Alberta Update – CP

Source: The Canadian Press – Broadcast wire
Dec 9, 2014

(First-Nations-Transparency)

The federal government says it is launching court proceedings to force six defiant First Nations to publicly post their financial information online.

Aboriginal Affairs Minister Bernard Valcourt says his department will continue to withhold non-essential funding from almost 50 First Nations that failed to meet the deadline for a new Conservative transparency law.

But the government is also asking the Federal Court to force six First Nations in Alberta and Saskatchewan to publish audited financial statements and the salaries and expenses of their chiefs and band council members.

Leaders of the six bands have flatly stated they will not be complying with the new rules. (The Canadian Press)

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(Officer-Killed)

A man has admitted to causing the death of a 62-year-old Alberta bylaw officer and then driving him handcuffed and unconscious to a Calgary police station.

But the defence lawyer for Trevor Kloschinsky says her client is not criminally responsible in the death of Rod Lazenby on a rural property near Calgary in August 2012.

Court heard an autopsy found Lazenby died of strangulation and had 56 external injuries consisting of abrasions, contusions and lacerations to the face, head, neck, body and back as well as numerous internal injuries.

Kloschinsky, who is 49, is charged with first-degree murder. Lazenby had gone to his property to investigate a dog complaint. (The Canadian Press)

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(Accountability)

Alberta has introduced new rules to help clean up government, but opponents say the real test is whether Premier Jim Prentice’s team will actually follow them.

The changes are contained in Bill 2, the Alberta Accountability Act.

They are intended to fulfil Prentice’s leadership campaign promise to eradicate the spending irregularities and excesses that occurred under former premier Alison Redford.

The act changes how the government purchases goods and services and solicits sole-source contracts, and will restrict severance packages for political staffers. (The Canadian Press)

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(Immigrants)

Alberta wants the federal government to lift the lid on the number of economic immigrants it can nominate each year for permanent residence so it can meet its growing labour needs.

Jobs Minister Ric McIver (MUH-kie-ver) says the province has sent a letter to federal Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander.

McIver says Alberta estimates it will be short 96-thousand workers over the next 10 years.

He says the number of economic immigrants allowed into Alberta should be driven by labour market evidence and local information so the province can better react to its own circumstances. (The Canadian Press)

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(Peeing-On-Car)

An Alberta man was taken down by a police dog after brazenly trying to mark his territory on an officer’s cruiser.

The 22-year-old man and several others were drinking outside a bar in Beaumont when they were approached by police after a tip from an Alberta liquor inspector.

Police say one of the men urinated on the driver’s door of the squad car and then ran away from the scene.

The K-9 unit was called and with the assistance of a local taxi, officers and the dog located a suspect. Dany LaFrance of Edmonton faces charges of mischief, assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest. (CHED)

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(Stun-Guns)

Canada Border Service agents at a Vancouver mail centre have found stun guns in suspicious packages destined for a southwest Edmonton address.

At first the packages looked like they contained flashlights from Singapore, but when the officers looked closer they found something more sinister.

Mike Tucker with the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team says the flashlights contained a complex mechanism that turned it into a fully functioning stun gun that was capable of delivering quite a high voltage shock.

This led police to the residence in southwest Edmonton where they also discovered a small marijuana grow op. (CHED)

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(Alberta Update by Gwen Dambrofsky)

(The Canadian Press)