Opinion
10 years later and the city is presenting the same old 2 options, of possible Aquatic Centre locations.

10 years ago the thinking was to build the Aquatic Centre by the recreation centre downtown or by the Michener pool. Committees were struck, consultants hired and time lapsed and nothing changed. The options our city bureaucrats are offering council to consider hasn’t changed.
I have never seen more lack-lustre, vision less proposal options. All our pools will remain within a good walk of each other. They will all be south of the river and east of 40 Ave. One proposal will have it down the road from the Collicutt Centre and the other would have it downtown with traffic issues. The budget means little because there will be other budgets for traffic, lighting, and demolition that won’t be discussed.
The pools are slated for construction in 10 years. They are also planning on opening the land north of 11a for another 25,000 residents, but the pool will be built near current pools on the other side of the city. When they started thinking about the south-east developments, they built the Collicutt Ctr. and 2 high schools and we never looked back.
Now it looks like we may end up with 5 high schools and 2 Aquatic recreational centres along 30 ave.
I could see the city approving the design, but they should table the vote on location because I believe they are too narrowly focused on the immediate time frame. The city once talked about keeping the Westerner downtown, but someone persuasive had the vision to move it away from downtown. We need that person now.
Perhaps they could table this for another council? A new council will be elected in October, 10 months away for something being built in 10 years.
I have been lobbying to build the Aquatic Centre on Hazlett Lake. Lethbridge built facilities on Henderson Lake, in fact they made Henderson Lake and now they have a widely popular tourist attraction in Henderson Lake Park.
Our Hazlett Lake is visible to QE2 and 11A, surrounded by farmland. The city wants to develop it. Why not replicate the Collicutt growth starter.
Why is it, our city has such limited vision? Why must everything be built downtown? Can you imagine if they had kept the westerner grounds downtown?
Am I the only one that sees tourism potential, stay-cation potential, growth potential? Anyone?
Daily Caller
AI Needs Natural Gas To Survive

From the Daily Caller News Foundation
By David Blackmon
As recent studies project a big rise in power generation demand from the big datacenters that are proliferating around the United States, the big question continues to focus in on what forms of generation will rise to meet the new demand. Most datacenters have plans to initially interconnect into local power grids, but the sheer magnitude of their energy needs threatens to outstrip the ability of grid managers to expand supply fast enough.
This hunger for more affordable, 24/7 baseload capacity is leading to a variety of proposed solutions, including President Donald Trump’s new executive orders focused on reviving the nation’s coal industry, scheduled to be signed Tuesday afternoon. But efforts to restart the permitting of new coal-fired power plants in the US will require additional policy changes, efforts which will take time and could ultimately fail. In the meantime, datacenter developers find themselves having to delay construction and completion dates until firm power supply can be secured.
Datacenters specific to AI technology require ever-increasing power loads. For instance, a single AI query can consume nearly ten times the power of a traditional internet search, and projections suggest that U.S. data center electricity consumption could double or even triple by 2030, rising from about 4-5% of total U.S. electricity today to as much as 9-12%. Globally, data centers could see usage climb from around 536 terawatt-hours (TWh) in 2025 to over 1,000 TWh by 2030. In January, a report from the American Security Project estimated that datacenters could consume about 12% of all U.S. power supply.
Obviously, the situation calls for innovative solutions. A pair of big players in the natural gas industry, Liberty Energy and Range Resources, announced on April 8 plans to diversify into the power generation business with the development of a major new natural gas power plant to be located in the Pittsburgh area. Partnering with Imperial Land Corporation (ILC), Liberty and Range will locate the major power generation plant in the Fort Cherry Development District, a Class A industrial park being developed by ILC.
“The strategic collaboration between Liberty, ILC, and Range will focus on a dedicated power generation facility tailored to meet the energy demands of data centers, industrial facilities, and other high-energy-use businesses in Pennsylvania,” the companies said in a joint release.
Plans for this new natural gas power project follows closely on the heels of the March 22 announcement for plans to transform the largest coal-fired power plant in Pennsylvania, the Homer City generating station, into a new gas-fired facility. The planned revitalized plant would house 7 natural gas turbines with a combined capacity of 4.5 GW, enough power 3 million homes.
Both the Homer City station and the Fort Cherry plant will use gas produced out of the Appalachia region’s massive Marcellus Shale formation, the most prolific gas basin in North America. But plans like these by gas companies to invest in their own products for power needs aren’t isolated to Pennsylvania.
In late January, big Permian Basin oil and gas producer Diamondback Energy told investors that it is seeking equity partners to develop a major gas-fired plan on its own acreage in the region. The facility would primarily supply electricity to data centers, which are expected to proliferate in Texas due to the AI boom, while also providing power for Diamondback’s own field operations. This dual-purpose approach could lower the company’s power costs and create a new revenue stream by selling excess electricity.
Prospects for expansion of gas generation in the U.S. received a big boost in January when GE Vernova announced plans for a $600 million expansion of its manufacturing capacity for gas turbines and other products in the U.S. GE Vernova is the main supplier of turbines for U.S. power generation needs. The company plans to build 37 gas power turbines in 2025, with a potential increase to over 70 by 2027, to meet rising energy demands.
The bottom line on these and other recent events is this: Natural gas is quickly becoming the power generation fuel of choice to feed the needs of the expanding datacenter industry through 2035, and potentially beyond. Given that reality, the smart thing to do for these and other companies in the natural gas business is to put down big bets on themselves.
David Blackmon is an energy writer and consultant based in Texas. He spent 40 years in the oil and gas business, where he specialized in public policy and communications.
2025 Federal Election
‘Sadistic’ Canadian murderer claiming to be woman denied transfer to female prison

From LifeSiteNews
The logical decision to house the male murderer with men flies in the face of the Liberal Party’s official stance, which is to incarcerate prisoners according to their ‘self-identified’ gender.
A Canadian man who butchered his family and now claims to be a woman will not be allowed to transfer to a female prison.
On April 8, Correctional Services Canada (CSC) announced that Mohamad Al Ballouz, who brutally murdered his wife and two children, will be sent to a men’s prison, despite claiming to be a woman, according to CTV News.
“When there are overriding health and safety concerns, the request is denied and alternatives are put in place to meet the offender’s gender‑related needs at the institution where they are incarcerated,” the CSC statement reads.
Following an assessment of Al Ballouz request, CSC confirmed that he “will be incarcerated in a men’s institution.”
On December 16, Al Ballouz, a 38-year-old from Quebec, was found guilty second-degree murder of his wife Synthia Bussières, first-degree murder of five-year-old Eliam and two-year-old Zac, and one count of attempted arson.
Crown prosecutor Éric Nadeau revealed that the murder took place in September 2022 when Al Ballouz slaughtered his family at their Brossard apartment. He stabbed his wife 23 times before suffocated his children and trying to set the apartment on fire. He then ingested windshield washer fluid, which is believed to have been a suicide attempt.
During the trial, Quebec Superior Justice Eric Downs described Al Ballouz, as having a “sadistic character” and being “deeply narcissistic.” He was sentenced to life imprisonment with no chance of parole for 25 years.
Throughout the trial, Al Ballouz, a biological male, claimed to be a woman and demanded that he be referred to as “Levana,” a change which was made after he was charged for his crimes. Notably, the Canadian Broadcasting Report’s (CBC’s) report of the case refers to the convicted murder as “she” and uses his fake name.
Following his sentencing, the murderer requested to be sent to the Joliette Institution for Women; however, Downs responded that is a decision for Correctional Service Canada.
Currently under the Liberal Party, the policy is to place prisoners according to their “self-identified” gender, not according to biology. As a result, male rapists and murderers can be sent to prison with females.
However, Al Ballouz’s case caused an uproar on social media as many pointed out that putting the murderer in a women’s prison would pose a danger to female inmates.
Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre has condemned the Liberal policy and promised that he would end this practice if elected.
“Surreal: A man who killed his wife and two kids now claims he is a woman to go to a female prison,” he wrote in a December 22 post on X.
“I can’t believe I have to say this: but when I’m PM, there will be no male prisoners in female jails,” Poilievre continued. “Period.”
-
Business2 days ago
Stocks soar after Trump suspends tariffs
-
COVID-192 days ago
Biden Admin concealed report on earliest COVID cases from 2019
-
Business2 days ago
Scott Bessent Says Trump’s Goal Was Always To Get Trading Partners To Table After Major Pause Announcement
-
2025 Federal Election1 day ago
Researchers Link China’s Intelligence and Elite Influence Arms to B.C. Government, Liberal Party, and Trudeau-Appointed Senator
-
Business1 day ago
Timeline: Panama Canal Politics, Policy, and Tensions
-
COVID-191 day ago
Fauci, top COVID officials have criminal referral requests filed against them in 7 states
-
2025 Federal Election2 days ago
RCMP memo warns of Chinese interference on Canadian university campuses to affect election
-
2025 Federal Election2 days ago
The status quo in Canadian politics isn’t sustainable for national unity