Compassionate Neighbourhoods and NEPP Working Side by Side

Originally published in the Bird’s Eye

You know your girl loves a potluck, and every once in a while, this job of mine takes me somewhere delicious, sunny, and full of people I’m delighted to sit beside. Last week’s hard work landed me in a backyard on the Quadra Loop, plate in hand, surrounded by about 45 neighbours for their own Neighbourhood Emergency Preparedness Program (NEPP) gathering — a tradition this particular hood holds every year, and proof, if any was needed, that reporting on Quadra sometimes means eating well in good company. The reason I’d been invited was to witness the first neighbourhood on Quadra begin
rolling out the Compassionate Neighbourhoods program alongside its existing NEPP network.

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Schoolhouse Gallery presents “The Shape of Solace”

And the Old Schoolhouse Art Gallery is currently hosting an exhibition by three local artists: Melanie Boyle, Karen McDarmid, and Jane Newman. They have just opened a joint show called The Shape of Solace. It opened a few days ago, drawing a crowd of over 100 people, and will continue through July twenty-sixth.

A well-attended opening

Gallery hours are Fridays from six to nine PM and Saturdays and Sundays from two to six PM. The exhibition also involves some related events:  an Artists’ Talk on July 17th from seven to eight-thirty PM, a Collage Writing Workshop on July 19th from noon to two PM, and a Solace Show-and-Tell on July 24th from seven to eight-thirty PM.

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Human rights group Amnesty International calls out Meta data centre project in Sturgeon County

By David Boles, St Albert Gazette, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

An unexpected opponent has emerged against the new AI data centre project that is planned to be built north of Edmonton.

Amnesty International Canada is opposing the project by Meta, which is anticipated to take up an area larger than Vancouver’s Stanley Park in Sturgeon County.

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Mark Carney’s pipeline plan shelves emissions targets

By Anushka Yadav, The Pointer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

In 2021, a year before she would become Premier, Danielle Smith described on a podcast for the Alberta Enterprise Group, which lobbies on behalf of the oil industry, how she came to work for the organization. 

She had been recruited by a large organization that lobbies for the cattle production industry and said she liked their approach because “they recruited people from the energy sector; in fact, our chair was an oilman.” 

At the time, Smith was aggressively lobbying the provincial government on behalf of the Alberta Enterprise Group, trying to convince politicians that part of a proposed $20 billion taxpayer-funded incentive program should see money handed over to oil companies which would encourage them to clean up old abandoned wells, which they had failed to look after.

In 2023, a year after becoming Premier, Smith was widely accused of being in a conflict when, after working as a lobbyist for the oil sector and aggressively trying to convince Alberta politicians it was a good deal for the province, she pushed the giveaway to the industry through.    

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New West Coast Pipeline, BC’s Prosperity Agreement & Canada’s Emissions Targets

“We’re living through a time of great disruption. The global trading system, in which we’ve long relied as a country, is being dramatically restructured. Global conflicts have sharpely increased gas and food prices around the world and right here at home. The rapid rise of artifical intelligence is beginning to transform how we live and how we work. Climate change is worsening, with bigger storms, heavier flooding, more devastating wildfires. Canadians are feeling the impacts at their kitchen tables, at the pimps and on their factory floors. The good news is that unlike many countries, we can control our future, but that will require doing things differently – movng faster, building bigger and working together. And nowhere is that more the case than energy.” – Mark Carney 

The new West Coast Pipeline will closely follow the existing Trans Mountain Pipeline (TMX) route. BC has been promised billions of dollars through a new prosperity agreement, and Prime Minister Mark Carney has stepped back from Canada’s emissions targets because they are too divisive.

In this morning’s broadcast, two experts provide their insights into these matters. Jennifer Lash is a former senior analyst with Environment and Climate Change Canada and ran as a Liberal candidate in the 2025 election. She endorses the Prime Minister’s actions. Ian Sanderson, a senior analyst in the oil and gas division at the Pembina Institute, explains his reservations.

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