Mary MacArthur

More Alberta communities were evacuated last week after rising rivers spilled into towns and villages. Almost 200 residents of Fort Vermilion and the Tall Creek South reserve in northern Alberta had to vacate. Earlier in the week, some residents of Fort McMurray and Peace River were forced from their homes. “Our major concern is how […] Read more

LEDUC, Alta. – As a business development specialist, Kerry Engel sees plenty of people who want to know how they can turn their great new food idea into the next sliced bread. “From working with people I saw where people needed assistance.” Engel knew that food inventors need a matchmaker between them and Alberta Agriculture’s […] Read more

Two varieties of genetically altered canola have been pulled off the market and seed is being recalled from farms because they carry the wrong gene, says the company that developed the varieties. Two varieties of Limagrain’s canola, which is resistant to the herbicide Roundup, were pulled from the market last week, said Ray Mowling, Monsanto’s […] Read more

Everything seems back to normal in Peace River after an ice jam flooded the northern Alberta town last week and sent 4,000 people from their homes. The water is back on the right side of the dikes and silt has been washed from the streets. But looks are deceiving, said Judy Pobuda, secretary treasurer for […] Read more

After three long years of gathering evidence, waiting, debating and presenting their arguments in court, farmers involved with challenging the Canadian Wheat Board under the constitution’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms were shocked to hear their arguments have no place in the courts. They said they expected to win. “It was a cross between disbelief […] Read more

Financial pressure has forced Lakeland College to close five satellite campuses and end its popular Western Horsemanship program, said the college president. With less money from government and a five percent increase in staff wages to restore salaries to where they were before a past rollback, the Vermilion-based college has been forced to chop programs […] Read more

BLUESKY, Alta. – Boing, goes Shari Monner’s computer. She pushes a button and a message comes up asking her if she wants to chat. Sure, types Shari, who begins clacking away at her keyboard. Welcome to Cyber High. Instead of hanging around lockers talking with friends, junior high students from around the province are staring […] Read more

BLUESKY, Alta. – When George and Pat Monner went to the bank for a berry farm expansion, they had an elaborate proposal. The neatly bound plan projected profits, losses, expenses and trends in minute detail. But Pat doesn’t think the bankers even looked at the proposal: “Anything in the business plan was irrelevant. They just […] Read more

A second Alberta community has voted to ban video lottery terminals. The people of Sylvan Lake, by a margin of 10, voted to kick video lottery terminals out of the resort town east of Red Deer. Only 18 percent of the town voted in the plebiscite held earlier this month, with 275 choosing to cast […] Read more

It will be a while before farm groups can assess Alberta’s new agriculture minister. “We don’t know what this fellow’s like. It came out of the blue. We were surprised. There were other people in cabinet with quite a bit of farm background,” said Clif Foster, general manager of the Alberta Barley Commission. They’re hoping […] Read more