Opinion

The explosion of gunfire in a quiet Red Deer neighbourhood on the weekend has awakened the community in more ways than one.

In March 1987, then Alberta treasurer Dick Johnston — back when finance ministers were called treasurers — told Albertans they enjoyed the highest per-capita program spending in the country.

Like most Alberta newspapers, the Red Deer Advocate has received plenty of letters from seniors angry about the province’s plan to charge some of them more money for pharmaceuticals.

To the Pembina Institute, for lashing out against a fine imposed against the oilsands giant Suncor Energy and its work-camp operator, Compass Group, for breaking environmental laws in two incidents.

The French city of Strasbourg and the German town of Kehl, which face each other across the river Rhine, will be in lock-down this weekend as the grandees of NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization) gather to celebrate the alliance’s 60th anniversary and protesters home in on the site from all over Europe.

The city’s muddled handling of the fate of the Arlington Inn is a case study in how not to make public decisions.

There has been much controversy lately over the Pope’s remarks that condoms are not the answer to the issues of HIV/AIDS — particularly in Africa.

People like to associate vigilantism with the Wild West, but when you do some checking, actual participation in vigilante-style justice is pretty rare out here. There’s so little local support for citizen action here, that Red Deer can’t even keep afloat a chapter of the Guardian Angels.

A newspaper headline published last week said it best: “Full-time pay for part-time work.”

President Obama debuts this week on the stage of world diplomacy.He’s in London for three days for the G-20 economic summit, and then on to Strasbourg for a NATO summit, followed by the European Union summit in Prague, capping his first overseas trip as president with a visit to Turkey.