Bird’s-eye view
Adiós! Defending champs ousted
Gregarious and social cliff swallows are fascinating animals
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Red Deer Advocate THURSDAY, JUNE 19, 2014
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P3 approach abandoned BY MYLES FISH ADVOCATE STAFF On a day when the keys for two brand-new schools in Red Deer were handed over to the divisions set to run them, the province gave word that a new build scheduled for Blackfalds may not open as planned.
Speaking from Edmonton, Infrastructure Minister Wayne Drysdale said Wednesday that 19 new school builds the government announced in 2013 might not be ready for students by 2016, as had been previously pledged. The potential delays stem from the province moving away from its planned public-private partnership (P3) method
LOCAL DIVISIONS GET CONTROL OF NEW SCHOOLS A2 to build the bundle after determining that the long-touted approach would actually prove more expensive in this case. Over the last seven years, the government has thrice used the P3 approach to fund the construction of
40 schools across the province, bundling builds together in large groups to be handled by a single consortium. The last bundle of 12 schools included three for Red Deer and one in Penhold, all of which will open in September.
Please see SCHOOLS on Page A2
Flood outlook eases for southern Alberta BY THE CANADIAN PRESS Improved forecasts Wednesday were lifting soggy spirits in southern Alberta where heavy rainfall and swollen rivers had residents worried about evacuations and damage to their homes. “The rain is lightening, the infrastructure is catching up to the excessive flows,” said Rob Steel, mayor of Claresholm, where a voluntary evacuation centre had to be set up after rain came down in sheets earlier in the day. “If it stays like this, it’ll just get better and better as each hour goes by.” Lethbridge Mayor Chris Spearman said concerns were eased when lighter rainfall lowered peak forecasts for the Oldman River, which runs through his city.
“Things are looking much better,” he said. “To our relief, the rainfall upstream wasn’t as severe as predicted overnight so the provincial river flow forecast has improved significantly.” The same forecast was welcome news in Medicine Hat, where Alberta Environment was predicting peak flows on the South Saskatchewan River at 2,400 cubic metres per second — less than half the original prediction that had people fearing a repeat of the deluge that happened in 2013. “What we’re telling people now is they can stand down,” said Medicine Hat fire chief Brian Stauth. “We don’t anticipate that we are going to evacuate.” Things could change, however. “We’re still very concerned because there’s a heavy rain-
Photo by THE CANADIAN PRESS
Volunteers fill sandbags in Medicine Hat, Alberta on Wednesday at Harris Street S.E., which was hit hard by flooding in 2013. fall warning in effect,” Steel said. “This is still a very dynamic situation.” Alberta Environment spokesman Evan Friesenhan explained that initial river forecasts were based on rainfall predictions of up to 200
millimetres in the southwest part of the province. While rainfall was as heavy as predicted, it wasn’t as widespread. “We did get a localized area that received 175 millimetres, but as we moved away from
BY HARLEY RICHARDS ADVOCATE BUSINESS EDITOR
Photo by JEFF STOKOE/Advocate staff
A little wet weather was not going to keep Brayden Thomson from getting his produce Wednesday. Staying dry under his umbrella he showed off his rain-soaked radishes he picked up from the Steel Pony Farm booth at the Downtown Red Deer Wednesday market.
INDEX
60 % chance showers. High 18, low 11.
Four sections Alberta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A3 Business. . . . . . . . . . . . . C3,C4 Canada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A5 Classified . . . . . . . . . . . . D1-D4 Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D5 Entertainment . . . . . . . . C7,C8 Sports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B1-B4
FORECAST ON A2
TORIES DEFEND DECISION A5 PIPELINE FOES FACE FEDS C3
The federal government’s conditional approval of Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipeline project may have been of passing interest to many Central Albertans. But for Shane Walper, it was big news. Walper is president and CEO of Predator Drilling Inc., and he estimates that 70 per cent of his Red Deer company’s work is connected to the oilsands — primarily through the drilling of core samples for operators there. “On a revenue basis it’s quite high,” said Walper of Predator’s reliance on the massive resource play in Northern Alberta. Much of the money it earns finds its way to other local companies, such as service truck operators. And Predator’s employees, who number more than 300 during peak periods, are also recipients. Many are residents of Red Deer and the surrounding area, but others come
from across Canada, said Walper. “The farthest point to the East Coast that you can go, we have people that come and work for us.” Mark Salkeld, president and CEO of the Petroleum Services Association of Canada, agreed that the benefits of oilsands growth flows well beyond Fort McMurray. “We’ve got a number of member companies involved in the oilsands and supporting all the activity there in a different manner,” said Salkeld, whose Calgary-based association represents some 250 companies in the service, supply and manufacturing sectors of the upstream petroleum industry. That support includes everything from providing instrumentation to fabricating equipment, with WorleyParsonsCord Ltd.’s sprawling modular yard at Blackfalds a visible example of the latter.
Please see PIPELINE on Page A2
Battle rages amid Iraqi diplomatic offensive Iraqi forces and Sunni militants battled fiercely for control of the nation’s largest oil refinery on Wednesday.
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Please see FLOOD on Page A2
Gateway approval is big news for Red Deer company
RAIN AND RADISHES
WEATHER
that bull’s eye the amounts decreased significantly,” said Friesenhan. “We didn’t get the 200 millimetres over as large an area as was forecast.”
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