Red Deer 1913 — 2013 Create Celebrate Commemorate
AUTO AUCTION
NICHOLS NIXED
Olds College offering 103 vintage cars and trucks C1
Esks QB out for the season B5
CENTRAL ALBERTA’S DAILY NEWSPAPER
BREAKING NEWS ONLINE AT WWW.REDDEERADVOCATE.COM
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 19, 2013
HOMELESSNESS
Programs making progress: report BY CRYSTAL RHYNO ADVOCATE STAFF Community programs are making progress in curbing homelessness in Red Deer. On Tuesday, the city released the annual Report to the Community: Homelessness and Affordable Housing Initiatives 2012-2013. According to the report, 127 new individuals were housed, 161 individuals received housing supports and 35 youth were assisted from April 1, 2012, to March 31, 2013. Mayor Morris Flewwelling said the community programs have been able to make some progress in the last five years but there is work ahead with a housing crunch on the horizon. “We’re already seeing vacancy rates drop and rent prices go up,” said Flewwelling. “All of that exacerbates the problem with those who are hard to house or don’t have the money for the housing.” Flewwelling said there’s a constant supply of people who are in emergency need of housing, including those who have been evicted or cannot make rent. He said for every homeless person in Red Deer, there are another 10 people who are at risk of being homeless. A point-in-time homeless count in October 2012 gave a snapshot of Red Deer’s homeless. Figures from the count showed that 279 people were homeless that night. “It is a very dynamic situation where as you fish people out of the homelessness river, there are people falling in upstream,” said Flewwelling. “You can deal with it but it is unlikely you reach a point where everybody is adequately and appropriately housed.”
River of light Photo by JEFF STOKOE/Advocate staff
Al Van Havere moves one of 500 rain barrels as he and other volunteers from the Optimist Club of Red Deer work to prepare the illuminated barrels for Creatmosphere’s River of Light event June 30th in Red Deer. The floating light installation is a Centennial project. BY LANA MICHELIN ADVOCATE STAFF Former U.S. president George H. W. Bush had his “thousand points of light.” Red Deer will soon have more than 400 rain barrels of light — floating down the Red Deer River. Preparations are underway for Red Deer’s centennial celebrations at the end of the month. A big part of the festivities will involve light and water as public art instalments, envisioned by U.K.-based Creatmosphere. The London company of light artists made trees appear to breathe for the 2010 London Olympics and created a light show on the Thames River in 2008. Creatmosphere also sent glowing spheres down the Bow River in 2010 for Calgary’s Bow River Flow Festival. Founder Laurent Louyer believes it was this Calgary spectacle that drew his company’s work to the attention of the Red Deer Centennial Committee, who wanted a river-
based theme for local festivities. Louyer said the plan here is to create a large instalment with sound effects and video out of 120 linked, lit-up rain barrels at Bower Ponds, from June 26 to 30. More than 400 barrels are also being installed with battery-operated lights that change colours. They will float down the Red Deer River to be viewed by the public en route from Fort Normandeau to Three Mile Bend from 10:30 p.m. on June 30 (to after midnight). Louyer, who also plans to create a sound installation at the Kiwanis Picnic Park’s historic log channel at Bower Ponds and light up Red Deer’s water tower from June 27 to 30, believes the point is to make local residents more aware of the impact of water in their lives. More specifically, he wants people to think about the importance of the Red Deer River. “They can look at the river from different angles,” said Louyer, who found the water body’s history as a
transportation route, logging channel, source of drinking water and now recreation “fascinating.” So far, the project has been smooth going. Louyer’s only worry is how fast the river will flow on June 30. The more snow melts in the mountains, the faster and higher will be the Red Deer River. He isn’t concerned about rain, saying, “I’m from London. I’m used to it.” Rick Preece and other members of the Optimist Club of Red Deer were on hand on Tuesday to tackle the big job of installing battery-operated lights inside the tops of the large plastic rain barrels. Preece was also tightening plugs so they would float down the river. Once the celebrations are over, the rain barrels can be purchased for $70 from the centennial office and used to water and light up gardens across the city. (The lights operate on rechargeable batteries).
Please see LIGHT on Page A2
Please see HOUSING on Page A2
Brewers foaming over provincial beer tax system BY HARLEY RICHARDS ADVOCATE BUSINESS EDITOR One of the co-owners of Red Deer’s Drummond Brewing Company says the province’s beer tax system is driving brewers out of Alberta. “I’m just livid,” said Kevin Wood. “I’m ready to pack it up and move. At this point it doesn’t make any sense to operate here.” In Alberta, small brewers pay less tax per litre of beer sold than do their bigger competitors. But this incentive, which was introduced 11 years ago to promote the development and growth of new breweries, is available whether the producer operates in Alberta or elsewhere. “Right now, under the small brewer program, 51 per cent of it goes to breweries outside of Alberta,” said Wood, who owns Drummond with Cody Geddes-Backman. That means Alberta is sacrificing tax revenues to support out-of-province and out-of-country businesses, said Wood, and non-Alberta brewers have an incentive to ship and even dump their product here. “We have the worst beer trade deficit in all of Canada, except for Prince Edward Island,” said Wood, pointing out that only 42 per cent of the beer consumed in this province is actually produced here.
PLEASE RECYCLE
Photo by JEFF STOKOE/Advocate staff
Drummond Brewing employee Antonio Rodriguez works on the can filling line at the brew pub in Red Deer Tuesday. “We have 33 breweries from Quebec selling here, collecting the small brewers’ markup.” Meanwhile, Alberta brewers like Drummond are unable to sell into the Quebec market.
WEATHER
INDEX
Showers. High 16. Low 13.
Four sections Alberta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A3 Business. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B1-B3 Canada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A5 Classified . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D1-D4 Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C4 Entertainment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C3 Sports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B4-B6
FORECAST ON A2
“It has to be brewed in Quebec, or in New Brunswick,” said Wood. Other provinces also restrict the entry of Alberta-made beers, in the interest of supporting their brewing industries. Wood cited Saskatchewan as an
example. “They carry 300 beers; we carry 3,600. “They don’t want to carry anything unless it’s produced domestic or it’s from one of the major breweries, because they get full tax on that.” The situation isn’t much better in Ontario. “If I want to sell through The Beer Store (in Ontario), which is owned by Molson, Labatt and Sleeman, I can pay them $52,000 to get one shelf space for one SKU (stock-keeping unit) as a small brewer.” The large number of brewers selling into Alberta is even crowding producers here out of the distribution warehouses maintained on behalf of the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission, said Wood. “We have 282 other breweries that have shelf space and cooling refrigeration that we don’t.” The situation is discouraging small Alberta breweries from expanding here, and has even forced some out of business, he said. “There would be an advantage for me to open in British Columbia, where I would get automatic shelf space on all the government-run liquor stores, and I would still have all of my Alberta production.”
Please see TAX on Page A2
ALBERTA
BUSINESS
AHS REVERSES CARE CUTS
TD FORECASTS ECONOMIC UPSWING
Alberta Health Services has reversed several decisions affecting palliative, home care and continuing care. A3
TD Economics says it continues to expect global economic growth will pick up in the second half of this year, even though the first months of 2013 have been softer than anticipated. B1