1-877-783-4494 6305 - 44 Avenue, Ponoka MONDAY TO SATURDAY LOW KMS! LOW KMS! 2013 SILVERADO CREW CAB 1500 STK# 47167 ONLY 40,285KM $29,995 PLUS GST 2012 CRUZE LTZ SEDAN STK# 15502A ONLY 19,852KM $16,277 PLUS GST Vol. 67, No. 14 | WEDNESDAY, APR. 1, 2015 | 403-783-3311 | [email protected]WWW.PONOKANEWS.COM CONNECTING THE COMMUNITY Cultural Treat Students at Ponoka Elementary School received a cultural treat during the official move to their new school Thursday, March 26. Here Lenon Buffalo dances for students at the now old school. Please see our story on Page 9 Photo by Jeffrey Heyden-Kaye The first Imperial Bank of Canada Ponoka Branch was built in 1959 Story on page 5 Ponoka skaters return with medals from competition Story on page 25
Transcript
1-877-783-44946305 - 44 Avenue, PonokaMONDAY TO SATURDAY
Students at Ponoka Elementary School received a cultural treat during the offi cial move to their new school Thursday, March 26. Here Lenon Buff alo dances for students at the now old school. Please see our story on Page 9
Photo by Jeff rey Heyden-Kaye
The first Imperial Bankof Canada Ponoka Branch
was built in 1959Story on page 5
Ponoka skatersreturn with medalsfrom competition
Story on page 25
2 PONOKA NEWS Wednesday, April 1, 2015
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A recent request to re-view the Town of Ponoka’s policy for camping on the ball diamonds shows it is not allowed.
Information in the traf-fic bylaw presented to town council during the Tuesday, March 24 regular meeting states operation or parking of vehicles is not allowed on playgrounds or parks.
The CAO can, however, designate areas with proper signage. Coun. Carla Predi-ger said she did not feel the traffic bylaw properly cov-ers what council requested but Dave McPhee, director of operations and property services for the Town of Ponoka, said that any time vehicles are considered,
Council wants a review of parking on
playgrounds
Public hearing set for Gemini rezone application
BY JEFFREY HEYDEN-KAYE
Town councillors ap-proved a public hearing date to rezone commercial property in the Southwest Industrial Park.
The request came during council’s regular meeting Tuesday, March 24, when councillors heard that a Ponoka company seeks to rezone its two adjacent properties to heavy industri-al, one from light industrial and the other from commer-cial/industrial designation.
Although the name of the company was not provided, a map was, which shows the location as belonging to Gemini Corporation. Betty Quin-lan, director of corporate services, said the biggest difference in the proposed zoning is the potential for heavier traffic.
She added that area of the industrial park has po-
they fall under the traffic act, necessitating it comes under the traffic bylaw.
Having vehicles or campers parking in the parks for an event also rais-es liability issues, explained Betty Quinlan, director of corporate services. She said it is important to support economic development, but there are other places peo-ple could camp.
“I personally look at it, we have a beautiful camp-ground in town,” she said.
Mayor Rick Bonnett said the town’s traffic by-law is being reviewed by council and changes could be made to accommodate different needs.
Coun. Teri Underhill questioned how this bylaw affected parking during the
Ponoka Stampede week but Coun. Loanna Gulka sug-gested the CAO may have allowed parking in restrict-ed areas during those times.
Council directed ad-ministration to compare neighbouring municipali-ties’ bylaws.
Town adopts National Health and Fitness Day
Mark the first Saturday in June as National Health and Fitness Day in Ponoka.
Town council made the decision after Wetaskiwin MP Blaine Calkins sent a letter seeking the town’s support of the day.
Wes Amendt, director of community services, told councillors that the Ponoka Youth Centre uses that day for its Capital One Race for Kids campaign.
tential to become a heavy industrial area. “It’s basi-cally designed to give them greater flexibility.”
Coun. Carla Prediger asked if the company had any plans to change its op-erations but Mayor Rick Bonnett said he feels if op-erations changed, it would be to work 24 hours. He
noted the only other area of town where there is zoning for heavy industrial use is in the Northeast Industrial Park, near the Battle River and walking trail.
Council approved first reading to amend the land-use bylaw and set a public hearing for April 28 at 7 p.m. in council chambers.
Extra! Extra!Read all about
it in the
Wednesday, April 1, 2015 PONOKA NEWS 3
TIPS FROM THE GOLF GUYSRob MacPherson & Ryan Moore
Get our new Golf Club app at the App Store and Google Play
REMINDER: Deadline for early pay memberships is April 1
Last week we talked about setup which is the foundation of the swing. Once you are in a good balanced setup it is time to pull the trigger and start the swing.
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
• APRIL 16TH 7pm Men’s Night registration
• APRIL 21ST 7pm Ladies Meeting
• MAY 3RD Spring General Meeting/ Golf social
• MAY 9TH Junior Swing lessons call Proshop to register
The club is powered from rotation of your body and transfer of weight. Shoulders rotate taking club back parallel to the ground, when the arms and club are parallel to the ground the wrists cock creating and L and then continue back swing until the left shoulder is under your chin. Practice these positions in slow motion until you can make the backswing in one slow fl uid motion.* note weight transferred to back foot, all the power in the swing is built up by rotation of body and weight transferred to back foot. Next week downswing and fi nish of swing.
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BY JEFFREY HEYDEN-KAYE
With the help of two concerned motorists, po-lice were able to catch an impaired driver at twice the legal alcohol limit.
The Ponoka Integrated Traffic Unit was called to Highway 2 about a grey Pontiac Montana being driven in an erratic man-ner Friday, March 27 at 8:30 a.m. Witnesses state the driver, a 25-year-old woman from Red Deer, had trouble maintaining the lanes and her vehicle went in and out of the ditch sev-eral times.
To prevent any issues, the driver of a semi truck and a passenger vehicle worked together to block the car and officers found them pulled over on the side of the highway.
The woman showed signs of impairment and
Motorists block impaired driver from driving on Highway 2
she was subsequently ar-rested and taken to the detachment where she pro-vided two blood-alcohol samples of .17 and .18. She was charged with impaired driving and dangerous op-eration of a motor vehicle. Suspended driver loses car for 60 days
A minor two-vehicle collision on Monday, March 23 resulted in the ar-rest of a 28-year-old woman from Red Deer.
The collision occurred near the Morningside exit on Highway 2 between a Ford Escape and a GMC Sierra. Investigations found that the woman is a suspended driver and she
had warrants out for her ar-rest.
She was arrested and released with a promise to appear in court. Her vehi-cle was seized for 60 days. There were minor injuries in the collision. Missing person
Police are asking for help in locating Amanda Ruby, who went missing from the Centennial Cen-tre for Mental Health and Brain Injury Wednesday, March 25.
The 34-year-old woman is described as Caucasian with blue eyes and multiple piercings on her face. Po-lice say they believe she is in Red Deer.
Break-and-enter results in stolen puppies
Ponoka RCMP are seek-ing public’s assistance in solving a theft and break and enter. Four Rottweiler puppies were stolen from a residence on first Chain Lake Road. In addition, a 22 Rifle was taken. The theft and break and enter occurred sometime on March 30 be-tween 12 noon and 4 p.m.
Ponoka RCMP and the Integrated Traffic Unit took 85 calls for service last week.
If you have information on any crime call Ponoka RCMP at 403-783-4472 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
www.ponokanews.comwww.ponokanews.com
4 PONOKA NEWS Wednesday, April 1, 2015
Your Guide To Local Houses
of Worship
CHURCH DIRECTORY
PONOKA WORD OF LIFE CHURCHPastor Rob McArthur 403-783-5659
9 miles east on Hwy 53 403-782-9877Jr. Church during service for children
Sunday Service 10:30 am
PONOKA RISINGSUN CLUBHOUSE
Community BlueBox Program
For $12.00 per month
We will pick up your paper, clean tins, glass, No. 1-5 plastic and cardboard.
We also pick up cardboard from local businesses.
For more information on these programs please call
403-783-5810 Weekdays
Religion
BY AMELIA NAISMITH
After pleading guilty to possession of a prohib-
Dear Editor,In the public imagination, Easter often revolves around
bunnies, new chicks and Easter egg hunts - not necessar-ily in that order and not necessarily a bad thing. There are layers of history to this tradition though, that go unnoticed even as we shop for Easter treats. Wherever you start, the history of that tradition is fascinating in itself, involving ex-pectations, surprises and earth shattering claims, and a deep exploration of what is real or as Pontius Pilate, the Roman Procurator in Judea from AD 26–36 asked “What is truth?”
In our political environment, with 24-hour news cycles and endless information of all kinds available on the inter-net, it would seem that the answer to what is real and what is truthful are fundamental questions.
We know for ourselves that a lot of spin happens in virtu-ally any environment and the question remains throughout the spectrum of experience: Who do we trust?
Easter seems to me to be an exploration of that phe-nomenon, at different levels: What do we trust about our own and the experience of others? And how important and essential is that in our lives?
Spin doctoring has become a refined art that is some-times difficult to recognize. What, therefore, do we recognize as legitimate claims, whoever makes them, and how do we discern where truth lies?
All of this, no doubt, is a personal and a lifetime project both secular and spiritual.
George Jason
Jerel PetersArea Director
Central AlbertaYouth Unlimited
Where has all the good news gone?
It seems to me that this past few months have been more difficult than usual, and no, it’s not because of the winter weather.
Possibly you have en-countered some of the trials and tragedies that I am re-flecting on this week, if so, I am sure you can relate that it has been an emotionally challenging time.
Globally there are threats of terror, acts of violence and numerous ca-tastrophes, but as difficult as they are, they haven’t hit nearly as close to home as the many losses locally of loved ones … valued com-munity members, needed fathers and mothers, cher-ished grandparents, loved sons and daughters.
I’m not sure how you handle and process the vast tragedy, but I found my-self longing for some good news, something to cast warmth and comfort to the heart of sadness. While I don’t have a heart-warm-
ing, feel-good, dog rescued kind of a story, the story I cling to in my darkest times centres around the Easter season.
This coming Friday and Sunday mark two of the most significant dates in the Christian calendar, Good Friday and Easter Sunday. They mark the re-membrance and celebration of the death and resurrec-tion of Jesus Christ.
You might ask, “What is so comforting about that?” Well, it doesn’t take much to show us that stuff is just not right in our world. Things are not the way we believe they should be, death and sadness amplifies that message. The Gospel message, also known as the “Good News” is that Jesus Christ came into this world knowing too that everything
was not right … not as it should or could be.
God became man and experienced suffering, sor-row, sadness, and death. That might not sound like good news but it is when you discover that the death of Jesus leads to life. It is the starting point of restora-tion for a broken humanity. Where once we faced death with no sure hope to be found, the life of Christ is the start of things becom-ing right. Not only did he face death and overcome it, something I know I cannot do, he made a way to re-store my relationship with God, something I couldn’t have done on my own. I encourage you this week-end to find a local church to hear the whole story and see why it is called Good News.
Seeking truth in Easter context
Man sentenced to probation for threatening father with knife
ited weapon and failing to appear, a Ponoka man was sentenced to a 18-month probation at Ponoka provin-
cial court on Friday, March 27.
On June 3, 2014, Earl Chalifaux, 18, got into a verbal argument at his father’s residence in Medi-cine Hat.
The Crown told the court, at the time of the inci-dent, Chalifaux threatened to cut his father’s throat be-cause God told him to. He picked up a knife and the father left the residence to call the police.
Upon arrest, it was de-cided mental health issues were at play and he was taken to a psychiatric ward. The incident occurred two days after Chalifaux’s 18th birthday.
Now living with his mother, Chalifaux is under
the care of medical health services and on medication.
The court was told the father was not looking to press charges but the police felt it was necessary.
“I remember the knife and I remember getting mad but I couldn’t put a reason to it,” Chalifaux told the court, who was battling a drug addiction at the time of the incident.
He added the medica-tion has helped him control his anxieties and his aggres-sion.
Chalifaux’s probation includes not carrying a weapon save culinary work situations, community ser-vice, no contact with the father, a $200 fine and not
continued on page 8
Wednesday, April 1, 2015 PONOKA NEWS 5
Remember When...
Photo from Trails Grown OverIn the early days of settlement on the prairies, times were tough,
but with a strong sense of progress and high spirits, the hardy pioneers would hitch up their horses and spend countless hours
building miles of roads. That voluntary labour and grit would pay their taxes, and allowed them for the rest of the year to carry on
raising their families, building their farms-businesses-districts and communities, and to hopefully achieve their lofty goals.
BY MIKE RAINONE FOR THE NEWS
When Ponoka officially became a town in 1904, the ‘building boom’ began in earnest, and eventually three big lumber mills along the Battle River just east of the community were turning out millions of board feet of lumber to serve the ongoing construction of homes, businesses, barns, churches, schools and whatever else would be required to serve the rapidly expanding population in the rural and urban areas.
If one gets the opportunity to browse through our history books or visit the Fort Ostell Museum, they will see that during this exciting turn of the century, these magnificent wooden structures were quickly filling the skyline. It wouldn’t be long before the citizens would welcome the arrival of a colorful row of stately grain elevators, several fancy three-story hotels, the tall spirals of local churches, the liv-ery stables, the stores, a movie theatre, wooden sidewalks and on and on. As our town expanded by leaps and bounds, more changes were added to the building mix, including the use of brick, mortar, stone, steel, and tin and all this would help to off-set the always impending danger of fire, which ravaged many a structure in those early days.
Some of the other unique facades that appeared on these new early businesses
and homes would include: decorative awnings, recessed and stained windows, white stucco, balconies, elaborate brick and tile designs, barber poles, tongue and groove panelling, false store fronts, gable roofs, flashing neon signs and any-thing else that might attract the inquisitive new crowds of clientele. Heading into the ‘roaring 60s and 70s’, an overwhelming array of modern changes would be begin to emerge in the construction industry, fea-turing exciting new and durable materials and structure, as well as universal designs and colors from throughout the world.
Three of the most vivid introductions to Ponoka’s new building trends and styles included the new Ponoka County Office at 5018-Chipman Avenue in 1963, the most unique construction in 1977 of the Ponoka Provincial Building at 5110-49 Avenue, which was designed by internationally fa-mous architect Douglas Cardinal, and the Imperial Bank of Commerce at 5002-51 Avenue, which was built in 1959, and in-troduced a spectacular new concept in the appearance of financial institutions.
Ponoka’s first Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce was built on the same sight as the historical Algar Store, which burnt down in 1902, was replaced by the Brady and Morgan Garage, later owned by Hugh-ie Roberts, but was also destroyed in the dramatic blaze of 1952. The 1959 opening
Reflections of Ponoka
Ponoka’s new building era of the roaring 70’s
of the Imperial Bank unveiled a striking angular ‘butterfly roof’, and the airy in-terior was targeted to tastefully serve the clientele in a bright and wide open kiosk. The CIBC only operated in that location until 1961, when their amalgamation with the Bank of Commerce relocated them into their building on Railway Street, from which they have faithfully served the com-munity since 1903.
Our Ponoka Provincial Building was completed in 1977, and undulates along a quiet street in the magnificent curvilin-ear style of the internationally renowned architect Douglas Cardinal. Initially the home of the Provincial Treasury Branch and the Alberta Opportunity Company, it continues to host hundreds of clients from various government offices.
Built in 1963 for the Ponoka County offices at 5018 Chipman Avenue, this building at that time was likely the best local example of the influential and widespread International style. The con-struction used unabashedly new industrial materials such as I-beams and concrete blocks, and the elements were assembled into a unique composition of right angles, recesses and ledges, complemented with a series of aluminum mesh panels on the front. After the County of Ponoka moved into new offices along Highway 2A, the
Ponoka Outreach School took over the premises for many years, after which the building was eventually dismantled. These are only three early examples of the chang-es in our building trends and highlights as they popped up in the community over a half century ago, during which time there have been many more, and of course, will continue to be long into our bright future!
Throughout those ongoing exciting decades of successes and growth in our Town and County of Ponoka, the founding families and new generations have always carried a great pride and interest in our long and outstanding and colorful heritage and history. In 2000, the councils of the Town and County Of Ponoka formed a lo-cal committee and joined forces with the Alberta Historical Resources Foundation to spearhead the exciting Ponoka Main Street Project. As a result of countless hours of research, great team-work and keen community spirit, 53 of our histori-cal 20th century landmarks were identified and given the opportunity to revitalize and restore their buildings back to their origi-nal facades. As the program continued, others would join in, information plaques were put in place, and these sites, along with countless new additions to the mix, can always be enjoyed on a quiet family stroll throughout our friendly community.
The first Imperial Bank of Canada Ponoka Branch was built in 1959 at 5002-51st Avenue. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Landmarks
Our Ponoka Provincial Building, which is located at 5110-49th Avenue was designed by Douglas Cardinal and built in 1977. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Landmarks
The long-awaited pro-vincial budget has been announced and, as expected, cries of foul came from every-where, from public workers’ unions to schools to medical associations to seniors’ orga-nizations.
That this budget is a severely belt-tightening pro-gram should come as no surprise, as Premier Jim Pren-tice has been using all loudspeakers he can put his hands on to let people know that he faces a $7 billion defi-cit.
After the disclosure of the details of the new bud-get, political pundits lost no time in drawing comparisons between the current financial dire straits and those during the times of former premiers, Messrs Ralph Klein and Don
Getty and stressed with bold fonts that Jim Prentice had chosen to follow the tax-and-spend example of Mr. Getty over Mr. Klein’s much praised practices aimed at balancing the books by reducing government spend-ing.
Of course, there are a lot of circumstances that render those comparisons less than fully meaningful, but by and large, the new budget does bring a lot of tax burden, a little more to the wealthier sections of the population.
But what is being omitted from most of the eco-political comments is the fluidity of the circumstances condition-ing our bottleneck: In the Middle East, the latest flare-up of nascent Yemeni internal conflict and the Saudi-led intervention to end it in favor of the Sunni side threatens to further increase the instability of the flow of oil into interna-tional markets, thus pushing the prices higher, while a pos-sible deal between Iran and the western powers over the former’s nuclear material en-richment program could pave the way for the lifting of sanc-tions against Tehran, thereby leading to the markets being flooded by Iranian oil ex-ports in addition to those by the Saudis. In short, the state of influx in the political and
market conditions may just push the price of oil much higher within months just as they can also drive it even further to new lows, making all the calculations in the cur-rent budget just an academic exercise.
That is to say, market fluctuations and their impact may very well turn out to be short-term headaches.
But what Mr. Prentice has been doing to secure a man-date to implement this budget has already dealt a strategic blow to the fundamentals of democratic governance in Al-berta.
Probably within a few weeks, if not days, we will hear the announcement of the date of the early provincial election with the justification being that the new budget re-quires a new mandate from the people of the province and it is very acceptable reason-ing.
What is less acceptable is the fact that the search for new mandate comes after the killing of the most vibrant opposition this province has seen for a long time.
As you may have heard by now, Danielle Smith, for-mer leader of the Wildrose Party who crossed the floor with eight of her colleagues, has lost the nomination race in her riding to another hope-
ful, and so has Rod Fox of the Lacombe-Ponoka riding.
But in another nomination race, Mr. Prentice’s leader-ship blocked the candidacy of a party faithful to open the opportunity to a different floor-crossing former mem-ber of the Wildrose Party.
Do these practices sound as open, transparent, egalitar-ian and honest to you?
We have even been told that PC party leadership, as a matter of principle, is keeping the results of the ballot counts in the nomination races se-cret. One wonders why.
With so much skull-duggery going on at the nomination phase, it will be interesting to see how the electorate of the province will vote and how much sup-port Mr. Prentice will receive when the time for real elec-tion arrives.
6 PONOKA NEWS Wednesday, April 1, 2015
OpinionShort-term trick hurts
democracy in the long run
Mustafa EricEditor
5019A Chipman Ave., Box 4217, Ponoka, AB. T4J 1R6Phone: 403.783.3311 Fax: 403.783.6300 Email: [email protected] every Wednesday by PNG Prairie Newspaper Group in community with: Regional Publisher, Fred Gorman
The premier wants to gouge people with a health care premium. Why?
Redford slashed $28 million a month in royalties to support a bonus of $2.3 million a year for oil company executives. Which political candidate will agree to col-lect those royalties?
The premier wanted to cut wages, but wanted a 6 per cent cost of living increase for MLAs.
The Keystone would allow four new refineries to be built in the US. If built here each new refinery would employ 2,400 workers for four years. That’s 9,000 or more new, well-paid jobs. There would be 1200 yearly
maintenance jobs for 30 years. That’s another 36,000 or more new jobs. Each refinery would need a perma-nent staff of 700 people for 30 years. That’s another 21,000 or more new jobs; hundreds of new office staff jobs. New homes, cars, furnishings, trucks, drapes, lamps, would be needed. Who will sell the furnish-ings?
New schools, staff, and school bus drivers, for all the new kids; more food: bread, meat, veggies, beef, pork, chicken, fruit - to feed all those new people; more market gardens; more teachers, welders, nurses, me-chanics, engineers, technologists, doctors.
Each refinery would require lumber, steel, wire, gadgets, vehicles, machinery, so thousands of new sup-
ply jobs would be created. All those jobs would create $21 million a year in income tax revenue every year for 30 plus years for Alberta. Provincial income tax could be lowered. There would be millions for more and bet-ter rural health care. The tax on purple fuel for rural residents could be
eliminated. Which political candidate wants this “Alberta First
Budget”? Which political candidate wants to collect royalties, create jobs, increase revenue, and improve FREE health care for the people of Alberta?
Robert Fitzsimmons Edmonton
Wednesday, April 1, 2015 PONOKA NEWS 7
COUNCIL UPDATES & BYLAW INFO
EVENTS AND RECREATION
NOTICES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
Town TimesPonoka, AB T4J 1P7
Ph: 403-783-4431 | Fax: 403-783-6745 | Email: [email protected] Check us out Online: www.ponoka.ca
Public Skating:Proudly sponsored by Ponoka Lions
Area is now closed
Thanks for your support,
see you again next fall.
Next Town Council MeetingsApril 14 & April 28 @ 7:00 pm
DID YOU KNOW...???Your civic address must be displayed on your property, both on the front and back. Civic addresses are used by our puplic works department as well as emergency services to locate your property. Not displaying your civic address could result in delays for these services in assisting you.
Aquaplex UpdateClosed Good Friday.
STAT hours Easter Monday. Family 2-4 pm, Public Swim 4-6pm
Library NewsDESSERT WINE TASTING: Ponoka Jubilee Library is hosting its 4th Wine Tasting! ‘Uncorked’ is a dessert wine tasting session and is being held on Saturday, April 18th, starting at 7:00 pm. It will feature 8 diff erent dessert wines from around the world along with food pairings. Tickets prices are $40/per person, and can be purchased at the Library at 5110 48 Avenue. All participants must be 18+. Tickets are limited, so gets yours today!
COMMUNITY CAUSE: Ponoka Jubilee Library is super excited to have been chosen as Cilantro & Chive’s Community Cause for April! For every burger purchased at Cilantro & Chive in April, $0.50 will be donated towards the library’s free membership program. So go enjoy an amazing burger, and help support Ponoka Jubilee Library!
VOLUNTEERSVolunteers are needed for Canada Day
For the “Largest Human Canadian Flag” Record attempt, July 1st.Ponoka Day in the Park , August 29th.
For more information please contact Wes Amendt, Director of Community Services (403) 783-0118 or email wes. [email protected]
STREET SWEEPINGThe Town’s sweeper is once again out cleaning away the winter residue from the streets. We ask your assistance in removing vehicles from the streets when the sweeper is in your area.Unfortunately, due to unpredictable weather, we are unable to provide exact locations and time schedules.Please drive with care and consideration, obeying all traffi c laws.
Summer Waste Transfer Station HoursBegin April 1, 2015
Tuesday through Saturday – 10 am to 6 pm
Excluding Statutory Holidays – Closed Good Friday, April 3
Report a Pot Hole / Sidewalk RepairHave you noticed a pot hole on your street or back lane or have a sidewalk that is in need of repair? Please visit our website: www.ponoka.ca and fi ll out the Community Feedback Form, or call Public Works at 403-783-0159 with the location, so we can add it to the repair list. Thank you for your assistance.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK:
Come join us for the annualPONOKA CHRISTIAN SCHOOL
FUNDRAISING AUCTION(Live & Silent)
SATURDAY, APRIL 11at 9:30 a.m.
Ponoka Christian School Gym
Contact Elaine Makkinga at 403-783-1036
All auction items and services are donated by community members and businesses.
All proceeds go to the Ponoka Christian School.
Come and support your local school.
FUN for the
whole
family!
FUN FUN for the for the
whole whole
family!family!
There is something for everyone:Kids corner(lots of fun games and prizes)
Bake sale, concession and lots more Bake sale, concession and lots more
Hope to see you all there!Hope to see you all there!Hope to see you all there!
Town and countywill stick to plans
despite tough budgetBY JEFFREY HEYDEN-KAYE
The town and county of Ponoka are both planning to conduct business as usual despite the newly announced provincial budget which raised taxes on everything from tobacco and spirits to gas, and brought in a health levy while cutting on public expenditure.
Mayor Rick Bonnett said there was little to see as a win or loss in the 2015 Alberta Budget for the town.
“The government’s not going to be a factor in what we’re able to do,” said Bon-nett.
His issue is with the education tax requisition. Bonnett wants to be able to use that money for the mu-nicipality. “The government pays us nothing to collect taxes on their behalf,” he
said.Starting in 2016-17, the
education property tax req-uisition will be determined annually. Both the town and county will see an increase of one per cent to their education property taxes as-sessment.
Bonnett says the way the town will be able to see some control over their own taxation is by addressing a desire for change in the Mu-nicipal Government Act.
Ponoka County Reeve Paul McLauchlin said the county planned on operat-ing as usual with or without money from the Munici-pal Sustainability Initiative (MSI). However, the prov-ince’s announcement of $400 million to the fund was looked at favourably.
“I think that it wouldn’t change our budget alloca-
tions,” added McLauchlin. He says the county has
one of its largest capital project allocation in years with $8 million planned for a variety of projects. While there is MSI funding, the county is finding they are having to do more projects with less money, he added.
Once the education req-uisition comes through, taxpayers will have a better idea of what their tax bill will look like. McLauchlin says the real questions will come in the 2016-17 budget.
“It’s hard to do any long-term capital planning,” he said.
As for the county’s plans, McLauchlin has al-ways been proud of the county’s balanced approach to budgets. “It’s a good way to do business. Don’t spend money you don’t have.”
8 PONOKA NEWS Wednesday, April 1, 2015
Now Open!Now Open!We are now open for the 2015 season
So feel free to stop in for any reason
Or bring in your pots for us to custom ll
And if you have some time to kill
Stroll through our greenhouses, it’s a beautiful thing
When we can say goodbye to winter and “hello spring!”
403-704-4008www.bobtailnursery.ca
April hoursApril hoursMonday - SaturdayMonday - Saturday
10 am - 6 pm10 am - 6 pm
EASTEREASTERFLOWERINGFLOWERING
PLANTSPLANTSAVAILABLE!AVAILABLE!
BOBTAIL NURSERY
WHEN YOU ADVERTISE IN 11 PAPERS OF THE PRAIRIE NEWSPAPER
GROUP
out-of-town customers where they live
ReachReach
A11TN
Reflections of PonokaA life dedicated to sports,
family, and communityStory on page 5
Calumet Curling Club celebrates 60 years
Page 14
Rainbow face Willa Loveseth gets her face painted dur-
ing Family Day festivities at the Ponoka
Culture and Recreation Complex Feb.
17. There were many events throughout
Ponoka. Photos can be seen on page 8.
Photo by Jeffrey Heyden-Kaye
Speed Speed skater skater
faces loss faces loss at nationals at nationals competitioncompetition
Members of the Ponoka and Gymnastics Trampoline Club are in shock after seeing vandalism to their new building over the weekend. Walls were smashed in and culprits spray-painted racial slurs on the walls. Here gym club fundraiser Deanna Groves inspects the damage Monday, March 30. Damage is estimated at $30,000 to $40,000. Photo by Jeffrey Heyden-Kaye
BY JEFFREY HEYDEN-KAYE
Members of the Ponoka and Gymnastics Trampoline Club had a big shock after seeing thousands of dol-lars of damage to their new building.
Police say overnight of Saturday, March 28, cul-prits broke into the building
Gym club sees thousands of dollars in damage from break in
and caused approximately $30,000 to $40,000 worth of damage. Vandals smashed light bulbs, causing glass to be strewn across the building floor, they smashed the dry-wall, threw paint over parts of the floor and three items into the trampoline pit.
Among the vandalism was graffiti spray-painted
on different walls, some with vulgar language and others with a swastika and a statement of “white power” spray-painted on the wall.
Club president Barry Groves said he was shocked by the language. “(It’s) just a big shock to how this is going to affect our kids and community.”
The building was near-ing completion, explains Groves, but the club can’t do any cleaning up until it is cleared by their insurance company. The delay not only affects the club, but also the contractors who have been working on the building. Clean up and repairs must occur before the construc-
tion work can resume. “This is a Septem-
ber move in for us,” stated Groves of the delay.
He is grateful to the com-munity support for reaching out to offer assistance and says they will endeavour to complete the project. “It’s not going to stop us for sure.”
Police are also investi-gating a similar occurrence on a Wolf Creek Public School’s bus during the same time period. A school bus is reported to have been spray-painted with a swas-tika and the same “white power” phrase. Police say both matters are under in-vestigation.
continued from page 4
possessing firearms, crossbows, prohibited weapons or am-munition for five years.
Chalifaux has no previous criminal record.Impaired driver sentenced
A man pled guilty to driving while disqualified and driving over .08; consequently he received a $3,000 fine and a three-year driving prohibition.
On Dec. 6, 2014 Ponoka RCMP patrol pulled over a suspicious vehicle and upon reaching the front windows the officer smelled alcohol on the breath of the driver, Henry Schmidt.
Schmidt provided a breath sample, coming in at .14. Schmidt says he suggested to the officer that the machine was broken and asked for another test, which did not hap-pen.
Schmidt resides in the Ponoka area and on the night of the incident had visited a local establishment. His friends drank heavily and while he had nothing to drink there, he had had drinks earlier. However, Schmidt thought he was able to drive.
He has three other similar charges, the most recent dat-ing back to the mid-1990s.
Man sentenced to probation
BY JEFFREY HEYDEN-KAYE
Students at Ponoka El-ementary School (PES) had a chance to say farewell to their now old school just before the start of their spring break.
A farewell ceremony was held in the pink build-ing gym Thursday, March 26 with many dignitar-ies including two retired principals and teachers in attendance. It was also marked with a First Nations grand entry and dance.
Principal Lois Spate said the day was to mark the end of an era for PES but to also celebrate the start of a new time with the opening of the new school. Including First Nations was an important part of that. “They are very much a part of our school,” she said.
“For our entire school community, the day was about paying tribute to the history of PES, while also celebrating the future.
A day of hope for the fu-ture, interwoven with good memories of the past,” add-ed Spate.
She is excited to move into the new school as there are new opportunities for learning. The building is equipped to prepare stu-dents for their transition to Ponoka Secondary Campus and to work under the new Inspiring Education cur-riculum.
“There is a sense of nostalgia with it being the last day of being “the pink” and “the brick,” said Spate, referring to the two build-ings they used to occupy up to now. “But there is also lots of excitement and an-ticipation as we are finally in one newly modernized building.”
She says students will be part of smaller learn-ing communities within the school broken up into grades. Teachers and students will be able to col-laborate more together on
bigger projects. “When they’re talking
about literacy and numera-cy, we’re poised for that,” said Spate.
Students, teachers and
dancers then walked to the new school for a special ceremony.
First Nations elder Joey Deschamps, said the col-laboration between Wolf
Creek Public Schools (WCPS) and Cree nations is valued. “We’re honoured that they accept our chil-dren and that the drum got included.”
Past principals George MacKenzie and Lyle Bo-man were in attendance as well as MLA Rod Fox and WCPS superintendent of schools Larry Jacobs.
Wednesday, April 1, 2015 PONOKA NEWS 9
In 17 years Janice Cameron has seen a lot of changes in her life — graduating as a denturist from NAIT, marriage, three children and now her own clinic in Ponoka.
Cameron has always enjoyed building something from scratch, using her hands and helping people. Working as a denturist for 17 years has fulfi lled these needs.
Understanding the natural principles to create a pleasing result is the goal Cameron sets for her patients. It is essential to meet their needs when it comes to high esthetic and functional restorations.
Choosing Ponoka to set up her clinic was easy. Ponoka offers
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PES includes First Nationsin opening ceremony
An open house was held for parents and students of Ponoka Elementary School Thursday, March 26 of their new school. Here (l-r) Sarah Avison walks with Bella, Brodie Vaussen and Lyric Bacon as they check out the new layout.
Photo by Jeffrey Heyden-Kaye
10 PONOKA NEWS Wednesday, April 1, 2015
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Town seeksgrant funding for capital projects
BY JEFFREY HEYDEN-KAYE
Town administration hopes to take advantage of a pro-vincial and federal grant program to pay for some capital projects.
Betty Quinlan, director of corporate services for the Town of Ponoka, said there are two projects that are eligi-ble. She told councillors during the regular council meeting Tuesday, March 24 that the Small Communities Fund (SCF) provides strict guidelines for what Alberta municipalities can apply for.
Funding is granted based on a one third split among the town, province and country and eligible projects must be out-lined in a 10-year plan. Quinlan said the first project they are applying for is the 50 Street rehabilitation project between 43 and 44 Avenue, which is projected to cost $670,000.
The 50 Street project is already planned to be completed this year and Quinlan says the timelines will be tight. A re-quest for proposal has already been sent out, explained Dave McPhee, director of operations and property services.
“We’ll have to go ahead with the engineering,” he said. The other project the town will apply for are industrial/
commercial servicing upgrades at the Highway 2 and High-way 53 junction. This project is estimated at $6.2 million and is in the town’s 10-year plan.
Mayor Rick Bonnett said the town should not get its hopes too high considering the 10-year SCF program is in-tended to service 300 communities across the province.
The federal and provincial governments have committed $94 million each to be shared across the province. The cost of the town’s second project is approximately six per cent of this amount.
Council gave the administration the green light to apply for both projects.
Money for audio books: Ponoka Jubilee Library manager Jaclyn Berry accepts $1,000 from Peggy Mouck (in red), of the Ponoka Lions Monday, March 30. Berry says the money will go towards new audio books for the library.
Photo submitted
New vans in Covered Wagon Society’s future
BY AMELIA NAISMITH
The Ponoka Covered Wagon Handicapped Transport So-ciety is looking to upgrade its fleet and with little discussion, Ponoka County council is willing to help cushion some of the expenses.
Despite having allocated $20,000 earlier for the society’s operating costs, council donated another $10,000 at its Tues-day March 24 meeting to help with the costs of the new vans.
Each van costs approximately $77,000, “And they’re looking to replace both of them,” said county CAO Charlie Cutforth.
“Typically the town and county would split the entire cost but we’ve never replaced two at one time,” said Cutforth.
He also added the society already has $100,000 in place for the purchases.
BY JEFFREY HEYDEN-KAYE
Hunters and conservationists enjoyed a fun night last weekend in the effort to raise money for Ducks Unlimited.
The fundraising dinner, hosted by Ducks Unlimited, was held Saturday, March 28 at the Ponoka Legion. Such dinners generally bring in $25,000 to $30,000, explained James Ingoldsby, manager of events and volunteer rela-tions.
He says the whole purpose of the fundraiser is to drive interest and to help with their wetlands conservation ef-forts. He remembers years ago Ducks Unlimited was a hunting organization but eventually evolved into what it is today.
“That’s still very important to us,” said Ingoldsby. “The conservation and the hunting go together,” he
added. Among the many auction items at the fundraiser were
signed hockey jerseys, vacation trips, special artwork and also hunting and fishing supplies. Ingoldsby says the items they have in their silent auctions are tailored to the attend-ees. He said he would be happy to see $30,000 raised at the dinner.
The money will go to important goals for the asso-ciation. “We recently received $12 million of mitigation money of the floods of 2013 for the Bow River watershed,” he explained.
Ingoldsby says if there are floods again in the same area, a wetland area will be developed to mitigate flood-
ing. He says the loss of wetlands continues at a rapid pace and he wants to help educate stakeholders on the impor-tance of wetlands.
“It’s a huge thing in the future. Fresh water is in short
supply everywhere,” he concluded. Ducks Unlimited has strong routes in the United States
as well as Mexico, and Ingoldsby says their volunteers are what makes the organization as successful as it is.
Wednesday, April 1, 2015 PONOKA NEWS 11
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Carol Moore has a look at the silent auction bids Saturday, March 28 at the Legion during a Ducks Unlimited fund-raiser.
Photo by Jeffrey Heyden-Kaye
Fundraisers support the
efforts of Ducks Unlimited
12 PONOKA NEWS Wednesday, April 1, 2015
Ponoka County is responsible for the administration of the Forest and Prairie Protection Act within the County. During the Fire Season, any person lighting a fi re for any purpose, other than for burning household garbage or campfi res, must have a valid fi re permit. You may be liable for fi re suppression costs or penalties as provided by law for any damage that may occur while burning without a permit.
Most fi re calls and associated costs can be easily avoided if precautions and extra care are taken. For example:• do not start a fi re when weather conditions are conducive to a fi re rapidly escaping
out of control• establish a safe site for burning garbage in barrels• use a mesh screen over the top of the burning barrel to prevent the spread of sparks• keep grass around burning area mowed• never leave fi res unattended
Fire permits may be obtained free of charge from any one of the following Fire Guardians: Bryce Liddle SE 24-43-25-W4 783-8604 Mark Matejka NE 22-42-26-W4 783-6389 Doug Weir NW 27-42-27-W4 783-3713 Paul McLauchlin NW 32-44-2-W5 843-2675 Nancy Hartford NW 19-42-4-W5 843-3881
or from the Ponoka County Administration Offi ce at 4205 - Highway #2A in Ponoka.
Please note – FIRE BANS may be implemented in extremely dry conditions. Listen for ban information on your local radio station or check the County website at
www.PonokaCounty.com
Charlie B. CutforthChief Administrative Offi cer
PONOKA COUNTY
FIRE SEASONREMINDERRegulations in effect
April 1st to October 31st, 2015
BY JEFFREY HEYDEN-KAYE
PC Party voters sat with bated breath Saturday, March 28 for the results of the PC Nomination for La-combe-Ponoka.
A total of 914 votes were cast with Lacombe’s Peter DeWit winning over former Wildrose MLA Rod Fox, Larry Henkelman and Wayne Rem-pel. While full voting results were not released, DeWit says it went into a second count of ballots.
It was stated that when the first count of the votes failed to produce a clear winner with simple majority, in line with the PC party regulations, a second count of the votes was taken with the exclusion of the votes cast for the candidate who received the lowest number of votes.
“It was nerve-wracking for sure,” said DeWit.
He says now is when the work begins. DeWit is preparing his cam-paign for the upcoming provincial election. “The real work is still to be done.”
As for vote counts, DeWit says all the candidates were provided with the actual voting results but were not al-
lowed to divulge that information. Full voting results not providedExecutive director for the PC Par-
ty, Kelley Charlebois, says the system they have is to destroy ballots once candidates have signed off on the results. Rather than make the infor-mation public, it stays private.
“I like the system we’ve got. I think it’s a unifying system rather than a dividing system,” said Char-lebois.
He feels with lots of scrutiny dur-ing the nomination period, voters and candidates can feel secure in the process of selection. If there are any issues with ballots, a candidate can
always call for an arbitration process. Yet, in his last three years as ex-
ecutive director, Charlebois does not recall where someone has made that request.
Since the PC Party is not neces-sarily a public body, Charlebois says the courts have deemed that political parties are like a private club, provid-ing the results is not a priority.
“We create the rules for the pro-cess we want,” he said.
His job is to ensure those rules are followed. Despite his assurances, there have been misgivings about the PC Party process and the lack of transparency with providing results.
Former Wildrose MLA Bruce McAllister was acclaimed as the PC nominee for Chestermere-Rocky View after the party blocked oppo-nent Jamie Lall, CEO of the Calgary Housing and Employment Services, from running. No reason was pro-vided by the party as to why Lall was blocked.
On Twitter, user Christina Pilarski voiced her thoughts: “Either allow open contests or appoint outright. Last minute, unjustified disqualifica-tions only hurt party morale.”
Peter DeWit spoke at the Progressive Conservative Party candidates’ forum, Friday March 20, one week before the nomination vote, as one of four candidates vying for the PC candidacy from Lacombe-Ponoka riding. Photo by Amelia Naismith
DeWit wins PC Nomination for Lacombe-Ponoka
“Either allow open contests or appoint
outright. Last minute, unjustified
disqualifications only hurt party
morale.”Christina Pilarski on Twitter
Wednesday, April 1, 2015 PONOKA NEWS 13
OUR 4 FOR 3TIRE SALE.IT’S TIME TO SAVE.
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BY AMELIA NAISMITH
Out of pure demand, playwright and actress Julia Mackey is bringing the re-membrance themed Jake’s Gift back to Alberta with a performance at the Ponoka Legion on Friday, April 17.
Last year, Mackey per-formed in Bashaw and Elnora and she says a few of the ladies who were in Elnora, at the time have ties to the Ponoka Legion; they are the driving force behind the play coming to Ponoka.
“They contacted us to come back in the spring,” said Mackey.
“I’m so excited,” she added.
In what she is now calling an accidental tour, Mackey and her director Dirk van Stralen are return-ing from British Columbia for a 10-show Alberta-wide tour. “We’ve actually started to build a really nice little tour.”
The pull from Alberta to bring Jake’s Gift back was so strong Mackey says it surprised both her and van
Touching remembrance play returns to AlbertaStralen. “We’re just constant-ly amazed at the number of people who came back to see the show.”
With the recent run in central Alberta last Septem-ber and November, Mackey had no idea she would be returning to the province so soon. “It’s been a nice prob-lem to have,” she said.
She is also looking for-ward to performing the play at a Legion. “There is so much history there connected to the show,” she added.
Taking into account brief adult language coming from the mouth of an ‘old war veteran,’ played by Mackey, she says the show is a good outing for parents and grand-parents.
“I think what’s true overall, it’s a great multigen-erational story,” said Mackey.
She says the themes of Jake’s Gift are also some-thing worth looking for. “Remembrance, friendship, forgiveness, all of these things are universal.”
The show will start at 8 p.m. and the $20 tickets will be available at the Legion.
Julia Mackey and Dirk van Stralen are bringing the highly received Jake’s Gift back to Alberta with a performance at the Ponoka Legion on April 17. Photo courtesy of Julia Mackey.
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Veteran Hugh Greene was one of several speakers that shared their war experiences with the Kiilinik High School Cambridge Bay students, Monday March 30 at St Mary’s Anglican Church. The visit is a precursor to the European battlefield trip the school will take later this spring. Photo by Amelia Naismith
BY AMELIA NAISMITH
A group of high school students from Kiilinik High School in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut will have travelled more than 14,000 kilometers to meet with some of central Alberta’s war veterans and war survivors.
Every two years or so, teacher Patti Bligh orga-nizes a trip for a group of the school’s students to tour Europe’s Second World War sites and battlefields. For the last three trips, the students have also made the long hike to Ponoka for an intimate look at the experiences of those directly affected by the war.
As it has in the past, this year’s session took place at the St. Mary’s Anglican Church on Monday, March 30.
“For my students, we struggle with geography and we absolutely struggle with the history, because we have no connection,” said Bligh.
In Canada’s remote north-
War veterans enlightenCambridge Bay students
ern regions, during the time of the Second World War, the area had no consistent contact or knowledge base until after the war had ended.
“However isolated Cam-bridge Bay is, we’re still completely connected to the new global world,” said Bligh. “We forget that a lot.”
With no veterans in the north, Nunavut’s students do not have the same per-sonal connection the rest of Canada’s students do.
Bligh says if she or her mother, Donna Boyd, cry at any of the war memorials then that is where the 16 students involved in the trip will get that personal, emotional con-nection.
This is where the visits in Ponoka and that extra educa-tion that is not solely based on the facts found in books or museums come in handy.
This year also saw a much greater focus on the Nether-lands than past trips have, and Bligh took advantage of Ponoka’s blooming Dutch
community to expose that culture to her students.
“This time it’s the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Holland, so we want to celebrate that,” said Bligh.
Elders are an important part of the community in Cam-bridge Bay and Bligh feels this opportunity for the students is something they can find a relatable foundation in. “The kids learn well and they’re incredibly lovely children. It’s nice to see everybody com-municating; the generations
communicating.”“It’s unexpected con-
nections, those are the most meaningful,” she added.
The students will be vis-iting Paris, Belgium and the Netherlands, with a day trip from Paris to Juno Beach; a location that has not been on the itinerary since 2007.
To round off the trip, the school will visit NAIT and Grant MacEwan, where they will meet with other students who came from Cambridge Bay. Bligh wants to teach the
students such trips cost money and success and earnings in life is based on a good edu-cation.
“We fundraise all of it,” Bligh explained.
Interest in history and the trip has spread through the community and Bligh says she already has a Grade 5 student looking forward to her high school experience. The largest concern Bligh is facing in the small number of veterans left. “They’re taking their stories with them,” she said.
Wednesday, April 1, 2015 PONOKA NEWS 15Easter ServicesEaster Services
19th ANNUAL WALK OF THE CROSSGood Friday, April 3rd at 12:30pm
Gathering at the Ponoka United Church, walking through the streets of Ponoka and ending at St. Mary’s Anglican Church.
An interdenominational project.
Sonrise Christ ian Reformed Church
½ mile south of Centennial Centre for Mental Health and Brain Injury
Pastor William Delleman 403-783-6012
www.sonriseponoka.comGood Friday Service 10:30am
Easter Sunday Service 10:30am
PONOKA UNITED CHURCH
5020 52 Ave 403-783-4087Minister Beatrix Schirner
Good Friday 10:00 amWalk of the Cross 12:30 pmEaster Sunday 10:00 am
Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church
5501 54 Ave • 403-783-4141• trinityponoka.ca
Maundy Thursday Service 7:00 pmGood Friday Service 10:30 am
Easter Sunday Breakfast 9:00 amEaster Sunday Service 10:30 am
Priest in Charge Rev. Donna Willer
Maundy Thursday April 2 - 7:00 pm Commemorating the Institution of the Lord’s Supper with the Washing of FeetGood Friday April 3 - 12:30 pm Community walk of the CrossGood Friday Liturgy - 3:00 pmHoly Sat. April 4 - 8:00 pm - Easter Vigil with a Celebration PartyEaster Sunday, April 5 - 10:00 am Holy Baptism & Eucharist
St. Mary’s Anglican Church5210 49 Ave 403-783-4329
CHURCH OF THE OPEN BIBLE3704 42 St. Ponoka 403-783-6500
Pastor Jerry Preheim • Pastor Matt Sealy• April 3 - Good Friday
Candlelight Lord’s Supper Service - 6:30 pm• April 5 - Easter
Sunrise Service - 8:30 amBreakfast - 9:30 am
Morning Service - 10:30 am
Associated Gospel Churches of Canada First Baptist Church, Ponoka5109-57 AVENUE PONOKA, AB, T4J 1G5 403-783-5533 WWW.FBCPONOKA.ORG
Please join with us as we remember Jesus’ death and resurrection!
St. Augustine Catholic Church 5113 52 Ave 403-783-4048
Fr. Chris GnanaprakasamHoly Thursday, April 2 - Mass 6:00 pm
Good Friday, April 3 - Liturgy 3:00 pm
Easter Vigil, April 4 - Saturday 7:00 pm
Easter Sunday, April 5 - Mass 9:00 am
Ponoka Word of Life Church403-783-5659
• April 3 - Good Friday Service 7:00 pmRed Deer WOL Campus
• April 4 Eggstravagant Easter Egg Hunt at 1:00 pmSt. Augustine Church Gym
• April 5 Easter Sunday Service 10:30 amPonoka WOL Campus - corner of Hwy 2A & Hwy 53
Pastor Tim Graff
Good Friday, April 310:30 am
Easter Sunday, April 5 10:30 am
He is risen indeed!
16 PONOKA NEWS Wednesday, April 1, 2015
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AFFORDABLE FAMILY HOME- Central Location- 1120 sq ft, 5 bdrm & 2 bath- Open Concept Main Floor- Huge lot, partially fenced- Great starter or revenue!$200,000 ~ Call Lisa
UPGRADED CLASSIC- 4 bedrooms, 4 baths- 3000+ sq ft of developed living space- New Kitchen, some new flooring- Great outdoor spaces as well$355,000 ~ Call Lisa
- 4 bdrms & 3 baths- Open concept layout- Island and pantry in kitchen- Nice location- Quick possession available$379,900 - Call Jane or Lacey
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QUALITY FINISHED NEWER HOMEAWESOME, SPACIOUS FAMILY HOME- Fully renovated, move in ready- 5 beds & 2 baths- Many upgrades$314,900Call Jane or Lacey
AFFORDABLE QUALITY LIVING- 2 beds & 1 bath- Totally renovated kitchen & bath- Many upgrades!- Fully fenced yard$149,900Call Jane or Lacey
403-783-8881
#3, 5012-48 Avein the Wedin’s Prof. Bldg.
TO VIEW ALL LISTINGS VISIT US ONLINE AT WWW.FIRSTCHOICEPONOKA.COM
RIZWAN SYEDAssociate
Large 2 bdrm unit on the top fl oor, beautiful southeast exposure, lots of storage space in this unit. Unit comes with parking stall. 45+ building, no pets.
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This home with 4 bdrm 2 baths requires a little work but has great suite potential. Set up to be up/down suites. Live in one, rent out the other. Zoned R4.
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Over 1200 sq ft. home with everything on one level. 3 bedrooms and a 5 pc. bath, open concept, double attached garage. Located in the north end of Ponoka.
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real estate central alberta6000 - 48 Ave., Ponoka
LISA SMITHAssociate403-704-0646
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• 5 bedrooms, 2 baths• Many upgrades• New fl ooring on
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• Single garage, fenced yard• Move in ready!!!
$239,000
Janelle Small tries out a welding simulator at the Maskwacis Job Fair, held Thursday March 26 at the Howard Buffalo Memorial Centre.
Photo by Amelia Naismith
BY AMELIA NAISMITH
The Maskwacis Spring Job Fair is growing, as more schools, employers and com-munity members come to realize its benefits.
“The benefits are that we have the employers come di-rectly to the community to offer the opportunities our people don’t get, because of transportation barriers,” said Danielle Cardinal, employer liaison with the Maskwacis Employment Centre.
This year the fair, held at the Howard Buffalo Me-morial Centre on Thursday,
March 26, also saw more high school students attend, and while they were always
welcome in the past, Cardinal says it was not geared toward them in the same capacity.
“A lot of schools were interested in coming,” said Cardinal. “We developed the idea to have more attend.”
Last year the fair had 41 exhibitors, this year Cardinal says a total of 62 registered. “My goal was to actively get a lot more local companies to come out.”
With the economy in its current state and a regres-sion of jobs in the oilfield,
the objective of the fair was to highlight companies still hiring, in order to show the people there are still jobs available.
However, that did not mean the oil industry was completely cut out, as many companies are still accepting applications.
When it comes to com-munity reception, Cardinal says the fair has been quite popular. “We do get a lot of people from the local com-munity attending.”
This year, Cardinal says she also saw a lot of unfa-miliar faces in the crowd and feels word of the fair has spread to communities in surrounding areas.
Another big message the job fair likes to promote is that it is not the only op-portunity for those in the community who have to seek employment. The host organization, the Maskwacis Employment Centre, is open year long, offering employ-ment aid services.
Maskwacis job fair continues to expand
“My goal was to actively get a lot more local companies to
come out.”Danielle Cardinal
Wednesday, April 1, 2015 PONOKA NEWS 17
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The Great Plains — Saskia and Darrel Delronde — played many originals and country covers at the Ponoka Legion on Friday, March 27. Photo by Amelia Naismith
BY AMELIA NAISMITH
As riparian areas and watersheds continue to be compromised, the health of the Chain Lakes will dete-riorate more and more.
At Ponoka County coun-cil’s Tuesday, March 24 meeting, Friends of Chain Lakes Society chairper-son Joanne McMillan gave councillors a presentation in order to raise awareness on the status of the lakes and gain their support in public education initiatives.
The First and Second Chain Lakes have been tested in the last few years and Friends of Chain Lakes used a portion of the $4,000 grant given by the county last year to for an analysis of the Third Chain Lake, which had not been looked at since 2001.
“We know the water quality in the lakes are de-teriorating,” said McMillan.
According to the 2011 and 2013 reports, McMillan says at some points in the lake, there is no oxygen.
Clarity of the lakes is decreasing while phospho-rus, ammonia and nitrate levels are on the rise. “We can say with all honesty the lakes are deteriorating in health, and drastically,” said McMillan.
McMillan added that ar-eas of the lakes in Ponoka County are receiving low scores, which is not a sur-prise as there are boat access points on the lake.
McMillan submitted county CAO Charlie Cut-forth a documented analysis of the sites. “Hopefully that can lead to some improve-ment. We’re asking that you read through the docu-ments.”
When it comes to pub-lic education, the Friends of Chain Lakes are facing challenges with farming and livestock practices. “Some people have declined as-sessments on their property because they’re watering (livestock) at the lake,” said McMillan.
She wanted to know if
Group wants to use education to
breath new life into dying lakes
the county enforced any conservation easements practices that could help slow or diminish the actions harming the lakes.
With any new devel-opment around the lakes, the county is able to im-pose control or council can mandate healthy ac-tions with applications and subdivisions. However, for older properties, Cutforth says there is not a lot the county can do. “To impose it retroactively, there’d be some legal issues, I know that,” he said.
All terrain vehicles are also posing a problem in the county. McMillan says they do not only use the tri-als and roads to ride but also open slopes along the lake, causing earth and debris to fall into the water.
“We have that constant
struggle,” said Cutforth.Coun. Mark Matejka
wanted to know what exactly is causing the deterioration of the lakes. County Reeve Paul McLauchlin feels a good course of action would be to launch a point pollu-tion investigation.
“There’s a real need to get down to the source of it,” said McLauchlin.
Tying into public edu-cation, McMillan is hoping the county will go where Friends of Chain Lakes can-not and use its mailing list to let people know the new report will be posted on the Ponoka County website.
“The player I see miss-ing for the most part is Alberta Environment,” said Cutforth. “If these lakes are classified as recreational, the health of the lakes is secondary.”
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The Sunni Arab countries that started bombing Yemen on Wednesday night seem to think they are fighting an Iranian-backed plot to expand Shia power and influence in the Arab world. Most other coun-tries find that hard to believe, but even if the Sunni countries are right, wars often have un-intended consequences. This military intervention is likely to have results that Saudi Arabia and its friends don’t like one bit.
They’ve all shown up for this war. Saudi Arabia and the other monarchies of the Arab world (Jordan, Kuwait, Bah-rain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and even Morocco) have all committed aircraft to bombing Yemen. Egypt, Jor-dan, Sudan and Pakistan have
Paul KershawTroy Media Columnist
Gwynne DyerThink Globally
Alberta's younger generation squeezed more than any other province
Yemen: Unintended Consequencesoffered to send ground troops. And the United States (which just pulled the last American troops out of Yemen) promises to provide “logistical and intel-ligence support.”
In practice, however, this coalition of Sunni Arabs and Americans is unlikely to com-mit large numbers of ground troops to Yemen: the country has been the graveyard of foreign armies from the Romans to the Ottomans. But if they don’t do that, the (entirely unintended) result of their bombing may be to facilitate the take-over of most of Yemen by al-Qaeda and/or ISIS.
Sunni paranoia about the rise of Shia power has its roots in the American invasion of Iraq in 2003. So long as the Sunni minority ruled Iraq, it limited the influence of Iran, the paramount Shia power, in the Arab world. With the US
overthrow of Saddam Hussein and the destruction of Sunni supremacy in Iraq, Iran’s power automatically soared – and so did its influence in Shia parts of the Arab world.
Iran didn’t have to do any-thing particularly aggressive for paranoia to take off in the Sunni countries of the Gulf. Of the 140 million citizens of countries that border on the Persian/Ara-bian Gulf, about two-thirds are Shias. With a Shia-dominated government in Baghdad, Saudi Arabia and the smaller Sunni Arab monarchies felt terribly exposed and began to see Shia plots everywhere.
They see such a plot now in Yemen. The Houthi militia, drawn from the warlike Shia tribes of northern Yemen, have taken control of all the coun-try’s big cities and most of its thickly populated agricultural heartland in less than one year.
This is not actually all that rare an event in Yemeni history, and it never required help from Iran before, but now the hand of Iran is suspected everywhere.
That’s why Sunni countries from all over the Arab world piled in so readily. They really believe they are fighting the Iranian bogeyman, although there is almost no evidence of direct Iranian support for the Houthis. (Nor is it easy to think of any strategic reason why Iran would be interested in Yemen.)
The historical pattern is that these periodic conquests of the country by the northern tribes usually recede again after a while, because Shias are only a third of the population and the northern tribes who provide the manpower for the Houthi milita are only a fraction of the Shias. But this time nobody is will-ing to wait for the local Sunni backlash in Houthi-occupied
parts of Yemen to push the northerners out.
The “coalition” is now bombing the Houthis all over the country. How intensively and how accurately remains to be seen, but if they really suc-ceed in breaking the Houthi grip on central and southern Yemen, they will create a power vacuum that will NOT be filled by the “legitimate” president of Ye-men, Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, whom they are allegedly trying to restore to power.
Hadi’s forces have utterly disintegrated, and Houthi fight-ers now occupy the temporary capital that he established in his home city, Aden. (The real capi-tal, Sanaa, has been in Houthi hands since September.) Hadi left Aden by boat on Tuesday, which suggests that he has left the country entirely – unless he plans to create another provi-sional capital on, say, the island of Socotra.
So if the coalition bombs the Houthis out of Aden, but does not commit ground troops
of its own, the real winners will be the al-Qaeda forces that wait just outside the city. Much the same goes for Taiz, the third city, and even for Sanaa itself: it is al-Qaeda or ISIS jihadis who stand to profit most from a Houthi retreat.
The only other force in Yemen that could offer any opposition to the jihadis is the fighters who have rallied to the support of exiled ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh since he re-turned to the country. But Saleh is allied to the Houthis and he is a Shia himself, so it’s hard to see the coalition switching its support from Hadi to him.
Yet it’s also hard to see the coalition committing a big army to Yemen. Everybody who has done that has regretted it. So while Sunni planes bomb Shia fighters, the jihadis may step in and sweep the board. An un-intended outcome, of course, but not an unforeseeable one.
Gwynne Dyer is an indepen-dent journalist whose articles are published in 45 countries.
The budget allocates $7,489 for each of its under 45s while spending $17,129 for each of its seniors.
Alberta Premier Jim Pren-tice primed the electorate for spending reductions in his 2015 budget by emphasizing that Al-berta spends $1,300 more per person than the national average. What he didn't tell us is how this average breaks down by age.
The bulk of Alberta's 2015 spending will be delivered through healthcare ($18.9 billion), education ($7.5 bil-lion), post-secondary ($5.8 billion) and human services ($4.2 billion). Of this money, approximately $17,129 is budgeted for each of the half million Albertans age 65 and over. By contrast, the budget spends $7,489 for each of the
2.6 million Albertans under 45.At these rates, Alberta al-
locates $2,000 more per senior than Saskatchewan, the next most generous province; and $6,000 more than B.C. However, it spends less than Saskatchewan per younger citizen, and only moderately more than B.C.
Alberta doesn't spend more on average. It spends more on retirees.
Medical care is at the heart of this pattern. Data show that approximately 41 per cent of the $18.9 billion healthcare budget will go to services and proce-dures for the 11.5 per cent of the population age 65 and over. This adds up to more than the
entire K-12 budget; a third more than the entire post-secondary budget; and nearly double the human services budget.
Such health spending might be fine if Albertans were get-ting bang for the buck, because we want the best for our ag-ing parents and grandparents. Alas, evidence shows Canadians spend more on medical care than many other rich countries, but get only middling or below aver-age access to doctors, CT scans, MRIs and patient satisfaction. All the while, doctors get above average remuneration.
In response, Alberta is the first province not to increase an-nual medical spending in some time. This change will make many of us anxious, because we cherish healthcare. So we must remain vigilant about the effects on seniors' access to care for their chronic conditions.
If there are problems, we should give further attention to Alberta's new healthcare levy, which will raise 3 per cent of the health budget. It's important to focus on revenue sources for the aging population's medical care because we have not done so historically. As citizens aged 65 and over grew from 9 per cent of Canada's population in 1976 to 15 per cent today, govern-ments added $32.5 billion in annual medical care spending for this age group. But govern-ments did not increase revenue to pay for it.
Instead, governments held post-secondary spending rela-tively constant since 1976, even though twice as many young people pursue this extra education to compete for jobs. Similarly, governments didn't build a child care system, even though young Alberta women increased their labour force
participation by 42 per cent.Although trade-offs like
these persist into the 2015 budget, we don't have to cut important services for seniors to escape them. Other reallocations are possible, or we can listen to the 92 per cent of Albertans who supported some kind of tax increase in the government's pre-budget consultation.
The Premier listened some-what, raising various taxes by $1.5 billion - one third from fuel tax increases. Since the govern-ment brags that Alberta will still maintain the lowest taxes on gas and diesel in the country, there remains room to think seriously about advice from the Ecofiscal Commission.
Supported by Suncor Ener-gy, and championed by Preston Manning, the Commission urges governments to raise revenue less from income taxes and more from systems that put a price on pollution. From a generational perspective, it's time Albertans think about this option.
Because we've spent de-cades raising medical care spending for the aging popu-lation without collecting additional revenue, we now have less to invest in younger gen-erations. By pricing pollution, Alberta could ease the squeeze that younger citizens face from larger student debts and child care fees that cost more than university. And it could do so while reducing environmental debts left primarily to younger Canadians, their kids, and the children they still want to have, because the province relies so heavily on resource extraction to pursue economic prosperity.
Dr. Paul Kershaw is a policy professor in the UBC School of Population Health, and founder of Generation Squeeze
Wednesday, April 1, 2015 PONOKA NEWS 19
BRIGHT & CLEAN
OPEN 6am-11pm
daily!3 sizes of washers2 sizes of
dryers
Comfortablesitting area
with tv
4205 64 ST., Ponoka • 403-783-8382P o n o k a • W e t a s k i w i n • L e d u c
Ponoka Riparian RestorationPROGRAM LAUNCH
Thursday, April 9, 4:30-8:30pm
(with demos down at the Battle River)
*SUPPER PROVIDED*
Ponoka County and Town of Ponoka residents:Join us to learn more about this exciting new initiative.
All are welcome!This is a free event, but please register by contacting
We want to work with YOU to improve the health of the Battle River and its tributary streams in Ponoka County and the Town of Ponoka. Funding is available to support landowner and community projects that achieve
this goal. Attend the program launch to learn more about the program and how you can get involved!
Along with our partners:
BY JEFFREY HEYDEN-KAYE
A student-led pep rally at St. Augustine Catholic School Friday, March 27 helped promote a spirit of unity.
The event was or-ganized by the student council, which focused on sports, science and aca-demics and incorporated a team effort to follow through with certain tasks.
The goal is to be in-clusive, explained teacher Pam Hoffman. “The student council plan ac-tivities throughout the pep rally that include as many students as possible.”
During the pep rally, a game of hungry hippos was organized with the students being the hip-pos. Guided by another student, the hungry hippo had to capture different sized balls.
Those balls were re-turned to the classroom and another set of play-ers continued with the challenge. The trick in de-termining points occurred in the classroom. Hoffman says students rolled two dice; one to determine
Pep rally unitesSt. Augustine students
The students of St. Augustine Catholic School played a rousing, live action version of Hungry Hippos during their pep rally on Friday, March 27. Photo by Amelia Naismith
which ball type earned points and the other deter-mined how many points they were worth.
“It's a challenge com-ing up with games that all students enjoy, but it is worth the effort. It is
very rewarding to see the students participating and having fun,” said Hoff-man.
20 PONOKA NEWS Wednesday, April 1, 2015
Mail entries to: Greg Gordon, Parade DirectorBox 4336, Ponoka, AB T4J 1R7
Volunteer Week is held annually to thank all the people who donate time to make life better for others.BE SURE TO RECOGNIZE YOUR VOLUNTEERS.Publishes: April 8Deadline: Thursday, April 2April 12-18, 2015
Volunteer Week
SpringTake advantage of this excellent opportunity to promote your products and services to those who might need advice in their upcoming spring needs.Publishes: April 22Deadline: Friday, April 10 (noon)
• Furnace • 8 Air Ducts• Furnace • 8 Air Ducts• Hot Water Tank • Rotary Brushing System• Hot Water Tank • Rotary Brushing System
HI–TEKFURNACE AND DUCT CLEANINGFURNACE AND DUCT CLEANING
Madness in MarchGrain markets con-
tinue to trade a little erratically with analysts mostly focused on acre-age estimates and weather forecasts for the northern hemisphere. The big re-port to watch is the March 31 USDA Stocks and Acreage report, which will give the USDA’s final pre-seeding forecast for how many acres of what are going into the ground this year. Thus, while the NCAA Final Four Basket-ball tournament is in full swing, the March Mad-
ness seen in the grains market will likely be a re-sult of traders jumping on any headline or weather report that has to do with adverse planting condi-tions.
There’s growing concern that parts of Okla-homa and Texas could see a big wheat rust problem with both stripe and leaf rust being observed. One specialist made the point that when stripe rust is observed before March (in the area), a large stripe rust epidemic is likely for the Southern Great Plains. The good news is that weather conditions for an exponential growth and spread of the disease have been minimal. Staying in the U.S., there’s chatter that U.S. producers will cut back on their purchase and application of pricey
fertilizers this year. In-tuitively, this would help lower fertilizer prices (would expect some eas-ing as demand falls) but we might see an average corn yield below trendline (which, conversely, would help support corn prices). Keep in mind that Purdue University estimates that it’ll cost about $446 USD/acre to grow corn this year (on average soil), com-pared to just $228 USD/acre for soybeans.
If you think crop input costs are high here, then consider the Black Sea where currency devalua-tions have made said costs about 30 per cent higher year-over-year! For this reason, I’m expecting less production that most ana-lysts are calling for in the region. This is mind, the Russian Hydrometcen-
tre (weather forecaster) is saying that Russian wheat winter crops are in worse conditions than they were last year but matches av-erage characteristics from the last five years.
Apr. 19 @ 7pm- Gospel Concert with “Visions”Regular Jam Session every Saturday at 1:00pm - NO jam Session Apr. 4, regular sessions will resume Apr. 11
PONOKA ART CLUB CLASSES25 Apr Pencil or Colored Pencil “Old Buildings & Cobblestones” - Frank HaddockClasses held at Drop In Centre - 10am - 4 pm Cost $25.00 paid at classContact Lyla Lang Langford 403-783-1887 or Bernice Edwards 403-783-6858
Pickleball cancelled until spring. Watch for announcement of start up. Billiards - Weekdays 1:00pm. Mon through Sat – 50 cents per game. Honour systemMonday Bridge 1:00pmMonday Whist - 1:30pmMonday Yoga - 6:30pm NEW PROGRAMTuesday Canasta - 1:00pm NEW PROGRAMTuesday & Thursday Exercise class 9:30amTuesday Shuffl eboard - 7pm. Wednesday Sewing Guild 9:30am to 4pmWednesday Cribbage 1:00pmWednesday Yoga - 6:30pm NEW PROGRAMWednesday Duplicate Bridge 7:00pmThursday Floor Curling - 1:00pm.Thursday Weaving 1:00pm Welcome to drop-in to see how it’s doneThursday Bridge 1:00pmThursday Art Club Drop In Noon to 4pmFriday “500” 1:00pmSaturday Yoga 9:30am NEW PROGRAM
Memberships available for 2015 - $10.00 per person. To rent our facility contact Dorothy @ 403-783-3027 or George @ 403-783- 3514 or leave a message @ 403-783-5012. Rentals are increasing and we would like to invite our town administration, business groups, and general public (Wedding, funeral, and Birthday groups), to inquire about rentals services and prices early in their planning. We may fi t your bill!
Saturday, April 11 ~ 10 am - 6 pmSunday, April 12 ~ 10 am - 4 pm
at PONOKA
DROP-IN CENTRE5015 - 46 Avenue
ANNUAL ART SHOW & SALEGUEST
EXHIBITORS
Ponoka Potters Guild
* DOOR PRIZES ** REFRESHMENTS ** SILENT AUCTION *
CASH DONATION AT THE DOOR
FEATURE ARTISTBernice EdwardsBernice Edwards
All new paintings by Club Members
Ponoka CapitolTheatre
4904 - 50th St.Ph. 403-783-3639
PLAYING April 3 - 9April 3 - 9
AGES 1264 $9.00
AGES 211& SENIORS
$7.00TUESDAYS
& MATINEES $6.00
3D$3 EXTRA
SCREEN #2
Cinderella113 min2:00 PM
Sat & Sun7:00 PM Daily
Rated G
SCREEN #1
Fast & Furious 7
138 min2:00 PM
Sat & Sun8:00 PM Daily
Rated 14A
The lifelong values and joy of good friendsA long time buddy
sent me an email last week wishing me a happy Friendship Week, and en-couraging everyone to send the same greetings to all of our cherished friends of yesterday and today. Tak-ing nothing away from the wonderful leadership, sup-port and occasional tough love that we received along the way from our amazing parents and family, most of us would definitely admit that without the countless friends, characters and ex-periences that we all have shared, we may not have survived or turned out as well as we have..
The Hammer will be the first to confess that I made quite a few mistakes along that exciting and topsy turvey road from tots to teens to adults, quite of-ten putting play ahead of priorities, but I can assure you that I was never alone in that great adventure. All of us, through the best and the worst of times, have surely received the sup-port and encouragement of friends and folks of all ages and walks of life that we have been so lucky to have rubbed shoulders with. We should be proud to look back and be as-sured that the precious friendship and interaction with others has helped us in many ways to become a better person, and to be hopefully looked upon as a pretty good wife, mom, sister, grandma, husband, dad, brother and grandpa, as well as a trusting and loyal friend and neigh-
bour. Here are some of the joys and lessons that we have been blessed to learn along the way, and should always strive to share with others as much as we can throughout our lives.
We have learned......*That the best class-
room in the world is at the feet of an elderly person.
*That when you’re in love, it shows.
*That just one person saying to us, ‘You’ve made my day.’ will always make our day.
*That having a child fall asleep in our arms is one of the most peaceful feelings in the world.
*That being kind is more important than being right.
*That you should nev-er say no to a gift from a child.
*That we can always pray for someone when we don’t have the strength to help them out in some other way.
*That no matter how serious or busy our life re-quires us to be, everyone needs a friend to act goofy with.
*That sometimes all a person needs is a hand to hold and a heart to under-stand.
*That the simple walks with our father or a best friend around the block on summer nights when we were children did wonders for us when we became adults.
*That life is like a roll of toilet paper...the closer it gets to the end, the faster it goes.
*That we should be glad that God doesn’t give us everything that we ask for.
*That money doesn’t always buy class.
*That it’s those small daily happenings that make life so spectacular.
*That under everyone’s hard shell there is someone who wants to be appreci-ated and loved.
*That to ignore the facts does not change the facts.
*That when we plan to get even with someone, we are only letting that person continue to hurt us.
*That love, not time, heals all wounds.
*That the easiest way for us to grow as a person is to surround ourselves with people who are smart-er than we are, then listen, and ask lots of questions.
*That everyone we meet deserves to be greet-ed with a smile, which will hopefully encourage them to return the favour.
*That no one is perfect until you fall in love with them.
*That life is tough, but we must be tougher.
*That opportunities are never lost, because some-one else will take the ones we missed.
*That when we harbour bitterness, happiness will usually dock elsewhere.
*That many of us wish that we could have told our mother or our father or a family member that we loved them one more time before it is to late.
*That one should keep their words soft and tender, because tomorrow, we may have to eat them.
*That a smile is an in-expensive way to improve our looks.
*That when our newly born grandchild holds our little finger in their little fist, we are hooked for life.
*That everyone wants to live on top of the moun-tain, but all the happiness and growth occurs when we are climbing it.
*That the less time we have to work with, the more things we will get done.
*That we should al-ways try to meet new friends, but we should always make an effort to keep in touch with our old friends....just a short visit for coffee, phone call, let-ter, card or email, and we should never push away the people who really care about us, because one day, they won’t come back.
Please cherish the true
meaning of Easter to the fullest, don’t forget some treats for the kids, and have a great week, all of you..
BREAKFAST & LUNCH SERVED MONDAY – FRIDAY 7AM – 2PM
CALNASH AG EVENTS CENTRE
1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8 9 10 11
12 13 14 15 16 17 18
19 20 21 22 23 24 25
26 27 28 29 30
Please check website regularly for furtherinformation & updates as info is
‘Subject to change’
APRILAPRILCALENDAR
Barrel Practice/Open Barrel Practice/Open GOOD FRIDAY - Team Roping Canada Ride 9am-4pm Ride 9am-1pm Arena Closed Roping - 9am Open Ride 1-4pm
Don Laing Trailer Ranch Roping 7-10pm TRC Roping - setupBarrel Series #12 Small Arena7pm Private Booking
6:9:30pm Large Arena
Team Roping Canada Open Ride 1-4pm Private Booking Barrel Practice/Open Barrel Practice/Open Barrel Bash Jackpot Barrel Bash at 10am Roping - 9am 8:30-10am Ride 9am-8pm Ride 9am-1pm at 7pm Slot Race at 7pm East & West 4H Beef Open Ride 1-4pm Practice 8-9pm Open Ride 10:30am-4pm Ranch Roping 7-10pm Central 4H Beef Mini Small Arena Show 8am Private Booking Private Booking Private Booking 6-9:30pm 6-9:30pm Large Arena 6-9:30pm Large Arena
Barrel Bash at 10am Ponoka Stampede Private Booking Barrel Practice/Open Barrel Practice/Open Open Ride 9am-4pm Top Gun Horse SaleAssoc. 8:30-10am Ride 9am-8pm Ride 9am-1pm Preview at 5pmQueen Contest - Open Ride 1-4pm Arena & Classroom Open Ride 10:30am-4pm Don Laing Trailer Ranch Roping 7-10pm 10am-3pm Barrel Series #13 Small Arena
Private Booking Final JP 7pm Private Booking 6-9:30pm Large Arena 6-9:30pm Large Arena
Top Gun Horse Sale Open Ride 1-4pm Private Booking Barrel Practice/Open ASHA Move in AB Saddlebred Horse AB Saddlebred Horse - Noon 8:30-10am Ride 9am-8pm Assoc. ‘Spring Fling’ Assoc. ‘Spring Fling’ Silver Valley 4H - Arena 7-9pm Open Ride 10:30am-4pm
AB Saddlebred Horse Open Ride 1-4pm Private Booking Barrel Practice/Open Barrel Practice/Open Assoc. ‘Spring Fling’ 8:30-10am Ride 9am-8pm Ride 9am-1pm Private Booking - Arena 6-9:30pm Open Ride Open Ride 1-4pm 10:30am-4pm
VJV MARKET REPORTMARKET REPORT MARCH 25, 2015
On Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - 1723 head of cattle went through our rings
TOTAL - 1723
Vold Jones & Vold Auction Co. Ltd. | Dawson Creek Auction
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Grain market madnesscontinued from page 20
The Russian Ag Ministry is suggesting that about 17 per cent of the winter crop was killed off but still expects 100M tonnes to be produced this year (I disagree, as mentioned). Next door in Ukraine, the Ag Ministry says that spring seeded acres is less than half of what was a year ago at this time (AKA behind schedule).
If you follow any American farmers on Twitter, you know that U.S. producers are hitting the fields already in the Midwest while wet weather has slowed seeding prog-ress in the Southeast (usually about 45% of corn crops planted by now Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas but almost nothing is in the ground). This in mind, the most recent National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin-istration outlook report says that things will continue to stay dry out on the U.S. west coast in 2015, with some of this arid weather possibly heading east into the Northern Plains and even western Great Lakes area (Some of this drier weather would be welcomed by areas of Eastern Saskatchewan and western Manitoba).
What’s for sure is that we’re seeing an early snow
melt this March (albeit some areas are still getting a little snowfall here and there). Seeing the black stuff re-ap-pear after a winter is given us the itch to get out there and turn that dirt over. Don’t go mad just yet though – spend some time in the shop and get everything ready to go. Proactiveness pays.
To growth,Brennan Turner
President, FarmLead.comBrennan Turner is originally from Foam Lake, SK,
where his family started farming the land in the 1920s. After completing his degree in economics from Yale Uni-versity and then playing some pro hockey, Mr. Turner spent some time working in finance before starting FarmLead.com, a risk-free, transparent online and now mobile grain marketplace (app available for iOS and Android). His weekly column is a summary of his free, daily market note, the FarmLead Breakfast Brief. He can be reached via email ([email protected]) or phone (1-855-332-7653).
Be environmentally friendlyRECYCLE YOUR PAPER!
ADVERTISE ADVERTISE HEREHERE
403.783.3311403.783.3311
Wednesday, April 1, 2015 PONOKA NEWS 23
SERVICES OFFERED • Personal & Corporate Income Tax Planning
• Business Advisory Service• Government Program Assistance
Ponoka Offi ce: 403-783-3315
Bashaw Offi ce (Tues): 780-372-3627
Wetaskiwin Offi ce (Mon & Thurs): 780-352-6488
WANT TO KNOW IF THE LIONS WANT TO KNOW IF THE LIONS COMMUNITY BUS IS AVAILABLE?COMMUNITY BUS IS AVAILABLE?
Check Outour Bus Calendar atponokalions.caponokalions.ca
One steer down: Bulldogger Denver Roy grabs hold Saturday, March 28 during the Cinch Spring Thaw Timed-Event Challenge at the Calnash Ag Event Centre. The event started March 27 and ended March 29. Photo by Jeffrey Heyden-Kaye
Cinch Spring Thaw timed event results
BY PONOKA NEWS STAFF
These are the results from the Cinch Spring Thaw Timed Event challenge over the weekend of Friday, March 27 to 29. The event was announced by four-time Canadian Pro Rodeo An-nouncer of the Year Brett Gardiner.
Friday’s Barrels for Buckles
There were 226 riders in Friday’s open event. 1D:First: Traci MacDonald on Copy N ParadiseSecond: Jenny Traub on FoxyThird: Kallie Lamb on Per-fect Centerfold2D: Brittany Kaiser on DorieSheila Chamulke on Pete
Tamara Bonnett on Savvy3D: Leanne MacKenzie on Mon-eyShelby Grinde on CosbyChael Nykolyn on RioSaturday’s Spring Thaw results: 1D Barrels with 234 entries in the open category:Rene LeClerq on FlitMarci Laye on HopeMadelyn Schauer on Gam-bler2D: Megan Ganzer on HuffyDee Jay Reid on RosieDeryn Rutz on Jessie3D: Pam Havens on HarleyPenny French on DrifterLeanne Stav on PonchoTeam roping open with to-tal payout of $18,254:Winners of the average:
Ponoka cowboy sweeps Canadian College FinalsBY AMELIA NAISMITH
It may have only been his first time at the Cana-dian College Finals Rodeo (CCFR) but Ponoka’s Lo-gan Bonnett still managed to out ride and out wrestle most of his competition, winning several accolades.
Bonnett competed at the Canadian Finals Rodeo late last year and had high hopes for himself going into this year’s college finals, which took place in Edmonton March 26 to 28.
Qualifying in team rop-ing (heading), tie down roping and steer wrestling; Bonnett won the team rop-ing championship along with his partner Leonard Johnson, the tie down rop-ing championship, the finals fast time in team rop-ing, finals fast time in tie down roping, finals men’s
high money winner and the Canadian Intercollegiate Men’s High Point champi-onship.
“Team roping is my main event so I had high expectations,” said Bonnett.
“I had a really good ex-perience,” he added.
On March 26 he fin-ished first in team roping, third in steer wrestling and fifth or sixth in tie down roping. “I was a bit long in calf roping.”
The second night Bon-nett won the team roping and the tie down roping. In his final performance he won tie down and placed second in team roping.
“It was really good. It was a bigger finals than I expected. The competition was really good,” said Bon-nett.
Going into the competi-tion Bonnett was the high
point boy. Bonnett graduated from
Ponoka Secondary Campus last spring and now attends Olds College. He also com-petes on the Olds College Broncos Rodeo Team.
Logan Bonnett Submitted photo
Brett Buss and Klay WhyteBrett Buss and Chase Simp-sonJustin and Brett McCarrollTeam roping #12Winners of the average:Jesse Tompson and Don De-PaoliLuke Skocdopole and Monty GernerTyler Johnson and JC DaviesSteer wrestling with a total payout of $3,220:Winners of the average:Johnny Webb, time 9.8 sec-ondsRowdy Hays, 10.8Matt Richardson, 11.5Tie-down roping with a to-tal payout of $3,160:Winners of the averageRandy Smith with a time of 18.4 on two runsVirgil Poffenroth, 19.6 on 2Tyler Johnson, 20.2 on 2
Sports
24 PONOKA NEWS Wednesday, April 1, 2015
PonokaPonokaVISITOR’S GUIDEVISITOR’S GUIDE& BUSINESS DIRECTORYY20152015From the Ponoka Stampede to the beautiful Battle River valley, Ponoka offers many attractions to tourists and visitors. The Ponoka News will be publishing a 2015 Ponoka Visitor’s Guide in May. Presented in pony-tabloid format with a full colour glossy cover, the 2015 Ponoka Visitor’s Guide will provide essential information for visitors and tourists who come to our community.
With a distribution of 10,000 copies, the 2015 Ponoka Visitor’s Guide will be circulated to visitor information centres throughout Alberta, as well as local hotels, motels, bed & breakfast facilities and retail shops.
Take advantage of this excellent opportunity to promote your products and services.
PLEASE CALL FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO BOOK YOUR SPACE:403-783-3311 • FAX: 403-783-6300
COVERINCLUDES FULL COLOUR
Back Cover: $1135Inside Front: $885Inside Back: $885
Kahl Neufeld of Duchess Storm takes a shot on goal Friday, March 27 during the Tournament of Champions novice and atom hockey tournament last weekend. A team from as far as the Northwest Territories came to compete.
Photo by Jeffrey Heyden-Kaye
BY JEFFREY HEYDEN-KAYE
Young hockey players had their last hurrah before the hockey season ended last weekend at the Ponoka Culture and Recreation Complex.
Called the Tournament of Champions, the event was held in three municipali-ties including Ponoka Friday, March 27 to 29. Co-founder Tom McKinlay started the event 19 years ago as an opportunity to give young hockey teams a chance to enjoy the sport one last time.
Ponoka, Innisfail and Lacombe played hosts for the tournament, which brought novice and atom teams together. McKin-lay said they started the Tournament of Champions to give novice teams an op-portunity of their own. While older teams finished their provincials and regular league games, there was nothing available for the younger players.
Demand for atom teams developed over the years. “We’ve had people that have been with the tournament for five years.”
“That’s how dedicated people are,”
added McKinlay. He says they usually fill up by
December and this year teams from Sas-katchewan and Yellowknife, NWT came to join in on the action. In Ponoka there were 32 teams that competed. McKinlay says Ponoka is centrally located and the hotels and services are available for par-ticipants. He also feels the Ponoka arena is ideal because of the availability of two rinks.
When McKinlay started, they had a goal of 64 teams competing in total. De-mand grew so fast that they at one time they had more than 200 teams competing. While interest is strong, McKinlay said he is comfortable with 96 to 128 teams in the tournament.
Why does he do it? “You can come watch these kids give everything they’ve got,” he explains.
McKinlay loves the game of hockey; he coaches a bantam team in Lacombe and he said he looked forward to seeing his grandson play in the tournament this year. For him, and the organizers, it’s all about the love of hockey.
Wednesday, April 1, 2015 PONOKA NEWS 25
Sports
Skaters with the Ponoka Skate Club show off their medals Wednesday, March 25 at the Ponoka Culture and Recreation Complex. Here (back row) are Madison Underhill (second row l-r): Bailey Rush, Kate McNalley, Janaya Rawjii, Rylan Hagemann, Tegan Lefebvre, Madison Fleck and Tori McNalley. Missing from the photo are: Skye Whitford, Emily David and Mallory McNalley. Photo by Jeffrey Heyden-Kaye
BY JEFFREY HEYDEN-KAYE
Skaters with the Ponoka Skating Club had a strong weekend in Red Deer Thursday, March 19 to 22 during a fun skate competi-tion.
A total of 11 skaters re-turned with medals from the Red Deer Skating Club’s Fun on Ice competition.
"I had the privilege of coaching many of the skat-ers who represented Ponoka this past weekend at the Fun on Ice competition in Red Deer,” said coach Brandi McClaflin.
She is proud of their performance and says they made some great accom-plishments over the season.
“Whether the girls were competing in single or team events they all did a tre-mendous job representing our club and town bringing home numerous medals,” she said. Medal winners: • Bailey Rush: free skate,
gold and interpretative, gold.
• Kate McNalley: ele-ments, silver; free skate, gold and team event, gold.
• Tori McNalley: free skate, gold; interpretive, gold; team event, gold and elements, gold.
Ponoka skaters return with medals from
competition• Tegan Lefebvre: free
skate, silver; interpre-tive, silver and team event, gold.
• Maddy Underhill: free skate, gold; team event, gold and elements, sil-ver.
• Janaya Rawji: elements, gold and free skate, bronze.
• Madison Fleck: ele-ments, gold; free skate, gold and team event, gold.
• Rylan Hagemann: in-terpretive, silver; free skate, gold and team event, gold.
• Skye Whitford: inter-pretive, silver and free skate, bronze.
• Emily David: interpre-tive, silver; team event, gold and free skate, sil-ver.
• Mallory McNalley: free skate, gold; elements, gold and team event, gold.
EmbraceNature
please recycle your paper when you no longer need it anymore!
MULLIN, Judith “Judy” Jean
On March 26, 2015 Judy Mullin passed away at the age of 68 years.She is survived by her loving family; children, Christine (Brent) Frandsen, Joanne (Dean) Graff, Matthew Mullin and Robert (Nichole) Mullin; grandchildren, Eric, Ashlyn, Karianne and Kyle Frandsen, Sheldon and Emilee Graff, Peyton and
Jayden Mullin, and Rose Mullin; sisters, Betty Recknagle, Iona (Ron) Chaytors, Leona Grimm; sister-in-law, Judy Zimmel; brothers-in-law, Wesley (Gail) Mullin and Micheal Mullin as well as numerous nieces, nephews, extended family members and many friends.Judy was predeceased by her husband, Rod Mullin; parents, Melvin and Laverne Zimmel; brother, Charles Zimmel and brother-in-law, Don Recknagle.Memorial Service: Baker Funeral Chapel, 5302-50 Avenue, Wetaskiwin on Thursday, April 2, 2015 at 2:00 p.m.In Judy’s memory, donations are gratefully accepted to the Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary or to the Vang Lutheran Church Cemetery Fund.
BAKER FUNERAL CHAPEL, Wetaskiwin in care of arrangements. (780) 352-2501 or (888) 752-2501
Condolences: www.womboldfuneralhomes.com
NELSON, MURIEL JEAN
On March 27, 2015 Mrs. Muriel Nelson of Ponoka passed away at the Red Deer Regional Hospital at the age of 83 years. She is lovingly remembered by her children Betty (John) Bremner, Alan (Brenda) Nelson, and Donna (Jason) Sawyer; grandchildren Jenny-Rae (Aaron) Turnbull, Danny (Tr-
ish) Nelson, Shanda Sawyer, Reed Nelson, Shelby Sawyer, and Kevin Wiles; great-grandchildren Malachi, Ezra, and Chance; as well as numerous brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law, nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends. Muriel was predeceased by her husband Alton Nelson and her son Ray Nelson. A Funeral Service was held at the Royal Canadian Legion, Ponoka at 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, April 1, 2015. The Interment Service took place at Forest Home Cemetery. Memorial donations are gratefully accepted to the Alberta Heart and Stroke Foundation. To express condolences to Muriel’s family, please visit www.womboldfuneralhomes.com.
Arrangements Entrusted ToPONOKA FUNERAL HOME
~ A Wombold Family Funeral Home ~
SPERBERErwin Sperber passed away on March 23, 2015 with his family by his side. Erwin was born March 8, 1936 in Poland. He immigrated to Canada in 1954 and married his wife Irma on July 12, 1958. The spent the last 51 years living just north of Ponoka. He leaves to mourn his wife of 56 years, Irma; son Robert (Peggy) and their sons Daniel & Nathan; son Richard (Kelly), their son
Luke and daughter Rebecca Simpson (Levi); son Ronald (Janet) and their daughters Samantha & Jessica; and son Mark (Chris) and their children Ryan, Austin, Sarah, and Evan. A Funeral Service was held at Trinity Lutheran Church in Ponoka at 2:00 p.m. on Friday, March 27, 2015 with the Interment Service following at Forest Home Cemetery. Memorial donations are gratefully accepted to the Alberta Lung Association or to S.T.A.R.S. To express condolences to Erwin’s family, please visit www.womboldfuneralhomes.com.
Arrangements Entrusted To PONOKA FUNERAL HOME
~ A WOMBOLD FAMILY FUNERAL HOME ~
Jane BowieOn March 21, 2015 Mrs. Jane Bowie of Ponoka passed away at the age of 69 years. She will be lovingly remembered by her husband Charlie; daughters Jeni and Diane; step-children Cody,Codyanne, Bonnie-Jean, Keri, and Kathy; many grandchildren and great-grandchildren; sisters Susan and Katie; brothers Jim, Matthew, Sam, Jeremy, and Peter; as well as many other relatives and friends. A Funer-
al Service was held at the Ponoka Funeral Home at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 28th with the Interment Service following at Forest Home Cemetery. In gratitude for the care given, memorial donations in lieu of fl owers to the Red Deer Hospice Society are appreciated. To express condolences to Jane’s family, please visit www.womboldfuneralhomes.com.
Arrangements Entrusted To PONOKA FUNERAL HOME
~ A WOMBOLD FAMILY FUNERAL HOME ~
LAWTONMichael Raymond Wayne Lawton passed away March 23, 2015 after a battle with cancer. Michael was born February 7, 1962 in Edmonton AB. He leaves behind to mourn wife Angela Crane, daughter Courtney Crane (Kevin) Son and daughter Sammarah and Atreyu. Son Michael Crane (Briana). He also leaves behind parents Harold and Theresa Lawton, sister Jeanette and brothers Dale (Priscilla) daughter Paige, Darrell (Heidi) son Jeremy, along with numerous other
relatives. Ceremony was held on Friday March 27 at 11 am at Raymond and Alice Crane residence. Burial service at Samson Central Cemetery to follow in Hobbema. In lieu of fl owers, donations gratefully accepted to Unit 32 Palliative Care Red Deer Regional Hospital.
VOLD, JanetOur deepest sympathy to the Vold family of Ponoka from the Daines family in Innisfail with the passing of such a wonderful lady, Janet Vold. The rodeo world has lost one of the greatest rodeo secretaries ever.
SUMMER EMPLOYMENT 2015Recreation Director, Landscape HelperMeridian Beach Gull Lake is looking for a Recreation Director for 3 mornings a week for July and August.
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Some experience doing with gardening equipment .Experience in Early Childhood Education-enjoy working with children and outside.Must have own transportation.We are located at the North East end of Gull Lake.Email resume to [email protected]
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The Council of Ponoka County has been asked by James and Ellen Wall to amend Land Use By-Law 7-08-LU as follows:
Reclassify the existing 26-acre subdivision in the SE 7-42-27-W4 from Agricultural District to Country Residential Hobby Farm District to allow for subdivision of the rezoned area into two parcels.
Before considering the by-law, Council will hold a Public Hearing at which any person claiming to be affected may ask questions or make comments. This hearing is scheduled for 11:15 a.m. on Tuesday, April 28, 2015 in the Council Chambers of the County Administration Building.
A copy of the proposed by-law may be inspected at the County Administration Building, Ponoka, Alberta during regular offi ce hours.
Ponoka CountyPUBLIC NOTICE
Charlie B. CutforthChief Administrative Offi cerPonoka County4205 - Highway #2APONOKA, Alberta T4J 1V9Phone: 783-3333Fax: 783-6965e-mail: PonokaCounty @PonokaCounty.com
Amendment to Land Use By-Law 7-08-LU
The Council of Ponoka County has been asked by Rollie and Joanne Comeau to amend Land Use By-Law 7-08-LU as follows:
Reclassify part of the NE 2-43-25-W4 (approximately 10 acres) from Agricultural District to Country Residential District to allow future subdivision of the rezoned area into 5 two-acre parcels.
Before considering the by-law, Council will hold a Public Hearing at which any person claiming to be affected may ask questions or make comments. This hearing is scheduled for 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday, April 28, 2015 in the Council Chambers of the County Administration Building.
A copy of the proposed by-law may be inspected at the County Administration Building, Ponoka, Alberta during regular offi ce hours.
Ponoka CountyPUBLIC NOTICE
Charlie B. CutforthChief Administrative Offi cerPonoka County4205 - Highway #2APONOKA, Alberta T4J 1V9Phone: 783-3333Fax: 783-6965e-mail: PonokaCounty @PonokaCounty.com
Acreages/Farms ..............3010Houses/Duplexes ............3020Condos/Townhouses........3030Manufactured Homes ......3040Four Plexes/Six Plexes ....3050Suites ..............................3060Cottages/Seasonal ..........3070Roommates Wanted ........3080Rooms for Rent................3090Motels/Hotels ..................3100Offices ..............................3110Stores/Commercial ..........3120Industrial ..........................3130Warehouse Space............3140Garage Space..................3150Storage Space ................3160Land ................................3170Pasture ............................3180Mobile Lot ........................3190Misc. for Rent ..................3200
Wanted to Rent#3250 - #3390
Acreages/Farms ..............3255Houses/Duplexes ............3260Suites ..............................3270Rooms..............................3280Manufactured Homes ......3290Housesitting Wanted ........3300Garage Space..................3310Storage Space ................3320Stores/Commercial ..........3330Office Space ....................3340Industrial ..........................3350Warehouse Space............3360Resorts & Cottages..........3370Pasture/Land....................3380Mobile Lot ........................3390
Houses/Duplexes 3020
AVAILABLE IMMEDIATELY2 bdrm, 1 ½ bath in 4-plexN/S, N/P • $900 + D.D.
Plus utilities403-704-0310
AVAILABLE APRIL 154 bdrm house
in Ponoka$1100/mnth plus D.D. Plus utilities
Call 403-783-1801
4 BDRM. house, Ponoka on quiet cul-de-sac, fully fenced yard, det. single garage, fresh paint, new
blinds, 5 newer appliance, ceiling fans in every room,
fully dev. bsmt., 3 1/2 baths, absolutely NO Pets
or smokers. $1500. rent/sd., tenant pays all utilities. Min. 12 months
lease. Avail. immediately. 403-619-5758
4 Plexes/6 Plexes 30503 BEDROOM IN 4-PLEX,
IN PONOKA.4 appliances. Close to
swimming pool & seniors drop-in Centre, very quiet,
mature tenants only 403-783-5493
4 Plexes/6 Plexes 3050RIMBEY: 2 bdrm., open
concept, incld’s most utilities, off-street parking, storage & onsite laundry, no pets. 403-843-4894
Suites 3060AVAILABLE APRIL 1
Bachelor suite$600/month
Utilities included 403-790-6011Large 2 BDRM bsmt. suite in
PONOKA incld’s util’s, washer/dryer, no pets, non partier, N/S. Working tenant only. 403-704-1645
PONOKA 1 bdrm. clean quiet adult building, no pets $735/mo. plus power avail., heat/water incld. Feb. 1, 403-348-6594
looking for suite in Ponoka or Wetaskiwin, $500/mo. Connie @ 403-586-4036
Real Estate#4000 - #4190
Realtors & Services..........4010Houses for Sale................4020Houses Wanted................4030Condos/Townhouses ........4040Acreages ..........................4050Acreages Wanted ............4060Farms/Land ......................4070Farms/Land Wanted ........4080Manufactured/Mobile Homes ..................4090Income Property ..............4100Commercial Property ......4110Industrial Property ............4120Cottages/Resort Property ..4130Businesses for Sale..........4140Buildings for Sale ............4150Lots for Sale ....................4160Out of Town Property ......4170Investment Opportunities ..4180Mortgages Bought/Sold....4190
HousesFor Sale 4020EXECUTIVE BUNGALOW - 3842+/- sq. ft. on 33.98
title acres & 5.50 Acre Lot w/32, 440+/- sq. ft.
Commercial Industrial Buildings. Ritchie Bros.
Auctioneers Unreserved Auction, May 7, Getkate
Property near Lethbridge, Alberta. Jerry Hodge:
780-706-6652; rbauction.com/realestate.
HIDDEN GEMEnjoy the seclusion of this quality, 5 bdrm., 3 bath, Exe. home, furn., 4 + att. Garage, PRIVATE Boat DOCK! Offered under
Appraised Value at 749K ! Be HERE for MAY LONG!
Dori Westin, Coldwell Banker Ontrack Realty
403-357-9010
Ponoka Veterinary Clinic Dr. Murray Jacobson Dr. Clayton West Dr. Ashley Shannon
Ferrybank Farming Co. has filed application RA15003 with the Natural Resources ConservationBoard (NRCB) to obtain approval to expand a confined feeding operation on SW 10-44-27 W4Min Ponoka County. The application is to increase their chicken broiler operation to 73,200 and toconstruct two new broiler barns.
Filing a Statement of ConcernAny person who is directly affected by these applications may submit a statement of concern tothe NRCB. The statement of concern must be received by the NRCB on or before May 1, 2015.Submissions should be made to the NRCB address provided below. A copy of the statement ofconcern will be sent to the applicant for review and comment. Statements submitted regarding theapplication are public records.
Your statement of concern should include your name, the legal land description of your residenceor landholdings, mailing address, phone number, fax number (if applicable) and a detailedsummary about how you would be directly affected by this application.
Failure to submit a statement of concern may affect your rights to apply for an NRCB review.
Viewing the ApplicationA complete copy of the application and supporting documents submitted to the NRCB underAgricultural Operation Practices Act may be viewed during regular business hours at the RedDeer office of the NRCB or on the NRCB website www.nrcb.ca. If you require further information,please contact the approval officer listed below
Francisco Echegaray, Approval Officer#303, 4920 - 51 StreetRed Deer, AB T4N [email protected] 403-340-5027 F 403- 340-5599
The closing date for submissions: May 1, 2015Dated at Red Deer, AB, on March 26, 2015
www.nrcb.ca
30 PONOKA NEWS Wednesday, April 1, 2015
Wednesday, April 1, 2015 PONOKA NEWS 31
Acreages 4050
HIGH and DRY4 Acres, 1 Mile E of
Caroline, Trees on N Property Line, Power to
Property, $129,000. Dori Westin, Coldwell
Banker ONTRACK Realty 403-357-9010
ManufacturedHomes 4090CHOOSE FROM 8 Brand
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Public Notice#6000
Public Notices ..................6010Special Features ..............6050
DO YOUR PART
RECYCLE YOUR PAPER!
Canadians increasingly opting for peace of mind when it comes
to their mortgage:
As the spring home-buying season ap-proaches, a new CIBC poll, conducted by Nielsen, finds that 57 per cent of Cana-dians are opting to lock in their monthly mortgage payments at today’s historically low interest rates. That’s up sharply from 48 per cent in 2014 and just 39 per cent in 2011.
Highlights of the poll include:57 per cent of Canadians would choose
a fixed-rate mortgage if they were to ac-quire, refinance or renew a mortgage today
30 per cent would pick a variable-rate mortgage
11 per cent were undecided between fixed and variable, down from 19 per cent in 2014 and 25 per cent in 2011
44 per cent expect higher mortgage rates next year, down from 47 per cent last year and 61 per cent in 2011
42 per cent expect rates to stay the same in the next 12 months
9 per cent believe rates will be lower in the next 12 months
“The poll results confirm what many of our clients are telling us, that they don’t expect rates to go any lower and, in today’s housing market, they want the comfort and security of knowing exactly what their
mortgage payments will be for the next four or five years,” says Barry Gollom, Vice President at CIBC. “With the high cost of housing, there is definitely a strong case to be made for the predictability and financial peace-of-mind that a fixed-rate mortgage can provide.”Choosing the right mortgage
As a growing number of Canadians see fixed-rate mortgages as the best choice for them, Canadians are more decisive about the type of mortgage they would choose today. Only 11 per cent are undecided in 2015, compared to 25 per cent in 2011.
Meanwhile, the number of Canadians selecting variable-rate mortgages has held steady around 30 per cent over the last five years.
Whether buying, refinancing or renew-ing a mortgage, Canadians need to think beyond rates when making a decision on a mortgage.
“While rates tend to factor heavily into your decision whether to go fixed or vari-able, it’s extremely important to make the decision based on your own financial situ-ation and how well you’re able to juggle making your monthly payment, paying household expenses and saving for your
retirement or your children’s education,” says Mr. Gollom. “There are multiple fac-tors that you should consider with your financial advisor. You want to be able to sleep at night and not worry that you won’t be able to make your monthly payments.”
Today’s low-rate environment is an op-portunity
Today’s low-rate environment is an opportunity for first-time homebuyers or those looking to refinance, says Mr. Gol-lom.
“Homeowners have a rare chance to lock in at historically low rates,” he says. “Many people may also be able to use this as an opportunity to make extra payments over that time so that they can pay off their mortgage sooner.”
Each week, Nielsen Consumer Insights interviews just over 1000 Canadians through teleVox, the company’s national telephone omnibus survey. These data were gathered in a sample of 1,015 Canadians between March 5-8, 2015. A sample of this size has a margin of error of +/-3.1%, 19 times out of 20. Some sample sizes for re-gional and age groups under Key Findings are smaller than typically reported and provided only as reference data.
A new survey finds Canadians not banking on further rate cuts and are electing to lock in
the benefits of a fixed-rate mortgage
32 PONOKA NEWS Wednesday, April 1, 2015
YOUR LEGACY TEAM
Pat BoardmanSales Manager
Leanne BurtonSales Consultant
Trevor FeragenSales Consultant
Bob MassSales Consultant
“Let your Legacy start here.”
www.legacyfordponoka.ca
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