After going through a period of tons of posts, we have this, a silent lull. Most of this is due to less people writing on the site, and me being busy on other projects. Of course, I am referring to the fact that Sean, no longer lives in Medicine Hat, but in the traitorous town of Lethbridge; as such, he won’t be posting as much anymore (or at all), but let’s make him feel guilty. Just kidding, or am I?

That’s also not to say there isn’t anything happening in Medicine Hat, but I don’t see a reason and letting our readers know about park washrooms opening up, when you can get it from the City of Medicine Hat public releases. As always, I encourage you to submit what ever you have in hopes of filling this lull.

The eggs people normally buy for cheapest price come from the 98% of Canadian egg-laying hens kept in crammed wire battery cages. While some people shop according to price, I would like to inform them of why their choice is important and which side they are supporting.

Battery cage conditions prevent chickens from performing their normal behaviors such as standing, stretching, privacy, grooming, dust and water bathing, wing flapping, nesting, developing healthy social relationships, and going outside. Common problems from this deprivation include osteoporosis, metabolic and respiratory diseases, painful foot lesions, and slow death via starvation and paralysis due to spinal compression. These environmental conditions leads to fear, apathy, boredom, and abnormal, often harmful behaviors, resulting in hens plucking each others feathers out, sometimes creating open wounds, some engaging in cannibalism, and when victimized the hen has no area to escape to. To prevent these frustration attacks portions of their beaks are sliced or lasered off, some are also starved to increase production (called forced molting) and they may have no lighting to save on costs.

There is an alternative, known as free-range eggs, where the chickens have access to the outside, more space per chicken and a much higher quality of life. These eggs have harder shells and yolks with an orange color, they are superior in nutritional content due to the greens and insects in the diet, having higher levels of Omega 3, Vitamins A and E, with lower levels of total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, and Omega 6. Free range eggs are more expensive but that little extra worth goes a long way in support for a better life of hens who lay our eggs. Also, if you can purchase eggs locally that would be twice as nice! If it’s at all a topic of interest to you I encourage people to do their own research, battery cages are far worse than I went into detail with.

note: “free-run” means they have space to walk, which is better than battery cages, but unlike “free-range” they aren’t necessarily allowed to go outside.

Images taken from Wikipedia: Free Range Chicken Flock & Industrial Chicken Coop

Website Screenshot

A new local website has launched today called “Crewpon”, a combination of “Crew” and “Coupon”. It is a group/team buying site, similar to that of Groupon. People buy certificates, gift cards, coupons and other deals for discounted prices. For example, the deal today and this week is for Labels for Men; they are offering a $50 gift certificate for $25 which means you are saving 50% off of something you might be buying anyways. So if you shop or want to start shopping at Labels for Men, why not?

Crewpon kind of works like Groupon, but instead of only offering deals to big cities around here (like Calgary), this is a local initiative, done locally by the Medicine Hat News and TriCube Media.

How does Crewpon work?

1. A local business offers a coupon/deal/gift card for a limited amount of time.
2. Purchasers have a limited amount of time to purchase the discount.
3. Bring in the purchased coupon (from your phone or printed copy) to the physical location to get your discount.

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The Esplanade Arts and Heritage Centre Museum is pleased to host an introductory presentation on our American roots by new Museum Curator, Robert Bruce Shepard, on Sunday April 17th 2011, beginning at 2 p.m in the Cutbanks room.

Issues surrounding the Canada/U.S. border are nothing new, but since the 9/11 attacks they have become more complex, emotional and costly. Many Canadians have experienced the effects of this new border climate and some have been reevaluating their personal as well as their country’s relationship with its huge southern neighbor. Such examinations have led to some surprising revelations for many western Canadians, particularly how many family connections extend south of the border.

The new Museum Curator at the Esplanade, Robert Bruce Shepard, has been investigating the American presence on the Canadian Plains for decades. One of his findings was that the United Farmers of Alberta, a significant agrarian organization, one time governing party of the province and still a major cooperative, had important American roots. He will be discussing this and related matters at the Sunday public event. Admission is by donation and refreshments will be served following the presentation. There will be time to meet the new Curator and discuss both the presentation and the Museum’s plans for the future.

The Community Foundation of Medicine Hat and Southeastern Alberta has kicked off the Vital Signs project!

As of April 1st this year, Service Alberta is charging alot more for their services. Your driver’s license, land titles and corporate registeries are seeing a jump in cost.  But that’s not what is going to hit your wallet the hardest.

What will be a more significant cost to you is a brand spanky new fee for every photo radar, red-light camera or parking ticket written. Whether you get a ticket or not.  Fifteen dollars for every one of those pesky buggers.

Why fifteen dollars?  What exactly does Service Alberta have to do in processing these tickets?  I don’t know, but it must be fifteen dollars worth of effort or they wouldn’t be charging it… all of a sudden… out of the blue.

The new fees will cost municipalities across Alberta, millions of dollars.  Calgary is looking at losing police staff because of the costs, St. Albert Councillors are discussing a tax increase, while Red Deer and other municipalities are lobbying for a delay in the implementation.

Medicine Hat City council was glowing a month ago over a budget that balanced with a 0% tax increase for this year.  However now, with Service Alberta collecting over a half million dollars from our city’s piggy bank… it translates to a tax increase of 1 percent.

Which leads one to wonder why there is such a shortfall with this Provincial Department?  I don’t know how Service Alberta ended up with such a strained budget, but WE are certainly going to feel it.

The Silver Buckle is proud to present Raise The Roof, a fund raising event in support of The Medicine Hat Skate Association. With all proceeds going to help this great local organization, the night is chalked full a wide variety of entertainment including:

• Silent Auction!
• Door Prizes!
• Charity Bingo featuring everyone’s favourite hillbilly Cletus!
• Live music from Mahoney & The Robertson Privilege!

Saturday April 9th
The Silver Buckle
Doors @ 7PM
$10 at the door

Facebook Event
Medicine Hat Skateboard Association

I have been to the Silver Buckle on two other occasions besides on St. Patty’s Day, and 2/3 of my experiences were terrible!

My first experience was on a wing night. The place was steady but far from being overly busy. It was forever until we even received a “hello” from a waitress, yet she passed us numerous times. We finally got our drinks and wings, however we were missing a couple orders of wings. We let the waitress know, and she confirmed they’d be at our table soon. I asked for a water and she said I had to pay over $2 for a bottle of water, stating, that on wing nights, they do not give out free water! But yet, I had a couple drinks already and had bought numerous orders of wings! Needless to say after an hour we still had yet to receive our missing wings or any refills on our drinks. When trying to get our tab we had to hunt her down, to find out she transferred it to another server, and to find her! When we finally received our tab, it  had drinks on it we never had and still had the wings on it we never received! I told the new server we did not recieve the wings or the drinks and she said she’d figure it out for us. The old waitress then came back with the receipt and asked what was wrong. We explained and she told us she’d get us two sets of wings for free. We denied, since we’ve been there over an hour and a half and were ready to leave. She then became very rude, told us she’d take off the wings we didn’t receive and stormed off. Before leaving I asked the bar if I could speak to a manager, they told me no one was in and to phone later. I did, and still no manager, so I left my name and number, and of course I did not get a call back.

I returned on on St. Patty’s Day with a group, intending to have a sociable night. It took us 20 minutes just to receive our first drink, and when our drink arrived the order was all wrong, however that wasn’t a big deal. We were far from picky. After a good half hour, our drinks were empty and the waitress hadn’t been back. After 45 minutes and no sign of the waitress, me and my husband decided to hit the bar for our drinks, where we witnessed our server hanging off a customer and taking shots! At the beginning we didn’t think anything about the lack of service, because the place was busy and giving the waitress the benefit of the doubt, but to see her doing shots instead of serving the customers is very unprofessional. Throughout the night we witnessed her behind the bar taking shots and when she did finally come back to our table, she was incoherent and stumbling! It was then we decided to pay our tab and leave.

Very unprofessional!

In 2003, bill C-24 brought significant reform to Canada’s electoral and campaign finance laws. The Bill was an amendment to the 1974 Election Expenses Act. The 1974 legislation responded to growing concern over the political fundraising and the financing of parties and election campaigns.

For this election, federal parties that receive over 2% of the national vote get $1.75 per vote cast. When you cast a vote for a party, you are not only saying that you approve of their values, but you give them your $1.75 to support their policies and future campaigns. The electoral districts (ridings) that receive 10% or more of their local vote receive 50% of their campaign spending back. Suffice to say, we’re talking about tax dollars.  Also in qualifying, parties such as Canadian Action or the Marijuana Party won’t see any cash, in all likelihood they will be under 2%.  However, parties like the NDP and Greens heavily depend on this money from your votes for future campaigns.

Fortunately or unfortunately, this may be the last year the $1.75 program exists.  If the Conservatives gain a majority, they will surely strike down any future tax dollars to political campaigns.  Is that a good thing?  Do we want our tax dollars going to political parties in order that they can market themselves to us?

Fact of the matter, all political campaigns must be funded.  If not with tax revenue then where?   Private sponsorship and corporate donations?  Presently corporate and union political donations are somewhat banned.

That being said, what does a system of solely private and corporate funded politics lead to? More favouritism and lobbying?  How else would politicals parties be financially supported?  What system would be better?

Considering the weak voter turnout expected for this election, funding from this Elections Act program for all parties will be in the region of $27 million.  Not an annual expenditure, it’s the only cash the parties will receive until the next Federal Election.  Inclusive to the $300 million pricetag of this election.   Is that alot of tax dollars to pay for fair democracy?  Some say it is.

At any rate, this could be the final election where your vote is worth $1.75.   Personally, I would suggest my vote is worth a whole lot a more.

In an interview with the Medicine Hat News, Medicine Hat MP, LaVar Payne defended against Norm Boucher’s comments about him not doing anything for Medicine Hat.

Not only did he fail to defend himself, but the Medicine Hat News caught him in a lie regarding the Events Centre application.

You can access the full story by clicking here.