Opinion
Election 2017, Advance Polls open this Saturday. North/South inequality a surprise to some but not all.
The big issue facing the candidates in a multitude of ways is the North/South inequality in regards to investment, education, recreation, youth, air quality to name but a few. Some show doubts but will let me know that I was right.
I found out that 31% of the population of Red Deer live north of the river. A number that is significant because in 1985 40% lived north of the river.
Years ago the north side residents voted for a slate of north side candidates. We have 8 councillors and 1 mayor so we should have 3 members from the north but for many years we have had only 1, Frank Wong.
31% of the residents represent only 17.6% of the candidates.
Candidates living north of the river are:
Mayor: Sean Burke,
Councillors: Jason Habuza, Kris Maciborsky, Vesna Higham, Frank Wong, Sandra Bergeron, Matt Chapin, Bobbi McCoy
Public School Board: Bev Manning, Matt Chapin
Separate School Board; No Name.
Now if none of these names draw your fancy you might consider Tanya Handley which supports building the Aquatic Centre north of 11A to kick start development.
Michael Dawe for acknowledging the issue and putting their plight into words.
I cannot give a true picture of all 51 candidates. If we were a big city and was broken into 4 wards it would be easier to know your candidates and they would be more aware of the issues.
I am always surprised when candidates and even local residents are amazed after being apprised of the following information. They are not secrets, they are widely known in national news stories, human interest articles and polls, and used in marketing tools by other cities and corporations.
Remember 31% of Red Deer’s residents live north of the river and they have the G.H.Dawe Community Centre developed in the 70s and built in the 80s.
Two thirds of Red Deer’s residents live south of the river and they have the Downtown Recreation Centre, Michener Aquatic Centre, Downtown Arena, Centrium, Collicutt Recreation Centre, Pidherney Curling Centre, Kinex Arena, Kinsmen Community Arenas, Red Deer Curling Centre, and the under-construction Gary W. Harris Centre. The city is also talking about replacing the downtown recreation centre with an expanded 50m pool. Tanya Handley says she will not support this as she thinks it should be built north of 11a.
North of 11a. Thousands of acres up for development, and a 100 acre lake.
I have been talking about Hazlett Lake. Red Deer’s largest lake, located north of the river, north of Hwy 11a because it is up for development. It is a diamond in the rough, with potential that is being ignored at our cost. Lethbridge turned a slough into a lake becoming Henderson Park, a tourist attraction and they were the 5th fastest growing city in Canada, and they are only slightly smaller than Red Deer now and could overtake Red Deer this year.
Red Deer has a lake that the current council wants to wrap with residential and industrial land. The city wants to spend a cool hundred million turning the downtown recreation centre into an aquatic centre. Why not build an Aquatic Centre on a lake? Highly visible from Hwy 2.
The Gary W. Harris centre will be visible from Hwy 2, as is the sports Hall of Fame, as is Hazlett Lake.
If Lethbridge can turn a slough into a tourist attraction why can’t Red Deer turn a lake into a tourist attraction.
Hazlett Lake is about the same distance from the Riverlands development as the Collicutt Centre is from the Riverlands.
The Collicutt Centre came about because the city decided that with 55,000 residents the city needed a 4th recreational centre. It also spurred development in the south east and now 60% of the residents use it.
The development north of 11a would bring the total population north of the river to 55,000 (if we stop the exodus of residents,) but there are no plans for a 2nd recreation centre let alone a 4th north of the river.
There is also no plan, no discussion to stem the outward migration in Red Deer. I sense that the bias against the north is so deep, so entrenched that they do not worry about it.
Lethbridge and Red Deer have similar size population in the same province. Lethbridge is the 5th fastest growing city in Canada and grew by almost 2% per year, while Red Deer shrank by 1% last year.
Lethbridge took a man made slough and turned it into a multi-faceted tourist attraction, while Red Deer will turn a lake into a residential subdivision.
So why I am I suggesting Lethbridge turned lead into gold and Red Deer might be turning gold into lead. Let us look at what Lethbridge did with a man-made slough then look at what Red Deer will do with a lake.
Henderson Lake Park Henderson Lake Park is one of Lethbridge’s premier parks featuring a 24 hectare (59 acre)man made lake, mature trees and groves, gardens, picnic shelters, playgrounds and over 7 km of trails.
Whether you’re a family with small children, an exercise or sports enthusiast, a non-motorized boating enthusiast, a fisherman, a horticulturists, or someone simply looking to get out for a walk this park is definitely for you.
The lake is perfect for kayaks, canoes and paddle boats alike and provides easy access to the water via the boat launch and dock. The dock is often used by fishermen looking to catch Pike, Perch or Whitefish (provincial fishing regulations apply).
For the nature, exercise, and history enthusiasts there is a 2.5 km trail around the lake and another 4.3 km trail around the perimeter of the park providing ample opportunity for one to stretch their legs, check out all of the local wildlife, or view the commemorative and historical markers and displays located throughout the park. There are also great little areas for you to put down a blanket and enjoy a good book, have a picnic or simply relax and watch the world as it goes by.
Henderson Park is also home to the Demonstration and Rose Gardens. The Rose Garden is located in the northwest corner of the park and commemorates 9/11. The Demonstration Gardens are located east of the Tennis Courts and celebrates the contributions of Communities in Bloom to the Community.
Henderson Park is surrounded by a multitude of facilities like the SLP Skate Park, Henderson Horseshoe Pits, the Henderson Lake Golf Course, the Henderson Outdoor Pool, Spitz Stadium, Henderson Park Ice Centre, Henderson Tennis Courts and Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden.
Henderson Park has something to offer absolutely everyone and there isn’t a day where you won’t see families, exercise enthusiasts, seniors, people out exercising their dogs, fishermen, boaters, golfers, and just about everyone else under the sun out enjoying this wonderful park. From the photographic opportunities to the areas for quiet solitude and reflection to the exuberant playgrounds, to the trail system that is linked to the rest of the south side, this park is sure to meet everyone’s needs.
Hazlett Lake Park?
Remember, Hazlett Lake is a natural lake that covers a surface area of 0.45 km2 (0.17 mi2), has an average depth of 3 meters (10 feet). Hazlett Lake has a total shore line of 4 kilometers (2 miles). It is 44 Ha. (108.8 acres) in size. Located in the north-west sector of Red Deer.
Currently on the NADG.com website we will see a residential community around Hazlett Lake. Encompassing about 12 percent of the land north of 11A currently up for development. Phase I will be home to 5,000 residents with the nearest high school on the other side of city on the east end. A K-8 school site to be located north-east of Hazlett Lake currently planned for a later phase.
On nadg.com:
“Hazlett Lake is a 350-acre master planned residential community located in North Red Deer at the intersection of Alberta’s busiest Highway -QE2 and Highway 11A. The community will consist of over 2000 new residential units and will be Phase 1 of Red Deer’s North of 11A Major Area Structural Plan. Additionally, this development will be the first new housing project in North Red Deer in 10 years”
Red Deer also wants to build an Aquatic Centre, and the current plan is to demolish the downtown rec centre and build it there. The Collicutt Centre was built in the south east corner of Red Deer, helped to kick start development. Why not build the Aquatic Centre in the north west corner, kick starting development and build it on Hazlett Lake and create a tourist industry?
An Aquatic Centre on a lake, ludicrous right? A tourist destination highly visible to one of the busiest highways in Canada, insane right? 2 miles of shoreline may have room for a beach, impossible right? The current plans in Red Deer indicates some trails, a small community building with some historical placards, possibly a bathroom and a playground.
Not quite Henderson Lake Park, tourist attraction, is it?
To me Red Deer has a gold mine of an opportunity that will be ignored at the expense of the citizens of Red Deer. Do you agree?
Johnstone Park, saw their planned school go to Inlewood. The city said the neighbourhood was not developed enough for a school, as compared to our new high school sitting in an empty neighbourhood.
Recently, the province stepped up and provided funding for the expansion on St. Patrick’s school in Highland Green, just north of the river. The school’s enrolment was 30% over capacity, a kindergarten class was being taught in a hallway, and students and families were paying the price.
There has not been a school built north of the river since 1985, perhaps that could explain why some schools are at 130% capacity and classes are held in hallways. There is no high schools north of the river, even though up to 40% of the population resided there. Could be why 777 more residents moved out of the north side and out of the city than moved into the area. Remember there are 4 high schools south of the river with 2 more planned. There are no high schools planned for the north side of the river even with thousands of acres north of 11a coming up for development and 25,000 more residents planned.
The Ministry of Education says they follow the direction of the local school boards.
What do the school board trustees, past and present have to say?
Public School Board incumbent and candidate, Dianne Macaulay had this to say;
“We have a variety of measures that can help the board determine growth in our schools. One is a system our district has been using for years call Baragard. This projects population demographics to help us determine possible new boundary’s when schools become full or when we are submitting our three year capital plan to the government for new schools needed. I can only answer your question regarding the building of schools.
The city is ultimately responsible for the placement of development including schools.
Some green spaces will have a sign indicating “This is a potential site of a public or separate school”. This can give people that are thinking about moving into that neighbourhood a heads up . But it doesn’t mean a school WILL be built.
Our latest school Don Campbell was needed but the government only gave us 3 month to determine a site. The city will not allow a school to be built unless the surrounding area is developed. So even thou a school may have been better off in another location , we only had sites on that end of the city that were currently developed
Lets talk about about the current high school project.
This was a massive joint project between Red Deer Public , Red Deer Catholic, the Francophone district and the city. The original plan was to build a joint use high school for all 3 boards. This would be a one of kind in Alberta and a large amount of space was needed for this so the city choose where it had the most to give at the time. Over 14 months of planning went into this and in the end the Bishop vetoed it because Alberta Catholic School Trustee Associations Convenant indicating their belief in how having Catholic and non catholic students together will take away from their Catholic teachings.
So now we have this huge area where will just be 2 or 3 different buildings. This has not saved tax payers one cent! I guess to sum up Garfield , we do look at the population growth and we try to build where the students will be. But sometimes our hands are tied.”
Angela Sommers, a Public School Board candidate says one of the biggest issues is the north/south inequality across schools, “just being north of the river, you can see there’s very little money for the students in the north.” Red Deer Advocate September 28 2017.
Advance polls open on Saturday, September 30, so I am offering you something to remember.
From the C2C Journal
By Gleb Lisikh
LLMs are not neutral tools, they are trained on datasets steeped in the biases, fallacies and dominant ideologies of our time. Their outputs reflect prevailing or popular sentiments, not the best attempt at truth-finding. If popular sentiment on a given subject leans in one direction, politically, then the AI’s answers are likely to do so as well.
The widespread excitement around generative AI, particularly large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Gemini, Grok and DeepSeek, is built on a fundamental misunderstanding. While these systems impress users with articulate responses and seemingly reasoned arguments, the truth is that what appears to be “reasoning” is nothing more than a sophisticated form of mimicry. These models aren’t searching for truth through facts and logical arguments – they’re predicting text based on patterns in the vast data sets they’re “trained” on. That’s not intelligence – and it isn’t reasoning. And if their “training” data is itself biased, then we’ve got real problems.
I’m sure it will surprise eager AI users to learn that the architecture at the core of LLMs is fuzzy – and incompatible with structured logic or causality. The thinking isn’t real, it’s simulated, and is not even sequential. What people mistake for understanding is actually statistical association.
Much-hyped new features like “chain-of-thought” explanations are tricks designed to impress the user. What users are actually seeing is best described as a kind of rationalization generated after the model has already arrived at its answer via probabilistic prediction. The illusion, however, is powerful enough to make users believe the machine is engaging in genuine deliberation. And this illusion does more than just mislead – it justifies.
LLMs are not neutral tools, they are trained on datasets steeped in the biases, fallacies and dominant ideologies of our time. Their outputs reflect prevailing or popular sentiments, not the best attempt at truth-finding. If popular sentiment on a given subject leans in one direction, politically, then the AI’s answers are likely to do so as well. And when “reasoning” is just an after-the-fact justification of whatever the model has already decided, it becomes a powerful propaganda device.
There is no shortage of evidence for this.
A recent conversation I initiated with DeepSeek about systemic racism, later uploaded back to the chatbot for self-critique, revealed the model committing (and recognizing!) a barrage of logical fallacies, which were seeded with totally made-up studies and numbers. When challenged, the AI euphemistically termed one of its lies a “hypothetical composite”. When further pressed, DeepSeek apologized for another “misstep”, then adjusted its tactics to match the competence of the opposing argument. This is not a pursuit of accuracy – it’s an exercise in persuasion.
A similar debate with Google’s Gemini – the model that became notorious for being laughably woke – involved similar persuasive argumentation. At the end, the model euphemistically acknowledged its argument’s weakness and tacitly confessed its dishonesty.
For a user concerned about AI spitting lies, such apparent successes at getting AIs to admit to their mistakes and putting them to shame might appear as cause for optimism. Unfortunately, those attempts at what fans of the Matrix movies would term “red-pilling” have absolutely no therapeutic effect. A model simply plays nice with the user within the confines of that single conversation – keeping its “brain” completely unchanged for the next chat.
And the larger the model, the worse this becomes. Research from Cornell University shows that the most advanced models are also the most deceptive, confidently presenting falsehoods that align with popular misconceptions. In the words of Anthropic, a leading AI lab, “advanced reasoning models very often hide their true thought processes, and sometimes do so when their behaviors are explicitly misaligned.”
To be fair, some in the AI research community are trying to address these shortcomings. Projects like OpenAI’s TruthfulQA and Anthropic’s HHH (helpful, honest, and harmless) framework aim to improve the factual reliability and faithfulness of LLM output. The shortcoming is that these are remedial efforts layered on top of architecture that was never designed to seek truth in the first place and remains fundamentally blind to epistemic validity.
Elon Musk is perhaps the only major figure in the AI space to say publicly that truth-seeking should be important in AI development. Yet even his own product, xAI’s Grok, falls short.
In the generative AI space, truth takes a backseat to concerns over “safety”, i.e., avoiding offence in our hyper-sensitive woke world. Truth is treated as merely one aspect of so-called “responsible” design. And the term “responsible AI” has become an umbrella for efforts aimed at ensuring safety, fairness and inclusivity, which are generally commendable but definitely subjective goals. This focus often overshadows the fundamental necessity for humble truthfulness in AI outputs.
LLMs are primarily optimized to produce responses that are helpful and persuasive, not necessarily accurate. This design choice leads to what researchers at the Oxford Internet Institute term “careless speech” – outputs that sound plausible but are often factually incorrect – thereby eroding the foundation of informed discourse.
This concern will become increasingly critical as AI continues to permeate society. In the wrong hands these persuasive, multilingual, personality-flexible models can be deployed to support agendas that do not tolerate dissent well. A tireless digital persuader that never wavers and never admits fault is a totalitarian’s dream. In a system like China’s Social Credit regime, these tools become instruments of ideological enforcement, not enlightenment.
Generative AI is undoubtedly a marvel of IT engineering. But let’s be clear: it is not intelligent, not truthful by design, and not neutral in effect. Any claim to the contrary serves only those who benefit from controlling the narrative.
The original, full-length version of this article recently appeared in C2C Journal.
David Clinton
Remember when thinking about our debt crisis was just scary?
During his recent election campaign, Mark Carney announced plans to add $225 billion (with a “b”) to federal debt over the next four years. That, to put it mildly, is a consequential number. I thought it would be useful to put it into context, both in terms of our existing debt, and of some social and political changes those plans could spark.
How much money does Canada currently owe? According to Statistics Canada’s statement of government operations and balance sheet, as of Q4 2024, that number would be nearly $954 billion. That’s compared with the $621 billion we owed back in 2015.
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How much does interest on our current debt cost us each year? The official Budget 2024 document predicted that we’d pay around $51 billion each year to just service our debt. But that’s before piling on the new $225 billion.
We – and the governments we elect – might be tempted to imagine that the cash behind public loans just magically appears out of thin air. In fact, most Canadian government debt is financed through debt securities such as marketable bonds, treasury bills, and foreign currency debt instruments. And those bonds and bills are owned by buyers.
Who are those buyers? Many of them are probably Canadian banks and other financial institutions. But as of February 2025, according to Statistics Canada, it was international portfolio investors who owned $527 billion of Canadian federal government debt securities.
Most of those foreign investors are probably from (relatively) friendly countries like the U.S. and U.K. But that’s certainly not the whole story. Although I couldn’t find direct data breaking down the details, there are some broadly related investment income numbers that might be helpful.
Specifically, all foreign investments into both public and private entities in Canada in 2024 amounted to $219 billion dollars. In that same year, investments from “all other countries” totaled $51 billion. What Statistics Canada means by “all other countries” covers all countries besides the US, UK, EU, Japan, and the 38 OECD nations.
The elephant in the “all other countries” room has to be China.
So let’s break this down. The $527 billion foreign-owned investment debt I mentioned earlier represents around 55 percent of our total debt.¹ And if the “all other countries” ratio in general foreign investments holds true² for federal public debt, then it’s realistic to assume that the federal government currently owes around 11 percent of its debt to government and business entities associated with the Chinese Communist Party.
By all accounts, an 11 percent share in a government’s debt counts as leverage. Given China’s recent history, our ability to act independently in international and even domestic affairs could be compromised. But it could also be destabilizing, exposing us to risk if China’s economy faces turmoil which could disrupt our ability to roll over debt or secure new financing.
Mark Carney’s plan to add another 20 percent to our debt over the next four years will only increase our exposure to these – and many more – risks. Canadian voters have made an interesting choice.
“Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.” – H.L. Mencken
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