CHIEFS NEED WIN TO ADVANCE AFTER LOSS TO STARS
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Kids in the Hall Latest tour a mix of old, new sketches
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Red Deer Advocate THURSDAY, APRIL 23, 2015
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Council sanctions Harris COUNCILLOR REFUSED TO RESIGN AFTER TAXES WERE IN ARREARS BY CRYSTAL RHYNO ADVOCATE STAFF Red Deer city council has kicked Coun. Paul Harris off its audit committee for failing to pay his 2014 municipal taxes on time. It sanctioned Harris on Tuesday after it ruled out going to court to force him to resign. Council learned on March 13 that Harris owed $6,594.95 in taxes. When Harris failed to pay his taxes, he was disqualified to serve as a councillor under the Local Authorities Election Act. When a city councillor is disqualified, the Municipal Government Act states he or she must resign. Councillors swear an oath of office to uphold their
duties under the act. City administration gave a letter to Harris on March 27 explaining that he was disqualified; however, Harris did not resign from council. He paid the tax arrears instead. “I wasn’t aware that this would cause an issue for my role on council,” said Harris. “I contacted my partner immediately and he cleared up the arrears by 4:30 p.m. (on Paul Harris March 27).” Harris said he learned of the oversight in payment for
a corporation that he is part-owner on March 13 and was in the process of making arrangements to pay the debt. “I understand that this was an issue, and it was cleared up immediately, and council is satisfied with their decision,” he said. “I am looking forward to continuing to serve the citizens that I was elected to serve.” City council held three special meetings in April to discuss Harris’s refusal to resign and decide whether to remove him from office or impose other sanctions on him. City council does not have the power to remove a councillor on its own. To force Harris to resign, it would need to take the case to court.
Please see HARRIS on Page A2
Plenty of room to improve wait times: surgeon
HEAR ME ROAR!
MORE FUNDING FOR SURGERIES NEEDED BY SUSAN ZIELINSKI ADVOCATE STAFF
Photo by JEFF STOKOE/Advocate staff
Griffin, a four-month-old African lion, puts on a fierce first impression as he comes in for a close look at the camera, but the 27 kg king of beasts was more interested in playing than attacking at the Discovery Wildlife Park in Innisfail Wednesday. Griffin is the newest addition to the park that will open to the public May 1. Serena Bos, head zoo keeper and animal trainer pictured here, says its great to be able to say the park now has “lions and tigers and bears oh my.” This weekend Griffin will be making appearances at the Innisfail Trade Show at the Innisfail Arena. The trade show runs Friday, 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Griffin will in attendance Friday from 6-9 p.m. and Saturday from 1:30 to 4 p.m. Over the next four years Bos expects Griffin to put on about 180 kg, about 400 pounds.
Patronage payments down after refinery explosion BY HARLEY RICHARDS ADVOCATE BUSINESS EDITOR
CENTRAL ALBERTA CO-OP
Despite stronger sales, Central Alberta Co-op’s earnings slipped in 2014 — meaning patronage payments to its members will be slightly lower this year. This was the news that general manager Larry Parks expected to break at the Co-op’s annual general meeting in Red Deer on Wednesday evening. Speaking to the Advocate prior to the gathering, Parks explained that his organization’s numbers were impacted by a December 2013 explosion at Federated Co-operatives’ refinery in Regina. The volume of crude oil processed there in 2014 dropped by 10 per cent as a result. “That affected their profits, and so affected our bottom line as well,” said Parks. Specifically, transfers to Central Alberta Co-op by Federated were down about $2 million for 2014, to around $10 million. Countering this decrease was an approximately 15 per cent jump in Central Alberta Co-op’s sales in 2014, to $280.1 million from $243.1 million. Members can expect to pocket a combined $4.2 million in cash, with this patronage allocation down
WEATHER Sun and cloud. High 12. Low 2.
INDEX Four sections Alberta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A3 Business. . . . . . . . . . . . . C5,C6 Canada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A5-A7 Classified . . . . . . . . . . . . D1-D3 Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D4 Entertainment . . . . . . . . C3,C4 Sports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B1-B5
from the 2013 figure of $4.4 million. “Those cheques will be distributed in early June,” said Parks. The total allocation to members for 2014, which includes the cash payments and retained earnings, will be $6.6 million. That compares with $7 million the previous year. Central Alberta Co-op’s total earnings for 2014 were $12.1 million, down from $12.5 million. It finished the year with total assets of $131.9 million, up from $125 million at the end of 2013. Parks noted that sales were up throughout Central Alberta Co-op’s operations. “The petroleum and agricultural producers had the largest increases,” he said, attributing some of this to Co-op’s 2013 acquisition of Viterra Inc.’s agriproducts locations in Crossfield and Stettler. Sales were up at Co-op’s food stores, likely helped in Red Deer by the closure of the Parkland Mall Safeway in December.
Please see CO-OP on Page A2
The eight-month wait to see an orthopedic surgeon in Red Deer to schedule a hip or knee replacement could be reduced if Alberta Health Services funded more surgeries, says a local surgeon. “The crux of the matter is people waiting to see a surgeon. The reason they wait is because we can only do so many surgeries. If we could do more surgeries, we could see more people,” said Dr. Tim Pearce, orthopedic surgeon and president of Central Alberta Orthopedics. He said once a patient has seen a surgeon, the wait for surgery is kept to four to six months for nonurgent cases. The surgeons at Central Alberta Orthopedics have been limited to performing a total of 670 joint replacements per year since 2013. About two/thirds of the surgeries are knee replacements and one/third are hip replacements. He said with an aging population, it’s time to allow more surgeries and probably 50 more surgeries could be scheduled per year with current resources. “If we were doing 700 to 750 joint replacements a year we would be making good headway. As long as you’re not there, you’re gradually falling behind every year.” Pearce said work to better manage joint replacements started with the Alberta Hip and Knee project in 2006 that created central referral clinics, of which Central Alberta Orthopedics is one. “We learned how to do it better, faster, more efficient. Our length of stay went from over seven days down to three-and-half days in hospital.” Next, a plan that increased the number of surgeries annually ran for two years, but in 2013 AHS put a stop to any more surgeries. “We’re not in dire straits. But we’re kind of back to where we were in 2009 unfortunately,” Pearce said. “We’ve done so much work to make the system efficient. The thing that’s really stopping us is having access to the hospital and operating room to (perform more surgeries). There’s not much more we can do. In other aspects of surgery and health care there is still lots of things that can be done to make it more efficient. This one has been kind of worked at pretty hard for 10 years almost,” Pearce said. Kerry Bales, chief zone officer for AHS Central Zone, said there is no planned increase in hip and knee surgeries but there are always initiatives the zone looks at in the operating room to improve efficiency. He agreed the way to reduce overall wait time from referral to surgery would be to do more surgeries.
Please see SURGERY on Page A2
Woman, three children killed in murder-suicide RCMP say they believe a man went to a mobile home in rural Saskatchewan and killed a woman and her three children. Story on PAGE A5
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