The Fairview Health Complex Emergency Department will not have on-site physician coverage for one week due to the inability to secure coverage.

From 7:00 a.m. April 1st to 7:00 a.m. April 8th, the ED will not have a doctor on-site in the emergency room; however, nursing staff will remain to provide triage, assessments, and referrals for patients to alternate emergency departments as needed.

Residents are asked to call 9-1-1 in case of emergency and AHS says EMS will remain available to residents during this time.

Healthlink 8-1-1 will also be available for residents 24/7 for non-emergency health-related questions. Residents with specific needs are also reminded to search for services available through local pharmacies.

Attraction and retention remains top of mind for a number of employment services and Northwestern Polytechnic is no different.

NWP President and CEO Dr. Vanessa Sheane says efforts are actively being taken to establish the school as a destination for would-be students both locally and around the province.

Recently, NWP introduced the Strategic Enrollment Management Action Plan to streamline the recruitment process for students and the school.

“Just being really intentional alongside that student lifecycle, so obviously we need to recruit students, we need to have programs they want to take and beyond the programs, the services they want as well,” Dr. Sheane says.

Sheane says attraction goes beyond the classroom as well, and the school takes pride in its variety of student support options in both the academic and personal life spaces through services like the Wolves athletics program, community events, and the school’s fitness centre.

“Once they’re with us and they’re in the program it’s how do we retain them, and part of that is that services piece but some of it is just events,” she says.

Attraction and retention efforts are not just for students either. According to Dr. Sheane, staff retention presents a unique set of challenges as the school remains committed to providing quality, expert-level staff for its students.

“As our programs grow, as the number of students grows, we need more instructors and support staff and so most of our instructors are experts in their area, so recruiting those staff members to the area depending on the program can be a bit of a challenge.”

Additionally, the school remains committed to emphasizing in-demand local industries as viable job opportunities for NWP grads. Sheane says work is being done to foster the relationship between local employers and students at NWP.

“We build strong partnerships with the industries, community organizations, and municipalities within the region if we’re helping to fill the workforce needs,” she says. “They want to know what is it going to get them in the end, and so if our programs are tied to the industry needs, the community needs, then they can see exactly what their job or career looks like afterward.”

In order to stay competitive among the hundreds of post-secondary options available for students, Dr. Sheane says it is important for NWP to work alongside schools across the province to keep student satisfaction a top priority.

“There are things that students need to go outside the region to get, but through collaborations with the other post-secondaries we’re hoping to add some of those pieces in like our Bachelor of Science and Nursing Degree, it’s a U of A degree but they can do all four years here,” she says. “For the students whose program may take them outside of the region- can they start with us, can they do their first year or maybe their first two years with us, get that strong solid foundation and then move on to a different institution.”

Numerous initiatives are in place by NWP to keep students in Grande Prairie, with an emphasis on local career opportunities such as the recent expansion of their various healthcare-related programs.

Ten new physicians have joined the North Zone of AHS in the last three months of 2023 according to Alberta Health Services.

Seven physicians practicing a variety of specialties began practicing in Grande Prairie between October 1st and December 31st last year, including two pediatric physicians and a family medicine doctor.

Provincial Minister of Health Adriana LaGrange says the newly recruited healthcare professionals’ diverse specialties will help ensure the wide variety of healthcare needs of northern Albertans are met.

“Their dedication to patient care and their diverse backgrounds will undoubtedly contribute to providing the highest level of healthcare services to Albertans,” she says.

On top of the new physicians in Grande Prairie, Beaverlodge, Bonnyville, and Lac La Biche all received new healthcare practitioners in family medicine and pediatrics.

AHS says physician recruiting across the north will continue this year through work with planners who are actively identifying and pursuing international and domestic physicians.

Seasonal sweeping is underway across the city after City of Grande Prairie crews began operations on arterial (high-capacity) roads on March 27th.

The city says weeping of arterial and collector roadways and transit routes should last until late May, depending on weather conditions, and crews have also started sweeping city trails.

After completing arterial roads, crews are set to begin sweeping secondary roads, then residential. Crews are on track to begin residential sweeping in late May and complete the project “by the end of June.”

Crews will be operating 24/7 from March 31st at 10:00 a.m. to April 6th at 10:00 p.m. Drivers are asked to use caution when passing street sweepers as vehicles are slow moving when collecting debris.

Debris collected during the operation includes various organic and natural materials such as gravel and leaves, and will be discarded at the Aquatera landfill.

The Beaverlodge RCMP is asking for help from the public in identifying a suspect following an alleged theft that occurred on March 7th.

According to footage obtained by police, at 6:12 p.m. on March 7th, at a building on 2nd Avenue in Beaverlodge, a male suspect was seen exiting the passenger side of a “dark coloured SUV,” accessing the driver’s side of the victim’s vehicle and stealing “several items.”

Investigators say the suspect returned to the SUV and left the area with the items which included credit cards, used at several businesses in Grande Prairie including Home Depot, Walmart, and a liquor store. Police have obtained additional footage of the suspect from Home Depot.

Law enforcement describes the suspect as a six-foot-tall slender man with a pale complexion and short-cropped facial hair and was last seen wearing a yellow Adidas hat, yellow and orange safety jacket, blue jeans, and glasses.

Anyone with information related to the incident is asked to contact the Beaverlodge RCMP at (780)-354-2485 or anonymously through Crime Stoppers.

The long-anticipated County of Grande Prairie municipal census will begin on April 3rd.

The county has not conducted a census since 2012 and says the project is timely due to the expected population growth after the county took over responsibility for the dissolved Village of Hythe in 2021.

According to the provincial government, it is required that the county review its number of councillors and electoral division boundaries before the 2025 municipal election to determine whether growth or decline has created a population imbalance in the county’s communities.

Additionally, numerous provincial and federal grants are based on population, therefore, the more accurate the population count, the more funding the county is eligible to receive, which officials say will be utilized for essential services such as infrastructure.

The census will take place between April 3rd and May 31st, and all county households will receive a PIN beginning on the third. Residents will need their unique PIN to complete the census online or in-person.

Residents who choose to complete the census online should expect six questions, and those who choose to complete it in-person should expect a census worker wearing a county identification badge to show up at their door from April 15th to May 31st.

Pest and mosquito control operations are coming back to Grande Prairie, set to begin in April.

According to the city, pest control operations include the spraying of noxious weeds, insects, and plant diseases; however, City parks director Kase DeVries emphasizes that “all products used” are registered with Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency.

“We are committed to ensuring the health and safety of residents through our annual pest and mosquito control operations,” she says.

Mosquito control operations will only apply to temporary standing water locations that support mosquito larvae residing within the Mosquito Control Boundary. Control operations will use a larvicide that is both “environmentally friendly and target specific.”

“Our environmentally friendly approach ensures effective and responsible management of pests within our community,” DeVries says.

Residents who have allergies to pest control products are encouraged to notify Parks Operations through AccessGP at 3-1-1.

Following a tough loss to the Calgary Canucks in the 2024 AJHL Playoffs, Grande Prairie Storm Head Coach Eric Thurston has shed some light on the “unprecedented” loss of five former AJHL teams to the BCHL that occurred this season.

“I don’t recall ever hearing or ever been a part of where you have five teams in the middle of your season jump to another league, that’s really in all of hockey, I think truly unprecedented,” Thurston says.

Thurston expressed a sense of pride for his team, saying the guys acted in an extremely professional manner despite the struggles that the exodus caused for the entire league.

“That part certainly was a challenge and I really admire our guys, they’re obviously not being paid, but they were true pros, they were very professional, they kept the focus, I know we worked hard,” he says.

The Head Coach takes a relatively indifferent stance on the matter, saying when league decisions are out of the team’s control, it is far more beneficial to focus on the task at hand, rather than the politics going on within the league.

“There’s so many things that are just out of our control, and it’s one thing, yes you’re extremely disappointed but I know and I told the players that I’m sorry but we have no control over this,” he says. “I use the phrase- this is all above our pay grade, so it’s on how we react to it, [so] at the end of the day we talked about what we have here in a great city, truly the best fans in the Alberta Junior Hockey League, and focusing on that process.”

Additionally, Thurston says it was important for him as a coach to remind his players what truly matters as a junior hockey player. He says ultimately, junior hockey is about development, and it is important for his players to continue down their path to success.

“I didn’t want to say to them selfishly, but you also have to look after yourself, in the sense that you guys have goals, you guys have dreams that you want to get to in hockey, you have to keep that front and center with yourself, think of the team, and you’ve gotta move forward.”

Thurston says eyes are now on the offseason, and recruitment of new players and the continued development of those who return is top of mind ahead of the 2024-25 season.

The Grande Prairie RCMP is asking for help from the public in locating stolen police equipment.

According to police, the Grande Prairie RCMP was advised on March 26th, at 10:35 a.m. that a break-in occurred at the Grande Prairie County Community and Enforcement Services locked compound in Clairmont.

Investigators say the compound stores equipment from various first response agencies and among the stolen items was an RCMP flat deck alongside two RCMP-marked quads. No other police equipment was identified as stolen however, including uniforms or “use of force” items.

Video footage shows that the theft took place between 7:54 p.m. and 8:29 p.m. on March 25th.

The two stolen quads are described as a 2021 Red Can-Am Outlander 570, Alberta license plate CNM32, and a 2021 Grey Polaris Sportsman Touring 570, Alberta license plate NKA73. The stolen flat deck is described as a 2022 Black “Rainbow Trailers” Flat Deck, with Alberta License 6CY542.

Anyone with information related to the incident is asked to contact the Grande Prairie RCMP at (780)-830-5700 or anonymously through Crime Stoppers.

The City of Grande Prairie has approved an increase to the city’s Barrier Free Grant funding by an additional $10K, making the current amount available for eligible organizations $20K.

Grande Prairie Mayor Jackie Clayton says the expansion of funding will support initiatives from organizations and businesses that would implement barrier-free upgrades for customers such as wheelchair ramps and other accessibility projects.

“I know that council will want to have a discussion once that money is allocated, we’re just optimistic that the increase to $20,000 although could be less overall, it opens the door for larger initiatives in the barrier-free space,” she says.

Alongside the increased cap, council implemented a finite timeframe for funding applications, currently scheduled for March 31st next year.

“The reason being the policy if it was left as is would have just simply expired when the money was gone,” Mayor Clayton says.

In a recent report to council, city administration noted that between 2021 and 2023, eight of fifteen applicants would have received more than the previous allotted amount of $10K, if the cap was higher.

Interested businesses and property owners can apply by contacting the City of Grande Prairie.

Registration for the 2024 Eastlink Centre Triathalon has opened up ahead of the event taking place on July 7th.

This year, a new category for children ages five and under is available among adult categories, and youth “Kids of Steel” categories for kids ages six through thirteen. Additionally, the event was recently awarded the Triathalon Alberta 2024 Supersprint Provincial Championships for athletes ages 14 and older.

According to the city, the championship provides a platform for the top athletes in the province to show off their abilities in a competitive setting against the most elite athletes from across Alberta.

Last year’s event saw 292 registered competitors and the city says this year is aiming for 400 participants.

The event is a sanctioned one through Triathalon Alberta, and as a result, all athletes must have a Triathalon Alberta membership to participate. Day memberships cost $20 for adults and $15 per athlete in a team.

Categories vary in price at $50 for kids between six and thirteen, and up to $120 per team in the adult categories, and early bird pricing is available until May 15th for adult racers. Interested residents can register online through the city’s website.

Numerous city services operating out of the City on 99 building are set to relocate to the Coordinated Care Campus on April 1st.

According to the city, Enforcement Services, Mobile Outreach, community social development, housing and homeless initiatives, the Grande Prairie Police Service, and the Grande Prairie Regional Emergency Partnership will be required to relocate.

The city says residents should anticipate service disruptions as a result of the move for around two weeks; however, “all critical services” will remain available to residents during this time.

In-person services and payments will be available at City Hall for animal licensing, parking ticket payment, and applications for various access passes and all services available online will remain available through the city’s website.

The Enforcement Services move will result in temporary disruptions for bylaw-related questions and the city says calls to the department’s main line will be directed to voicemail, and consultations with officers for bylaw disputes, violation tickets, and complaints will be unavailable.

Officials say the transition is necessary as it brings numerous city services together under one roof, and the move marks a “significant milestone” for the City of Grande Prairie.

The City of Grande Prairie addressed residents on March 26th at the 2024 State of the City event regarding key priorities of numerous city and commercial entities.

The discussion featured four panelists from Northwestern Polytechnic, the Grande Prairie Police Service, the Grande Prairie Chamber of Commerce, and the City of Grande Prairie, who discussed their successes in 2023 and areas of improvement for 2024.

Grande Prairie Mayor Jackie Clayton says she was excited to hear from some of the city’s biggest resources with a focus on economic development in the Grande Prairie region.

“I think today was a great opportunity to hear from leaders of organizations other than the city, in my opinion, you hear a lot from the city of Grande Prairie,” she says. “Sometimes you may not be on the path to receive information about other great organizations, so today was an opportunity to show the incredible things that they’re doing.”

Grande Prairie Chamber of Commerce CEO Tanya Oliver was in attendance and joined the other panelists in the discussion of employment opportunities in Grande Prairie. Mayor Clayton says hearing the commercial perspective on the status of economic growth and development in the city was a welcome addition to the conversation.

“They are the third largest chamber in Alberta and really with over 1,000 members, represent that business community,” she says.

Northwestern Polytechnic President and CEO Dr. Vanessa Sheane spoke on the panel as well, and Mayor Clayton says hearing the school’s priorities of gearing their programming to local in-demand training is a crucial step in economic development.

“Northwest Polytechnic, we know is on the horizon and continues to do incredible things, whether it’s through customizing trade opportunities, suiting industry and the region’s needs for trades development, working in the healthcare sector, or community needs.”

One topic of discussion that continued to be brought up throughout the event was the “attraction and retention” of workers in Grande Prairie. Mayor Clayton says the city has prioritized developing the workforce in the region through a number of projects including sporting events, and utilizing the strengths of the Peace Country as a way to attract more workers to the city.

“We want to use the strengths of this region and our communities and our city to highlight why you should move here, why you should consider moving to Grande Prairie and the region,” she says. “This is the northwest economic engine of Alberta, and so on a regular basis we want people to be aware of where the investment opportunity is, that means attracting labour and a workforce.”

Mayor Clayton adds that the State of the City event is another step in improving the communication line between residents and the city, and work to bring in new residents will continue this year.

The County of Grande Prairie has released council’s 2024 advocacy priorities in an effort to secure support for key projects and infrastructure in the county’s communities.

Three major priorities were announced during council’s most recent Monday meeting: economic development, transportation, and building a healthy community.

According to council, actions have been taken to advocate for the Province to adopt a new electricity pricing model for distribution across Alberta and for the Province to support the Philip J. Currie Dinosaur Museum to gain economic development opportunities for the county and focus on job creation and talent attraction.

In terms of transportation, the County plans on promoting awareness regarding the infrastructure needs in their communities to the provincial and federal governments and continue lobbying to prioritize funding for the Highway 40X construction project.

Additionally, the county says plans are in place to support healthcare worker attraction and retention and support the ongoing development of the Maskwa Medical Centre.

County council included a further four items in their announcement such as addressing rural crime, advocacy for traffic flow to the future Clairmont Heights division, Highway 43 twinning to the BC border, and addressing rural housing insecurity.

Grande Prairie City Council opted to provide the Cairn Housing Society with a one-time emergency funding boost of $16,000 and an additional $8,000 for food service.

According to Cairn’s request, the money will be utilized to help with payroll and provide food for residents of the society.

After losing a significant corporate funder, the Cairn Housing Society has been quite vocal regarding their need to meet the status quo and originally requested $30K in emergency funding from council, which officials say is just enough to “limp them along” until a new funder is identified.

The request for food support sparked debate in the chambers on Monday with the question of whether one-time payments are useful in emergency scenarios being brought up by numerous councillors.

Ultimately, the request was approved five to four, and Mayor Jackie Clayton says the choice to provide the funding is just the first step in having a larger conversation surrounding food insecurity in Grande Prairie.

“The conversation expanded from there to what are the opportunities in our community, and we know significant numbers of people are facing food insecurity, we know that the increased cost of food overall is a significant burden to families and individuals,” she says. “This was one of the first steps in our opinion in regards to supporting the Cairn specifically, but we do want to have a larger conversation about food security in our community overall.”

As a result, city council directed administration to come back with a report regarding all of the organizations and different initiatives that address food security in the city, to inspire a more “fulsome” conversation around the topic.

“One-offs in council’s opinion are not how we solve issues, having a full conversation in regards to having a full conversation in regards to overlapping initiatives and finding opportunities, having a process to serve the needs of those who are looking for those programs will be a much better approach,” Mayor Clayton says. “One-time funding sometimes leads to a broken system and so to have a better approach to something that is so significant and so important in our community was where the conversation was- let’s not have these one-offs, let’s have a system that serves everybody in regards to food security.”

Following the report from city administration, the Mayor says a full “round table” discussion with representatives from different food service organizations will occur and could bear fruit “in the next few weeks.”

The Alberta five-pin bowling provincials are returning to Grande Prairie once again this week and for HJ’s bowling owner Gerald Hafner, it will be his first time hosting the event.

The passionate Hafner says he looks forward to an elite showing of bowlers from around the province and is both “nervous and excited” for the event.

“It’s our first time hosting for my wife and I since we’ve owned the lanes and what that means is all of Alberta is coming down, and we’re basically taking care of 100 other bowlers coming to town,” he says. “Bowling has been my passion my whole life, so having this here, for us it’s going to be amazing, my wife and I, we’re nervous but excited of course.”

The tournament host venue rotates between five zones- Edmonton, Calgary, Southern Alberta, Central Alberta, and Northern Alberta, and consists of bowlers competing in men’s, women’s, mixed, and singles categories, vying for a shot at nationals in Ottawa.

Hafner says five-pin bowling remains a staple in the city and despite a tough few years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Hafner says he and his wife have worked hard to establish the sport in Grande Prairie.

“Since my wife and I have taken over, we’ve done well bringing the game back because the sport was dying in Grande Prairie,” he says. “The sport was dying for a long time in our area, with COVID and everything, it was tough but we held on long enough to continue to go again and it took right off again, everybody was supporting us.”

HJ’s five-pin bowling is not new to tournament hosting, and Hafner says plans are in place to provide a good show for both the competitors and spectators alike.

“We’ve held so many tournaments but to me this is the biggest one, when you’ve got the elites coming here you want to present yourself properly,” he says. “We just had a tournament a month ago and it was full, it was exciting, and five-pin bowling is a hard game, so to have the competition that we have coming here, it’s meaningful.”

The tournament begins on March 27th, when the single bowlers hit the lanes, with the rest of the tournament scheduled to continue from March 28th to March 30th.

After a tough playoff-ending overtime loss to the Calgary Canucks on March 24th, the Grande Prairie Storm are officially out of the 2024 AJHL Playoffs.

Despite the loss, Storm Head Coach Eric Thurston says there are a number of key takeaways from not only the playoffs but the season as a whole.

“Our guys certainly did not quit, our guys battled back to take it into overtime and once you get into overtime every shot counts and every shot matters,” he says. “That’s the tough part because all of a sudden your season is done when you’re hoping and you’re not wanting it to in any way shape or form.”

Storm fans will remember the series began in overtime as well, and Coach Thurston says the fact that all of the games except for game five were decided by just one goal is a good sign that the Storm can keep up in the playoffs.

“Any time you get into tight playoff series as we did, I think we were very tightly matched with Calgary, I think that’s just part of the sport, I think we certainly grew from our season last year,” he says. “You want to be able to continue to grow each year, and I know we’ve got a good foundation in place for our team next season.”

Looking ahead to next season, Thurston says the onus is on the team’s staff to ensure a strong showing next year. He says recruiting new players and developing returning skaters will be top of mind as a staff this season.

“We just saw some phenomenal growth up front from some of our first-year guys, but we’re going to need, the coaching staff, the General Manager, to work hard to bring in players to surround those guys,” he says. “It’s up to us to do a good job of recruiting and developing players, signing them, and then seeing how things unfold for our success next year.”

Thurston says he plans to continue building on the foundation that is already established on his team, and he says the Storm’s strong defensive core will continue to be utilized next season.

“In my opinion you look to build a team from your goaltender out, so if we have Nick Jones back, we’re in great shape, he’s a phenomenal kid, a very very good goalie, I really like our defense, I think we’re going to be solid back there.”

Thurston says recruiting will begin this off-season and plans to provide quality entertainment to Storm fans will continue next season.

Grande Prairie City Council has announced this year’s advocacy key priorities during a meeting held on March 11th.

According to council, 2024’s advocacy priorities include electricity distribution costs, health care support, medical first response funding, support for Northwestern Polytechnic, and provincial and federal funding for housing needs.

Additionally, council says plans to improve rail service, move to automated traffic enforcement in support of recent changes by the Provincial government, and biometric scanning for immigration are in place as priorities as well.

Mayor Jackie Clayton says establishing the priorities helps set the framework for council’s year and identifies which parties will best support the city’s advocacy projects.

“From addressing rising electricity costs, housing availability, accessible health care, and more, these priorities are based on what we’re hearing in the community, and what we’ve identified is needed to best meet our residents’ growing needs in our growing community,” she says.

Last year’s priority list included items such as physician attraction and retention, and council says they were pleased to see those items included in the province’s budget through funding boosts like the $42 million investment into the province’s Rural Physician Expansion Program.

Council has published an annual list of its advocacy priorities since 2021, and the city says they will address any updates as the year goes on.

The County of Grande Prairie is introducing a new method for residents to access utility bills.

The “MyProperty” system has been implemented for utility customers in an effort from the county to deliver a more convenient and accessible process for residents to view and pay for utilities.

According to the county, MyProperty allows residents to access utility services 24/7 from anywhere to improve communication between customers and the service provider.

Additionally, the county says utility bills have been updated to a more user-friendly look, but the county says all the essential details will remain available and easy to access.

Residents can also sign up for electronic billing and receive notifications that e-bills are available online, as utility bills will no longer be emailed to customers. Residents are asked to update their utility account numbers for online banking, credit card payments, and mail payments as a result of the change.

County residents can create a MyProperty profile online, and set up access to their utility account through the county’s website.