Red Deer Advocate, December 28, 2015

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Plow on demand

New business in the maritimes described as “uber for plows.” Allows consumers to find contractor nearby to plow.

Story on PAGE B7FORECAST ON A2

WEATHER Snow. High -11. Low -15

BY MURRAY CRAWFORDADVOCATE STAFF

More details of the Christmas day rampage and fatal police shooting have emerged, but Red Deer RCMP and the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team are looking for more witnesses.

ASIRT took over carriage of part of the investiga-tion after officers shot and killed a 37-year-old man wreaking havoc in a front-end loader.

The 37-year-old was fatally shot by police attempt-ing to make an arrest just after 1 p.m. on Dec. 25.

Red Deer RCMP had followed the vehicle from the industrial area into a field north of Red Deer. ASIRT said during the pursuit, the front-end loader collided with a police vehicle.

The officer exited their vehicle and fired several shots at the suspect.

A second officer also fired several shots.The front-end loader proceeded into a field and

began to move in circles. Other officers who had followed the front-end

loader were able to get close enough to see the man slumped over in the seat, no longer in control of the front-end loader.

The front-end loader continued into a wooded area and traveled for another 800 metres where it became stuck against a tree.

Officers climbed into the loader and turned it off. The man was bleeding and unresponsive. Emergency Medical Services were called in, but the man had died at the scene.

An autopsy will be performed in the coming days.The man left a wake of destruction in his rampage

through north Red Deer. After stealing the front-end loader, he damaged

and flipped over vehicles in both the Edgar and Burnt Lake industrial parks.

Though mostly causing damage to unoccupied ve-hicles, a truck with people in it was damaged by the man, but no one was seriously hurt.

Police said the man was sought in relation to a violent incident earlier that morning at a Red Deer home.

According to a release from the RCMP, a 47-year-old woman was sexually assaulted and an attempted murder was committed on a 20-year-old man.

ASIRT referred to the early morning incident as “intimate partner violence.”

The victims’ injuries are not life-threatening and they did receive medical treatment.

Police had a run-in with the man earlier that day at about 11:30 a.m. in Sylvan Lake.

He was found in a stolen vehicle and when police tried to stop it, he reversed into a marked police car and disabled it. He then fled the scene in the stolen vehicle.

The identity of the deceased was not released by police, to protect the identity of the victims.

ASIRT has taken over as investigating agency for the fatal shooting of the suspect.

Red Deer RCMP and the RCMP Serious Crimes Branch continue their investigation into the attempt-ed murder, sexual assault and theft that precipitated the shooting.

REBELS TAKE DOWN OIL KINGS

Photo by ASHLI BARRETT/Advocate staff

Brandon Hagel of the Red Deer Rebels attempts to slips a puck past Edmonton Oil Kings goaltender Patrick Dea during Sunday WHL action at the Enmax Centrium. The Rebels won 5-4. See related story on page B1.

ASIRT seeking

witnesses

POLICE SHOOTING

MORE DETAILS EMERGE FROM CHRISTMAS DAY RAMPAGE

Please see Shooting on Page A2


There was a moment a local teen shared with the Governor General that will stick with the first year uni-versity student.

Alexander Wozny, a Uni-versity of Ottawa student and Page at the House of Commons, was chatting with Governor General Da-vid Johnston while taking a group photo with the pages.

“We were seated next to each other and he asks me where I’m from,” said Wo-zny. “I told him Red Deer. And he responded ‘oh Red Deer, that’s that big me-tropolis between Calgary and Edmonton right.’

“It was this really special moment for me. I’ve had so many people ask me where’s Red Deer, but here’s our Governor General who knows all about it. Asking about how much snow we had and whether we had Chinooks like Calgary.”

Since the start of the school year, Wozny has been pulling double duty as a student and working at Parliament as a page. Pages serve the Speaker, Mem-bers of Parliament and other officials and assist them in their duties.

Wozny applied the day before the deadline, after a lot of encouragement from his mom and knowing another local person who had also applied.

“My mom brought it up in Grade 11,” said Wozny, who attended high school at Lindsay Thurber. “We had a former page come back and talk to us some-times.”

When Grade 12 started, Wozny’s mother became a little more forceful with her encouragement.

After a little research, Wzony questioned what the program was all about.

“You go to Ottawa and help Members of Parlia-ment?” Wozny said with a perplexed inflection.

“Then I watched CPAC and you could see all the pages running around delivering documents.”

Then it dawned on him what the job would real-ly be. Starting his time at the University of Ottawa working with federal politicians who are having an impact on the country, as his first university job and his time in a new city.

But the program isn’t the only venture keeping Wozny busy. He is majoring in political science and communications.

Among his page colleagues, Wozny said there is a broad range of interests ranging from music, health science and law to politics. An interest in politics is a common thread among to 40 pages.

“It’s been really interesting, and enjoyable,” said Wozny, who was stuck doing office work until Parlia-ment reconvened after the fall election.

“The pages are excited to get started, but that’s al-so true of the new MPs. It was so special to see them enter and it was like the first day of school.”

Wozny is also using this time to look closely at how or what is covered by media outlets during Par-liament sittings.

He reads news stories and compares them with what he saw or thought would be notable.

To prepare for their role, pages are required to try and memorize names and faces based off of pic-tures. Early on they rely on seating charts, but Wozny is trying to memorize the seating arrangement so he doesn’t have to rely on the chart.

“We’re the furniture of the house,” said Wozny. “It’s our job to make sure everything is running smoothly and we’re supposed to blend into the back-ground.”

[email protected]

Local teen enjoying time as parliamentary page

Alexander Wozny

HOUSE OF COMMONS

DOUBLE TREE MUSEUMDOUBLE TREE MUSEUM

PAGE A8PAGE A8

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS

SETS ANOTHER BOX OFFICE

RECORD

PAGE A11

A2 RED DEER ADVOCATE Monday, Dec. 28, 2015

3110 GAETZ AVE., RED DEERLOCAL 403-347-3301 TOLL FREE 1-800-661-0995

www.pikewheaton.com

LOTTERIES

Calgary: Today, snow. High -6. Low -11

Olds, Sundre: Today, snow. High -7. Low -14

Rocky, Nordegg : Today, snow. High -9. Low -14

Banff: Today, snow. High -8. Low -12

Jasper: Today, pe-riods of light snow. High -7. Low -16.

Lethbridge: today, periods of snow. High -8. Low -14.

Edmonton: today, 30% snow. High -12 Low -15.

Grande Prairie: to-day, partly cloudy. High -20. Low -26.

Fort McMurray: today, 30% flurries. High -17. Low -21

LOCAL TODAY TONIGHT TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY

REGIONAL OUTLOOK

WINDCHILL/SUNLIGHT

GRANDEPRAIRIE-20/-26

JASPER-7/-16

BANFF-8/-12

EDMONTON-12/15

RED DEER-11/-15

CALGARY-6/-11

FORT MCMURRAY-17/-21

SATURDAY/SUNDAY6/49: 12, 16, 22, 29, 35,

40 bonus: 8.

Western 6/49: 8, 15, 27, 31, 36, 48, bonus: 2.

Extra: 4035227

Pick 3: 584Numbers are unofficial.

Periods of snow Light snow. A mix of sun and cloud. Low -15.

Sunny. Low -16. Sunny. Low -9HIGH -11 LOW -15 HIGH -12 HIGH -10 HIGH -7

TONIGHT’S HIGHS/LOWS

LETHBRIDGE-8/-14

Weather

Windchill/frostbite risk: LowLow: Low riskModerate: 30 minutes exposureHigh -5 to 10 minutes: High risk in 5 to 10 minutesHigh -2 to 5 minutes: High risk in 2 to 5 minutesExtreme: High risk in 2 minutesSunset tonight: 4:29 p.m.Sunrise Tuesday: 8:45 a.m.

ASIRT investigators are asking anyone who was in the area of Twp Road 391 and Range Road 273 at 1:15 p.m. on Christmas day and who may have seen the confrontation between police and the man.

Witnesses are asked to call ASIRT at 403-592-4306.Red Deer RCMP are asking for anyone who wit-

nessed or took videos or pictures of the mayhem on Christmas to send them along to assist the investiga-tion. Anyone with information can contact the RCMP at 403-343-5575 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or online at www.tipsubmit.com.

[email protected]

Photo supplied by Alberta Serious Incident Response Team

Images of the destruction left by a rampaging front-end loader through north Red Deer. The driver was shot and killed by Red Deer RCMP attempted to arrest the suspect.

STORY FROM PAGE A1

SHOOTING: Confrontation between police and the man

SNACK TIME


A chickadee grabs a bit to eat Thursday morning at Kerry Wood Nature Centre.


Trapped in a room with a small group of people, all you have is a timer and clues scattered through-out the room.

All you have to do is start investigating and figure out how to get out.

It may sound simple enough, but the challenge is what drives people who want to escape.

Escape rooms, a thrilling challenge to get out of a locked room be finding clues and problem solving, have been cropping up in Canada for the past couple of years.

Red Deer’s own escape room is family-owned and located downtown. They have four different rooms and Tammy Oliver-McCurdie, an owner, said they have had some great early success.

“I didn’t expect to be this busy,” said Oliver-Mc-Curdie. “But we are, which is a good problem to have. We won’t slow down until January.”

In their first seven weeks, Lockdown Red Deer had about 2,500 people through trying to get out.

Oliver-McCurdie said they have about a 20 per cent success rate, which is about where they want it. The idea is to keep it challenging enough that people come back, but not so frustrating that people lose interest. When the rate goes higher or lower, adjust-ments are made to the room.

Escape rooms first started appearing about five years ago in Asia and eventually came to Canada.

Oliver-McCurdie said the players who attempt the rooms are largely recreational such as friends, fam-ilies, date nights or businesses on team-building ex-ercises. A smaller percentage does it competitively.

“We do get escape addicts who come from Cal-gary, Edmonton or Toronto,” said Oliver-McCur-die. “There are people travel the world to play these. I have a group that played with us quite a few times and they went to the Philippines to do escape rooms.”

Oliver-McCurdie had done a few escape rooms before and thought they were pretty fun. She started doing some research and it seemed like a good fit for a new venture.

When the business first opened, she bought the first two rooms and payed a consultation fee to a British company to get started, a third room was a creation of their own. As the business grew they add-ed another room designed by the family.

“We create them ourselves and I continue to do research,” said Oliver-McCurdie. “It’s fun to do the research and play other people’s games.”

Their business, located at 4836 51st St., has four rooms now including a study, a prison escape, a virus outbreak and a freezer.

For more information visit www.lockdownred-deer.ca or call 403-986-4836.

[email protected]

Find your escape

ESCAPE ROOM BECOMING POPULAR

Edmonton police shoot man after they say he approached

officers with a weaponEDMONTON — Police in Edmonton have shot and

wounded a man they say was armed and approached officers who were responding to a 911 call.

The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team, which investigates police shootings, is now handling the case.

The agency says in a news release that police were called to the scene early Sunday in the city’s west end in response to a man who was threatening to shoot himself.

When officers arrived, the release says a 50-year-old man emerged from a home carrying what ap-peared to be a long-barrelled weapon and confront-ed the police.

It says one officer fired his service weapon and the man was hit.

Police say the man suffered serious injuries but is expected to survive.

ASIRT says a long-barrelled weapon was recov-ered from the scene.

It is the second police-involved shooting in less than 48 hours the agency is investigating.

On Christmas Day, RCMP shot a 37-year-old man near Red Deer after police allege he crashed into several vehicles, including a police car, with a stolen front-end loader.

The man, who was a suspect in a sexual assault and an attempted murder earlier in the day, died at the scene.

Foul play suspected in death of man downtown

Foul play is suspected in the Christmas morning death of a Red Deer man, found in the vestibule of a downtown business.

Red Deer RCMP identified the victim as Thomas Patrick Braconnier, 46, in a release on Saturday.

Braconnier was found dead downtown near the intersection of 50th Avenue and Ross Street at about 5 a.m. on Dec. 25.

Red Deer RCMP and the RCMP Serious Crimes Branch are continuing their investigation into the death.

An autopsy has been scheduled for Dec. 28 at the Office of the Medical Examiner in Calgary to determine the cause of death.

Police said the investigation thus far does not indicate that the public is at any undue risk. This death is unrelated to the fatal police shooting that occurred later in the day on Dec. 25.

Anyone with information that may assist police in their investigation is asked to contact the Red Deer RCMP at 403-343-5575 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or online at www.tipsubmit.com.

ALBERTABRIEFS

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Register for Kindergarten and Pre-Kindergarten at any school starting January 4th.Please bring your child’s birth certifcate when registering.

To learn more about Kindergarten and Pre-Kindergarten programming contact any Red Deer Public School or access www.rdpsd.ab.ca. 73

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5L19

BY THE CANADIAN PRESS

EDMONTON — A low Canadian dol-lar has opened a window of travel op-portunity that Alberta plans to take full advantage of, says Tourism Minis-ter David Eggen.

Eggen says the province will do that by expanding travel opportunities be-yond the traditional powerhouse at-tractions of Banff and Jasper.

“We’ve seen over the last couple of years record revenues and crowds into the mountain parks,” he said in a year-end interview. “A lot of people have it as part of their bucket list. We just want to kind of expand on that.

“We need to be more aggressive and have more partnerships with the tour-ist industry.”

Expansion and partnering are the pillars of a seven-year plan, launched in 2013 under the former Progressive Conservative government, to grow tourism revenue by one-third to $10.3 billion.

Eggen said the heavy lifting will still be done by skiers, hikers, kayak-ers, sightseers and other visitors who stream into Banff and Jasper.

But new frontiers are opening up such as the Castle Wilderness region in Alberta’s southwest corner. In Sep-tember, the province announced two parks in the region — one for camping,

the second for back-country pursuits.Eggen pointed to other attractions

not that far away that include Water-ton Lakes National Park, Fort Macleod and Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump.

“I want to give it more camping and hotel capacity and to package it to-gether with the attractions that they have,” he said. “Working closely with the people down there, we can really create another mountain tourism des-tination.”

Eggen is also looking to expand snowmobile tourism in places such as Grande Cache and Lac La Biche.

Add to that an agreement with Francophone Economic Development Council of Alberta to create a video and promote the province in trade shows to bring more Quebecers out west.

And Pomeroy Lodging LP commit-ted this fall to a $26-million upgrade of the Delta Lodge at Kananaskis.

Alberta also is looking to secure more direct flights from Asia and is trying to bring in more visitors from U.S. destinations in Texas and south-ern California, who can already get to Alberta in one airplane ride.

Eggen said he is impressed by British Columbia’s aggressive tour-ism strategy. Sitting in a restaurant in Pincher Creek recently, he said he spied a rack of tourism pamphlets — all for destinations in B.C.

The province excels at turning

“lemons into lemonade,” he said. One

example is how the former Kettle Val-

ley railway was transformed into a sce-

nic, high-altitude mountain bike ad-

venture.

National park tourism to be priority

Photo by JEFF STOKOE/Advocate file photo

Looking north from Bow Summit along the Icefields Parkway in Banff National Park the setting sun paints smoke from forest fires in B.C. and Alberta in a late evening glow.


Erin and Colton Dunn had some fun in the water at the Collicutt Centre on Christmas Eve, avoiding the busy mall crowds.

POOL FUN


WASHINGTON — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will be visiting the White House at a fortuitous moment should he hope to chat with the cur-rent U.S. president about the cast of characters hoping to become the next one.

The first White House state dinner in 19 years for a Canadian leader will be happening right in the heat of pri-mary season, after voters in key states like South Carolina have already weighed in.

Those votes hold consequences for the Canada-U.S. relationship and whether it ends 2016 the way it begins — with a spirit of amiability and ideo-logical alignment between two nation-al leaders.

The prime minister and president have conveyed mutual affection and a desire to downplay potential irri-tants, like the Keystone XL pipeline and Canada’s shift in the Mideast com-bat mission.

The prime minister and Barack Obama share many other points of agreement — illustrated in the span of a few days where Trudeau enthu-siastically attended a climate summit introduced a tax hike on the rich and welcomed Syrian refugees at the air-port in a move applauded in a New York Times editorial.

Any of these could pass for Obama priorities. In fact, the president ap-peared to liken Trudeau’s election win to his own by specifically mentioning the two words famously stamped on his pastel-retro 2008 posters.

“I know Canadians are incredi-bly inspired by your message of hope and change,” Obama said during his first press conference with the rookie prime minister.

Hope and change.It’s unclear how much will actually

change, on a substantive level, on Can-ada-U.S. files. Keystone XL is dead for now. Another softwood-lumber dispute could arise with the U.S. Congress, now that a decade-old deal has ex-pired. Both countries’ lawmakers will consider ratifying the new Trans-Pacif-ic Partnership trade deal.

An adoption vote must also be held on one of the lesser-known legacies of the Harper era: an agreement that would revolutionize border-crossing, to ease backlogs by allowing customs checks away from the frontier.

One expert on Canada-U.S. rela-tions pines for a higher level of am-bition. Chris Sands says NAFTA and subsequent agreements have scratched the surface of free trade, but really just cherry-picked what indus-tries to liberalize.

He’d love to see North America talk about true free trade — a single mar-ket for goods and services and, if possi-ble, even a worker-mobility agreement.

“I would like a back-to-the-future recommitment to the (NAFTA) proj-ect,” said Sands, director of the Cen-ter for Canadian Studies at Washing-ton’s School of Advanced International Studies, a division of Johns Hopkins University.

That being said, he fears the conti-nental agenda could be destined for the back-burner as the Obama admin-istration prepares its exit and an in-coming administration faces daunting domestic challenges.

The biggest challenges for the U.S. economy, he said, are at home.

There’s a dusty old tax code Con-gress can’t seem to reform. Aging in-frastructure. Eleven million people operating outside the legal economy, with immigration reform paralyzed. Presidential candidates are also prom-ising varying degrees of change to Obamacare — which regulates one-sixth of the U.S. economy.

There’s not much Justin Trudeau, Stephen Harper, or any Canadian prime minister could really do, said Sands, to climb that elephantine pile of presidential distraction.

“I see a lot of uncertainty coming

out of Washington — which is going to be tough for Canada.”

Of course, personal relationships can make a difference. Brian Mulroney is fond of saying that privileged ac-cess to the U.S. president is worth its weight in gold. Canada’s new govern-ment enters with uncommonly deep ties with the current administration, starting with Chrystia Freeland, the cabinet minister responsible for Cana-da-U.S. relations, who’s well known in Washington. How will 2016 end?

If Hillary Clinton’s the next pres-ident, parts of her platform dovetail neatly with the Trudeau agenda. Both have platforms calling for a new North American climate-and-energy partner-ship, for instance. She’s voiced skep-ticism about the TPP, so is unlikely to press Trudeau too hard for speedy adoption if it’s still unresolved a year from now. She professes to oppose Keystone XL, while her Republican foes are staunchly in favour — and their approval of the pipeline could provide Trudeau a political win he’d never even asked for.

It’s on the Republican side where things get interesting, with a three- or four-way race underway. It’ll start to become clearer by the time of Trudeau’s visit who might prevail.

Consider the policies of Chris Chris-

tie. He recently said he’d bar Syrian refugees — even five-year-old orphans. He summed up his climate policy this way in an NBC interview: “I don’t buy that it’s a crisis,” he said. When pressed on what science he’d based that on, Christie replied: “That’s my feeling.”

Christie is one of the GOP moder-ates. Another is Marco Rubio. He re-acted to the Trudeau win by saying he hoped to work with him on approv-ing Keystone. Their first conversation about Cuba could be awkward.

Fidel Castro may have been a fami-ly friend to the Trudeaus — to the Ru-bios, he was a boogeyman. As a child, Rubio dreamed of leading a count-er-revolutionary army to overthrow Castro, his autobiography says. The son of Cuban immigrants wrote of a subsequent dream in his college appli-cation letter: designing a legal system for a post-Castro Cuba.

Regardless of that, Sands said he suspects they’d get along, with Rubio being a more run-of-the-mill Republi-can: “I think he’d be one of the easier people for Trudeau to deal with.”

Trudeau has already hinted, public-ly, at less-than-warm feelings towards the two leading candidates from the anti-establishment wing of the party: Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz.

Canada-U.S. relations face a suspenseful 2016

File Photo by THE CANADIAN PRESS

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks with reporters during an interview with The Canadian Press in Ottawa.

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COMMENT A4MONDAY, DEC. 28, 2015

If the Taliban were not so busy fighting the rival Islamic State jihad-is who began operating in Afghani-stan early this year, they might now be within reach of overthrow-ing the Afghan government that the Western pow-ers left behind when they pulled out most of their troops last year. Even with that distraction, the Taliban are doing pretty well.

Last Monday, a Taliban suicide-bomber on a mo-torcycle managed to kill six American soldiers who were patrolling the perime-ter of Bagram air base near Kabul. On the same day Tal-iban fighters took almost complete control of Sangin in Helmand province, a town that over 100 British troops died to defend in 2006-10.

As Major Richard Streatfield, a British officer who fought at Sangin, told the BBC: “I won’t deny, on a per-sonal level, it does make you wonder — was it worth it? Because if the peo-ple we were trying to free Afghanistan from are now able to just take it back within two years, that shows that some-thing went badly wrong at the opera-tional and strategic level.”

It was probably a mistake to invade Afghanistan in the first place. Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda terrorists could have been dealt with without invading

an entire country, and there was never any evidence that the Taliban govern-ment of the day knew about his 9/11 at-tacks on the United States in advance.

Having invaded the coun-try, it was a mistake not to hand it over to a tough regime made up of war-lords from the major eth-nic groups and get out be-fore the presence of over a hundred thousand foreign troops gave the Taliban a second wind. Trying to cre-ate a Western-style liberal democracy in Afghanistan was even more naive than the previous Soviet project to build a modern, secular, “socialist” one-party state in the country.

The 19th-century Brit-ish army and the 20th-cen-

tury Russian army could both have told them: it has always been easy to invade Afghanistan, but it has always been hard for foreign troops to stay there more than a couple of years.

And having made those mistakes, it was another mistake to pull almost all the foreign troops out before the Afghan government’s army was up to holding the Taliban off. If, indeed, it can ever be brought up to that level.

The parlous state of the Afghan Na-tional Army and the sheer feckless-ness of President Ashraf Ghani’s gov-ernment was highlighted by last week-

end’s desperate plea by Helmand’s deputy governor Mohammad Jan Ra-sulyar for supplies and reinforcements for the troops holding Sangin.

It’s not just that the army had ne-glected the plight of those soldiers. It’s the fact that Rasulyar had to resort to posting his plea on Facebook to get the government’s attention.

Part of the problem is that the gov-ernment and the army high command are profoundly corrupt. For example, up to a quarter of the army’s troops are “ghost soldiers” who only exist on pa-per, so that officers can draw their pay.

The worse problem is that Presi-dent Ghani, a former senior official at the World Bank, only won last year’s election by massive fraud. Conflicts with the aggrieved losers have left the government paralysed: 20 months after the election, there is still not even a permanent defence minister.

Morever, Ghani believes that a deci-sive military victory over the Taliban is impossible. This is probably correct — but he is therefore committed to cul-tivating close ties with Pakistan in the hope that Inter-Services Intelligence, the Pakistani equivalent of the CIA, will deliver the Taliban to the table for peace talks. (Most Afghans believe that ISI controls the Taliban.) But Ghani is wrong on two counts.

The Taliban have no reason to agree to a power-sharing peace set-tlement, since they can still hope for an outright military victory. And Paki-

stan doesn’t really control the Taliban, although it gives them a safe haven and can manipulate them to a limited extent. There were preliminary peace talks early this year, but there has been nothing since July.

The Afghan army would be collaps-ing a good deal faster if so much of the Taliban’s attention were not focused on fighting off the challenge from Is-lamic State. (It has killed at least a thousand IS fighters this year.) But the Taliban still managed to seize the city of Kunduz in the north for a week in September, and now Sangin in the southwest is going.

We are seeing the usual short-term responses in the West. President Obama has halted the withdrawal of most of the remaining 9,800 U.S. troops in the country (which was scheduled for the end of this year), and Britain has ordered ten of the 450 troops it still has in Afghanistan back to Sangin.

But that won’t make much differ-ence, and there is no chance whatever that the NATO countries will build their troop strength in Afghanistan back up to the level — around 140,000 — where it was five years ago. The Af-ghans are on their own now, and they will be lucky if they end up back under the rule of the Taliban rather than in the clutches of Islamic State.

Gwynne Dyer is a freelance Canadian journalist living in London.

Shaky future for Afghanistan

GWYNNEDYER

OPINION

Re: Climate change is an inconvenient truth

In the defence of ‘We Albertans,’ I thought it nec-essary to respond to Jim Gough’s ‘Climate change is an inconvenient truth,’ where another writer’s ‘opinionated nonsense’ is rebutted by his own opin-ionated nonsense, in which he confused ‘Climate change’ with ‘Man-made global warming,’ completely misrepresented the science on atmospheric CO2 and insinuated that, by being Albertan, I have forgotten everything I understand about the scientific method and must, therefore, believe the politically motivat-ed machinations of the UN’s IPCC without applying a shred of objective scrutiny to their politically moti-vated conclusions.

These same conclusions, he conveniently omits, totally disagree with the actual atmospheric data collected in 114 out of 117 computer driven models (from 1997 to present). You see, if your MDAL (mas-ter data and assumptions list) for any engineering project, computer program or scientific investigation contains flawed assumptions, you will get flawed answers. In this case, the troublesome assumption is that CO2 is the primary driver, or even a significant factor, in atmospheric temperature changes.

If we ignore politics and objectively review glob-al atmospheric temperature profiles for the last 2.2 billion years, we will reveal an ‘inconvenient truth’ for Mr. Gough — that the atmospheric CO2 level lags behind temperature rather than leading the temperatures as would be the case if it was involved in a causal relationship with temperature or a ‘fact-

based event’ as Mr. Gough called it.What many ‘man-made global warming’ pundits

conveniently ignore is that the earth is currently in an inter-glacial stage (the Holocene) of the Plio-cene-Quaternary glaciation, the fifth of five known ice ages. Average global atmospheric temperatures since the appearance of life have been some 12+ degrees warmer than the present and an approxi-mately 100,000 year cycle of climatic extremes, be-tween full glaciation and inter-glacial periods, have persisted since the beginning of the Quaternary. The earth is heating up, it’s that simple. CO2 levels are rising as a result. It’ll then cool again and CO2 levels will drop in concert. We’re adding some CO2 to the mix. If we can get CO2 levels to between 1000 and 2000 ppm, the earth will be, once again, able to sup-port its maximum theoretical biomass. Unfortunate-ly, there are not enough known fossil fuel reserves to achieve and sustain this level of CO2, but we have the technology, using solar and/or fission (hopefully fusion as well in the near future) to release some of the 100,000,000,000,000,000,000 tonnes of CO2 stored in carbonate rock formations by tiny sea creatures over hundreds of millions of years.

Can we delay or prevent the next full glaciation stage of our current ice age? Probably not. However, we may be able to increase the biomass carrying capacity of the bit of earth not covered by ice and therefore prevent life being extinguished entirely by cold temperatures and low atmospheric CO2. This is important, because about 18,000 years ago atmospheric CO2 levels dropped to 180ppm. Below 150ppm, plant life dies out through starvation and the rest of life follows closely behind.

How do we know all of this? Well, Ice Ages have happened five times before, so this is an educated scientific synopsis based objective deductive rea-soning applied to the geological history of the planet, but who knows, perhaps Mr. Gough knows something scientists don’t. ‘Climate Change’ is real and well documented, ‘Catastrophic Global Warming due to Human Activity’ is neither.

My sources for these claims are many. Most, if not all, geology and paleontology departments in universities worldwide could reproduce much of the data required to substantiate this brief summary, as could the data collected by the four research es-tablishments charged with supplying the IPCC with data for their work, all conveniently and nicely sum-marized in Nature Climate Change scientific journal in January 2014. Of course, the IPCC’s scientists and other man-made global warming pundits have been scrambling to provide an explanation ever since.

How about this for an inconvenient truth; ‘garbage in = garbage out’. If you, when designing your com-puter model, include CO2 released by human activ-ity as a decisive driver of atmospheric temperature, you’re going to obtain incoherent answers. We have 3.5 odd billion years of geological evidence to make that a ‘no-brainer’.

If my colleagues over at Boeing built airliners using the same lack of objective critical scrutiny Mr. Gough attributes to ‘We Albertans’, WestJet’s passen-gers would all be walking. This Albertan would pre-fer not to be associated with such opinionated, and profoundly unscientific, nonsense.

Stewart StaudingerAlix


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PORT COQUITLAM, B.C. — It looks like any other hair salon.

Shiny hydraulic swivel chairs sit in front of mirrored work stations. Hair-dryer seats line the far wall. Brightly coloured gels and shampoos festoon various shelves. Sweets fill a bowl beside the cash register.

But for owner Tima Kurdi, the aunt of a toddler whose horrific death beamed a spotlight on a refugee crisis and forever altered the lives of count-less Syrian migrants, this space rep-resents her extended family’s future.

“I’m calling it Kurdi Hair Design,” says Kurdi about the salon, nestled be-tween a children’s reading centre and an optometry clinic in a nondescript strip mall in Port Coquitlam, B.C.

“It’s a family business.”On Sept. 2, the lifeless body of her

nephew Alan Kurdi was discovered face down on a Turkish beach.

He died alongside his mother and five-year-old brother who, like so ma-ny Syrian refugees before and since, were driven by des-peration to attempt the dangerous boat crossing from Tur-key to Greece.

W i t h i n h o u r s , the chilling image had raced across the globe, elicit-ing shock and hor-ror, and prompting countries to open their doors, at least temporarily, to thou-sands fleeing their wartorn home.

After working for years to bring her own relatives to Can-ada, Alan’s death thrust Kurdi into the international spotlight as a spokeswoman for the ref-ugees’ plight.

She travelled to Belgium, Germany and Turkey, helping give a voice to those displaced by the war in Syria.

“I’m nobody, really. I just know the stories and I lived with the suffering for so many years. And now I have the chance to speak on behalf of them. That’s why,” she says, explaining her advocacy work.

“I’m just a normal person who speaks from the heart.”

The federal Liberals’ come-from-be-hind election victory in October soon saw Canada pledge to welcome 25,000 refugees by the end of the year, though that deadline was extended to the be-ginning of March due in part to secu-rity concerns raised in the wake of the attacks in Paris.

While she praises Canada for its efforts — and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in particular — Kurdi worries that already the world is beginning to forget the thousands of people still struggling to escape Syria.

“That hurts me even more,” she says, tears slowly streaming down her face.

“Nobody’s paying attention to all the suffering people. There are so ma-

ny suffering people there. I’m not just talking about my family.

“They’re not terrorists. They’re hu-man beings. … They had businesses. They had jobs. They owned a house. They sent their kids to school. They’re like every single one of us in the West,” Kurdi says, her fingers playing anxiously with the tissue she holds in her lap.

“What do you feel when you wake up one day and you lose everything that you own in your life?” she asks. “You go somewhere. You run to safe-ty because of your kids. You become nobody. And nobody cares. That’s not fair.”

Despite the pain it causes every time she’s confronted with her rela-tives’ deaths, Kurdi says she doesn’t want her nephew’s tragedy to be for-gotten.

“I want the world to remember that picture.”

Kurdi says she’s humbled by the outpouring of sup-port her family has received, although she has also had to endure an onslaught of negative com-ments from online trolls.

A simple, black-s t r i n g n e c k l a c e hangs around her neck with a small framed photo of Al-an, together with his older brother Gha-lib, who also died during the treacher-ous Mediterranean boat crossing.

A woman from N e w Z e a l a n d , touched by the Kur-

di family’s tragedy, mailed two identi-cal necklaces to Canada — one for her and the other for her brother Abdullah Kurdi, Alan’s father.

“It was the most beautiful gift I’ve ever received.”

“I phoned my brother and I told him about it and he was in tears. He said, ‘How beautiful people in the world are. It had to be my kids to wake up the world.”’

But the Kurdi family’s fortunes seem to be turning.

Her other brother, Mohammad Kur-di, is scheduled to arrive into Van-couver with his wife and five kids on Monday.

After an initial rejection by Cana-dian immigration authorities because of document complications, Tima Kur-di was invited in the fall to re-apply for approval — along with many other hopeful Canadian sponsors — and this time she was given the green light to bring her brother’s family in as refu-gees.

Mohammad Kurdi has been in Ger-many since leaving his wife and four kids seven months ago to find work. Before flying on to Canada, the fam-ily will reunite in Frankfurt, where he’ll meet his fifth and youngest child for the first

time.“It still has not hit me yet, the ex-

citement,” says Kurdi about her rela-tives’ pending arrival.

“We are still hurt. We always think about the nephews, the mother, about my brother.

“Maybe that will change a little bit when I see their smiles and they are safe,” she says, referring to Moham-mad’s family.

Sitting in the middle of her new shop, where the storefront sign was installed just a day earlier, she talks

about pain, but also about resilience.“When something breaks, it doesn’t

matter how you twist it around. The part that’s broken, it’s always going to show, forever,” Kurdi says. “But it will get better.”

For her, the business is a new be-ginning.

Mohammad, who ran a barber shop in Syria, will soon arrive and she’s hopeful their brother Abdullah, who left Turkey after his family’s deaths and now lives in Kurdistan, will even-tually join them.

“We’re going to make it. We’re going to work hard together,” she says, eyes flashing. “I know we can do it.”


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“I’M NOBODY, REALLY. I JUST KNOW THE STORIES

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REFUGEES


MONTREAL — The Quebec government is consid-ering a bill that could see members of the legislature get a substantial increase in their base salary and make them the country’s best-paid provincial politi-cians.

The proposal is essentially the result of recom-mendations in a report from retired Supreme Court justice Claire L’Heureux-Dube on how to improve their pay conditions.

Under the plan, the base salary would climb to $140,000 from $90,000, although the hike would kick in at the earliest in 2018 and only if the bill passes unanimously in the national assembly.

Liberal house leader Jean-Marc Fournier argues the eye-popping salary numbers wouldn’t mean an additional burden on taxpayers because politicians will assume responsibility for funding a greater share of their pension plan.

“There are savings of $400,000 yearly — some $4 million over 10 years,” Fournier said.

Fournier says eliminating $16,000 in tax-exempt earnings, boosting the share of politicians’ pension contributions to 41 per cent from 21 per cent, cutting certain allowances and making changes to collective insurance would offset any such pay hike.

But Quebec’s proposed move comes amid auster-ity measures and deep cuts that have affected the public as well as during tense labour negotiations with government employees.

Additionally, some legislators in other provinces such as Alberta, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick voted to freeze their salaries in 2015 or actually re-duced them. Opposition parties in Quebec City say the optics of a raise for politicians are not good, with Parti Quebecois house leader Bernard Drainville calling the idea “indecent.”

“How could members of the national assembly justify increasing their salary when teachers and nurses and other members of the public service are being offered so little?” he said.

“I’m afraid the taxpayer is not going to put much stock in the conclusions of the report and all they’re going to do is look at the hefty increase in the cur-rent context.”

Right now, the $90,000 number puts Quebec in the middle of the pack in terms of base pay. Four Canadian jurisdictions have salaries of more than $100,000, with the highest-paid provincial politi-cians being in Alberta, at $127,000. The Coalition for Quebec’s Future argues the bill doesn’t respect the results of a 2014 vote in the legislature when officials voted they should pay 50 per cent of their pension contributions, with the public assuming the other half.

Quebec legislators mulling giving

themselves hefty pay hike

Wintry storm causes travel headaches across Atlantic

CanadaHALIFAX — Heavy snow caused

travel headaches across the Maritimes on Sunday.

Some flights at Halifax Stanfield International Airport and St. John’s In-ternational Airport in Newfoundland were delayed or cancelled.

Police urged people to drive with caution as road conditions deteriorat-ed.

Environment Canada had issued snowfall warnings for parts of main-land Nova Scotia and southern New Brunswick.

The national weather forecaster said up to 20 centimetres of snow was expected in some areas.

Quebec 17-year-old dead after being shot by police following family drama

SAINT-CONSTANT, Que. — Que-bec provincial police say a 17-year-

old youth is dead after being shot by local police Saturday night following what appears to be a family dispute in Saint-Constant, Quebec.

Provincial police, who are handling the investigation, say local police were called to a residence where the teen had attacked an older male family member.

Police say the teen was carrying a knife when he confronted the local officers and was shot around 1 a.m. Sunday.

The youth died of his injuries. The older victim remains in hospital in critical condition.

Quebec’s Public Security Ministry has asked provincial police to inves-tigate since they were not involved in the incident.

Greater Victoria sees eight suspected drug overdose

deaths in one weekVICTORIA — Drugs are likely to

blame for the deaths of eight people in Greater Victoria over the past week, says the BC Coroners Service.

The only confirmed overdose was a man who died in a downtown Victoria parkade on Dec. 20, but seven other deaths are suspected to be overdoses, too, and officials are waiting for toxi-cology reports to confirm, said Coroner Barb McLintock.

The man who died in the parkade

had a “very mixed” cocktail of drugs in his system, she said, including morphine, heroine, fen-tanyl and methamphetamine.

The other deaths include a man in James Bay, two men at the same Saan-ich address on separate days, a woman in Langford, a woman in Esquimalt.


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A s ign we lcomes visitors to the Double Tree Village Museum.

Story and photos by ASHLI BARRETT/Advocate staff

Tucked away at the end of Range Road 41, just 9 kilometres west of Spruce View, is one of Alberta’s best kept historical secrets.

In fact, visiting the Double Tree Village Museum is akin to being transported about a century back in time to a much simpler era when Alberta became

part of Canada.Owned and operated by Ray and Anna Stanton,

the village first opened in 1997, born from the cou-ple’s passion for collecting antiques. Since then, the village has served to educate Albertans on what life in the region was like in the early 1900’s, from the design of many of the buildings and the tools of various trades, to the fashion and transportation of the period.

The village features a total of 25 buildings, in-cluding a school, church, general store, blacksmith

shop, hotel, a North West Mountain Police Outpost and more. One of the favourite activities at the vil-lage, however, is the Belgian horse sleigh and wag-on rides through the area, followed by a marshamal-low and wiener roast.

Double Tree Village Museum is open daily, and hosts their annual Pioneer Days the first weekend of June.

For more information on the Double Tree Vil-lage Museum, or to book a tour, visit northernhorse.com/doubletreevillage.

Hidden treasureHidden treasure

ABOVE; Saidie Hamilton checks out a Christmas-themed toy inside the Wagon Wheel Hotel and Saloon at the Double Tree Village Museum Sunday afternoon.RIGHT; A group of about 12 people hop aboard a sleigh for an afternoon ride on Sunday. Sleigh rides last about 30-45 minutes depending on the weather.

ABOVE; A group tours the Double Tree Village Museum Sunday afternoon. The village consists of a total of 25 buildings.TOP RIGHT; Szofie Oman, 3, visits the miniature horses at the Double Tree Village Museum.BOTTOM RIGHT; Ray Stanton drives a sleigh pulled by Belgian horses Duke and Pearl at the Double Tree Village Museum Sunday afternoon.

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK — The twin birth rate hit at an all-time high last year in the United States while the rate for trip-lets, quadruplets, and higher was the lowest in two decades.

Of the nearly 4 million babies born last year, more than 135,000 were twins. That is about 1 in every 29 ba-bies. In 1980, only 1 in every 53 babies was a twin.

The figures come from the final 2014 birth statistics, which were released Wednesday.

Why the twin increase? More wom-en are waiting until they are older

to have babies, and mothers in their 30s are more likely to have twins than younger women.

Experts also point to fertility drugs and procedures like in vitro fertiliza-tion, which generally raise the chances of multiple births.

While twin births have been rising for many years, the rate of triplet and higher-order births has fallen 40 per cent from its 1998 peak.

That’s because doctors have been implanting fewer embryos during in vi-tro fertilization than in the past, in rec-ognition that more embryos increase the risk of dangerous complications, some experts say.

“What might have been a triplet

birth in the past is now a twin birth,”

said one of the authors of the new re-

port, Michelle Osterman of the Centers

for Disease Control and Prevention.

About 1 in every 881 babies born

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Guidelines urging use of fewer em-

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HEALTH A9MONDAY, DEC. 28, 2015


WASHINGTON — Considering a cholesterol-lowering statin to prevent a heart attack? Deciding who’s a good candidate requires calculating more than a simple cholesterol level.

A government task force says the popular medications will be of most benefit to some people ages 40 to 75 whose risk of cardiovascular disease over the next decade is at least 10 per cent. But Monday’s draft guidelines from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force left some wiggle room, saying certain patients who aren’t at quite as high a risk still might benefit and should weigh the pros and cons for themselves.

“The benefit from statins is going to be the largest in the people who are at the highest risk,” explained Dr. Douglas Owens, a Stanford University professor and task force member.

The recommendations are similar to controversial 2013 guidelines from the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology.

Here are some things to know about making the statin decision.

WHAT ARE STATINS?Lipitor, Crestor, Zocor and other

statins have been the standard treat-ment for lowering cholesterol for more than 20 years, working by curbing its production in the liver. Statins gener-ally lower cholesterol levels by about 25 to 35 per cent. They’ve long been recommended for people who already have heart disease. The bigger ques-tion is who should use them to prevent heart disease in the first place.

WHO SHOULD GET THEMThe task force said doctors should

offer a statin to adults ages 40 to 75 who either smoke or have high choles-terol, suffer from high blood pressure or diabetes and also have at least a 10 per cent risk of a heart attack or stroke over the next 10 years.

That’s a complicated checklist. What if people meet all the criteria

except the 10-year risk? Those whose 10-year risk is at least 7.5 per cent might still benefit from a statin, but they should discuss it with their doctor and make their own decision, the task force concluded. (The most common side effect is muscle pain and damage.)

As for people over 75, the task force said there’s not enough evidence to tell if they’d benefit from statins to prevent heart disease.

HOW TO CALCULATE RISKThe task force endorsed usage of

an online calculator available through the American Heart Association’s web-site.

Doctors plug in information about the patient’s age, sex, race and other health conditions in addition to the level of LDL cholesterol, the so-called bad kind. That’s because recent re-search shows the combination of fac-tors is particularly important — that someone who might not have qualified for statins on the basis of an LDL level alone could benefit if other factors raise their overall risk.

“We recommend that people be-tween 40 and 75 have an assessment of their cardiovascular risk and that’s not just triggered by your cholesterol,” Owens said.

WHAT OTHER GUIDELINES SAY

The 2013 guidelines from the heart association and college of cardiology recommended that doctors consider statins in people ages 40 to 75 whose 10-year risk is 7.5 per cent or higher. Those guidelines were controversial because they made millions more Americans eligible for statins than older recommendations that focused more on cholesterol levels.

While Monday’s task force conclu-sion was that people at higher risk get more benefit, the two sets of advice are consistent, said American Heart Asso-ciation spokesman Dr. Donald Lloyd-Jones of Northwestern University.

Monday’s recommendations are open for public comment through Jan-uary 25.

Task force gives advice on lowering cholesterol

A LOOK AT STATINS AND WHO IS THE BEST CANDIDATE

Twins birth rate hits new high in U.S.: report


WASHINGTON — A shake-up of the nation’s kidney transplant system means more organs are getting to pa-tients once thought nearly impossible to match, according to early tracking of the new rules.

It’s been a year since the United Network for Organ Sharing changed rules for the transplant waiting list, aiming to decrease disparities and squeeze the most benefit from a scarce resource: kidneys from deceased do-nors. Now data from UNOS shows that the changes are helping certain pa-tients, including giving those expected to live the longest a better shot at the fittest kidneys.

The hope is to “really level the playing field,” said Dr. Mark Aeder, a transplant surgeon at University Hos-pitals Case Medical Center in Cleve-land who is chairman of the UNOS’ kidney committee.

In Abingdon, Virginia, 8-year-old Marshall Jones was one of the lucky first recipients. A birth defect severe-ly damaged his kidneys and a failed transplant when he was younger left his immune system abnormally primed to reject kidneys from 99 per cent of donors.

Then last January, after four years of searching, organ officials found a possible match, hours away by plane but available under the new policy — and it worked.

“We don’t use the word lightly, but this was really a miracle kidney for him,” said Dr. Victoria Norwood, Mar-shall’s doctor and the pediatric ne-phrology chief at the University of Vir-ginia.

There’s a huge gap between who needs a new kidney and who gets one. More than 101,000 people are on the national waiting list, while only about 17,000 kidney transplants are per-formed each year. Roughly 11,000 of

them are with kidneys donated from someone who just died the rest occur when a patient is able to find a living donor.

The wait for a deceased-donor kid-ney varies widely around the country, and in 2014, more than 4,500 people died before their turn.

The new kidney allocation system can’t alleviate the overall organ short-age. “The only thing to shorten total wait time for everybody is more organ donors,” Aeder said.

Instead, the policy altered how de-ceased-donor kidneys are distribut-ed, shifting priorities so that how long you’ve been on the waiting list isn’t the main factor. Among the changes:

—fewer transplants are occurring in which the kidney is predicted to outlive the recipient. Now, the kidneys expected to last the longest — as cal-culated by donor age and medical his-tory — are offered first to the patients expected to survive the longest. That’s called longevity matching. Before the change, 14 per cent of the longest-last-ing kidneys went to recipients age 65 or older. That dropped to 5 per cent as the new policy kicked in, according to UNOS monitoring.

—the less time spent on dialysis, the better patients fare after a transplant. Yet where you live still plays a big role in how quickly you’re put on the trans-plant list, with minorities and those in rural and poorer areas spending more time on dialysis first. The new policy gives people credit for that dial-ysis time, moving them up the waiting list, and boosted transplants among long-time dialysis users, UNOS found. In turn, transplants inched up among African-Americans, who spend dispro-portionately more time on dialysis.

—then there are those hardest-to-match patients such as Marshall, about 8,000 of them now on the waiting list. The new policy gives them special pri-ority for organs that can be shipped to a wider area of the country than other

kidneys, broadening the search for a super-rare match.

As a result, the percentage of trans-plants among those patients has risen nearly fivefold, UNOS senior research scientist Darren Stewart said.

UNOS is tracking the changes close-ly to look for unintended problems be-cause more transplants for one group can mean fewer for another. For ex-ample, adults younger than age 50 are getting more kidneys since the rule change, but older patients still account for about half of transplants.

Another question is how the new policy will work long term as a backlog of the special-case patients starts to clear.

“All of a sudden you got a flood-gate that opens because you gave these

people a big advantage and you’re shipping kidneys across the country to them,” said Dr. John Roberts, trans-plant chief at the University of Cali-fornia, San Francisco, one of the larg-est kidney programs. He praised the rule change but said it may need some fine-tuning.

For example, the new policy also offers wider access to the kidneys ex-pected to last the shortest amount of time, because the oldest or sickest pa-tients might choose one for a quicker transplant rather than gambling that a fitter one will become available. But, “we don’t have a great way to predict what’s coming for a patient” to help them decide, Roberts said. Discards of those less-fit kidneys temporarily in-creased a bit as the new policy began.

Photo by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Marshall Jones, right, laughs with Dr. John Barcia in the Battle Building at the University of Virginia Children’s Hospital in Charlottesville, Va. A shake-up of the U.S.’ kidney transplant system is getting more organs to patients once thought nearly impossible to match, according to early tracking of the new rules.

New kidney rules helping patients

Monday, Dec. 28CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS

DATE: Denzel Washington, 60; Maggie Smith, 80; Noomi Rapace, 35

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: The more focused you are, the smoother the day will run.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: You have a self-assured and sophisticated man-ner. 2016 is the year to listen and learn from a special teacher, mentor or friend

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Your en-ergy levels are high so it’s a great day for physical, sporting and outdoor ac-tivities plus all types of communica-tion. Others will find your Aries enthu-siasm inspiring highly and infectious.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Your re-lationship with a child, teenager or friend looks positive today Taurus, as you share interests and enjoy some holiday fun. But resist the temptation to be stubborn about a personal mat-ter.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Geminis love to gossip but beware the tendency to spill secrets today Twins. If some-one tells you something in confidence, make sure you responsibly zip your lip and keep absolutely quiet!

CANCER (June 21-July 22): There may be a tussle between head and heart/intellect and intuition today — as you struggle to make a decision thatís been worrying you. In the end, let your steady inner voice be your guide.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): The Leo Moon boosts your Cat confidence, charisma and energy levels. When it comes to family and friends, try nur-turing them rather than being bossy, as you balance personal desires with the needs of others.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Ver-satile Virgo — expect a busy day, when your multi - tasking talents will be called on fre-quently. Make sure you con-sult with fami-ly members if you are making long-term deci-sions.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): All types of study and research are favoured to-day, as you utilize your knowledge-able Libran mind. A child, teenager or friend has something to say, so make sure you are really listening.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Slow and steady wins the race today Scorpio. Spending quality holiday time with family and close friends will help sta-bilize relationships and sort out poten-tial problems before they begin.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): You’re keen to get your point across but, if you don’t communicate clearly, then you’ll be misunderstood. You’ve got big dreams but resist the urge to promise more than you can realistical-ly deliver.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): What-ever you do, you’re in for the long run. But, if something isn’t working out, don’t be afraid to change horses mid-stream. Mercury encourages you to be more flexible and adaptable.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Don’t jump to conclusions — make sure you

have all the facts and figures before you reach a decision. When it comes to a problematic partnership, be more proactive about finding a satisfactory solution.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): The Moon and Saturn encourage you to communicate your feelings in

straight-forward ways. Family and friends will be impatient if you pro-crastinate Pisces, so just say what you’ve got to say!

Joanne Madeline Moore is an interna-tionally syndicated astrologer and col-umnist. Her column appears daily in the Advocate.

Notice ofAnnual General Meeting

Notice is hereby given that the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Red Deer

Hospice Society will be held on:

Tuesday, January 19, 2016, 7pmat the Red Deer Museum

4525-47a Ave, Red Deer, Alberta

The purpose of the meeting will be to:1. Elect members of the Board of Directors

Directors3. Appoint an Auditor for the Society4. Transact such other business as may

properly come before the meeting.

For further information contact Val Hilario, Executive Director at [email protected]

LIFESTYLE A10MONDAY, DEC. 28, 2015

HOROSCOPES

JOANNE MADELINE MOORE

SUN SIGNS

Dear Annie: Our oldest daughter is married to a nice man and they have a sweet 2-year-old daughter. My son-in-law makes good money and my daughter can afford to stay home, but they never seem to have enough to get ahead. My daughter has been known to spend foolishly. They only have one car and it doesn’t run half the time. They can’t afford another. We let them live in our home for a year rent-free, so they could save enough to purchase their first house.

I know I’ve enabled my daughter for her entire life. She is very spoiled and self-centered. We argue a great deal and exchange hurtful words. Regularly, I surrender to her selfishness and give her money or run errands for her, even though I work full-time. I do these things because she is a recovering alcoholic and drug addict, and I fear she will otherwise return to that life again. She doesn’t attend her meetings anymore.

I don’t know how to handle her. I’m either forced to defend myself or give in to her whims. She never appre-ciates anything I do for her and she never does anything for me. Her husband is no bet-ter. He is selfish and spoiled by his mother, and he also en-ables my daughter.

She’s a good mother, but I babysit a lot. Her husband doesn’t complain when she gets together with her friends, but he works long hours and they don’t have much time together. I think he feels ne-glected.

How do I know when to do things for her and when not to? How do I tell the differ-ence between enabling and being a good mother? When she gets into one of her horrible, blaming moods, how do I handle that? This child has become a bitter pill to swallow, but I love her so much. — Mother of a Narcissist

Dear Mom: You should back away from some of this drama. The hardest thing for a parent to do is watch a child fail, but you may need to step back and let it happen. Your daughter cannot learn to stand on her own two feet if Mom is always holding her up. Her marriage issues and whether she attends meetings are no longer your business. Don’t give her money if she cannot manage it responsibly. When she blames you for not indulging her, remain calm and say, “I’m sorry you feel that way.” Walk away if she cannot stop berating you. Look into Al-Anon for yourself (al-anon.org). A good mother teaches her child to be independent and self-reliant, even when the process is painful to watch, and helps her accept that the universe doesn’t owe her everything she de-mands.

Dear Annie: This is in response to “Not His Girl-friend,” the woman whose husband objects to her acting as tour guide to a visiting male friend while the husband’s at work. He obviously has a trust issue.

I regularly entertain my male friends of over 25 years at my house for lunch and conversation. My husband thinks this is fine. My children consider them uncles. Unless there are reasons for her hus-band not to trust her, he needs to chill out. — Platts-burgh, N.Y.

Dear N.Y.: We agree that the husband is being overly suspicious, but his wife must be the one to decide how much of a ruckus she wants to make over this.

Annie’s Mailbox is written by Kathy Mitchell and Marcy Sugar, longtime editors of the Ann Landers col-umn. Please email your questions to [email protected], or write to: Annie’s Mailbox, c/o Creators Syndicate, 737 3rd Street, Hermosa Beach, CA 90254. You can also find Annie on Facebook at Facebook.com/AskAnnies.

KATHY MITCHELL AND MARCY SUGAR

ANNIE’S MAILBOX

Narcissistic daughter

dragging down generous mother

Siberian authorities give woman truck full of coal for slimming down

MOSCOW — Shedding the pounds in Siberia can come with a particularly welcome reward — coal.

Yelena Salnikova, a nurse from a small town of Berezovskoye, got a truck full of the stuff from au-thorities in the coal-rich Russian region of Kemero-vo on Wednesday for losing 30 kilos (66 pounds).

The dispatch means that Kemerovo’s long-serving governor Aman Tuleyev has made good on his prom-ise earlier this year to award locals with 1.5 metric tons of coal for every ten kilos lost.

Salnikova said on Russian television that the 5-ton truck of coal would help her heat her home for at least half the long Siberian winter even if tem-perature falls below -30 Celsius (-22 Fahrenheit).

Frustrated man leaves flock of chickens at Oregon tax department

EUGENE, Ore. — Police say an Oregon man angry with his tax situation left a flock of seven chickens inside the state revenue office.

Police in Eugene said in a news release they re-sponded to a report Wednesday afternoon of chick-ens left in the lobby of the Oregon Department of Revenue.

Police and an animal welfare officer rounded up the fowl, and they were taken to an animal shelter.

Officers gave 66-year-old Louis Adler, of Creswell, a trespass notice requiring him to stay away from the office or risk a citation.

The Register-Guard reports no people or animals were injured.

Adler couldn’t immediately be reached for com-ment.

State agency spokesman Derrick Gasperini told the Guard the staff had prior dealings with Adler and he was “frustrated by the outcome.”

Louisiana police use dating app to arrest man

LAFAYETTE, La. — Police in Louisiana say of-ficers used a dating app to arrest a man accused of stealing a phone at gunpoint.

The Lafayette Police Department announced in a news release that 27-year-old Leroy Hebert was ar-rested Tuesday. The Advocate (http://bit.ly/1RFI61X

) reports officers posed as a woman on a dating app and arranged a meeting with Hebert at a Lafayette hotel.

Police say the owner of the stolen phone told authorities he was robbed at gunpoint by two men Monday night. Authorities say the victim was able to access his phone activity online and found a selfie Hebert took on the phone.

Hebert was booked on a count of armed robbery. It isn’t clear if he has an attorney.

Authorities haven’t identified the second suspect.

Officers help deliver baby in Kmart parking lot

CORINTH, Miss. — A Mississippi officer helped make a special pre-holiday delivery in a parking lot for a pregnant woman who couldn’t quite make it to the hospital.

Sgt. Ken Walker of Corinth came to the aid of Kar-la White about 4 a.m. Monday. WTVA-TV reports that White and her mother were on the way to the hos-pital and called 911. Dispatcher Ashleigh Hinds ad-vised them to pull over and wait for an ambulance. They headed into a Kmart lot.

That’s when Walker showed up and realized there was no time to wait. The officer then helped deliver the baby.

Hinds says “emotions just overflowed the dis-patch centre.”

Walker says colleagues are giving him “atta boys” and calling him “baby doctor.”

Henry Dalton Byrd was due Jan. 7. Mom says he’s doing fine.

Coyote finds way into airport, quickly trapped

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — A wily coyote made his way into Myrtle Beach International Airport but was trapped and removed before he could come into con-tact with passengers or employees.

Airport spokesman Kirk Lovell says an Horry County animal control officer cornered and trapped the animal Tuesday morning near the only federal security checkpoint on the ground floor. Lovell says no flights were delayed or cancelled, but the check-point was briefly closed.

Horry Police Lt. Raul Denis says an initial report indicates that an officer had tried to trap the ani-mal outside the building, but it may have entered through a baggage portal.

A CHRISTMAS TIGER


A tiger rests on a Christmas tree at the zoo in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, on the day before Christmas Eve.


TORONTO — The anti-hero adventure film “Sui-cide Squad” isn’t due out until August 2016, but fans already have a taste, thanks to a teaser trailer that debuted in July — while shooting was still underway.

The recently released Star Wars: The Force Awak-ens also had a teaser trailer out over a year in ad-vance, as does the J. K. Rowling-written Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, due out next Novem-ber.

Distributors have been posting teaser trailers well ahead of a film’s release for over a decade, with 2003’s The Da Vinci Code cited as a trailblazer.

But experts say it’s now become more common-place, and in some cases, the teasers now have their own teasers.

It’s a way of creating early awareness in the in-creasingly congested entertainment world, making the trailer more important than ever.

“When you’re up against Marvel movies and Dis-ney movies and these movies with the Happy Meals in your face, it’s harder for independent films to dance between the raindrop and find those eye-balls,” says Elevation Pictures co-president Laurie May.

“So the more you can start to create the aware-ness, I think the better.”

Traditional marketing of a big film used to be based on a tightly controlled strategy that included on-set media junkets and trailers to get the word out.

Now, actors, directors and on-set photographers can post their own material on social media in re-al-time during production, easily and relatively cheaply.

“The social media strategy is now an inherent part of virtually every single film that gets made,” says Piers Handling, director and CEO of the Toron-to International Film Festival.

But for all the buzz social media can provide in the promotion of a film, the trailer still remains tops.

“In terms of marketing materials or any sort of interaction with the marketing of a movie or a TV show, the trailer is still the No. 1 most effective piece of content that goes out,” says D’nae Kingsley, chief strategy officer for Trailer Park, a Hollywood-based

entertainment and content marketing agency.“It’s very, very, very important, and what’s inter-

esting, too, is it’s across all ages.”Smaller Canadian films don’t often get teaser

trailers, but Elevation made it happen for writer-di-rector Paul Gross’s Hyena Road.

A teaser for the Afghan war drama came out near-ly a year before it hit theatres in October, followed by a second trailer closer to theatrical release.

“This one we needed to breed the awareness of it early and just keep it in everyone’s mind,” says Gross, noting its release date coincided with the busy Thanksgiving weekend.

“The problem with a lot of small films is there isn’t really much of a chance that it’s going to take off, just the way that the market is right now, it’s really tough out there for smaller, independent cinema.”

Those who make trailers say the standard is still about two-and-a-half minutes in length, and the basic approach remains the same: they have to be compelling and leave an impression.

But the creative touches in them are ever-evolving.

“This is true about any medium, especially film and TV, (they) are always evolving,” says Nati Braunstein, co-president and executive creative director at Aspect, a trailer shop in Los Angeles with credits including the “Black Mass” and “Batman v Superman” teasers.

“But it seems to me that trailers are evolving on a faster pace because it has to always surprise and excite.”

The big trend in trailers used to be voiceovers, which aren’t used as much anymore.

Then when 2010’s Inception came out with an ominous horn sound, that started a new trend.

“The big kind of ‘bwah’ sound that started in Inception, if you look at that trailer, that was one of the first times that it was used,” says Braunstein.

“That was definitely a big moment for trailers and then since then, it’s been imitated and reiterated and now it’s completely passe.”

These days, there are less action trailers that “go on and on with a monologue from the bad guys,” he adds.

“If you look at previous years, that was kind of

the standard. It was: monologue from bad guy, big

exploding shots. And that became a parody.”

Making teasers for a trailer have added a new

challenge for the industry.

“Usually you don’t want to show stuff that’s not

going to show up in your trailer, because then people

will notice that it’s missing,” says Braunstein.

“But on the flip side, you don’t want to spill the

beans, you don’t want to give away anything that’s

super exciting about the trailer itself.

“So it’s a fine line of creating advertising

for advertising, and that’s something we’re still

developing on how to do that just quite right.”

Trailer houses have to be particularly judicious

in an era of websites that dissect every shot of a

trailer to look for clues.

“I think studios have become smart over the years

and have been really carefully strategizing on what

to show, when to show and how much to show,” says

Braunstein.

“The biggest complaint I used to hear when peo-

ple knew what I did for a living was, ‘You guys gave

away the best parts of the movie,’ and I honestly

think that that isn’t happening quite as much any-

more.”

5497

8L17

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ENTERTAINMENT A11MONDAY, DEC. 28, 2015


LOS ANGELES — Star Wars: The Force Awakens has reached $1 billion at the box office, reaching the milestone with record-setting hyper speed.

The Walt Disney Co. said The Force Awakens crossed the billion-dollar mark Sunday, accomplish-ing the feat in just 12 days.

The previous movie to reach $1 billion the fastest was Universal’s Jurassic World, which did it in 13 days in June. Jurassic World also had the benefit of record grosses in China.

The Force Awakens doesn’t open in the world’s sec-ond-largest movie market until Jan. 9.

J.J. Abrams’ installment of Star Wars also posted the biggest Christmas Day box office in history with $49.3 million and the best second-weekend earnings with $153.5 million.

The Force Awakens has been setting records since its debut Dec. 17.

It brought in a galactic $238 million in North America over its opening weekend, besting previous record-setter Jurassic World, and set international opening-weekend records in Australia, New Zealand and throughout Europe.

It scored the biggest worldwide debut with $529 million. It also topped $100 million in IMAX screen-ings in 10 days, another global record.

“You almost have to rewrite all the record books for this movie,” box office analyst Paul Dergarabedi-an of Rentrak said.

“It’s absolutely mind-blowing that Star Wars could get to a billion dollars in 12 days and it hasn’t even opened in China, the second biggest movie market in the world.”

The power of Star Wars meant the rest of the week’s releases were competing for second place. That prize went to the Paramount comedy Daddy’s Home, which opened with $38.8 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

David O. Russell’s new drama starring Jennifer Lawrence, Joy, debuted in third place with $17.5 mil-lion.

A flurry of new films also opened in the top 10 this weekend. Concussion, the Will Smith-NFL drama, took in $11 million, good for sixth place, followed by the financial-crisis saga The Big Short, which collect-ed $10.5 million. The remake of Point Break opened

with $10.2 million. And Quentin Tarantino’s latest film, The Hateful Eight, debuted in 10th place with $4.5 million.

A juggernaut like Star Wars empowers the entire industry, Dergarabedian said.

“It’s great for the audiences, great for studios and theatre owners in particular who can point to this and say the movie theatre industry is as viable and relevant as it’s ever been,” he said.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theatres, according to Rentrak. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

1. Star Wars: The Force Awakens, $153.5 million.2. Daddy’s Home, $38.8 million.3. Joy, $17.5 million.4. Sisters, $13.9 million.5. Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip, $12.7

million.6. Concussion, $11 million.7. The Big Short, $10.5 million.8. Point Break, $10.2 million.9. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay-Part 2, $5.3 mil-

lion.10. The Hateful Eight, $4.5 million.

Another record for Star Wars THE FORCE AWAKENS BECOMES FASTEST MOVIE TO $1 BILLION

A trailer for the trailer


This photo provided by Disney shows, Adam Driver as Kylo Ren with his Lightsaber in a scene from the new film, Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

“WHEN YOU’RE UP AGAINST MARVEL MOVIES AND DISNEY MOVIES AND THESE MOVIES WITH THE HAPPY

MEALS IN YOUR FACE, IT’S HARDER FOR INDEPENDENT FILMS TO DANCE BETWEEN THE RAINDROP AND FIND

THOSE EYEBALLS. SO THE MORE YOU CAN START TO CREATE THE

AWARENESS, I THINK THE BETTER.”

—ELEVATION PICTURES CO-PRESIDENT LAURIE MAY.

FILMS ADVERTISING WELL IN ADVANCE


LOS ANGELES — Haskell Wexler, one of Hollywood’s most famous and honoured cinematographers and one whose innovative approach helped him win Oscars for Who’s Afraid of Vir-ginia Woolf? and the Woody Guthrie biopic Bound for Glory, died Sunday. He was 93.

Wexler died peacefully in his sleep, his son, Oscar-nominated sound man Jeff Wexler, told The Associated Press.

A liberal activist, Wexler photo-graphed some of the most socially rel-evant and influential films of the 1960s and 1970s, including the Jane Fon-da-Jon Voight anti-war classic, Coming Home, the Sidney Poitier-Rod Steiger racial drama In the Heat of the Night and the Oscar-winning adaptation of Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.

He was also the rare cinematog-rapher known enough to the general public to receive a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame.

“He was a wonderful father. I owe most of who I am to his wisdom and guidance,” said his son, nominated for Oscars himself for Independence Day and The Last Samurai.

“Even in an industry where, when you’re working on a movie, there is not much else you can do, he was always there for me,” Jeff Wexler said.

When the elder Wexler wasn’t work-ing on big-budget studio fare, he trav-elled the world directing and photo-graphing documentaries for favourite causes.

His 1969 Medium Cool mixed docu-mentary and dramatic elements, tell-ing the story of a fictional television photographer (Robert Forster) who covers the violence between Chica-go police and protesters at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. The real-life unrest was filmed on the spot for the movie, and its “cinema verite” approach was closely studied by aspir-ing filmmakers.

“I was under surveil-lance for the entire seven weeks I was in Chicago, by the police, the Army and the Secret Service,” Wex-ler once told a reporter.

Throughout his career, Wexler was noted for his versatile and intuitive ap-proach.

For Who’s Afraid of Vir-ginia Woolf, the last film to receive an Oscar for best black and white cinema-tography, he used hand-held cameras to capture the tension of the tirades between Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. For In the Heat of the Night, he put silks over the tops of

sets and aimed lights at their centres. His aim was to contribute to the ten-sion between Poitier’s big-city black detective and Steiger’s Southern white lawman.

As visual consultant on George Lu-cas’ American Graffiti, he hosed down the streets to achieve a moody, reflec-tive style. He helped give Terence Malick’s Days of Heaven a hazy, dream-like atmosphere.

Wexler was also noted for his clash-es with directors. Francis Ford Coppo-la fired him during the filming of The Conversation. Milos Forman dropped him during the filming of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Wexler shared the cinematography credit with Bill Butler.

“I don’t think there’s a movie I’ve been on that I didn’t think I could di-rect better,” he said in 2005.

For one of his documentaries, 2006’s Who Needs Sleep? Wexler turned his attention to the film industry itself, de-crying the long hours endured by Hol-lywood set workers. It was inspired by the death of a worker who fell asleep driving his car after a 19-hour stint on a movie set.

Wexler’s other documentaries in-clude: The Bus, about the Freedom Riders who risked their lives to inte-grate the South in the 1960s Latino, which examined American policy in Nicaragua Interviews with My Lai Veter-ans, which shined a light on survivors of U.S. brutality in Vietnam and Brazil: Report on Torture.

Born into a well-to-do Chicago fam-ily on Feb. 6, 1922, Wexler was still in grade school when he went to work for a photographer involved in the trade-union movement.

At age 12, he recorded his family’s vacation in Mussolini’s Italy with his family’s home-movie camera.

His childhood friends included a fellow lifelong rebel: Publisher Bar-ney Rosset, who helped bring down censorship laws by publishing unex-purgated editions of D.H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover and Henry Mill-

er’s Tropic of Cancer. Wexler left the University of Cal-

ifornia, Berkeley, 18 months into his studies to enlist in the Merchant Ma-rine as the U.S. was about to enter World War II.

After his ship was torpedoed off the tip of South Africa, Wexler helped some of the sailors join him in a life-boat.

Returning to Chicago, he made films for the United Electrical Workers Union before moving to Hollywood in 1960, where he made his feature de-but in 1963 on Elia Kazan’s immigrant drama America, America. It brought instant acclaim and steady work.

A photographer on dozens of fea-ture films, dozens more documentaries and scores of TV commercials, Wexler remained active for decades. At age 89, he received an Emmy nomination as the cameraman for Billy Crystal’s 61(asterisk), the HBO film about Roger Maris’ record-setting home run season. A few years earlier, Wexler himself was the subject of a documentary, Tell Them Who You Are, directed by another of his sons, Mark Wexler.

His last film credit, the biopic To Begin the World Over Again: The Life of Thomas Paine, is in postproduction, according to the Internet Movie Data-base.


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Making an early impressionBY DANNY RODE

SPECIAL TO THE ADVOCATE

Rebels 5 Oil Kings 4 (OT)Red Deer Rebels owner/GM/head

coach Brent Sutter has been working behind the scenes to strengthen the Memorial Cup hosts as they head to-ward the second half of the Western Hockey League season.

Sutter took a significant step in the right direction during the weekend by adding 19-year-old forward Jake De-Brusk from the Swift Current Broncos.

The Rebels shipped 18-year-old for-ward Lane Pederson along with a first round draft pick in the 2017 WHL Ban-tam Draft and a third-round pick in the 2016 draft to the Broncos.

The trade paid immediate divi-dends as DeBrusk scored a goal and added an assist as the Rebels edged the Edmonton Oil Kings 5-4 in over-time before 6,037 fans at the Centrium Sunday.

DeBrusk also made an immediate impression on Sutter.

“He left Swift Current at 8 this morning and arrived about an hour and a half before the game and he han-dled himself real well,” said Sutter. “You can tell he’s a smart player who handles himself in his zone. It was also good to see him get that monkey off his back right away with the goal.”

DeBrusk had to smile when asked about the goal.

“That was really big, you don’t want to dwell on it too long,” he said.

DeBrusk redirected a perfect feed from Ivan Nikolishin during a power play to give Red Deer a 2-1 lead in the first period.

“I knew the puck was coming to me and all I had to do was put it in,” he said. “It was nice to get it right away and to do it at home makes it better.”

The trade is something that Sutter has been working on for some time.

“It’s a process, as are all trades,” he said. “There are no easy trades. There’s a lot of dialog back and forth … timing is everything. Jake got hurt earlier in the season and before we went there with the trade we needed him to be healthy and to see where his game was at.

“It’s always tough to make a trade of this magnitude as there are signifi-cant assets in draft picks going out and also Lane. His game improved a lot since he’s been here but to get a quali-ty player like Jake you have to give up something. Jake will definitely help us and this year it’s even more significant because we’re hosting the (Memorial) Cup. We don’t want to just be a team that competes, we want to possibly win it.”

The six-foot, 181-pound DeBrusk, who was a first round draft pick (14th overall) by the Boston Bruins, had nine goal and 17 assists in 24 games this season. Last year he scored 42 goals and added 39 assists. Overall he has 67 goals and 81 assists in 169 games.

He indicated he expected to be traded, but it still came as a shock.

“I knew I would be moved, but it’s still a shock when it become a reality,” he said. “But I’m excited. I’m closer to home and with a really good team, a Memorial Cup team, and with Brent Sutter and all the above. I’m looking forward to being here. It’s a great op-portunity for me as a player and as a person,”

DeBrusk, who calls Edmonton home, is the son of Louie DeBrusk, who played over 400 games in the NHL. He played major midget with the Southside Athletic Club and had a number of battles against Colton Bobyk the Red Deer Optimist Chiefs. As a result he knows a number of the Rebels, including Evan Polei, who also played with SAC.

He also roomed with Rebels centre Adam Musil at the prospects game. On Sunday they were on the same line with Polei.

“It’s tough to get chemistry right away and we were up against the other team’s top line all night, but we came together.”

Sunday’s contest was anything but perfect.

“It was the first game after the Christmas break, which explains a lot of it,” Sutter said. “We didn’t get off to a great start, but were fortunate to get the penalty shot goal and then got two power plays in a row and scored on both of them.”

Nikolishin got the Rebels on the

board at 3:35 on a penalty shot after he was hooked on a break away. Anatolli Elizarov evened the count at 4:12 when he took a cross ice pass from Brett Pol-lock and scored into the open side on Rebels netminder Rylan Toth.

Although the Rebels were outshot 15-9 in the period, goals by DeBrusk and Musil, both on the power play and

on cross-crease feeds by Nikolishin, gave Red Deer a 3-1 first period lead.

Brandon Hagel put the Rebels up 4-1 at 6:11 of the second period with a perfect shot from the right circle, high to the glove side of left-hander Patrick Dea.

Photo by ASHLI BARRETT/Advocate Staff

Ivan Nikolishin of the Red Deer Rebels is hooked by Kobe Mohr of the Edmonton Oil Kings on a first period breakaway during Sunday afternoon WHL action at the Enmax Centrium. The incident resulted in a penalty shot where Nikolishin scored.

NEWLY ACQUIRED JAKE DEBRUSK GETS TWO POINTS IN REBELS WIN

Please see REBELS on Page B2

Flames fry Oilers to set new franchise recordBY THE CANADIAN PRESS

Flames 5 Oilers 3CALGARY — Johnny Gaudreau

keeps on lighting it up on home ice and the Calgary Flames keep on cele-brating victories.

Gaudreau’s red-hot play at the Sco-tiabank Saddledome continued Sun-day night with two goals as the Calgary Flames rallied to beat the Edmonton Oilers 5-3 and set a franchise record with its 11th consecutive home victory.

Since last losing at home on Oct. 30, Gaudreau has 15 goals and 22 points at home -- including four game-winning goals plus a shootout-deciding goal.

“We love playing at home,” said the 22-year-old forward. “We’re pretty comfortable playing here, it’s a good atmosphere and a lot of fun.”

Gaudreau, tied for sixth in NHL scoring with 39 points (17 goals, 22 assists), ranks third with 29 points at home. He trails only Jamie Benn (31) and Patrick Kane (30).

“Small but plays big,” described Flames coach Bob Hartley. “He’s so much fun to watch, so much fun to coach. Great team guy, great compet-itor and wants the puck in those big occasions.”

The record the Flames broke was set in 2006-07.

“This is a place we need to win hockey games,” said Matt Stajan, who scored a key short-handed goal. “We’re going to rely on this to be a place for us to hopefully give us some wiggle room down the stretch to gain some points and get into the playoff picture.”

Mark Giordano, with two goals, also scored for Calgary (17-16-2).

Benoit Pouliot scored twice and Teddy Purcell added the other for Edmonton (15-19-3), which gave up a two-goal second-period lead. The Oil-ers are 1-4-1 since a six-game winning streak.

“It’s frustrating. Getting a lead like that on the road’s not easy to get and it’s even harder to keep and we didn’t do the job,” Pouliot said. “It’s not that

we played bad. It’s just a matter of lit-tle mistakes here and there and they cost us.”

The Flames trailed 3-1 halfway through the second when Calgary stormed back with three straight goals before the period ended.

The Flames started the rally at 12:52 with their first short-handed goal of the year. It came on a 3-on-1 that was finished off by Stajan, who batted a re-bound out of the air for his second goal

of the season.“I played a little lacrosse growing

up, some slo-pitch. I’ve been watching (Sean Monahan) score a few goals like that this year. You go to the blue paint, sometimes you’ve just got to find it. I had three whacks at it so I better put that one in somehow,” Stajan said.

After Giordano scored on the pow-er-play at 16:47, Calgary took its first lead with 31 seconds left in the period when Justin Schultz coughed the puck up to Gaudreau in the slot and he bur-ied a shot past Anders Nilsson.

But it was the Stajan goal, his first in 15 games, that both teams pointed to as the key moment.

“That was the goal that re-started the game for us,” said Hartley. “They score and it’s 4-1 and it’s a much tough-er hill to climb.”

Oilers coach Todd McLellan was not happy about the blown lead.

“I would call it a collapse. The short-handed goal’s a real disappoint-ing one -- not only because we gave up the chance, but how we defended in our zone. We had some fly-bys going on and nobody stopped to defend.”

Nilsson, replaced by Cam Talbot to begin the third period, took the loss. He had 26 saves.

Karri Ramo had 28 stops for the win.Notes: Flames scored multiple pow-

er-play goals in a game for the first time since Mar. 19, 2015... Fifteen of Gaudreau’s 17 goals have been even strength. That ties him with Vladimir Tarasenko for second in the NHL, one back of Tyler Seguin... Flames rookie Sam Bennett has one assist in his last 13 games.


MONTREAL — Carey Price was in a class by himself this year.

Already loaded with trophies and awards for a spectacular season, the Montreal Canadiens goaltender is add-ing one more achievement to his 2015 resume after dominating the voting for the Lionel Conacher Award as The Ca-nadian Press male athlete of the year.

Price collected 53 per cent of the votes (30) cast by sports editors and broadcasters across the country.

“This one’s special,” said Price, who on Dec. 15 also won the Toronto Star’s Lou Marsh award as Canadian athlete of the year. “Being compared with ath-letes from other sports, it’s unique for me.

“I’m very honoured. It’s something I’ll look back at the end of my athletic career and probably highlight one of these as one of the top.”

Sprinter Andre De Grasse of

Markham, Ont., was second with 28 per cent of the votes (16).

Freestyle skier Mikael Kingsbury, basketball player Andrew Wiggins, tennis star Milos Raonic, hockey phe-nom Connor McDavid and rugby play-er DTH van der Merwe also received votes.

Price, a Vancouver native who grew up in Anahim Lake, B.C., ended Raon-ic’s two-year run and is the first hockey player to win since Pittsburgh Pen-guins captain Sidney Crosby won it for the third time in 2010.

He’s the first goaltender to take home the award, which has been hand-ed out since 1932.

The 28-year-old Price took his craft to a new level in the 2014-15 season, leading the National Hockey League with a 1.96 goals-against average and a .933 save percentage. His play lifted the Canadiens, who leaned heavily on goaltending for victories, to second place overall in the 30-team league.

His performance earned him four

NHL trophies.He took the Hart Trophy as the

league’s most valuable player, the Ted Lindsay Trophy as the NHL’s best player as voted by his fellow players and the Vezina Trophy as top goalten-der.

He also shared the Jennings Trophy for fewest goals allowed with Corey Crawford of the Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks.

Most voters saw no other choice for the Conacher award.

“Carey Price dominated his sport like few others have done before him,” wrote Pierre Champoux, digital direc-tor for Radio-Canada.

“Arguably the best goalie in the world had arguably his best individ-ual season stopping pucks in what is inarguably the most-followed sport in his home country. Yep, that’s an easy choice,” wrote Sean Rooney, sports ed-itor of the Medicine Hat News.

Awards are not new to Price, who was named top goalie in Canadian ju-

nior hockey in 2007 while with the Tri-City Americans of the Western Hockey League.

After the Americans were eliminat-ed from the WHL playoffs, Price joined the Hamilton Bulldogs of the Ameri-can Hockey League and helped the Ca-nadiens farm club win the Calder Cup. He was named MVP of the playoffs.

The Canadiens made Price the fifth overall pick of the 2005 draft, despite calls from fans to select a skilled offen-sive player.

The six-foot-three Price’s talent was always evident, even if it took a few years to secure his spot as a starter and put up all-star numbers.

The turning point was 2013-14, when he was named to Canada’s Olympic team. Coach Mike Babcock chose him as the starter over Roberto Luongo and Price backstopped Canada to gold, allowing only three goals on 106 shots in five games in Sochi.

Price adds to stellar year, named Canada’s top male athlete

Please see PRICE on Page B2

Photo by THE CANADIAN PRESS

Calgary Flames’ Karri Ramo, left, is congratulated by Sam Bennett for a 5-3 win over the Edmonton Oilers after NHL action in Calgary, Sunday.

B2 RED DEER ADVOCATE Monday, Dec. 28, 2015

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Perlini gets a promotion to top line


HELSINKI — It hasn’t been easy to find someone to keep up with Dylan Strome and Mitch Marner, but the speedy Brendan Perlini might be the man to bring stability to Canada’s top line at the world ju-nior hockey championship.

Perlini, the latest winger to join Canada’s high-fly-ing scoring line, practised with Marner and Strome on Sunday afternoon. The hope is that he’ll help un-lock the top trio’s offensive potential Monday against Denmark.

“Every time you play with new players you’re al-ways trying to find their tendencies and things like that,” said Perlini after the hour-long practice at Helsinki Ice Hall. “For me, I like to play with a lot of speed so it’s always trying to get guys to understand where I might like the puck or where they like it.

“I think we gelled pretty good and we’ll find out in the next game.”

Strome and Marner, the third and fourth overall picks in last summer’s NHL draft respectively, are Canada’s most skilled players at the world juniors but finding the right fit for the third member of their line has been difficult for head coach Dave Lowry.

Heading into the tournament returning veteran Lawson Crouse was on the wing with Marner, but in Saturday’s 4-2 loss to the United States Crouse didn’t take a single shift with Strome or Marner as Lowry opted to use John Quenneville with them instead. Later, they were joined by Anthony Beauvillier and, in the third period, Perlini.

It seems that final matchup — with Strome cen-tring Marner and Perlini — was the best fit as Cana-da prepared to face Denmark.

“He’s a big body that skates well, gets in on the forecheck and he’s not afraid to shoot the puck,” said Lowry of the six-foot-two, 212-pound Perlini. “He gets himself into the areas to get opportunities. He was reluctant (to shoot) a couple of times last night (against the U.S.) but we’ve talked about it and he’s made sure his mindset will be shot first.”

A reluctance to shoot against the Americans was costly for Canada and the addition of Perlini is de-signed to help Strome and Marner become more self-ish with the puck.

“I’m kind of a shot-first type of guy,” said Perlini. “That’s one thing is when I’m not shooting, to me, I’m not really playing my game.

“Just got to try and focus on shooting and going to the net.”

Perlini’s big body and shoot-first mentality suit his new linemates well.

“I like the way he plays,” said Strome. “He’s fast, he can shoot the puck and I think that’s what we’re going to need. I think that’s why the coaches want to put him on our line.

“I’ve seen his release and it’s pretty incredible. Hopefully we can get him the puck and get him good opportunities in good spots and he can put it home.”

All three forwards are in the Ontario Hockey League. Marner is third in OHL points with 22 goals and 36 assists for the London Knights, Strome is fifth in the league with 16 goals and 37 assists for the Erie Otters and Perlini has 13 goals and nine assists with

the Niagara IceDogs.“(Perlini) fits in really well,” said Marner. “He’s a

fast-moving guy, he’s a big guy, he’s really good with the puck, that’s what I’ve noticed the past couple of years playing against him.

“He complements us really well.”Asked if the rotating cast of left-wingers frustrat-

ed him, Strome said he could work with any of his teammates because the goal is to win.

“That’s the way it goes, I guess,” said Strome. “We’re trying to find that happy medium until some-thing really clicks. I thought us and (Quenneville) worked well and then us and (Perlini) worked well in the last period of the last game.”

TO JOIN MARNER AND STROME IN CANADA’S GAME AGAINST

DENMARK AT WORLD JUNIORS


Canada head coach Dave Lowry jokes around with Mitchell Marner during practice at the IIHF World Junior Championship in Helsinki, Finland on Sunday.

Canada plays Denmark on Monday as the pre-liminary round of the world junior hockey champi-onship continues in Helsinki, Finland. Canada lost its first game of the tournament to the United States 4-2 on Saturday, making this game an important re-bound opportunity. Here are five things to watch in the game against Denmark.

THE THIRD MAN — Mitch Marner and Dylan Strome are Canada’s best players but they have yet to find a third player to round out their line. In the 4-2 loss to the Americans the pair played with at least three different wingers including Brendan Perlini. He seemed to have stuck, with head coach Dave Lowry having him practise on the top line Sunday. His size and readiness to put the puck on the net might help Canada’s offence come alive.

SHOTS, SHOTS, SHOTS — After Saturday’s loss to the United States most of Canada’s players said the same thing: they needed to shoot more. Drills on Sunday focused on shooting and then crashing the net. Look for Danish goalie Thomas Lillie to get peppered as Canada’s offence puts an emphasis on taking shots and not fancy plays.

MCDONALD’S TIME — Mason McDonald will be back in net for Canada against Denmark. He had to step up in the first two games of the tournament as Mackenzie Blackwood, Canada’s presumptive No. 1 goalie before the event, finishes out an eight-game suspension. Lowry always said that the starting goalie job was open to competition, so if McDonald wants to prove himself the time is now.

DANISH DEFENCE — Denmark does not have the stars it did in last year’s surprising playoff run, so it’s going to have to rely on defence, special teams and making life easy for Lillie. Knowing that Canada’s going to put an emphasis on shooting ear-ly and often, the Danish defence will have to block shots and try to force the Canadians to shoot from as far back as possible.

OVER IT— Momentum can be everything in such a short tournament. Denmark rallied to a 2-1 win over a suspension-depleted Switzerland on Sunday, while Canada came up short to the United States 4-2 on Saturday. That said, Canada’s players insist-ed that the disappointing loss to the Americans was in the past and they were ready to move on. They certainly seemed loose on Sunday afternoon, whooping it up and celebrating every goal at prac-tice.

CALGARY — The Red Deer Opti-mist Chiefs got off to a slow start to the annual Mac’s major midget hockey tournament, losing a pair of 2-1 games.

They lost Saturday to the Tisdale Trojans then were defeated by the Austrian National U18 team Sunday.

Landon Siegle scored the lone Red Deer goal against Tisdale while Daw-son Weatherill made 29 saves.

The teams were scoreless after the

first period Saturday with Tisdale tak-ing a 1-0 lead in the second period and going up 2-0 in the third.

On Sunday Austria scored a pair of early goals against affiliated play-er Greyson Cameron, which brought Weatherill in.

The teams battled through a score-less second period before Joel Ray gave Red Deer some hope in the third.

The Chiefs face the Vancouver Northwest Giants today at 5:15 p.m. at Father David Bauer Arena and take on the Calgary Buffaloes Wednesday at 11:45 a.m. at the Max Bell Centre.

MIDGET AAA HOCKEY

FIVE THINGS TO WATCH

REBELS: Funny how the game works

STORIES FROM PAGE B1

However, Lane Bauer connected on the power play at 10:30 and Kobe Mohr, off the faceoff, at 16:36 and it was 4-3 heading into the third period.

The Rebels held together for most of the third period until Dyson Mayo’s point shot deflected in off Pollock’s leg at 15:26.

“It’s funny how the game works,” said Sutter. “We got a couple breaks in the first period and they get one in the third. Then we were able to win it in the overtime.”

Conner Bleackley got the winner at 1:26 of the five-minute three-on-three extra period with a screened snap shot from the top of the right circle that was just inside the post.

“It was a good win, but we need to be better,” said Sutter. “At times we spent too much times in our zone and were out-hustled to the pucks. We need to get better and improve those things.”

The Rebels finished with 24 shots on Dea while Toth faced 48.

The win gave the Rebels a 24-12 re-cord and left them tied for second in the Central Division with the Calgary Hitmen, two points back of the Leth-bridge Hurricanes.

The Rebels may not be finished on the trading floor either.

“We don’t want to just be a good team in May (at the Memorial Cup), but a good team in our league,” said Sutter. “We want to push and work to be better. There are a lot of sleepless nights during the break and there are still a lot of discussions with the trade deadline just two weeks away.”

The Rebels are without defenceman Haydn Fleury and forward Michael Spacek, who are at the World Junior Championships.

Danny Rode is a retired Advocate re-porter who can be reached at [email protected].

PRICE: Learning experience

In elimination games, he conceded one goal on 71 shots, shutting out the United States and Sweden in the last two games. He was named best goalie of the Olympics.

He followed that with the career season that won him all the hardware.

And he showed up to training camp this season saying he can still do bet-ter.

“The Olympics was definitely a learning experience to see all the great players on our team and the way they prepared and the way they carried themselves in stressful situ-ations,” he said. “Being able to take those ideals and apply them to my own preparation is ultimately how you con-tinue to get better. So hopefully I do have more gas in the tank.”

The 2015-16 campaign has been trying. He missed nine games with a lower-body injury in November, then suffered another lower-body injury on Nov. 25. He was expected to miss at least six weeks.

He is 10-2-0 with a 2.06 goals-against average and a .934 save percentage.

Babcock has spoken of how Price has an ideal demeanour for a goalie — quiet, calm and focused on the job. But he is not without personality. He has taken part in rodeo calf roping in the off-season, after all.

And he has become a role model for native Canadians. He is part of the Ulkatcho First Nation on his mother Lynda’s side and had a message for native youth in his speech after accept-ing the Vezina Trophy in June.

“People would say it’s very improb-able that I’d make it to this point in my life,” he told them. “I made it here be-cause I wasn’t discouraged. I worked hard to get here, took advantage of every opportunity that I had. And I would really like to encourage First Nations youth to be leaders in their communities. Be proud of your heri-tage, and don’t be discouraged from the improbable.”

RED DEER ADVOCATE Monday, Dec. 28, 2015 B3

Falcons end Panthers’ perfect seasonBY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

FALCONS 20 PANTHERS 13ATLANTA — Carolina’s bid for an undefeated

season ended Sunday when Julio Jones’ dramatic 70-yard touchdown reception powered the Atlanta Falcons to a 20-13 victory over Cam Newton and the Panthers.

Carolina (14-1) got the ball with 90 seconds left and no timeouts remaining. Newton completed a 19-yard pass to Corey Brown on first down but fum-bled when stripped by Vic Beasley Jr. on the follow-ing play. Adrian Clayborn recovered for the Falcons, wrapping up the win.

Matt Ryan threw for 306 yards and one touchdown for the Falcons (8-7), and Devonta Freeman ran for 73 yards with a touchdown.

Newton threw for 142 yards and ran for 46 yards, including an 8-yard scoring run to cap the Panthers’ opening drive.

JETS 26, PATRIOTS 20, OTEAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Eric Decker’s

6-yard touchdown catch on the first drive of overtime — after New England chose to kick off — lifted the Jets into position to make the playoffs.

A win next week at Buffalo gives the Jets a wild-card berth.

New England (12-3) won the OT coin toss and sur-prisingly elected to give the ball to the Jets (10-5). New York used a career-long 48-yard reception by Quincy Enunwa and a 20-yard pass to Brandon Mar-shall to move into scoring position. And then, Ryan Fitzpatrick hit Decker on a fade behind Super Bowl hero Malcolm Butler for New York’s fifth straight victory.

Marshall had two TD catches and also became the first NFL player with 100 receptions in six seasons.

Tom Brady hit James White for a 9-yard score with 1:55 to go, forcing OT.

CARDINALS 38, PACKERS 8GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Arizona sacked Aaron

Rodgers eight times and returned two of his fumbles for touchdowns to clinch a first-round playoff bye.

Carson Palmer threw for 257 yards and two touch-downs for Arizona (13-2).

In all, the Packers were sacked nine times in their most one-sided loss of the season. Dwight Freeney had three and Calais Campbell 2 ½ . Cory Redding rambled 36 yards with one of the fumbles for a score, Jerraud Powers took another 5 yards for a touch-down.

Green Bay (10-5) is home against Minnesota in its regular-season finale next Sunday night, with the NFC North title at stake.

VIKINGS 49, GIANTS 17MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Adrian Peterson ran for

104 yards and a touchdown over three quarters, Har-rison Smith took one of Eli Manning’s three inter-ceptions into the end zone and Minnesota clinched a playoff spot with a victory over New York Giants on a frigid night.

Teddy Bridgewater turned in another sharp De-cember performance, and Blair Walsh made five field goals for the Vikings.

With Peterson relaxing on the sideline, Jerick McKinnon rushed for two more touchdowns in the fourth quarter, including a 68-yard romp through a disinterested defence with the temperature down to 11 degrees.

The Giants (6-9) played with suspended receiver Odell Beckham Jr.

RAMS 23, SEAHAWKS 17SEATTLE (AP) — Todd Gurley scored on a 2-yard

TD run with 10:34 left, Akeem Ayers returned a fum-ble 45 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter as St Louis ended Seattle’s five-game winning streak.

St. Louis swept the season series from the Sea-hawks (9-6) having won 34-31 in overtime in Week 1. The Rams (7-8) flustered quarterback Russell Wil-son.

Gurley rushed for 85 yards on 19 carries. Case Keenum won his third straight start for the Rams, completing 14 of 23 passes for 103 yards and a 28-yard touchdown pass to Kenny Britt in the second quarter.

CHIEFS 17, BROWNS 13KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Alex Smith threw two

touchdown passes for Kansas City, and the game clock finally stopped Johnny Manziel as the Chiefs won a team record-tying ninth consecutive game.

Smith threw for 125 yards and ran for 54, helping Kansas City (10-5) clinch a playoff berth when Pitts-burgh lost to Baltimore moments later.

The Chiefs jumped to a 17-3 halftime lead, but the offence cooled off and Manziel pumped some life in-to the Browns (3-12).

The Heisman Trophy winner led Cleveland to 10 straight points, then took over at his 30 with 1:52 left and no timeouts. The Browns picked up three first downs, and Manziel hit Darius Jennings on fourth-and-10 from the Chiefs 32. But time expired before Manziel could get another snap off. He spiked his

helmet in frustration.

RAVENS 20, STEELERS 17BALTIMORE (AP) — Ryan Mallet threw for a ca-

reer-high 274 yards in his first start with Baltimore in leading the Ravens to one of the biggest upsets of this contentious rivalry.

The Ravens (5-10) had lost three straight, the last two by a combined 69-20 score. In this one, however, they turned back a team riding a three-game winning streak and striving for a playoff berth.

Baltimore swept Pittsburgh (9-6) for the first time since 2011. The Steelers remain in playoff conten-tion.

Making his seventh career start, Mallett went 28 for 41 with a touchdown and no interceptions. Signed by the Ravens on Dec. 15, he was the fourth quarter-back to start for Baltimore in a span of six weeks.

Pittsburgh’s Ben Roethlisberger threw two inter-ceptions and was sacked three times.

COLTS 18, DOLPHINS 12MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Third-string quar-

terback Charlie Whitehurst came off the bench again for Indianapolis, which made a last-minute defen-sive stand to keep alive their faint playoff hopes.

The Dolphins had a first-and-goal at the 5 with 40 seconds left, but after three consecutive incomple-tions, rookie centre Jamil Douglas appeared to snap the ball prematurely, and Tannehill was sacked by three Colts.

Indy backup quarterback Matt Hasselbeck depart-ed with an injury for the fourth game in a row, and Whitehurst did just enough after entering in the sec-ond quarter, completing two scoring drives.

The Colts (7-8) would have been eliminated from the playoff race with a loss. The Dolphins (5-10) were eliminated two weeks ago.

BILLS 16, COWBOYS 6ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Buffalo rookie

Mike Gillislee ran 50 yards for a touchdown with 2:25 remaining to secure the win for the Bills.

Gillislee finished with 93 yards rushing and led a ground attack that totalled 236 yards. Karlos Wil-liams scored on a 1-yard run as the Bills overcame an injury-depleted offence playing without running back LeSean McCoy.

Rookie linebacker A.J. Tarpley had an intercep-tion and sealed the win by forcing Lucky Whitehead to fumble on the kickoff return that followed Gillis-lee’s touchdown.

Buffalo (7-8) snapped a two-game skid and won for just the second time in six games. The Cowboys (4-11) lost in quarterback Kellen Moore’s first career start.

BEARS 26, BUCCANEERS 21TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Ka’Deem Carey caught a

touchdown pass from Jay Cutler and the third-string running back also scored on a 1-yard run to help Chi-cago Bears end a three-game losing streak.

Carey’s 1-yard scoring reception put the Bears (6-9) ahead for good early in the fourth quarter. The second-year pro teamed with Matt Forte and Jer-emy Langford to spearhead a rushing attack that produced 174 yards and kept Jameis Winston off the field for long stretches.

The victory was only the second in the past six games for the Bears. Tampa Bay (6-9) has lost four of five, including three straight after rebounding from a slow start.

LIONS 32, 49ERS 17DETROIT (AP) — Matthew Stafford threw for two

touchdowns, including one to Calvin Johnson early in the fourth quarter for Detroit.

The Lions (6-9) have won five of their last seven games, perhaps giving coach Jim Caldwell a chance to keep his job for a third season. The 49ers (4-11) have lost three straight and five of six under first-year coach Jim Tomsula.

Stafford’s 1-yard TD pass to Johnson gave Detroit a 12-point lead one play after Tramaine Brock was called for pass interference in the end zone. During the drive, the 49ers were flagged for being offside or in the neutral zone for the seventh time to set a sin-gle-game high by an NFL team this year, according to STATS.

SAINTS 38, JAGUARS 27NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Drew Brees passed for

412 yards and three touchdowns despite his injured right foot.

Brees, who tore his plantar fascia ligament during a loss to Detroit last Monday, showed no ill effects of the normally painful injury while completing 25 of 36 passes.

Running back Tim Hightower, who missed the previous three seasons because of a knee injury and subsequent complications, consolidated his recent resurgence with 122 yards and two touchdowns rush-ing for New Orleans (6-9).

Blake Bortles passed for 368 yards and four TDs for Jacksonville (5-10).

Picture looks a little clearer for playoffsCHIEFS IN AS FIVE TEAMS VIE FOR OTHER THREE AFC SPOTS, NFC A

LITTLE SIMPLERBY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Slowly, the field is taking shape for the NFL play-offs. On a day when both the Carolina Panthers and New England Patriots blew chances to clinch home-field advantage throughout the post-season, here’s a look at the playoff picture with nine of 12 spots decided:

AFCWith their ninth straight win on Sunday, the Kan-

sas City Chiefs are in. That leaves five teams — the New York Jets, Pittsburgh, Denver, Houston and In-dianapolis — still in contention for three remaining spots.

Already in are New England, Cincinnati and Kan-sas City.

The Jets and Steelers are trying for a wild card. Either the Texans or Colts will wind up as the AFC South winner. The Broncos have three possibilities — division champs, wild card or out completely.

The Bengals are at the Broncos on Monday night to help sort out some post-season seeding. If Cincin-nati wins, Houston wins its division the Texans also can take the AFC South with a victory against Jack-sonville next Sunday.

Also next weekend, the Jets are at Buffalo, the Steelers are at Cleveland, Denver is home to San Diego and the Colts play Tennessee. The Jets are in with a win.

NFCThe NFC field is set: Carolina, Arizona, Minneso-

ta, Washington, Green Bay and Washington are in.The Vikings clinched a playoff berth with a 49-17

victory over the New York Giants on Sunday night. They visit Green Bay next weekend with the division title on the line, with the loser receiving a wild card.

Despite their first loss of the season — to the Falcons— the Panthers are NFC South champs with a first-round bye. They close the season at home against Tampa Bay.

The Cardinals, NFC West winners, clinched a first-round bye with their win over Green Bay and close the regular season at home against Seattle.

The Redskins won the NFC East with their win at the Eagles on Saturday night, and play their reg-ular-season finale at Dallas next week. Seattle is in as a wild card despite its loss to St. Louis on Sunday.

Photo by ASSOCIATED PRESS

Houston Texans wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins (10) goes up over Tennessee Titans cornerback Coty Sensabaugh (24) to pull down a 15-yard touchdown reception during the third quarter of an NFL game Sunday, in Nashville. Brandon Weeden scored his first career rushing touchdown and threw for two more as Houston took a big step toward clinching the AFC South, downing the Titans 34-6.

Buffalo Sabres forward Evander Kane subject of sex offence investigation


BUFFALO, N.Y. — Buffalo Sabres forward Evander Kane is the subject of a sex offence inves-tigation by Buffalo police, the team confirmed in a statement Sunday.

“We take the allegation made today against Evander Kane very seriously,” the Sabres said in the statement.

“We are gathering facts and have been in touch with the NHL and Evander’s representatives. Until we have more information we will not have any addi-tional comment.”

The NHL released a similar statement, saying: “We are aware of and are monitoring the investi-gation involving Buffalo Sabres forward Evander Kane. We will have no further comment at this time.”

The Buffalo News, citing unidentified police

sources, said Kane is being investigated for an al-

leged incident Sunday morning in a downtown hotel

room.

The newspaper said Kane hasn’t been charged,

and police officials would confirm only that there is

an ongoing investigation.

A police spokesman and Kane’s agent, Craig Os-

ter, did not return messages left by The Associated

Press.

Kane’s attorney, Paul Cambria, declined com-

ment.

The 24-year-old Kane had a goal Saturday night in

the Sabres’ 6-3 victory in Boston. He has eight goals

and five assists in 25 games this season.

NFL ROUNDUP

NHL

SCOREBOARD B4MONDAY, DEC. 28, 2015

Basketball Hockey

Football

WHLEASTERN CONFERENCE

EAST DIVISION GP W L OTL SOL GF GA PtBrandon 36 22 11 1 2 137 102 47Prince Albert 35 21 11 2 1 114 104 45Moose Jaw 35 18 12 4 1 121 107 41Regina 36 15 16 3 2 110 127 35Saskatoon 34 13 18 3 0 104 144 29Swift Current 35 10 21 3 1 78 113 24

CENTRAL DIVISION GP W L OTL SOL GF GA PtLethbridge 36 25 11 0 0 153 109 50Red Deer 36 24 12 0 0 132 108 48Calgary 38 23 13 1 1 127 115 48Edmonton 37 14 19 4 0 103 123 32Medicine Hat 35 12 19 3 1 112 139 28Kootenay 37 6 29 2 0 70 158 14

WESTERN CONFERENCEB.C. DIVISION

GP W L OTL SOL GF GA PtKelowna 36 26 9 1 0 135 102 53Prince George 34 21 11 1 1 118 95 44Victoria 35 21 12 1 1 117 85 44Kamloops 33 17 12 3 1 118 103 38Vancouver 37 13 19 3 2 106 129 31

U.S. DIVISION GP W L OTL SOL GF GA PtSeattle 34 19 12 3 0 113 102 41Everett 33 19 12 0 2 91 74 40Spokane 35 18 13 3 1 117 117 40Portland 34 17 16 1 0 118 112 35Tri-City 35 14 19 2 0 109 135 30

Sunday’s resultsVancouver 4 Everett 2Brandon 6 Regina 3Moose Jaw 4 Swift Current 0Calgary 4 Kootenay 0Red Deer 5 Edmonton 4 (OT)Lethbridge 5 Medicine Hat 4 (OT)Prince Albert 6 Saskatoon 2Portland 5 Tri-City 4 (OT)Spokane 3 Seattle 0Kelowna 2 Kamloops 1Prince George at Victoria, late

Monday’s gamesKootenay atCalgary, 7 p.m.Red Deer at Edmonton, 7 p.m.Kamloops at Kelowna, 8:05 p.m.Prince George at Victoria, 8:05 p.m.

Tuesday’s gamesMoose Jaw at Brandon, 6 p.m.Saskatoon at Regina, 6 p.m.Prince Albert at Swift Current, 6 p.m.Medicine Hat at Lethbridge, 7 p.m.Spokane at Seattle, 8:05 p.m.Portland at Tri-City, 8:05 p.m.

Wednesday’s gamesRegina at Prince Albert, 6 p.m.Swift Current at Saskatoon, 6:05 p.m.Lethbridge at Calgary, 7 p.m.Victoria at Kamloops, 8 p.m.Prince George at Vancouver, 8 p.m.Everett at Kelowna, 8:05 p.m.

Sunday’s summaryRebels 5, Oil Kings 4 (OT)

First Period1. Red Deer, Nikolishin 20 (unassisted) 3:35 (lp).2. Edmonton, Elizarov 1 (Pollock, Mayo) 4:12.3. Red Deer, Debrusk 10 (Nikolishin, Musil) 7:26 (pp).4. Red Deer, Musil 12 (Nikolishin, Debrusk) 8:59 (pp).Penalties — Pollock Edm (tripping) 6:44, Pollock Edm (unsportsmanlike cnd.) 7:26, RD Bench (served by Hagel, too many men) 11:56.

Second Period5. Red Deer, Hagel 7 (Bleackley, Pawlenchuk) 6:11.6. Edmonton, Bauer 18 (Kehler, Irving) 10:30 (pp).7. Edmonton, Mohr 4 (Robertson) 16:36.Penalties — Gorda Edm (holding) 1:03, Doetzel RD (cross-checking) 8:22, De Wit RD (high-sticking) 9:59.

Third Period8. Edmonton, Mayo 2 (Bauer) 15:26.Penalties — Mayo Edm (tripping) 11:05, Baddock Edm (boarding) 18:55, Doetzel RD (boarding) 18:55.

Overtime9. Red Deer, Bleackley 9 (Bobyk) 1:26.Penalties — None.

Shots on goalEdmonton 15 21 11 1 — 48Red Deer 9 7 6 2 — 24Goal — Edmonton: Dea (LS, 11-13-3) Red Deer: Toth (W, 19-10-0).Power plays (goal-chances) — Edmonton: 1-3 Red Deer: 2-4.

WHL Scoring Leaders G A PtsTyson Baillie, Kel 24 35 59Brayden Burke, Let 9 43 52Adam Brooks, Reg 19 31 50Devante Stephens, Spo 14 35 49Dryden Hunt, MJ 21 27 48Parker Bowles, TC 20 28 48Reid Gardiner, P.A. 20 27 47Ivan Nikolishin, RD 20 26 46Egor Babenko, Let 19 26 45Alex Forsberg, Vic 13 31 44Brayden Point, MJ 18 25 43Mathew Barzal, Sea 9 34 43Radel Fazleev, CAL 14 28 42Justin Gutierrez, Let 18 23 41Giorgio Estephan, Let 16 25 41Nolan Patrick, Bra 10 31 41Tyler Wong, Let 22 18 40Collin Shirley, Kam 21 19 40Keegan Kolesar, Sea 16 24 40Jonathon Martin, SC 23 16 39Cameron Hebig, Sas 16 23 39Brett Pollock, Edm 13 25 38Andrew Nielsen, Let 9 29 38Jesse Gabrielle, PG 20 16 36Lane Bauer, Edm 18 18 36Matthew Phillips, Vic 18 18 36Dominic Turgeon, Por 17 19 36Ethan Bear, Sea 11 25 36Remi Laurencelle, Eve 19 16 35Jayce Hawryluk, Bra 18 17 35Noah Gregor, MJ 15 20 35Sam Steel, Reg 10 25 35Chad Butcher, MH 9 26 35

2016 IIHF World Junior ChampionshipAt Helsinki, Finland

PRELIMINARY ROUNDGroup A

GP W OTW OTL L GF GA PtSweden 1 1 0 0 0 8 3 3U.S. 1 1 0 0 0 4 2 3Denmark 1 1 0 0 0 2 1 3Canada 1 0 0 0 1 2 4 0Switzerland 2 0 0 0 2 4 10 0

Group B GP W OTW OTL L GF GA Pt

Finland 1 1 0 0 0 6 0 3Slovakia 1 1 0 0 0 4 2 3Russia 1 0 1 0 0 2 1 2Czech Rep. 1 0 0 1 0 1 2 1Belarus 2 0 0 0 2 2 10 0Note: Three points for a regulation win, two for an overtime/shootout win, one for an overtime/shootout loss.

Sunday’s resultsSlovakia 4 Belarus 2Denmark 2 Switzerland 1Saturday’s resultsUnited States 4 Canada 2Russia 2 Czech Republic 1 (SO)Sweden 8 Switzerland 3Finland 6 Belarus 0

Monday’s gamesCzech Republic vs. Slovakia, 5 a.m.United States vs. Sweden, 7 a.m.Finland vs. Russia, 9 a.m.Denmark vs. Canada, 11 a.m.

Tuesday’s gamesRussia vs. Belarus, 9 a.m.Canada vs. Switzerland, 11 a.m.

Wednesday’s gamesBelarus vs. Czech Republic, 5 a.m.Denmark vs. Sweden, 7 a.m.Finland vs. Slovakia, 9 a.m.Switzerland vs. United States, 11 a.m.

Saturday’s summaryU.S. 4, Canada 2

First PeriodNo Scoring.Penalties — Strome Cda (slashing) 1:34, DeBrincat U.S. (spearing major, game misconduct) 17:20.

Second Period1. Canada, Barzal 1 (Chartier, Gauthier) 5:062. U.S., White 1 (Milano, Dvorak) 13:33Penalties — None.

Third Period3. U.S., Werenski 1 (Matthews, Tkachuk) 7:22 (pp)4. Canada, Strome 1 (Marner, Dermott) 10:45 (pp)5. U.S., Belpedio 1 (Borgen, White) 16:426. U.S., Matthews 1 (Werenski, Tkachuk) 17:23Penalties — Quenneville U.S. (interference) 6:54, Werenski U.S. (slashing) 9:35.

Shots on goalU.S. 4 10 11 — 25Canada 5 10 12 — 27Goal — U.S.: Nedeljkovic (W,1-0-0) Canada: Mc-Donald (L,0-1-0).Power plays (goals-chances) — U.S.: 1-2 Canada: 1-2.

World Junior Hockey Scoring Leaders G A PtsNylander, Swe 0 4 4Puljujarvi, Fin 2 1 3Timashov, Swe 2 1 3Aho, Fin 0 3 3Pettersson, Swe 0 3 3Kessler, Sui 2 0 2Rod, Sui 2 0 2Matthews, U.S. 1 1 2Siska, Svk 1 1 2Werenski, U.S. 1 1 2White, U.S. 1 1 2Holmstrom, Swe 0 2 2Juolevi, Fin 0 2 2Tkachuk, U.S. 0 2 2Harlacher, Sui 0 2 2Malgin, Sui 0 2 2Asplund, Swe 1 0 1Barzal, Cda 1 0 1Belpedio, U.S. 1 0 1Forsbacka-Karlsson, Swe 1 0 1

2015 Spengler CupAt Davos, Switzerland

Preliminary RoundGroup A

GP W OTW OTL L GF GA PtCanada 1 1 0 0 0 2 1 3Yekaterinberg 2 1 0 0 0 6 3 3Davos 1 0 0 0 1 1 5 0

Group B GP W OTW OTL L GF GA PtLugano 1 1 0 0 0 6 3 3Mannheim 2 1 0 0 1 8 9 3Helsinki 1 0 0 0 1 3 5 0Note: Three points for a regulation win, two for an overtime/shootout win, one for an overtime/shootout loss.

Sunday’s resultsAdler Mannheim 5 Jokerit Helsinki 3Automobilist Yekaterinberg 5 HC Davos 1

Saturday’s resultsCanada 2 Automobilist Yekaterinberg 1HC Lugano 6 Adler Mannheim 3

Monday’s gamesJokerit Helsinki vs. HC Lugano, 7 a.m. .HC Davos vs. Canada, 12:15 p.m.End of Preliminary Round

Tuesday’s gamesQuarter-finalsQF1 — Second B vs. Third A, 7 a.m.QF2 — Second A vs. Third B, 12:15 p.m.

Wednesday’s gamesSemifinalsFirst A vs. QF1 Winner, 7 a.m.First B vs. QF2 Winner, 12:15 p.m.

Thursday’s gameChampionshipSemifinal Winners, 4 a.m.

NHLEastern Conference

Atlantic Division GP W L OL GF GA PtFlorida 36 20 12 4 98 83 44Detroit 35 18 10 7 92 91 43Montreal 37 20 14 3 106 92 43

Metropolitan Division GP W L OL GF GA PtWashington 34 26 6 2 108 72 54NY Rangers 36 20 12 4 104 93 44NY Islanders 36 19 12 5 97 85 43

WILD CARD GP W L OL GF GA PtBoston 35 19 12 4 108 94 42Ottawa 36 18 12 6 108 105 42Tampa Bay 36 18 15 3 92 84 39New Jersey 36 17 14 5 84 90 39Pittsburgh 35 17 15 3 79 86 37Philadelphia 35 15 13 7 76 96 37Carolina 36 15 16 5 85 103 35Buffalo 35 15 16 4 85 92 34Toronto 34 13 14 7 89 94 33Columbus 38 13 22 3 92 120 29

Western ConferenceCentral Division

GP W L OL GF GA Pt

Dallas 37 27 7 3 129 91 57St. Louis 38 22 12 4 95 90 48Chicago 37 20 13 4 97 89 44

Pacific Division GP W L OL GF GA PtLos Angeles 34 21 11 2 88 79 44Arizona 35 17 15 3 95 109 37Vancouver 37 14 14 9 93 104 37

WILD CARD GP W L OL GF GA PtMinnesota 34 18 10 6 92 83 42Nashville 35 17 12 6 92 89 40San Jose 34 17 15 2 93 94 36Calgary 35 17 16 2 96 116 36Colorado 36 17 17 2 100 99 36Winnipeg 35 16 17 2 93 104 34Edmonton 37 15 19 3 95 113 33Anaheim 34 13 15 6 66 87 32

Sunday’s resultsOttawa 3 Boston 1Toronto 3 NY Islanders 1Florida 3 Columbus 2Dallas 3 St. Louis 0Carolina 2 Chicago 1Winnipeg 1 Pittsburgh 0Anaheim 4 Philadelphia 2Arizona 2 Colorado 1 (OT)Calgary 5 Edmonton 3

Saturday’s resultsWashington 3 Montreal 1Tampa Bay 5 Columbus 2Buffalo 6 Boston 3Carolina 3 New Jersey 1Pittsburgh 3 Minnesota 1Detroit 3 Nashville 2St. Louis 3 Dallas 2 (SO)Los Angeles 4 Arizona 3 (OT)Vancouver 2 Edmonton 1 (OT)

Monday’s gamesWashington at Buffalo, 5 p.m.Montreal at Tampa Bay, 5:30 p.m.Detroit at Minnesota, 6 p.m.NY Rangers at Nashville, 6 p.m.Los Angeles at Vancouver, 8 p.m.Colorado at San Jose, 8:30 p.m.

Tuesday’s gamesDallas at Columbus, 5 p.m.NY Islanders at Toronto, 5 p.m.Ottawa at Boston, 5 p.m.Carolina at New Jersey, 5 p.m.Montreal at Florida, 5:30 p.m.Detroit at Winnipeg, 6 p.m.Nashville at St. Louis, 6 p.m.Chicago at Arizona, 7 p.m.Los Angeles at Edmonton, 7 p.m.Anaheim at Calgary, 7 p.m.

Wednesday’s gamesBuffalo at Washington, 5 p.m.Toronto at Pittsburgh, 5 p.m.New Jersey at Ottawa, 5:30 p.m.NY Rangers at Tampa Bay, 6 p.m.Philadelphia at San Jose, 7:30 p.m.

Sunday’s summaryFlames 5, Oilers 3

First Period1. Edmonton, Pouliot 6 (Eberle, Nugent-Hopkins) 16:21.2. Edmonton, Pouliot 7 (Nugent-Hopkins, Eberle) 18:11.Penalties — None.

Second Period3. Calgary, Gaudreau 16 (Brodie, Colborne) 3:10.4. Edmonton, Purcell 9 (Hall, Draisaitl) 10:21.5. Calgary, Stajan 2 (Granlund, Brodie) 12:52 (sh).6. Calgary, Giordano 8 (Wideman, Hudler) 16:47 (pp).7. Calgary, Gaudreau 17 (unassisted) 19:28.Penalties — Schultz Edm (hooking) 8:09, Colborne Cgy (stick holding) 12:02, Hendricks Edm (slashing) 15:48.

Third Period8. Calgary, Giordano 9 (Hamilton, Backlund) 18:00 (pp).Penalties — Schultz Edm (hooking) 16:11.

Shots on goalEdmonton 8 12 11 — 31Calgary 10 20 7 — 37Goal — Edmonton: Nilsson (L, 10-10-1) Calgary: Ramo (W, 13-10-1).Power plays (goal-chances) — Edmonton: 0-1 Calgary: 2-3.

Saturday’s summaryCanucks 2, Oilers 1 (OT)

First Period1. Edmonton, Letestu 4 (Korpikoski, Hendricks) 12:55.Penalties — None.

Second Period2. Vancouver, Hansen 11 (H. Sedin, D. Sedin) 3:37.Penalties — Weber Vcr (slashing) 11:44, Draisaitl Edm (tripping) 16:55, Nurse Edm (holding) 19:32.

Third PeriodNo Scoring.Penalties — H. Sedin Vcr (hooking) 8:04, McCann Vcr (hooking) 12:29.

Overtime3. Vancouver, Hansen 12 (Bartkowski, Markstrom) 4:01.Penalties — None.

Shots on goalEdmonton 13 9 8 3 — 33Vancouver 6 11 5 2 — 24Goal — Edmonton: Talbot (LO, 5-9-2) Vancouver: Markstrom (W, 3-3-3).Power plays (goal-chances) — Edmonton: 0-3 Vancouver: 0-2.

NHL Scoring Leaders G A PtsPatrick Kane, Chi 21 29 50Jamie Benn, Dal 22 25 47Tyler Seguin, Dal 20 27 47Vladimir Tarasenko, StL 22 17 39Taylor Hall, Edm 15 24 39Erik Karlsson, Ott 9 29 38Daniel Sedin, Vcr 16 21 37Johnny Gaudreau, Cgy 15 22 37Joe Pavelski, SJ 18 18 36Blake Wheeler, Wpg 10 25 35Alex Steen, StL 12 21 33Michael Cammalleri, NJ 12 21 33Patrice Bergeron, Bos 12 21 33Henrik Sedin, Vcr 9 24 33Mike Hoffman, Ott 17 15 32Ryan O’Reilly, Buf 14 18 32Bobby Ryan, Ott 11 21 32David Krejci, Bos 10 22 32John Klingberg, Dal 5 27 32BrentBurns, SJ 14 17 31Evgeny Kuznetsov, Wash 11 20 31Nicklas Backstrom, Wash 10 21 31Artemi Panarin, Chi 10 21 31Alex Ovechkin, Wash 17 13 30Evgeni Malkin, Pgh 17 13 30Mats Zuccarello, NYR 15 15 30Loui Eriksson, Bos 13 17 30Leon Draisaitl, Edm 9 21 30

National Basketball AssociationEASTERN CONFERENCE

W L Pct GBCleveland 19 9 .679 —Atlanta 20 12 .625 1Miami 18 11 .621 1 1/2Toronto 19 12 .613 1 1/2Indiana 17 12 .586 2 1/2Boston 18 13 .581 2 1/2Chicago 16 12 .571 3Orlando 17 13 .567 3Charlotte 16 13 .552 3 1/2Detroit 17 14 .548 3 1/2Washington 14 14 .500 5New York 14 18 .438 7Milwaukee 12 19 .387 8 1/2Brooklyn 8 22 .267 12Philadelphia 2 30 .063 19

WESTERN CONFERENCE W L Pct GBGolden State 28 1 .966 —San Antonio 26 6 .813 3 1/2Oklahoma City 21 10 .677 8L.A. Clippers 18 13 .581 11Dallas 17 13 .567 11 1/2Memphis 17 16 .515 13Houston 16 16 .500 13 1/2Utah 12 16 .429 15 1/2Sacramento 12 18 .400 16 1/2Portland 13 20 .394 17Denver 12 19 .387 17Phoenix 12 20 .375 17 1/2Minnesota 11 19 .367 17 1/2New Orleans 10 20 .333 18 1/2L.A. Lakers 5 26 .161 24

Saturday’s GamesWashington 111, Brooklyn 96

Toronto 111, Milwaukee 90New Orleans 110, Houston 108Miami 108, Orlando 101Charlotte 98, Memphis 92Boston 99, Detroit 93Atlanta 117, New York 98Indiana 102, Minnesota 88San Antonio 101, Denver 86Dallas 118, Chicago 111L.A. Clippers 109, Utah 104Philadelphia 111, Phoenix 104Portland 105, Cleveland 76

Sunday’s GamesMemphis 112, L.A. Lakers 96Oklahoma City 122, Denver 112Boston 100, New York 91Portland 98, Sacramento 94

Monday’s GamesAtlanta at Indiana, 5 p.m.New Orleans at Orlando, 5 p.m.L.A. Clippers at Washington, 5 p.m.L.A. Lakers at Charlotte, 5 p.m.Brooklyn at Miami, 5:30 p.m.Toronto at Chicago, 6 p.m.Minnesota at San Antonio, 6:30 p.m.Milwaukee at Dallas, 6:30 p.m.Philadelphia at Utah, 7 p.m.Cleveland at Phoenix, 7 p.m.Sacramento at Golden State, 8:30 p.m.

Tuesday’s GamesDetroit at New York, 5:30 p.m.Miami at Memphis, 6 p.m.Atlanta at Houston, 6 p.m.Milwaukee at Oklahoma City, 6 p.m.Cleveland at Denver, 7 p.m.

National Football LeagueAMERICAN CONFERENCE

East W L T Pct PF PAy-New England 12 3 0 .800 455 295N.Y. Jets 10 5 0 .667 370 292Buffalo 7 8 0 .467 357 342Miami 5 10 0 .333 290 379

South W L T Pct PF PAHouston 8 7 0 .533 309 307Indianapolis 7 8 0 .467 303 384Jacksonville 5 10 0 .333 370 418Tennessee 3 12 0 .200 275 393

North W L T Pct PF PAy-Cincinnati 11 3 0 .786 378 243Pittsburgh 9 6 0 .600 395 307Baltimore 5 10 0 .333 312 377Cleveland 3 12 0 .200 266 404West W L T Pct PF PADenver 10 4 0 .714 308 259x-Kansas City 10 5 0 .667 382 270Oakland 7 8 0 .467 342 376San Diego 4 11 0 .267 300 371

NATIONAL CONFERENCEEast

W L T Pct PF PAy-Washington 8 7 0 .533 354 356Philadelphia 6 9 0 .400 342 400N.Y. Giants 6 9 0 .400 390 407Dallas 4 11 0 .267 252 340

South W L T Pct PF PAy-Carolina 14 1 0 .933 462 298Atlanta 8 7 0 .533 322 325Tampa Bay 6 9 0 .400 332 379New Orleans 6 9 0 .400 388 459

North W L T Pct PF PAx-Green Bay 10 5 0 .667 355 303x-Minnesota 10 5 0 .667 345 289Detroit 6 9 0 .400 334 380Chicago 6 9 0 .400 315 373

West W L T Pct PF PA

y-Arizona 13 2 0 .867 483 277x-Seattle 9 6 0 .600 387 271St. Louis 7 8 0 .467 264 311San Francisco 4 11 0 .267 219 371x-clinched playoff spoty-clinched division

Thursday’s GameOakland 23, San Diego 20, OT

Saturday’s GameWashington 38, Philadelphia 24

Sunday’s GamesHouston 34, Tennessee 6Kansas City 17, Cleveland 13N.Y. Jets 26, New England 20, OTIndianapolis 18, Miami 12Detroit 32, San Francisco 17Buffalo 16, Dallas 6Chicago 26, Tampa Bay 21Atlanta 20, Carolina 13Baltimore 20, Pittsburgh 17New Orleans 38, Jacksonville 27St. Louis 23, Seattle 17Arizona 38, Green Bay 8Minnesota 49, N.Y. Giants 17

Monday’s GameCincinnati at Denver, 6:30 p.m.

Sunday, Jan. 3Jacksonville at Houston, 11 a.m.Washington at Dallas, 11 a.m.Detroit at Chicago, 11 a.m.N.Y. Jets at Buffalo, 11 a.m.New England at Miami, 11 a.m.New Orleans at Atlanta, 11 a.m.Baltimore at Cincinnati, 11 a.m.Pittsburgh at Cleveland, 11 a.m.Tennessee at Indianapolis, 11 a.m.Philadelphia at N.Y. Giants, 11 a.m.St. Louis at San Francisco, 2:25 p.m.San Diego at Denver, 2:25 p.m.Seattle at Arizona, 2:25 p.m.Oakland at Kansas City, 2:25 p.m.Tampa Bay at Carolina, 2:25 p.m.Minnesota at Green Bay, 6:30 p.m.

TransactionsSaturday’s Sports TransactionsFOOTBALLNational Football LeagueMIAMI DOLPHINS — Signed CB Tyler Patmon from the practice squad. Waived DE Jordan Williams.NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS — Claimed DB Troy Hill off waivers from Cincinnati. Signed WR Chris Harper from the practice squad. Released TE As-ante Cleveland and WR Leonard Hankerson.SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS — Signed RB Jarryd Hayne from the practice squad. Placed OL Alex Boone on injured reserve.SEATTLE SEAHAWKS — Placed TE Anthony Mc-Coy on injured reserve. Signed WR Kasen Williams from the practice squad.TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS — Placed DT Akeem Spence on injured reserve. Signed RB Mike James from the practice squad.Canadian Football LeagueWINNIPEG BLUE BOMBERS — Signed OT Stan-ley Bryant to a contract extension through the 2017 season.HOCKEYNational Hockey LeagueARIZONA COYOTES — Signed D Dysin Mayo to a

three-year entry-level contract.COLORADO AVALANCHE — Recalled G Calvin Pickard from San Antonio (AHL).WASHINGTON CAPITALS — Recalled D Connor Carrick from Hershey (AHL).American Hockey LeagueMILWAUKEE ADMIRALS — Recalled D Garrett Noonan from Cincinnati (ECHL).SAN ANTONIO RAMPAGE — Recalled G Spencer Martin from Fort Wayne (ECHL).ECHLREADING ROYALS — Announced F Cam Reid was returned to the team by Utica (AHL) and D Jesper Pettersson was reassigned to Lehigh Valley (AHL).

Sunday’s Sports TransactionsBASKETBALLNational Basketball AssociationMEMPHIS GRIZZLIES — Reassigned F James Ennis to Iowa (NBADL).HOCKEYNational Hockey LeagueNEW YORK ISLANDERS — Placed G Jaroslav Halak on injured reserve, retroactive to Dec. 21.

Recalled G Christopher Gibson from New Haven (AHL).American Hockey LeagueBAKERSFIELD CONDORS — Announced D Brad Hunt was recalled by Edmonton (NHL).BRIDGEPORT SOUND TIGERS — Recalled G Parker Milner from Missouri (ECHL).HARTFORD WOLF PACK — Recalled F Jack Combs from Greenville (ECHL). Announced F Josh Nicholls was reassigned to the team from Green-ville. Released D Nick Petrecki from his professional tryout agreement.SAN ANTONIO RAMPAGE — Recalled D Gabri-el Beaupre and F Alex Belzile from Fort Wayne (ECHL).ECHLECHL — Suspended Manchester’s Danick Paquette indefinitely and fined him an undisclosed amount for his actions in a Dec. 26 game at Adirondack. Fined Norfolk’s Tommy Mele an undisclosed amount for his actions in a Dec. 26 game at South Carolina.FLORIDA EVERBLADES— Agreed to terms with G Keegan Asmundson. Announced F Ethan Werek was loaned to Charlotte (AHL).

HELSINKI, Finland — The Canadian U21 junior team got off to a blistering start at the World Ringette Championships, de-feating the Czech Republic 32-0 Sunday.

Red Deer’s Kelsie Caine scored three times and added six assists as Canada fired 161 shots.

Canada’s U21 Team will play in the Presidents Pool with teams from Sweden, Czech Republic, USA, Slovakia and Fin-land. They play Sweden today, the U20 Swedes on Tuesday, Slovakia on Wednesday, USA on Thursday and Finland on New Years day. The Gold Medal and Bronze Medal series are a best of three. Team Finland is the current World Junior Champions.

The Canadian senior team meets Finland in a best-of-three series beginning Jan. 1. Dailyn and Jamie Bell of Lacombe are on the Canadian senior team.

RINGETTE

DeRozan scores 22 to lead Raptors past Bucks


Raptors 111 Bucks 90MILWAUKEE — The Toronto Raptors needed their best

passing display of the season to top the Milwaukee Bucks.DeMar DeRozan had 22 points and eight assists and Terrence

Ross scored 21 points to lead the Raptors past the Bucks 111-90 on Saturday.

The Raptors had a season-high 31 assists, including nine by Kyle Lowry.

“Once the ball got moving, the offence got in rhythm, players got in rhythm, shooters got in rhythm,” head coach Dwane Ca-sey said of 11 assists in the fourth quarter. “The rhythm passes, that’s the way we have to play to be successful offensively.”

The previous high was 25 assists against New York on Nov. 10.

The Bucks concentrated on stopped DeRozan and Lowry, but couldn’t contain the rest of the Raptors.

“They double team a lot with DeMar baseline and myself in the pick-and-roll,” Lowry said.

“So, we had to find ways to get our guys, be decoys tonight. And, I think we did a good job of it.”

DeRozan had a chance to become the first player in team his-tory to score 28 points or more in five straight games.

Luis Scola scored 17 points, including 3 of 4 from behind the arc, and grabbed 11 rebounds for the Raptors. Bismack Biyom-bo added 14 points and 12 rebounds, and DeMarre Carroll, who missed the last nine games with a bruised right knee, scored seven points as Toronto won its third straight over Milwaukee.

“We got hot with seven good shots,” Scola said. “Momentum drifted on our side. They couldn’t make shots. We made a cou-ple of defensive plays and that confidence just grew.”

After the Bucks took a slim lead late in the third quarter, the Raptors made eight 3-pointers — most were wide-open looks — and closed the game out with seven straight for their final 21 points. Scola and Ross each had two in the surge.

“They stayed with it and broke us down,” Khris Middleton said.

“We played well for three quarters, three and a half quarters, then took our foot off the gas.”

The Raptors finished with 13 3s and improved to 7-3 when they hit at least 10 from long range.

Trailing by three, the Raptors opened the fourth quarter with a 17-2 run capped by Scola’s wide-open 3 from the corner that gave Toronto a 93-81 lead with 6:31 to play. The Bucks went cold for almost four minutes during that decisive stretch. Michael Carter-William’s jumper at 6:14 was the first basket by Milwau-kee in the quarter.

Middleton, who scored 20 points, hit a 3-pointer with 6:18 left in the third quarter and gave the Bucks their first lead of the game, 68-67. After a basket by Biyombo, the Bucks went on a 9-2 run capped by Middleton’s 3 that put the Bucks up seven. Mil-waukee led 79-76 at the end of the third.

Greg Monroe scored 19 points for Milwaukee.Lowry scored 13 of his 16 points in the second quarter and

Ross added 10 as the Raptors led 56-52 at the half.

Denmark ready for Canada

after beating Switzerland

Mathias From scored the winner and Thom-as Lillie made 22 saves as Denmark upset Swit-zerland 2-1 Sunday at the world junior hockey championship.

Soeren Nielsen also scored for Denmark (1-0-0), which faces Canada on Monday. The Danes scored both their goals in the third period to come back from a 1-0 deficit.

Noah Rod scored for Switzerland (0-2-0), which lost again a day after suffering an 8-3 loss to Sweden on the tournament’s opening day.

Joren van Pottelberghe stopped 20 shots for the Swiss.

Slovakia beats Belarus

Lukas Hrusik broke a tie 19 seconds into the third period and Slovakia beat Belarus 4-2 on Sunday in its first round-robin game in the world junior hockey championship.

Patrick Koch, Filip Lestan and Juraj Siska also scored, and Adam Huska made 24 saves.

Vadim Malinovski and Ruslan Vasilchuk scored for Belarus, coming off a 6-0 loss to Fin-land on Saturday in its Group B opener.

In Group A, Soeren Nielsen and Mathias From scored to help Denmark open with a 2-1 victory over Switzerland. Thomas Lillie made 22 saves for Denmark.

WORLD JUNIORS

Canada opens with win over Yekaterinburg

DAVOS, Switzerland — Cory Co-nacher scored the winner as Canada opened the Spengler Cup with a 2-1 victory over Avtomobilist Yekaterin-burg on Saturday.

Trevor Carrick also chipped in for the Canadians (1-0-0), who got 22 saves from Drew MacIntyre.

“For the first game of the tourna-ment and (for this) group of new Ca-nadian players, it was great to come together so quickly and get rewarded with a win,” Conacher said. “We’re re-ally excited about the team here in Da-

vos and want to represent our country with pride and passion.”

Alexander Torchenyuk had the lone goal for Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg (0-1-0), a team from the KHL. Igor Us-tinsky turned aside 25 shots in net.

“It was quite impressive to see all of these players that have never played together look in sync after one full practice,” said Canada’s head coach Guy Boucher. “Now we don’t want to be satisfied — we want to keep grow-ing together.”

Canada finished the game 0 for 7 on the power play with Yekaterinburg go-ing scoreless on two chances.

The Canadians are back in action on Monday when they face HC Davos.

Notes: Matthew Lombardi was named Canada’s captain prior to the game. … The Canadians last won the Spengler Cup in 2012.

A TRIPLE CROWN, A FLUBBED PUNT, A WORLD SERIES

MARATHON HIGHLIGHT THE

PAST YEARBY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

The games people play. There are around 300 in pro football, 2,500 in baseball, 1,500 in basketball and thou-sands in soccer every year — and that’s just at the very highest levels. Most blend into each other. Only a few stand out.

Those that leave a lasting impres-sion do so because of, say, a flubbed snap on a punt, or a play call that decides a title, or a near-perfect, once-in-a-generation race to the finish line.

Those games and races kept us at the edge of our seats in 2015 — then eventually brought us completely out of our chairs and made us shake our heads upon realizing, once again, that just when we think we’ve seen it all, we’re reminded that we really haven’t.

A look at some of the best games and events of 2015:

TRIPLE CROWN It had been 37 years since Affirmed

crossed the finish line first at the Bel-mont Stakes to win the last Triple Crown. And over those 37 years, horse racing and its fans had seen 13 horses win the first two legs, only to falter — or, in one case, not even line up at the Belmont. American Pharoah finally broke through. He started slow and carried a two-length lead through most of the race. But then, he showed the heart and speed of a champion, pull-ing away over the last five furlongs to cross the finish line in 2 minutes, 26.65 seconds — ending nearly four decades of close calls.

THE FLUBAll Michigan punter Blake O’Neill

had to do was field the snap and get off the kick, just as he’d done hun-dreds of times previously in practices and games. Instead, O’Neill fumbled the snap and Michigan State’s Jalen Watts-Jackson pulled it in, cradled it to his body and ran 38 yards for a touchdown. The Spartans won 27-23, and because of that win, they are still in the hunt for the national title. Some of the most memorable reactions came from the heartbroken, close-to-tears Michigan fans, a few of which were captured forever on YouTube. “That’s why football is loved so much in Amer-ica,” Michigan State coach Mark Dan-tonio said. “It’s because things like this happen. Every now and then, they happen.”

FOR OPENERSThe first inning of Game 1 includ-

ed the first inside-the-park home run in a World Series in 86 years. Later, there was a power outage that stopped

play and knocked the telecast off the air. The game lasted 14 innings and, at 5 hours, 9 minutes, was the longest World Series Game 1 played. Kansas City hit a game-tying home run in the bottom of the ninth and went on to beat the Mets 5-4. And if that wasn’t drama enough, there was the under-lying story of starting pitcher Edinson Volquez, who pitched even though his father had died only hours before the game.

RUGBY UPSETIt was supposed to be a tuneup for

perennial title contender South Afri-ca. It ended up being “a rugby mira-cle” at the World Cup, as the TV an-nouncers called it, pulled off by none other than 1,000-1 longshot Japan. The “Cherry Blossoms” only other victory on the world’s biggest stage had come back in 1991. This time, they played South Africa toe-to-toe for more than 80 minutes, and into extra time. Trail-ing by three, Japan decided against kicking for a tie, and instead got the ball to replacement back Karne Hes-keth, who squeezed into rugby’s ver-sion of the end zone for the winning points in a 34-32 victory.

SUPER CALLSeattle had the ball at the New

England 1-yard line with two, maybe three, chances to let one of the best

running backs in the game, Marshawn Lynch, bull in for what would have been the winning touchdown. Instead, Seahawks coach Pete Carroll called for a pass. Patriots defensive back Mal-colm Butler, a one-time do-everything employee at a fast-food chicken restau-rant, had been focusing on that exact play call during the week in practice. He recognized it, stepped in front of the receiver and intercepted the pass to save the game for the Patriots. Car-roll then spent hours, days and weeks defending his play call, while Butler no longer had to worry about returning to the chicken joint.

THE 3-WOOD AND THE THREE-PUTT

So many majors are remembered as much for who lost at the end, as who won. The 2015 U.S. Open will be remembered for both. There was Dustin Johnson’s hard-to-watch three-putt from 12 feet that cost him the ti-tle — a title that went to Jordan Spi-

eth, hardly a fluke winner in anybody’s book. It was the second major of the year for Spieth and he set it up with a 284-yard 3-wood from the near-barren 18th fairway at Chambers Bay that led to a birdie. Four days of listening to players grumble about conditions on the course, then watching most of them play down to their expectations, ended with 30 minutes of pure drama — and with Spieth cradling the trophy.

FLURRY OF GOALSIn a rematch of the previous World

Cup final, the U.S. team played Ja-pan, which had beaten the Americans on penalty kicks four years earlier. Thanks to Carli Lloyd, this game was anything but a repeat. Lloyd scored in the third minute, then again two min-utes later. The United States scored four goals in the first 16 minutes, capped by Lloyd’s shot from midfield, and went on for a 5-2 victory. For a while after the match, Lloyd’s Wikipe-dia page listed her as “President of the United States.”


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The games that made 2015 great


In this Oct. 31 photo, American Pharoah, with Victor Espinoza up, wins the Breeders’ Cup Classic horse race at Keeneland race track in Lexington, Ky. American Pharoah became the first Triple Crown horse in 37 years.

GAMES OF THE YEAR

SPENGLER CUP

BUSINESS B6MONDAY, DEC. 28, 2015


For Boxing Day shopping, Durga Baudel had a plan of attack.

Instead of lining up outside a down-town Toronto Best Buy when it opened at 6 a.m., he had a friend scope out the scene, and call him when it wasn’t too busy.

He ended up scoring a printer at a steep discount — 60 per cent off. His friend, the one who tipped him off, got a new TV. And it only took them two hours, start-to-finish.

“I saved $120 (on the printer), so I’m happy,” Baudel said.

While some have said that Boxing Day is losing steam in favour of Black Friday, a Best Buy spokesperson said the day after Christmas is still their biggest shopping day of the year.

Elliott Chun said the store’s Boxing Day deals are typically a little better than those on Black Friday, although the November shopping event is a pop-ular day to pick up Christmas gifts.

And on both days, the country is moving toward shopping online, fa-vouring websites and mobile apps over bricks-and-mortar stores.

But that didn’t stop crowds from forming at the Toronto Eaton Centre, which brimmed with people toting massive shopping bags in the early af-ternoon.

“I think for a lot of people, it’s a tradition to come to Boxing Day. We’ve seen crowds at every store, waiting for the doors to open at 6 a.m.,” Chun said, adding that more than 400 people lined up outside the downtown Toron-to store and about 150 people gathered outside the downtown Vancouver loca-tion early Saturday morning.

Nearby, signs advertising Boxing

Day sales hung in the windows of near-ly every store in Vancouver’s down-town mall. Security guards dressed in suits stemmed the flow of people streaming in and out high-end stores such as Coach, Michael Kors and Kate Spade.

For those who braved the crushing crowds, there were deals to be found.

“The prices were very cheap. I paid, I think, $26 for jeans,” said Niklas Thoma, rummaging through his bags from Hollister and Abercrombie & Fitch.

It was the first-ever Boxing Day ex-perience for Thoma, a 16-year-old stu-dent from Germany.

“It’s pretty cool,” he said. “It’s very busy, but very cool.”

Others found the deals lacking this year.

“I haven’t really bought anything on sale yet,” said Jasmine Nijjar, who had spent about four hours shopping, pick-ing up some tops and makeup along the way.

“There’s still good clothes, though,” added her friend Sierra Blackwell.

Deal hunters on the Prairies faced the extra challenge of bitter cold.

It was -25 C in Saskatoon where Md-shamin Ahmed was first in line at 4:30 a.m. to buy a camera that had sold out online.

“Ah, it’s crazy. It’s too cold,” Ahmed told CKOM radio as he paced back and forth trying to keep warm.

In downtown Montreal, where many big retailers opened midday, lineups outside popular stores like Victoria’s Secret and H&M stretched around the block.

Onkar Jha said he waited in line about half an hour to get inside an Ap-ple store, where he spent about $1,500 on an iPad, watches and electronics.

He said he saved at least $300, which in his estimation made the trip well worth his time.

“Too bad it’s only one day,” he said.Meanwhile, all was quiet on Sat-

urday at shopping malls in Atlantic Canada, as businesses there remained closed for Boxing Day. Sales in that region start on Sunday.

But in some cases, police were forced to get in on the action.

Thirty kilometres west of Toronto, police in Mississauga, Ont., arrested

two people for an alleged assault over a parking spot at busy Square One shopping centre. One person suffered minor injuries.

Meanwhile, a police force in Port Moody, B.C., tweeted some sage advice: “If you’re engaging in the gladiatorial event known as Boxing Day shopping, do not leave the spoils in your vehicle. Thieves are out too.”

With files by Morgan Lowrie in Mon-treal and Gemma Karstens-Smith in Vancouver

Shoppers line up for savingsBOXING DAY


Red Deerians hit the stores this past weekend as Boxing Day and Boxing Week sales officially began. Electronic stores, such as Best Buy and EB Games, were amongst the more busy stores on Boxing Day, with long lineups winding through aisles throughout the day. Stores were much quieter on Sunday.

The low Canadian dollar and higher real estate prices in the United States don’t seem to be deterring snowbirds from going south in search of the sun and deals.

A National Association of Realtors (NAR) report shows that in Septem-ber Canadians were the most active among f o r e i g n c o n -sumers on the realtor.com and realtor.com in-ternational web sites searching for properties in the U.S.

T h e m o s t p o p u l a r c i t -ies they were searching for property in were New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Fort Lauderdale and Orlando, FL.

“Canadians still are interested in U.S. properties,” says Cleo Hamel, se-nior tax specialist with American Ex-pat Tax Services.

“The lower dollar means less pur-

chasing power so I would expect the number of Canadians buying in the U.S. to slow down but people will still look for value in the market.”

According to a report by the Con-sulate General of Canada in Miami, Canada has been and remains to be the state of Florida’s most significant partner, supporting over 620,000 Flori-da jobs, sustaining a thriving bilateral trade relationship and integrated man-ufacturing, and supporting Florida’s real estate and tourism industries.

Canada is Florida’s number one source of international tourism with more than four million visits by Cana-dians – a figure that is growing by four per cent a year.

Canadian tourists today spend 50 per cent more time in Florida and 74 per cent more dollars each year than before the recession and outstrip all other foreign visitors to the state, in part because of Canadians’ long stays there.

Canadians remain Florida’s num-ber one international purchasers of real estate, accounting for more than 30 per cent of all foreign home sales in 2013.

“Canadians purchase approximate-ly six per cent of all homes sold in

Florida,” the report says. “Loyal snow-birds and other Canadians who own property in the state inject nearly half a billion dollars annual into the econo-my through property taxes.”

A few years ago, thousands of Cana-dians took advantage of the U.S. hous-ing market crash and a Canadian dol-lar that was hovering around par with the U.S. greenback.

The U.S. housing market bottomed out in 2012 at the same time the Cana-dian dollar was trading at or around par. Since then the U.S. housing mar-ket has rebounded and the Canadian dollar has slumped by about 25 per cent.

“If you are just looking for a prop-erty deal you are probably too late as the housing market has already rebounded and the Canadian dollar has dropped by almost 25 per cent against the U.S. dollar,” says Hamel. “Although many U.S. cities have recov-ered there are still some good proper-ty deals to be had depending on where you are looking.”

Except for New York, most Canadi-an buyers are looking for property in warmer climates.

Most international buyers, includ-ing Canadians, are using cash to buy

their U.S. properties.In the past, as a foreign investor if

you didn’t have the full down payment for the property you had to qualify for a mortgage, which could be difficult.

The mortgage lender often would not recognize your credit history and sometimes could ask for up to six months of mortgage payments up front.

Therefore often it was easier to bor-row the money in Canada and pay for the property in full in cash.

“Until recently it was much easier to arrange the financing in Canada than go through a U.S. financial insti-tution,” Hamel says.

“But now U.S. banks will recognize your Canadian credit history so it is easier to get a mortgage in the U.S.”

With the lower Canadian dollar costs to carry and maintain your prop-erty are higher.

“It is fairly easy to rent out your vacation home so it can be a source of income or at least cover most or all of the investment costs,” Hamel says.

Talbot Boggs is a Toronto-based busi-ness communications professional who has worked with national news organiza-tions, magazines and corporations in the finance, retail, manufacturing and other industrial sectors.

Snowbirds still flocking south

TALBOT BOGGS

MONEYWISE

China investigates head of state-owned China TelecomBEIJING — The head of a Chinese

telecommunications giant has been placed under investigation on suspi-cion of corruption, the ruling Commu-nist Party announced Sunday, as Bei-jing expands its anti-corruption cam-paign to more state sectors.

The party’s disciplinary arm, the Central Commission for Discipline In-spection, said on its website that Chang Xiaobing, chair of China Telecom, was suspected of having “severely violated disciplines.” The commission did not provide any details on Chang’s possible infractions, but the vague term typical-ly means corruption. Chang formerly was the chairman of China Unicom, another major state-owned telecommu-nications company. He was named the head of China Telecom in August.

Atlanta airport says it is the first in the world to serve 100 million passengers in 1 yearATLANTA — Hartsfield-Jackson At-

lanta International Airport said it hit a major milestone Sunday.

The airport that calls itself the world’s busiest announced on its social media sites said it served its 100 mil-lionth passenger this year. That makes it the first single airport to serve that number of passengers in one calendar year. The passenger earning the dis-tinction is Larry Kendrick of Gulfport, Mississippi, who will receive a Nissan Altima, two free Delta round trip plane tickets and a $500 gift card.

INBRIEF


OTTAWA — The tax rules are changing in 2016 and even if Canadi-ans don’t make enough to be hit by the new top federal income tax rate, their financial plans are going to need to be reviewed.

The vast majority of Canadians will not be affected by the new tax bracket for income over $200,000 a year, but everyone will see their tax-free savings account contribution limit be reduced back to $5,500 for 2016.

Combined with the new lower tax rate for income between $45,282 and $90,563, even those who aren’t in the top one per cent of income-earners should take a look at their finances to ensure they’re on track.

Peter Bowen, vice-president of tax and retirement research and solutions at Fidelity Investments, says for many people this might be the most import-ant tax planning season they’ve ever had.

“With the changes just implement-ed both to tax rates and TFSAs, every-body needs to take care to make sure their tax planning is right for their own situation,” he said. “We always encourage people to get financial ad-vice, but with these changes in place, it is more important than ever.”

What you need to do depends on your tax bracket — and with the wid-er range of brackets now, that means planning is more complex.

For those in the bracket that is see-ing the rate cut, Bowen says to be sure to claim the deduction against your

2015 income to maximize its value if you’re planning on making an RRSP contribution.

However, those who make more than $200,000 may want to delay claim-ing their RRSP contributions until 2016 due to the higher rate set to take affect.

EY tax partner David Steinberg says those making more than $200,000 may also want to look to maximize their 2015 income by crystallizing any capital gains or taking any bonuses or deferred income that may be due be-fore the new higher tax rate kicks in.

“I think you’re going to see a lot of people managing taxable income,” he said.

Bowen also advises Canadians to carefully consider their future finan-cial needs when weighing TFSA and RRSP contributions.

How much will you be making throughout your career, what stage are you at in your career and where will you be in retirement? Those are all matters to ponder, he said.

“These are the questions that peo-ple need to be prepared to at least think about because then that decision of using an RRSP or using a TFSA be-comes more important,” Bowen said.

The benefit of an RRSP is that you deduct contributions today and defer taxes until your retirement, when you will likely be earning less money and may be in a lower tax bracket.

In contrast, TFSA contributions

don’t generate a tax deduction, but any investment income you earn with the money isn’t taxed.

So, if you think you’re going to be in the same or higher tax bracket, putting money into a TFSA might make more sense.

Bowen noted it isn’t just high-in-come earners that will be hurt by the lower TFSA limits.

Retirees looking to shelter a portion of their nest egg from tax will also be affected by the lower contribution lim-it even though they may fall into the low-income category.

“They don’t have to be wealthy to benefit from TFSAs,” he said.

The tax changes and TFSA rollback were part of the Liberal campaign platform during the federal election.

The cut to the second tax bracket will save Canadians making less than $200,000 up to $679 per person.

In addition to the rate changes, the Liberals ended the controversial in-come-splitting scheme for families plan put in place by the Conservatives that will see taxes rise for families where one parent earns significantly more than the other.

And more changes are expected.The Liberals have promised a child

benefit program to replace the univer-sal child care benefit starting in July 2016.

The plan, promised during the elec-tion, will see more generous benefits for poor families and the amount re-duced as family income rises, and will be entirely eliminated for high-income earners.

Changes mean reviewing your financial plan

TAXES


NEW ORLEANS — One little-known legacy of the now-expiring softwood lumber agreement: it spawned a mas-sive, Canadian-funded humanitarian effort in the United States that people north of the border have never heard of.

Funds dispersed with little fanfare under the decade-old Canada-U.S. deal built hundreds of houses in plac-es like this once-underwater neigh-bourhood in New Orleans, affecting lives like Sheldonna Durosseau’s.

Durosseau gets teary-eyed describ-ing the impact of home ownership on her and her daughter, on the one-year anniversary of their move into a neigh-bourhood filled with post-Hurricane Katrina construction projects.

“Now I have a sidewalk where my daughter can actually go ride her bicy-cle. Skate. Do hopscotch. Kid things,” said the 34-year-old mom and universi-ty custodian.

“I have security. I am at ease, now that I have something to call my own.”

Stories like Durosseau’s abound in disaster-affected areas of the U.S.: the New Orleans flood of 2005, the east-ern seaboard after Hurricane Sandy in 2012, parts of Colorado flooded in 2013, a tornado-striken area of Missouri in 2011.

That’s because the 2006 Canada-U.S. agreement did more than bring a de-cade of peace to a perennially prob-lematic trade file.

One of its provisions was a guar-antee that $500 million of the penal-ties previously levied on the Canadian lumber industry wouldn’t remain in the American treasury, or go to Ameri-can businesses.

It went to American charities. One was Habitat for Humanity.

The organization has built 19,000 houses since that time in hundreds of places, benefiting 70,000 people in the U.S. — and it estimates the softwood funds built five per cent of them.

“The softwood-lumber program has

been enormously helpful,” said Fiona Eastwood, a national director at Habi-tat for Humanity.

“It’s had a tremendous impact here.”

In 2006, Canada and the U.S. signed a nine-year agreement that set aside lawsuits and punitive tariffs against imported wood from Canada.

It brought temporary peace in a re-curring spat over whether Canadian lumber businesses get an unfair sub-sidy through cheap access to public land.

The deal included plans for spend-ing more than $5 billion the U.S. had collected in penalties over the years on Canadian companies.

Most was refunded. The U.S. got to keep $1 billion. Half that sum went to U.S. companies — something the Ca-nadian Centre for Policy Alternatives grumbled would subsidize future law-suits and was akin to handing money to the schoolyard bully.

The other half went to charities.Habitat for Humanity was among

the biggest recipients, pulling in $100 million. With the deal expiring this year, the money’s almost all been spent, with just $4 million left in a fund for specific disaster areas.

One is New Orleans.Durosseau was four months preg-

nant when Katrina hit. To protect herself and her baby, she fled to stay with her sister and wound up spending three years in North Carolina.

By the time she returned, rent pric-es had skyrocketed. Much of New Or-leans’ housing had been devastated. She wound up working two jobs, hav-ing already quit college over mounting student debt.

She got fed up with renting. The last straw wasn’t the mold, from the floods. It was the sound of rats scratching at the walls of the complex, where she and her daughter shared a one-bed-room apartment that cost $619 a month.

She now pays less — for the mort-gage on a three-bedroom home she calls her own.

“It changed my life,” she said of

home-ownership. “God… he was in the blessing business.”

Her sister told her about Habitat. Durosseau underwent financial-back-ground checks.

She volunteered 350 hours, helping build other homes in her future neigh-bourhood.

Her specialty became flooring and painting.

When she qualified, Habitat helped her file the mortgage paperwork.

Her one-year anniversary as a home owner was Dec. 22. H

er daughter has just had a first birthday sleepover here, and helium balloons are floating around.

There’s still a housing shortage in New Orleans — 185,000 units were lost or damaged in the flood. Habitat built about 500, and estimates about one-fifth here were built with softwood money.

The program’s almost done.The softwood peace treaty expired

Oct. 12, now there’s a one-year grace

period before the cycle potentially re-

commences — with lawsuits from U.S.

companies, and punitive legislation in

Congress.

One trade expert isn’t counting on

another deal soon.

“I’m not at all optimistic that there

will be a new softwood-lumber agree-

ment negotiated,” said Laura Dawson,

head of the Washington-based Wilson

Center’s Canada Institute.

“There’s a sort of impasse.”

Softwood isn’t included in NAFTA.

And there’s a fundamental disagree-

ment, she said, between the U.S. and

Canada about timber from Crown

lands.

Dawson said the best advice she

could offer Canadian industry is two-

fold: build on its expanding Asian mar-

kets, and produce more value-added

products.


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HALIFAX — A New Brunswick man wants Atlantic Canadians to give their backs a break from shovelling this win-ter with a new on-demand snow remov-al service.

Sean Griffith is launching an Uber-like snow removal service in the com-ing weeks in Moncton and Saint John, N.B., and Halifax, with plans to roll out the business soon after in Frederic-ton, Truro, N.S., Charlottetown and St. John’s, N.L.

Griffith said the idea for Plow Me Out came after last year’s brutal win-ter in the Maritimes, which saw record breaking snowfall amounts.

“Last year, people in this region got to the point where we just couldn’t shovel anymore,” said Griffith with a laugh.

“After moving into our first house, we realized that we get a lot of snow and shovelling it ourselves really isn’t working.

“But we still weren’t ready to com-mit to a yearly contract and we tried to find somebody who could do it on a one-off basis, but didn’t have much luck.”

Griffith said people will create an account on their website or through the Plow Me Out app and will answer a few questions about their driveway, which will render a quote.

Once the snow clearing is request-ed, a notification goes out to an ar-ray of snow contractors in the area, he said.

Customers will also be able to pay online through Plow Me Out from the comfort of their couch.

He said the request can be made

from anywhere, so travellers won’t have to dig their way into their homes when they return.

Griffith said many plow operators have been receptive to the idea as it drums up new business and makes re-

questing a plow more accessible.“The service was developed from a

customer perspective but also a snow plow operator’s perspective,” said Griffith, who co-founded the business with Joe Simms of Halifax.

“A lot of companies like the idea because we’re delivering business di-rectly to them.”

Griffith said eventually, he hopes to expand his business countrywide.

Plow on demandNEW SERVICE LAUNCHING IN THE MARITIMES


Sean Griffith from Moncton, N.B., has created an app that lets customers order one-time snow clearing services of their driveways via their smart phone.

PLOW ME OUT

How a trade feud with Canada built hundreds of homesSOFTWOOD LUMBER AGREEMENT BUILT HOMES IN PLACES LIKE NEW ORLEANS

“THE SOFTWOOD-LUMBER PROGRAM HAS BEEN ENORMOUSLY HELPFUL. IT’S HAD A TREMENDOUS IMPACT HERE”

—FIONA EASTWOOD, A NATIONAL DIRECTOR AT HABITAT FOR HUMANITY.

CLASSIFIEDS Christmas & New Years

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T4N 5G6 before January 15, 2016.

BusinessOpportunities 870FURNACE duct cleaning business. Selling due to family illness. Includes 2003 1 ton van and vacu-um compressor, etc. Paid $25,000 2 yrs. ago, asking $10,000. Equipment in great shape. Great oppor-tunity. 403-350-8977

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Looking for a place to live?

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Misc.Help 880Blue Grass Sod Farms Ltd.

Box 11, site 2, RR1Red Deer, AB

Req’s Farm labourers for 2016 season (April-Nov)

In Red Deer. Duties include sod farming and

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ing and digging trees.Will train/exp an asset. Wage $11.20 hr 48 hrs

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Equipment-Heavy 1630TRAILERS for sale or rent Job site, offi ce, well site or

storage. Skidded or wheeled. Call 347-7721.

Firewood 1660AFFORDABLE

Homestead FirewoodSpruce, Pine, Aspen - Split. Avail. 7 days/wk. 403-304-6472

B.C. Birch, Aspen, Spruce/Pine. Delivery avail.

PH. Lyle 403-783-2275

FIREWOOD. Pine, Spruce, Can deliver

1-4 cords. 403-844-0227

FIREWOOD: Spruce & Pine - Split. 403-346-7178

LOGSSemi loads of pine, spruce,

tamarack, poplar, birch. Price depends on location

of delivery. Lil Mule Logging 403-318-4346

HouseholdFurnishings1720

WANTEDAntiques, furniture and

estates. 342-2514

Misc. forSale 1760

100 VHS movies, $75. For All 403-885-5020

LP RECORDS, 117 in mint cond. $100 for all

or $1. each. 403-346-6539

WATER cooler $50. 403-885-5020

OfficeSupplies 18002 DRAWER metal fi ling cabinet $10 403-885-5020

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TRAVEL ALBERTAAlberta offers SOMETHINGfor everyone.

Make your travel plans now.

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Condos/Townhouses3030New Blackfalds Condo. 2 Bdrm/2 Bath. Main fl oor & 2nd fl oor options avail. 2 powered parking stalls. Rent $1,400. Pets nego-tiable. Ask about rent incentives. 403-396-1688.

SEIBEL PROPERTY6 locations in Red Deer, well-maintained town-houses, lrg, 3 bdrm,

11/2 bath, 4 + 5 appls. Westpark, Kentwood,

Highland Green, Riverside Meadows. Rent starting at

$1100. For more info, phone 403-304-7576 or

403-347-7545

SOUTHWOOD PARK3110-47TH Avenue,

2 & 3 bdrm. townhouses,generously sized, 1 1/2

baths, fenced yards,full bsmts. 403-347-7473,

Sorry no pets.www.greatapartments.ca

Vacation RentalsIn Cabo San Lucas

Mexico2 minute walk and you are on the beautiful Medano Beach. Toll Free Canada:1-855-214-5941. Email: [email protected] more information and pictures, please visit our website at

www.caboleisure.com

4 Plexes/6 Plexes 3050

ACROSS from park, 2 bdrm. 4-plex, 1 1/2 bath, 4 appls. Rent $925/mo. d.d. $650. Avail. now or Jan. 1. 403-304-5337

LIMITED TIME OFFER:

One free year of Telusinternet & cable AND 50%off fi rst month’s rent! 1 & 2Bedroom suites available.

Renovated suites in centrallocation. Cat friendly.

[email protected](888) 784-9274

Suites 30601 BDRM. apt. avail. imm.,

$800 + power. Call Bob 403-872-3400.

ADULT 2 BDRM. spacious suites 3 appls., heat/water

incld., ADULT ONLY BLDG, no pets, Oriole Park. 403-986-6889

AVAIL. IMMED. large 2 bdrm. in clean quiet adult building, near downtown

Co-Op, no pets, 403-348-7445

CITY VIEW APTS.Clean, quiet, newly reno’d adult building. Rent $925 S.D. $800. Avail. immed. and Jan. 1. Near hospital.

No pets.403-318-3679

LARGE, 1 & 2 BDRM. SUITES. 25+, adults only n/s, no pets 403-346-7111

MORRISROEMANOR1 & 2 bdrm.,

Adult bldg. only, N/S, No pets. 403-596-2444

NEW Glendale reno’d 1 & 2 bdrm. apartments, 1st month free, no pets,

100 Gilchrist Crescent, avail. immed, rent starting

@ $775. 403-596-6000

NOW RENTING1 & 2 BDRM. APT’S.

2936 50th AVE. Red DeerNewer bldg. secure entry

w/onsite manager,3 appls., incl. heat & hot

water, washer/dryer hookup, infl oor heating, a/c., car plug ins & balconies.

Call 403-343-7955

Accounting 1010INDIVIDUAL & BUSINESS Accounting, 30 yrs. of exp.

with oilfi eld service companies, other small

businesses and individuals RW Smith, 346-9351

Carpentry 1062Custom Carpentry Projects serving Red Deer & area.

Call/text 403-740-4854

Contractors 1100BRIDGER CONST. LTD.We do it all! 403-302-8550

COUNTERTOP replacement. Kitchen reno’s.

Wes 403-302-1648

Contractors 1100DALE’S Home Reno’s Free estimates for all your reno needs. 403-506-4301

Entertainment1160DANCE DJ SERVICES

587-679-8606

HandymanServices 1200

BOOK NOW! For help on your home

projects such as bathroom, main fl oor, and bsmt.

renovations. Also painting and fl ooring.

Call James 403-341-0617

MULTI-SKILLED HANDYMAN For Hire

Call Derek 403-848-3266

HealthCare 1210

NEW MEDCOMBEWALKIN HOURS:

EFFECTIVE: Monday, January 4, 2016

Mon. - Thur.: 9 am - 8 pmFriday: 9 am - 4 pm

Closed for Lunch 12 -1 pmClosed: Saturday, Sunday

and ALL STAT Holidays(403-782-1408)

MassageTherapy 1280FANTASY

SPAElite Retreat, Finest

in VIP Treatment. 10 - 2am Private back entry

403-341-4445

Misc.Services 12905* JUNK REMOVAL

Property clean up 505-4777

GARAGE Doors Serviced50% off. 403-358-1614

Seniors’Services 1372HELPING HANDS Home

Supports for Seniors. Cooking, cleaning,

companionship. At home or facility. 403-346-7777

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Obituaries

HURLEYRoss WalterRoss Walter Hurley passed away December 22, 2015 at the age of 84. Loving husband of Marie and loving father of Bev Weaver (Scott) and Cheryl Hurley. Cherished and much loved grandfather of Howard (Su-An), James, Logan, Michaela, Hannah, and Ben; great-grandfather of Kennedy. He is survived by his dear sister Joan. A memorial service will be held at 11am on Wednesday, December 30, 2015 at Eventide Funeral Chapel, 4820 45th Street, Red Deer, Alberta. For those who wish to pay their respects, a public visitation will be held at 10am, prior to the service. Condolences may be forwarded to the family by visiting www.eventidefuneralchapels.com.

Arrangements entrusted toEVENTIDE FUNERAL

CHAPEL4820 - 45 Street, Red Deer.

Phone (403) 347-2222

ObituariesWARRENRoy ArneIt is with sadness Roy’s family announces his passing at Red Deer Regional Hospital on December 22, 2015 at the age of 89 years. Roy was born on September 22, 1926 on the family farm southeast of Delburne, and received his education in Delburne. He attended Vancouver Technical School where he learned to weld and then spent a year at the University of British Columbia in the engineering faculty. Returning to Delburne in April, 1947, his business life started with the founding of Delburne Machine Shop, where he repaired farm equipment. 1947 was a momentous year for Roy as he married June Beatrice Randall, his partner in love and business. In 1950 Roy and June became a Cockshutt farm equipment dealer. Roy was nominated to the Delburne Village Council and was instrumental in bringing natural gas, water and sewer to the Village. He served on Council until buying a farm and moving from the Village. In January, 1961, Roy was signed as a United Farmers of Alberta (“UFA”) fuel agent and opened the facility in April of that year. In 1965, Roy and June closed the machine shop and the Cockshutt farm equipment dealership to devote their full time to their UFA dealership and farm. In the late 1960’s, a life-long friend, Angus MacArthur, talked Roy and June into opening a Co-Operators Insurance business in Delburne. Roy and June’s devotion to their business and serving their customers earned them several awards. Roy and June sold their UFA dealership in 1982 to embark on what they considered to be retirement as farmers, where they raised cattle and grain. The family will miss this quiet, kind and unassuming man. Roy is survived by his children: Judy (Larry Watson) and their children Erin (Sheldon Portsmouth) and Chelsey (Zac Harink) and their children (Justice and Kane Portsmouth & Zoe, Hailee and Everly Harink); Chris (Sandra) and their children Mitchell and Natalie; and Kerry (Sheryl) and their children (Avery, Amy, Brett, Sheridan); his brother George and his sister-in-law, Grace Bolander. Roy is also survived by his large extended family of cousins, nieces and nephews.Roy was predeceased by his wife, June in 2007, his parents, Art and Annie, his brother Don, his sister Dorothy and her husband Dave Guynup, his sister-in-law Irma Warren and his brother-in-law Richard Randall. The funeral will be held January 2, 2016 at 2 pm at the Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church, 4304-49 Avenue, Innisfail, Alberta. Roy received compassionate care from Unit 31 at the Red Deer Regional Hospital and the family wishes to note the care from Jim on that unit that exemplifi es the best in hospital care. In lieu of fl owers, the family asks that donations be made to the Red Deer Regional Hospital to benefi t Unit 31 or the Pediatric Unit.

In Memoriam

Mark CornellJuly 29, 1981 - Dec. 27, 2005

Ten years have gone by since you were taken from our lives, but it seems like

only yesterday that it all happened. We hide our tears when we say your name, but the pain in our hearts is still the same. Though we smile and seem carefree, there is

no one who misses you more than your Mom, Dad, Greg

and Brad. You will always be in our minds and close to our hearts, so know that you will never be forgotten by us all.

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Weather wreaks havoc in Texas and Midwest


Damage of home buildings is seen after Saturday’s tornado in Garland, Texas, Sunday. At least 11 people died and dozens were injured in strong tornadoes that swept through the Dallas area and caused substantial damage this weekend.


GARLAND, Texas — At least 11 people died and dozens were injured in strong tornadoes that swept through the Dallas area and caused substan-tial damage this weekend, while 13 people died in flooding in the Mid-west.

It was the latest of a succession of powerful weather events across the country, from heavy snow in New Mex-ico, west Texas and the Oklahoma Panhandle to flooding in parts of the Plains and Midwest. Days of tumul-tuous weather have led to 43 deaths overall — those in Texas, plus five in Illinois, eight in Missouri and 19 in the Southeast.

The full extent of damage from Sat-urday’s storms along a nearly 40-mile stretch near Dallas came into clear fo-cus. Local officials estimated as many as 1,450 homes were damaged or de-stroyed. Vehicles were mangled, pow-er lines fell and trees were toppled. Heavy rain, wind and falling tempera-tures hampered cleanup efforts Sun-day afternoon.

“This is a huge impact on our com-munity and we’re all suffering,” Gar-land Police Lt. Pedro Barineau said of the suburb about 20 miles northeast of Dallas, where eight people died, 15 were injured and about 600 structures, mostly single-family homes, were dam-aged.

The weather service said an EF-4 tornado, which is the second-most powerful with winds up to more than 200 mph, hit the community at about 6:45 p.m. Saturday. It was near the in-tersection of Interstate 30 and George Bush Turnpike, which is a major route in the region. At least three people

who died were found in vehicles, said Barineau, who also noted that some cars appeared to be thrown from the interstate, though it wasn’t known whether that was how the people found in the vehicles died.

Natalie Guzman, 33, took photos of her family’s home in a Garland neigh-bourhood. The garage wall had col-lapsed and the roof fell in. The on-ly part of the house that appeared to be spared was the master bathroom, where her brother-in-law took shelter Saturday night. He was the only one at home and told her he had just enough time to get himself and his dogs into the bathroom.

“It was worse than I thought,” Guz-man said, comparing the scene to the photos he had sent Saturday.

The destruction in Garland was so overwhelming that Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins declared the city a disaster within mere minutes of see-ing the toll firsthand.

“I don’t declare local disasters lightly,” Jenkins said. “But I looked at the scene for 10 minutes, spoke to the incident commander and then called the lawyers to bring the paperwork.”

In the nearby town of Rowlett, City Manager Brian Funderburk said Sun-day morning that 23 people were in-jured, but that there were no deaths and no reports of missing people. The weather service said damage indi-cated it was likely an EF-3 tornado, which has winds up to 165 mph.

Jenkins said in a statement Sunday night that as many as 600 homes were damaged in Rowlett.

Dale Vermurlen lived in a Rowlett neighbourhood that sustained heavy damage. His house only had minor damage, but was next to that were flat-tened.

“I grabbed both dogs by the collars and held on to the toilet. I said, ‘OK, this could be it, boys.”’

Homes in the neighbourhood that had been searched by emergency re-sponders were marked with a black “X.” In some instances, it looked like homes had been picked up and set back down in a big pile. State troop-ers blocked off roads, utility crews restored power and people walked around, hushed and dazed.

Three other people died in Collin County, about 45 miles northeast of Dallas, according to sheriff’s depu-ty Chris Havey, although the circum-stances were not immediately clear.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott made disas-ter declarations Sunday for four coun-ties — Dallas, Collin, Rockwall and Ellis — and warned that the number of victims could rise.

On the other side of the state, the Department of Public Safety in Amarillo strongly discouraged trav-el throughout the entire Texas Pan-handle — a 26-county area covering nearly 26,000 square miles — because blowing and drifting snow had made the roads impassable. Interstate 40, the main east-west highway across the Panhandle, was almost complete-ly shut down. DPS said only a small section of the highway in Amarillo re-mained open.

Meanwhile, Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin declared a state of emergen-cy as there were blizzard conditions and an ice storm warning out west and flood warnings in the east, where one community had received 9 inch-es of rain. The state Department of Emergency Management said eight storm-related injuries were reported. About 60,000 homes and businesses were without power.

MORE BRITISH TROOPS DISPATCHED TO HELP COMBAT FLOODING AS IT SPREADS TO MAJOR NORTHERN CITIES


LONDON — British Prime Min-ister David Cameron sent hundreds more troops into northern England on Sunday to help exhausted residents and emergency workers fight back ris-ing river waters that have inundated towns and cities after weeks of heavy rain.

Cameron said the flooding is “un-precedented” and vowed to do every-thing possible to protect people and their property as the damage spread to the major cities York, Leeds and Manchester.

He said protective systems and con-tingency plans will be reviewed be-cause the frequency of such extreme weather events seems to be on the rise.

Weeks of persistent rainfall has sat-urated the ground and swollen the rivers to record levels, leaving entire swathes of northern England, and smaller parts of Wales and Scotland,

vulnerable. Several hundred flood warnings remain in effect.

There have been no fatalities or serious injuries reported, but hun-dreds of people have been evacuated from houses and apartments in York, 200 miles (320 kilometres) north of London, where 3,500 properties are judged to be at risk. Emergency crews worked extra shifts to try to restore power to roughly 7,500 blacked out homes in the greater Manchester and Lancashire areas.

Environment Secretary Liz Truss said flood protection systems put in place in recent years were unable to cope with the record-high river levels.

“In Lancashire every single river was at a record-high,” she said. “In Yorkshire we have seen some rivers a meter (yard) higher than they have ever been before. Clearly, in the light of that, we will be reviewing our flood defences.”

Several hundred people had been evacuated the day before in the West Yorkshire and Lancashire regions

and officials said thousands had lost power. The number of people affected continues to grow as flooding spreads and impacts cities as well as villages and towns.

A picturesque 200-year-old pub, The Waterside, in the greater Man-chester area, collapsed and part of the structure was swept away by the River Irwell.

Rising river levels also threat-ened downtown Manchester and po-lice dealt with a ruptured gas main and small fire believed to have been caused by the flooding.

The Environment Agency urged residents to remain vigilant because more “severe” flooding is expected overnight and Monday.

The agency used its Twitter feed to beg people to be cautious, tweet-ing that driving or walking in flowing flood waters could be life-threatening.

Rescue crews have been using boats to help remove people from their homes and in some cases from their nearly submerged vehicles.

Flooding spreads in England


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Dec. 282008 — Two avalanches near Fernie kill 8 people and injure 3 others. 1970 — Three members of the “Chenier” cell of the Front de Libération du Québec — Paul Rose, his brother Jacques Rose, and Francis Simard — are captured at 4:30 am in a tunnel under a farmhouse near Montréal. 1945 — Canadian military court finds SS Ma-jor-General Kurt Meyer guilty of war crimes

for the assassination of Canadian POWs in Normandy after D-Day. 1944Maurice Richard the First player in NHL his-tory to score eight points in one game, with 5 goals and 3 assists in a 9-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings 1906 — The Toronto Hockey Club make its

they were set up to play exhibition matches against best clubs in Canada and the U.S.1892down, first licensed brewery in Alberta.

TODAY IN HISTORY


DAKAR, Senegal — After his morn-ing prayers at the mosque, 25-year-old Mamadou Aliou Ba puts on his San-ta suit, the padded belly protruding from his thin, tall frame, and goes to work. He stands proudly, smiling from behind a snowy white moustache and beard that take over his face, waving to families walking by the supermarket in one of Dakar’s wealthier neighbour-hoods.

Ba is one of many Pere Noels, or Father Christmases, seen in Senegal’s capital this festive season. He, like the majority of Senegalese, is Muslim and yet celebrates Christmas.

“Everyone, Christians and Mus-lims, celebrate Christmas here,” he said, holding up a small bag of candies he gives out as gifts. “I like to do this work,” Ba says, adding that he also en-joys the extra money.

About 94 per cent of Senegal’s 14 million people are Muslim, but Christ-mas is everywhere. Street vendors hawk tinseled garlands, blow-up San-tas, Christmas trees and ornaments. Giant candy canes line the path to one mall where a sleigh sits in the tropi-cal heat, and at an amusement park a large Santa Claus statue greets visi-tors.

The prominence of the Christian holiday highlights that Senegal is a bright spot of tolerance and diversity in West Africa where many countries are divided by religion and ethnicity and where the threat of Islamic ex-tremism is growing.

Daouda Sow, 45, a Muslim business-man says he has a Christmas tree at home.

“This is the culture in Senegal,” he said. “It’s very open, and it’s differ-ent from our neighbours such as Guinea or Mali.”

Sow says he has cele-brated the holiday since he was a child. “The two religions, we are in it together,” he said, us-ing a phrase common in Senegalese culture. “We are invited to celebrate holidays like Easter and Christmas, and we invite Christians to celebrate our holidays with us.” Members of the same families may also prac-tice different religions, he said.

This year is particu-larly special because the celebration of Moulid al-Nabi, the birth of the Prophet Muhammed, is followed just a day later by Christmas, said Ba-kary Sambe, an assistant professor at Gaston Berg-er university in St. Lou-is, on Senegal’s northern coast.

“The celebrations symbolize the unique-ness of Senegal, where we are a Muslim major-ity and where we have a special cohabitation between Muslims and Christians,” said Sambe, also the head of the Ob-servatory on Religions, Radicalism and Conflict in Africa.

In Senegal, most Mus-lims belong to one of the Sufi brotherhoods, “which interpret Islam according to our social values in a peaceful way, based on education and tolerance. … We have a critical assimilation of Islamic faith. We accept it as a faith, but we try always to harmonize be-tween Islamic and local values,” said Sambe.

This has been a bar-rier against the Islamic extremism seen in neigh-bouring countries in West and Central Africa, said Sambe.

Worries of extremism have caused Senegalese authorities to propose banning fireworks for New Year’s Eve cele-

brations and some vendors have com-

plained that less tolerance for public

gatherings could hurt business.

Senegalese of whatever faith get in-

to the Christmas spirit of celebration.

“For us, it’s a night out!” said Ouli

Sanokho, a 23-year-old who works at a

call centre. “In fact, we celebrate the

entire month,” quickly adding that al-

cohol is not imbibed.

Ashok Chellani said he is pleased to

have a Santa in front of the supermar-

ket he manages. He is Hindu and said

he welcomes the month of celebration.

“We are in this together,” he said.


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Mamadou Ngueye, who dresses as Santa Claus waits for a guest to take a picture with at the amusement park Darkar, Senegal. Ngueye, is one of many Pere Noels, or Father Christmases, seen in Senegal’s capital this festive season. He, like the majority of Senegalese, is Muslim and yet celebrates Christmas.

Muslim-majority Senegal gets into Christmas spirit

Utah police say women stealing

thousands of dollars’ worth of baby forumla by hiding it in their

clothesLOGAN, Utah — Po-

lice are looking for two women they say stole thousands of dollars’ worth of baby formula from Utah stores.

KSL-TV reports that surveillance cameras at Lee’s Marketplace in Lo-gan captured the thieves in the act a few weeks ago. Logan Police Capt. Curtis Hooley says the pair also visited three other stores, hiding $3,700 of formula in their clothing.

Hooley says he be-lieves the women are selling the formula on the black market. He says similar thefts have been reported in Salt Lake City and Idaho Falls.


NEW YORK — Kiddie tablets have grown up.

Tablets designed just for kids are getting more sophisticated as they face increased competition from regular tablets. The new products also have better screens, speedier chips and fashionably slim bodies. They let older children do more, yet hold their hands until they’re ready for unsupervised access.

Although many of the tablets were originally conceived as educational toys for kids as old as middle school-ers, they’ve been more popular with younger children. Older kids have been apt to reject them in favour of their parents’ tablet or smartphone.

That shift has prompted companies to focus more on preschoolers and kin-dergarteners, as they create super-du-rable products that can withstand re-peated abuse and develop games and apps that teach reading and math.

But now, some of those companies are looking to take back some of the sales to older kids that they’ve lost over the years, offering premium prod-ucts — most with price tags of over $100 — that look and perform less like toys and more like the ones adults use.

LeapFrog, maker of the toy-like Le-apPad, released its first Android tab-let this year. And Kurio is branching out to Windows 10 and includes a full version of Microsoft Of-fice in a new tablet-lap-top combination.

The use of Android and Windows software, in place of the more ba-sic, custom-made sys-tems used in toy tablets, allows for more sophis-ticated apps and games and a range of con-tent from standard app stores.

Monica Brown, Leap-Frog’s vice-president for product marketing, said the company aimed to “create something that was kind of sleek and more tech forward for kids who were looking for something that felt like their parents’ tab-let.”

But parents still want educational content and safety features that come with a tablet designed purely for kids. Leap-Frog’s Epic, along with the other new tablets for kids, are attempts to bridge that gap.

The Epic looks like a regular Android tab-let, but comes with a re-movable bright-green bumper. It is much fast-er than a LeapPad and can run versions of pop-ular Android games such as “Fruit Ninja” and “Doodle Jump.” There’s access to the In-ternet, but it’s limited to about 10,000 kid-safe websites (though parents can add others). Parents can also limit and track how much time a child spends watching videos, playing games or read-ing.

Lynn Schofield Clark, a professor of media studies at the Universi-ty of Denver, said kids tablets are a tough sell these days.

“Kids are always as-pirational in their ages, and they’re always inter-ested in what older kids are doing,” Clark said, pointing to the fascina-tion that many preteens have with smartphones as a prime example.

Meanwhile, most par-ents won’t spend money on kids-only gadgets un-less they believe they of-fer significant education-al benefits.

“If they’re just looking for something to enter-tain their kid, then why wouldn’t they just hand over their smartphone?” she asked.

Kurio aims to answer that question with the Smart, a device that let kids do things they previ-ously might have needed their parents’ laptop for, such as typing up and saving their homework online or playing video on their TV through an HDMI cable. The Smart is a Windows 10 laptop with a detachable screen and comes with a free year of Microsoft Office.

Eric Levin, Kurio’s strategic director, said kids using children’s tab-lets are getting younger, as older kids gravitate toward adult products. Four years ago, he said, most Kurio users ranged from ages 6 to 12. Now, half of them are 3 to 5.

Although older kids may be ready for adult tablets, the shift has left

those 8 to 12 without age-appropriate devices, Levin says. The Smart tries to fix that.

Other makers of kids tablets have also gone high-end this year. Fuhu bills the Nabi Elev-8 as a premium, 8-inch tablet. But the company ran into financial problems early in the holi-day season, and its products have been tough to find. Nonetheless, adult tab-lets remain popular with kids.

Amazon touts its Fire tablet as something the entire family can use, eliminating the need to buy something just for the kids.

“While I appreciate that might have led other companies to adjust their products, we’re upping our game based on what customers want in the best kid experience,” said Aaron Bromberg, senior manager of product management for Amazon Devices.

The tablet’s FreeTime app lets parents set up profiles for each kid, with access to only the content they approve. It also lets parents limit the amount of time spent on differ-ent kinds of content such as videos or apps. For an additional fee, Amazon’s FreeTime Unlimited service offers more than 10,000 books, apps, games and videos geared toward kids ages 3 to 10. Nonetheless, Amazon is selling a kids’ edition tablet for $100. It’s essen-tially Amazon’s bare-bones $50 Fire tablet packaged with a colorful protec-tive bumper and a year’s subscription to FreeTime Unlimited.


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Red Deer Advocate, December 28, 2015