Red Deer 1913 — 2013 Create Celebrate Commemorate
HOMAGE TO CANADIANA The Canadian Brewhouse B1
MIDGET REBELS WIN Open Telus Cup with 5-1 victory over Quebec
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CENTRAL ALBERTA’S DAILY NEWSPAPER
BREAKING NEWS ONLINE AT WWW.REDDEERADVOCATE.COM
TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2013
BLUFFTON FIRE
Terror plot exposed SUSPECTS ARRESTED LINKED TO ALQAIDA IN IRAN: RCMP BY ALLISON JONES THE CANADIAN PRESS TORONTO, Ontario — Two Canadian residents were charged Monday for allegedly planning to attack a Via Rail passenger train in what the RCMP is calling the first known al-Qaida directed plot in this country. Chiheb Esseghaier, 30, of Montreal, and Raed Jaser, 35, of Toronto, were arrested Monday morning. Police said the suspects had been watching trains and railways in the Greater Toronto Area and were conspiring to derail a passenger train. They wouldn’t say how the suspects allegedly planned to attack, but said the plot had the “direction and guidance” from al-Qaida elements in Iran. “This is the first known al-Qaida planned attack that we’ve experienced in Canada,” said Supt. Doug Best. There is no information to indicate the alleged plot was sponsored by the state of Iran, the RCMP added. Dubbed “Project Smooth,” the investigation was part of a cross-border operation involving Canadian law enforcement agencies, the FBI and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. “While the RCMP believed the accused had the capacity and intent to carry out these criminal acts, there was no imminent threat to the general public, rail employees, train passengers or infrastructure,” RCMP Assistant Commissioner James Malizia said at a news conference. Police had Esseghaier and Jaser under surveillance since August. They were put on investigators’ radar thanks to tips from the Muslim community, Best said. “The very first instance we were aware of the activities of one particular individual that yes, was brought to our attention by the community,” he said. About two dozen Muslim community leaders were called to meet with the RCMP and received a briefing before Monday’s news conference. They were told that one of the suspects is Tunisian and one is from the United Arab Emirates. The suspects have been in the country legally for a “considerable period of time” but are not Canadian citizens, the RCMP said.
Please see TERROR on Page A2
Photo by SCOTTY AITKEN/freelance
Rimbey firefighters battle a raging garage fire in Bluffton, about 15 km north of Rimbey. Firefighters were called to the scene at about 9 p.m. on Saturday to find the garage fully engulfed and a nearby house and other buildings in danger. A team of nine firefighters spent about five hours tackling the fire, as a storm front with 60 km/h winds moved through, making the task more difficult. They managed to contain the fire. It was one of two fires on the weekend. As a result of the other fire, a Hobbema-area family was left homeless. Please see more on Pages A2 and C1.
Redford resists calls for inquiry BY DEAN BENNETT THE CANADIAN PRESS
EXPENSE SCANDAL
EDMONTON — Alberta Premier Alison Redford says a former health executive did the right thing by repaying $7,800 to the province for a six-year-old expense blunder. But Redford resisted opposition calls Monday for a broader investigation into Sheila Weatherill’s actions and those of her colleagues prior to 2008, when Weatherill was CEO of Edmonton’s old Capital Health region. “Health expenses need to be reviewed in detail and paid back,” Opposition Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith told the house during question period.
“The only thing missing is a full forensic audit of all the health executive expenses going back to the (former executive Allaudin) Merali era. When can we expect that?” Redford told the house that the matter is before Alberta Health Services — the day-to-day delivery arm of the health system — and that AHS has decided it’s better to focus on getting expenses right in the future than on investigating the past. “We think that’s appropriate,” Redford said.
Please see EXPENSES on Page A3
City sets lofty target for pothole crews in ’13 IT WANTS TO REPAIR UP TO 15,000 OF THE ROAD NUISANCES BY MYLES FISH ADVOCATE STAFF
Photo by JEFF STOKOE/Advocate staff
From the left, Adriana Tietzsch Phil MacDonald and Jared Kambeitz work to fill in a pothole in the pavement along 30th Avenue in Red Deer .
PLEASE RECYCLE
City crews are out in earnest repairing potholes, with an ambitious target to hit for 2013. Pothole rehabilitation started back in late February, but the two crews dedicated solely to potholes began their work at the beginning of April. In addition, other city crews may be dispatched to do pothole work when circumstances allow. The city is estimating that 13,000 to 15,000 of the road nuisances will be repaired in 2013. A fact sheet for the city’s 2013 budget stated that the Public Works Department has repaired an average of 4,000 to 6,000 potholes annually over the last 10 years. In the 2013 capital budget, an additional $260,000 was allocated for the ‘preventive maintenance program’ on top of the existing $660,000 budget. Most of that money goes towards pothole repair. Ongoing temporary fluctuations have not helped the cause, as thaws, followed by freezes, followed
WEATHER
INDEX
Mainly cloudy. High 6. Low -7.
Four sections Alberta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A3 Business. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C3,C4 Canada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A5 Classified . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D1-D4 Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D5 Entertainment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C5 Sports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B4-B6
FORECAST ON A2
again by thaws affect the integrity of road patches. Early season work is primarily on temporary patching, with sustained above-zero temperatures needed for more significant fixes. “We can go out and put asphalt in a hole, that’s not a problem,” explained city Public Works manager Greg Sikora, “The problem is if the soil underneath the hole is not competent to hold up the asphalt, it will continue to be packed down. We often get called back to high volume traffic areas to fix the same hole time and time again because we truly have to wait for the base to become stable, and that usually comes through the drying out process and a reworking of the base material.” Sikora said areas of major concern are some service roads in rough shape and older paved roads in high traffic areas. Potholes form when moisture enters cracks in the pavement, then freezes. That puts pressure on the crack and causes asphalt to break away.
Please see POTHOLES on Page A2
CANADA
WORLD
MACNEIL LAID TO REST IN A TEAPOT
MARATHON BOMB SUSPECT CHARGED
It turns out that singer Rita MacNeil, who ran a tea room in her Cape Breton hometown until her death, wanted to leave her two grown children with a simple set of burial instruction — and one last chuckle. A5
The two brothers suspected of bombing the Boston Marathon appear to have been motivated by a radical brand of Islam but do not seem connected to any Muslim terrorist groups, U.S. officials said Monday. D4