Alberta
Join us as we welcome the Class of 2020

Join us as we welcome the Class of 2020.
We are excited to announce that tickets for the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame 2020 Induction Banquet are now on sale.
Come join us on Friday, May 29, 2020, at the Cambridge Red Deer Hotel and Conference Centre as we celebrate Alberta’s great athletes, sport builders, pioneers, and media personnel with hundreds of people from across the province, the west, and the country.
Cocktails will start at 5:00 p.m., with the dinner and program starting at 6:00 p.m.
Tickets are:
- $85 for Honoured Members;
- $125 for Guests of Honoured Members;
- $150 for General Admission; and,
- $1,200 for a Table of Eight
Tickets can be purchased by calling (403) 341-8614, by visiting https://www.albertasportshall.ca/2020-induction-banquet and filling out a registration form, or by visiting the event page on Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/alberta-sports-hall-of-fame-induction-banquet-tickets-94867738961?aff=ebdssbeac.
The newest athletes joining the Hall of Fame are:
- Deidra Dionne (Athlete, Freestyle Skiing): Bronze medalist in women’s aerials at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.
- Chris Phillips (Athlete, Hockey): A stay-at-home defenceman and the longest-serving player in Ottawa Senators franchise history.
- Kelly Sutherland (Athlete, Chuckwagon Racing): Twelve-time Calgary Stampede Rangeland Derby Championships, and seven Calgary Stampede Aggregate titles.
- Michael Robertson (Athlete, Snowboardcross): Silver medalist at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
This year’s builders include:
- Jan Ullmark (Builder, Figure Skating): Jan is an elite coach whose skills have made an indelible mark on the sport of figure skating in Canada.
- Terry Morris (Builder, Curling): Terry has been active in the promotion and development of the sport of curling in Alberta and across the nation for the better part of four decades.
- Ken Babey (Builder, Hockey): In his nearly three decades behind the bench of the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) Trojans men’s hockey team, Ken Babey guided the team to unparalleled success.
- Derek Douglas (Builder, Soccer): One of the first soccer referees from Alberta to attain the position of FIFA International Referee in 1986, Derek has also been instrumental in growing the game in Sherwood Park, Edmonton and throughout the province.
This year’s Alberta Sports Hall of Fame Award winners are:
- Nancy Southern & Ian Allison (Bell Memorial Award): As the team who pioneered equestrian sports broadcasting in Alberta, they are the first duo to be awarded the Bell Memorial Award.
- John Currie (Achievement Award): As president of the 1983 Western Canada Summer Games, John led the development and funding of the game’s flagship facility – the Repsol Sport Centre.
- Stan Wakelyn (Pioneer Award, Soccer): In 1922, Calgary Hillhurst FC won the Dominion of Canada Football Championship, with Stan, a centre forward, as team captain.
- Dennis Kadatz (Legacy Award): At 22, Dennis guided the Edmonton Huskies Junior Football Team to three consecutive Canadian Championships in 1962 and 1963. In 1964, Dennis became head coach of the University of Calgary’s fledgeling football program.
Read more here.
Deirdra Dionne one of 14 to be inducted to Alberta Sports Hall of Fame
Alberta
Too many new pet owners, not enough vets make getting animal care a problem

CALGARY — Dr. Liz Ruelle says it was a difficult decision to close her veterinary practice to first-time patients after being swamped with requests by new pet owners who turned to animal companionship during the pandemic.
For Ruelle, who operates the Wild Rose Cat Clinic in Calgary, everything takes two to three times longer with COVID-19 safety protocols, so providing timely medical attention to animals can be challenging.
She’s six months behind on regular checkups and so decided last October to refer new furry patients to emergency clinics.
“Everyone was running out and getting pets … and we’re now facing backlogs of annual exams, because we weren’t doing them for months,” Ruelle said.
“I have a hard time saying no to people. It’s gut-wrenching for us. When we’re saying no, it’s because we physically can’t.”
Humane Canada says 78,000 cats and 28,000 dogs were in shelters across Canada in 2019. Sixty-five per cent of the felines and 73 per cent of dogs were either adopted or reclaimed by their owners.
Numbers for last year aren’t yet available, but shelters across the country say demand has been brisk, although the number of cats and dogs available has dropped.
“Our adoptions have thankfully stayed steady throughout the pandemic and haven’t seen a marked increase in animal returns,” said Jessica Bohrson from the Calgary Humane Society.
“With so many folks now working from home, they’ve been able to give their new pets a great deal of attention.”
There are about 10,000 veterinarians in Canada. Dr. Enid Stiles, president of the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association, said that’s too few vets for the number of pets.
The greatest shortfall is in British Columbia, Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador.
“It’s become a triage of what’s most important. Certainly these new pets have thrown a wrench into things, because in Canada we already have a very big shortage of veterinarians,” said Stiles, who shut down her Montreal clinic to new patients in December.
“My clinic said we would never do that, but … we ended up having to stop taking any new patients because we’re burning out. We had to put the brakes on and that’s hard because where are those pets going to go?
“The irony is they’re going to end up being pushed out to more rural vets, who may still have some ability to see these patients, but now they’re having to travel great distances in a pandemic just to get veterinary care.”
Lack of attention for newer patients has led to many veterinarians being subjected to verbal abuse from angry pet owners, Stiles added.
“People get frustrated and they’re very emotional when dealing with pets. We understand, but certainly with the pandemic it’s even more of a struggle,” she said.
“People’s fuses are short.”
The Toronto Humane Society switched to virtual adoptions last spring. The organization has fewer animals available than usual because it isn’t allowed to bring in any from the United States with the border closed.
Hannah Sotropa said the society has received more than 11,000 applications for adoption since the pandemic began.
“Definitely the interest has certainly increased. We’re not seeing an increase in adoptions per se largely due to the fact we have had fewer animals,” she said.
The Toronto Humane Society has its own public veterinary service clinic which vaccinates, spays and neuters pets. It also has a dental suite.
“There’s going to be backlogs. What’s really important is we find ways to make veterinary care more accessible, so we can prevent animals ending up in our shelters simply due to affordability or lack of availability to basic, veterinary care,” Sotropa said.
“It’s important for people to know that even if they are an adopter, they can still come for help if they need it.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 24, 2021
— Follow @BillGraveland on Twitter
Bill Graveland, The Canadian Press
Alberta
WestJet grounds Max flight before takeoff after system indicates ‘potential fault’

CALGARY — WestJet says a Boeing 737 Max that was scheduled to fly from Calgary to Toronto on Friday returned to the gate before taking off due to a warning in the cockpit.
A WestJet spokeswoman, Lauren Stewart, said that after the plane’s engines were started, its monitoring system indicated a “potential fault that needed to be verified and reset.”
The process takes time and requires an engine run, which the airline does not perform with passengers on board, Stewart said.
In the interests’ of passengers’ time, WestJet cancelled the flight and booked passengers on the next available flight to Toronto, Stewart said.
The aircraft has since been cleared by maintenance and will return to service as scheduled on Jan. 24, Stewart said.
The Max was cleared to fly in Canadian airspace on Wednesday after it was grounded for nearly two years following deadly crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 22, 2021.
The Canadian Press
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