FIRST LOSS Team Canada falls to Norway for first defeat at men’s curling worlds
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MAD MEN ENTERS FINAL STRETCH/C5
Red Deer Advocate WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2015
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EASTER BUNNY
ECONOMIC OUTLOOK
Oil glut curbs growth BY HARLEY RICHARDS ADVOCATE BUSINESS EDITOR Nearly three months of sub-$50 oil prices — and the attendant economic impacts — have soured ATB Financial’s outlook for Alberta. The provincial financial institution said Tuesday that it’s projecting a 0.8 per cent growth rate for Alberta this year. That’s down from the 2.0 per cent that ATB Financial was forecasting in early January, and a steep drop from the 3.7 per cent real GDP growth that the province enjoyed in 2014. The new prediction is contained in ATB Financial’s second quarter outlook for Alberta. That report says a contraction of the provincial economy is “somewhat unlikely,” but Todd Hirsch, ATB Financial’s chief economist, noted in his daily economic comment that 0.8 per cent growth would be the weakest in six years. The report attributed current low oil prices, which on Tuesday stood at US$47.60 a barrel for West Texas intermediate (WTI) crude, to high production levels by OPEC countries and the United States, and reduced energy demands in China and other developing nations. “The glut of oil is beginning to strain crude-storage capacity in the U.S. and abroad,” it said. “With American crude production at its highest level in more than 80 years, nearly 70 per cent of the nation’s storage facilities and tankers are full.”
Please see OUTLOOK on Page A2
RDC athletes honoured for leadership BY DANNY RODE SPECIAL TO THE ADVOCATE There’s more to a RDC student athlete than just being a member of the Kings and Queens. Along with time in the classroom and with their MALARCHUK RECOUNTS teams, a number of the HORRIFIC INJURY B4 athletes spend time in the community as volunteers. Two of those — Anna Duda and Brian Prenoslo — were honoured at the 12th annual RDC Kings and Queens Scholarship Breakfast at Westerner Park on Tuesday, receiving the Scott Builders Leadership Award. Duda is a fourth-year student in education and has competed for the cross-country running team the last three years. The Delburne native still lives in the Central Alberta community and spends time volunteering as a coach in Delburne. She is also a single mom of 12- and 14-year-old daughters. “About five or six years ago, I became involved in coaching rec soccer,” she explained. “As my daughters grew older, I saw their coaches and the people in their lives helping out and I felt it was time for me to get involved in the community and help out as well.” Since them, she has coached basketball, volleyball, baseball and badminton for youngsters in Grades 7 to 9. Duda grew up in Delburne before moving to Calgary briefly. She returned to Delburne and decided she wanted something different in her life. So she decided to attend RDC.
Please see LEADERSHIP on Page A2
WEATHER Snow. High 2. Low 0.
FORECAST ON A2
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Photo by JEFF STOKOE/Advocate staff
Nova Argen, 3, of Red Deer reaches up to touch the soft fur on the Easter Bunny’s cheek at Parkland Mall. All this week and through the weekend the Easter Bunny will be posing for pictures near the food court in the mall.
Central Alberta schools grappling with fallout from ‘difficult’ budget SUSTAINING SERVICE LEVELS AMID CUTS CHALLENGING BY SUSAN ZIELINSKI ADVOCATE STAFF The 2015-16 provincial budget has Central Alberta school systems strained and jurisdictions worried. “It’s the fourth consecutive year where we find ourselves trying to sustain service levels and our budget falls in between $1 million and $3 million short of being able to do that. We’re concerned about the trend,” said Kurt Sacher, superintendent at Chinook’s Edge School Division, on Tuesday. He said his division will likely be short $1.5 million. The continued erosion of funding is not sustainable if Alberta wants high quality education for its children, he said. Last week’s budget provides $7.1 billion for public and separate schools, and requires school boards to reduce their non-teaching costs by three per cent. Non-teaching costs make up 40 per cent of school budgets and include costs like plant operations, transportation, non-teacher staff, supplies and services, and governance. Sacher said non-teaching cuts will have indirect
and direct impacts on the classroom, for example when it comes to students with disabilities. “We have in our school division complex student numbers going up significantly year after year and our funding is actually going in the opposite direction.” Transportation is another constant challenge for rural schools, he said. “We have spoken directly with government about that and what we’ve been advised to do is to work with neighbouring school divisions and to charge fees. There is a limit to what you can reasonably do with co-operative busing and nobody likes fees.” The board doesn’t want to charge rural students fees or pull from instruction funding to pay for busing, but Chinook’s Edge has a transportation budget deficit, he said. “It’s really unique to rural school divisions and unfortunately, the rural voice is not always the one that gets the most attention. That has been our experience,” Sacher said.
Please see SCHOOLS on Page A2
Smoking possible cause of blaze in Morrisroe Five people were assisted by the Canadian Red Cross after their home was severely damaged by fire on Monday. Story on PAGE C1
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