News
Around Red Deer April 28th – 30th…..
3:11 pm – Red Deer man charged with giving drugs to youth in Airdrie. Read More.
3:04 pm – Red Deer RCMP’s Victim Services Unit is hosting a Volunteer Information event on Thursday, May 4th at 6 pm at the Downtown Detachment. Learn more about this volunteer opportunity!
For more local news, click here!
2:13 pm – Red Deer RCMP are looking for a suspect who robbed a man at gun-point in a back alley in the Bower neighbourhood April 25th. Read More.
12:17 pm – Results are in from last weekend’s Spring Fever Fun Run. The MS Society fundraiser saw 169 people take part in the event and raise $510 for the MS Society of Canada – Central Alberta Branch. The MS Society’s partner, Blitz Events will also host a 5K / 10K / 15K Roundup Run in Red Deer on Saturday, July 15th. For more details on this run and others coming up in Red Deer, Click here!
10:40 am – Some temporary road closures to make note of in Innisfail this weekend. Affected roads include 47 Avenue between 50 Street and 48 Street on Saturday, April 29 between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. The Spring Fever Road Hockey Tournament will take place on the site at that time. For event details, visit www.deanturnquist.ca
For more local news, click here!
10:37 am – The following streets are due to be swept in Innisfail today:
47 Ave. from 51 St. to 46 St.
51 St. from 47 Ave. to 44 Ave.
41 St. from 50 Ave. to 48 Ave.
41 St. Close
49A Ave. from 42 St. to 40 St.
10:33 am – Motorists in Sylvan Lake will likely encounter some road closures today. Road or lane closures are planned at various times for:
-50 Street, between 45 Avenue and 47 Avenue;
-Staring on Friday, April 28 at 4:00 PM;
-Ending on (estimated) Saturday, May 13.
These closures are due to emergency utility repairs, and the water main repair project, previously identified.
10:22 am – Red Deer RCMP are hoping you can help them find a missing teen. Read More.
For more local news, click here!
10:19 am – The Town of Blackfalds is holding a Community BBQ at the Community Hall at noon on Saturday, April 29th. The event will wrap up the Town’s Community Clean Up Campaign.
10:13 am – The following streets are slated to be swept in Blackfalds today:
Broadway North of Indiana
Old section of Park St.
Wilson St.
Waghorn St
East Ave
Lawton Ave.
Queens Cr.
10:09 am – Red Deer RCMP are searching for a suspect after a man suffered a serious hand wound from a sword during a home invasion April 25th. Read More.
For more local news, click here!
10:04 am – The Town of Penhold is playing host to The 2017 Wheelchair Basketball Junior West Regional Championships this weekend! The first game is at 10:00am on Saturday morning at the Penhold Regional Multi-Plex.
10:00 am – Heads up on a road closure in Gasoline Alley starting Monday. Read More.
9:56 am – Wondering if your child’s car seat is safe? You can have it checked out between 10:15 am – 1:00 pm at the Crossroads Church parking lot on Sunday. Read More.
For more local news, click here!
9:41 am – Federal MP and NDP Leadership hopeful Charlie Angus will be in Red Deer next Tuesday, May 2nd. His meet and greet with the public will begin at 5 pm at the International Beer Haus in downtown Red Deer. It’s located at 5008 48th Street.
9:35 am – Food Truck Wars are coming to Red Deer’s École Secondaire Notre Dame High School next week. On Thursday, May 4 from 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m., Food Studies 30 students will be participating in a Food “Truck” Wars competition in the gathering area to continue raising money for this year’s Grad Service Project – the RCMP Victim Services Trauma Dog. In this competition, student groups will each be preparing six different “food truck style” dishes to see who can raise the most money for charity. There will be lots of unique and tasty dishes, such as gourmet grilled cheese, burgers, panini sandwiches and perogies. All are welcome and encouraged to purchase some tasty food truck creations in the school’s gathering area and support a worthy cause in our community.
9:13 am – Ponoka RCMP are asking for the public’s help in finding 22-year-old Nikita Rabbit. She was last seen on April 26th in the late morning at the Centennial Centre in Ponoka. Rabbit is described as Aboriginal, 5’8” tall, approximately 190 lbs. She has long brown hair and brown eyes and was last seen wearing a dark hoodie and blue jeans.
For more local news, click here!
9:07 am – Red Deer City Council will consider on Monday, May 1st, implementing a Cart Pilot Program next year that would see some City residents given Green carts for organic waste, Blue carts for recycling and Black carts for garbage. Details Here.
9:02 am – Rimbey RCMP have arrested a man accused of trying to steal a truck at a rural property on April 3rd. Mounties say thanks to tips from the public, they are no longer looking for Quinn Russell Peterson. He is now in custody.
8:48 am – Red Deer’s Gordon Cove has been appointed to the Board of Directors for the Agriculture Financial Services Corporation (AFSC). Read More.
For more local news, click here!
8:38 am – A local High School student is going to be graduating a semester early this year! Officials with Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools say Nicole Issacs, a Grade 12 student at École Secondaire Notre Dame High School has now completed fourth class Power Engineering at NAIT and a high school diploma a semester early. This program and other dual credit programs provide the opportunity for high school students to participate in apprenticeship training or post-secondary courses. Students are able to earn both high school and post-secondary credits for the same course.
8:26 am – St. Elizabeth Seton School will have their first annual Father’s Day Fun Run on Sunday, June 18, 2017 to raise money for a new playground at the school. This 3 or 5 kilometer run/walk will start and end at Kin Kanyon (33 Street & 47 Avenue) at 10:00 a.m. rain or shine. You can register as an individual or as a family. Until May 1, 2017 you can receive special family prices and early bird rates. To register, please visit the Running Room website www.events.runningroom.com. In June of 2016, St. Elizabeth Seton School had to remove their old school playground to make room for new modular classrooms to accommodate their growing school. The school is now fundraising for a new playground to be built on a new site at the school.
8:13 am – The Zone 4 West High School Drama Festival continues at Red Deer’s Hunting Hills High School again today (Apr 28) and tomorrow (Apr 29). Over 20 plays from Central Alberta schools – most of them student directed – celebrate the performing arts by sharing their works at the festival. Two plays will be selected to represent the Zone at the Provincial High School Festival in May at RDC. Plays start at 6:00 pm on April 28th and at noon on April 29th. Admission is $5 at the door.
From the Fraser Institute
By Alex Whalen and Tegan Hill
Back in the summer at a meeting in Halifax, several provincial premiers discussed a lawsuit meant to force the federal government to make changes to Canada’s equalization program. The suit—filed by Newfoundland and Labrador and backed by British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Alberta—effectively argues that the current formula isn’t fair. But while the question of “fairness” can be subjective, its clear the equalization program is broken.
In theory, the program equalizes the ability of provinces to deliver reasonably comparable services at a reasonably comparable level of taxation. Any province’s ability to pay is based on its “fiscal capacity”—that is, its ability to raise revenue.
This year, equalization payments will total a projected $25.3 billion with all provinces except B.C., Alberta and Saskatchewan to receive some money. Whether due to higher incomes, higher employment or other factors, these three provinces have a greater ability to collect government revenue so they will not receive equalization.
However, contrary to the intent of the program, as recently as 2021, equalization program costs increased despite a decline in the fiscal capacity of oil-producing provinces such as Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Newfoundland and Labrador. In other words, the fiscal capacity gap among provinces was shrinking, yet recipient provinces still received a larger equalization payment.
Why? Because a “fixed-growth rule,” introduced by the Harper government in 2009, ensures that payments grow roughly in line with the economy—even if the gap between richer and poorer provinces shrinks. The result? Total equalization payments (before adjusting for inflation) increased by 19 per cent between 2015/16 and 2020/21 despite the gap in fiscal capacities between provinces shrinking during this time.
Moreover, the structure of the equalization program is also causing problems, even for recipient provinces, because it generates strong disincentives to natural resource development and the resulting economic growth because the program “claws back” equalization dollars when provinces raise revenue from natural resource development. Despite some changes to reduce this problem, one study estimated that a recipient province wishing to increase its natural resource revenues by a modest 10 per cent could face up to a 97 per cent claw back in equalization payments.
Put simply, provinces that generally do not receive equalization such as Alberta, B.C. and Saskatchewan have been punished for developing their resources, whereas recipient provinces such as Quebec and in the Maritimes have been rewarded for not developing theirs.
Finally, the current program design also encourages recipient provinces to maintain high personal and business income tax rates. While higher tax rates can reduce the incentive to work, invest and be productive, they also raise the national standard average tax rate, which is used in the equalization allocation formula. Therefore, provinces are incentivized to maintain high and economically damaging tax rates to maximize equalization payments.
Unless premiers push for reforms that will improve economic incentives and contain program costs, all provinces—recipient and non-recipient—will suffer the consequences.
Authors:
National
Liberals, NDP admit closed-door meetings took place in attempt to delay Canada’s next election
From LifeSiteNews
Pushing back the date would preserve the pensions of some of the MPs who could be voted out of office in October 2025.
Aides to the cabinet of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau confirmed that MPs from the Liberal and New Democratic Party (NDP) did indeed hold closed-door “briefings” to rewrite Canada’s elections laws so that they could push back the date of the next election.
The closed-door talks between the NDP and Liberals confirmed the aides included a revision that would guarantee some of its 28 MPs, including three of Trudeau’s cabinet members, would get a pension.
Allen Sutherland, who serves as the assistant cabinet secretary, testified before the House of Commons affairs committee that the changes to the Elections Act were discussed in the meetings.
“We attended a meeting where the substance of that proposal was discussed,” he said, adding that his “understanding is the briefing was primarily oral.”
According to Sutherland, as reported by Blacklock’s Reporter, it was only NDP and Liberal MPs who attended the secret meetings regarding changes to Canada’s Elections Act via Bill C-65, An Act to Amend the Canada Elections Act before the bill was introduced in March.
As reported by LifeSiteNews before, the Liberals were hoping to delay the 2025 federal election by a few days in what many see as a stunt to secure pensions for MPs who are projected to lose their seats. Approximately 80 MPs would qualify for pensions should they sit as MPs until at least October 27, 2025, which is the newly proposed election date. The election date is currently set for October 20, 2025.
Sutherland noted when asked by Conservative MP Luc Berthold that he recalled little from the meetings, but he did confirm he attended “two meetings of that kind.”
“Didn’t you find it unusual that a discussion about amending the Elections Act included only two political parties and excluded the others?” Berthold asked.
Sutherland responded, “It’s important to understand what my role was in those meetings which was simply to provide background information.”
Berthold then asked, “You nevertheless suggested amendments to the legislation including a change of dates?”
“My role was to provide information,” replied Sutherland, who added he could not provide the exact dates of the meetings.
MPs must serve at least six years to qualify for a pension that pays $77,900 a year. Should an election be called today, many MPs would fall short of reaching the six years, hence Bill C-65 was introduced by the Liberals and NDP.
The Liberals have claimed that pushing back the next election date is not over pensions but due to “trying to observe religious holidays,” as noted by Liberal MP Mark Gerretsen.
“Conservatives voted against this bill,” Berthold said, as they are “confident of winning re-election. We don’t need this change.”
Trudeau’s popularity is at a all-time low, but he has refused to step down as PM, call an early election, or even step aside as Liberal Party leader.
As for the amendments to elections laws, they come after months of polling in favour of the Conservative Party under the leadership of Pierre Poilievre.
A recent poll found that 70 percent of Canadians believe the country is “broken” as Trudeau focuses on less critical issues. Similarly, in January, most Canadians reported that they are worse off financially since Trudeau took office.
Additionally, a January poll showed that 46 percent of Canadians expressed a desire for the federal election to take place sooner rather than the latest mandated date in the fall of 2025.
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