Red Deer 1913 — 2013 Create Celebrate Commemorate
BLOOD IN THE WATER
SURPRISE SETBACK Netanyahu fares worse than expected in Israeli elections A7
Sharks feast on hapless Oilers B4
CENTRAL ALBERTA’S DAILY NEWSPAPER
BREAKING NEWS ONLINE AT WWW.REDDEERADVOCATE.COM
WEDNESDAY, JAN. 23, 2013
STRAIGHT FROM THE HIP
SYMPHONY ASPEN RIDGE
Strike, lockout coming Friday BY SUSAN ZIELINSKI ADVOCATE STAFF
Photo by JEFF STOKOE/Advocate staff
Vocalist and guitarist Gord Downie performs with the Tragically Hip at the Centrium on Tuesday. Promoting the Hip’s 13th studio album, Now For Plan A, the band headlined the show, with special guests the Arkells opening the concert. Please see the review of the show in Thursday’s Red Deer Advocate.
Ottawa seeking input on federal budget BY LAURA TESTER ADVOCATE STAFF
Please see SYMPHONY on Page A2
Snowmobiler dies of injuries BY LAURA TESTER ADVOCATE STAFF A snowmobiler has died in a Calgary hospital after crashing into a forested area southeast of Caroline. The Caroline-area resident was immobilized for several hours before he was found. Rocky Mountain House RCMP were told on Tuesday morning that the 33-year-old man, whose name hasn’t been released, died of his injuries.
Please see ACCIDENT on Page A2
PLEASE RECYCLE
Central Albertans still have a chance to tell Ottawa what they want in this year’s federal budget. Red Deer MP Earl Dreeshen met with business, municipal and other community representatives earlier this month at a roundtable to find out what they’d like to see in the upcoming budget. The budget is expected before the end of March. Residents have until Friday to write to Dreeshen’s constituency office by email at earl.dreeshen.c1@parl.gc.ca or mail to 100 A, 4315 55th Ave., Red Deer, T4N 4N7. Dreeshen was out of the country on business on Tuesday. However, constituency assistant Colin Connon said the office has received only about a dozen letters, so response has been low so far. The roundtable discussions showed a wide range of requests — ranging from reducing bureaucratic red tape
WEATHER
INDEX
Snow. High -10. Low -12.
Four sections Alberta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A3 Business. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B1-B3 Canada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A5,A6 Classified . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D1-D5 Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C4 Entertainment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C6 Sports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B4-B8
FORECAST ON A2
for businesses to making infrastructure funding more stable for municipalities. Tax credits were also a hot topic, according to Connon. Some tax credit programs are indexed to inflation and some aren’t. Some people would like to see more consistency in this area, he added. Red Deer College representatives were at the roundtable, urging greater funding be put into applied research. Now, only about one per cent of research dollars go to colleges and institutes. The rest goes to universities, said RDC president Joel Ward. The college’s Centre for Innovation and Manufacturing developed more than 220 projects in the last six months for small and medium enterprises. The work is done on a shoestring budget, Ward said. “But we enable these companies to grow and achieve a level of success that they couldn’t afford on their own,” said Ward. Post-secondary funding is a provincial matter and the federal government
is reluctant to get into this. “We spend time with them to encourage the provinces to invest more in our institutions, particularly to address shortages in advanced skills training, foreign trades and technology and apprenticeship,” said Ward. The college is also looking for simpler transfer of credentials from province to province and wants to speed the process of getting highly-skilled newcomers up to Canadian standards. “We’ve asked them to look at temporary foreign worker programs and also how we can recognize foreign credentials more quickly for new Canadians,” said Ward. “We also believe in equipping Aboriginal Peoples and people with disabilities — and how we might have a national strategy to work in those two areas.” While Red Deer Mayor Morris Flewwelling didn’t attend the roundtable because of city budget talks, he was able to meet with Dreeshen this month.
CANADA
BUSINESS
RUMOURED AL-QAIDA LINK RATTLES OTTAWA
CLEARVIEW NEARS COMPLETION
The Foreign Affairs Department has called in Algeria’s ambassador to Canada to get more information on wy the country’s prime minister labelled some of the hostage-takers in last week’s gas-plant siege as Canadian. A5
Please see BUDGET on Page A2
The business makeup at Clearview Market Square is becoming clearer, although a couple of question marks remain. B1
January 18-27, 2013
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A Red Deer seniors care facility that houses 154 people is set to be hit by a strike/lockout on Friday. A total of 130 workers at Symphony Senior Living Aspen Ridge have served strike notice that goes into effect at 1 p.m. on Friday, the same time the company has said a lockout notice will go into effect. The company says service to seniors will not be compromised as replacement workers will be employed. Alberta Health says it will monitor the situation. Alberta Health provides funding for 44 supportive living beds at the facility, including some beds for dementia patients. Symphony Aspen Ridge is a privately owned and operated seniors care facility located at 3100 22nd St. Both sides say they are interested in returning to negotiations to avoid the strike and lockout. AUPE president Guy Smith said the company is putting profit before the needs of its clients. AUPE represents the workers. On Tuesday, close to 130 licensed practical nurses, health care aides and other specialized staff served strike notice at Symphony Senior Living Aspen Ridge. Contract talks failed after more than a year of mediation. Caregivers first voted in favour of strike action on Jan. 2. Symphony responded by serving Alberta Union of Provincial Employees with a lockout notice.