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Alberta

Alberta Sports Hall of Fame Celebrating Big Wins and Olympian Meet and Greet

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Alberta Sports Hall of Fame Wins Achievement AwardWe are thrilled to announce that the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame has been awarded the Outstanding Achievement Award by the Government of Alberta in recognition of its exemplary leadership and long-term contribution to preserving and presenting Alberta’s rich sports history.

This prestigious accolade honors individuals or organizations with over 10 years of dedication to heritage in the province, highlighting contributions that extend well beyond the scope of any heritage-related employment. The Alberta Sports Hall of Fame, with its commitment to celebrating the achievements of Alberta’s athletes and preserving their legacies, exemplifies this standard.

At the award presentation, we were honored to be joined by Chelsae Petrovic (MLA for Livingston-Macleod) and Ron Wiebe (MLA for Grande Prairie-Wapiti), who shared in the celebration of this remarkable milestone.

For decades, the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame has played a pivotal role in safeguarding the stories of Alberta’s sports heroes, while inspiring future generations through engaging exhibits, interactive programs, and outreach efforts. This award stands as a testament to the Hall of Fame’s dedication to Alberta’s history, and we are incredibly proud to celebrate this achievement!

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Olympian and Paralympian Meet and Greet: A Day of Inspiration and Celebration

This past week, the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame hosted an unforgettable Olympian and Paralympian Meet and Greet, bringing together sports fans and some of Canada’s most inspiring athletes. The event featured both past and present Olympians and Paralympians, offering a unique opportunity for attendees to meet their sporting heroes in person.

The lineup of athletes was nothing short of extraordinary, including honoured members Diane Jones Konihowski, Olympic pentathlete; and Lyndon Rush, Olympic bobsleigh medalist. The event also included Olympians Marco Arop, Olympic silver medalist and world champion middle-distance runner; Molly Simpson, a rising star in BMX racing; Rebecca Smith, Olympic swimmer and relay medalist. The event also honored the incredible contributions of Paralympians, with appearances by Reid MaxwellNicholas Bennett and Tammy Cunnington, three accomplished Paralympic athletes who have made their marks in swimming and para-athletics.

Fans of all ages gathered to hear personal stories of triumph and perseverance, ask questions, take photos, and get autographs from these exceptional athletes. The day was filled with inspiring conversations, as the Olympians and Paralympians shared insights into their training, challenges, and what it takes to compete on the world stage. Their stories sparked excitement and admiration, reminding us all of the power of dedication, resilience, and the pursuit of excellence.

The event was a resounding success, leaving attendees energized and motivated by the athletes’ remarkable journeys. It was a true celebration of sport, community, and the lasting impact these athletes have on inspiring the next generation.

Thank you to everyone who came out to make this day so special! Stay tuned for more exciting events and opportunities to connect with Alberta’s sporting legends!

Save the Date: 2025 Honoured Member Class Induction Ceremony

Mark your calendars! The Alberta Sports Hall of Fame is excited to announce that our 2025 Honoured Member Class Induction Ceremony will be held on June 7, 2025, at the Red Deer Resort and Casino.

Join us for an unforgettable evening as we celebrate the newest inductees into the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame. This prestigious event will honor individuals who have made extraordinary contributions to sports in Alberta, recognizing their outstanding achievements and lasting impact on our province’s sporting legacy.

Stay tuned for more details, including ticket prices and the announcement of our 2025 Honoured Member Class. This is a night you won’t want to miss—save the date and prepare to be part of this incredible celebration of Alberta’s sporting heroes!

Keep an eye on our website and social media for updates. We look forward to seeing you there!

Alberta Sport Award Nominations Now Open!

We’re excited to announce that nominations for the 2024 Alberta Sport Recognition Awards are now open! This program honors exceptional athletes, teams, coaches, officials, and sport volunteers who have made significant contributions to our province’s sports community. There are five annual awards and two biennial awards available for nomination.

Nominations will be accepted from October 1, 2024, to January 15, 2025. Don’t miss the chance to recognize someone who has had a positive impact on Alberta sports! For more details, click the box below. Let’s celebrate our sporting heroes!

Nominate Now
Thank You from The City of Red Deer!

We are pleased to share a heartfelt thank you letter from Charlaine Rausch, Corporate Events Specialist with The City of Red Deer, expressing appreciation for our participation in the AB Muni Convention Host Night, titled The Eras Tour: Red Deer.


Good Afternoon Tracey,

On behalf of The City of Red Deer, please accept my thanks for participating in our AB Muni Convention Host Night, The Eras Tour: Red Deer.

The AB Sports Hall of Fame is a gem in our community, and as our delegates came from across the Province, it was great to have your booth and items there for our guests to enjoy.

Thanks again.
Char

Charlaine Rausch | Corporate Events Specialist
Community & Public Relations
The City of Red Deer


We appreciate the recognition and are proud to represent the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame in our community!

Honoured Members Visit Our Booth at the PointsBet Invitational!

We were excited to set up our booth at the PointsBet Invitational in Calgary, where we showcased a collection of artifacts celebrating the rich history of curling in Alberta. Our display provided attendees with a unique glimpse into the sport’s legacy, highlighting significant milestones and achievements that have shaped curling in our province.

We were especially honored to have Diane Jones Konihowski and Cheryl Bernard, both esteemed honoured members of the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame, stop by our booth.

We are always open to participating in more events throughout Alberta, and we welcome opportunities to bring our artifacts and stories to new audiences. If you know of an event that could benefit from our presence, please reach out!

Thank you to everyone who visited us at the PointsBet Invitational! We look forward to continuing to celebrate the incredible history and achievements of Alberta’s athletes.

This newsletter is sponsored by Tourism Red Deer.

Honoured Member Profile- Donald Moore

Multisport Builder, Inducted in 2010Don Moore was a vital force in shaping Red Deer’s sports community from 1956 to 1987. As an athlete, coach, referee, and administrator, he contributed to hockey, football, swimming, and skiing. Don served on the Alberta Sport Council and played a key role in developing Red Deer’s sports facilities and the Waskasoo Park system, enhancing recreational opportunities.

A mentor to many and an advocate for accessible sports, Don’s leadership left a lasting impact on the community. His notable achievements include receiving the Alberta Centennial Salute for Sport and Recreation Award in 2005 and the G.H. Dawe Memorial Award of Excellence in 2008. Don’s commitment to sport and volunteerism continues to inspire future generations.

Click below to see his honoured member profile.

Honoured Member Profile
Provincial Sport Organization – Football AlbertaFootball Alberta is the governing body for amateur football in the province of Alberta. It oversees and supports the development of the sport at all levels, from youth and high school programs to junior and senior leagues. Football Alberta provides resources, coaching certification, competitions, and player development opportunities, ensuring the growth and success of football in the province. The organization is dedicated to promoting safe, inclusive, and competitive environments for athletes, coaches, and officials to thrive in the sport of football.
Football Alberta
Artifact in Focus!

Donald Moore’s leather football cleats with metal pages in the sole.

Let’s Champion Our Local Sports Heroes and Inspire the Champions of Tomorrow​

Your donation will ensure your Hall can continue to champion our Alberta sports heroes. Donate through our website, attend our events, and be a part of our Sports Hall of Fame’s legacy. Thank you for your support!

Donate

The Alberta Sports Hall of Fame provides a family-friendly, interactive experience. You will be surprised by what you discover inside! Have fun, laugh, play and discover Alberta sports heroes together. The Alberta Sports Hall of Fame is an interactive, hands-on celebration of Alberta's sporting history. Our over 7,000 square feet of exhibit space includes a multisport area with virtual baseball, basketball, football, hockey, and soccer; an adaptive sports area, including a 200 meter wheelchair challenge; a Treadwall climbing wall; the Orest Korbutt Theatre; the Hall of Fame Gallery; an art gallery displaying works by provincial artists, and much more. Our venue boasts a collection of over 17,000 artefacts of Alberta sports history and showcases many of these items in a number of displays. The Alberta Sports Hall of Fame also offers an education program, group activities, and a unique environment to rent for your birthday party, special event, corporate reception or meetings.

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Alberta

Heavy-duty truckers welcome new ‘natural gas highway’ in Alberta

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Clean Energy Fuels CEO Andrew Littlefair, Tourmaline CEO Mike Rose, and Mullen Group chairman Murray Mullen attend the opening of a new Clean Energy/Tourmaline compressed natural gas (CNG) fuelling station in Calgary on Oct. 22, 2024. Photo courtesy Tourmaline

From the Canadian Energy Centre

By Deborah Jaremko

New compressed natural gas fueling stations in Grande Prairie and Calgary join new stop in Edmonton

Heavy-duty truckers hauling everything from restaurant supplies to specialized oilfield services along one of Western Canada’s busiest corridors now have more access to a fuel that can help reduce emissions and save costs.

Two new fuelling stations serving compressed natural gas (CNG) rather than diesel in Grande Prairie and Calgary, along with a stop that opened in Edmonton last year, create the first phase of what proponents call a “natural gas highway”.

“Compressed natural gas is viable, it’s competitive and it’s good for the environment,” said Murray Mullen, chair of Mullen Group, which operates more than 4,300 trucks and thousands of pieces of equipment supporting Western Canada’s energy industry.

Right now, the company is running 19 CNG units and plans to deploy another 15 as they become available.

“They’re running the highways right now and they’re performing exceptionally well,” Mullen said on Oct. 22 during the ribbon-cutting ceremony opening the new station on the northern edge of Calgary along Highway 2.

“Our people love them, our customers love them and I think it’s going to be the way for the future to be honest,” he said.

Heavy-duty trucks at Tourmaline and Clean Energy’s new Calgary compressed natural gas fuelling station. Photo courtesy Tourmaline

According to Natural Resources Canada, natural gas burns more cleanly than gasoline or diesel fuel, producing fewer toxic pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change.

The two new CNG stops are part of a $70 million partnership announced last year between major Canadian natural gas producer Tourmaline and California-based Clean Energy Fuels.

Their deal would see up to 20 new CNG stations built in Western Canada over the next five years, daily filling up to 3,000 natural gas-fueled trucks.

One of North America’s biggest trucking suppliers to businesses including McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, Subway and Popeye’s says the new stations will help as it expands its fleet of CNG-powered vehicles across Canada.

Amy Senter, global vice-president of sustainability with Illinois-based Martin Brower, said in a statement that using more CNG is critical to the company achieving its emissions reduction targets.

For Tourmaline, delivering CNG to heavy-duty truckers builds on its multi-year program to displace diesel in its operations, primarily by switching drilling equipment to run on natural gas.

Between 2018 and 2022, the company displaced the equivalent of 36 Olympic-sized swimming pools worth of diesel that didn’t get used, or the equivalent emissions of about 58,000 passenger vehicles.

Tourmaline CEO Mike Rose speaks to reporters during the opening of a new Tourmaline/Clean Energy compressed natural gas fuelling station in Calgary on Oct. 22, 2024. Photo courtesy Tourmaline

Tourmaline CEO Mike Rose noted that the trucking sector switching fuel from diesel to natural gas is gaining momentum, notably in Asia.

A “small but growing” share of China’s trucking fleet moving to natural gas helped drive an 11 percent reduction in overall diesel consumption this June compared to the previous year, according to the latest data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

“China’s talking about 30 percent of the trucks sold going forward are to be CNG trucks, and it’s all about reducing emissions,” Rose said.

“It’s one global atmosphere. We’re going to reduce them here; they’re going to reduce them there and everybody’s a net winner.”

Switching from diesel to CNG is “extremely cost competitive” for trucking fleets, said Clean Energy CEO Andrew Littlefair.

“It will really move the big rigs that we need in Western Canada for the long distance and heavy loads,” he said.

Tourmaline and Clean Energy aim to have seven CNG fuelling stations operating by the end of 2025. Construction is set to begin in Kamloops, B.C., followed by Fort McMurray and Fort St. John.

“You’ll have that Western Canadian corridor, and then we’ll grow it from there,” Littlefair said.

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Alberta

Another Blow To The Carbon Tax

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From Project Confederation

By Josh Andrus

Five years ago, I announced the launch of Project Confederation on Danielle Smith’s CHQR 770 radio show.

That interview changed my life forever.

The project launch was driven by a belief that federal policies – including, but not limited to, the carbon tax – were unfairly targeting Alberta and our economy.

Five years later, we find ourselves opening the next chapter of a long-running saga.

Slowly but surely, Canadians – not just Albertans – have worked out that carbon tax doesn’t make sense, doesn’t work, and isn’t constitutional.

And as the public backlash to the carbon tax grew, the federal government compromised the policy even further, making it even more unpopular and even less constitutional.

On Tuesday, Danielle Smith, now Alberta Premier, announced that her government is going to court to challenge the constitutionality of Ottawa’s selective carbon tax exemption on home heating oils.

The carbon tax, of course, is the levy charged for fuel and combustible waste as outlined in the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act and its regulations.

The carbon tax is a tax on everything.

Every product you consume relies on energy-intensive steps in the production cycle – whether it’s the combines harvesting crops, commercial trucks transporting goods, or the electricity powering lights and refrigeration at the grocery store, just to name a few.

This drives costs up throughout the production process in virtually every industry.

The carbon tax also serves as the flagship policy of the Liberal-NDP coalition government, which took office following the 2019 election – just two days before my first appearance on Danielle Smith’s show.

In the eyes of the federal government, the carbon tax represents a beacon to the world, signalling Canada’s new global position as a green, socialist utopia.

In the eyes of the voters, it represents a symbol of the Trudeau government’s unpopularity, a major contributor to ongoing affordability problems and a sluggish economy.

In the eyes of the provinces, it is a clear violation of provincial jurisdiction.

The Act requires provinces to establish these punitive carbon taxes, and if they don’t, the Act allows for Ottawa to impose carbon pricing.

When it was introduced, it faced immediate legal challenges from Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Ontario.

They were joined in opposition to the law by Quebec, Manitoba and New Brunswick – meaning that six provinces, making up over 80% of the Canadian population, believed the carbon tax was a violation of provincial jurisdiction.

The provinces contended that natural resources fall under provincial authority, and that the carbon tax essentially imposes a levy on resource development.

Ottawa, however, argued that climate change constitutes a national crisis and thus falls under federal responsibility.

In 2021, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the federal government – on the premise that it could be applied as a “minimum national standard.”

“This is in fact the very premise of a federal scheme that imposes minimum national standards: Canada and the provinces are both free to legislate in relation to the same fact situation but the federal law is paramount.”

Just two years later, the Liberal-NDP coalition completely abandoned the minimum national standard by granting a carbon tax carve-out to home heating oils.

Here’s the catch.

In Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, less than one percent of households use home heating oils to keep their homes warm during cold weather.

That number rises to seven percent in New Brunswick, eighteen percent in Newfoundland and Labrador, thirty-two percent in Nova Scotia and forty percent in Prince Edward Island.

The carbon tax had become such an unpopular policy in Atlantic Canada that the Liberals, trying to stop their collapsing poll numbers, decided to try and regain some votes in the region.

If that weren’t enough, the Liberal government blatantly admitted that the decision was political.

On CTV’s Question Period, Rural Economic Development Minister Gudie Hutchings said  “I can tell you, the (Liberal) Atlantic caucus was vocal with what they’ve heard from their constituents, and perhaps they need to elect more Liberals in the Prairies so that we can have that conversation, as well.”

So much for the “minimum national standard.”

Immediately, the constitutionality of the carbon tax was called into question.

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said the move was “not about fairness or about families, it’s only about votes.”

Moe moved swiftly, announcing that SaskEnergy – the Crown corporation that supplies natural gas to residents – would no longer collect or remit the carbon tax on home heating bills in Saskatchewan.

In a misguided effort to curry political favour in the Atlantic provinces, the Liberals have completely compromised the legal standing of the carbon tax and opened the door for provinces to explore new legal avenues against their signature policy.

Now, the Alberta government is seizing that opportunity by filing an application for judicial review of the exemption with the Federal Court, requesting a declaration that the exemption is “both unconstitutional and unlawful.”

“Albertans simply cannot stand by for another winter while the federal government picks and chooses who their carbon tax applies to,” Smith said in a statement. “Since they won’t play fair, we’re going to take the federal government back to court.”

Minister of Justice Mickey Amery added that:

This exemption is not only unfair to the vast majority of Canadians, but it is also unlawful as the federal government does not have the authority to make special exemptions for certain parts of the country under the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act.”

“The federal government isn’t even following its own laws now. Someone needs to hold them accountable, and Alberta is stepping up to do just that.”

The carbon tax has always been unfair to western Canadians, where households use more energy per capita, thanks to our geography and climate.

In a press conference, Danielle Smith went further, saying:

“We’re calling on (the federal government) to repeal the carbon tax. We’ve been calling for that for years. The retail carbon tax is just punitive to taxpayers. It’s punitive to consumers.”

We agree.

It adds an additional expense at every level of the economy, affecting everything from home heating to transportation, and it creates an environment of higher prices on the goods and services we all rely on.

It’s time to take the action that should have been taken long ago.

It’s time to repeal the carbon tax.

Please sign this petition and join our effort to hold the federal government accountable:

Once you’ve signed, please share with your friends, family, and every Canadian.

Regards,

Josh Andrus
Executive Director
Project Confederation

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