RED DEER CELEBRATES CULTURE DAYS
PAGE C1
FILM EFFECTS GOING OLD SCHOOL
PAGE C5
Red Deer Advocate MONDAY, SEPT. 28, 2015
www.reddeeradvocate.com
Your trusted local news authority
REBELS OPENER
Towle says conservatives should come together “I will fully admit the first two weeks after I lost I was totally in the fetal position, cried my eyes out. It was awful. I couldn’t even drive to town. I honestly believed I had a chance, a good chance to win.” Kerry Towle, the former MLA for Innisfail-Sylvan Lake, acknowledges losing her seat nearly five months ago in May 5 provincial election that it was a hard lesson in politics. Today she doesn’t not shying away from talking about intense personal insight into what happened, and what she believes needs to happen MARY-ANN to close the divide between BARR Alberta’s two main right-ofcentre parties — the WildrosBARRSIDE ers and Progressive Conservatives. Towle was elected in 2012 as a rookie Wildrose MLA. She quickly gained respect and credibility as a passionate outspoken advocate for vulnerable persons. In fact, her special interest in helping these people — persons in care, seniors and others — came from first-hand experience and was the sole reason she entered politics. Towle’s brother, Ron Hunt, was diagnosed in his 30s with Huntington’s disease. She fought a long battle to get him into long-term care and also over who would pay for it. He died in 2010 at age 35. Last November Towle and another MLA touched off an incredible series of events when they crossed the floor to the governing newly led Jim Prentice Progressive Conservatives. It was a major surprise and just the beginning of a political fracking that wasn’t only felt by Wildrosers, but by Albertans of other political persuasions. In that historic moment in Alberta politics that’s drawn endless ink, Wildrose leader Danielle Smith and eight other MLAs followed Towle in December, crossing over to the PCs. In May, the PCs were all but wiped out after 44 years of rule, Rachel Notley’s New Democrats won a majority government, and Daniel Smith and Jim Prentice are long gone. “I left the Wildrose for the PCs fully understanding I could lose. I don’t think there was anybody who thought I was going to lose as a Wildroser in my riding. The problem that I had was in sticking up for our seniors, our vulnerable, and our people in care. “I was repeatedly told by a faction of the Wildrose I wasn’t right enough, that I was too leftist, I was too liberal,” Towle says. Before Wildrose she said she had no party affiliations. “I didn’t really label myself at all. But when I joined the Wildrose I was told I must be right wing. I must be in favour of privatizing all medicine. … The reality of it was I only got involved in politics because my brother died in health care. “But whether they want to admit it or not, unfortunately the Wildrose faces a stereotype that they are not socially progressive, and that stereotype remains with them today.” “They’re just strong social conservatives who have their beliefs, and they found a home in the Wildrose. … They needed a party that shared those beliefs but the reality of it is if you want to govern there are certain things that we have to all understand, and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms is one of them,” she says. “And the PCs have their own stigmas. They have a stigma of being corrupt, and entitled, and been there too long … So between the two, the brand is equally damaged.” Voters were incredibly angry at the PCs and wanted to teach them a lesson, Towle says. “Is that going to be the same case in 2019? I don’t know.” The fundamental problem for the Wildrose is that they don’t understand why they lost 136,000 votes in the provincial election, even though they gained five seats, says Towle. The idea of a new right-wing party is seeing some uptake, says Towle. “We’re now seeing other people talking about how there’s no question that we need to bring conservative-minded folks together, and there’s no question that there was a need for a break-off party, which was the Wildrose, to get the PCs in check. Even I agree with that.” She says it’s not for her to decide if Wildrose or PCs are dead, it’s for voters to decide, adding it’s like the “Hatfields and McCoys” right now between the two.
Please see TOWLE on Page A2
WEATHER Sun and cloud. High 15. Low 2
FORECAST ON A2
INDEX Four sections Alberta . . . . . . . . . . . . A3 Business . . . . . . . . . C2-3 Canada . . . . . . . . . . A5-6 Classified . . . . . . . . D1-2 Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . D4 Entertainment . . . . C5-6 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . B1-6
Photo by ASHLI BARRETT/Advocate staff
Josh Mahura of the Red Deer Rebels slips past Edmonton Oil Kings defenceman Aaron Irving during the Rebels home opener at the Enmax Centrium Saturday. The Rebels defeated the Oil Kings 4-1.
Photo by JEFF STOKOE/ Advocate staff
A farmer gathers in a grain crop east of Innisfail late last week.
Crop report shows mixed bag BY MARY-ANN BARR ADVOCATE STAFF The good news is despite a very hot and dry growing season for a lot of farmers in Central Alberta, there will be a crop. The bad news is that the wet cool weather lately is not exactly helping with getting it in the bin. As of Alberta Agriculture’s most recent crop report on Friday, only 25 per cent of crops in the Central Region have been harvested, compared with about 40 per cent this time last year. The main crops include spring and winter wheat, durum, barley, oats, canola, dry peas and potatoes. While 90 per cent of the winter wheat has been harvested, only about six per cent of oats have been. About 34 per cent of canola is standing, with 47 per cent swathed but only 19 per cent harvested. The Central Region includes the Red Deer area, and runs from Rimbey to Airdrie and east beyond Stettler, including the Coronaton and Oyen areas. Crop specialist Mark Cutts, with Alberta Agriculture’s Ag-info Centre based in Stettler, said both yield and quality of crops in the region are variable. A good stretch of seven to 10 days of warmer dry weather is probably needed to finish the harvest. Pasture lands in the Central Region are better than they have been all year, with 29 per cent rated at good to excellent. Provincially, about 27 per cent of the crops remain standing, 27 per cent are swathed, and 46 per cent are harvested (up nine per cent from the previous week).
Rainfall over the past two weeks has slowed down harvesting operations across the province. Compared to this time last year, harvest progress is behind in the Central, North East, North West and Peace Regions — down six per cent provincially. Harvesting in the South Region is 17 per cent ahead compared to last year. The recent rain and cooler weather in Central Alberta really slowed down any type of harvest progress and just in last few days he has started to see combines out in the field again, Cutts said Friday. “When you start to lose up to a week because of unfavourable weather, you certainly start to fall behind where you would expect to be. The forecast indicates warmer weather ranging from 15C to 18C for the better part of this week. “If we get a stretch of good weather we can get a lot of combining done fairly quickly. Combining in October is certainly not uncommon in Central Alberta. It’s not a big panic at this point in time,” Cutts said. A week from now with good weather, harvest completion could be up to 50 per cent and maybe 60 per cent. Cutts said he suspects there will be quite a bit of variability with yields and quality, simply reflecting those who received moisture and those who didn’t earlier in the season. Red Deer South was catching some rain, where north of Lacombe and Ponoka areas weren’t. Quality will likely be lower than normal because of the stresses on the crops from heat earlier in the growing season.
Please see CROPS on Page A2
Training for a meteorite disaster After surviving one of the worst floods in Canadian history, volunteers in High River trained for a hypothetical meteorite disaster Story on PAGE A3
PLEASE RECYCLE