News briefs

Budget underway

David Schaefer, Director of Community and Protective Services talks about the 2016 budget with Morinville resident Kareen Tucci and Mayor Lisa Holmes. Administrative staff joined Mayor Holmes and Councillors Nicole Boutestein, Stephen Dafoe, Brennan FitzGerald, and Barry Turner at the open house Thursday night. Councillors Gord Putnam and Rob Ladouceur were absent.

The evening was different from previous years in that Council held their open house before giving the budget first reading. First Reading was set for Nov. 10’s Council meeting and was to include an opportunity for members of the public to speak about the budget or things they would like added or subtracted. Second and Third Reading could come as early as the Nov. 24 Council meeting.

– Lucie Roy Photo

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Ambrose selected as interim leader for Conservatives

A few weeks after receiving 70.2 per cent of the vote in the Sturgeon River-Parkland election race, Conservative MP Rona Ambrose received the nod to serve the Conservative Party of Canada as Interim Leader.

Ambrose was first elected to Parliament in the 2004 federal election and served as Minister of Health in Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government before the fall general election.

The Alberta MP was one of eight seeking the nod Thursday afternoon.

Putting a CAPP on Chamber presentations

Chris Montgomery, Manager, Exploration & Production Communications and Outreach for the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) was the Chamber’s guest speaker for their Nov. 4 luncheon.

Montgomery’s 20-minute presentation spoke of CAPP’s advocacy work with the province and their overiding message that a competitive oil and gas sector will protect jobs and encourage investment at a time when drilling activity has decreased by 50 per cent over 2014 and tens of thousands of jobs have been lost in the province.

The CAPP representative also spoke of the organization’s submission to the government’s climate change panel, one that argues Alberta can become both a stronger world leader in the fight against climate change and a more competitive place to invest in oil and gas if it strikes the right balance with its new climate policy.

They recommend an incremental clean infrastructure royalty credit program that would encourage technologies to reduce the emissions impact of oil and gas development while protecting the industry’s competitiveness.

– Stephen Dafoe Photo

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Book signing
Postal worker Cpl. John Walker of 3 Canadian Division Support Base (CDSB) was the first in line to have photographer, artist and sculptor Silvia Pecota autograph her book Remembering Our Fallen, autographed.

The book is a collection of 50 images and 21 poems that represents Canadian soldiers in battle, heroic figures, representations of values, and of suffering that war inflicts.

Five dollars from every book sold went to the Edmonton Garrison Military Family Resource Centre, where the signing was held.

Only 3,000 copies have been made in this first printing with some to be made available at the Canex for purchase. Pecota’s artwork Fallen Comrades: PPCLI was selected by Alberta Motor Vehicles for a license plate that won best license plate in North America for 2014. Pecota has also designed commemorative coins for the Royal Canadian Mint.

– Lucie Roy Photo

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