october 2005 > a living history > edmonton

Alberta Leads Country In Depression; Daylight Saving Time Changes Are Contemplated >permalink<

Spring forward, Fall back Albertans are an unhappy, lazy people who use sex, alcohol, drugs, tobacco and fatty, salty food to provide instant gratification. At least so says a University of Alberta study that names Albertans as the highest-ranking Canadian population suffering from mental illness and social discord.

Just published in the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, the study suggests Alberta has the highest incidence of depression, with rates up to eight times higher than other provinces for many mental disorders. Is it any wonder?

An unpredictable boom-bust economy, leadership from a less than visionary premier, and recent word of the province contemplating changes to its Daylight Saving Time involvement ... it seems that the average Albertan is simply left in the dark.

Ontario has just jumped on the George W. Bush bandwagon (changing clocks in 2007 on the second Sunday in March and the first Sunday in November) and Alberta seems destined to follow. Already saddled with long winter nights, the added confusion of multiple time zone identity is enough to unsettle the most sane of people at this time of year.

Most modern household conveniences have had Daylight Saving Time changes built into their internal calendars for a long time. Under the Bush plan, these devices will now be out of whack several times a year. Coffee will be percolated at odd hours, TV shows will be missed or taped in error and automobile dashboards will only add to the confusion of the daily commute. It's enough to drive the average Albertan to purchasing lottery tickets to buy their way out of this temporal hell.

Lightning Strikes 17 Oilfield Workers >permalink<

Ticket To Ride It was just another safety meeting at the Viking Energy site based in Sedgewick, located outside Camrose, Alberta. Darrell Thompson had some news about the group's lottery pool and asked that anyone who had bought into the week's Lotto 6/49 draw to raise his or her hand. 17 hands shot up, belonging to people who would now be splitting the largest-ever lotto jackpot in Canadian history.

The added interest in the mounting un-won prize drove up the earnings for a winning ticket to $54 million dollars. Divide that by 17 and you get $3,193,806.58. Divide that among a bunch of oilfield workers and you get a lot of happy people.

Auto dealerships and local banks announced extended hours to serve the winning folk. Second only to paying off houses and other debts was news of other investments -- in trucks, large stereos and trips to places warmer than Sedgewick.

You Want Fires With That? >permalink<

Lovin' It McDonald's officials weren't breathing a word of it, but news of a surprise added ingredient at the Westmount outlet was enough to bring in the Fire department.

It seems an asthma inhaler fell out of an employee's pocket and into a deep fryer. The pressurised container exploded, covering four workers with hot oil. None of the burns were considered life-threatening in the October 24th incident. There was no word of McDonald's officials investigating the nutritional benefits of the inhaler.

A Night of Coffey Talk >permalink<

As part of the National Hockey League's return to play, the Edmonton Oilers made the most of their first meeting with the visiting Phoenix Coyotes of the young 2005 season. The night ended with a highlight reel clip of Charlie Huddy passing to Paul Coffey for an empty net goal with Wayne Gretzky earning two points by the time all was said and done.

October 18th was the day that Oilers Jersey Number 7 was sent to the rafters of Rexall Place and officially retired. It was a tribute to Paul Coffey, one of the game's best defenseman and a key player in the Oilers' early Stanley Cup victories. A 25-minute pre-game ceremony ended with Coffey, dressed in his his blue and orange No.7 Oilers jersey, making a trademark rush up the right side, accepting a backhand pass from his old defence partner Charlie Huddy (rhymes with "chubby") and sending the puck into the empty cage.

Up up and away Former teammate Wayne Gretzky was on hand as well -- not as a player, but as a coach for the Coyotes in the game that followed the hoisting of Coffey's jersey. Coffey's Number 7 joined Wayne's Number 99 (and Jari Kurri's 17, Grant Fuhr 's 31 and original team captain Al Hamilton's 3). Mark Messier was hoped to be on hand but did not attend. The Oilers will beatify his Number 11 in a ceremony planned for 2006.

Coffey was an Oilers first-round draft pick in 1979, placing number 6 overall. He spent seven years as a Oiler, entering the National Hockey League Hall of Fame in 2003 as the second-highest scoring defenceman in history (396 goals, 1,531 points in 1,409 games) after Ray Bourque. Coffey had 209 goals and 669 points in 532 games with the Oilers. He played 21 seasons in the NHL, winning the Stanley Cup four times – three with Edmonton – and the Norris Trophy as top defenceman three times.

Holding back the tears Among the many hands Coffey shook as he took his last turn around the Rexall rink were those of Oilers special team coach Craig Simpson, the player he was traded for in the deal which ended his career in Edmonton.

"It's been well documented that there's not a better sheet of ice than here in Edmonton ... that glide was incredible, but I have to say I paid for the rush when I got back to the [dressing] room," laughed Coffey, 44, now a power-play consultant with the Coyotes.

For the record, Gretzky's team won the night beating the Oilers 4-3 in overtime. Former Edmonton winger Jari Kurri, on hand for the celebration, was heard to say "Wayne always won here."

Klein Gets Smart But Sees Pink >permalink<

Dumb and dumber A photo-opportunity snares Alberta Premier Ralph Klein seated behind the wheel of an energy-conserving $16,000 Mercedes Benz Smart car, one of a dozen ordered for provincial Environment Minister Guy Boutilier's department. However, just moments later Ralphie-boy lead-foots his way from Government House to the Legislature ... and gets caught driving through a red light.

"Unfortunately I was so enthralled with the car that I went through a pink light - you know, that sort of yellow and red?" Klein explained.

Two Edmonton Sun photographers witnessed the event but failed to catch it on film. However, the incident occured at 116th Street and Jasper Avenue, the location of one of Edmonton's nearly five dozen red light cameras. As they say ... pictures at eleven, maybe.

Boutilier defended the premier's driving, stating that Klein was having difficulty getting used to the unique gear shift pattern on the Benz which switches back and forth between automatic and standard. When the environment minister pointed out to Klein that he ran the red light, the premier replied that he wasn't elected on his driving skills. That said, it is conventional wisdom that brakes should be engaged to bring a vehicle to a stop. Thrusting a transmission into reverse would likely cause warranty-violating damage and is not recommended by auto manufacturers during the normal operation of a motor vehicle.

$Zoom $Zoom >permalink<

Zoom zoom The premier's driving faux pas coincided with his government's announcement to get tough on motorists who speed through construction zones or past emergency vehicles.

Effective October 31st, fines will be doubled for those who do not slow to 60 km/h (or to the posted speed limit) when passing by manned construction zones, emergency vehicles and tow trucks engaged in their normal course of duties.

Fines for those ignoring posted warnings will range from $114 to $702, with those caught exceeding the limit by 50 km/h receiving a mandatory court appearance where fines are at the discretion of the Court. Caught violators preparing for their defense are invited to visit the province's saferoads.com faq web page first.

A media campaign has been launched to announce the new regulations (which is why you're reading it here).

Alberta Gets Bigger and Now Needs An Intelligence Agency >permalink<

Twenty years ago, land surveyor Kevin Beatty thought that something was out of line. The line that drew his attention extended from the U.S. border to the Northwest Territories, separating Alberta from Saskatchewan. The Lloydminster Meridian-Booster newspaper finally caught wind of the story and in an interview Beatty suggested that the original provincial border had been placed too far west. Modern GPS technology supports Beatty's two-decade-old claim, which was kept quiet because Alberta and Saskatchewan legislative acts rule that existing survey monuments govern where the border lies.

While those monuments may have been placed along where it was thought the fourth meridian (110 degrees longitude) was 120 years ago, the news of the incorrect alignment has captured local interest with the announcement of the Alberta government's issuing of $400 'resource rebates' to its citizens. Lloydminster residents, whose town is split by the border, have long put up with sales tax, smoking bylaw, natural gas price and liquour regulation differentials that favour Albertans. However, Saskatchewan does have cheaper car insurance ...

spy vs spy News of Alberta's expanded territory arrives at the same time that its government feels that the province is big enough to need its own centralised intelligence agency.

Alberta Public Security Minister Harvey Cenaiko says the province's 5,000 police officers need an intelligence arm that can collect and disseminate information to municipal police forces and the RCMP. The current model of funnelling information though the RCMP to Ottawa and back irks local police forces who feel that consolidating local intelligence would aid in their efforts.

The Alberta Strategic Intelligence Service (ASIS) -- the likely name of the new agency -- could be operational by 2006. ASIS would then join CSIS in the alphabet soup of Canadian intelligence acronyms. Cenaiko came up with the idea while visiting Miami with a former CIA director.

Edmonton Art Gallery Design Finalist Announced >permalink<

Edmonton Art Gallery Design Finalist On October 13, 2005, the Edmonton Art Gallery announced the winning entry in the international design competition held for the expansion of their facility. The EAG awarded Los Angeles architect Randall Stout's design as their choice for the $48-million face-lift of the 35-year old Brutalist-style building.

The gallery's seven-member selection jury saw submissions from more than two dozen architects. In May, four finalists made presentations at a Royal Architectural Institute of Canada conference held in Edmonton. A public presentation of the designs at the Stanley A. Milner Library theatre was attended by an over-capacity crowd of more than 400 people. Stout's design was considered the least conventional of the four presented.

The Alberta provincial government announced it is contributing $15 million towards the $48 million cost of renovating the building, which has been renamed the Art Gallery of Alberta and will be completed in 2009. The Canadian federal government has committed $10 million, Edmonton City Council is contributing $6 million and another $9 million is coming from private donations (including $5 million from Edmonton philanthropists John and Barbara Poole). Construction is set to begin in 2007 and will add 30,000 square feet to the existing 50,000 square foot building.

Randall Stout At 47, Stout was the youngest architect to make the short list. His design for the Art Museum of Western Virginia is now under construction in Roanoke, Virginia, and his addition to the Hunter Museum of American Art opened in April, 2005 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Stout has worked for Canadian-born architect Frank Gehry who designed the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain and the expansion of the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto.

Stout's winning design draws inspiration from the aurora borealis and from Inuit stone sculptures called inukshuks, and will feature expanses of glass and swooping curves of patinaed zinc and stainless steel.

Stout's vision for the Edmonton Art Gallery is not unlike Gehry's design for the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. The concert hall's stainless steel exterior had been covered by a grey mesh fabric to reduce glare which generated street level temperatures in excess of 58 C, or 136 Fahrenheit, blinding motorists and cooking residents in nearby homes. Gehry recently approved the sandblasting of sections of the building's skin to reduce the problem. Stout said the exterior of the art gallery will be made from zinc and stainless steel with a non-reflective finish to prevent a similar problem from occurring in Edmonton.

Additional images of Stout's design and those of the other three finalists can be found on this page.

The Arlington >permalink<

Edmonton's first apartment building is now in danger of being lost forever. The historically designated, 90-year-old, five-storey Arlington Apartments building has been an empty shell since it was torched by an arsonist in April. The owner of the gutted hulk has announced plans to rebuild on the site but needs government consent to do so.

The 1909 structure is currently in a state of collapse. Concerns about the stability of the walls has led the city to close sidewalks and one westbound traffic lane on 100th Avenue. The traffic jams spark daily complaints to ward councillors. At issue is the Arlington's municipal and provincial historical designation which provide that the owner can demolish the building only after proving it is no longer viable.

Building owner Saraswati Singh has proposed to return more than $500,000 in heritage grants and donate the brick remains of the complex to Fort Edmonton Park so he can put up a new building. Singh stated that his new development would recreate the Arlington without assistance from government.

Arlington Apartments What remains of the Arlington will soon be subject to an Edmonton winter, with freeze/thaw cycles potentially threatening the building's uncovered brick walls. Singh reported that an engineer has determined that the building is so badly damaged that restoration does not make sense. If Singh were to be successful in his bid it would mark the first time that someone bought their way out of an historical designation of a property by returning grants.

Singh's offer to donate what remains of the building to Fort Edmonton Park may not be welcome. The park has no apartment buildings in its master plan and cite high costs involving moving and assembly of the structure as being prohibitive.

The Arlington is (or was) a special place. It has earned entries at the Heritage Canada and Canada's Historic Places web sites. A personnel recollection can be found at Vue Magazine, and local historian Lawrence Herzog details the building's history in his article at Real Estate Weekly.

Historic Strathcona To Become An Historic Site >permalink<

Edmonton City Council is applying to the Alberta government to have a section of Whyte Avenue and some of the surrounding blocks be declared a provincial historic area. If the declaration goes through it would help promote the area and make it even more of a tourist attraction. However, some longtime Edmonton area residents already feel that the area is so popular that nobody goes there anymore.

If the declaration was made it would be "commemorative only," with no additional regulations or restrictions imposed. Zoning restrictions already in place restrict the types of buildings that can go into the community. If successful, the declaration would register caveats on the titles of all properties in the zone, an area stretching from 84 Avenue to 81 Avenue and from 105 Street to 103 Street. Several properties already have historic designations which further limits what can be done to buildings on those sites.

For more about Edmonton's Strathcona area, read Lawrence Herzog's articles at Real Estate Weekly.

Related Pages

deadmonton
The murdered and the missing in the metro area.
edmonton history and museums
The Last Link guide to local history.
final credits
Reflecting lives that have contributed to Edmonton and area culture.
it's our heritage
The Last Link guide to Lawrence Herzog's articles as published in Real Estate Weekly.

edmonton - a living history - october 2005

it will be a nice town once they finish building it