FortSask

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.

Eight teams from Fort Saskatchewan played at the FC Memorial Cup, with five of them bringing home medals.

On the last weekend of January, the U11 (Davis) girls, U9 (Shand) boys, U15 (Hall) girls, U13 (Grosseth) boys, U11 (Shadn) boys, U9 (Hansen) boys, U13 (DeVolder) girls, and the U13 (Wescott) girls all played in the tournament. 

Fort Saskatchewan firefighters were up against a fire at a Southfort home over the weekend.

According to assistant fire chief Jay Parsons, the fire started at 45 Davis Street just after 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, and seemed to have originated in the house's garage.

"Crews responded very quickly to the scene," Parsons said. "It was 1:05 when crews arrived."

The house had no occupants, which led to the local fire department performing a quick suppression on the fire.

The Mindbender, the tallest indoor roller coaster on Earth, is closing down.

The area is already being redeveloped and the roller coaster is currently being removed.

The Mindbender was a part of Galaxyland since its grand opening back in 1985. The triple-loop rollercoaster was infamous for a fatal crash in June 1986 that killed three people.

After the crash, The Mindbender was reopened in early 1987 and continued to operate without incident until its closing in January.

The total cost of construction was around $6 million.

Fort Saskatchewan RCMP has charged a man with vehicle theft. 

Last Monday (Jan. 23), local RCMP received a disturbance complaint at a Lamont County residence. 

Upon arrival, police say that 30-year-old Mackenzie Thornton, a resident of Chipman, had fled the scene in a stolen vehicle. 

A coordinated response was used and RCMP eventually arrested Thornton and charged him with the following: