Okotoks

The Canola Council of Canada's 2024 grower survey asked growers to identify the diseases, weeds, and insects posing the greatest economic risk to the crop. Flea beetles topped the list once again, maintaining their position from the 2022 and 2020 surveys.

More than 300 people in Alberta have fallen ill from measles since March and a group of doctors are warning the virus could grow exponentially in the coming weeks.

The Alberta government is reporting 16 new measles cases to bring the province's total count to 313.

The rising number has prompted the association representing Alberta doctors to warn of an outbreak that could quickly reach the thousands.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says she's willing to risk a separation referendum in part to avert the emergence of a political rival.

Smith says she doesn't support separating her province from Canada, but says Albertans have genuine grievances with the federal government, and she wants concessions from Liberal Prime Minister Mark Carney.

Speaking Wednesday to CTV News Channel, Smith was asked if it wasn't easier to quell separatism by taking it off the table.

Smith responded, “If there isn’t an outlet, it creates a new party.”

A British Columbia researcher in South Asian affairs said Thursday that concerns about the current India and Pakistan tensions are justified, given that the region has not seen conflicts this intense in more than 25 years. 

M.V. Ramana, professor at University of B.C.'s school of public policy and global affairs, said the last time there was a realistic risk of nuclear weapons being used was the conflict between the two sides in the Kargil region of Kashmir in 1999. 

Alberta's now-former Speaker of the legislature says he's excited to display some partisanship in his last days as an elected official.

Nathan Cooper announced this week that he is to resign his seat in the assembly to become Alberta's representative to the United States in Washington.

The United Conservative Party MLA had been Alberta's legislature Speaker — the non-voting and non-partisan debate referee — since 2019.

A senior medical advisor with the Public Health Agency of Canada says the country could lose its measles elimination status if the highly contagious disease continues to spread into the fall.

Dr. Marina Salvadori warned of the possibility Thursday as cases in Ontario grew by nearly 200 infections, adding that would only occur if prolonged spread continued beyond mid-October 2025.

Two vehicles vandalized in High River appear to have been targeted because they were parked outside homes displaying Pride flags.

Windows and lights on the vehicles were smashed on Wednesday (May 7) evening.

According to the High River RCMP, security footage shows a single suspect damaging the vehicles in the area of 6th Avenue and 5th Street at 11:37 p.m.

Tim Hortons Smile Cookie Week brought in thousands of dollars for Baby It's Cold Outside (BCO).

The fundraiser ran from April 28 to May 4 across Canada, with proceeds from the sale of Smile Cookies going to local charities and non-profits.

Sales in Okotoks benefited BCO, a charity that provides support for people experiencing homelessness or struggling to meet their basic needs.

All in all, 8,238 cookies were sold, and $16,725 was raised for BCO.

The organization thanked the Tim Hortons team and the volunteers who decorated the thousands of cookies.

The Bomber Command Museum of Canada is commemorating the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, with VE Engine-Run Day this weekend.  

The event honours those who served.  

“Canada's contribution to the allied victory in the Second World War, although not well known because we don't boast, was huge,” said Karl Kjarsgaard, Bomber Command Museum of Canada Curator.   

Veterans, diplomats, members of the Armed Forces and political leaders gathered Thursday at events across Canada commemorating the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe.

"Nearly every family knows somebody who suffered from the effect of war," said Fraser McKee, a 100-year-old veteran who helped to lay a wreath at the Toronto ceremony.

"This is to remember people that will have to go to war, as well as remembering those that went and didn’t come back."