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Public Vigilance Leads To Red Deer Property Crime Arrests

Published

8 years ago

6 minute read

By Sheldon Spackman

City RCMP are thanking the public for their vigilance in providing Mounties with information that led to numerous property crime arrests in Red Deer last weekend. The crimes took place between Friday, March  3rd and Sunday, March 5th.

Police say in two cases, citizens assisted them by detaining suspects who were attempting to flee. While RCMP do not encourage the public to ever put themselves at risk by confronting criminals, they are grateful for the support of the public in seeing that 39 charges were sworn against seven men for property crimes over the weekend.

The first such incident happened around 3:30 pm on March 3rd. RCMP say that’s when they responded to a report of a stolen truck that was parked in a field at Highway 11A and Range Road 273A. The occupant of the truck was wanted on several outstanding warrants from nearby RCMP detachments and was taken into custody without incident. The truck had been reported stolen out of the Sundre area earlier the same morning. 26 year old Joseph Murdock Hayden faces 7 counts.

Then around 4 pm on March 3rd, Mounties responded to a report of suspicious activity downtown in the area of northbound Gaetz Avenue and Ross Street. On arrival, Police found a suspect who was wanted on an outstanding warrant and who was in possession of small amounts of ammunition, methadone and marijuana, in violation of probation conditions. 20 year old Braeden Jacob Lewis faces four new counts.

Shortly after 1 pm on Saturday, March 4th, RCMP arrested two men as they tried to sell a stolen truck after arranging the sale online. RCMP located one suspect in the Village Mall parking lot, where he had arranged to meet a buyer who did not know the vehicle was stolen. When police arrived, the suspect attempted to flee on foot but was detained by a citizen and taken into custody by police. The second suspect was identified through the course of the investigation and arrested at a residence in the Highland Green neighbourhood shortly afterward. 31 year old Matthew Douglas Bauer faces three counts, while 31 year old Brandyn John Beach faces one count of Trafficking in stolen property over $5,000.

About an hour later, RCMP responded to a report of a suspicious car in a parking lot on Halman Crescent. Mounties arrived to find a stolen SUV. As police contained the scene in preparation to arrest the male occupant of the vehicle, two citizens approached with a second suspect they had detained after catching him in the act of breaking into a nearby residence. That suspect broke free and tried to flee but after a brief foot chase and attempts to resist arrest, he was taken into custody. The first suspect in the stolen car also attempted to resist arrest but was taken into custody after a brief altercation. Police seized a number of weapons including a knife, bat and axe from the vehicle that the first suspect was prohibited from possessing due to court-imposed conditions. 32 year old Aaron Frederick Brown faces 11 counts, while 23 year old Jesse Lee Sprague faces three counts.

Finally, shortly after 5 am on Sunday, March 5th, RCMP arrested a man after responding to a report of a suspicious vehicle and locating the suspect parked in a stolen SUV in a lot at 67 Street and Taylor Drive. The suspect assaulted two police officers before being taken into custody. Both officers sustained minor injuries that didn’t require medical attention. The vehicle had been stolen out of Red Deer on February 9th as it sat unlocked and idling. 25 year old Martin Victor Talbot faces nine counts.

In a release, Corporal Karyn Kay says “These successful arrests were all made because citizens reported suspicious behaviour to the police when they saw it, and RCMP are so appreciative of the public engagement and support we’re seeing. However, police urge citizens to never put themselves in potential danger by confronting a criminal. You have no idea if they’re carrying a weapon, or if they’re intoxicated and likely to react violently and unpredictably in their efforts to escape arrest. The police are trained in tactics to subdue armed or aggressive suspects. Please leave that to us – we never want to see a member of the public injured as a result of a confrontation with a criminal.” Kay adds, “RCMP thank Red Deerians for the active role they play in locating stolen vehicles and reporting suspicious persons and behaviours. It’s clear from the number of property crime arrests and charges we saw between Thursday and Sunday that citizen engagement plays a key role in the RCMP’s crime prevention and enforcement work.”

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Broken ‘equalization’ program bad for all provinces

Business

Broken ‘equalization’ program bad for all provinces

Published on November 21, 2024

By

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:

Alex Whalen  and Tegan Hill
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National

Liberals, NDP admit closed-door meetings took place in attempt to delay Canada’s next election

Published on November 12, 2024

By

From LifeSiteNews

By Anthony Murdoch

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.”

“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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