Col. Doyle takes over command of 4 Wing

For the Lakeland Regional.

Former 4 Wing commander, Brig.-Gen. Eric Kenny waves to the crowd as he’s driven away following a change of command ceremony at the base last week.

Eric Bowling

 

 The Royal Canadian Air Force Snowbirds‬ make an airborne salute to see off Brig.-Gen Eric Kenny at CFB 4 Wing on July 21.
Eric Bowling

 The new man in charge of 4 Wing was all smiles as he took over command of the base.

CFB Cold Lake held its official change of command ceremony on July 21. The new wing commander, Col. Paul “Puffy” Doyle, will be in charge of all activities involving 4 Wing for the next three years.

“A big thing for us on the wing side of the house is making sure that we continue with the excellent legacy that we have for operational capabilities at 4 Wing. We have a requirement to make sure whenever the government needs air power from Cold Lake we’re there to deliver,” said Doyle. “At the same time, I need to make sure that the incredible relationship we have with the communities throughout the Lakeland region is continued.”

 Col. Paul “Puffy” Doyle.
Eric Bowling

This isn’t Doyle’s first posting to Cold Lake. He previously had been posted at 4 Wing as a student and instructor fighter pilot, as well as commanding officer of 410 squadron.

“This is my sixth time living in Cold Lake. I was here in Grade 6 when the very first CF-18s showed up in October 1982,” recalled Doyle. “We’ve been back for about a week and a half or so now. When we came over the hill into town we saw the sailboats and my daughter’s in the back seat and she’s going ‘yay’ because we know so many people around here and it’s so great to be back home. This is home for us.”

 Maj.-Gen. Christian Drouin receives the 4 Wing Sword from Brig.-Gen. Eric Kenny to pass command of the base to Col. Paul Doyle.

Eric Bowling

 Doyle takes the yoke over from longtime friend and fellow flier Brig.-Gen. Eric Kenny, who himself hails from Cold Lake. Kenny is now off to become deputy commander for Force Generation at 1 Canadian Air Division headquarters in Winnipeg, MB. The change comes after a busy two years in command of 4 Wing, which included a deployment to Kuwait from October 2014 to April 2015 in the fight against ISIS.

“Brig.-Gen. Kenny’s father and my father flew together. They worked together in Germany, so Brig.-Gen. Kenny and I went to school together, we played hockey together, we went on trips together,” said Doyle of his friendship with Kenny. “I’ve known him since the mid to late 80s.”

The reviewing officer of the ceremony was Maj.-Gen. Christian Drouin, who is commander of 1 Canadian Air Division, the Canadian NORAD Region and the Joint Forces Air Component.

Doyle added that he is excited to be in his new role and is looking forward to getting back in the air.
“I’ve been in a ground job for the last couple of years, I haven’t had a chance to fly. I’m a trained Hornet pilot. I started flying Hornets before I met my wife and we had our little ones.”

 Four F18s fly over the change of command ceremonies on July 21.

Eric Bowling

While he may have just taken up his new post, Doyle already has a full schedule ahead of him.

“Next week I’ll be presiding over the change of command ceremony for 410 squadron. I was at the last one as the outgoing CO, but now I’m going to there as the reviewing officer.”

Doyle concluded that he is eager to get started on the job and happy to carry on the mantle of wing commander.

“We do great things in Cold Lake, we do great things for Canada. I’m really looking forward to representing what 4 Wing does for all of us.”

Council approves rezoning for Crisis Centre

For the Lakeland Regional.

A local women’s shelter has passed a major hurdle in its efforts to construct a new building.
Cold Lake City Council approved a rezoning application by the Dr. Margaret Savage Crisis Centre at a special meeting on July 19.

The rezoning needed to be discussed by city council because it was listed as a direct control zone, which means that council has the final say in the zoning application process. The crisis centre society had requested permission to build a new outreach building on the property they own.

In accordance with the development bylaws, a public hearing was held. No one showed up to air grievances, although one citizen submitted a letter of protest citing concerns about parking affecting traffic in the area and the effects of social housing on homeowners. Council read the letter in the meeting and concluded that the new development largely solved the problems mentioned in the letter.
The new building will be used for administration and outreach, which are currently operating out of the same building as the shelter.

Originally, the rezoning proposal suggested placing 10 parking spots on the front side of the property. However, a few council members expressed concern about the parking spots disrupting the “single housing” nature of the neighborhood.

However, crisis centre executive director Susan White said that wouldn’t be a problem.
“I would prefer to break (the parking spots) up,” noted White.

In the end, council approved the rezoning application, but amended it to limit the development to six parking stalls.

The next step for the crisis centre is to submit an application for a building permit, which will not be held at the scrutiny of council. White estimated that she could have that done in a couple of weeks.

“We’ve already got the plans drawn. We’ve got the builders set up,” added White, who was overjoyed with the decision.

“This is going to take some of the administrative staff out of the shelter, which will give us more room for women and children,” explained White. “It will also allow our community support program to meet with clients not in the shelter, because often women and men who need our support but don’t actually need a bed. So this way we’ll be able to support more families without interrupting those staying in the shelter.”

According to White, the shelter housed about 329 women and children last year. The number of people assisted by the centre is considerably higher between outreach, the help line, and staff engaging with children in schools.

Mayor Craig Copeland was pleased council approved the rezoning and added that the city was behind the crisis centre 100 per cent. “They’re very crowded in their building and they have a lot of staff,” he said. “I’m very excited for them to be expanding.”

Copeland added, “When the centre comes and asks us for money, I don’t think they’ve been turned down. We support them as much as we can. They provide a great service for the City of Cold Lake and the surrounding area.”

The Dr. Margaret Savage Crisis Centre opened in September of 1982, although it was not officially given its name until the society registered with the provincial government in 1993. Named after the 2006 Physician of the Century, the centre was established to provide women with a safe place to escape and recover from abusive homes.

The shelter is designed to house both women and their children, and features an on-site playground and in-house schooling. It is open to women throughout the Lakeland region. The outreach program has offices in both Cold Lake and Bonnyville.

Council approves application for lucrative public transportation grant

For the Lakeland Regional.

City council is hoping to get two new buses for a major discount, thanks to a pair of grants.

File photo

 

 Cold Lake is expecting to get two new buses thanks to a series of government grants that the city is able to combine together.

City council approved a plan put forward at its regular meeting on July 12 to apply for a grant and then, in a feat of bureaucratic gymnastics, utilize the first grant to apply for the other.

Chief Administration Officer Kevin Nagoya explained that the Alberta Government was so impressed with Cold Lake's public transportation program that they decided to open up a grant for the city in spite of the transit system not even being in operation for a year, which is usually a requirement.

The Public Transportation Infrastructure Fund (PTIF) is a federal-provincial partnership where the federal government provides $347 million between 2016-2019. Of that chunk, the city is eligible to apply for up to $174,000.

“The City of Cold Lake gets an automatic allocation. We get that funding and we get to choose what to put it towards,” noted Nagoya. “We're not even a full year into the transit program, but the government knows how many users we have, so the government preempted and looked at our numbers and decided we should be a part of the pot.”

This is the first time that the city has been eligible for PTIF funding. The province doesn't place a lot of restrictions on the usage of the money, so Nagoya has suggested that the city use the $174,000 to top up the city's contributions to its application for the GreenTRIP fund.

The GreenTRIP fund is a provincial initiative for funding municipal projects intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The province covers two-thirds of the costs of a project and the municipality covers the other third.

By using the funding from the PTIF to cover the city's third of the costs of two new buses, Nagoya estimated that Cold Lake would be able to purchase two new lowfloor, wheelchair accessible buses worth $1 million for a mere $160,000. Council also could opt to purchase two smaller buses worth $700,000, in which the city would end up contributing $64,000.

“We're talking between six per cent to 16 per cent contribution. Six to 16 cents on the dollar is pretty good payback,” laughed Nagoya. “How can you say no to a program like that?”

In addition to the two new buses, the city is also planning to build additional bus shelters, establish a GPS-based real-time online bus schedule and construct a new transit maintenance and storage facility.

The city is expecting to have the PTIF application in by July 29, and the application for GreenTRIP funding will be submitted by July 31.

Cold Lake celebrates fire hall's grand opening

For the Lakeland Regional.

"Tutoribus" - a painting by Cold Lake firefighter Jason Spears, which was unveiled at the Cold Lake downtown fire hall grand opening on July 9.

Eric Bowling

 The local superheroes have got a new command centre.

Cold Lake Fire Department held a grand opening for its new, state of the art fire hall with a full house on July 9.

The celebration comes after 16 months of construction and years of planning for the mostly volunteer-driven fire department. Construction of the $8.5 million fire hall was completed in May and has been operational since June 1.

The hall is not just a fire hall. While the fire department has the front bay, the rear bay is devoted to Cold Lake Ambulance Services, which houses several vehicles.

“It's great to finally have this thing going. The effect it's had on the men has been tremendous,” said Cold Lake Fire Chief Jeff Fallow. “Since we've been here, the guys have been here day and night. The trucks have never been this clean.”

Fallow added that the station would allow for future growth of the fire department, which is growing as fast as the city itself. While there is no immediate plan to move to a full-time paid fire department, Mayor Craig Copeland said in a speech that the city is expecting to need one eventually.

Currently Cold Lake Fire Department has three fulltime employees and about 60 paid on-call firefighters.

The department serves the City of Cold Lake, Cold Lake First Nations and the MD of Bonnyville, as well as having the occasional call into Saskatchewan.

The hall includes dormitory spaces for both firefighters and EMS personnel, as well as a full kitchen. It also features one of the tallest towers in the city, which will be used for training. Finally, the hall features a special Emergency Operations Centre in case the City of Cold Lake ever needs one, in the event of a major catastrophe the centre will act as the headquarters.

Another prominent feature of the new hall is a large painting designed and painted by firefighter and artist Jason Spears.

Operating completely under Fallow's nose, Spears spent 14 months painstakingly drafting, sketching and painting the piece, called “Tutoribus”, oftentimes having to wait until after midnight to sneak in and work on the surprise piece without his chief noticing.

“Let me tell you, Chief Fallow walked by the station every night, just to make sure everything was going to plan,” commented Spears. “The man is dedicated.”

Spears' work paid off – the painting was revealed to a wide-eyed Fallow, who was so moved by the gesture he was holding back tears of joy.

“I had no idea this was going to happen,” expressed Fallow with a deep breath.

The idea to create a painting was a no-brainer for Spears. He noted that his primary drive to finish was to do something for his fellow firefighters.

Bonnyville soccer clubs net bronze medals at provincials

For the Bonnyville Nouvelle.

The Bonnyville Breakaway pose with their medals after a hard fought tournament.

Submitted Photo

 

Two of Bonnyville’s youth soccer clubs won big this month, but not as big as they hoped for.

Both the Bonnyville under 18 Tropics boys and the under 18 Breakaway girls soccer clubs fought hard at provincial finals in Leduc earlier this month and both came out of the tournament with bronze.

During the semi-final against the Lacombe Panthers, Noah Brosseau booted the ball from his own zone across nearly half the field to help score a goal. Unfortunately, it was the Tropics only goal in that game, with the Panthers winning 3-1.

Having fallen to Lacombe, the Tropics came roaring back against Lac La Biche, with Austin L’Hirondelle, Cameron Zelisko, Scott Thackeray and Andreas Sapach each scoring a goal to help the Tropics win the bronze with a 4-2 victory.

“Winning bronze was a good feeling. It’s the farthest we’ve ever gotten in provincials,” commented Tropics head coach Mark L’Hirondelle. “The games were really close. It was a really good, clean competition. The guys all stuck together and played really hard. It was a good time by everybody.”
It was a parallel experience for the girls. Following a disappointing 2-1 loss to the Ponoka Storm, who went on to win the gold, the Breakaway collected their bronze medals after defeating the Edmonton Strikers 4-2.

Zoe Cowan, Harlee Cameron, Kaitlyn Demers and Bobbi Urlacher each scored unassisted goals to seal the deal for the Breakaway, capping off a marvelous season.

“Everyone’s happy. We got a bit unlucky in the semi-final, but that’s how it goes. You win some, you lose some,” commented Breakaway head coach Dave Cowan. “Kyra Bailey was phenomenal all weekend, she really stood out.”

Cowan added he was going to miss his graduating players.

“I just want to give a great big thank you to Malorie Lafond, Megan Fortier, Bobbi Urlacher, Sydney Thackeray and Danica Gratton. It’s their last season so I would like to say well done.”

Soccer is now done for the two teams.

 

Increase to recreation grant funding approved by council

For the Lakeland Regional.

Recreational groups and non-profits can apply for more money through the City of Cold Lake's Recreation and Culture Advisory Committee. Council opted to boost the amount of funds available to $15,000.

File photo

 

Non-profits and athletes in need may be getting a slight boost thanks to a modest increase in funding made available by council.

Cold Lake City Council approved new funding levels for its recreation and culture advisory committee at its general meeting on July 12, allowing the committee a greater amount of freedom to offer financial aid to athletes, teams and artistic organizations.

The extra cash is hoped to lessen the amount of delegations appearing before council for funding, although council was quick to point out that anyone who feels the need to speak to council is free to do so.

“Anything above these (funding) thresholds has to come to council,” noted Chief Administration Officer Kevin Nagoya. “When this committee was created, the spirit of it was that there's always something unique about a cultural project.”

The committee provides five distinct grants to groups in need – a travel grant, a leadership grant, a development grant, a special event grant and an equipment grant.

The new policy increases the amount of funding available for travel from $250 to $500 for individuals and from $500 to $1,000 for groups. The leadership grant has been changed to a 50/50 cost sharing program, with the city matching up to $750 for an individual or up to $2,000 for a group.
The development grant has been boosted to $2,000 from $500. The special event grant was doubled from $500 to $1,000 and the equipment grant was expanded to be available every year, as opposed to the previous allowance of every second year.

The overall pool of money available for these five grants was subsequently increased from $10,000 to $15,000.

Coun. Bob Buckle expressed concern about groups applying for both a grant and then appearing before city council for funding.

“I think it would make sense to have one or the other,” commented Buckle. “The rec committee shouldn't be wasting their time if the applicant is going to appear before council anyway.”

However, Coun. Duane Lay noted that there was a proper procedure for groups seeking funding, and that they should go through the committee first before appearing before council.

“In the spirit of (clarity), the easiest way to do it is to send them to the rec board, then they can come to council if they need more,” suggested Lay.

Coun. Chris Vining added that the new funding should draw more applications away from council and towards the committee.

“By increasing the amount available in the grant, it gives council the ability to say ‘no, you have enough from the grant,'” pointed out Vining. “It will be interesting to see how the new amounts play out and to see if the rec grant gets more traction.”

The new funding has been made available immediately.
 

Roots of Change raising funds to help development in Nicaragua

For the Bonnyville Nouvelle.

 A local group is trying to raise money for a mission trip to Nicaragua where they will help build homes and other infrastructure.

Submitted photo

A local group of students and their parents are raising funds to go on a mission trip to build better homes and infrastructure in South America next spring.

The group of students and parents are raising funds to help support the charity Roots of Change, which works to spur development in remote areas of Nicaragua. The group will be performing for a fundraiser on July 23 at the corner of the Home Hardware.

The Smith Boys, a local trio of brothers who play traditional Celtic tunes, will be leading the show. There will also be a charity barbecue selling hot dogs and hamburgers to raise funds for the mission.

“This will be the third mission trip for parents and students,” said former École des Beaux-Lacs instructor Yvonne Veraart, who is leading the fundraising. “Our mission is to help impoverished people in Nicaragua.”

About 25 students and parents, including Justin Smith of the Smith Boys, will be headed to Rigo Berto, also known as Plan Grande, in northern Nicaragua. Each traveller is paying their own way on the 10-day trip – the money raised through the fundraiser is going to be used exclusively for the construction.

“Not everyone there has proper shelters, proper washrooms and the things that we have,” said Smith, who plays guitar for the band. “I believe you should be helping everyone live an easier life instead of just casting them away.”

The group plans to help improve plumbing and housing for the small village as well as help build systems to improve local irrigation.

“In one community, we’re going to help build an oven to bake bread,” explained Veraart. “Some of the women want to start up their own enterprise to be self-sufficient.”

Veraart added that she was hoping to match the $15,000 the group raised for their last mission in 2014. During that mission to San Benito, Roots of Change helped build a family garden, brought supplies for schooling and installed pipes to help the flow of running water.

“It doesn’t finish the project, it just helps get the community going,” commented Veraart. “We don’t go there to change them, we go there to help them get back on their feet.”

She noted that the trip was as important for the people going as for the people living in the village.

“It’s a wake up call, the kids are transformed,” expressed Veraart. “Every student should get a chance to go see what the real world is like. We live in a bubble here, and we have so much. It’s important for kids to see that you don’t need that much to be happy. These people are poor yet they have so much to give.”

Veraart also mentioned that her group has a donation bin at the Bonnyville Bottle Depot. Interested donors can just mention École des Beaux-Lacs at the counter to donate to the cause.

The mission heads to Nicaragua on April 17, 2017, for Easter break.