A tax refund is just a missed opportunity
The Town Of Oyen and Oyen Fire Dept. Association would like to thank Richardson Pioneer for their generous donation of $15,000 towards the purchase of our new Rapid Response Bush Buggy. We greatly appreciate Richardson Pioneer’s continued support. SUBMITTED
BY DIANNE SPATH
“Having investments” isn’t the same thing as financial planning. We believe a real financial plan adapts and grows alongside your life - and includes investments, tax opportunities, estate and legacy planning, and more. Do you agree? Let’s talk.
A large refund means you’ve been overpaying your taxes throughout the year. I can show you steps to minimize income taxes and keep more of what you earn. 1
(403) 664-9494
Hello, everyone. Well, we definitely saw all the seasons this past week: rain, snow and sunshiny warm weather. The Oyen Lodge would like to welcome a new resident to one of the Life Lease condos, Donna Stapley.
Monday morning started with exercises, followed by crafts. Monday afternoon was bingo. A few residents were missing, so I decided to give away door prizes for the blackouts only to make it more interesting because a bingo hadn’t been won on I 29 for a long time.
Tuesday morning was our regular bus run downtown. Scrabble games were played with the regular one-on-one resident. (I actually finally won a game). Tuesday afternoon was the ice cream parlour, which everyone loved. Taylor Neilson was at the Lodge to play piano before supper.
Wednesday morning started with exercises. After the exercises, there was a one-on-one with a resident that wanted to do some baking. Wednesday afternoon was shuffleboard games.
Thursday morning was the vaccination clinic for flu and COVID-19 shots. The decorating has begun for Halloween. Thursday afternoon, the Auxiliary residents visited the Lodge for coffee and snacks and to visit.
Friday morning was exercise followed by horse races. Normally, the horses are not that close in a race, but one race was interesting as all the horses were almost
all in a row. Every player gets to pick 3 horses, so there seemed to be a bit of cheering. Friday afternoon was bingo. Everyone is getting excited to see kids on Halloween night, so make sure you bring your kids by for some treats. Have a great week, everyone.
BY JOAN JANZEN
Maybe you can relate to this comment which was posted online: “My patience is basically like a gift card. Not sure how much is left on it, but we can give it a try.”
Or how about this one: “Thank God it’s Friday. Only 40 more years of working life.”
Many Canadians are running out of patience as they face endless challenges. Kimberley Milousis is a Canadian who helps people navigate those challenges and improve their mental well-being.
Debi Silber interviewed Kimberley. Debi said, “I speak to a lot of people, and it seems like the ones who are making such a difference on the planet have been through the biggest challenges.” Kimberley is one of those people.
Today, she is a CPA tax specialist, author, and life coach, and she has a successful business. “But people need to hear my whole story,” she said. “I have a colourful background, came from poverty, abuse, and the foster care system.” She said her journey proves that no matter what your background is, your past doesn’t determine your future.
“I want people to have hope,” she said as she shared her story about going from victim to victor.
She was raised in Toronto in a poor, single-parent home, along with four
I have a colourful background, came from poverty, abuse, and the foster care system.
Kimberley Milousis
siblings who were much older than her. As a child she didn’t realize her dad was a drug dealer and pimp. Unlike her mother, who was always working and grumpy, she liked visiting her dad, who could afford to give her treats.
From the age of ten, she was sexually abused by her mom’s boyfriend. Her siblings had all left home at an early age, so she was the only child living with her mom. When she was fifteen, Kimberley’s boyfriend found out about the abuse and reported it to the authorities. Kimberley was placed in foster care and her mom’s boyfriend was taken to court.
At the end of the court case, he was found guilty. Her mom’s response was to tell her daughter, “I hope you’re happy, you liar!”
Kimberley and her boyfriend mar-
• Submissions are limited to one letter per person per month. We do not publish letters from people living outside of this newspaper’s coverage area.
• Letters should be 300 words or less. Letters over the word limit will be cut at the editor’s discretion. All letters are subject to editing for style, mechanics and grammar.
• Letters containing language or content that is blatantly offensive, or that the editor feels is inappropriate, will not be published.
• Letters should focus on the opinion/s of the writer, not facts. Any statement of facts not generally known or accepted to be true will be removed.
• All letters must be signed by the writer, with address and phone number provided for verification only. Letters will be printed with the author’s name and city of residence only. Anonymous letters will not be published.
• Letters that contain statements that are libelous or slanderous will not be published, nor will letters that include attacks of a personal nature.
• Letters written in response to other letter writers should address the issue at hand, rather than mentioning the writer by name, and should refer to the headline and date the letter was published. Letters referring to news stories should also mention the headline and date of publication.
• Letters regarding an election issue or candidate will not be published in the issue immediately preceding election day.
All questions regarding letters to the editor should be directed to: Your Southwest Media Group Attn: Kate Winquist Box 727, Kindersley, Sask. S0L 1S0 e-mail: kate@yourwestcentral.com
ried at a young age and had a family. After twenty years, their marriage was falling apart; however, a friend encouraged them to begin a healing process for themselves and their marriage.
“The greatest thing that happened to me is I learned to forgive and take responsibility,” she said. “I didn’t have anything handed down to me easily. I came through my story because I applied principles I learned. If I can do it, anyone can.”
Now in her 50s, Kimberley has more physical, emotional, mental and spiritual abundance than at any other time in her life. “As I got older, things didn’t get worse; they got better,” she said.
As a life coach she says people come with a laundry list of things wrong with them, wanting a quick answer. “There aren’t quick answers; health is a big picture. It’s about what you eat, how you move your body and about relationships,” she advised.
Kimberley recognized she wasn’t a victim. “Things happened to me, but that didn’t define who I was or what I was capable of. Things happened because we live in a broken world,” she said. “That realization put me in the driver’s seat.”
She also realized that physical symptoms are often an indication of what’s happening at an emotional level. Symptoms are ways to show us something
needs to be addressed. “The first choice doesn’t necessarily have to be medicine. If there’s a natural remedy, why not try that first?” Kimberley suggested.
“Emotions buried alive never die,” she observed. Often what we’re experiencing in our bodies is a result of buried bitterness or fear. “How you think is a big component to your mental health. You can think yourself sick; you can think yourself into awful relationships and an awful future,” she advised. Whatever you are thinking deep inside is what you become.
As for financial well-being, she said, “Financial abundance has nothing to do with how much you have. It all starts with gratitude. Be grateful whether you have a little or a lot. If you keep everything to yourself, that will only be magnified when you have more resources.”
Kimberley advises her clients that everyday we have a choice, either to agree with lies or to agree with things that are true. We need to stop agreeing with wrong beliefs such as as ‘I am a victim’.
“Sometimes the journey isn’t smooth, but it’s a journey that has to be taken. Be full of hope,” she concluded. A life coach (like Kimberley) who has successfully navigated through great challenges will assure you that if she can do it, anyone can.
BY MADONNA HAMEL
Watching a political convention these days is like watching a game show, or a celebrity roast or a talent contest. I’m not the first to say so; the cultural critic Chris Hedges referred to them decades ago as Wide World of Wrestling matches. In art school, I watched in horror and fascination as popular culture overtook “culture” as a definition of what defines taste, meaning, beauty and truth. And you went along with those definitions because, God forbid, you should be dismissed as a snob. (Never mind that snobs exist in all realms - there are farm machinery snobs as well as art gallery snobs.)
Popular culture’s distinguishing feature is its dedication to entertainment - just keep things superficial and moving along at a speedy clip tailored to our collective attention deficit disorder. It also works at enhancing our enthralment with fame - ever placing personality above principles.
Social media is the machine that drives pop culture. Its methods facilitate not just fame but “infamy,” requiring little depth or thought, just a consistent stream of outrageous behaviour focused on grabbing our attention. It treats us either as toddlers who lose interest in a toy as soon as another kid toddles past clutching a new one or as teens. Social media understands that a teen’s needs are paradoxical. They need to assert their place in the world and, at the same time, not stick out too much, and social media offers them a space for anonymous outbursts.
When no effort is made to look beyond the tightly-edited, de-contextualized, cleverly tampered-with bites of infotainment tailored by our algorithmic choices, there’s not much chance of maturing beyond
Applications are now being accepted for The Royal Canadian Legion Ladies Auxiliary #208 Bursary.
Oyen & area students entering their second year of University, School of Technology and Art, Nursing Programs, and all recognized colleges are eligible to apply.
Applicants must be a graduate of 2 years and current year. The bursaries are not for mature students (i.e. over 21 years of age).
Applications are available from the Oyen Town Office, SCHS Facebook page, and any Legion Auxiliary member.
Completed applications with the required supporting documentation are to be mailed to: Ladies’ Auxiliary #208 Bursary, Chairman, P.O. Box 334, Oyen, AB T0J 2J0
Deadline for applications is October 30, 2024 To be awarded at the Remembrance Day Service.
Monday, November 11, 2024 - 10:30
...It’s not just the inanity and absurdity of such thinking that’s disturbing – it’s the popular assumption that everybody wants the same kind of life
adolescence. Hang around the flimsy world of social media long enough, and we succumb to hubris and call it self-esteem. We might even sneer at humble people, mistaking them as weak-willed, passive and humiliated. Conversely, we might call “rigidity” “backbone,” mistake “acting out” behaviour as “acting on,” and defend lies and slander “as freedom of speech.”
You may once have had a calling to do noble things, but if it’s fans you’re after, your best bet is low blows, nasty quips, and outrageous displays. To be famous, you need not be kind or caring or smart or qualified; you just need to entertain.
The word most often paired with fame is fortune. Many of our ancestors came from “humble beginnings” to the New World in search of fame and fortune. If we had been less “ambitious,” i.e., greedy, we might have been less murderous toward the folks already living here. But intoxicating no-holds-barred ideals of “exceptionalism” and “rugged individualism” had already taken hold, and the new era promised the end of poverty and hunger to all who were willing to “pull up their boot-straps” and “conquer the West.”
Once the wheel of fortune began spinning, fame and fortune replaced simple wants and creature comforts. And now, here we are, listening to the rich and infamous tell us how to live and who to vote for. Some of them are running for office. And they are addressing us not as fellow citizens but as fans. And we listen because their fame earns them interviews, photo spreads and endorsements. Somewhere in the pop culture playbook, it is written that fame makes you an expert in subjects you have never studied and products you have never purchased or intended to purchase. Fame earns trust.
Along with fame comes hubris - the inflated sense of specialness, entitlement and infallibility formerly allowed to gods. And, like gods, famous people
BY DAMIEN KUREK Battle River-Crowfoot MP
In the 2015 election, then-Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper warned that if elected, Justin Trudeau would introduce a tax that would be applied to entertainment. This prediction has turned into reality thanks to the NDP-Liberal coalition. What’s worse is that it’s not only a tax but another case of backdoor censorship.
keep their distance from the very unwashed masses they deem to advise and before whom they preen and complain. Their specialness requires special transport, accommodation, catering and coddling. They grow to expect it. They have reached a place in their lives where others do their shopping, cleaning, and cooking.
But it’s not just the inanity and absurdity of such thinking that’s disturbing – it’s the popular assumption that everybody wants the same kind of life. After all, what kind of fool would cook if they could pay someone else to do it for them? What loser would wash their own dishes if they didn’t have to? Never mind that a culture that claims to be Christian had, as a teacher, a man who exhorted us to stay humble by putting the last first - which meant not only feeding them but washing their feet. (Never mind our own dishes.) The working poor of this world may be the only people who deserve to have someone else wash their dishes. For the rest of us - washing dishes is a good way to slow down, get grounded, contemplate the day. Not to mention warm-up on winter days.
The assumption that “prosperity” and “bounty” is measured by how little “menial” work we do only sets an overly materialistic standard for everyone else, it points the way to a kind of dissociation and compartmentalization that values product over process. And in steps AI to the recuse. Once we stop valuing “process” we yearn solely for the finish line. Forget the journey - get me to the destination. Forget the years of research, study, crafting, dreaming, imagining, labouring, the very necessary humbling experiences of rejection slips, part-time jobs, embarrassing mistakes - spit me out a best-selling novel fit to my specs. It does seem that contemporary secular culture has little use for humility. In fact, humility, rather than a sought-after attribute, seems to be considered a hindrance to the kind of success that empires are built on. Humility was once considered a “virtue,” a word synonymous with “character”. But now the “virtuous” person gets conflated with the self-righteous and anyway, how can one claim to be virtuous? It’s like bragging about being humble - a truly virtuous or humble person always feels they can do better. Draw less attention to themselves, not more, which is counter to the function of pop culture. Ultimately, no matter how humble our beginnings or middles, we are all destined for humble endings.
consume. Instead, the CRTC will decide who receives funding or a leg-up in the digital streaming landscape. Bills like C-11 do not encourage real diversity but create artificial barriers to natural audience growth and engagement. In that sense, it is backdoor censorship, which allows the government to choose what you watch.
The most recent example is the music streaming giant Spotify, which has been sent a massive bill from the CRTC. Its membership prices have skyrocketed due to the Online Streaming Act (passed as Bill C-11).
While the cost of everything is going up, this price increase is a concerning trend for consumers at a time when virtually everyone is using a streaming service of some type. The Online Streaming Act regulatory burdens are increasing costs. Under this legislation, streaming services like Spotify, are required to contribute 5% of their Canadian revenues to a fund controlled by the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). It’s clearly an attempt at a hidden tax. Further, one of the fears is that this fund will become yet another Liberal-controlled slush fund that sends dollars to Liberal insiders.
The irony of this Bill is that it limits the ability of Canadian artists to succeed based on merit, as success will no longer depend on consumer preferences regarding what they want to watch, listen to, and
This not only affects what your choice of entertainment, but it will hurt the economy. Small startups aren’t able to be competitive. Even major entertainment companies like Disney have withdrawn investments from Canada entirely due to increased costs, and now Spotify is raising prices again. These companies’ decisions illustrate the two paths our digital streaming services will face because of the expensive legislation passed by this NDP-Liberal government: either they will offer fewer streaming options, or these companies will pull out of Canada due to unsustainable costs or they will have subscribers foot the bill, as affected companies pass these additional costs onto subscribers.
Bill C-11 reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of how the digital economy operates and a cavalier attitude to Canadians’ Charter rights. Instead of fostering innovation and organic growth, it imposes a top-down control that increases costs, stifles creativity, reduces consumer choice, and gives the government agency the ability to silence voices that it decides it doesn’t want to hear.
Common Sense Conservatives will restore freedom to Canadians, enable Canadian artists to produce Canadian content, encourage a robust creative economy in Canada, and save Canadians costs.
Applications are open for the Local Growth and Sustainability Grant to help relieve pressure on public infrastructure in Alberta’s fastest growing municipalities.
Many of Alberta’s cities and towns are experiencing population growth that increases the demand on public infrastructure needs such as roads, bridges and water treatment systems. To help municipalities experiencing population growth-related pressures on public infrastructure, Alberta’s government has introduced the Local Growth and Sustainability Grant (LGSG), providing $60 million over three years to help meet this challenge.
“We have heard clearly from our municipal partners that population growth and expanding industrial and commercial activity, though good for local economies, are also putting significant pressure on public infrastructure in some Alberta communities. The LGSG is designed to bring some relief to recent growth pressures while attracting new investment that provides jobs for Albertans and helps to keep our provincial economy thriving.”
Ric McIver, Minister of Municipal Affairs
As a complement to Alberta’s other existing infrastructure programs, such as the Local Government Fiscal Framework, the LGSG is an application-based program that will be open to municipalities experiencing significant growth and related infrastructure pressures. The program will also support municipalities seeking to capitalize on specific economic development opportunities.
The LGSG has two components. The growth component (approximately $15 million in 2024-25) is meant to help mid-sized communities with populations between 10,000 and 200,000 meet growth-related infrastructure needs such as vital roadways. The
ACADIA VALLEY
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 13
• Acadia Valley Christmas Market 3:00-7:00
PM. Supper 5:00-7:00 PM. 23 vendors. Cold ham plate supper provided by Pat’s Kitchen
BUFFALO
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6
• Buffalo Ladies Club Turkey Supper at the hall 6:00 PM.
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 1
• Christmas in the Country Craft Market from 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM in the hall. Lunch will be sold. Contact Gwen 403-502-3054 for tables and info.
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 7
• Buffalo Ag Society will present Jake Mathews in Concert at Buffalo Hall 7:00 PM.
CEREAL
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 31
• Halloween for rural people 5:00 - 8:00 PM at the CJ Peacock Centre
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 22
• Cereal Turkey Supper 5:30 - 7:30, Santa visit, 6:00 - 7:30 PM, & Christmas Market 4:00
• Projects funded under the growth component will be cost-shared with the applicant municipal government. Growth component funding will provide up to 50 per cent of project costs.
• In the 2025-26 fiscal year, municipalities will receive more than $820 million, an increase of over 13 per cent from Budget 2024.
sustainability component (approximately $5 million in 2024-25) is meant to help smaller communities with populations fewer than 10,000 address pressing health or safety issues, such as water treatment.
“Our province is growing, and I am proud to see Alberta’s government make yet another investment to create jobs, improve our communities and grow our local economy. I’m excited to see the opportunities ahead for growing municipalities like our city.”
Nathan Neudorf, MLA for Lethbridge-East“Like many Alberta municipalities, Lethbridge is experiencing growth pressures. The Local Growth and Sustainability Grant offers essential funding opportunities for our priority projects, such as expanding the Wastewater Treatment Plant and enhancing efforts to recruit more healthcare workers. We are grateful to the province for introducing this new funding stream, and we look forward to submitting competitive proposals that ensure a sustainable and healthy community for our residents.”
Blaine Hyggen, mayor of Lethbridge
Applications for the LGSG are now open and close on Nov. 29.
Plans for a cardiac catheterization lab at Chinook Regional Hospital in Lethbridge are advancing to functional programming.
Alberta’s government is working to ensure Albertans living in southern Alberta have access to the cardiac services and care they need close to home. The planning work for a cardiac catheterization laboratory in Lethbridge has been underway since 2022 and is now complete. Alberta Health is moving the project forward to the next stage, which will define the project’s scope, schedule, budget and associated impacts.
“Residents in southern Alberta should not have to travel for comprehensive cardiac care. Expanding services and building a new cardiac catheterization lab will help residents access the services and treatments they need close to home.”
Adriana LaGrange, Minister of Health
Earlier this year, Alberta Health Services submitted a needs assessment for cardiac services in southern Alberta. Typically, the next step in the process would be to develop a business case to assess options to address the identified needs and gaps; however, the needs assessment for this project identified solutions within existing facilities and it was determined the project could advance to functional programming. This will expedite the project timelines by up to one year.
To date, government has approved $2 million to support project planning.
The completed functional program will be used to inform capital funding discussions and decisions for future budget preparations.
- 8:00 PM (with more than 12 vendors & 24+ tables of wares)
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26
• Ham & Turkey Bingo 7:30 PM. All ages welcome at the CJ Peacock Centre.
- Cereal Cottages Coffee on Tuesdays 10:30
- 11:30 AM
- Cereal Board of Trade Bingo Mondays at 7:30 PM. Last 2024 date Nov 25th CJPC (restart in April 2025)
- Quilting Club weekly Wednesdays 10:00 AM
- 4 PM at the CJ Peacock Centre.
- Chase the Ace weekly Thursdays 7:009:00 PM at the Cereal Hotel
- Cereal Playground most Tuesdays 10:00 AM at the CJ Peacock Centre.
NEW BRIGDEN
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29
• Winter Wonderland. Call/text 403-6640172 to book a table.
OYEN
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 31
• Oyen FCSS Halloween for the Hungry. Vol-
unteer youth will be collecting non-perishable food treasures or your generous cash donations for the Oyen and District Food Bank. Volunteers are to meet at the FCSS Community Centre at 5:30 PM. All donations are appreciated.
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2024
• Regular Pot Luck Supper and Meeting for Oyen and District Seniors (50+) at Oyen and District Seniors Recreation Centre. Supper at 6:0PM and Meeting at 7:00 PM. Call Lynda 403 664 0908 or Beth at 403 664 2462 for more information.
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2024
• Crafting and Socializing at the Oyen and District Seniors Rec Center (50 plus). Come and Go or stay for the day. 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM. Bring your own project and a bag lunch. $20 membership for the year or $5 drop in fee. Contact Cheryl Getz 403-6648688.
- Oyen Town Council meet 2nd Tuesday of every month 6:00 PM in Council Chambers.
- Drop in Pickleball Mondays 7:00-9:00 PM at South Central High School
- Walk Wednesdays 10:00-11:00 AM every Wednesday until October 30th. Socialize & Exercise. Snacks afterwards. Meet at NEW Adult Learning Office 105 3rd Ave (South Entance) SCHS.
- Junior League Curling (Grade 6 & up) Mondays after school. Session 1 November - mid December. Enter teams to Jerry Logan 403664-6001.
- Fun League Curling. Tuesday evenings. Enter teams to Jackie Dick 403-664-0157. - Cash League Curling. Wednesday evenings. Enter teams to Brett Peterson 403-664-8868. - Sturling League Curling. Thursday at noon. Enter teams to Jerry Logan 403-664-6001.
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21
• Annual Friends of the Youngstown Library Youngstown Christmas Mini-Fair 3:00-7:00 PM Youngstown Community Hall. For more information or to book a table, contact Renee at 403-857-8322.
Got an event coming up? Let everyone know here! kate@yourwestcentral.com