I see the provincial government is getting into the Olympic spirit.

Or at least they would have us believe that.

Unless you’ve been dead or watching the Edmonton  Oilers, you’ll recall the announcement about a week ago that the Alberta government has rented a train.

For $7 million of your tax dollars.

Yep, the Rocky Mountaineer that normally runs through the Rockies from Calgary to Vancouver will have a special run during the Olympics from Vancouver to Squamish, which is about 70 miles up the coast from the Olympic venues.

Yep, nothing like a train ride along the British Columbia coast admiring the western shore of the Pacific Ocean to promote Alberta.

Those ocean views will no doubt trigger many desires to visit the Rockies and Alberta’s prairies.

You can just picture it in your mind can’t you?

Folks riding that train absorbing that beautiful and rugged Pacific Ocean coast line then, overcome by the beauty, racing to drive to Red Deer.

I don’t think so either.

The government has announced that there will be some charge for riders, but if the Tories really want to make an impression it should announce the passenger list.

Private citizen, politician, bureaucrat and energy executives. Just tell the world.

Changing ridings?

Speaking of telling the world, a government committee has been quietly working  to realign constituency boundaries.
I don’t often make predictions, but this one is worth it.

The Town of Cochrane will soon change ridings. It will no longer be in Banff-Cochrane, but will become part of the Foothills-Rocky View riding, which is represented by Ted Morton.

It’s unfortunate that Cochrane would lose the excellent representation of our present MLA Janis Tarchuk, but them’s the breaks.

It’s interesting how such a change would affect the political aspirations of some locals who see themselves as provincial politicians some day.

Zone is nuts

I loved the headline in the Jan. 8 issue of the Calgary Sun. It said, ‘Air Canada Asked to Provide Zone for Nuts’.

My first thought was that means most of our politicians will have to travel by train, but it just meant a separate section on the plane for folks with nut allergies. Think of the security overkill that could produce.

Can you hear it now — have you had a peanut in the last 24 hours? Are your friends and relatives allergic to nuts? How about Liberal politicians?

The list is endless.

More Games talk

No politics here, just more information.

You’ll realize  a couple of months ago there was a very informal meeting at the RancheHouse to investigate the possibility of hosting a provincial athletic event.

The consensus at that time was Cochrane should host the 55 Plus Games for 2013.

Airdrie hosted the 2009 event and it was a huge success, so there’s another meeting Jan. 30 at 10 a.m. at the RancheHouse for information only. Three or four of the folks on the Airdrie committee will be there to share their experience.

Scotch, anyone?

There’s still a  few tickets left for the 11th annual Robbie Burns dinner at ther RancheHouse.

Contact Neon Cactus Wines for tickets and thank them for sponsoring the popular scotch tasting contest.

I said scotch, not Scot.

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