way to go red deer
In times of emergency, Albertans come together, and when a major storm hit Central Alberta on Tuesday evening, that’s exactly what I saw in Red Deer. While strong winds caused some significant property damage and disrupted power to many residents, I’m heartened to see no reports of significant injuries as a result.
I wish to express my gratitude for the efforts of the first responders and city staff who worked to ensure the community was safe and that our most vulnerable neighbours were cared for. I would also like to extend my gratitude to those who continue to work to clean up the debris and restore essential services to residents – there will be much work to don in the coming days, and I appreciate your service to our community.
Considering the impact, I reached out to our Mayor Tara Veer to offer any assistance I could provide, and continue to be available to support local officials and residents in the days and weeks to come as our community recovers from this event.
Kim Schreiner, MLA, Red Deer - North
Stop the hate
Once again the province of Alberta makes news by becoming the lead in hate crimes. The simple answer to this question is the economy but I would argue it runs deeper than that. Every time someone expresses hatred towards your local politician, provincial politician or federal politician it adds to the level of hate. Every time someone expresses hatred towards a Muslim group or any other identifiable group it adds to the level of hate. I would argue that the level of acceptable language has declined to the point of acceptance of ignorance. Language is a powerful tool that is often abused, exploited and mistreated. Some within our society have become comfortable expressing views that they haven’t bothered to understand or research. A consequence of this is a freedom to offer hatred instead of understanding, love and compassion. My Mother always taught me that “hate” is a very strong word that I was never allowed to use. It is time that we all follow my late mother’s lead and erase the word “hate” from our vocabulary and more importantly some people’s behaviours.
Barry Johns, Sylvan Lake