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Alberta

A Toronto Take on the United We Roll Convoy

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3 minute read

When you live in the world’s second largest country it’s easy to understand how people from one part might have difficulty understanding people from another region thousands of kilometres away.  Undoubtedly that’s one of the issues facing the United We Roll Convoy.  Oilfield workers from the prairies just don’t make a lot of sense to, say a banker from Toronto.  What does that banker think when dozens of big trucks clog up traffic in front of the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa?  Is that person likely to take a bit of time and get to know why they’ve taken their big trucks half way across the continent?  Or is that banker just appalled at them for promoting the oil industry in such a demonstrative manner.

The brave workers (and former workers) who headed out on the United We Roll Convoy knew they were taking a substantial risk before setting out.  They knew this could go sideways, but they were desperate to send a message.  Alberta’s oil is landlocked and certainly hundreds of thousands of people are affected.  Families, businesses, and communities wait for an indeterminate amount of time for Canada’s pipeline issues to work themselves out with no guarantee it will ever happen.   So they gassed up and gathered at Gorts Truckwash in Red Deer and they launched this project.   They didn’t have a marketing firm formulate a message for them.  They didn’t clamp down on any of their drivers and insist that their messaging go through a single spokesperson.  They just hoped..

Their reception was not what they were dreaming of.  But they did get a few chances to get their message worked in there with whatever the nation’s media wanted to talk about.   It may be that the passing of time will help Canadians focus in on what it was that they wanted to say.  But there’s no guarantee that it will ever get through to that banker in Toronto.  Well.  That’s not totally true.  There’s one banker from Toronto who really backs these people.  That’s because like a reporter embedded with a military battalion, he’s been embedded in the middle of Alberta’s Oil Country for some time now.  Here’s an opinion Canadians haven’t heard yet.  From a banker.  From Toronto.

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.

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Alberta

Red Deer woman arrested after drone used to deliver drugs at Drumheller Institution

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News release from Alberta RCMP 

In January of 2023, Drumheller RCMP initiated an investigation into drug trafficking following the discovery of multiple packages believed to be dropped utilizing a drone at the Drumheller Institution.  During the investigation, multiple partners and RCMP Support Units were engaged, including from the Drumheller Institution, RCMP Southern Alberta Crime Reduction Unit, Drumheller General Investigation Unit (GIS), Strathmore GIS, Calgary Police Service, Edmonton Police Service, RCMP Forensic Identification Section (FIS), RCMP Special Investigations, and more

On Dec. 1, 2023, police executed two search warrants at one residence in Calgary and one residence in Red Deer, Alta.

As a result of the search warrant, the following was seized:

  • A drone
  • Cell phones
  • Drug paraphernalia
  • A quantity of methamphetamine, GHB, Psilocybin, and MDMA

As a result of this operation, Drumheller RCMP laid a total of 5 charges.  Jessica Lavallee (35), a resident of Red Deer, has been charged with:

  • Possession of Methamphetamine for the Purpose of Trafficking
  • Possession of MDMA for the Purpose of Trafficking
  • Possession of GHB for the Purpose of Trafficking
  • Possession of Psilocybin for the Purpose of Trafficking
  • Possession of Proceeds of Crime

Jessica Lavallee was released on an undertaking and is set to appear in Alberta Court of Justice in Drumheller on May 17, 2024. 

Drumheller RCMP and partners continue to investigate this matter and additional charges are pending.

If you have any information regarding these matters, please contact Drumheller RCMP at 403.823.7590 or contact your local Police Service.  If you wish to remain anonymous, you can contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS), online at www.P3Tips.com or by using the “P3 Tips” app available through the Apple App or Google Play Store.

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Alberta

Alberta fuel tax hike coming same day as carbon tax hike

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News release from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation 

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is urging the Alberta government to scrap its fuel tax hike planned for April 1.

“The Trudeau government is already slapping us with a carbon tax hike and the last thing Albertans need is to be punched by their own provincial government,” said Kris Sims, CTF Alberta Director. “You can’t tear a strip off the prime minister for jacking up his carbon tax and turn around and hike your own fuel tax by even more on the same day, what gives?”

Right now, the provincial fuel tax costs nine cents per litre.

The Alberta government quietly noted in its 2024-25 budget that it’s planning on hiking the provincial fuel tax back up to 13 cents per litre of gasoline and diesel starting April 1.

In the same budget document, the Alberta government reported that fully suspending the fuel tax saved Alberta taxpayers about $1 billion per year.

The CTF questions the need to reinstate the fuel tax since the province reports: “fuel tax revenue is not dedicated to funding construction and maintenance of provincial roads.”

At full cost, the provincial fuel tax adds on about $10 per fill up for a minivan, about $15 for a pickup truck and about $130 extra for a big rig truck using diesel.

The federal carbon tax is also set to jump up at the end of the month.

At $80 per tonne, the carbon tax will cost 17 cents per litre of gasoline, 21 cents per litre of diesel and 15 cents per cubic metre of natural gas.

The Parliamentary Budget Officer calculates the average Alberta family will be out more than $900 this year due to the carbon tax, even with rebates factored in.

“Albertans are counting on their provincial government to shield them against Trudeau’s carbon tax and instead they are getting a provincial tax hike at the pumps, too,” said Sims. “It’s a mystery why the NDP government in Manitoba has suspended its provincial fuel tax, saving drivers 14 cents per litre, but Albertans are seeing their fuel taxes going back up.”

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