Cochrane

We're just eight days away from the biggest weekend of the year in Cochrane.

The Cochrane Lions Club is tipping its hat to the community to kick off the 59th Annual Labour Day Weekend Rodeo with a Friday Aug. 29 celebration blending tradition, music and free family fun.

Cochrane’s downtown will once again be filled with chrome, classics, and car lovers when the Cochrane Classic Car Club hosts its annual Fall Colours Car Show on Sunday, September 7th.

“This show is really a celebration of car nostalgia and car enthusiasts,” said Dwight Wilson, director of promotions for the club. “Last year, we actually had to turn away about 50 cars because we couldn’t fit them into the downtown area.”

The event draws vehicles from across southern Alberta, and beyond, with models ranging from the early 1900s to the 1990s.

Cochrane will host its first-ever Children’s Theatre Festival this Saturday (Aug. 23), an event organizers hope will become an annual tradition.

The festival is being presented by the newly formed Black Box Theatre Guild in conjunction with Take A Bow Community Theatre and Sleeping Giants Theatre and promises a day of interactive, family-friendly entertainment.

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe is meeting in Saskatoon today with Federal Agriculture Minister Heath MacDonald and Cody Blois, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister, along with representatives from the canola sector. The focus: responding to China’s steep tariffs on Canadian canola products.

Last week, China announced a 75.8% tariff on Canadian canola seed, adding to the 100% tariffs placed in March on canola meal and oil. 

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe is set to meet today with federal Agriculture Minister Heath MacDonald, along with industry groups, to discuss the steep Chinese tariff on Canadian canola seed. 

Kody Blois, the parliamentary secretary for Prime Minister Mark Carney, and Saskatchewan Agriculture Minister Daryl Harrison are also to attend the meeting in Saskatoon.

A press conference is scheduled following the discussion. 

There's no shortage of opportunities to curl in Cochrane in the upcoming season.

The Cochrane Curling Club is inviting residents of all ages and skill levels to learn more about the full slate of 15 leagues and programs running weekdays and evenings during an information and registration event on Aug. 25 from 6 to 8 p.m. in the SLS Centre's On the Rocks Lounge.

Secretary and league coordinator Barb Gibson says it's the ideal opportunity for new residents or people new to the sport to ask questions, explore leagues, and find a spot on the ice.

Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand is set to have her first official meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington today amid ongoing tensions in the bilateral relationship.

Anand and Rubio have previously spoken by phone, including in June ahead of the G7 Leaders' Summit in Kananaskis.

Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc cycled through Washington in July looking for a tariff offramp but instead U.S. President Donald Trump boosted duties on Canada to 35 per cent.

Airdrie RCMP have released the name of the suspect and the seven charges he faces in connection with the abduction of a 12-year-old boy in Airdrie on Aug. 18.

Zain Merchant, 37, of Calgary, has been charged with abduction of a person under 14, sexual interference, invitation to sexual touching, kidnapping, forcible confinement, flight from a peace officer, and three counts of breaching a prohibition order.

Following a judicial interim release hearing, Merchant was remanded into custody and is scheduled to appear in Alberta Court of Justice in Airdrie today (Aug. 21).

A tragic conclusion has been reached in the search for a 32-year-old man who went missing on Barrier Lake in Kananaskis.

Last night, Cochrane RCMP confirmed the RCMP Underwater Recovery Team located the Calgary man after a multi-day search. His name has not been released.

The incident happened on Aug. 16 around 6:30 p.m., when a canoe carrying three Calgary residents capsized. A 56-year-old woman was rescued and taken to hospital with hypothermia. A 60-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene.

Agriculture Canada modelling expects above average yields for most crops

 Agriculture Canada is predicting solid yields for most crops on the Prairies, based on computer modelling that was done at the end of July.

“At the national level, the CCYF (Canadian Crop Yield Forecaster) model predicts above-average yields per unit area for 11 of the 12 spring-planted crops compared to the average yields of 2020-24,” says an executive summary of the Agriculture Canada predictions, published on a website called Canadian Crop Metrics.