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WHL Rebels lose close one to Hitmen
Ravi Shankar dead at age 92 C3
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CENTRAL ALBERTA’S DAILY NEWSPAPER
BREAKING NEWS ONLINE AT WWW.REDDEERADVOCATE.COM
PARKLAND NURSERIES ICE SCULPTURE
THURSDAY, DEC. 13, 2012
ELECTORAL BOUNDARIES
Red Deer split into two ridings BY RANDY FIEDLER AND LANA MICHELIN ADVOCATE STAFF
ballot. Wong believes allowing the public to decide on this next October will be both cost-effective and timely. “There have been people inquiring about (ward representation) over the last two or three terms, but we keep sloughing it off,” said Wong, as it’s always seen as arising at the wrong time — either just before or after an election.
The City of Red Deer will be split into two new federal constituencies. Using Ross Street and the Red Deer River as a boundary, the new ridings will be Red Deer-Mountain View to the south and Red Deer-Wolf Creek to the north, according to a Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission for Alberta final report tabled in Parliament on Wednesday. Although Red Deer will get two MPs in the next federal election, it will share these representatives with a lot of rural communities — prompting Mayor Morris Flewelling to question if the area’s urban concerns will be as well heard. He noted that rural and urban people share a lot of common interests, such as access to health care. But there’s also a rural/urban split on many issues, including the gun registry, gay marriage, dealing with drug and alcohol addiction and other things. As Red Deer’s population is nearing 100,000, Flewwelling said, “I wonder if the focus of our voice will be lost?” On the other hand, he believes the new boundaries may not create a significant change if the current Red Deer MP Earl Dreeshen moves into the new Red Deer-Mountain View seat, while Wetaskiwin MP Blaine Calkins becomes the Red Deer-Wolf Creek MP. The Red Deer-Mountain View riding contains Innisfail, Olds, Sundre, Didsbury and Carstairs, with its border just north of Crossfield. The Red DeerWolf Creek riding contains Blackfalds, Sylvan Lake, Lacombe, Ponoka and the four Hobbema reserves to just south of Wetaskiwin. The current Red Deer riding follows Red Deer County’s borders. But Red Deer County will now be split between two ridings. Most county residents will be in Red Deer-Mountain View, while a few on the eastern edge will be part of the new Battle River riding, which includes Stettler, Three Hills, and Drumheller, to east of Leduc to the Saskatchewan border. Red Deer County Mayor Jim Wood would have preferred that all residents be represented by a Red Deer MP for the sake of convenience. Many county dwellers drive in to the city for work, shopping and recreation, said Wood, who believes it will be more hassle to have to travel to Camrose or some other place to see their MP. “It’s unfortunate that everybody’s wishes couldn’t be accommodated,” Wood said, but people will adjust. The proposed changes come despite efforts by Central Alberta politicians and residents to convince the commission otherwise at September hearings. Delburne, Elnora and Lousana and area residents opposed being moved into a revamped Battle River riding, saying they had more in common with the western county than the east. Rocky town and Clearwater County officials feared getting lost in a large north-south constituency instead of a historical east-west one.
Please see WARD on Page A2
Please see RIDING on Page A2
Photo by RANDY FIEDLER/Advocate staff
Danny Pascal of Frozen Memories Ice Studio chips at a gargoyle at Parkland Nurseries Wednesday. The medieval kingdom theme also includes knights in armour and a throne of ice designed to be sat upon. The 24th annual sculpture features the logos of 23 other businesses and opens to the public tonight at 7 p.m. when it will be lit up.
Councillors want plebiscite on ward system for city BY LANA MICHELIN ADVOCATE STAFF Three city councillors want to give Red Deer citizens the chance to decide whether they want a municipal ward system. Red Deer councillors Frank Wong, Buck Buchanan and Chris Stephan are introducing a motion at the Jan. 21 city council meeting asking that a question about switching to electoral wards be put to a plebiscite on the 2013 Red Deer municipal election
Condo foreclosure traumatic for surprised renter BY LANA MICHELIN ADVOCATE STAFF A shocked Red Deer tenant arrived home recently to find the locks changed on her rental condo and foreclosure notices slapped on the door. As her cats mewed helplessly from inside, Bailey Coltman tried to text her two daughters not to come home from school until she could explain the problem. But the teens were still “traumatized” when they discovered they had been locked out of their home. It was a sad introduction to the holiday season for Coltman and her kids. The local school bus driver and home support worker and her 15-year-old daughter are now staying at the Central Alberta Women’s Emergency Shelter until they can move into a new apartment later this week. Coltman’s 13-year-old daughter is staying at a friend’s house, while the family’s cats are housed temporarily at the SPCA.
PLEASE RECYCLE
“This has totally split up our family,” said Coltman, who maintains her landlord — the condo’s former owner — never told her the residence at 5502 58A St. in Riverside Meadows was being foreclosed by the mortgage holder, Home Trust. Although the condo owners she was renting from since 2011 had known about the pending foreclosure since October, Coltman didn’t find out about it until she was actually locked out at 2 p.m. on Nov. 30. In fact, Coltman said when she dropped off the $800 rent payment for November with the landlord’s daughter, nothing was said about them not owning the condo anymore. “I left them my cellphone number, thinking they might call me to return the rent if they had any shred of conscience,” said Coltman. To date, she hasn’t heard from the condo’s owner, Julie and Kim Tuong Tuong Mac. The couple also did not return a call from the Advocate to give their side of the story.
Please see FORECLOSURE on Page A2
WEATHER
INDEX
Mainly sunny. High -9. Low -12.
Four sections Alberta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A3 Business. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C5,C6 Canada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A5,A6 Classified . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D1-D3 Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C4 Entertainment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C3 Sports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B6-B8
FORECAST ON A2
Photo by JEFF STOKOE/Advocate staff
Bailey Coltman and her daughters Racquel, 13, left, and Heidi, 15, are homeless after the home they were renting was hit with a foreclosure.
CANADA
BUSINESS
F-35 UNAFFORDABLE: EXPERT
RESTAURATEUR STILL COOKING
A detailed analysis of the cascading multibillion-dollar cost of the F-35 could very well be the death knell for the stealth fighter program. A5
The founder of It’s All Greek to Me is preparing to apply his culinary skills at a new Greekthemed restaurant at 4617 Gaetz Ave. in Red Deer — the former premises of Dino’s Family Restaurant. C5