Access to the Lower Townsite including MacDonald Island, downtown and Waterways is temporarily closed due to flooding concerns.
No entry is allowed. Residents who leave the Lower Townsite will not be allowed re-entry.
Residents in flood-prone areas should prepare a 72-hour emergency kit and stay alert.
The Athabasca River is currently breaking and water levels are extremely high. Members of the public should stay away from riverbanks as flooding is occurring in certain areas.
All residents are advised to avoid riverbanks and shorelines as they remain dangerous, and to avoid stopping on the Athabasca bridges to watch the river.
After 15 years as a TV reporter with Global and CBC and as news director of RDTV in Red Deer, Duane set out on his own 2008 as a visual storyteller. During this period, he became fascinated with a burgeoning online world and how it could better serve local communities. This fascination led to Todayville, launched in 2016.
Conservative MP-elect Damien Kurek announced Friday he would be willing to give up his seat as an MP so Pierre Poilievre, who lost his seat Monday, could attempt to re-join Parliament.
Conservative MP-elect Damien Kurek announced Friday he would be willing to give up his seat in a riding that saw the Conservatives easily defeat the Liberals by 46,020 votes in this past Monday’s election. Poilievre had lost his seat to his Liberal rival, a seat which he held for decades, which many saw as putting his role as leader of the party in jeopardy.
Kurek has represented the riding since 2019 and said about his decision, “It has been a tremendous honor to serve the good people of Battle River—Crowfoot.”
“After much discussion with my wife Danielle, I have decided to step aside for this Parliamentary session to allow our Conservative Party Leader to run here in a by-election,” he added.
Newly elected Prime Minister of Canada Mark Carney used his first post-election press conference to say his government will unleash a “new economy” that will further “deepen” the nation’s ties to the world.
He also promised that he would “trigger” a by-election at once, saying there would be “no games” trying to prohibit Poilievre to run and win a seat in a safe Conservative riding.
Poilievre, in a statement posted to X Friday, said that it was with “humility and appreciation that I have accepted Damien Kurek’s offer to resign his seat in Battle River-Crowfoot so that I can work to earn the support of citizens there to serve them in Parliament.”
“Damien’s selfless act to step aside temporarily as a Member of Parliament shows his commitment to change and restoring Canada’s promise,” he noted.
“I will work to earn the trust of the good people of Battle River-Crowfoot and I will continue to hold the Liberal minority government to account until the next federal election, when we will bring real change to all Canadians.”
Carney said a new cabinet will be sworn in on May 12.
Alberta oil sands projects poised to grow on lower costs, strong reserves
As geopolitical uncertainty ripples through global energy markets, a new report says Alberta’s oil sands sector is positioned to grow thanks to its lower costs.
Enverus Intelligence Research’s annual Oil Sands Play Fundamentals forecasts producers will boost output by 400,000 barrels per day (bbls/d) by the end of this decade through expansions of current operations.
“Existing oil sands projects deliver some of the lowest-breakeven oil in North America at WTI prices lower than $50 U.S. dollars,” said Trevor Rix, a director with the Calgary-based research firm, a subsidiary of Enverus which is headquartered in Texas with operations in Europe and Asia.
Alberta’s oil sands currently produce about 3.4 million bbls/d. Individual companies have disclosed combined proven reserves of about 30 billion barrels, or more than 20 years of current production.
A recent sector-wide reserves analysis by McDaniel & Associates found the oil sands holds about 167 billion barrels of reserves, compared to about 20 billion barrels in Texas.
While trade tensions and sustained oil price declines may marginally slow oil sands growth in the short term, most projects have already had significant capital invested and can withstand some volatility.
Cenovus Energy’s Christina Lake oil sands project. Photo courtesy Cenovus Energy
“While it takes a large amount of out-of-pocket capital to start an oil sands operation, they are very cost effective after that initial investment,” said veteran S&P Global analyst Kevin Birn.
“Optimization,” where companies tweak existing operations for more efficient output, has dominated oil sands growth for the past eight years, he said. These efforts have also resulted in lower cost structures.
“That’s largely shielded the oil sands from some of the inflationary costs we’ve seen in other upstream production,” Birn said.
Added pipeline capacity through expansion of the Trans Mountain system and Enbridge’s Mainline have added an incentive to expand production, Rix said.
The increased production will also spur growth in regions of western Canada, including the Montney and Duvernay, which Enverus analysts previously highlighted as increasingly crucial to meet rising worldwide energy demand.
“Increased oil sands production will see demand increase for condensate, which is used as diluent to ship bitumen by pipeline, which has positive implications for growth in drilling in liquids-rich regions such as the Montney and Duvernay,” Rix said.
