Grande Prairie City Council is set to further the discussion on its Vehicle for Hire Bylaw at the committee level after a delegation from the owners of Apple and Green Cabs.

The two shared numerous ideas they would like to see regarding current taxi regulations including a proposed cap on the number of vehicles that are over 10 years old, yearly inspections for cabs under five years old, and minimum vehicle requirements for companies.

Referencing a seven-vehicle minimum rule that used to be enforced for cab companies to be recognized in Grande Prairie, the two owners told council some companies are operating well below that limit.

“Does one taxi constitute a taxi business?” Grande Prairie Mayor Jackie Clayton asked.

As a result, council directed administration to bring back a “what we’re hearing” report from the taxi industry and present council with industry trends such as the number of vehicles that are operating in the city. Additionally, committee discussions will include the question of having a taxi commission to aid the regulatory process for cab companies in Grande Prairie.

UPDATE: Grande Prairie RCMP are advising Dominic Wilson has been located safe.

Grande Prairie RCMP are looking for public assistance in locating missing 20-year-old man, Dominic Wilson.

According to police, Wilson was last seen at his apartment in Grande Prairie at 5:00 p.m. on December 3. The RCMP says they are worried for his well-being and would like to speak with him.

The young man is described as having a light complexion, 5 feet 9 inches tall, 170 lbs, with brown hair, hazel eyes and glasses.

Anyone with information regarding the whereabouts of Dominic is asked to contact the Grande Prairie RCMP Detachment at 780-830-5700 or anonymously through Crime Stoppers.

Peace Regional RCMP are reminding residents not to leave their vehicles unattended while running this winter after a vehicle was stolen in Peace River.

On December 3rd, Peace Regional RCMP responded to a report of a vehicle and attached trailer that was stolen after it was left running to warm up near 74th Street in Peace River.

According to the RCMP, 43-year-old Grande Prairie resident, Jeremy James Worden was found and charged with theft of a motor vehicle, operating a motor vehicle while prohibited, and mischief over $5,000.

Worden was brought before a Justice of the Peace and was remanded with an Alberta Court of Justice court date of December 4th.

Police are advising residents to educate themselves on the risks of running vehicles and leaving them unattended this winter. The RCMP says there are multiple tips and tricks available through the Lock It or Lose It program, local Rural Crimewatch groups, Citizens on Patrol, or directly through the Peace Regional RCMP detachment.

Two municipal politicians from the Peace Country are showcasing various spots across the province in an online video project called The MuniciPals. The pals that make up The MuniciPals include Town of Wembley Councillor Anna Underwood and Town of Sexsmith Mayor Kate Potter.

Potter says the idea for the passion project was sparked at a convention in Toronto over the summer after giving another conference attendee a compliment on her bag and learning she purchased it from a shop in Lacombe. She says she and Underwood then started to think about bout places in the province they had and hadn’t been, which then turned into thoughts about vacationing. The Sexsmith mayor says while she usually thinks about warmer spots with sand for vacations, especially during the winter, this thought exercise also showed how many hidden gems there were in Alberta.

“This was a good challenge to say, you know what, we have so much here. Can we help other people see that, too?”

“We just got excited to see and to experience so much of what Alberta has to offer, so often you don’t recognize what is in your own hometown or in your home area. So this was a great way we felt to highlight everyone’s home area.”

With the support of Alberta Municipalities and the Municipality Climate Change Action Centre, Potter and Underwood chose five municipalities in central Alberta to travel to and explore, including Lacombe, Edson and Barrehead.

“There are so many places that we would love to explore; when we were trying to choose five, it was really difficult,” Potter says. “One of the things we were very intentional about was picking out smaller communities as well, and we would love to venture into the rural a little bit. What we discovered when we were researching is there are so many communities where the cool things to see don’t stop at the municipal boundary, and as a municipal leader, that was one thing that was a real eye-opener for us.”

During the project, Potters says something interesting they learned is per capita, Alberta has the largest number of the world’s largest things. She adds that if the pair could continue the passion project in the future, she would like to travel further south.

Potter and Underwood have released the first of five videos from their passion project, showcasing what they found in Lacombe.

One Grande Prairie youth has the home team advantage in next year’s Alberta Winter Games.

12-year-old Shantel Pelletier has been training hard and shooting sharp for half her life. The young archer says the sport is “in her blood,” and the opportunity to show off her skills at a provincial level is validating.

“My Dad has been doing it for like 30, or like 20 years, [and] he’s the reason I got into archery,” she says. “I was training against four other people [and] it was really cool to be honest.”

Pelletier says her game plan is to go into the games with a winning mindset while remembering to have fun and embrace the opportunity.

“I’m [looking forward to] winning medals to show my friends.”

Pelletier says her advice for any young athletes competing is to “Have fun, be yourself, and just remember that you got it,” and she says she looks forward to competing at home in Grande Prairie.

Coca-Cola and Santa are making their annual appearance in Grande Prairie at the New Horizon Co-op to raise money for Ronald McDonald House Alberta.

Northern Bottling Distributors has donated 1200 12-packs of Coca-Cola products for this year’s House of Hope campaign to be available for purchase for $7 at the Co-op. Northern Bottling representative Kelly George says 100 percent of proceeds will be donated to Ronald McDonald House in Alberta.

“They stay here in Alberta, and it sells out every year so we fully expect it to sell out again this year.”

George says the House of Hope has become a Christmas tradition in Grande Prairie. She says that proceeds going to RMHC can alleviate some stress for families who have to travel to children’s hospitals outside of the city.

“Kids have to travel to Edmonton when they’re in need of specific treatments because we don’t have a children’s hospital in Grande Prairie.”

“The cost of families living in a city with a specialty children’s hospital is huge,” she says. “Being able to have the resources and the funds for these families to house them and their families when they have to travel for illness, it takes a huge pressure off these families,”

She adds that the event serves to put residents in the holiday mood, as Coca-Cola and Santa have become Christmas icons. As a result, George says Northern Bottling has opted to decorate one of their delivery trucks which will light up the holidays in Grande Prairie for its second year in 2023.

“Coke and Santa and Christmas go hand in hand, and that’s why this year we have the holiday truck,” she says. “The smiles and happiness that this lit-up truck brings is phenomenal.”

Northern Bottling will be on location at 8:30 a.m. on December 7th, and cases are available for one day only.

The Family and Community Support Services teams for County and City of Grande Prairie, along with the Towns of Beaverlodge, Sexsmith, Wembley are now accepting nominees for the 18th Annual Passionate Heart Awards.

The awards honour outstanding individuals as well as local organizations that significantly contribute to their community while enhancing social services in the region, as well as showing dedication to improving the quality of life for residents.

According to the Passionate Heart Awards committee, a highlight of the upcoming awards is having the 2023 Business category recipient come on as the sponsor for the 2024 awards. Some of the other categories include teams for non-profit or social agencies and Chris Henderson Lifetime Service Award for individuals with ten or more years of social service experience in the community.

The nomination deadline is set for January 19th, 2024, with the awards being handed out at the Passionate Heart Celebration on February 14th at Bonnetts Energy Centre.

Winter has arrived in the Grande Prairie region and the RCMP has issued a few safety tips to help motorists drive carefully in snowy conditions.

According to RCMP Public Information Officer Corporal Mathew Howell, residents are encouraged to take a few simple steps this winter to ensure road safety for themselves, and those around them.

Howell says swapping summer tires out for winters is the first step to take to make sure you’re safe on icy roads.

“One thing is make sure you have your winter tires on, I know it’s not a law in Alberta but winter tires do help when big, heavy snowfalls come,” he says. “People need to understand that yes even though you don’t have to it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t, so get those on and make sure your car is running appropriately in order to be safe out there.”

Additionally, Howell says running through a quick analysis of your vehicle before your journey can expose any issues before they become a safety hazard on the road.

“Make sure your breaks are working, make sure everything in your car is working up to standard to make sure you’re safe.”

Howell adds that taking precautions before driving is equally as important as being mindful on the road while driving. He says while it might be tempting to bunch up for safety, it is important to keep a safe distance between vehicles.

“Once you do hit the road, make sure you are paying attention to your surroundings, if you’re going to turn make sure you put your turn signal on as early as possible,” he says. “It’s mostly for people behind you to be aware of what you are doing and they can react accordingly.”

“Sticking together to a certain extent, never too close, you want to make sure that you’re not too close to the person in front of you, especially if visibility is low you won’t necessarily know if they hit their breaks before it’s too late.”

Howell says the RCMP is emphasizing the importance of using discretion while driving in dangerous conditions

“Always drive to the conditions of the road, even if you’re in a 100 zone but it’s safer to drive at 60, drive at whatever feels safest according to the road conditions.”

Foggy conditions remain a hazard as temperatures continue to fluctuate, resulting in low visibility and Howell says sometimes the best action to take is none at all.

“The thicker the fog, normally the less long it’ll last so to speak so if ever there’s a way to avoid travelling or just pull over somewhere for a bit and let it pass, especially if you can’t see more than a few feet in front of you, that’s your safest bet.”

“Using fog lights only helps so much, they only give you maybe an extra foot or two of visibility sometimes so unfortunately if it’s really so bad that you can’t see, you have to ask the question- is risking your life or someone else’s life worth those extra few minutes?”

Despite the weekend snowfall, temperatures are expected to rise with favourable conditions throughout the week.

No physician will be on-site at the Fairview Heath Complex Emergency Department for 24 hours starting Monday morning. According to Alberta Health Services, the disruption will start at 7 a.m. on Monday, December 4th and is expected to end at 7 a.m. Tuesday, December 5th.

However, the provincial health authority will cancel the disruption if sufficient coverage is found.

Nursing staff will remain on-site to provide triage and assessments. EMS calls will be re-routed to surrounding facilities, including the Grande Prairie Regional Hospital.

AHS also reminds residents they can contact 8-1-1 anytime about non-emergency health questions.

The snow machines are back up and running for the 2023/24 ski season at Nitehawk Adventure Park.

According to Nitehawk General Manager Johnathan Clarkson, the machines are currently operating in full swing, pumping out 600 to 800 gallons of snow every minute, or around 1 million gallons per day. He says machines will continue to operate as long as conditions stay the same.

“The temperatures are holding right now are holding well,” he says. “We’ll need about a week of straight snowmaking to get any of the runs open.”

Clarkson adds that currently, the park is targeting the weekend of December 9th and 10th to hold a “soft opening,” with potential lanes in the Aquatera Tube Zone and some ski trails opening up.

“Our crews have been ready and waiting and our equipment is all ready to go so when we do get the temperatures like we’re seeing right now, we’re able to start the snowmaking system.”

“We are talking about maybe even spreading our snow a little bit thinner just so we can get the slopes open sooner.”

Clarkson says the slopes need around five days of consistent snow making to open the park fully. He says temperatures are also a key factor, as machines need conditions to sit around -2.8°C and around -6°C for optimal efficiency.

“It roughly takes about an hour and a half to start up and the same thing to shut down so we try to look at getting multiple days of snowmaking in a row in order to make snow and then obviously if mother nature cooperates we should be right on target.”

If mother nature decides not to cooperate, Clarkson says Nitehawk is confident in their man-made snow holding up, as chinooks and warm temperatures are normal throughout the season.

“The nice thing about man-made snow is it’s still a snowflake but it’s a more condensed snowflake so it’s not as fragile as a natural snowflake would be, so we see our man-made snow stand up better in warming trends during the winter season.”

Clarkson adds that the later opening is not unusual based on historic temperatures in the past 10 years. He says the park typically opens in late November, so a mid-December opening is not as late as it may seem.

County of Grande Prairie Council approved the 2024 County Operating Assistance funding request from the Hythe Athletic Association.

According to the county, $131,840 with a three percent escalator was approved for the HAA, and County Reeve Bob Marshall says most of the funding will go towards facility operations such as programming, minor maintenance, and utilities.

“The funding request is going towards the operation of the facility, whatever they need to do to have the facility open for our minor hockey, figure skating programs, public skating programs, anything in there.”

“The building is one of the central points in the community so we want to keep that open and going for the residents, and the surrounding areas as well.”

Marshall adds that the move is a significant one for the entire county, not just Hythe, as regional programs like Beaverlodge Minor Hockey depend on the facility.

“Most of our ice surfaces are regional in nature.”

Additionally, council directed administration to work with the HAA on creating an Operating Reserve Fund and transfer the estimated surplus into the reserve. The county is currently estimating around a $1,000 cash surplus and Marshall says the reserve will be utilized for any unexpected costs for the facility throughout the year.

“It’s just over $1000 they had leftover from last year’s operating fund, so not a huge amount but it’ll go into a reserve, so any minor repairs or anything they need to do throughout the year, they can dip into that.”

County council is scheduled to deliberate major capital grants in their next meeting, and any additional HAA funding for building or major repairs will come from that.

The holiday season just got a bit warmer for those in need in Grande Prairie as one Grade 8 student took it upon herself to make sure the city’s street-engaged population stays warm over the holidays.

13-year-old Gracelyn Karpiak, a student at Mother Teresa Catholic School, set out to collect toque and mitten donations over Halloween instead of trick or treating and managed to collect 104 toque packages, which each had a toque, a pair of wool socks, hand warmers, and a pair of gloves.

Graclyn’s mom Jamie Mclennan says her spirit of giving started when she was just six years old, and her donations have only grown.

“When she was about six and started to get tooth fairy money she refused to spend it on herself, and she had a little piggy bank and said this money is not for me it’s for other people.”

“She started collecting her money and every year she would take whatever she had and I’d take her to the store and she would buy socks, and she would just hand them out to whoever she could find,” she says. “One year she even convinced me to do a baked foods thing and I sold all these baked goods and she took the money and bought socks and gloves.”

Mclennan adds that in her daughter’s efforts, she managed to work with numerous small businesses, and received cash donations from many, along with her own family and friends.

“It just spiraled into this big giant thing that was bigger than we both imagined.”

In addition to the 104 toque packages, Graclyn managed to wrangle up extra wool socks, and over 200 women’s products, clothing, and hygiene items, and has been donating them to various organizations as needed.

Beaverlodge Girls Hockey is focusing on continuing to grow and develop their program and players with the support of $20,000 from Hockey Alberta’s Member Grant program.

President Beaverlodge Girls Hockey, Christy Martin, says they are seeing and hearing from the provincial hockey organization that they are emphasizing the female-focused programs and their longevity as they grow in popularity and the girls have fun.

“That is the purpose of the sport: to have fun; they definitely want the competitiveness, but our main focus is making sure the girls are having fun on the bench.”

One of the significant differences between the girl’s hockey program and the mainstream hockey program is the players are not separated until 10 minutes before the game or practice; they are in the dressing room and part of the team from the jump.

Last year, Beaverlodge Girls Hockey held different programs to give girls the chance to try the all-female team experience, and Martin says afterwards they received numerous positive messages from parents and guardians. She says Beaverlodge girl’s hockey added 27 new players for the 2023 – 2024 season, which is a 40 per cent growth for the organization, and now has four teams, with players coming from not just Beaverlodge but also the surrounding communities.

“This year, we formed a team for the U11 age group, which comprises 9- and 10-year-olds, and they were all brand new to girls’ hockey in Beaverlodge.”

Martin says the hope is the interest in girls’ hockey continues, and the program can grow across the Peace Country.

The County of Grande Prairie celebrated the Regional Fire Service on November 29th to recognize “outstanding” service members and new graduates.

According to the county, this year’s ceremony saw 31 award recipients and 10 newly graduated additions to the fire service.

Awards were given out in numerous categories. 11 members received the Alberta Emergency Services Medal and Service Bars, four received the Chief’s Coin, five received the 10 Years of Service Award, and 11 received the 5 Years of Service Award.

Tracay Depew received the fire service’s first-ever Hickok Award, named to honour the the memory of former service member Greg Hickok who passed away with his wife in 2020. The County says nominees for the award are determined by fellow members of the fire service for exhibiting “the best attributes” of a firefighter.

The County says Depew “embodies the ideal firefighter” as a dedicated, hardworking, problem-solving, committed member of the GP Regional Fire Service.

The Alberta Motor Association has announced this year’s holiday fundraising campaign to help address provincial food insecurity.

This year, the AMA has set up a virtual food drive, where interested Albertans can shop at the online grocery store, select food items they wish to donate, and the equivalent value will be directed to their local food bank on their behalf.

According to Jane Flower, Vice-President of Corporate Purpose for the AMA, 100% of donations from Grande Prairie will be donated to the Salvation Army in Grande Prairie.

“You can target your donation to your local community, so 100 percent of the donation you make stays in your local community.”

According to the Salvation Army, one in five Grande Prairie residents depend on the foodbank each month, and the AMA reports around 174,000 Albertans accessing provincial foodbanks monthly, a 94 percent increase since 2019.

“One in every five folks… that’s somebody on your street, that might be somebody that you work with,” Flower says. “We’re hearing across the province that the uptick in foodbank usage is from people who have jobs, but who because of rising costs, just can’t make those dollars stretch to the end of the month.”

Flower adds that the virtual food drive is not the only option for residents to donate. She says the Grande Prairie AMA Centre is accepting physical food donations until December 15th.

Additionally, interested residents have the opportunity to book a Community Mobilization Kit, which provides applicants with everything they need to host their own neighbourhood food drive.

Flower adds this year, the goal is to raise $225,000 and 50,000 lbs of nonperishable food items provincially to support Albertans beyond the holiday season.

“Hunger doesn’t know a time of year, in some ways our desire or our opportunity to be charitable is often more present during the holidays but the need persists year-round.”

Anyone interested in getting involved is encouraged to visit the AMA’s website or the Grande Prairie AMA Centre to donate or book food drive kits.

If you’re looking forward to a white Christmas, you might be out of luck as Grande Prairie is currently experiencing its third-driest November ever with just two and a half centimetres of snowfall all month.

According to Alysa Pederson, Warning Preparedness Meteorologist for Alberta, the Grande Prairie region is experiencing the second driest Fall in 90 years. She says the lack of precipitation is due to a “blocking pattern” preventing Pacific storm systems from penetrating the prairies this winter.

“It’s not just been November it’s been the entire Fall,” she says. “We’ve been in what’s called an upper ridge, which is essentially a dome of warmer air that has been sitting over western North America periodically.”

“We’ve had storms go to the north to the Northwest Territories, and south to the states, but not really through our area.”

Pederson explains that the jet stream that typically carries Pacific storms has gone to the north, over Alberta, where it usually travels through, bringing with it colder temperatures and precipitation.

“We have a jetstream that’s essentially a waterslide of air, that blows across the country, and it kind of meanders north and then south, through the winter,” she says. “That’s essentially where our storms come from is the Pacific, they kind of ride that jet stream.”

“In our case for the months of fall, it’s gone to the north, over us, which means the storms ride it and go to the north over us, instead of coming through and developing a big low-pressure system in Alberta which is what brings the rain and colder temperatures.”

Additionally, Pederson says despite many placing the warm temperature blame on El Niño, the high temperatures are seemingly yet to come, as temperatures have not quite reached their expected peak in the Pacific.

“Fall weather usually isn’t attributed to El Niño, so we have El Niño, yeah it’s strengthening, but the peak of El Niño, the peak of the temperatures in the equatorial Pacific looks to be about December.”

“What we’re going to see is that’s going to have an impact on December, January, February, and maybe even into March and April.”

Pederson adds that El Niño will serve to reinforce the same weather pattern that has been the trend this fall, so drier than normal conditions should be expected for December.

Grande Prairie only saw one day in November with a daily high below zero and while recent below-zero temperatures in the city have left some speculating on whether the warmer-than-usual beginning of winter could be over, Pederson explains the low temperatures are merely a result of temporary Arctic winds blowing down through the prairies.

“We’ve had what’s called a surface high-pressure ridge that moved into the prairies from the Arctic, so it has brought northerly winds and a cooling kind of cold front, but it hasn’t been a strong one.”

According to Pederson, Grande Prairie residents hoping for a white Christmas might not have their wish granted, as current trends suggest minimal precipitation heading into the holidays.

“The percent chance based off of the last 25 years is pretty much an 84 percent chance of getting a white Christmas, now this year, I would guess that our likelihood is a bit lower than that given the fact that there’s no snow on the ground, and you’ve only had two and a half centimetres so far.”

“I would say in the next couple weeks we would need something pretty substantial to come in and dump snow in the area in the coming weeks, so unless we get that, nothing looks like it’s going to be here in the next week or so.”

Pederson says currently, there is no indication of any significant snow for the first week of December, and November will officially go down in the record books as the third-driest in Grande Prairie’s recorded history.

The Fairview Health Complex emergency department will be temporarily closed due to a lack of physician coverage from 7:00 a.m., Thursday, November 30th to 7:00 a.m. on Saturday, December 2nd.

Nurses will remain available in the emergency department to provide triage, assessments, and referrals for patients to alternate emergency departments in surrounding communities.

Residents are asked to call 911 in case of emergency and EMS will remain available to the community and will be re-routed to surrounding healthcare centres.

For non-emergencies residents are asked to call Health Link at 811, available 24/7.

The Fairview Health Complex says if coverage is found, disruptions may be cancelled.