On February 4, Red Deer College hosted the second annual Transform Your Trade event, a Dragon’s Den-style competition for people with business ideas to enhance a trade.
The competition, which was open to local entrepreneurs, provided them with the opportunity to prepare a business plan and present it to community business leaders, all for the chance to win $5,000 toward starting a small business.
“Transform Your Trade is a fantastic program to support trades-related entrepreneurs who want to grow business activity in our region,” says Joel Gingrich, Dean, School of Trades & Technologies. “The prize money awarded to help launch the business has tremendous value for a start-up company. Adding to this, though, the competitors and winner receive tremendous incremental value through the deep and insightful advice from the community business leaders who support this event.”
The foundational support for this event comes from local business leaders and philanthropists, Jack and Joan Donald, who have sponsored the competition since it began in 2016. Their support includes the $5,000 prize, as well as business expertise and mentorship for the individual with the winning proposal. “We feel that many trades persons will eventually start and run their own businesses,” says Jack Donald. “If we can help this process along and make it easier for even one person a year to start something new that’s progress.”
“We have seen a number of new businesses start up and fail,” adds Joan Donald. “We hope that talking about the Transform Your Trade competition will help some people that are thinking of starting a new business to know that there are a number of steps to take, and much planning that must be done, before making that big decision.”
At this year’s competition, local entrepreneur Barry Hickey was the winner of Transform Your Trade, as he presented his business plan for Scent of Metal Automotive Inc. Hickey, who is a Red Seal Automotive Technician, has 17 years of experience in the industry and is looking to take his career to the next step by opening his own business. “I’m looking to provide a low-cost opportunity for local customers to have a licensed red seal mechanic for all of their maintenance needs,” he says. As this year’s winner of Transform Your Trade, Hickey will benefit from the prize money and from the ongoing mentorship with local business leaders.
When it comes to his experience as an entrepreneur, Hickey shares that “failure is not always an option but rather a choice one makes in life. Never give up, if you decide to pursue your dreams. Complete each day with passion and you are already a winner.”
Darcy Mykytyshyn, Dean of the Donald School of Business, emphasizes the importance of collaboration and events such as Transform Your Trade in helping local entrepreneurs. “This initiative is a powerful demonstration of how we can bring together multiple disciplines from within postsecondary,” he says. “By working together and with business leaders, we can support not only students, but exciting and motivated entrepreneurs who want to be part of building our region.”
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.
According to the Secretary of State’s office, Trump leads Harris by 184,935 in a 53%-46% split.
Former President Donald Trump was declared the winner Saturday night in Arizona, marking the final swing state for the Republican to collect in his landslide victory.
Arizona was the seventh and final swing state to be decided, securing Trump 312 Electoral College votes.
All but Coconino, Apache, Santa Cruz, and Pima counties favored Trump over Vice President Kamala Harris. Maricopa County, the source of dozens of electoral challenges including a partisan ballot review of the 2020 election, is currently favoring Trump by more than 78,000 votes. Trump lost the state to President Joe Biden in 2020 by little more than 10,000 votes.
According to the Secretary of State’s office, Trump leads Harris by 184,935 in a 53%-46% split.
Complete election results aren’t expected for at least another week, which is no different from previous cycles. Two-page ballots with dozens of judicial retention races and ballot propositions led to slower results in the days after polls closed. A new election integrity law enacted this year requiring polling stations to count envelopes before they can send off ballots added to the lag in results.
Both the Trump and Harris campaigns made Arizona a priority throughout the election cycle, either hosting rallies themselves or sending big-name surrogates.
Campaign volunteers descended on Maricopa County to join local activists who knocked on thousands of doors in the days before the election. Many residents complained about the barrage of phone calls, texts, emails, and flyers from numerous organizations.
