Okotoks

Diamond Valley’s annual street sweeping blitz kicks off this week.   

Street sweepers will be working from May 5 to 9, between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m., depending on the weather.   

During that time, residents are asked to remove all vehicles and obstacles from the street and move waste collection bins onto grassy boulevards or lawns near the curb, not on sidewalks or roadways.  

Alberta’s New Democratic Party has voted overwhelmingly to cut traditional membership ties with its federal counterpart.

Delegates in Edmonton voted Saturday to allow provincial members to opt out of joining the federal NDP, a move Leader Naheed Nenshi campaigned on last year.

In adopting the measure, the party is shedding what many considered a political albatross.

Nenshi told reporters the party's longtime practice of automatically signing up members to the federal party was a sticking point that scared some potential voters and members away.

Prime Minister Mark Carney will be watched closely by Canadians infuriated by Donald Trump — and by an anxious business community looking for tariff relief — when he meets with the U.S. president Tuesday in Washington.

After months of Trump's annexation threats, the newly elected prime minister will be tasked with a delicate balancing act — showing strength while maintaining Canada's place in a critical North American trade pact the president's tariffs have sought to upend.

It continues to be a busy wildfire season for Foothills-area fire departments.

Diamond Valley Fire Rescue responded to a large grass fire on Saturday, May 3.

According to a Facebook post from the fire department, it broke out on 144 St. West, though crews didn't initially know the location.

Personnel were sent to a few areas in the region before locating the fire.

Spring cleaning efforts are still underway in the Town of Okotoks.  

While crews work, parking bans will be issued between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.  

The parking bans include: 

Monday, May 5:   

• Sandstone Drive from Sandstone Gate to Mountain View Drive  

King Charles will visit Ottawa to deliver the speech from the throne at the end of this month in a show of support for Canadian sovereignty, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Friday.

The news came in his first press conference since leading the Liberals to a fourth straight mandate in Monday's election, where he laid out the priorities for his first few months, promising to "embark on the biggest transformation of our economy since the end of the Second World War." 

More than three quarters of Canadians believe misinformation had an impact on the outcome of the federal election, a new poll suggests.

The Leger poll, which sampled more than 1,500 Canadian adults from April 29 to May 1, suggests that 19 per cent of people think false information or misinformation had a major impact on the election.

Almost a third (32 per cent) said it had a moderate impact, while 26 per cent said it had a minor impact on the election's outcome.

Only nine per cent of Canadians said misinformation had no impact on the election at all.

Okotoks firefighters tackled another grass fire on Friday (May 2) evening.

It was on a hillside near Crystal Ridge Drive, east of Kinsmen Park.

Crews responded at around 4:30 p.m. and made quick work of the fire, leaving the scene about half an hour later.

The fire broke out right across from the site of another fire Okotoks Fire & Rescue responded to on April 9.

Diamond Valley Fire Rescue is raising awareness about the importance of being prepared for anything through a series of workshops for Emergency Preparedness Week.  

“It's a week that we try to really hone in on public engagement and education pieces to give everybody the tools they need to be successful in the case of wildfire, flood, or a pandemic,” said Logan Sabourin, Diamond Valley Deputy Fire Chief and Director of Emergency Management.  

Heartland is returning for its 19th season.

The show's renewal was announced on May 1 on the show's official social media accounts.