Thursday, Dec. 31
THE YEAR IN PHOTOS
will be remembered by some as a year of change and by others as a bleak 12 months, pock-marked with tragedy and glimmers of hope for better days ahead. The top story in Alberta was the new political direction of the province and the country as a whole. The NDP pushed aside 44 years of Tory blue, bringing glee for many and skepticism for others. Even in Red Deer, long a right wing stronghold, two NDP MLAs were elected in May as Kim Schreiner took over from retired PC MLA Mary Anne Jablonski, and Barb Miller rode the orange wave to beat out PC candidate Darcy Mykytyshyn — the seat
2015
was previously held by PC’s Cal Dallas who also did not run again. The rookie government has shown they have much to learn with their fumbling of Bill 6 on farm safety. Federally, the Conservative Party also got the boot in favour of Justin Trudeau, who entred the race as an also ran, hoping to further re-establish the Liberal Party. What happened was completely different, he slowly built momentum through a campaign as an electorate tired of a decade of Stephen Harper, particularly in Eastern Canada, said “no more.” The other big story this year was the collapse of the oil market. Due to a market
flooded with oil, the price of oil has dropped to it’s lowest mark in 10 years and companies have responded by cutting projects and laying off tens of thousands of Albertans. The ripple effect is still being measured as fears are the bottom has yet to be hit. Through Christmas time, local charities and food banks saw record demands. Despite the tough times, Central Albertans showed their resolve and met most of those demands. It was a silver lining to the pain being felt by many. It’s not all doom and gloom. As the saying goes, the sun will come up tomorrow, and as the calendar turns over to 2016, there is much to be hopeful for. By Advocate staff