Opinion

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On the trail of a good idea

To Clearwater County and the groups supporting a trail link from Rocky Mountain House to Nordegg.

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Health-care questions remain

The misadventure over the fate of eight hospital helipads in Alberta should be a crash course in public relations and consultation for Alberta Health Services executives. It should also now be clear to Albertans that they must demand a role in any renovation of health services. Public vigilance in examining the process, and voicing needs and concerns, is essential.

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Wind power welcome

People like to be part of the solution, not part of the problem, says Red Deer home builder Gord Bontje, president and owner of Laebon Homes. That’s why Laebon will soon have a wind turbine spinning outside their offices west of the city.

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No wonder there’s violence in China

“The incidents in China are, simply put, a genocide. There’s no point in interpreting this otherwise,” said Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyib Erdogan recently. He was talking about the deaths of at least 184 people in the recent street violence in Xinjiang, the huge province that occupies the north-western corner of China.

MPs’ expenses must be made public

Could Canadian taxpayers have paid for the clearing of a moat around the house of a Member of Parliament? However unlikely this is, taxpayers may never know.

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An economic engine

What do gospel music, sex shows, hockey, the Olympic torch run, Christmas trees and tractors have in common?

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He’s no Nelson Mandela

It’s official! Former prime minister Jean Chretien is about to join the ranks of civil rights leader Nelson Mandela and humanitarian Mother Teresa.

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Emergency warning system can’t be trusted

On the way to Calgary in June, my car radio was suddenly interrupted with an emergency broadcast. It was an Amber Alert for a missing teenage girl allegedly abducted in Edmonton.

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Here the real beef, not an April Fool’s joke

Gee I wish it would have been April last month. Then the article I wrote about Australian live cattle coming to Alberta to be slaughtered and sold as Alberta beef would have qualified as an April Fool’s joke — but I am the only fool here.

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Stelmach a late bloomer?

Just when many voters were losing faith in Premier Ed Stelmach and wishing that Ralph Klein would somehow return from the political wilderness, Alberta’s “premier by accident” suddenly reverses himself and declares there will be no tax increases on his watch.

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Finally, an honest celebrity

To Gene Simmons, bassist/vocalist for the band Kiss, for being the one celebrity with the courage to tell the truth about Michael Jackson.

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New kind of community

The concept of a self-contained, planned community such as proposed for Southpointe, adjacent to Red Deer College and west of the south end of Taylor Drive, sure looks good on paper.

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More spending is not the answer

Tuesday’s Advocate carried two banner headlines: Awash in debt: Recession deficits could reach almost $156 billion, with hundreds of thousands out of work. And: City could ride high-speed rail to ‘Super Zone.’

Obesity to blame for runaway health costs

I am subscribed to Dr. John McDougall’s newsletter. He is an American medical doctor whose own illnesses caused him to seek out a healthy diet; his discoveries in turn led to his lifelong mission of providing a starch based, vegan diet for maximum health.

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Environmental effort promising

It’s far too easy to sacrifice the environment when economic conditions deteriorate. So it’s refreshing and reassuring to note that federal Environment Minister Jim Prentice’s visit to Red Deer last week wasn’t just about platitudes and empty promises — it was about action.

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Lougheed’s legacy wasted

Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach never had much use for the Heritage Fund. He said as much upon taking the leadership of the Alberta Progressive Conservatives.

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A storm is brewing over Sundre

Storm clouds are gathering and I’m not talking about the weather.

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Sympathy for oilpatch?

Have you noticed that Canadians seem to care surprisingly little about the bombings in northeastern B.C. targeting EnCana Corporation, North America’s largest natural gas producer?

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Happy birthday, Mr. Walkman

One of the amusing aspects of society’s current interest in nature and personal fitness is to walk through a quiet forest in the city parks system (Kin Kanyon and the forest area along the river near Heritage Ranch come to mind) and be surrounded by the beautiful trees and mossy undergrowth, to see fit, happy people striding or jogging through — with earbuds firmly planted, listening to music as they go.

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Canadians truly have a lot to celebrate

We often write about the challenges facing Canada – the lack of a credible plan to address climate change, the overreliance on tar sands to fuel our energy needs and economy, the snail’s pace with which we work to protect endangered species and their habitat, including iconic wildlife like polar bears and caribou.