are reminding people not to shine lasers at flying aircraft after an incident near the Villeneuve Airport in Sturgeon County Wednesday.
  Morinville RCMP members were contacted by Nav Canada on Wednesday evening after a green laser struck an approaching aircraft, police said. The pilot was able to land the plane safely.
  A laser can temporarily blind the pilot, create intense glare that affect’s the pilots vision, and distract the pilot putting all people aboard the aircraft
  
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• Thursday's letters: Fragile MP ill-suited for politics 

  07-12-2017 14:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  I am dismayed that we have elected to our federal government a woman who claims to be so sensitive that an innocuous, flippant remark made months ago — for which she received an apology — could cause her “great stress” and “negatively affect (her) work environment.” She doesn’t belong in government; she should be in a bubble.
  I am offended by MP Sherry Romanado’s unforgiving nature and by her wasting the time of my government on such a picayun
  
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• Opinion: Beer smuggling case has deep implications on health policy

  07-12-2017 14:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  With the Supreme Court hearing arguments in the Comeau case this week, a great deal is at stake. While on the surface the case is about bringing a few cases of beer across a provincial border, the case has potentially profound public health implications regarding a provincial government’s ability to tax and regulate not just alcohol, but also tobacco, cannabis and other products.
  The case involves a New Brunswick resident, Gerard Comeau, who drove to neighbouring Quebec — where gover
  
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• NDP jams up legislature with flurry of new bills

  07-12-2017 14:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  The Alberta legislature is backed up.
  Like a drain or other piece of plumbing that’s clogged.
  The government has been stuffing so many major bills down the legislative spout the past few weeks, it was bound to get jammed up.
  Consequently, the fall sitting will run longer than scheduled. Rather than wrapping up Thursday, it will overflow into next week.
  It’s just as messy as it sounds.
  MLAs are getting tired and testy. And a little goofy.
  On Tuesday, the NDP complained that United Con
  
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• Editorial: Ban on Russia elevates Olympics

  07-12-2017 14:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  Now that Russia’s Olympic team has been banned from participating in the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, Canadians may be tempted to tune out entirely.
  After all, these Olympics will lack the powerhouse Russians who customarily give our athletes among the toughest runs for Olympic glory. The absence of such vaunted rivals may appear to devalue the spectacle and worth of these Games — along with the much-lamented absence of Connor McDavid and other Canadian NHLers sk
  
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• Edmonton Oilers roll out the welcome mat for yet another Eastern team, fall meekly to Flyers

  07-12-2017 11:05 via edmontonjournal.com
  Flyers 4, Oilers 2
  “Playoffs? Don’t talk to me about playoffs! You kidding me? Playoffs?! I’m just hoping we can win a game!”
  That of course is a famous rant by NFL coach Jim Mora, but its general theme seems to apply to the Edmonton Oilers. With 82 games to play rather than 16, it’s inevitable they will win some of them, but the club’s persistent inability to win more than one in a row is already threatening to render playoff hopes into the “you kidding
  
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• Champions Gymnastics bans co-founder amid media reports of abuse

  07-12-2017 06:31 via edmontonjournal.com
  Champions Gymnastics owner and coach Michel Arsenault will not be allowed on the premises after allegations of abuse surfaced Wednesday, according to a notice on the Edmonton gym’s website.
  The statement reads: “We take these allegations seriously and want to reassure the parents and their children who attend our gym. Moving forward, Mr. Arsenault will not be involved in any activities at Champions Gymnastics and will not be allowed on our premises.”
  “This decision has be
  
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• Africa Centre, winter festivals big winners in council budget debate

  07-12-2017 04:04 via edmontonjournal.com
  City council created several big winners in budget debates Wednesday, doubling city funding for the Africa Centre and giving Edmonton’s four signature winter festivals a boost.
  But they postponed a request to cover 25 new police officers for the Leduc County-area annexation, and still have a debate looming on dandelions.
  Coun. Michael Walters moved to increase Edmonton’s turf maintenance budget by $3 million next year to both increase the spring mowing cycle and treat dandelions on s
  
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• CopShop helps fill Christmas wish lists for northeast Edmonton kids

  07-12-2017 03:14 via edmontonjournal.com
  Sgt. Dan Tames, a 14-year veteran of the Edmonton police, bent down to carefully inspect a glittering pink squishy toy that Gracious Blamo, 9, picked off the shelf.
  The unusual scene was one of many heart-warming moments between 26 elementary school students from northeast Edmonton and officers from the Edmonton police Northeast Division at the CopShop event at Londonderry Mall at 137 Avenue and 66 Street on Wednesday.
  “They are invited here to pair up with a cop and they get to shop &mdas
  
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• Family behind Cafe Mosaics to open new restaurant in The Quarters

  07-12-2017 03:04 via edmontonjournal.com
  The family that runs Cafe Mosaics, a Whyte Avenue eatery known for its coziness and vegetarian comfort food, is set to open a new restaurant just east of the downtown core.
  The Moth Cafe will open in the former home of the Trang Tien Vietnamese Restaurant at 9449 Jasper Ave. later this month.
  Like Cafe Mosaics, The Moth will serve plant-based food with an emphasis on raw and nutritious ingredients. Menu highlights include a Banana Blossom Miso Soup, raw pasta dishes and a Kombucha bar.
  Thanh Lu
  
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• Teacher hospitalized with serious stab wounds

  07-12-2017 02:49 via edmontonjournal.com
  A teacher is in hospital with serious stab wounds after an attack on Wednesday afternoon.
  Edmonton Police Service Southwest Division Staff Sgt. Rae Gerrard said a man in his 40s was taken to the University of Alberta hospital and is in stable condition with serious stab wounds.
  The stabbing happened near 97 Street and 83 Avenue.
  Downtown division officers initially responded to a call around 4 p.m. at Centre High 10310 102 Ave. of reports of a teacher who was assaulted, according to police.
  
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• Final stage of work underway for Alberta child welfare panel

  07-12-2017 02:34 via edmontonjournal.com
  After 11 months of work, countless consultations, meetings on First Nations, tearful and emotional presentations, Alberta’s all-party child intervention panel is beginning to formulate its final recommendations.
  That report will guide an overhaul of child welfare and how to deal with the root causes of family involvement in the system.
  But change will not be swift, the panel heard Wednesday.
  It will take decades for wounds to heal, particularly when it comes to intergenerational trauma amo
  
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• Paula Simons: Alberta government delivers ultimatum as prairie trade war flares

  07-12-2017 02:04 via edmontonjournal.com
  Alberta’s minister of economic development has an ultimatum for the government of Saskatchewan. And a deadline.
  “Brad Wall needs to smarten up,” Deron Bilous told reporters Wednesday. “We’re giving him one week to kill this ridiculous restriction or we’ll be taking him to court.”
  Them’s fighting words. But then, it was Saskatchewan that fired the first shot in this latest trade war between the two rival provinces.
  Wednesday morning, you see, Saskat
  
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• Alberta issues ultimatum to Saskatchewan over licence plate ban

  07-12-2017 02:02 via edmontonjournal.com
  Yet another brouhaha is bubbling between Alberta and Saskatchewan, this time over licence plates. 
  Saskatchewan Transportation Minister Dave Marit declared Wednesday that all Alberta contractors working on government highway and building projects in his province will have to get a local licence plate. 
  The new rule applies only to Albertans, Marit told reporters in Regina, because everyone else already has to pay a provincial sales tax. 
  He also said he’s heard Saskatch
  
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• Not forgotten: 28 years since 14 women slain at l’École Polytechnique

  07-12-2017 01:41 via edmontonjournal.com
  Vigils across the country marked Wednesday’s National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women, created after 14 women were slain at Montreal’s l’École Polytechnique in 1989. 
  “They were promising engineering students, murdered for one reason: they were women,” Status of Women Minister Stephanie McLean said in a statement. “It was a pre-meditated attack against women who were breaking barriers and pursuing their dreams in a fiel
  
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• Former U of C researcher attempts to collect pay for expert report

  07-12-2017 01:37 via edmontonjournal.com
  A former University of Calgary neuroscientist, who retracted nine scientific papers after it was revealed his research team manipulated data, made a failed attempt at a civil claim against an Alberta company Tuesday. 
  Dr. Cory Toth resigned from the U of C in March 2014 after the school investigated. Problems with some of the research was first reported to the university by Retraction Watch, a U.S.-based academia watchdog group.
  Toth moved to British Columbia and began working as a neurolog
  
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• Sneak peek behind the scenes at new Royal Alberta Museum

  07-12-2017 01:10 via edmontonjournal.com
  The new Royal Alberta Museum in downtown Edmonton offered reporters a brief glimpse behind the scenes Wednesday as workers continue to feverishly get hundreds of thousands of artefacts ready for public display. Reporter Juris Graney tagged along.
  What’s going on at the museum?
  What’s not happening is probably more to the point. Dozens of workers have so far moved 421,000 objects from the old building into the museum’s new 84,000-square-foot digs at 103 Avenue and 97 Street.
  Wor
  
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• Death on the Bigstone Cree Nation deemed a homicide

  07-12-2017 00:55 via edmontonjournal.com
  A man’s death has been declared a homicide after he was found in a home on the Bigstone Cree Nation on Saturday.
  An autopsy done at the Edmonton Office of the Medical Examiner ruled the case a homicide; however, his identity and the cause of death is not being released yet, according to a Wednesday news release from RCMP.
  The man was found dead in the home on the afternoon of Dec. 2. A family member went to check on him after not hearing from him recently.
  The RCMP Major Crimes Unit and th
  
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