Red Deer 1913 — 2013 Create Celebrate Commemorate
BACK-COUNTRY PARADISE The Parkland Cross Country Ski Club tackles the Rockies B1
NHL Canucks beat Flames in shootout B6
CENTRAL ALBERTA’S DAILY NEWSPAPER
BREAKING NEWS ONLINE AT WWW.REDDEERADVOCATE.COM
THURSDAY, JAN. 24, 2013
Innovation tops wish list BY PAUL COWLEY ADVOCATE STAFF Balancing the provincial books is a must, but don’t do it at the expense of innovation and research investment, says the president of the Red Deer Chamber of Commerce. Gayle Langford was asked what direction the chamber wants to see Alberta Finance Minister Doug Horner take in the next budget, which will be revealed on March 7. Horner has warned that tough deci-
PROVINCIAL BUDGET REDFORD TO ADDRESS ALBERTANS A2 sions will be made to keep the province’s finances in order. On Wednesday, Premier Alison Redford announced she plans to speak to Albertans in a televised address on CTV at 6:52 p.m. today. She will discuss the government’s long-term economic plan and how the province will cope with falling oil revenues.
Langford said balancing the budget and reining in spending must rank as top priorities. “It really is important in building investor confidence,” she said. “But having said that, our chamber would like to see some targeted funding to stimulate applied research in innovation and technology. That’s something where you really get a bang for your buck.” Langford said that kind of spending stimulates business investment. And with the Red Deer College, the city already has the perfect place to put the
money. When looking for investment targets, Langford believes the province must be careful to not to focus only on the oil and gas sector. Investing in innovation and manufacturing will also reap rewards. “I think agriculture is going to start to play a more important role in our economy. Having efficiency and innovation will become more important,” she said.
Please see BUDGET on Page A2
DRUNKEN FEAST
MERCURY BULBS
‘Bulb Eater’ disposing of potential hazard BY MURRAY CRAWFORD ADVOCATE STAFF Red Deer has a device for safely disposing of compact fluorescent bulbs, but city staff are looking at other ways to dispose of the popular new bulbs. The CFLs, which are replacing the incandescent bulb on store shelves, last longer but also contain a small amount of mercury. To accommodate the safe disposal of these bulbs, City of Red Deer Waste Management Department superintendent Janet Whitesell said the city has a Bulb Eater, a device that turns the bulbs into powder and removes the mercury. “It attaches to the top of a 55-gallon barrel and the mercury in those types of bulbs is actually in the powder inside them,” said Whitesell. “What the Bulb Eater does is it crushes the bulbs and as the glass is breaking, it has a vacuum that pulls the powder out of it. Then the powder gets captured in a filter and the glass and metal ends fall into the barrel.” However, the device only works on unbroken bulbs. If a bulb breaks before someone is able to take it to the city’s household hazardous waste dropoff site, there are different steps that can be taken (see the city’s website at www.reddeer.ca). Whitesell said the city has seen an increase in the number of bulbs brought to the household hazardous waste dropoff site. She said it costs the city to get rid of the bulbs but there is no charge to residents for dropping off CFLs. The city is examining alternatives to meet a growing demand for bulb disposal. “We haven’t decided if we need to change our program, but we have been looking at it,” said Whitesell. In 2012, Red Deer shipped 35 55-gallon barrels of crushed glass from CFLs that were dropped off at the household hazardous waste site. Next year, a new federal regulation will come into effect banning the sale of the standard incandescent bulbs, but a report by Environment Canada found that Canada’s mercury-waste facilities were lacking. The study also indicated there is no national or industry standard for handling mercury waste. The study surveyed 28 of the 123 places that store or manage mercury waste and found Canada lacks any facility to extract pure mercury from waste. Currently, mercury distillers in the United States are relied upon. mcrawford@reddeeradvocate.com
PLEASE RECYCLE
Photo by JEFF STOKOE/Advocate staff
A flock of hundreds of Bohemian waxwings converged in Red Deer Wednesday descending to eat the berries from Mountain Ash trees in Eastview. The Bohemian Waxwing can often be spotted in the winter flying overhead in large flocks in search of their next meal.
Symphony cancelling funding deal with AHS 49 CARE BEDS AFFECTED AT ASPEN RIDGE FACILITY BY SUSAN ZIELINSKI ADVOCATE STAFF Symphony Senior Living Aspen Ridge has announced it is cancelling its funding agreement to provide 49 care beds for Alberta Health Services just as the seniors facility prepares for Friday’s strike and lockout. Symphony Senior Living CEO Lisa Brush said all affected residents and families were alerted on Tuesday — the same day the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees announced its 130 health-care workers and staff at the facility would go on strike on Friday at 1 p.m. Symphony has also served AUPE with a lockout notice for Friday. “We are looking at transitioning out of the Alberta Health Services-funded
WEATHER
INDEX
Snow. High -5. Low -12.
Four sections Alberta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A3,A7 Business. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C5,C6 Canada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A5,A6 Classified . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D1-D4 Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C4 Entertainment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C3 Sports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B6-B8
FORECAST ON A2
beds. It’s not a sustainable business model given the wage demands by the Alberta Union of Public Employees,” said Brush on Wednesday. With only 49 AHS-funded beds, Symphony says it can’t capture economies of scale similar to other fully-funded operators. “We’ve had these discussion with them since last fall trying to come to a resolution that would work for everybody to maintain the beds. It does a great community service to have these beds.” Symphony, a privately owned and operated seniors living facility located at 3100 22nd St., has 152 suites with a total of 157 residents. These include 40 assisted living beds for dementia patients, four assisted living beds for non-dementia patients and five transition beds for people coming out of hos-
pital, all of which are funded by AHS. Brush said residents don’t have to worry about immediate eviction. “It’s not happening tomorrow. We are going to transition over a year period. We’ll do it slowly. We’ll assess situations. We’re going to be very focused on the resident.” Supportive living residents also have the option to remain at Symphony at private service cost, she said. Brush estimated assisted living for a non-dementia resident would cost between $3,800 to $4,500 per month for a basic studio at basic care levels. R. Dean Cowan, whose wife Doreen, 65, has been a supportive living Alzheimer’s patient at Symphony since last April, called the situation a crisis.
CANADA
ALBERTA
SPENCE TO END HUNGER PROTEST
ARENA DEAL BACK FROM THE DEAD
Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence has agreed to end her hunger protest, and National Chief Shawn Atleo is coming back to work, but Ottawa-First Nations politics are certainly not returning to normal. A5
Please see FUNDING on Page A2
The Edmonton Oilers are getting a new downtown arena. The NHL team and city councillors agreed Wednesday to resurrect a previous deal that collapsed three months ago. B6