ALBERTA HISTORY Return to ALBERTA INDEX
2000
A $600 million expansion of Imperial Oil's wholly owned oil sands operation in Cold Lake, Alberta begins.
2002
The population of Canada is 31,414,000. There are more than 200 different ethnic origins in Canada:
47% of British Isles
39% of Canadian
16% of French
9% of German
4% of Italian
4% of Chinese
4% of Ukrainian
3% of First Nations
Major religions of Canada are:
43% Roman Catholic
29% Protestant
16% no religion
2% Muslim
10% other
Life expectancy in Canada is 79 years.
23% of working Canadians have a University Education.
3% of Canadians are involved in agriculture
5% of Canadian land is farmed.
March 17: Richard Garneau b-1937, the author of this website, suffered an emergency operation for a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm at the Peter Laugheed Centre, Calgary. The aneurysm was nearly burst with only a thin membrane remaining. The City of Calgary ambulance service correctly identified the problem as a possible aneurysm. Upon arriving at the hospital it was about 7 minutes from admission to operating table. Dr Randy D. Moore, chief of vascular surgery for the Calgary Health Region, suggested that a delay of 7-10 minutes more would have resulted in death. He wanted to get in quick and clamp it off in case it ruptured, as this usually results in a 50% death rate. If it ruptures before operating room, your dead. The three hour abdominal surgery usually has a hospital recovery period of 12.1 days but recently implemented procedures has cut the average recovery to 10.9 days. I was out in 8.0 days with no serious secondary damage. Moore classified this as a miracle. The miracle, however, was the coordinated recovery team from critical operation care to the vascular special care unit to the general ward, which freed the patient to focus on recovery.
July: This is classified by some Alberta farmers as the year "even weeds won't grow." The official position, this is the worst growing season, on the Prairies, in recorded history.
2003
March 7: Monica Hughes, nee Irse born November 3, 1925 Liverpool died March 7, 2003 Edmonton, Alberta. She published over 30 novels since 1971 and has won nearly every major Canadian award for young-adult fiction. Twelve of her works are classified as science fiction. I had the pleasure of knowing Monica in the 1970's.
September 24:
The Edmonton City police of Alberta are using 'Citizen Profiling' to target potential law breakers by:
Recent claims in Calgary suggest some Political, Judicial Judges and Police maybe included in the list. This brings to mind a case were Edmonton police used criminal charges against another police officer to inhibit his promotion to improve their own promotion possibility.
November 15: The Alberta Government is in the process of assembling its 'Firewall' panel to consider the Firewall Proposals:
- A Provincial Police Force
- A Provincial Pension Plan
- Income Tax collection
- Control of Immigration
Issues Include:
- Kyoto
- Gun Registry
- Gay Marriages
- Canadian Wheat Board
- Senate Reform
- Federal Health Funding
The Alberta Resident Association is presently conducting town meetings to discuss these issues.
2004
This year the Garneau life expectancy is 86 years vs. 74 years for the general public.
July 15: Mark Garneau, b-1968 moved to Trochu, Alberta, acquired a house built in the 1920's and started to restore the building. It is noteworthy that Trochu, Alberta was an excellent breeding ground for the bull snake aka gopher snake. This snake that grows to 5 feet is often confused with the rattlesnake. It however is not venomous and has rapidly declined in recent years.
September 29: Imperial Oil Limited announced today they will be relocating their corporate head office and Products & Chemicals management from Toronto to Calgary, Alberta.
November: We sometimes forget that the top proven crude oil reserves by
country are:
WORLD RESERVES
U.S. SUPPLIERS OF CRUDE.
- Saudi Arabia 1. Saudi Arabia
- Canada, mostly Alberta 2. Mexico
- Iran 3. Canada
- Iraq 4. Venezuela
- United Arab Emirates 5. Nigeria
- Kuwait 6. Iraq
- Venezuela 7. Angola
- Russia 8. United Kingdom
- Libya 9. Kuwait
- Nigeria 10. Norway
- United States 11. Columbia
- China 12. Russia
- Mexico 13. Ecuador
The Oil Sands deposits of Northern Alberta are the largest deposits of recoverable fossil energy in the world, some 300 billion barrels. The question is the cost of recovery. This compares with Saudi Arabia oil reserves of some 260 billion barrels. Others suggest the total middle East oil reserves are overstated and only represent 360 billion barrels.
2005
April 27: The Edmonton Police conducted an illegal clandestine sting operation against Edmonton Sun columnist Kerry Diotte and the head of the Police Commission. It was determined today these rogue officers used the Police Computer system illegal against innocent citizens. None of these rogue officers have seen jail time.
October 24: A class action has begun against the Alberta's Child Welfare Department saying Social Workers were aware that their clients were being physically and sexually abused and failed to remove them from those abusive environments. This brings back memories of the Residential School scandals.
2006
Alberta Oil Sands currently produces 1.1 million barrels of crude oil a day and is expected to more than double to 2.5 million barrels a day, by 2015. Alberta has estimated reserves of 175 billion barrels of recoverable bitumen. About $130 billion dollars are planned or underway to expand recovery. Alberta is one of the few private free enterprises ventures, others are state owned such as Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Norway and Russia, to name a few.
January 1: The population of Alberta is estimated as 3.3 million people. The equivalent of six buses of people arrive Alberta everyday. Alberta's growth was five times the national average and the highest ever recorded in a fourth quarter. Two thirds arrived from other Provinces of Canada:
British Columbia 6,553
Saskatchewan 3,593
Manitoba
1,999
Yukon
101
N.W.T.
460
Nunvuit
56
Ontario
6,625
Quebec
1,420
New Brunswick 781
Nova Scotia
1,505
P.E.I.
200
Newfoundland 1,704
-------
24,997
July 26: Jeanette Louise Schuh Garneau born March 26, 1939 Medicine Hat, Alberta, took her last breath 10:45 A.M. at Foothills Hospital, Calgary, Alberta, wife of the author R.D. (Dick) Garneau. She suffered over 42 years with Multiple Sclerosis and never once complained about her lot in life. She would only say; "it could be worse like AIDS or Cancer". She was a people person, was always cheerful, and was generous to a fault. What can I say, she was as near to a perfect wife as a person could be. See on Death & Dying
August 12: Syed Soharwardy, an Islamic extremist, head of the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada, of Calgary represents 50,000 to 65,000 Muslims in Canada, says, "U.S. President Bush is the biggest racists, terrorists and extremists." Tony Blair and Bush represent "Mafia-like organizations" and should be brought to justice.
2007
October 11: Sultan Malimood, president of Calgary's northwest Ahmadiyya plans to build a Muslim subdivision of 2000 members in N.W. Calgary around a mosque. Vilna Dawson of the Calgary committee on race relations says "they would be ghettoizing themselves". It is unlikely that non-Muslims would live in this community and will only add to the mistrust that already exists.
October 15: Naseer Ahmad, national director of Muslim projects says there is no plans to build a Muslim District in Calgary, The Islamic Supreme Council of Canada Syed Sohabwardy is to meet with Calgary's mayor to argue not to allow development of a Muslim District.
December 10: The evils of Dubai slave labor policy are creeping into Alberta. Alberta has over 22,393 workers on temporary work permits. We are using them to build Alberta, then send them home. These workers are open to excessive recruiting fees or a percentage of their wages. Some are subjected to sub-standard housing. Others lower wages than expected. Minister Iris Evans says we want these workers to be " treated fairly. We want them to be treated like every Albertan". For shame if he believed this, he should give them landed emigrant status.
We are sometimes blinded by the economic progress of Dubai without casting an eye as to how this is being achieved. Dubai practices economic slavery and is building their empire on one million expatriates, mostly from Asia. These expatriates are forced to live in sub human conditions, are subjected to excessive recruiting fees, delayed or forfeited payment of wages, substitution of employment contracts, premature termination of services and excessive working hours. Unlike the Black slave trade into the U.S.A. that built that economy, the expatriates are not allowed to become citizens. How soon we forget the slavery traffic of the early Chinese into Canada. Canada and the United States is beginning to practice a form of Dubai expatriate economic slavery philosophy, is this what we want for our future?
2008
An estimated recoverable reserves, using current technology, is 175 billion barrels from Alberta tar sands. This will create what promises to be the biggest industrial project on earth of $90 billion just including current plans to the year 2020. Some believe the reserve estimate and cost of capital is low.
January 17: Worldwide Workforce out of Woodride, Ontario owned by Rupinder Pal (Bob) Singh has been charging men $18,000 to find jobs in Alberta. He has been banned in operating in Alberta and if he fails to comply will be fined $100,000.00 and one year in jail. He is now required to pay 3 times the dollars received. On top of this the jobs promised did not exist. The Dubai economic slave trade practices are in Canada. We are likely only seeing the tip of the ice berg.
February 13: Native students are not allowed to attend Fort Vermillion Schools because the Band is in arrears of payment.
February 13: It is alleged that the Al-Madinah Mosque sent two people, a burka clad woman and an East Indian man about 45 years old, about five feet nine inches tall, to intimidate Robina Butt not to go forward with her, and two others, who filed a Human Rights Complaint against the Al-Madinah mosque. It is noteworthy that Imam Syed Soharwardy, the founder of the Islamic Superior Council of Canada who also claims the responsibility for the mosque. The police are investigating.
February 25: The Papaschase Indian Band who had a Reservation south of Strathcona (Edmonton) and were forced from the reserve in 1888 under threat of violence and without compensation. The Supreme Court of Canada has agreed to hear their land claim.
March 9: 51,000 professional engineers, geologists and geophysicists in Alberta were surveyed and 1,077 replied. Only 26% attributed global warming to human activities. 68% disagreed with the statement "the debate on the scientific causes of recent climate change is settled". 99% agree the climate is changing. The survey is accurate within 3% of the total group.
April 1: Albertan's were warned about the evils associated with the temporary foreign workers practices on December 10, 2007 by the Dubai experience. Alberta has been hit with 800 complaints from foreign workers. The complaints center around unfair wage deductions, fees charged for recruitment agencies and accommodation. They often don't know their rights or are fearful of losing their job if they complain so many cases go unreported. Recruiting should be conducted using foreign Canadian embassy staff and recruitment fees standardized. The temporary foreign workers are helping to build our Alberta and therefore should be offered landed emigrant status.
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