Athabasca News

The Alberta Governmentís 2013 budget includes a $6.1 billion increase in education spending, but local MLA and Minister of Education Jeff Johnson says that could be offset by growing demands on classroom space.

Town of Athabasca residents will see a tax increase of at least two per cent due to an increase in the education levy collected through property taxes. This was revealed after the provincial budget was unveiled last Thursday.

The Town of Athabasca is in a unique position to capitalize on the growth in Wabasca. Athabasca town councillor George Hawryuk brought his thoughts on the opportunity to council last week.

A gigantic container was transported from Edmonton to Fort McMurray over the course of several days last week, passing through Boyle on Thursday. The container dwarfed other traffic on the road, and did most of its travelling overnight. It weighed as much as 290 pickup trucks and was nearly twice the length of an Olympic-sized pool according to Alberta Transportation.

Athabasca County Council got an update on TransCanadaís proposed Grand Rapids Pipeline Project straight from the project manager last week.

The village of Boyle has moved out, the Sheriffs are moving up and the RCMP will be moving in. Those are the general logistics of the changes being made at the old village office, since the municipality officially moved out on Feb.

Athabasca University president Frits Pannekoek has announced his early exit from the university. Pannekoek announced in a memo last week that he would be retiring before his contract is up in 2015.

Tricksters Theatre helped students at Smith School put on a show last Friday. Tia Graling and Joshua Li act in "Shocking Truth, " performed by Grades 5-9. For more pictures, see page 6A.

A group of more than 150 local ratepayers are contesting CastleGlenn Consultants plan for the twinning of Highway 63 in Boyle.