Now 126 years old, St. Albert acquired new land, taking control of Riel Business Park from the Royal Bank of Canada, which had owed the city $2 million in back taxes on the property. Yet a year that started out with such a simple transaction became increasingly more difficult.
The city was embroiled in a stalemate with the province over construction of the new Sturgeon Community Hospital. By Jan. 14 the province has finally approved draft sketches for the building — 10 months after they were submitted. There was also no new money from Alberta, even though the project was estimated to cost between $25 and $32 million and was foisted upon St. Albert by the province to begin with.
At city council there was a mild scandal brewing when it was revealed that Ald. Pam Smith and Ald. George Kuschminder were co-habiting. Some candidates who lost to Smith in the election demanded she resign. Letters to the editor appeared in the Gazette, expressing their own concern about the situation. Smith refused to resign and the scandal immediately faded from memory.
In 1988, the Gazette launched a new look and brand. Starting in August, the paper started publishing the Gazette on Sundays, which is later moved to Saturday. The new product was smaller and reports some news along with a raft of community commentaries, syndicated copy and even a comics’ page featuring Foxtrot, Adam and Calvin and Hobbes.
But the biggest story of the year came on Jan. 25 when most of the Sturgeon General Hospital’s 115 nurses staged an illegal strike. While a few staff members reported to work, the hospital was forced to cancel all operations, discharge patients deemed well and ship patients to the University of Alberta once stabilized. In total, only 37 patients stayed in the hospital that day.
The next year started off with an “it took so long?” moment when Catholic school district superintendent Jack Nearing announced he plans to abolish use of the strap for discipline in all schools. While Neil M. Ross principal Lorie Garritty supported the decision, claiming he hasn’t used it in four years, Albert Lacombe principal Leo Bruseker told the Gazette he would be sad to see it go.
Poor weather conditions that same year also forced the cancellation of the much-anticipated Special Olympics Winter Games. City council tried to raise community spirits by passing a budget with no property tax increase and also pledged to do the same in 1990 and 1991, but while following through in 1989, were unable to keep their promises for the following two years. Had they played the Kinsmen’s “The Game of St. Albert,” they might have become better city custodians. The wildly popular games had almost sold out. Based on “Monopoly,” sales of the game raised $3,200 so the Kinsmen could aid Pregnancy Help and Parents’ Place.
In 1990 smoking became public enemy number one when council drafted the first-ever smoking bylaw designed to limit lighting up in public places. The Protestant district followed suit with an outright ban on smoking in all division buildings including schools, despite letters of protest from teachers at Robert Rundle and Lorne Akins. But when it comes to sexual health, the two school districts took different approaches. While the Protestant board commissioned a survey on condom use and sexual activity before deciding whether or not to put condom machines in schools, the Catholic district rejected giving a provincial questionnaire about AIDS to 77 random students. Trustee Bill Shields stated that some questions might infer that “anal and oral sex” are board sanctioned. The very idea of using condoms went against the board’s beliefs.
Weighty issues like the GST and Gulf War dominated January 1991 but at home, council voted to borrow $5 million to build the Mark Messier and Troy Murray in Campbell Park — no-frill, pre-fabricated rinks. It was also obvious St. Albert dog owners will never learn as a front page story decries the ongoing problem of overlooked doggie doo.
“It is against the law to leave your dog’s defecations on public property,” one bylaw officer is quoted as saying, shortly before slapping one pet owner with a $50 fine.
St. Albert’s environmental conscience expanded in other ways. A volunteer curbside recycling program decided to close down its activities because residents embraced the new recycling depot at Riel. The 50 volunteers had been collecting curbside recyclables in the city’s neighbourhoods and taking them to Edmonton’s recycling depots.
The next January started off with a scare — the Animal Rights Militia sent a letter to papers in the Capital region saying it has injected liquid oven cleaner into 87 Canadian Cold Buster chocolate bars because the product, designed at the U of A to fight off hypothermia, was tested on rats. One bar tests positive for cleaner. Residents were asked to bring any bars purchased, available at 7-Eleven stores, to the police or the Sturgeon Health Unit. There was no subsequent casualty, except for the 22 people laid off who worked on making the confection.
The Community Information & Volunteer Centre teamed up with the Help Society, Parents’ Place, the Work Orientation Group and LoSeCa to share office space in Campbell, but there was bad news downtown. The Perron Street arena, or Ducky Dome, was slated for demolition later in the year. The two new Campbell arenas took the place of the 22-year-old institution.
Peter Boer is an editor at the Gazette.
