Wildfires, crime, a shutdown daycare, and regional co-operation were just a few of the subjects Gazette readers paid the most attention to in 2023.
Although St. Albert escaped the province's record-breaking 2023 wildfire season undamaged, the Gazette's most viewed online story this past year was about how, by early May, the province was on pace to see double the five-year average for total number of wildfires and for the amount of land burned in one wildfire season.
At the time, the Gazette reported there had been at least 323 recorded wildfires already, which torched about 1,002 hectares of land. By the end of October — the official end of wildfire season — the total number of wildfires reached 1,092, according to the provincial government, which is actually in line with the five-year average of 1,100 wildfires per year.
However, the severity of the 1,092 wildfires in 2023 led to Alberta witnessing 2.2 million hectares of land being torched, which is about 10 times higher than the five-year average of 190,000 hectares per year. For context, 2.2 million hectares of land is more than half the size of Denmark, and larger than countries such as El Salvador, Fiji, Jamaica, Israel, Lebanon, Qatar, and Kuwait.
March 1 will mark the start of the 2024 wildfire season.
Crime
Some of the Gazette's most-viewed crime stories included a street racing incident, fraud, and a lockdown at West Edmonton Mall.
The street racing incident involved three 18-year-old boys driving two Audi sedans and a BMW who were caught going nearly double the 60 km/h speed limit on Villeneuve Road in August.
St. Albert's RCMP detachment never confirmed whether the drivers, who were residents of both St. Albert and Edmonton, faced any charges, nor did the RCMP release the names of the drivers.
In early June, the local RCMP detachment issued a warning to residents after two women, who were never caught, allegedly made off with “thousands” of dollars by asking people heading into an unnamed department store if they would purchase baby products for the two women, who would then return the items for cash.
“The females target elderly customers, taking advantage of their generosity and made thousands of dollars from the scam,” the RCMP said in a release at the time.
The Gazette's most viewed crime-related article of 2023 was when West Edmonton Mall was locked-down in early December.
The lockdown, which lasted less than two hours, led to gun charges being laid against a man. No shots were fired during the incident and no injuries were reported.
Provincial government ordered local daycare to close
Another major story from 2023 was when the provincial government stripped the owner and operator of a local daycare of her licence after she was the subject of multiple complaint investigations and was issued nearly two dozen citations in just over a year.
The daycare, which was called Erin Ridge Children's Academy, was located just north of the Costco on St. Albert Trail.
Among the citations issued to the daycare operator, Daljit Chauhan, as well as the facility as a whole, were findings of inappropriate nap-time practices; not enough staff for the number of children attending the facility; failure to report incidents that could have seriously affected the health and safety of a child; unreasonable child guidance; and more.
Prior to shutting down the daycare, Early Learning and Child Care (ELCC) inspectors also recorded incidents where Chauhan worked alone with children, despite a safety plan put in place by the government requiring her not to; as well as an incident where Chauhan told a four-year-old to lie on the ground face down for an hour as punishment and when the child tried to stand up, Chauhan pinned the child down with her legs.
A new daycare, with different ownership and staff, has since opened in the same location.
Local restaurant cancelled reservation made by Take Back Alberta
One of the Gazette's most-read stories of the year is also one of the most recent: about how the Skybox Grill in Servus Place cancelled a Christmas party reservation made by contentious conservative political group Take Back Alberta.
After a poster for the group's event was circulated on social media, which caused significant pushback from those opposed to the group's goals, the recreation centre's namesake Servus Credit Union issued a statement distancing itself from the facility, and shortly thereafter the City of St. Albert announced on X, formerly known as Twitter, the restaurant had rescinded the reservation.
“This decision does not reflect any political bias on our part,” the restaurant's owners later posted on their Facebook account. “Recent decisions, such as not accommodating a specific political group, were made solely to prevent potential conflicts within our diverse customer base.”
In response to the city's announcement, Take Back Alberta's founder, David Parker, posted on X asking followers to leave negative reviews on the restaurant's Google Reviews page. “I guess the City of St. Albert just decided they want a new municipal government,” Parker also posted in response to the city's announcement.
St. Albert seniors home goes into receivership
The Careadon Village seniors home in St. Albert near Canadian Tire went into receivership last summer, before construction was even finished. As of July, the building's owner, Careadon Corp., owed creditors about $82 million as a result of the project.
Careadon Village was designed to have 164 suites; however, as of July, just 54 suites were deemed ready to be occupied, and only eight suites were leased. Careadon Corp. has owned the property since 2015 and initially planned to have the building finished in 2018.
The Gazette reported court documents showed the building may be hard to fill with residents, as it has a relatively low level of care, which can be deflationary to unit values. The documents also showed a high vacancy level for seniors housing across Alberta, and an abundance of seniors homes in St. Albert.
In August, the company announced the building was going through a transition period, and was under new management.
Three municipalities vote to leave Edmonton Global
Another recent story that topped the Gazette's list of most-read stories of 2023 was about Mayor Cathy Heron's response to Strathcona County, Sturgeon County, and then later Fort Saskatchewan, all voting to withdraw from Edmonton Global, a foreign-investment attraction company that is paid for by 13 municipalities in the region.
Strathcona County was the first municipality to vote to withdraw. However, Edmonton Global's policies dictate municipalities must provide two years notice before actually withdrawing from the company.
The county's Mayor Rod Frank said in debate in late November the decision to leave the group was a result of the need to limit spending and not a comment on Edmonton Global's work to date.
Heron told the Gazette she thought the municipalities voting to leave could serve as a wake-up call to Edmonton Global, as member-municipalities might be feeling left out of the company's plans or not seeing results.
St. Albert will give Edmonton Global almost $250,000 next year, which will bring the city's overall contribution to just under $1.1 million since the company was created in 2017.
Downtown statue stolen, never recovered
It has been nearly 10 months since the Saint Albert the Great statue was stolen from its pedestal on Perron Street in downtown St. Albert.
The 150-pound, four-foot-tall statue had been in place for more than 20 years, and a time capsule that was housed in the base of the pedestal was also destroyed, but because of exposure to the elements, not vandalism.
The statue depicted a teenaged boy dressed holding an injured bird, intended to portray Albertus Magnus (also known as Saint Albert the Great, the patron saint of scientists) as a young man. It was commissioned from local artist Al Henderson in 2001.
While St. Albertans believed for years that St. Albert's namesake was Albertus Magnus, in 2008, that belief changed as a result of archival findings by the Edmonton Catholic Archdioceses and the Oblates of Mary Immaculate.
A ledger, as well as three letters written by Father Albert Lacombe between 1895 and 1913, suggest that St. Albert's intended namesake is actually Saint Albert of Louvain.
In 2008, Gazette reporter Kevin Ma wrote that Albert of Louvain was born in 1166 in Louvain, which is now a part of France, and was elected bishop at the age of 25 in Liege, (now a part of Belgium).
A political power struggle between the Church and Emperor Henry VI led to Albert of Louvain's assassination in 1192.
