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“Live music, face painting, balloon twisting and more.” City hosting free community event Thursday afternoon to promote Downtown Activation Playbook

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Red Deer’s downtown is a place of community, gathering and celebration animated by spaces to connect, entertain and reflect. It is the heart of the city. In celebration of a vibrant downtown, a free community event is taking place on August 17!

With the past, present and future of downtown Red Deer in mind, local stakeholders will be sharing an exciting update on the revitalization of Downtown Red Deer, based on action items outlined in the Downtown Activation Playbook.

The family-friendly gathering will also feature live music, face painting, balloon twisting and more. Additionally, downtown area businesses will be offering limited time deals.

WHEN:             Thursday, August 17, 2023

4 p.m. – Event begins

5 p.m. – Speaking program

7 p.m. – Event ends

WHERE:          Ross Street – Downtown Red Deer

Between Gaetz Avenue and Little Gaetz

About the project

Launched in summer 2021, the Downtown Identity Plan is a downtown identity and strategy plan that outlines a shared vision, goals and opportunities for both the community and The City to implement. The aim is to have an identifiable, well-invested downtown where residents and visitors repeatedly participate in unique, engaging, diverse and positive activities and experiences. Key areas that may be considered by the engagement process and the final plan include heritage, transportation, tourism, the economy, environment, social factors and more.

The Downtown Activation Playbook is a key milestone of the Downtown Identity Plan project, and provides the roadmap for a new downtown identity, informed by community voice, highlighting key conditions for success, streams of action, indicators, and initial moves. On July 18, 2022, City Council adopted the Downtown Activation Playbook as a community planning tool.

Downtown Activation Playbook

As a community planning tool, the Playbook is intended to help The City, stakeholders and the broader community shape their planning for downtown places and spaces. Each action in the Playbook identifies the role The City could play, but also the other organizations and partners that could lead, support or implement the initiative. Budget for specific actions and initiatives will be considered as part of The City’s overall budget planning process.

The Playbook was developed with significant input from the public, through an engagement process and a Downtown Working Collaborative. Through a combination of interviews, workshops, and an online questionnaire, the engagement process captured feedback from over 1,600 Red Deerians of all ages. In the second phase, participants provided feedback on the emerging Playbook direction (vision, conditions for success and streams of action) through a series of one-on-one interviews and presentations.

The next step in the Downtown Identity Plan project is to develop a visual identity for downtown that conveys the vision, builds excitement and identified the area as a unique place.

View the full Downtown Activation Playbook (pdf).

Business

Exposing Global Affairs Canada’s crazy spending spree

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From the Canadian Taxpayers Association

By Franco Terrazzano

$1,700 on Lesbian Pirates! musical $3,900 for a “frank discussion” of “how to do a proper land acknowledgment” Millions on vacant land in Africa and properties in Afghanistan we abandoned to the Taliban $7,500 to promote DEI at music festival in Estonia $12,000 so seniors in other countries could talk about their sex lives $7.2 million for “gender-responsive systems approach to universal healthcare in the Philippines” $13,000 for an Oscars party in LA $8,800 for a show called “whose jizz is this” And so much more…

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Addictions

Calls for Public Inquiry Into BC Health Ministry Opioid Dealing Corruption

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Sam Cooper

The leaked audit shows from 2022 to 2024, a staggering 22,418,000 doses of opioids were prescribed by doctors and pharmacists to approximately 5,000 clients in B.C., including fentanyl patches.

A confidential investigation by British Columbia’s Ministry of Health, Financial Operations and Audit Branch has uncovered explosive allegations of fraud, abuse, and organized crime infiltration within PharmaCare’s prescribed opioid alternatives program. Internal audit findings, obtained by The Bureau, suggest that millions of taxpayer dollars are being diverted into illicit drug trafficking networks rather than serving harm reduction efforts.

The leaked documents include photographs from vehicle searches that show collections of fentanyl patches and Dilaudid (hydromorphone) apparently packaged for resale after being stolen from the taxpayer-funded “safer supply” program. This program expanded dramatically following a federal law change implemented by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government in 2020, which broadened circumstances in which pharmacy staff could dispense opioids, according to the document’s evidence.

“Prior to March 17, 2020, only pharmacists in BC were permitted to deliver [addiction therapy treatment] drugs,” the audit says.

B.C.’s safer supply program was launched in March 2020 as a response to the opioid overdose crisis, declared in 2016. It allows people with opioid-use disorder to receive prescribed drugs to be used on-site or taken away for later use.

The Special Investigations Unit and PharmaCare Audit Intelligence team identified a disturbing link between doctors, pharmacists, assisted living residences, and organized crime, where prescription opioids meant to replace illicit drugs are instead being diverted, sold, and trafficked at scale.

“A significant portion of the opioids being freely prescribed by doctors and pharmacists are not being consumed by their intended recipients,” the document states.

It suggests that financial incentives have created a business model for organized crime, asserting that “prescribed alternatives (safe supply opioids) are trafficked provincially, nationally, and internationally,” and that “proceeds of fraud” are being used to pay incentives to doctors, pharmacists, and intermediaries.

BC Conservative critic Elenore Sturko, a former RCMP officer, began raising concerns about the program two years ago after hearing anecdotes about prescribed opioids being trafficked. She asserts that the program is a failure in public policy and insists that Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry be dismissed for having “denied and downplayed” problems as they emerged. Sturko also argues that B.C. must change its drug policy in light of U.S. President Donald Trump’s stance linking the trafficking of fentanyl and other opioids to potential trade sanctions against Canada.

The document shows that PharmaCare’s dispensing fee loophole has incentivized pharmacies to maximize billings per patient, with some locations charging up to $11,000 per patient per year—compared to just $120 in normal cases.

Perhaps most alarming is the deep infiltration of B.C.’s safer supply program by criminal networks. The Ministry of Health report lists “Gang Members/Organized Crime” as key players in the prescription drug pipeline, which includes “Doctors, pharmacies, and assisted living residences.”

This revelation confirms long-standing fears that B.C.’s “safe supply” policy—originally designed to prevent deaths from contaminated street drugs—is instead sometimes supplying criminal organizations with pharmaceutical-grade opioids.

The leaked audit shows from 2022 to 2024, a staggering 22,418,000 doses of opioids were prescribed by doctors and pharmacists to approximately 5,000 clients in B.C., including fentanyl patches.

Beyond organized crime’s direct involvement, pharmacies themselves have exploited regulatory gaps to generate massive profits from PharmaCare’s policies:

  • Pharmacies offer kickbacks to doctors, housing staff, and medical professionals to steer patients toward specific locations.
  • Financial incentives fuel fraud, with multiple investigations identifying 60+ pharmacies offering incentives to clients.
  • Non-health professionals, including housing staff, are witnessing OAT (opioid agonist treatment) dosing, violating patient safety protocols.

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