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Terrific performances featured on the Ross Street Patio

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Kick off Family Day weekend with a show by Red Deer’s own Ten02

Music fans won’t want to miss out on a range of terrific performances coming up on the Ross Street Patio.

‘Music on the Ross Street Patio’ continues Feb. 18 with popular Red Deer-based band Ten02. “The performance is a kick-off to the Family Day weekend,
so we will also have the hot chocolate out again, and the photo booth. It will be a really great evening of family fun,” explained Chelsey Ward, special events coordinator for the Downtown Business Association.

The Patio’s music season was officially launched on Feb. 11 with a special Valentine’s Day event featuring tunes from Simon Donovan and Amanda Mitchell, free Valentine’s hot chocolate, a ‘Date Night’ giveaway valued at $100 and a themed-photo booth.

Visitors could cozy up by one of the fire tables under a canopy of sparkling lights while listening to superb local talent.

Folks could also check out the ‘Locks of Love’ installation and add one of their own to celebrate the occasion with their significant other.

“It was great!” said Ward of the Feb. 11 event. “The Ross Street Patio really provides such a romantic ambience to begin with under that canopy of light and the fire tables. It’s really beautiful. We also had the trees decorated with hearts, and of course the Locks of Love was decorated. “The weather was also just right – cold enough to be cozy! The businesses’ patios also filled up with attendees and spectators, too. So, the words to describe it would be ‘vibrant’ and ‘thriving’ – there was a lot of excitement on the patio that evening,” she added.

Music on the patio has been an exciting feature for several years through the warmer months with performances running Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m. and Wednesdays from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. This year marks the first time performances have been scheduled in the winter season, which falls in line with the current ‘year-round’ nature of the Ross Street Patio.

And there is no doubt that residents are loving it.

“Feedback from last Friday’s performance showed a great deal of appreciation from both residents and businesses,” explained Ward. “The Ross Street Patio is such a loved feature of the downtown, so it’s very exciting to be able to celebrate it year-round. There’s a lot of excitement, and people are happy to be there.” Another goal is to just generally increase traffic and overall awareness about all that downtown Red Deer has to offer, she said.

“The downtown is just such a great place to take a walk, explore and come across really unique small businesses, and to enjoy the roots and the culture of our historic downtown, too. Then you can stop by the Ross Street Patio for a live musical performance – there is just so much to see and do. “Right now is also a great time to visit the downtown – we have our ‘ShopDowntown2Win’ promotion going on,” she said.

ShopDowntown2Win is an exciting promotion involving a weekly $1,000 draw – $500 to keep and $500 to share with a local business, Ward explained. “All shoppers need to do is submit a picture of any receipts of $25 or more from any business in the downtown or Capstone area to www.shopdowntown2win.com.” Draws take place every Tuesday until March 8th when there will be a draw for a $1,500 grand prize!

“If shoppers can’t make it downtown every week, they can also participate by writing glowing google reviews about downtown and Capstone businesses,” she added. “It’s a great time to check things out and then enter to potentially win a great prize!”

As to the ongoing music series, folks can check out The Red Hot Hayseeds on March 17. Additional shows feature Jaydin Vonkeman on April 1, Jeremy Doody and Dom Benzer on April 7, and Stephen Scott and guests on April 14.

More exciting performances down the road include Kayla Williams on April 21, Jay Bowcott and Syd Zadravec on April 28 and heading into May don’t miss The Rebecca Raabis Family Band on May 5, James Adams (May 12) and Dean Ray on May 19.

‘Music on the Ross Street Patio’ is a free event and is open to all ages. All performances run from 4:30 – 7:30 p.m. on show nights.

Also, according to the DBA, dates that fall on or near holidays will also feature giveaways, themed-décor, photo booths as well as free hot chocolate and/or activity booths along with the regular performances.

For more about the Downtown Business Association and all that is planned for the Ross Street Patio, find them on Facebook or visit www.downtownreddeer.com.

Born and raised in Red Deer, Mark Weber is an award-winning freelance writer who is committed to the community. He worked as a reporter for the Red Deer Express for 18 years including six years as co-editor. During that time, he mainly covered arts and entertainment plus a spectrum of areas from city news and health stories to business profiles and human interest features. Mark also spent a year working for the regional publication Town and Country in northern Alberta, along with stints at the Ponoka News and the Stettler Independent. He’s thrilled to be a Todayville contributor, as it allows him many more opportunities to continue to focus on the city and community he not only has a passion for, but calls home as well.

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Maxime Bernier warns Canadians of Trudeau’s plan to implement WEF global tax regime

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From LifeSiteNews

By Clare Marie Merkowsky

If ‘the idea of a global corporate tax becomes normalized, we may eventually see other agreements to impose other taxes, on carbon, airfare, or who knows what.’

People’s Party of Canada leader Maxime Bernier has warned that the Liberal government’s push for World Economic Forum (WEF) “Global Tax” scheme should concern Canadians. 

According to Canada’s 2024 Budget, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is working to pass the WEF’s Global Minimum Tax Act which will mandate that multinational companies pay a minimum tax rate of 15 percent.

“Canadians should be very concerned, for several reasons,” People’s Party leader Maxime Bernier told LifeSiteNews, in response to the proposal.

“First, the WEF is a globalist institution that actively campaigns for the establishment of a world government and for the adoption of socialist, authoritarian, and reactionary anti-growth policies across the world,” he explained. “Any proposal they make is very likely not in the interest of Canadians.” 

“Second, this minimum tax on multinationals is a way to insidiously build support for a global harmonized tax regime that will lower tax competition between countries, and therefore ensure that taxes can stay higher everywhere,” he continued.  

“Canada reaffirms its commitment to Pillar One and will continue to work diligently to finalize a multilateral treaty and bring the new system into effect as soon as a critical mass of countries is willing,” the budget stated.  

“However, in view of consecutive delays internationally in implementing the multilateral treaty, Canada cannot continue to wait before taking action,” it continued.   

The Trudeau government also announced it would be implementing “Pillar Two,” which aims to establish a global minimum corporate tax rate. 

“Pillar Two of the plan is a global minimum tax regime to ensure that large multinational corporations are subject to a minimum effective tax rate of 15 per cent on their profits wherever they do business,” the Liberals explained.  

According to the budget, Trudeau promised to introduce the new legislation in Parliament soon.  

The global tax was first proposed by Secretary-General of Amnesty International at the WEF meeting in Davos this January.  

“Let’s start taxing carbon…[but] not just carbon tax,” the head of Amnesty International, Agnes Callamard, said during a panel discussion.  

According to the WEF, the tax, proposed by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), “imposes a minimum effective rate of 15% on corporate profits.”  

Following the meeting, 140 countries, including Canada, pledged to impose the tax.  

While a tax on large corporations does not necessarily sound unethical, implementing a global tax appears to be just the first step in the WEF’s globalization plan by undermining the sovereignty of nations.  

While Bernier explained that multinationals should pay taxes, he argued it is the role of each country to determine what those taxes are.   

“The logic of pressuring countries with low taxes to raise them is that it lessens fiscal competition and makes it then less costly and easier for countries with higher taxes to keep them high,” he said.  

Bernier pointed out that competition is good since it “forces everyone to get better and more efficient.” 

“In the end, we all end up paying for taxes, even those paid by multinationals, as it causes them to raise prices and transfer the cost of taxes to consumers,” he warned.  

Bernier further explained that the new tax could be a first step “toward the implementation of global taxes by the United Nations or some of its agencies, with the cooperation of globalist governments like Trudeau’s willing to cede our sovereignty to these international organizations.”   

“Just like ‘temporary taxes’ (like the income tax adopted during WWI) tend to become permanent, ‘minimum taxes’ tend to be raised,” he warned. “And if the idea of a global corporate tax becomes normalized, we may eventually see other agreements to impose other taxes, on carbon, airfare, or who knows what.”   

Trudeau’s involvement in the WEF’s plan should not be surprising considering his current environmental goals – which are in lockstep with the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – which include the phasing out coal-fired power plants, reducing fertilizer usage, and curbing natural gas use over the coming decades.    

The reduction and eventual elimination of so-called “fossil fuels” and a transition to unreliable “green” energy has also been pushed by the World Economic Forum – the aforementioned group famous for its socialist “Great Reset” agenda – in which Trudeau and some of his cabinet are involved.     

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Taxpayers criticize Trudeau and Ford for Honda deal

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From the Canadian Taxpayers Federation

Author: Jay Goldberg

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is criticizing the Trudeau and Ford governments to for giving $5 billion to the Honda Motor Company.

“The Trudeau and Ford governments are giving billions to yet another multinational corporation and leaving middle-class Canadians to pay for it,” said Jay Goldberg, CTF Ontario Director. “Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is sending small businesses bigger a bill with his capital gains tax hike and now he’s handing out billions more in corporate welfare to a huge multinational.

“This announcement is fundamentally unfair to taxpayers.”

The Trudeau government is giving Honda $2.5 billion. The Ford government announced an additional $2.5 billion  subsidies for Honda.

The federal and provincial governments claim this new deal will create 1,000 new jobs, according to media reports. Even if that’s true, the handout will cost taxpayers $5 million per job. And according to Globe and Mail investigation, the government doesn’t even have a proper process in place to track whether promised jobs are actually created.

The Parliamentary Budget Officer has also called into question the government’s claims when it made similar multi-billion-dollar handouts to other multinational corporations.

“The break-even timeline for the $28.2 billion in production subsidies announced for Stellantis-LGES and Volkswagen is estimated to be 20 years, significantly longer than the government’s estimate of a payback within five years for Volkswagen,” wrote the Parliamentary Budget Officer said.

“If politicians want to grow the economy, they should cut taxes and red tape and cancel the corporate welfare,” said Franco Terrazzano, CTF Federal Director. “Just days ago, Trudeau said he wants the rich to pay more, so he should make rich multinational corporations pay for their own factories.”

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