Well, well, it’s the last Page 9 of the year (There is no Leader on Dec. 28). Perhaps that gives it a special significance. Probably not, but things are what you make of them.
The world survives into another year, as Bruce Cockburn sang, in ‘Wondering Where the Lions Are,’ or something pretty close to that.
At The Leader, we’re grateful to have survived another year in the newspaper business. People have been predicting its total demise for at least the past 20 years. But here we are, heading into 2023. Things could definitely be worse!
If you know of any stories you think should be told, let us know. You provide the tips – we do the rest.
We’ve written before about Jett Jones of the Lethbridge Hurricanes, who has – or had – a connection to Slave Lake. His mom used to work for the Town of Slave Lake. Checking out the WHL scoring stats last week we noticed he is leading the Hurricanes in scoring this season.
Which reminds us, if you know of somebody from the area who is making a mark in the wider world, we’d love to hear about it. We do have our usual sources; they are helpful but limited. One is coffee shop gossip; another is a handful of locals who make it their business to pass on things they’ve heard. Another is the online mentions of ‘Slave Lake’ that pop up in our email now and then. That’s how, for example, we found out about the ‘reactivation’ of a pipeline that is apparently going to happen in 2023.
Congratulations to Charlotte Measor of Canyon Creek for getting one of her photos selected by Mike Sobel of Global TV for his daily display of beautiful scenes from around Alberta (and occasionally beyond) that are submitted by Global viewers. Charlotte’s shot is of a chickadee having words with a nuthatch across a ball of seeds, probably outside her window.
Hey, did you know that 66 per cent of the cost of training employees could be covered through something called the Canada-Alberta Job Grant? Better yet, up to 100 per cent of the cost of training an unemployed Albertan could be covered through the same program. Among other things. It’s an example of how Canada and Alberta can work together, when they decide to do it.
Edmonton’s two daily newspapers recently decided it wasn’t worth the effort or expense to make them available for sale in Slave Lake. A lot of people are not happy about this, but sales must not have been enough to keep it going. The alternatives are to sign up for the online version of the Journal or the Sun, or – if we’re not mistaken – you can subscribe and they’ll mail the print version. But who wants to get their Saturday paper on Monday?
The Rotary Club of Slave Lake has been spreading holiday cheer. Along with the Toques for Kids project (see photos on Page 2 and 17). They helped elementary school students bless seniors with Christmas cards. They delivered 235 cards to seniors.
The Slave Lake Regional Arts Council reached out last week to correct the amount of the Remembrance Day cross sponsorship. It raised $1,965.62, not the number reported in the Dec. 7 Leader.
We hear the Legion in Slave Lake is hosting a district darts tournament on Jan. 6 and 7.
Kinuso Curling starts the week of Jan. 3 to 6. Emma is the contact at 780-805-9517.
We were hoping to turn this item into a proper story, but Pembina Pipeline Corporation apparently has better things to do than talk to a small-town newspaper. So there’s just this brief thing from a news release: Pembina plans to “reactivate the 190-km, 100,000-b/d Nipisi Pipeline heavy crude system by third-quarter 2023, to serve customers in the growing Clearwater oil play. The company reported being in late-stage discussions with a customer regarding a long-term contractual commitment for firm service and expects to finalize the agreement by end 2022. Discussions are underway with other customers regarding additional long-term commitments. Nipisi was built to move diluted heavy oil from north of Slave Lake, Alta., to an existing Pembina trunkline south of Swan Hill for further shipment to Edmonton.”
