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CENTRAL ALBERTA’S DAILY NEWSPAPER
BREAKING NEWS ONLINE AT WWW.REDDEERADVOCATE.COM
Wildrose MLA Heading reopens Howse into the Pass debate CORRIDOR WOULD BENEFIT ECONOMY OF HIS RIDING WITH MINIMAL IMPACT ON THE ENVIRONMENT
Summer buzz: pesky biters on the hatch
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BY BRENDA KOSSOWAN ADVOCATE STAFF A cattle producer from East Central Alberta has reopened debate on whether or not a highway should be punched through the Howse Pass. Altario-based Rick Strankman, Wildrose MLA for Stettler-Drumheller, said on Wednesday that a transportation corridor running through Central Alberta and crossing the Continental Divide at Saskatchewan River Crossing could be a tremendous benefit to the economy of his riding with minimal impact on the environment. Strankman envisions an east-west route that would divert freight from the Yellowhead and TransCanada routes, significantly shortening the distance from Saskatoon to ports on the West Coast. He suggested a route that would include Saskatchewan Hwy 51, which becomes Hwy 12 when it crosses the provincial boundary at Compeer. The route would then follow Alberta Hwys 12 and 11 through Rocky Mountain House and Nordegg to Saskatchewan River Crossing and continue west across the pass, exiting northwest of Golden. A study commissioned in 2005 for a local economic partnership states that the Howse Pass route would shorten the distance from Red Deer to Vancouver by 95 kilometres. The 2005 report, written for the Red Deer Chamber of Commerce, Clearwater County, Lacombe County and Alberta Economic Development, concluded that there would be a generous economic benefit that would significantly outweigh the costs of construction. Conservative MPs Blaine Calkins for Wetaskiwin and Blake Richards for Wildrose riding raised the issue during recent discussions with councils for both Clearwater and Lacombe counties, offering their support if there is a renewed push to build the highway. However, environmentalists have fought the notion from the get-go, stating that putting a fourth pass through the Rockies would not be worth the expense, both in real costs and in the amount of damage it would inflict on what is largely a wilderness area. Red Deer activist Dorothy Dickson was among a group from the Red Deer River Naturalists who rode the pass on horseback in 1989 to gather information and to create an inventory of the wild plants and animals they found there. While the route is relatively flat and easy to travel on the Alberta side, the B.C. side is as steep and treacherous as the Kicking Horse Pass, further south, Dickson said on Wednesday. She stated that, while the 2005 push for a Howse Pass route eventually fizzled out, it never really went away. “We always knew it would come back. If you win, you always know that they will come back. If you lose, you’ve lost forever.” Regardless of the economic and environmental impacts, a route through the Howse Pass would face a number of obstacles, said Terry Hager, chief administrative officer for Lacombe County. Technology is now available to build a highway through environmentally sensitive areas with only minimal disturbance, even putting it underground if needed, said Hager. However, there are legislative obstacles as well, including an act of Parliament passed when Liberal MP Anne McLellan was Natural Resources Minister. McLellan’s bill made it illegal to put a road through the pass. Cutting across the boundary of Banff and Jasper National Parks, Howse Pass also runs through the centre of a vast area that has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Province of British Columbia would also need to be on board since it would likely be paying the bulk of the costs, said Strankman. Debate over the area’s potential value as a transportation corridor started long before the Davd Thompson Highway reached Nordegg, said Red Deer historian Michael Dawe. The issue was first raised in the 1940s, said Dawe. Geographically, it would probably have been the most logical route for crossing the Rockies and would have made much more sense for the Canadian Pacific Railway when it was building its east-west route across the country. However, the Canadian government wanted a route further south as a means of guarding Canada’s sovereignty from the perceived threat from the United States.
Please see PASS on Page A2
PLEASE RECYCLE
BY SUSAN ZIELINSKI ADVOCATE STAFF
Photo by RANDY FIEDLER/Advocate staff
Ty McArthur, 13, gets a face-first view as he anticipates the cooling effect of the Recreation Centre outdoor pool Wednesday. With the temperature once again nearing 30 C, the pool is jammed with families looking for relief from the sweltering heat.
Economic glass more than half full, says chief investment officer BY HARLEY RICHARDS ADVOCATE BUSINESS EDITOR Europe is struggling to contain its sovereign debt crisis, the American economy continues to sputter, China’s trade growth has slowed and the Toronto Stock Exchange dropped nearly six per cent over the last 2 ½ months. Yet ScotiaMcLeod’s chief investment officer doesn’t view the economic glass as half empty. “It was half full, now it’s moving to more than half full,” said Shane Jones. “I’m feeling more and more optimistic.” Jones, who was in Red Deer Tuesday evening to speak with ScotiaMcLeod advisers and guests, said prior to his presentation that Canadian investors appear to be holding firm. “People are not running for the hills,” he said, adding that despite the recent decline in the equity markets, the year started strong and shows promise going forward. “I would think by the end of
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FORECAST ON A2
THURSDAY, JULY 12, 2012
the year we will be in positive territory. It could only be at five per cent plus, but you add that to your dividend and you’re getting 7 ½ to eight per cent. I think in a year like this, that’s not doing too bad.” Jones, who grew up in the United Kingdom and frequently travels to Europe, expressed confidence that the eurozone’s problems will eventually be resolved. Although the situation in Greece seems bleak, he said Portugal appears to be on the road to recovery, Italy’s debt problems relate to the government rather than individuals there, and much of the concerns related to Spain pertain to one of its major banks, which is on the verge of a bailout from the European Union. But, he added, Europe remains volatile and a fix will be complicated, due to the many players involved. “You’re actually dealing with 17 different countries who have to enact a similar policy.”
Please see OUTLOOK on Page A2
Mosquitoes are hatching and on the hunt. Ken Lehman, parks planning and ecological specialist with the City of Red Deer, said the mosquito population was on the low side until the temperature started rising. “We’ve certainly seen some h a t c h ing, some e m e r g ing adults in the last couple of days since the weekend because of this heat wave,” Lehman said. “It’s alarming people because we haven’t had real numbers up to this point.” Lehman said hatching was delayed because of the cooler spring. “If we get the wet-hot, wet-hot thing going on, we could have a pretty good mosquito population through the remainder of the summer.” Typically, the mosquito population doesn’t drop off until later in the summer, he said. Weather is the determining factor. Hot and dry will kill off larvae. So far, wet pockets have stayed wet, he said. “With the heat being what it is, if there’s any sort of a puddle with an egg mass, it’s progressing really quickly.” The city was already targeting larvae in areas like ditches with bacillus thuringiensis israelensis (Bti), a registered microbial pesticide that leaves other aquatic organisms and wildlife unaffected. “We treat the bad spots we know of. We don’t treat everything.” Commonly used by municipalities to control mosquito populations, the nontoxic, microbial product is applied to the surface of the water. “It more or less rips a hole in their gut. It takes them out. “Where we’ve treated, it’s been a great impact. We’ve been able to stay on top of it for the most part up to this point because there hasn’t been the conditions.” When conditions are right, untreated areas still produce mosquitoes. They also migrate from surrounding areas. City staff monitor both larvae and rainfall to determine when treatment is required. Mosquito light traps in different areas of the city are also checked each Friday during the season to count mosquitoes and species. Traps release carbon dioxide and mosquitoes are drawn to the traps. “Typically we know what we’re going to see, more or less. But it will help us pick up any non-typical activity or allow us to quantify what we predict.” szielinski@reddeeradvocate.com
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BUSINESS
B.C. PREMIER TAKES AIM AT ENBRIDGE
‘A CRUCIAL MOMENT’ FOR SPAIN
If Enbridge plans to operate its planned pipeline in British Columbia the way it did in Michigan, the company can ‘forget it,’ B.C. Premier Christy Clark said Wednesday. A5
Spain’s government imposed more austerity measures on the beleaguered country Wednesday as it unveiled sales tax hikes and spending cuts. C3