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BIG VICTORY The Red Deer Rebels scored six times en route to a oneside WHL win over the Swift Current Broncos
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Red Deer Advocate THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 2015
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We’re all to blame PRENTICE SAYS ALBERTANS MUST FIX FISCAL MESS THEY CREATED BY THE CANADIAN PRESS EDMONTON — Premier Jim Prentice says all Albertans are responsible for getting the province into a financial mess and everyone has to help clean it up. Prentice, speaking on CBC Radio Wednesday, said all Albertans must shoulder the burden for billions of dollars in lost oil revenue — but he reiterated that he will not raise taxes on corporations. “In terms of who is responsible we all need only look in the mirror,” said Prentice. “All of us have
had the best of everything and have not had to pay for what it costs. “Collectively, we got into this as Albertans and collectively we’re going to get out of it, and everybody is going to have to shoulder some share of the responsibility.” Prentice has promised to deliver this month a budget and 10-year plan to fundamentally reshape the foundations of how the province raises and spends money. It was prompted by the steep slide in oil that has cut the price per barrel in half from a high of US$108 last summer, siphoning billions of dollars from the
treasury. In the last two months, Prentice and Finance Minister Robin Campbell have floated numerous suggestions on how to fix it, including hiking or changing Alberta’s current 10 per cent flat tax on personal income tax. They have also said they are looking at bringing back health care premiums, removing or raising caps on tuition and running a budget deficit. However, Prentice has ruled out introducing a provincial sales tax, hiking oil royalties, or raising the current 10 per cent tax on corporations.
Please see ECONOMY on Page A2
FOX IN SOX DAY
2019 CANADA WINTER GAMES
Empowered volunteers key: Radford BY CRYSTAL RHYNO ADVOCATE STAFF To most people, four years is a long time. But in Lyn Radford’s mind, it is only 1,443 days until the 2019 Canada Winter Games begin in Red Deer. When Radford, the chairperson of the 2019 Canada Winter Games board, looked around Prince George, B.C., she was reminded that there’s a lot of work to do between now and the opening ceremonies on Feb. 15, 2019. Radford attended the opening and closing weekends of the 2015 Canada Winter Games, held from Feb. 13 to March 1 in Prince George. Members of the board, city staffers and transition team members also took in some of the games. “My initial thought was, ‘What have I gotten myself into,’ ” laughed Radford. “I didn’t sleep very well because I was observing hundreds of details every day.” Radford said one of the things that stood out most was ensuring that Red Deer has roughly 6,000 volunteers in place for the games in order to avoid burnout. As well, Radford said the volunteers must be in the right positions and empowered to make game day decisions. In Prince George, there was a software hiccup with the charter airline on the crossover day, when some athletes arrive and others depart. The airline was unable to fly its entire flight plan. Many athletes from the Eastern provinces arrived a day late. Sarah Cockerill, Red Deer’s director of Community Services, who will act as the city liaison on the host society when it is formed, said to see how Prince George responded and adapted its plans to something that was out of its control was a good learning experience for Red Deer. “Prince George handled it like troopers,” said Cockerill. “For us to watch that and understand that these things happen no matter how well you plan was a really good learning experience for us.” She said it was useful to see how the host society accommodated the athletes and volunteers in a critically short time period. “We have to ensure we have the correct volunteers in the positions and empower them,” added Radford. “We need to be able to say, ‘You know what? These things are going to happen no matter how much we plan and you need to make some onthe-ground decisions.’ ” Radford said the key is for the board to set a philosophy and vision of what they want the games to be. “Then I don’t think it will be hard to empower the on-the-ground volunteers to be able to make the right decisions and move forward and get things going,” said Radford. “Whether it is the transition day or the luggage change or something happens on the field of play. We have to make sure we have that kind of training in place.”
Please see GAMES on Page A2
WEATHER Mainly cloudy. High 2. Low -1.
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Photo by JEFF STOKOE/Advocate staff
Kicking up their heels and showing off their colourful and crazy sox, students in Carola Hanasyk‘s Grade 2 class at Holy Family School were happy to participate in the Fox In Sox Day on Wednesday. Each day this week the students and staff at the school are doing different Dr. Seuss related themes. On Wednesday, it was crazy sox day derived from the Dr. Seuss book ‘Fox In Sox.’ Today’s theme is ‘Green Eggs and Ham,’ while Friday everyone at the school is encouraged to dress as their favorite Dr. Seuss character. Each grade level has been working on writing projects related to a Dr. Seuss theme all week.
Bring it on! Exelta cheerleaders excited to compete at championship BY SUSAN ZIELINSKI ADVOCATE STAFF Red Deer cheerleaders will be at the provincial championships at West Edmonton Mall this weekend despite terrorist threats against the mall. Police and security presence will be heightened after online terrorist threats against shopping malls, including the Edmonton mega-mall. Eleven athletes, aged eight to 12, from Exelta Gymnastic Club will compete for the first time at the Alberta Cheerleading Association’s annual championship. The Exelta club is based at the Collicutt Centre. A video posted on Feb. 21 purportedly from the Al-Shabab group urged Muslims to attack malls, including the Mall of America in Minneapolis and West Edmonton Mall. Exelta coach Carissa Woolsey said the club is satisfied that the event will be safe after assurances from the Alberta Cheerleading Association (ACA), mall administration, Edmonton Police Service and RCMP. Mall security and police presence will be significantly increased during the competition, along with
additional security contracted by ACA. “They have increased the mall security and there’s going to be plainclothes police officers around. We’re not too concerned. Our whole team is onboard and excited to do it,” Woolsey said on Wednesday. The Red Deer team competes on Sunday. She said two teams in Exelta’s category dropped out of the competition, leaving three teams. The 2015 ACA Cheerleading Championships is a great competition because of the venue and the number of athletes, she said. “There are still hundreds of teams,” Woolsey said about some teams dropping out due to the threat. Denise Fisher, ACA executive director, said as of Wednesday 151 out of 186 teams from five provinces are still attending the event. “We still have over 2,700 athletes competing. The environment is going to be exciting. Cheerleaders bring a lot of excitement and a lot of enthusiasm with them,” Fisher said. The majority of groups that opted not to send athletes are school-based, but there were also some who had to withdraw due to injuries, she said.
Please see CHEERLEADING on Page A2
Chemical fire prompts evacuation A chemical fire at a Vancouver container terminal led to a partial evacuation of Canada’s largest port Wednesday. Story on PAGE A3
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