Lacombe

The Alberta RCMP is issuing a warning to Central Albertans reminding them to practice ice safety this winter. With the changing weather conditions and above average temperatures, it is hard to tell the strength or thickness of ice by its appearance.

RCMP have responded to multiple occurrences over this past weekend and want to remind the all Albertans the dangers of unpredictable thin ice and open water. If you choose to go out on the ice, keep in mind the following safety tips:

On New Year's Day, January 1st, The Town of Sylvan Lake will ring in the new year with the annual fireworks show.

Unlike many other communities who have celebrations on the night before, Sylvan Lake has the ceremony on the actual day.

You can watch the fireworks display from anywhere along Lakeshore Drive but the Town is asking that you not watch from the ice surface. (see related story below)

This event will start at 7:00 pm.

The Lacombe Palliative Care Society will be hosting a two-day education session later this month for Lacombe Residents. 

Jamie Mierau, The President of the Society talks about the sessions. "It is being put on by the Alberta Hospice Palliative Care Association. It is  palliative care training for members of the community to be able to give them confidence to provide quality support services in any settings such as hospice care centers or private homes."

1 – Scores of forest fires burned in Ontario and Quebec, and the smoke continued to drift hundreds of kilometres into the southern reaches of the provinces and into the central and northeastern U.S. Environment Canada issued smog warnings for northern and western Quebec, and parts of eastern and southern Ontario. 

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is ruling out the possibility of forming a coalition government with the Liberals if no party wins a clear majority after the next federal election.

"That's off the table," Singh said in a year-end interview with The Canadian Press, even though the two parties have been working closely together. 

"That's not something that we're focused on. We're focused on getting enough done in this Parliament and then running to win."

Record wildfires producing record plumes of smoke. David Phillips, Senior Climatologist with Environment Canada, says those were the two biggest weather stories in our country in 2023.

In fact, Phillips says in 28 years of producing his annual list of Top 10 weather stories, he has never had a more obvious #1 and #2 story. 

Number one on that list is The Year for Record Wildfires. Phillips says fires in Canada this year burned five per cent of precious boreal forest. He adds many provinces set new records for the size of these infernos.

Ten people were rescued Thursday after a small plane crashed in a remote area of the Northwest Territories and they were stranded overnight.

David Lavallee, a spokesman with 1 Canadian Air Division and Canadian Norad Region Headquarters, said everyone was picked up from the crash site and taken to the nearby Diavik diamond mine. Some were injured.

The Joint Rescue Coordination Centre Trenton started the search-and-rescue operation Wednesday, after the Air Tindi Otter aircraft crashed about 16 kilometres southeast of the mine.

A look at news events in June 2023.

01 -  Civil servants in Quebec are now required to speak and write exclusively in French while on the job except in certain cases, such as access to health care and social services in English, or situations where health, public safety or principles of natural justice require the use of languages other than French.

 On Dec. 27, 2023, at 5:08 pm., Didsbury RCMP received a report of a single vehicle rollover collision on Township Road 292 and Range Road 14 in Mountain View County.

Upon arrival, emergency responders located two deceased people who have been identified as a 16-year-old male and a 14-year-old female, both residents of Didsbury. 

The investigation into this incident continues.

Condolences keep pouring in for former long-time Councillor Frank Wong who passed away this week at age 75. Red Deer City Mayor, Ken Johnston released this statement about Councillor Wong.

"On behalf of my council colleagues, it is with much grief that I share more sad news; former City Councillor, Woon Woon Wong also known as Frank Wong, passed away on the morning of December 27, 2023.