FortSask

Strathcona County's council approved $1.17-million in funding to support local non-profit organizations.

This funding, called the 2023 Social Framework Community Grants program, has $77,000 more in funding than it did the year before.

“Our community’s needs are ever-changing and increasingly complex. The Social Framework Community Grant is critical funding that supports the well-being of all residents, especially those who may find themselves in challenging circumstances,” says Mayor Rod Frank.

Have you ever wondered how much money the average Fort Saskatchewanite makes in a year? 

According to statistics from the 2021 Canadian census, the biggest pay group in Fort Saskatchewan are people who make between $100,000 and $149,999 per year.

According to the census, 2,395 people in Fort Saskatchewan make that much money. This is up from the 2,290 shown in 2016's census.

The second highest pay group is those who make between $20,000 and $29,999 per year, which is 2,365 residents.

The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) has announced a 255-hectare conservation project just outside Waterton Lakes National Park.

The area is home to a variety of at-risk species like the American badger, bobolink and horned grebe.

The land is located in the Municipal District of Pincher Creek and Cardston County and serves as an important corridor for a variety of wildlife including the grizzly bear.

The United States is filing another formal dispute over what it considers Canada's failure to live up to its trade obligations to American dairy farmers and producers.

It's the second time the U.S. has launched such a dairy-driven escalation, formally known as a dispute settlement panel, in less than two years.

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai says the new panel has become necessary because Canada has so far refused to take the steps necessary to properly address the first one.

Work continues to turn the old XL beef plant at Moose Jaw (Saskatchewan) into a new pork processing facility.

The new owners Donald's Fine Foods bought the beef plant in May of 2020, and have been working on retrofitting the facility for its new role as a sow slaughter plant.

Donald's already owns and operates the Thunder Creek pork facility in Moose Jaw.

Neil Ketilson, the industrial relations manager for Donald's Fine Foods, says work is progressing at the site.

It's back to work in Ottawa this week for M.P.'s.

John Barlow, the Conservative's shadow minister for agriculture and agri-ood says its good to be back, adding there's a lot of issues for the ag sector that need to be addressed. 

He says first and foremost is the impact of the carbon tax for producers citing a report that came out late last year looking at the Canadian Food Index.

Despite some snowfall this week, it doesn't appear the region will be too affected by it. 

Environment Canada says that while the forecast is calling for snowfall almost every day this week, it won't accumulate enough to cause any significant problems. 

"We haven't seen any real significant snowfalls in central Alberta so far this week," said Kyle Fougere with Environment Canada. "It's mostly just been continuous light snow and that's pretty much the story for the next couple of days." 

"No real significant accumulations are expected." 

The city of Fort Saskatchewan released a few updates regarding construction work going on in the community. 

Here is what to expect from construction crews around the city in the next few months: 

Highway 15 bridge: 

Things remain the same for construction on the Highway 15 bridge. Crews will begin paving the trails underneath the bridge sometime in the spring. People who walk around the area should expect some trail closures. 

Emergency services responded to a collision near Ardrossan. 

The crash happened on Highway 630 near Range Road 221 just south of Ardrossan. Alberta 511 reported that the collision occurred just after 8 a.m. this morning. 

A couple of hours later, 511 reported that the road has been cleared. 

There has been no word on the nature of the collision or if any injuries were sustained. 

More to come..

Parks Canada says visitors will be able to start booking reservations for camping and other activities at its sites across the country in March.

The reservation dates, which are posted online, are different at each national park, historic site and marine conservation area.

Parks Canada says in a statement that the bookings are a couple months later than recent years because the reservation system was getting outdated and needed some upgrades.

The agency says the system will look different from the previous one, but it will offer the same features and functions.