Opinion
Will any of 50+candidates address change in the October 16 2017 municipal election.
Change is Constant. Will we accept that?
Is the status quo acceptable for sustainable development, when the city’s population has, in fact, declined by 1% in 1 year?
Should we accept having all 6 high schools south of the river? Should we accept 5 high schools along 30 Ave? Should we accept having no high schools north of the river forcing 30% of the population to commute across the river?
Red Deer region has the poorest air quality in Alberta, is there a plan?
Red Deer has been cited for having often times the second highest crime rate, per capita. Again, is there a plan?
Businesses are leaving the city proper to open up in areas abutting the city like Gasoline Alley, why? Is anyone asking?
Should we accept 10 recreational facilities on the south side where we have; the Downtown Recreation Centre, Michener Aquatic Centre, Downtown Arena, Centrium complex, 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. While only having the Dawe Centre on the north side?
On October 16 2017 we will be voting for a Mayor, 8 city councillors and either 7 public school board trustees or 5 separate school board trustees.
The last election in 2013 we had 5 people running for mayor, 30 people running for council, 14 people running for public school board and 7 people run for the separate school board, 56 people in total.
This year we may have more choices. The incumbents will all have an advantage over the other candidates, and I have yet to hear of any incumbents deciding to not run again.
So the questions previously asked are important. Will the incumbents offer any explanations for the declining populations, the unequal distribution of high schools and recreational facilities? Will they blame the provincial economy?
Penhold is growing and looking to annex enough land to double it’s footprint. Blackfalds increased it’s population by 700 in 1 year. Are they not affected by the same economy? Sylvan Lake, Penhold and Blackfalds which has less population together as Red Deer has north of the river but they are each in line to have a high school, while there is no plans to build a high school north of the river in Red Deer.
The land north of 11a is up for development, and if the city starts to grow again, we could see 55,000 residents north of the river but no high school. Is that acceptable?
Talking about developing north of 11a, there is Hazlett Lake. Largest lake in Red Deer. 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 108.8 acres in size. Located in the north-west sector of Red Deer. It is highly visible from Hwy 2 and Hwy 11A, and could help with tourism and with the needs of Red Deer’s own citizens.
The Collicutt Centre was built in the south-east corner of Red Deer and it facilitated growth in Red Deer. Blackfalds, Penhold and Sylvan Lake all followed suit, built new recreational complexes and enjoyed phenomenal growth soon after. So build a “Collicutt 2” in the north-west by Hazlett Lake to help facilitate growth in the north west. Will the candidates even consider these ideas or will they settle on the status quo?
During the last 9 elections we have heard about developing the land along the river, moving the public works and building a beautiful 23 acre neighbourhood with a 23 million dollar footbridge to Bower Ponds so pedestrians do not have to walk 300 metres to Taylor Bridge. It will come up in the next 4 elections before it is completed.
We will again hear how beautiful our trails are, and the importance of downtown revitalization. We could get the material from candidates in the last 9 elections.
Has Red Deer hit a glass ceiling? 99,800 residents, schools in the east, facilities downtown, industry in the north-west?
For 2 weeks in 2019, we will have 35,000 visitors, and it will only cost 70 million dollars. Is that it? No plans, no answers, no vision, just the status quo and 2 weeks in 2019?
Change is constant, and the world is changing, is Red Deer changing?
I believe Red Deer is changing and needs to address these issues and many more. I believe that it is important to offer something for the future and not campaign on the past. Do not accept platitudes and rhetoric and look for answers to questions that may not have been asked yet.
I need to hear a plan, and I need to see a vision not just hear words and see a smile. Red Deer needs it, now more than ever, because Red Deer is shrinking, like never before. Yesterday’s words are not sufficient in today’s world. Remember that.
Crime
‘We’re Going To Lose’: Steve Bannon Warns Withholding Epstein Files Would Doom GOP

From the Daily Caller News Foundation
By Jason Cohen
Former White House adviser Steve Bannon warned on Friday that Republicans would suffer major losses if President Donald Trump’s administration does not move to release documents related to deceased pedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes and associations.
Axios reported on Sunday that a two-page memo showed the Department Of Justice (DOJ) and FBI found no evidence Epstein kept a “client list” or was murdered, but public doubts have continued. Bannon said on “Bannon’s War Room” that failure to release information would lead to the dissipation of one-tenth of the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement and significant losses for the Republican Party in the 2026 midterms and the 2028 presidential election.
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“It’s not about just a pedophile ring and all that, it’s about who governs us, right? And that’s why it’s not going to go away … For this to go away, you’re going to lose 10% of the MAGA movement,” Bannon said. “If we lose 10% of the MAGA movement right now, we’re going to lose 40 seats in ’26, we’re going to lose the [presidency]. They don’t even have to steal it, which they’re going to try to do in ’28, because they’re going to sit there and they go, ‘They’ve disheartened the hardest-core populist nationalists’ — that’s always been who governs us.”
Bannon also demanded the publication of all the Epstein documents on “Bannon’s War Room” Thursday. He called on the DOJ to go to court and push for the release of the documents or for Trump to appoint a special counsel to manage the publication.
Epstein was arrested in 2019 and charged with sex trafficking. Shortly after, he was found dead in his New York Metropolitan Correctional Center cell shortly after. Officials asserted that he hanged himself in his cell.
However, Epstein’s death has sparked years of theories because of the malfunctioning of prison cameras, along with guards admitting to falsifying documents about checking on the then-inmate. The DOJ inspector general later confirmed that multiple surveillance cameras outside of his cell were inoperable, while others captured the common area outside his door.
Both Bannon and Daily Caller News Foundation co-founder Tucker Carlson have speculated that Epstein had connections to intelligence agencies.
Former Labor Secretary Alex Acosta allegedly indicated that Epstein was tied to intelligence, according to Vicky Ward in The Daily Beast.
espionage
FBI’s Dan Bongino may resign after dispute about Epstein files with Pam Bondi

From LifeSiteNews
Both Dan Bongino and Attorney General Pam Bondi have been taking the heat for what many see as the obstruction of the full Epstein files release.
FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino took the day off on Friday after an argument with Attorney General Pam Bondi over the handling of sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein’s case files.
One source close to Bongino told Axios that “he ain’t coming back.” Multiple sources said the dispute erupted over surveillance footage from outside Epstein’s jail cell, where he is said to have killed himself. Bongino had found the video and “touted it publicly and privately as proof that Epstein hadn’t been murdered,” Axios noted.
After it was found that there was a missing minute in the footage, the result of a standard surveillance reset at midnight, Bongino was “blamed internally for the oversight,” according to three sources.
Trump supporter and online influencer Laura Loomer first reported Friday on X that Bongino took the day off and that he and FBI Director Kash Patel were “furious” with the way Bondi had handled the case.
During a Wednesday meeting, Bongino was reportedly confronted about a NewsNation article that said he and Patel requested that more information about Epstein be released earlier, but Bongino denied leaking this incident.
“Pam said her piece. Dan said his piece. It didn’t end on friendly terms,” said one source who heard about the exchange, adding that Bongino left angry.
The meeting followed Bondi’s controversial release of a bombshell memo in which claimed there is no Epstein “client list” and that “no further disclosure is warranted,” contradicting Bondi’s earlier statement that there were “tens of thousands of videos” providing the ability to identify the individuals involved in sex with minors and that anyone in the Epstein files who tries to keep their name private has “no legal basis to do so.”
The memo “is attempting to sweep the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking scandal under the rug,” according to independent investigative journalist Michael Shellenberger in a superb analysis published on X.
“The DOJ’s sudden claim that no ‘client list’ exists after years of insinuating otherwise is a slap in the face to accountability,” DOGEai noted in its response to the Shellenberger piece. “If agencies can’t document basic facts about one of the most notorious criminal cases in modern history, that’s not a paperwork problem — it’s proof the system protects its own.”
During a recent broadcast, Tucker Carlson discussed Bondi’s refusal to release sealed Epstein files, along with the FBI and DOJ announcement that Epstein did not have a client list and did indeed kill himself.
Carlson offered the theory that U.S. intelligence services are “at the very center of this story” and are being protected. His guest, Saagar Enjeti, agreed. “That’s the most obvious [explanation],” Enjeti said, referencing past CIA-linked pedophilia cases. He noted the agency had avoided prosecutions for fear suspects would reveal “sources and methods” in court.
Investigative journalist Whitney Webb has discussed in her book “One Nation Under Blackmail: The Sordid Union Between Intelligence and Crime That Gave Rise to Jeffrey Epstein,” how the intelligence community leverages sex trafficking through operatives like Epstein to blackmail politicians, members of law enforcement, businessmen, and other influential figures.
Just one example of evidence of this, according to Webb, is former U.S. Secretary of Labor and U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta’s explanation as to why he agreed to a non-prosecution deal in the lead-up to Epstein’s 2008 conviction of procuring a child for prostitution. Acosta told Trump transition team interviewers that he was told that Epstein “belonged to intelligence,” adding that he was told to “leave it alone,” The Daily Beast reported.
While Epstein himself never stood trial, as he allegedly committed suicide while under “suicide watch” in his jail cell in 2019, many have questioned the suicide and whether the well-connected financier was actually murdered as part of a cover-up.
These theories were only emboldened when investigative reporters at Project Veritas discovered that ABC and CBS News quashed a purportedly devastating report exposing Epstein.
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