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Alberta

THE HALFTIME REPORT News from the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame

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Honoured Member Darryl Sutter Wins Jack Adams Award

Calgary Flames head coach Darryl Sutter has won the 2021/22 Jack Adams Award, presented annually to the NHL’s coach of the year.

Sutter was Inducted into the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame in 2000, with his brothers Brian, Duane, Brent, Rich, and Ron. All six brothers grew up and played minor hockey in Viking before moving to Red Deer to play with the Red Deer Rustlers of the AJHL.

The NHL announced the award winner on Sportsnet prior to Game 2 of the Western Conference Final on Thursday, with a video of Brian Sutter, a winner of the award in 1991, presenting the award to his younger brother Darryl.

The Flames missed the playoffs in the 2020/21 season when Sutter took over halfway through the year. In the following 2021/22 season, Sutter captured the 6th best record in the NHL for the largest season to season improvement, as well as winning the Pacific Division.

To learn more about Sutter’s amazing coaching story, click the link below.

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Honoured Member Dr. Willie Littlechild has been Awarded by  the Governor General of Canada

On May 26th Honoured Member Dr. Willie Littlechild received the Meritorious Service Cross (Civil Division), a prestigious award by the Governor General of Canada. The award is given to a nominated individual in recognition of their contributions that bring honor to the country in various fields including advocacy, health care, research, humanitarian, and more.

For more information, please click on the article link below.

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This newsletter is sponsored by Travel Alberta.

Honoured Member in Focus: Edmonton Grads

Basketball Team – Inducted 1974

The amazing record of the Edmonton Grads spans an era of 25 years. Under the expert coaching of the late Percy Page, the Grads played 522 official games in Canada, the United States, and in Europe, winning 502 and losing 20 for an average of 96.2%. The Grads won seven of the nine games they played against men’s teams. In establishing their outstanding record, they had two consecutive winning streaks of 147 and 78 games respectively. They won the Provincial Championship during their first year of existence in 1915, and continued to win 23 of the 24 times they competed for it. In the Western Canadian Championship, the Grads won all 21 games they played from 1926 to 1940. In the Canadian Championships they never lost a series, from commencement of title play in 1922 to the team’s disbandment in 1940.  They were crowned World Champions from 1937 to 1940.

The Edmonton Grads received many honours over the years.  They were inducted into the Edmonton Sports Hall of Fame in 1973 and the Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame in 1980.  The Grads still have the record for best winning percentage of all time for North American teams.  In 1976, the Edmonton Grads’ achievements were declared a National Historic Event and Parks Canada dedicated a plaque in their honour, two years later, in 1978. The Edmonton Grads Youth Basketball Association was founded in 2002, in Edmonton, to honour the legacy of the famous women’s basketball team.

Honoured Member Profile

Provincial Sport Organization: Alberta Basketball

Alberta Basketball is the governing body for the sport of basketball in Alberta. We believe that our amazing sport is more than just a game; it is – A Game for Life. The game of basketball assists all who participate by developing life skills and habits that will benefit and enrich their lives. ABA’s mission is to champion the sport of basketball by inspiring unity, facilitating development, and delivering superior value.

Visit their website by clicking on the link below.

Alberta Basketball Site
Artifact in Focus!

This large Silver Vase-like trophy that is engraved to read “Offert Par La Municipalite De Monaco 1936” was given to the Edmonton Commercial Graduates Basketball Team while they were in Europe playing exhibition games prior to the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.

June is Pride Month

Every person should have the ability to pursue their dreams without fear of discrimination or prejudice based on age, race, religion, gender, or sexual identity. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Many athletes have faced, and many still do, discrimination from sports organizations, team management, coaches, and even fellow athletes for things they have no control over.

Four of our Honoured Members have come forward to share their journey through sports and coming out to help inspire the next generation of athletes to be true to who they are in all aspects of their lives. By sharing these heartfelt stories with you, we hope that we can start to see the changes needed to allow all athletes regardless of age, race, religion, gender, or sexual identity to feel safe to be their authentic selves in and out of the locker room. Our featured honoured members in this exhibit are Mark Tewksbury, Danielle Peers, Keely Brown and Kessie Stefanyk.

Soon we will be saying goodbye to our ‘True to You in Sport’ Exhibit which highlights these Honoured Members. Mark Tewksbury, for example, became Canada’s first sports hero to openly declare his homosexuality in 1998. He helped start a national conversation on the taboo subject of gays in sport. Since that time, Mark has been an outspoken advocate for inclusive and safe sport spaces for all.

Come see it before it’s gone!

Hall of Fame in the Community

Our Hall of Fame summer students were out in the community attending events geared towards our youth. We were at the Central Alberta Family Expo on May 28 in Red Deer as well as the Central Alberta Children’s Festival which showcases opportunities for the children of Central Alberta to learn, play and be active.

If you would like your Hall of Fame to visit your event please contact us at 403-341-8614 or [email protected]

Donate Now

The Alberta Sports Hall of Fame needs your support to continue the ongoing preservation of Alberta’s sports history and the development of museum exhibits. We are grateful and appreciative of the generosity of our supporters and friends. We would be happy to assist you in choosing how your personal legacy will be fulfilled and the many options available. Here is some information on donating shares to ASHFM and the benefits to you as a donor.

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The Alberta Sports Hall of Fame provides a family-friendly, interactive experience. You will be surprised by what you discover inside! Have fun, laugh, play and discover Alberta sports heroes together. The Alberta Sports Hall of Fame is an interactive, hands-on celebration of Alberta's sporting history. Our over 7,000 square feet of exhibit space includes a multisport area with virtual baseball, basketball, football, hockey, and soccer; an adaptive sports area, including a 200 meter wheelchair challenge; a Treadwall climbing wall; the Orest Korbutt Theatre; the Hall of Fame Gallery; an art gallery displaying works by provincial artists, and much more. Our venue boasts a collection of over 17,000 artefacts of Alberta sports history and showcases many of these items in a number of displays. The Alberta Sports Hall of Fame also offers an education program, group activities, and a unique environment to rent for your birthday party, special event, corporate reception or meetings.

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Alberta

COWBOY UP! Pierre Poilievre Promises to Fight for Oil and Gas, a Stronger Military and the Interests of Western Canada

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Fr0m Energy Now

By Maureen McCall

As Calgarians take a break from the incessant news of tariff threat deadlines and global economic challenges to celebrate the annual Stampede, Conservative party leader Pierre Poilievre gave them even more to celebrate.

Poilievre returned to Calgary, his hometown, to outline his plan to amplify the legitimate demands of Western Canada and not only fight for oil and gas, but also fight for the interests of farmers, for low taxes, for decentralization, a stronger military and a smaller federal government.

Speaking at the annual Conservative party BBQ at Heritage Park in Calgary (a place Poilievre often visited on school trips growing up), he was reminded of the challenges his family experienced during the years when Trudeau senior was Prime Minister and the disastrous effect of his economic policies.

“I was born in ’79,” Poilievre said. “and only a few years later, Pierre Elliott Trudeau would attack our province with the National Energy Program. There are still a few that remember it. At the same time, he hammered the entire country with money printing deficits that gave us the worst inflation and interest rates in our history. Our family actually lost our home, and we had to scrimp and save and get help from extended family in order to get our little place in Shaughnessy, which my mother still lives in.”

This very personal story resonated with many in the crowd who are now experiencing an affordability crisis that leaves families struggling and young adults unable to afford their first house or condo. Poilievre said that the experience was a powerful motivator for his entry into politics. He wasted no time in proposing a solution – build alliances with other provinces with mutual interests, and he emphasized the importance of advocating for provincial needs.

“Let’s build an alliance with British Columbians who want to ship liquefied natural gas out of the Pacific Coast to Asia, and with Saskatchewanians, Newfoundlanders and Labradorians who want to develop their oil and gas and aren’t interested in having anyone in Ottawa cap how much they can produce. Let’s build alliances with Manitobans who want to ship oil in the port of Churchill… with Quebec and other provinces that want to decentralize our country and get Ottawa out of our business so that provinces and people can make their own decisions.”

Poilievre heavily criticized the federal government’s spending and policies of the last decade, including the increase in government costs, and he highlighted the negative impact of those policies on economic stability and warned of the dangers of high inflation and debt. He advocated strongly for a free-market economy, advocating for less government intervention, where businesses compete to impress customers rather than impress politicians. He also addressed the decade-long practice of blocking and then subsidizing certain industries. Poilievre referred to a famous quote from Ronald Reagan as the modus operandi of the current federal regime.

“The Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases. If anything moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.”

The practice of blocking and then subsidizing is merely a ploy to grab power, according to Poilievre, making industry far too reliant on government control.

“By blocking you from doing something and then making you ask the government to help you do it, it makes you reliant. It puts them at the center of all power, and that is their mission…a full government takeover of our economy. There’s a core difference between an economy controlled by the government and one controlled by the free market. Businesses have to clamour to please politicians and bureaucrats. In a free market (which we favour), businesses clamour to impress customers. The idea is to put people in charge of their economic lives by letting them have free exchange of work for wages, product for payment and investment for interest.”

Poilievre also said he plans to oppose any ban on gas-powered vehicles, saying, “You should be in the driver’s seat and have the freedom to decide.” This is in reference to the Trudeau-era plan to ban the sale of gas-powered cars by 2035, which the Carney government has said they have no intention to change, even though automakers are indicating that the targets cannot be met. He also intends to oppose the Industrial Carbon tax, Bill C-69 the Impact Assessment Act, Bill C-48 the Oil tanker ban, the proposed emissions cap which will cap energy production, as well as the single-use plastics ban and Bill C-11, also known as the Online Streaming Act and the proposed “Online Harms Act,” also known as Bill C-63. Poilievre closed with rallying thoughts that had a distinctive Western flavour.

“Fighting for these values is never easy. Change, as we’ve seen, is not easy. Nothing worth doing is easy… Making Alberta was hard. Making Canada, the country we love, was even harder. But we don’t back down, and we don’t run away. When things get hard, we dust ourselves off, we get back in the saddle, and we gallop forward to the fight.”

Cowboy up, Mr. Poilievre.

Maureen McCall is an energy professional who writes on issues affecting the energy industry.

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Alberta

Alberta and Ontario sign agreements to drive oil and gas pipelines, energy corridors, and repeal investment blocking federal policies

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Alberta-Ontario MOUs fuel more pipelines and trade

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Ontario Premier Doug Ford have signed two memorandums of understanding (MOUs) during Premier Ford’s visit to the Calgary Stampede, outlining their commitment to strengthen interprovincial trade, drive major infrastructure development, and grow Canada’s global competitiveness by building new pipelines, rail lines and other energy and trade infrastructure.

The two provinces agree on the need for the federal government to address the underlying conditions that have harmed the energy industry in Canada. This includes significantly amending or repealing the Impact Assessment Act, as well as repealing the Oil Tanker Moratorium Act, Clean Electricity Regulations, the Oil and Gas Sector Greenhouse Gas Emissions Cap, and all other federal initiatives that discriminately impact the energy sector, as well as sectors such as mining and manufacturing. Taking action will ensure Alberta and Ontario can attract the investment and project partners needed to get shovels in the ground, grow industries and create jobs.

The first MOU focuses on developing strategic trade corridors and energy infrastructure to connect Alberta and Ontario’s oil, gas and critical minerals to global markets. This includes support for new oil and gas pipeline projects, enhanced rail and port infrastructure at sites in James Bay and southern Ontario, as well as end-to-end supply chain development for refining and processing of Alberta’s energy exports. The two provinces will also collaborate on nuclear energy development to help meet growing electricity demands while ensuring reliable and affordable power.

The second MOU outlines Alberta’s commitment to explore prioritizing made-in-Canada vehicle purchases for its government fleet. It also includes a joint commitment to reduce barriers and improve the interprovincial trade of liquor products.

“Alberta and Ontario are joining forces to get shovels in the ground and resources to market. These MOUs are about building pipelines and boosting trade that connects Canadian energy and products to the world, while advocating for the right conditions to get it done. Government must get out of the way, partner with industry and support the projects this country needs to grow. I look forward to working with Premier Doug Ford to unleash the full potential of our economy and build the future that people across Alberta and across the country have been waiting far too long for.”

Danielle Smith, Premier of Alberta

“In the face of President Trump’s tariffs and ongoing economic uncertainty, Canadians need to work together to build the infrastructure that will diversify our trading partners and end our dependence on the United States. By building pipelines, rail lines and the energy and trade infrastructure that connects our country, we will build a more competitive, more resilient and more self-reliant economy and country. Together, we are building the infrastructure we need to protect Canada, our workers, businesses and communities. Let’s build Canada.”

Doug Ford, Premier of Ontario

These agreements build on Alberta and Ontario’s shared commitment to free enterprise, economic growth and nation-building. The provinces will continue engaging with Indigenous partners, industry and other governments to move key projects forward.

“Never before has it been more important for Canada to unite on developing energy infrastructure. Alberta’s oil, natural gas, and know-how will allow Canada to be an energy superpower and that will make all Canadians more prosperous. To do so, we need to continue these important energy infrastructure discussions and have more agreements like this one with Ontario.”

Brian Jean, Minister of Energy and Minerals

“These MOUs with Ontario build on the work Alberta has already done with Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Northwest Territories and the Port of Prince Rupert. We’re proving that by working together, we can get pipelines built, open new rail and port routes, and break down the barriers that hold back opportunities in Canada.”

Devin Dreeshen, Minister of Transportation and Economic Corridors

“Canada’s economy has an opportunity to become stronger thanks to leadership and steps taken by provincial governments like Alberta and Ontario. Removing interprovincial trade barriers, increasing labour mobility and attracting investment are absolutely crucial to Canada’s future economic prosperity.”

Joseph Schow, Minister of Jobs, Economy, Trade and Immigration

Together, Alberta and Ontario are demonstrating the shared benefits and opportunities that result from collaborative partnerships, and what it takes to keep Canada competitive in a changing world.

Quick facts

  • Steering committees with Alberta and Ontario government officials will be struck to facilitate work and cooperation under the agreements.
  • Alberta and Ontario will work collaboratively to launch a preliminary joint feasibility study in 2025 to help move private sector led investments in rail, pipeline(s) and port(s) projects forward.
  • These latest agreements follow an earlier MOU Premiers Danielle Smith and Doug Ford signed on June 1, 2025, to open up trade between the provinces and advance shared priorities within the Canadian federation.

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