By Brad Herron
The Eagle
With the Canadian loonie climbing above the U.S. dollar, Cochrane dealerships are taking a hit.
Rodger Woodhouse, general manager at Cochrane Ford, said local customers are buying vehicles in the U.S.
“I know two that have done it, or have said they will,” Woodhouse said, adding he can’t speculate how many people stop to check prices then shop elsewhere, but he knows it is happening.
They can’t lower its prices because the dealership purchased vehicles at higher costs.
“I pay a certain amount for a vehicle and if I go under that it is going to be a loss, so there’s nothing I can do,” Woodhouse said.
Although the difference between the U.S. and Canada can be as high as $9,000 for big-ticket vehicles, Wood-house said he doesn’t have “$9,000 of profit in a vehicle.”
“It’s not uncommon to sell a $75,000 truck and make $1,000,” he said.
If this trend continues and Ford doesn’t change things, Woodhouse said it will impact the number of new vehicles on the lot “sooner or later.”
“I’ve got quite a few vehicles here right now and we are paying some serious interest on them,” Woodhouse said. “I hope they do something soon.”
Alex Baum is in the same situation at Cochrane Dodge. Because the price gap has been so large, he has gone to the U.S. and purchased used vehicles to sell locally.
Given the dealership’s history in town, Baum said local customers are still loyal.
“Our sales have been strong and that is a testament to our community,” Baum said.
Already realizing the challenge Canadian dealerships are facing, Dodge has adjusted interest rates so vehicles can be sold.
Baum said Dodge also has a policy where if a new vehicle is bought in the U.S., its warranty is void.
Baum believes the financial ship will right itself, and he sees a day — if the loonie stays at its current level — where Canadians are paying the same amount as Americans.
“It will be a gradual move to parity with the dollar,” Baum said.
Wayne Hilland has operated Bow Ridge Sports since 1968 and was in business when the loonie was above the U.S. dollar in the 1970s.
Although many of his snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles are not as expensive as cars or trucks, he has already seen the impact of lost sales. But Hilland said there is little he can do.
He said the “margin or end-washout on most products is two to three per cent, some higher,” so he cannot go much lower.
“We could lower our prices five per cent and not make a profit,” Hilland said.
Saying “every time we lose a sale it hurts,” Hilland knows the only way to keep dollars coming in is to convince people to buy locally.
“If everyone does it because it’s cheaper, you won’t have any stores.”

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By Shannon Craig
The Eagle
At least a few Cochrane residents think Premier Ed Stelmach did the best he could with the resource royalty review, while most are disinterested.
Reaction was generally positive on the streets of Cochrane Oct. 29 toward Stelmach’s decision to increase royalties by $1.4 billion in 2010, but most just don’t care.
About 10 to 12 people had nothing to say when asked about Stelmach’s decision, but two people felt he did what he could.
“He did his job,” said Terry Reynar, associate broker and manager of Royal LePage Foothills.
Reynar thinks Stelmach’s decision was more than acceptable.
The oil and gas industry had to know a change was coming, said Reynar, so the industry couldn’t be that shocked by the decision.
Stelmach came up with a decision that suited everyone, Reynar said.
That sentiment was echoed by Zofia Figon, a long-time resident of Cochrane.
“(Stelmach) had to take the middle ground,” Figon said.
It’s definitely a more of a wait-and-see situation, said Figon, adding nothing will happen for a few years so it’s hard to think of how it will affect anyone right now.
Stelmach announced last week that resource royalties will eventually add $1.4 billion to Alberta’s coffers, although members of the royalty review panel urged the province to go as high as $2 billion.
The premier has been criticized by political opponents, and members of the review panel, that he didn’t go far enough, while oil and gas companies have warned that increasing royalties will hurt the economy.

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Three men plead not guilty to charges of animal cruelty in Cochrane Provincial Court Oct. 23.
Baille Milan, Murray Milan and Arnold Bish are charged with causing or permitting animals to be in distress.
The discovery of dozens of dead cattle and bison west of Cochrane led to the charges on April 27.
A court date has been set for March.

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The Alberta Institute for Wildlife Conservation (AIWC) is hosting guided tours Nov. 25.
Started in 1993, the Madden-based wildlife hospital treats wounded or orphaned wildlife with the intent of returning them to nature. The non-profit society has more than 100 volunteers and has treated some 2,000 “patients” in 2007.
The tour will include the hospital, a presentation on one of Alberta’s native species, and an introduction to Gandolf, the AIWC’s newest education Great Grey owl.
Admission is $10 for adults, $5 for kids three and older, or $25 for a family of four.
Call 946-2361 to book a tour.

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By Shannon Craig
The Eagle
Family Violence Prevention month kicks off Nov. 1.
Throughout the month a number of organizations will be present in the community giving voice to family violence prevention.
“We want everyone to realize it’s a problem in all communities,” Claire Young said Oct. 24.
Young is a community resource worker with the Cochrane Family and Community Support Services (FCSS) located on Second Avenue West.
Family Violence Prevention month is a province-wide initiative working towards bringing education, awareness and resources to prevent family violence in all communities.
Last year Cochrane marked the month with a large event but this year will be different.
This year the focus is on community partnerships including, but not limited to, victim services, schools, seniors centres, Parent Link and the RCMP.
“Family violence happens right across the board,” Young said.
Infants to seniors can become victims of family violence.
The best way to reach those who suffer from family violence is to work with as many varied partners as possible.
In general, Young finds Cochrane to be a very proactive, preventative community, but it can be near impossible to get out of a violent situation.
“They don’t know a way to get out.”
That is why this month has such a high rate of community involvement.
“People can’t always go for help because they are being monitored,” Young said.
Sometimes phone conversations are tapped and recorded, explained Young.
While Cochrane doesn’t exhibit a higher amount of family violence than any other community in the province, it is important for everyone to realize the violence still does occur.
“Everyone thinks Cochrane is safe, nothing happens here. That’s not the case,” Young said. “We are part of those stats too.”
Alberta has the highest rate of family violence in Canada, according to www.child.alberta.ca.
Young speculates the stats are high for Alberta because of the growth in the province as well as the stresses on families now, such as job loss, mental illness and high divorce rates.
“Nothing happens without impacting the family.”
For more information visit a display at the Nan Boothby Memorial Library, or the Family Violence Prevention’s web site www.child.alberta.ca.

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By Brad Herron
The Eagle
The Springbank Airport had another mishap Oct. 28.
Airport manager Larry Stock said the pilot of a single-engine RV-6A flared the plane during landing, and landed hard, damaging the plane’s nose gear. No one was injured.
Stock downplayed the incident, saying Oct. 29 that “if it was a vehicle, this would be a fender-bender.”
With four separate accidents in the last few months, Stock said it “has been an unusual year” for the airport.
Residential housing is planned for near the airport and M.D. of Rocky View Coun. Mitch Yurchak wants to make sure the surrounding area is safe.
With the North Springbank Area Structure Plan in place, Yurchak said it is “a matter of time” before houses start going up.
He said Oct. 29 that Springbank community members have expressed concerns, and want to “keep intact Springbank’s traditions and values.”
Part of this is a limitation on the local airport to act as a relief valve for the Calgary International Airport, and continue to conduct training.
Even with the addition of Alberta Sustainable Resource Development (SRD) water bombers to the airport, Stock said this will continue.
“The role for Springbank will continue to relieve Calgary for light aircraft, that being to take some of the capacity issues away from Calgary that are associated with training,” Stock said.
The Springbank Airport is currently the seventh busiest airport in Canada. And this year, light jets were authorized to use the runways.
“I know there are issues with respect to the perception that because we have the tanker base that now we are going to have 737s, and that is just not the case because that is not what we are planning the role of Springbank to be,” Stock said.
With the new runways and taxiways built for the water bombers now operational, larger planes, up to 5,670 kg, can land in Springbank.
Stock said the perception that the airport’s purpose was changing arose because of the surprise unveiling of the tanker base.
“We were going to enter into a long-term lease with them (SRD) for the facility at which point they were going to issue a press release,” Stock said.
This is when communication between officials and the public stopped.
“We announced it at the last noise consultative committee meeting with the understanding the province was going to go public with it and that did not happen,” Stock said.
At this point, Stock said community members believed the project was off. It wasn’t.
“It was our thought that with the press release from the province in respect to the tanker base, that the issue of consultation or advisement would have been covered,” Stock said. “Unfortunately, they didn’t do that until the open house, which is almost like saying, ‘Aren’t we good, this is what we have already done.’”
Attempting to redefine the airport’s role, a plan is being drawn up to illustrate future growth and change.
Stock said the future will not include large cargo or commercial passenger planes.
“The traffic that goes into Calgary goes into Calgary for a reason,” Stock said.
“Larger carriers need connections and they would not get the connections at Springbank,” Stock said, adding cargo facilities are being built in “Calgary, not Springbank.”
One possibility for change is “point-to-point charter work,” something Stock is currently looking into.
He did admit, however, that a “busy airport and residential do not mix.” But he added the developer will work with the airport, which may smooth things out for all parties.

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Coffee with Warren
by Warren Harbeck
Many of our coffee companions have contacted me about the Oct. 21 passing of Stoney Nakoda elder Lily Wesley, of Morley (see last week’s column). I’ll share one pair of e-mails, in particular, that speak of her passion for inter-cultural understanding rooted in environmental sensitivity.
But first, this from Morley resident Myrna Kootenay, Lily’s niece. Myrna sent me a note about Lily’s farewell words, as reported to her by one of the family who was at Lily’s bedside. The words were apparently prompted by a vision Lily had.
“My cousin, my mother and others, they’re waiting for me across the river,” Lily said.
Myrna added, “It must be the river in Paradise that you wrote about.”
Now to Oakville, Ont., coffee companion Helen Hare, who wrote that Lily’s story re-awoke her longing to know more about the contributions of First Nations peoples. Helen’s late husband, Dr. Kenneth Hare, Chancellor of Trent University from 1988 to 1995, and chair of Canada’s national Climate Program Planning Board from 1992 to 2002, was a prominent advocate for our natural environment. I see Helen as an advocate in her own right — an advocate for our cultural environment.
“Reading about the life and work of Lily makes me wish all of us Canadians could integrate more,” she said.
Well, about Lily’s role in helping Canadians integrate more, I do have one more story to share, and this one overlaps with the Hare family’s interest in both culture and environment.
Longtime Canmore coffee companion Susanne Swibold, an anthropological photographer and film producer, wrote me about one of her personal memories of Lily.
Back in the early 1980s Susanne decided to have a tepee erected in her Canmore yard at the edge of the Rockies just below Spray Lake. She called on Lily and her husband, Lazarus, to come and show them how to do it. Susanne even invited 15 of her more adventuresome non-Stoney friends, both men and women, to be on hand to help out.
“It was quite a day,” Susanne said. “Lily instructed me that since this is a woman’s house, the woman directs the men in what is to be done.
“Before Lily and Lazarus arrived, our guys were trying to get the three set poles even and had a long ladder up, with a plumb line hanging down from the center, trying hard to get the poles even, but with no luck.
“When Lily and Lazarus arrived, the fellows made a mad scramble to hide the ladder and plumb line, embarrassed at their technical attempts. Lily stood with hands on hips, shaking her head at the abysmal lopsided set poles. She gestured to Lazarus to cut a certain amount off one of the poles. Lazarus pointed to one of the fellows to come over and operate the chain saw and cut the gestured amount off. The fellow he asked was terrified of chain saws and turned white while Lily indicated to go and do it.
“Well, he did do it and did an excellent job, and the whole tepee settled in perfect balance. Lily then instructed our men friends to place the other poles and put on the canvas ‘skin.’
“When the skin was on and pegged together, Lily stood in front of it, hands on hips, and declared to all the women standing around, ‘Now it’s our turn. This is women’s work. We put in the pegs to tie the tepee down and give our approval.’ She just giggled around us women as we pounded the pegs into the ground, all laughter and fun.”
Susanne then asked Lily and Lazarus to bless the tepee after a meal. They agreed, and excused themselves to prepare for the prayer ceremony.
“When we entered the tepee we were quite taken aback,” Susanne said. “There sat Lily and Lazarus in full regalia. It was an astounding sight. Quietly, everyone sat down. For one full hour Lily and Lazarus prayed back and forth for all living things of the valley, for all the waterways, for all the weather patterns, for all the flowers, the soils, the stars, moon and sun, for all the seasons and what they bring, and for our protection within our new tepee-home.
“What was so amazing is that the prayers were the most complete knowing of all that our valley world is made up of, and of how much gratitude there was — for every creepy-crawly, through to the stars. It was the most amazing biology, astronomy, climatology, flora, fauna, geology lesson one could ever sit in on, and it was spoken with the passion of the heart for Life and thanksgiving to the One Who Creates.”
This was Lily and Lazarus’ lesson that day at the intersection of creation and culture. Thank you, Susanne, for sharing this moment, and thank you, Helen, for your desire to know.
(c) 2007 Warren Harbeck,
warren@harbeck.ca.

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By Brad Herron
The Eagle
If everything goes according to plan, the Stoney Casino will open by mid-February.
Su-Hin Chee, chief financial officer of the Stoney Nakoda Nation, said the project is progressing as planned, and he expects few roadblocks.
There will be a community meeting from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Nov. 1 in the Morley School gymnasium to approve changes to the lease agreement. If ratified, this would finalize the financing for the project.
Chee said around 200 workers will be needed to run the casino and hotel at the corner of Highway 40 and the Trans-Canada Highway.
“Over 150 are expressing interest in being employed,” Chee said Oct. 29, adding he expects all positions to be filled before the doors open.

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By Brad Herron
The Eagle
Town of Cochrane administration are proposing a tax increase of about seven per cent for residents.
At the Oct. 25 council meeting, director of financial services Lori Craig told council a property tax increase is needed.
The preliminary budget proposes an increase of $120 for the average taxpayer.
Craig said the hike is being requested because tax revenue from a projected growth of 7.22 per cent is not high enough to cover expenditures.
“If we don’t have enough money from growth, we ask council for a tax increase,” she said.
Other proposed increases will be a water rate hike of 7.5 per cent and a 5.7 per cent increase in sewer fees. Administration is also proposing increases to the storm sewer fee, garbage collection and animal licenses.
Craig said the initial operating budget was $14.96 million, a 49 per cent increase from 2007, something she called “unacceptable.”
After paring down the dollars, staff anticipated expenditures to be $11.5 million, a 14.3 per cent increase from 2007’s $10 million.
Additional expenditures are $12 million for the water treatment plant upgrade, $3.6 million for the expansion of the Spray Lake Sawmills Family Recreational Centre, and $2 million for street and park improvements.
Another RCMP officer will also be added to the local force.
As well, the cost for power utilities is expected to jump about 20 per cent from 2007 rates.
Open houses will be held from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. on Nov. 14, and 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Nov. 15 at the RancheHouse. Citizens will be able to ask questions of town staff and their input will be recorded and presented to council.
Council will debate the budget from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Nov. 22, 23 and 24.
Finally, the budget will be voted on at the regular council meeting Dec. 10.

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