| Monday, Oct. 28
Edmonton Public Schools is facing an unexpected $1.69 million increase to its budget because the province’s new regulations prohibit electronic tabulators in the 2025 election...
The Mustard Seed has permanently closed the doors to its 96 Street church. “What I see in the evening breaks my heart,” says Colin Chong, president of the Refuge Mission Foundation...
Halloween is almost here! Check out the Edmonton house featuring $150,000 in decorations...
Last-minute costume ideas? Feedback on today's newsletter? Send your thoughts to ksmall@postmedia.com.
— Kaylen Small |
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'Unforeseen and unexpected': Bill 20 will cost Edmonton Public Schools $1.69 million more than budgeted for 2025 election
Edmonton’s largest school board is facing an unexpected $1.69 million increase to its budget after the province’s new regulations for its contentious Bill 20 prohibits the use of electronic tabulators in the 2025 election. According to a report by Edmonton Public Schools, the division contracts the City of Edmonton as its election administrator and pays 29 per cent of total election costs associated with planning and delivering the elections for trustees. Edmonton Elections projected an additional $1.69 million in costs for the division in the 2025 municipal election.
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'Breaks my heart': Mission Hall raising alarm over uptick in vulnerable women demanding services
On average, the Refuge Mission Hall, a soup kitchen located in Downtown Edmonton, serves 200 people a night. An increase in homeless people is stretching their services and with each year the non-profit Christian organization sees more vulnerable people on the street, especially women. Colin Chong, president of the Refuge Mission Foundation, has worked in the sector for more than 20 years and for the past six years has been president of the organization, which remains open 365 days a year. |
Mustard Seed's 96 Street church permanently shutting down
The Mustard Seed has permanently closed the doors to its 96 Street church as of Thursday. The not-for-profit Christian organization has been running services in the church since the 1980s but after nearly 30 years the decision to close the building came down to the feasibility of the aging building’s upkeep and the overall safety risk it would pose to guests and staff. |
North Edmonton home boasts $150K in Halloween and Christmas decorations
For years, Maisie’s Magical Christmas House in north Edmonton has been a staple during the winter holidays. But for the fourth year in a row, it’s been revamped for the Halloween season with the theme “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” Jerry Dolynchuk has always been creative. The Edmontonian has been decking out his home at 9619 144 Ave. for the past 20 years with Christmas lights and decorations and each year he adds a twist to make it exciting for visitors. |
Around the province and beyond
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Alberta publishes new accessibility standard guide, but minister says more work to do
The Alberta government has published a new accessibility design guide, marking the first major update to the document since 2017. The guide is meant to help architects, city planners, the construction industry and the public understand and implement building rules to make public and private spaces more accessible for those with mobility challenges and disabilities. The guide doesn’t contain new building rules, but it does formalize a number of building code changes made earlier this year. |
Draisaitl ices his own cake with birthday gift to Edmonton Oilers
Instead of blowing out the candles on a cake, it looked like Leon Draisaitl would have to spend his birthday explaining how the Edmonton Oilers blew another game. The Oilers didn’t just limp into Sunday’s tilt with the Detroit Red Wings, they rolled in a coffin, showing zero signs of life in a first period that should have been the end of them. “We got outplayed quite badly,” admitted Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch. “We only gave up 13 shots, but the shot attempts were 28. If you give up 28 shot attempts in 20 minutes, all five on five, you’re not doing much.”
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Stuart Skinner settling in after Edmonton Oilers' shaky start to season
Edmonton Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner’s game today looks light years better than it did two weeks ago when he got the hook in that opening night 6-0 crash and burn loss to Winnipeg Jets. Skinner, who got the hook after giving up five goals on 13 shots in half a game to kick off the season, has a .915 save percentage and a 2:38 goals against average in his last five games as the Oilers head to Detroit to kick off a three-game road trip. He’ll probably get the start there, with Calvin Pickard going in the back-to-back Monday night in Columbus before they finish in the resurgent Predators in Nashville Wednesday.
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Ford’s heroics and walk-off rouge lift Elks over Argonauts in overtime
As Elks quarterback Tre Ford was about to begin his post-game media availability, Toronto Argonauts general manager Mike “Pinball” Clemons” poked his head into the Edmonton players’ lounge. He pointed at Ford and called out, “I love you, man.” Even Ford’s opponents admired how the Canadian quarterback rallied Edmonton to a 31-30 overtime win over the Argos Friday at Commonwealth Stadium. It was a game that meant nothing in the CFL standings, but, for Ford, the game offered him a chance to showcase himself to the league. The former first-round draft pick is not under contract for next season.
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Three to See Edmonton Events: CKUAmy, Juiceboxers launch and Priyanka
Juiceboxers launch: As the throbbing literary heart of McCauley, Paper Birch Books is a smartly-curated mix of used and select new tomes — now including co-owner Benjamin Hertwig’s fresh first novel, Juiceboxers. Set in ’90-’00s Edmonton, its awkward, F-bomber protagonist navigates masculinity, militarism and entrenched racism in a tragicomic story of the inner city. “I once taught a writing workshop where a fellow veteran said that no one thinks about the war in Afghanistan any more,” explains Hertwig, who served overseas.
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A dog braves the chilly river waters to retrieve a stick at Buena Vista Park in Edmonton on Oct. 26, 2024. Photo by Shaughn Butts/Postmedia |
Rowboats float at the end of the Edmonton Rowing Club dock on the North Saskatchewan River on Oct. 26, 2024. Photo by Shaughn Butts/Postmedia |
Riverbend Gardens had a large selection of big pumpkins at the Strathcona Farmers' Market in Edmonton on Oct. 26, 2024. Photo by Shaughn Butts/Postmedia |
Connor McDavid leads Edmonton Oilers after slow start. Cartoon by Malcolm Mayes |
Letters To The Editor welcome
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Saturday's letters: Self-regulating professions protects the public
Premier Smith has said her government will review the role of professional regulatory bodies like the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta (CPSA) and the Law Society of Alberta to limit how they can police their members, “specifically to ensure that professional regulatory bodies are limited to regulating their members’ professional competence and conduct, and not their speech.” U of C law professor Lorian Hardcastle wrote on social media that this amounts to “the freedom to spread misinformation without professional consequences.”
I agree. Sadly, Ms. Smith is not a member of a regulated profession as she might have better insight about professional regulation, how it works, and its intent to regulate the profession in the public interest. Should a member run afoul of the expectations of a regulated member, his or her conduct is measured against, in medicine in Alberta, the Code of the Ethics of the Canadian Medical Association and the Standards of Practice of the CPSA.
For example, the Code of Ethics advises physicians to “provide opinions consistent with the current and widely accepted views of the profession when interpreting scientific information to the public; clearly indicate when you present an opinion that is contrary to the accepted views of the profession.” This is hardly an Orwellian expectation.
The UCP’s planned action is an example of libertarian philosophy going too far; yes, people have a right to hold and express opinions, but when a physician expresses a scientifically unsupported opinion, especially one that may put the public at risk, that physician is acting unprofessionally. Ms. Smith is simply wrong. Her attack on professional self-regulation must be strenuously opposed. Trevor Theman, former registrar of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta, 2005-2017 |
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