Calgary
Red Deer and Lake Louise, with Calgary Police Service charge five with trafficking in multi-agency arrests
Red Deer, Alberta – Red Deer RCMP, Lake Louise RCMP and Calgary Police Service have charged five people with 30 charges after a multi-agency drug trafficking investigation resulted in the seizure of large amounts of cocaine and methamphetamine in three different jurisdictions.
The Red Deer RCMP trafficking investigation began in December 2017 when police followed up on an anonymous tip regarding cocaine trafficking in Red Deer; RCMP were supported throughout the investigation by Correctional Service of Canada with regard to a trafficking suspect who was currently on parole. The investigation soon expanded further into a multi-agency operation involving Lake Louise RCMP and Calgary Police Service.
On April 28, Lake Louise RCMP conducted a traffic stop on a suspicious truck and determined that the driver was breaching his parole by being in Lake Louise without permission from his parole officer. RCMP arrested the male driver, and the two female passengers were released pending further investigation. The arrest for parole violation led to a drug investigation, and an auto theft officer out of the RCMP Serious Crimes south unit further determined that the impounded truck had a fake VIN and had been reported stolen out of Fort McLeod.
Lake Louise police officers seized significant amounts of cocaine, methamphetamine and Ecstasy, smaller amounts of other drugs and items consistent with drug trafficking, and connected into the longer-term trafficking investigation by Red Deer RCMP. The detachments collaborated to share information in support of further charges against the suspect and the future arrests of other identified drug trafficking targets.
Red Deer RCMP also connected with Calgary Police Service regarding suspected drug movement between Red Deer and Calgary. On July 17, members of the Red Deer RCMP drug unit conducted a search warrant on a residence in the Highland Green neighbourhood in Red Deer and seized significant amounts of cocaine, methamphetamine and cash seized as the proceeds of crime.
In the final segment of this in-depth investigation, the Calgary Police Service also laid charges on July 27 against one of the female passengers in the stolen truck during the Lake Louise arrest; she is believed to be connected to the drug trade in both Calgary and Red Deer along with her male companion. She is now wanted on warrants and Calgary Police Service investigators are working to locate her.
“This investigation followed a network of drug trafficking activity between Calgary, Red Deer and the corridor to Lake Louise, with the same players believed to be travelling back and forth between these locations replenishing their drug supplies and trafficking those drugs throughout central Alberta,” says Sergeant Robert Schultz of the Red Deer RCMP GIS unit. “This multi-agency collaboration shows the effectiveness of shared intelligence between police agencies. We’re all working toward the same goals of crime reduction, and we see many of the same repeat offenders crossing jurisdictions, so it’s imperative that we work smarter than the criminals.”
Arrested and charged by Lake Louise RCMP:
43 year old William Laurin Bowden is charged with three counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking a controlled substance, one count of possession of stolen property over $5,000 and one Traffic Safety Act charge. At the time of his arrest, Bowden’s parole was revoked and he was remanded to appear in court in Canmore on September 19. Formerly of Winnipeg, Bowden lived in Red Deer for several months and currently resides in Calgary.
Arrested and charged by Red Deer RCMP:
29 year old Rico Small of Red Deer is charged with three counts of trafficking, two counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking and one count of possession of the proceeds of crime. 25 year old Kareem Lumea Cummings of Red Deer is charged with two counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking, one count of possession of the proceeds of crime, two counts of failure to comply with court-imposed conditions and one count of failure to comply with probation. 31 year old Jeremy Blackman of Red Deer is charged with two counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking. All three appeared in court in Red Deer on August 23 and are schedule to appear again on September 20 at 9:30 am for election and plea.
Wanted by Calgary Police Service (CPS):
32 year old Brandy Ross of Calgary is charged with eight counts of trafficking a controlled substance and six counts of possession of proceeds of crime under $5,000. ROSS is wanted on warrants in connection with these 14 charges and CPS investigators are still working to locate her. Ross is described as 5’3” tall, thin build, long, bright red hair and green eyes. A photo of her is attached.
Anyone with information on Brandy Ross’ whereabouts is asked to call the Calgary Police Service non-emergency line at 403-266-1234. Tips can also be left anonymously by contacting Crime Stoppers by phone at 1-800-222-8477 or online at www.calgarycrimestoppers.org (Case #18037310/5168)
“Drug trafficking has severe impacts on all our communities in terms of increased violence and property crime as well as the many social harms,” says Sergeant Schultz. “We’re pleased to have put another significant dent in drug trafficking operations across central Alberta thanks to this excellent collaboration with our law enforcement partners.
From the Frontier Centre for Public Policy
Calgary Transit is mired in the past, building an obsolete transit system designed for an archaic view of a city. Before the pandemic, transit carried 45 percent of downtown Calgary employees to work, but less than 10 percent of workers in the rest of the Calgary urban area, showing that Calgary Transit doesn’t really serve all of Calgary; it mainly serves downtown.
That would have worked in 1909, when Calgary’s first electric streetcars began operating and most jobs were downtown. By 2016, less than 15 percent of Calgary jobs were downtown, and the pandemic has reduced that number further.
Rather than design a transit system that serves the entire urban area, Calgary Transit light-rail system reinforced its downtown focus. Transit ridership has grown since the city’s first light-rail line opened in 1981, but it was growing faster before the light rail began operating than it has since then. Now Calgary Transit is planning even more downtown-oriented light-rail lines.
Light rail is an expensive form of low-capacity transit. The word “light” in light rail refers not to weight but to capacity: the American Public Transportation Association’s transit glossary defines light rail as “an electric railway with a ‘light volume’ traffic capacity.” While a light-rail train can hold a lot of people, for safety reasons a single light-rail line can move no more than about 20 trains per hour in each direction.
By comparison, Portland, Oregon runs 160 buses per hour down certain city streets. An Istanbul busway moves more than 250 buses per hour. Bogota Columbia busways move 350 buses per hour. All these transitways cost far less per mile than light rail yet can move more people per hour.
Once they leave a busway, buses can go on any city street, reaching far more destinations than rail. If a bus breaks down or a street is closed for some reason, other buses can find detours while a single light-rail breakdown can jam up an entire rail line. If transportation patterns change because of a pandemic, the opening of a new economic center, or the decline of an existing center, bus routes can change overnight while rail routes take years and cost hundreds of millions of dollars to change.
To truly serve the entire region, Calgary Transit must recognize that buses are faster, more flexible, and can move more people per hour to more destinations at a lower cost than any rail system. It should also recognize that modern urban areas have many economic centers and use buses to serve all those centers.
Besides downtown, Calgary’s major economic centers—the airport, the University of Calgary, Chinook Center, the Seton health center, and others—are mostly located near freeway on- and off-ramps. Calgary Transit should identify ten or so such centers geographically distributed around the region. It should locate transit centers—which need be no more than curbside parking reserved for buses with some modest bus shelters—near the freeway exchanges closest to each center.
It should then operate frequent (up to five times per hour) non-stop buses from every center to every other center. A few secondary transit centers might have non-stop buses operate to just two or three other centers. Local bus routes should radiate away from each center to serve every neighborhood of the Calgary urban area.
Since non-stop buses will operate at freeway speeds, the average speed of this bus system will be more than double the average speed of Calgary’s current bus-and-rail system. Transit riders will be able to get from any corner of the urban area to any other part of the urban area at speeds competitive with driving.
Such a polycentric system will serve a much higher percentage of the region’s workers and other travelers than the current monocentric system yet cost no more to operate. It will cost far less to build than a single rail line since most of the necessary infrastructure already exists. While some may worry that buses will get caught in congestion, the solution is to fix congestion for everyone, not spend billions on a slow rail system that only serves a few people in the region.
It is time for Calgary Transit to enter the 21st century. A polycentric bus system may be the best way to do it.
Randal O’Toole is a transportation policy analyst and author of Building 21st Century Transit Systems for Canadian Cities.
Christmas comes early for Calgary drivers
The Calgary Ring Road is now ready to be opened to public traffic, several months ahead of schedule.
Calgary’s ring road is one of the largest infrastructure undertakings in Calgary’s history and includes 197 new bridges and 48 interchanges. The 101-kilometre free-flowing Calgary Ring Road will open to traffic Dec. 19, completing a project decades in the making.
“Calgary’s ring road is a project that has been decades in the making and its completion is a real cause for celebration. This has been an important project and our government got it done. With this final section completed, travelling just got a little easier for families and for workers. This will not only benefit Calgarians and residents in the metro region, it will provide a boost to our economy, as goods can be transported more easily across our province.”
Although construction of the entire ring road project began in 1999 under former premier Ralph Klein, discussions on a ring road around the City of Calgary began as early as the 1950s. In the late 1970s, under former premier Peter Lougheed, high-level planning and land acquisition started and a transportation utility corridor was established to make the Calgary Ring Road a reality.
“The final section of the Calgary Ring Road is now complete, and I’d like to acknowledge the work done by former premiers and transportation ministers and their vision to build Alberta. I’m proud to announce that the final section was completed on budget and months ahead of schedule.”
“I’m thrilled to see the Calgary Ring Road project completed. It was something I have helped shepherd through the process since 2014. Finally, all the hard work put in by everyone has become a reality. The Calgary Ring Road will provide travellers with over 100 kilometres of free-flow travel, create new travel options for the City of Calgary and surrounding area and provide improved market access across the region.”
Opening the ring road means new travel options for Calgarians, which will draw traffic away from heavily travelled and congested roads such as the Deerfoot Trail, 16th Avenue, Glenmore Trail and Sarcee Trail. For commercial carriers, the ring road provides an efficient bypass route, saving time and money for the delivery and shipment of goods and services.
“The ring road investment generated thousands of local jobs and will now play an integral role in keeping Calgarians and the economy moving. This important transportation link will ease congestion on city routes and greatly improve connectivity and access for businesses transporting goods.”
The ring road is a critical component to growing economic corridors in Alberta and Western Canada, as it connects the Trans-Canada Highway to the east and west, and the Queen Elizabeth II Highway and Highway 2 to the north and south. It is also part of the CANAMEX corridor, which connects Alberta to the highway network in the United States and Mexico.
The completion of the ring road is a major boost for Calgary, opening new business opportunities and supporting key components of the Calgary economy. It sends a signal to businesses and investors that Calgary has a strong highway infrastructure, providing economic corridor connections through the entire region.
“With one of the smoothest commutes in Canada and the capacity to reach 16 million customers by road within a single day, Calgary offers unmatched quality of life and economic opportunities. The triumphant completion of the Calgary Ring Road further improves our capacity to attract even more companies, capital and talent to our city.”
“This is an exciting step forward for the Calgary Metropolitan Region. This key artery will not only improve the quality of life for the residents of the region, it is also a key economic enabler and we are thrilled to see its completion.”
Quick facts
- Stretched into a single lane, the highway is 1,304 kilometres long, the distance from Calgary to Winnipeg.
- Other sections opened in 2009, 2013, 2020 and 2023.
- The West Calgary Ring Road is the final piece of the ring road project.
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