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Alberta

Pocklington is Gone But Feelings Remain

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Pocklington is Gone But Feelings Remain

Conflict decorates every yard of the sports world’s journey these days. If you can find an easy yes or no on such issues as relaxing COVID-19 precautions and finding agreement on matters like schedules and salary levels that happen year after year, you’re much smarter than I am.

Given the size of this emotional upheaval, this is the perfect time for Peter Pocklington and all the controversial memories tied to his name to remind all of us. yes again, that there probably would no National Hockey League team in Edmonton but for him, and the brilliance shown by the 1980 Edmonton Oilers would not be part of this city’s, or this province’s remarkable hockey history.

All it took to get the old fires burning was a simple public letter in which Peter Puck congratulated captain/coach/general manager Kevin Lowe on his induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

In less than a day, this familiar question was raised in my hearing at least once: does Pocklington also belong in the Hall that welcomed Lowe, Oilers general manager Ken Holland and four others earlier this week?

Without the slightest doubt, many in and around Alberta believe his act of buying the Oilers when they were in the old World Hockey Association and later becoming an owner in the WHA and part of the 1979-80 National Hockey League expansion. The team’s massive record for much of the next decade provides strong unspoken testimony in his behalf.

Had Wayne Gretzky not been part of the WHA’s expansion package, it’s fair to argue the expansion might never have happened. Slim and young, the budding superstar was an Oiler only because of Pocklington’s transaction with old friend Nelson Skalbania, who lost ample amounts while operating the Indianapolis Racers, who never became part of any expansion talk.

Ultimately, as the record shows, Pocklington’s instincts and diminishing financial stability led to loss of team control after years of operating on a line of credit with Alberta Treasury Branches. Money was exchanged, in addition to players, in the vast majority of trades under the control of Pocklington and Glen Sather.

Gretzky brought about $15 million from the Los Angeles Kings. “I was not traded,” Wayne said. “I was sold.”

Promising centre Jimmy Carson came to Alberta as part of the swap and later netted $5 million when he went to the Detroit Red Wings. Mark Messier, Jari Kurri and Paul Coffey also brought cash when they were moved.

David Cruise, co-author of a later book on hockey’s finances, summed things up, “The picture’s clear; the Oilers trade their assets for money.” A parallel was drawn between athletes and automobiles: “Buy the car, get as much mileage out of it as you can, then you sell it just before the block breaks.”

Many parallels have been drawn between Pocklington, found guilty in more than a few financial free-for-alls outside of hockey, and former Toronto Maple Leafs president Harold Ballard, the team’s alternate governor when the Leafs won Stanley Cups in 1962, 1963 and 1967 – the last time the Leafs have taken home the championship.

Ballard also spent time in jail, convicted on up to 47 charges of fraud. He embarrassed many Leaf greats, notably Darryl Sittler, Lanny MacDonald and Dave Keon, as well as respected coach Roger Neilson. In addition, Pal Hal defied NHL president John Ziegler on many resolutions – once refusing to put players names on jerseys.

But Ballard is in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Pocklington is on the outside. According to numerous critics, that’s where he belongs. It seems reasonable to bet the debate will rise again. Probably next year, at Hall of Fame selection time.

Door opening for fan increase for minor-sports?

Alberta

Alberta court upholds conviction of Pastor Artur Pawlowski for preaching at Freedom Convoy protest

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From LifeSiteNews

By Clare Marie Merkowsky

Lawyers argued that Pastor Artur Pawlowski’s sermon was intended to encourage protesters to find a peaceful solution to the blockade, but the statement was characterized as a call for mischief.

An Alberta Court of Appeal ruled that Calgary Pastor Artur Pawlowski is guilty of mischief for his sermon at the Freedom Convoy-related border protest blockade in February 2022 in Coutts, Alberta.

On October 29, Alberta Court of Appeal Justice Gordon Krinke sentenced the pro-freedom pastor to 60 days in jail for “counselling mischief” by encouraging protesters to continue blocking Highway 4 to protest COVID mandates.

“A reasonable person would understand the appellant’s speech to be an active inducement of the illegal activity that was ongoing and that the appellant intended for his speech to be so understood,” the decision reads.

Pawlowski addressed a group of truckers and protesters blocking entrance into the U.S. state of Montana on February 3, the fifth day of the Freedom Convoy-styled protest. He encouraged the protesters to “hold the line” after they had reportedly made a deal with Royal Canadian Mounted Police to leave the border crossing and travel to Edmonton.

“The eyes of the world are fixed right here on you guys. You are the heroes,” Pawlowski said. “Don’t you dare go breaking the line.”

After Pawlowski’s sermon, the protesters remained at the border crossing for two additional weeks. While his lawyers argued that his speech was made to encourage protesters to find a peaceful solution to the blockade, the statement is being characterized as a call for mischief.

Days later, on February 8, Pawlowski was arrested – for the fifth time – by an undercover SWAT team just before he was slated to speak again to the Coutts protesters.

He was subsequently jailed for nearly three months for what he said was for speaking out against COVID mandates, the subject of all the Freedom Convoy-related protests.

In Krinke’s decision, he argued that Pawlowski’s sermon incited the continuation of the protest, saying, “The Charter does not provide justification to anybody who incites a third party to commit such crimes.”

“While the appellant is correct that peaceful, lawful and nonviolent communication is entitled to protection, blockading a highway is an inherently aggressive and potentially violent form of conduct, designed to intimidate and impede the movement of third parties,” he wrote.

Pawlowski was released after the verdict. He has already spent 78 days in jail before the trial.

Pawlowski is the first Albertan to be charged for violating the province’s Critical Infrastructure Defence Act (CIDA), which was put in place in 2020 under then-Premier Jason Kenney.

The CIDA, however, was not put in place due to COVID mandates but rather after anti-pipeline protesters blockaded key infrastructure points such as railway lines in Alberta a few years ago.

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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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