Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Pincher Creek Voice

As posted on the blog of Crownest Pass Councillor Dean Ward, the following correspondence from AltaLink is reprinted here in its entirety. As noted by Ward, it appears that the AltaLink Castle Rock Ridge to Chapel Rock Transmission Project will not be going through the Pass. (Related reading: Crowsnest Pass council opposes transmission line).

AltaLink

Dear Municipal Stakeholder:

Today, as part of my commitment to keep you informed of AltaLink’s projects in your area, I’m pleased to send you the Castle Rock Ridge to Chapel Rock round 2 public consultation material being mailed in the coming days to the landowners and stakeholders in your Municipal District. AltaLink will also be providing your municipal office with printed versions of this material so you’ll have exactly what stakeholders will receive in their mail boxes. All the project details and the proposed schedule are shown in the Newsletter and other information attached.

AltaLink has refined the routing under consideration by adjusting some proposed routes and eliminating other routes and substation sites. The Dropped Route Letter will only be sent to the Stakeholders whose land is on dropped routes but is included in this email for information purposes.

The proposed project includes:

• A new substation, to be called Chapel Rock Substation, located near the existing 500 kV (500,000 volts) 1201L transmission line. The proposed substation site will be approximately 255 by 210 metres (820 by 1,150 feet).
• The existing Castle Rock Ridge Substation will be expanded as part of this project to accommodate the termination of the proposed new 240 kV transmission line. We are proposing to extend the northeast and northwest fence by approximately 25 metres (82 feet) in each direction.
• Approximately five to 15 kilometres (3.1 to 9.3 miles) of two new, single circuit 500 kV transmission lines will also be required. The length of these lines depends on the location of the Chapel Rock Substation. We are proposing to use two single circuit, guyed structures for the portion within the hills west of Highway 22. These structures will be used for straight portions of the line. At locations where the line deflects, self-supporting steel lattice structures will be used.
• Approximately 24 to 37 kilometres (15 to 23 miles) of new double circuit 240 kV transmission line from the existing Castle Rock Ridge Substation to the proposed Chapel Rock Substation. Final line length is dependent on the route approved by the AUC.

There are numerous ways for the public and stakeholders to provide input including:

AltaLink

• email us at [email protected]
• calling our toll-free line at 1-877-269-5903
• our website atwww.AltaLink.ca/projects/CRRCR
• participating in a one-on-one consultation

Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO)

• email at [email protected]
• calling the toll-free line at 1-888-866-2959

Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC)

• email at [email protected]
• calling at 780-427-4903 (You can call toll-free by dialing 310-0000 before the number.)
• 

By Lethbridge Herald on April 21, 2015.

April 21, 2015 1:00 pm

Calgary Herald

James Wood is with the premier today on the campaign trail.

And here’s his file.

The Tories got it wrong in reducing the tax credit on charitable donations, tPC Leader Jim Prentice acknowledged today as he announced plans to reverse course and restore the original credit.

While the move was hailed by charities, Prentice’s change of heart on the tax credit drew little applause from his opponents on the campaign trail.

In last month’s provincial budget, the Progressive Conservative government rolled back the Charitable Donation Tax Credit to 12.75% from 21% on donations of more than $200.

The government said it would save $90 million with the move and that the rate had been ineffective in boosting donation rates since it was introduced in 2007.

But speaking to reporters, Prentice said he had heard loud and clear that Albertans weren’t happy with the changes.

“It’s hard to admit you are wrong but it is also important to know when to do so. This is how government is supposed to work,” he said at a campaign event at the Sheldon Kennedy Child Advocacy Centre.

“Today, I need to admit that we got one very important thing wrong in our budget proposal . . . we risked putting the good work of Alberta’s many charitable causes and the work that they do at a disadvantage.”

The premier said the Tories will now retain the current 21% rate. The Liberals, Wildrose and NDP had all slammed the budget change by the Tories and had promised to reverse the move.

NDP Leader Rachel Notley said the PC decision in the first place “was definitely evidence of the wrong priorities by Jim Prentice.”

“We’ve heard from people from all sectors who say that that tax credit is critical to helping them contribute to community growth and community support across the province,” she said in Edmonton.

In a news release, Wildrose Leader Brian Jean called the government’s original decision “cruel.”

“Albertans can’t trust the PCs after an election to not hurt charities,” he said.

The budget — which includes tax hikes and a spending freeze as part of an effort to wean the government from its dependence on energy revenues — is the centrepiece of the PC campaign ahead of the May 5 election.

Prentice said he did not foresee any other changes to the document.

The Tories appear to be in a tough three-way fight with the Wildrose Party and NDP, and have been slamming the other parties for inadequate costing of their platforms.

Prentice was not specific over where the Tories would make up the $90 million lost by not changing the tax credit, noting it would be found through “savings elsewhere” He said it would not affect plans to balance the budget by 2017-18.

Eva Friesen, president of the Calgary Foundation, said the tax change had struck a sour note in the charitable sector, especially with the state of the provincial economy.

“When charities were finding fundraising difficult at the best of times because people are being laid off and corporations are sponsoring less … to alter the climate of giving to potentially diminish donor giving was worrying,” said Friesen, one of a number of charitable leaders who appeared with Prentice Tuesday.

“It’s good leadership to recognize when you make a mistake,” she added.

Herald reporters and columnists immediately saw it as a PC reaction to polls showing the party tied with the Wildrose and NDP parties.

April 22, 2015.

The National Energy Board (NEB) has just created a pamphlet on the new Administrative Monetary Penalties that can penalize landowners for crossing pipelines without permission. For individual landowners the “daily” penalty could range from $250 to a maximum of $25,000 per violation. If, as a landowner, you have a corporation the “daily” penalty could range from $1,000 to a maximum of $100,000 per violation. The original agreement on my family farm said the pipeline was not to interfere with normal farm practices!

CAEPLA has been advised that the NEB has no intention of sending notice of these new regulations or the new pamphlet out to pipeline landowners. Be sure to understand your risks. If you would like a copy of the pamphlet titled “Administrative Monetary Penalties Information for Landowners”, contact the NEB at 1-800-899-1265.

Written by CAEPLA

Lethbridge Herald

April 15, 2015

Edmonton

Leader Rachel Notley says the New Democrats will improve access to long-term care if they win the Alberta election on May 5.  Notley says hundreds of patients are being forced to spend months in hospital waiting for room in a nursing home.  She says the severe bed shortage is due to the PC government not giving the issue enough attention.  She says the NDP would add 2,000 long-term care spaces over four years to reduce the wait list and relieve pressure on overcrowded hospitals.  Notley made the announcement at the Edmonton home of Bernie Travis, whose husband, Clarence, has been waiting in hospital since August for a long-term care bed.

Sunny South News

Posted on April 14, 2015 by Sunny South News

By Debby Gregorash

I wasn’t much interested in politics until I married and nearly died of boredom with toddlers, laundry and endless cleaning up.
I started listening to CBC Radio and became fascinated with how our political system works.
I soon came to realize the average citizen out here in Alberta doesn’t study politics or the issues either.
So, the wool can be pulled over their eyes with ease. I pray this next generation pays attention.
I remember listening to the radio when the Premiers’ conference was on and was impressed by Peter Lougheed and his provincial savings account — the Heritage Fund.
Well now, it’s pretty well gone. We charged decent royalties back then for the oil taken from our province.
Now, we practically give it away, which is pretty much why we are broke. How did this happen? Well, we have become a Petro-state.
At the same time, I was learning about all this, I was developing my spirituality.
I liked the part in the New Testament where Jesus says if you feed the poor, care for the sick and visit people in jail, and all those compassionate things — you are doing the same thing for him.
I looked around at the province back in the 1970s and it wasn’t too bad and almost seemed to have a civilized and compassionate air to it.
Alas, now the food banks can barely keep up, too many poor people are in jail, the push for private health care is on and the government is no longer “of the people” but “for the corporations.” Rule of government by corporation is fascism.
I understand immigrants in the 1950s were sick of totalitarianism and fascism in their home countries, so what I don’t understand is why they can’t see it now, here in Canada, and in fact keep voting for it.
Is it true people vote a certain way because “we’ve always voted this way?”
I once voted federally for the Progressive Conservatives but they are dead and gone now, replaced by the Reform Party, which stole the name “Conservative.”
Meanwhile, old men vote Conservative and tell the wives who to vote for. I know of a woman who said, after her husband died, “Oh well, now I can vote for the candidate I want.” It’s a secret ballot, for heaven’s sake, you can vote as you please.
Meanwhile, democracy is dying and the gap between the rich and poor is increasing.
Funding is being stolen from public health and education and the world is being funnelled into private hands.
In other countries around the world, you can go to university or college for free and the citizens in those countries are prospering.
We need young people to get well-rounded educations that include the arts and sciences.
Graduates should not be indentured for the rest of their lives. That’s slavery.
We need somehow to revoke the law that says corporations are persons. We need to force them to have a conscience that includes the costs of protecting the environment instead of using rivers and lakes, and the air and the soil, as toxic dumps.
The technology to move to a world without fossil fuel energy is here but the people who make the rules are the same people who profit from this dinosaur industry.
I once thought “Globalization” would mean a world-wide awakening to truth, peace, co-operation and all those good things communities can have.
But the corporate view of globalization is making a profit wherever democracy is not strong. Greed is the new God.
Every day I listen to the economic reports and the market numbers and I wonder why we don’t have a “Happiness” report or a “Democracy” report.
Why is it all about how much you can steal from people, nature, and the soil?
Why must unemployment be good for industry? Why do we put up with modern day slavery? Where are the Democrats?
Their democratic voices need to burst forth and we need to pay attention.

Lethbridge Herald

By Letter to the Editor on April 14, 2015.

Insanity is said to be doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

Premier Prentice has shown great hubris and called an early election to give him a mandate to fix Alberta’s budgetary failings. This is a totally unnecessary and very expensive waste of money. Albertans have already told the premier what they want through an online survey initiated by the government. Unfortunately, the results did not match the premier’s plans and virtually all of the wishes expressed by Albertans in the survey have been ignored. In fact, Premier Prentice’s plans are in complete opposition to the wishes of Albertans expressed in the survey.

Health-care premiums are to be reintroduced. There will be no return to a progressive personal income tax. Corporations are to feel no increased tax pain. Incredibly low oil royalties are to remain the same. Massive debt will once again be incurred over the next few years.

Premier Prentice says, “All Albertans need to look in the mirror” when dealing with Alberta’s budgetary problems. In this, he is absolutely correct. It is Albertans who continually elect inept and entitled Progressive Conservative governments with a massive majority. Another such Progressive Conservative government, with little opposition, is the worst possible electoral outcome. It can and will cater to the vested interests of the wealthy, corporations and oil companies. Average Albertans will be left to pay for the Progressive Conservative government’s financial mismanagement and corporate welfare.

I encourage everyone to vote in the upcoming election, but I strongly urge you not to vote for the very political party that got us into the present financial mess. The Progressive Conservatives have had over 40 years to get Alberta on a sound financial footing that is not reliant on oil prices. We accept change in all walks of life. Why not in Alberta politics? It is time for a change in who runs our province. The Progressive Conservatives have not earned and do not deserve your vote.

Robert King-Brown

Lethbridge