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Red Deer Advocate FRIDAY, JAN. 16, 2015
www.reddeeradvocate.com
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Third-party audit ordered ONE OF SIX CONDITIONS SLAPPED ON PIPELINE COMPANY BY PAUL COWLEY ADVOCATE STAFF
PLAINS MIDSTREAM
The National Energy Board is turning the regulatory screws on Plains Midstream Canada, which was responsible for spilling thousands of barrels of oil into the Red Deer River in 2012. A third-party audit of Plains Midstream’s pipeline operations in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario was imposed on Thursday. It is one of six
conditions outlined under a new order. By the end of this month, the company must also provide documentation on immediate safety critical tasks; the operational controls used to reduce hazards and risks; and demonstrate how the company intends to ensure its controls are adequate. “The NEB order is a direct result of Plains’ failure to correct non-compliant findings during the 2010
Management and Protection Audit Corrective Action Plan, and continued deficiencies throughout the company’s safety management and environmental protection programs,” says the board in a statement. Plains, a subsidiary of Houston-based Plains All American Pipeline, was taken to task last September for its failure to comply with an action plan ordered following a pair of high-profile oil spills.
Please see AUDIT on Page A2
ICE CASTLE SLIDERS
TARGET CLOSURE
Shoppers give retailer mixed reviews MORE THAN 100 PEOPLE TO LOSE JOBS BY SUSAN ZIELINSKI ADVOCATE STAFF More than 100 people are expected to lose their jobs when the Target store in Red Deer closes. The Bower Place shopping centre store is one of 133 across Canada that will close within five months. The American retailer opened in Red Deer only 20 months ago, filling the former Zellers site at the south-end mall. On Thursday, the corpoTARGET CRIES UNCLE C3 ration announced its hasty retreat after it was “unable to find a realistic scenario that would get Target Canada to profitability until at least 2021,” said Target CEO Brian Cornell in a press release. Shoppers outside the Red Deer store on Thursday had mixed reviews of Target, many citing a lack of stock as a persistent problem. Lindsay Ord, of Olds, said she was sad to hear Target was pulling out of Canada. “I was disappointed. I enjoy the products they have,” said Ord, who made sure to pick up a supply of her favourite lotion from Target. “I spend a lot of time across the border. I’ll probably still get their stuff in the States.” She particularly liked home décor items available at Target and said there wasn’t another store that was comparable in style and price. Target Canada had hoped for a lot more sales at Christmas. “With the full support of Target Corporation’s board of directors, we have determined that it is in the best interest of our business and our shareholders to exit the Canadian market and focus on driving growth and building further momentum in our U.S. business,” Cornell said in the release. The Minneapolis-based corporation has 1,801 stores in the U.S. Shopper John Kloosterman of Red Deer said he browsed in Target at Christmas but didn’t make any purchases. He said men’s clothing looked good, but he just never got around to buying any. “I just didn’t really see anything better than Walmart,” Kloosterman said. He was really worried about the employees who will be losing their jobs. “It’s just after Christmas. They probably still have debts to deal with. They didn’t see it coming. It’s too bad.” And with 133 stores closing, who is going to take them over, he asked. “I just don’t know,” Kloosterman said. Target Canada employs approximately 17,600 people, or between 100 and 150 people per store. The exact number of employees in Red Deer was not available. Target’s plans call for nearly all employees to receive a minimum of 16 weeks compensation, including wages and benefits coverage for employees who are not required for the full wind-down period. The liquidation process is expected to begin in two to three weeks, upon court approval of Target Canada’s plans to hire a liquidation firm.
Please see TARGET on Page A2
WEATHER 60% flurries. High 1. Low -10.
FORECAST ON A2
INDEX Four sections Alberta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A3,A5 Business. . . . . . . . . . . . . C3,C4 Canada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A6,A7 Classified . . . . . . . . . . . . D5-D8 Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C8 Entertainment . . . . . . . . D1-D4 Sports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B1-B7
Photo by JEFF STOKOE/Advocate staff
Minette White, 3, slides down an ice slide in her front yard in West park as her father Donnie and brother Mateo look on Thursday. The ice castle, built of blocks of snow and then iced over with water, is complete with frosted ice windows, turrets and flying buttresses.
Tour of Alberta to skip Red Deer in ’15 BY JOSH ALDRICH ADVOCATE STAFF Red Deer won’t be on the Tour of Alberta route in 2015. The professional bicycle event has been through Red Deer in each of its first two years, but Red Deer won’t be part of the third installment of the worldclass race. The decision was not unexpected. Local organizers, however, expect Central Alberta’s absence will not be a permanent one. “It’s just a matter of (the tour) giving everybody in the province the opportunity to see this calibre of racing coming into their communities,” said local organizing committee chairman George Berry. The tour is taking a Northern Alberta mountain route this year with announced stops in Grande Prairie, Grande Cache, Jasper, Spruce Grove and Edmonton, from Sept. 2 to 7. Plans are being discussed for a Southern Alberta route in 2016 that could include a Red Deer stage once again, although nothing has been decided. “As a provincewide event whose route changes each year, we are thrilled to bring this world-class event to so many new host communities in 2015,” said Alberta Peloton Association chairman Brian Jolly in
a press release. “As a part of this northern route, we are able to include a true mountain stage for the first time ever. This aspect is crucial as the Tour of Alberta presented by ATB Financial continues to gain momentum in the international professional cycling community. “We are already looking forward to a tour focused primarily in Southern Alberta in 2016.” Red Deer has been a stop in each of the first two years of the tour, which attracts many of the top cyclists on the planet. In 2014, an estimated 10,000 people watched the local stage live while there was a worldwide viewership of about 45.5 million people with the race being broadcast in places like Australia, Europe and China, “Over the last two years, we’ve put on a top-quality event and the tour was talking about that it raised the bar and the expectations for the cyclists and the public to another level,” said Berry, noting they had a volunteer force of about 250 people to host the race. “As with any event that happens in Red Deer when we put on, it doesn’t take a back seat to anybody that we try to do it the best and world class, and it truly was. It will come back to Red Deer, we know that.” jaldrich@reddeeradvocate.com
Canadian jets hammer ISIL targets in Iraq The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant appears to have more fight left in it than the U.S.-led coalition had been expecting. Story on PAGE A6
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