Lacombe

Apart from the news of the By-Election, Red City Council held their regular meeting on Monday, January 22nd. Here are some of the highlights from that meeting:

Consideration of Notice of Motion:

Two Central Albertans have been honoured as the RDP Athletes of the week.

Cassidy Blair a first year Kinesiology student went a perfect 6-0 this past weekend at the Winter Regional hosted by the NAIT Ooks at the Thistle Curling Club in Edmonton.

At the Fall Regional back in November, Blair was throwing the third stones for the team where they also went 6-0. This past weekend Blair was given the chance to skip the team and it paid off as she and the rest of the team won all six games they competed in at the bonspiel.

Renu Mathew is a teacher at Ècole Olds High School who will be sharing her creativity on CBC’s new television show ‘The Great Canadian Pottery Throw Down’.  

The recent cold snap caused numerous problems across a number of sectors including the grain transportation system.

Starting the second week in January temperatures started the deep dive as a cold arctic air mass covered most of the West and would stay in that position for a few days.

Temperatures dropped from the minus 20s to the mid-40s, resulting in new record low temperatures being recorded in some areas of the prairies.

Potato producers from across the country logged in last week for the 2024 Canadian Potato Summit.

Victoria Stamper, the General Manager for the United Potato Growers of Canada says Stats Can figures show as of 2022 we had 951 potato farms across the country with total sales of over 1.5 billion dollars.

"Our average yield in Canada is 332 hundredweight per harvested acre for this year. Major potato growing provinces in acres 83,500  PEI is still at the top, but the West is closing the gap Manitoba at 81,000 and Alberta at 80,000 acres."

The City of Red Deer has announced that a municipal by-election will be held this April following the passing of Councillor Michael Dawe.  

Red Deer Polytechnic released the following statement about the legacy of local entrepreneur, philanthropist, and community builder, Jack Donald.  

“On behalf of the Red Deer Polytechnic community, we would like to offer our deepest condolences to the family of Jack Donald.  

Jack was a true champion and friend of Red Deer Polytechnic.  

The Grand Slam of Curling has officially wrapped up as of Sunday evening (January 21, 2024). The event took place at the Servus Arena in Red Deer which hosted 32 top teams from around the world twelve of which were Canadian.  

Team Mouat claimed the Co-op Canadian Open men’s title and Team Homan took the women’s title.  

The Scottish Team Mouat defeated Alberta’s Team Bottcher in their playoffs 6-5.  

New visas for international students will be slashed by more than one-third this year as the federal government tries to slow a rapid increase in temporary residents that has put immense pressure on Canada's housing system.

Immigration Minister Marc Miller announced a temporary cap on new student visas at a three-day cabinet retreat in Montreal. Affordability and housing are top items on the agenda, with a growing focus on the role record immigration has been playing in both.

Blackfalds residents who have donated their time in helping the community are being recognized in the 2024 Town of Blackfalds Volunteer Awards.  

Volunteer awards will be accepted until March 1, for a variety of categories, such as: 

• Carol Simpson Volunteer of the Year 

• Gloria House Mentor