Cheers 4 Lethbridge celebrates the people who make Lethbridge great. Celebrate someone today!

Tag & Cheer!

Join us in celebrating the people who make Lethbridge a great place to live, work, and play – tag and cheer someone who’s made a difference in our community today! We invite you to share and applaud the actions for positive change you’ve seen throughout our city. Have you noticed someone contributing to our community in a positive way? Tag your nominee in a social media post on Cheers 4 Lethbridge’s Facebook or Twitter to celebrate them, and they may be recognized with a High 4 package!

ROAST: To people who intend to vote Conservative in the next federal election. This will change nothing even if the majority of Canadians vote Conservative as they did in the last election. Alberta/Saskatchewan need the attention of the golden triangle in Quebec/Ontario who see us as a colony. This will only happen when we send a strong number of separatist members to the House of Commons and even then it may well be seen as a flash in the pan at first. The West has wanted in for decades and will eventually leave as the status quo will change nothing. If you want Alberta to stay in this federation vote for a voice in Canada. Vote separatist.

TOAST: To www.savethemountains.ca.

Thank you and stay strong.

ROAST: To this present COVID19 situation. Like thousands of residents of Lethbridge, I have been out taking care of some lastminute Christmas shopping. I do wear a mask and try to practise social distancing. I also noticed that smaller retailers are doing head counts to make sure the outlet is living up to the restrictions the shutdown calls for; not so for the bigger outlets. It is absolute chaos out there and I feel relatively safe but what I find extremely frustrating is it is OK to be out shopping in this environment and yet I am banned from having Christmas dinner with my children and grandchildren.

ROAST: In the arena of COVID19 it is a fight for life. In all competitions there are rules for fair play. The rules for fighting this virus are: 1. Wear a mask; 2. Keep your distance; 3. Wash your hands. If too many people break the rules, the end result is chaos and death. If you don’t follow the rules, you can be penalized which is a lot easier to handle than death! Do the right thing and follow the rules!

ROAST: To the doctor who lives in our cul de sac and allows his young adult children to brazenly flaunt the COVID-19 rules! You, of all people, should know the consequences of doing this!

TOAST: To Pete Brouwer, re: his letter to the editor Dec. 23, “Canada should send Wanzhou packing.” Well said, I totally agree with you!

ROAST: To the roaster who is still whining about mask wearing. There have been numerous studies about mask use vs. non-mask, both international and U.S., and yes, they do make a difference (wearing one). And just stop it with “your rights.” There is nothing in the Charter that supports your argument; you should read it and educate yourself.

TOAST: To Rainbow Greenhouses for providing staff members of a school of their choice with poinsettias this holiday season! What a wonderful way to brighten things up. Thank you!

ROAST: To an ex-member of a particular church for your bashing remarks about an online Global News story! While I admit one church would like to loosen the rules, two other churches of that denomination are following them closely and one other church is doing their best to take it a step further. How about you stay focused on your current church? It is a shame to see “perfect people” bashing churches of any religion/belief!

TOAST: Thank you to the owners of a two-storey house going towards Picture Butte on Highway 25 just outside of Shaugnessy that has their house all lit up with Christmas lights, which share hope, happiness and warmth in otherwise a cold, dark, deep hole.

TOAST: Thank you to the Last Chance Cat Ranch for taking such good care of Sabbath until he found his forever home with us and we found a wonderful loving companion. You perform a fantastic service to the community and to the animals in your care. It is greatly appreciated.

ROAST: To unfriendly and snooty neighbours who think they are sneaky hiding their kids’ cars in the garage in order to have them stay a few days for Christmas, while others just had family parked right out on the driveway in plain sight. You are fortunate that none of your neighbours reported you!

TOAST: To the person in last week’s column suggesting Lethbridge adopt a ward system of civic representation. This would clean the slate of the dead wood on it, of those who could no longer depend on their pals citywide for a cozy seat on council. My other wish is that a current councillor committed to the people he serves can return this city to the people, by running for and winning the mayor’s chair in 2021. Thank you, Blaine Hyggen, for everything you’ve done in 2020; your concern and commitment has not gone unnoticed.

TOAST: To Julie White for the meals, gifts and toys she delivered to Lethbridge families on Christmas. As chairman of Baby It’s Cold Outside (BCO) charity for southern Alberta, this is one of the many contributions she makes. Julie collects tons of clothing 12 months of the year and donates them to several organizations throughout Lethbridge. Thank you, Julie, for caring about your fellow residents.

TOAST: To my family who has been doing all our shopping for 10 months. Your continued attention to detail when “filling” our requests is amazing ... but so very you. We thank you and wish you both continued health as the this COVID-19 pandemic rages on. Hugs.

TOAST: To the submission for a ward system; it seems to be in conflict with the city council decision N-94, where city council acting as Finance Committee proposed four full-time councilors for an Open and Effective Government Committee, with payment of what looks like $54,000 a year. There would be one for the south division, one for the north, one for south westside, and one for the north westside. The proposed ward system could be two from the westside, two from the south, two from the north. What would expenses be, salary, office, etc.? If salaried, what are the qualifications?

TOAST: Thank you, Clint Dunford, for your story in The Herald for the good old days gone by. I sure like to read of those times; they were fun. Don Chapman coached our boys and can remember his piano playing when the boys played out of town. If there was a piano at the hotel the staff would ask him to shut it down, and he would ask for one last song and that was “Goodnight Irene.” Great coach and fun. Didn’t win too many games, though.

ROAST: Now that in the U.S. Donald Trump is on a pardoning binge with nothing better to do, he might pardon millions of Americans who failed to vote to impeach him when they had opportunity to do so a little while ago, for his wrongdoings. When a former U.S. president, Richard Nixon, was caught up in the Watergate scandal, Americans understood and he had to leave the presidency. Pretty well everywhere now politics and politicians have sunk to such low levels, including in Canada, that they for some time now are considered as lap dogs submissively obeying all their corporate masters’ commands.

TOAST: To the six or eight young folks who helped push us out of the snowdrift on Christmas Eve — and sorry to the others that we blocked traffic for five or six minutes.

TOAST: Thank you, David McIntyre (Herald Dec. 30), for the excellent and brave article in hopes of saving this beautiful province.

TOAST: To Premier Kenney and the UCP for their handling of the COVID-19 and keeping investing in Alberta to help create jobs and help businesses. You have struck a delicate balance between the covidiots and the complete shutdown of the economy, which is something you would not get from the commie union socialists who only sit on the fence and backstab. The Lethbridge area has received more funding announcements in the last 10 months than the NDP did in their entire four-year term. Thank you, Jason, Nathan and the UCP.

TOAST: To our Vancouver P.D. for arresting the party host and have him spend Christmas Day in jail. With your attitude there will be many more days behind bars. Accept the warning. Grow up and get on with your life. Maybe your employer will take a closer look at your worth.

ROAST: To the Quebec government, when those workers and the people running those care homes abandoned those seniors who were paying them the top dollar, to just up and walk away and leave them poor mothers and fathers to lay in their own feces. The fact that the premier of Quebec hasn’t charged these owners and the people who walked away with manslaughter is just sick and wrong. They should be brought to justice but like every other crime in Quebec (Lavalin) lives mean nothing in Quebec as long as the ins get paid. It really sucks that the west has to support Trudeau’s home.

ROAST: To Captain Carbon Tax Grab and his uncaring gang of Eastern elitest gougers, who, for our New Year’s gift during the very worst of times, pours out more extreme pain and burden on his “beloved” people. Is this greed not enough that our utility bills have countless fees, riders and taxes that many folks can no longer afford? What kind of leader, with the help of many green foundations, sets out to destroy the petro industry and puts thousands out of work? Why has this climate cartel bought into an unrealistic Paris Climate Agreement when frankly our carbon footprint is so small, yet some of the huge emitters receive a free pass to pollute until 2035? Hmm ... I often wonder how much personal investment Mr. Rule of Law and his minions have in carbon-capture companies. Yes, I know the cheques are in the mail!

TOAST: Thanks, thanks and thanks to the Coaldale community group Silver Linings for giving us 16 tenants of Sunny South Lodge and many other seniors gift bags. What an act of kindness. May God bless all the members of this group. May we all take an example and be kinder to one another.

TOAST: To LSCO (seniors centre) for another year of giving away hundreds of Christmas dinners (free). There were so many helpers giving of their time on Christmas morning — God bless you all. Santa elves delivered the dinners to nine elderly seniors — if only you people could have seen their faces, surprise, smiles and when told the dinner came from LSCO, they gave Santa a donation for LSCO. So Santa gave donations to LSCO and says God bless you all and may your centre be rewarded in many ways.

ROAST: To all the anti-maskers who say wearing a mask is taking away your rights. Over the years many of our rights have been taken away and for good reasons. On a cold winter night, would you go outside naked? And if not, why? One good reason is that you would get frostbitten. So you wear clothes to keep yourself warm and dry. Now ask Mother Nature to give back your rights! You also wear a seatbelt in a car, to protect the ones you love who are in the car with you. Now go tell the authorities to give back your rights! So when you look at the mask situation that is here to protect yourself and other people who you are in close contact with you don’t say that it takes away your rights! You have been living the above for years with no complaint.

ROAST: To Kenney, Dr. Hinshaw and all involved in the failing vaccine rollout. They have had several months to prepare for this situation. Lots of unemployed people could have been hired to see it through and would be grateful for the income. Kenney could have invested in sufficient at risk vaccine doses after the phase one trials were extremely promising and we would have enough right now to vaccinate all Albertans. It would also have been significantly less draining on our economy. We manage to make arrangements for everyone to vote on one day — why is this going to take them 6-8 months? That level if incompetency is staggering and shameful. Lives are at risk as well as financial hardship for many of our citizens.

TOAST: To three angels who helped us out of a snowdrift on Dec. 27. Thank you very much.

TOAST: Adversity brings out the best in us. Despite their own debilitating forced shutdown, Round Table Gamery’s two owners, Bryn Watts and Casey Rupps, demonstrated this during Christmas week. Taking advantage of their now unused cooking facilities, and enlisting help from GoFundMe, they prepared and delivered 120 Christmas dinners for the homeless at Streets Alive. They knocked it out of the park with nothing less than beef Wellington, chorizo and apricot stuffing, cabbage rolls, roasted garlic and cheddar mashed potato wontons and maple pumpkin cheesecake. These owners are among the many unsung heroes our hardships have produced. Thank you, Bryn and Casey.

TOAST: To the LPS officers who disarmed a man carrying guns who surprised them inside a home. That must have taken nerves of steel and lightning reflexes. Well done!

ROAST: To the perpetrator. Pulling a gun on police officers is how one gets shot. Next time you might not be as lucky.

ROAST: City of Lethbridge Budget under the microscope. Maybe if they put an average city bus under a microscope they might find a passenger on board! Or all those taxpayers dollars blowing out of the exhaust pipes! Sell one bus, buy two vans, adjust scheduling. Try it!

ROAST. Thanks to the neighbours on Oak Drive who had to have their disco ball, loud music and the crowd that sang to Meat Loaf outside at the top of their lungs, Which was a screaming and howling coyote in the hood, Only to be followed up by the other neighbour on RedWood Rd. To decide it was a good idea to get in her hot tub, after many wines I’m sure to put on their lights and try out her lungs. Only to laugh, scream , and yell she needed more.

HAPPY NEW YEAR.

TOAST: I want to applaud all of the continued services provided by the Lethbridge Transit drivers, who go to work daily, not knowing if that next passenger has COVID as they cough entering the bus or refuse to wear a mask. They keep on doing their jobs and needed to be acknowledged by all of us.

Thank you! Stay safe and stay well!

TOAST: To Natasha from Meals on Wheels, for being such a nice lady and so easy to work with.

ROAST: To Jason Kenney, you railed against the Federal government that they would not getting the vaccine out to you. They delivered and now it is sitting in Alberta storage. One more failure for you.

ROAST: Why are we the only community that does nothing to celebrate New Years Eve? No fireworks, for example. I understand no events because of the pandemic but maybe for next year we could at least have fireworks!

TOAST: To my insurance company for helping me with all the details after an unfortunate accident. Very patient and understanding!

ROAST: A triple roast to Tracy Allard, our Minister of Municipal Affairs, to Pat Rehn, MLA Lesser Slave Lake and two government education press secretaries who are all apparently exempt from the current health restrictions that the rest of Albertans are expected to follow. Unlike us minions, it’s just fine for them to vacation out of the country while the rest of us are asked to stay home. Their actions are both a slap in the face to all our hardworking front line workers and an indication of the sense of entitlement within the UCP. It’s the old “do as I say, not as I do!” Shame on all of you!

ROAST: A major roast to Premier Kenny for failing to sanction his members of the legislature and government staffers for vacationing out of the country while Albertans are under health restrictions due to the current pandemic. His lame excuse that he wasn’t clear about travel rules just doesn’t cut it! A 10-second search of COVID restrictions on the provincial website clearly states, “Avoid non-essential travel outside Canada until further notice.” If the average Albertan can understand that statement then government officials should be bright enough to grasp it as well, unless they feel restrictions don’t apply to them!

ROAST:Within mere hours of his return from the Caribbean, Rob Phillips, the Ontario Finance Minister resigned. But Jason Kenney flagrantly allows two of his Ministers to get away with travel outside Canada (one to each of Mexico and Hawaii).

Kenney said, “There’s a reasonable public expectation that we (Government) will be held to a higher standard than simply complying with the rules. People are right to be frustrated by that.” OK! We’re frustrated! These two Ministers breached the public trust, with no consequences, while we Albertans had to stay home allowed no family members visiting at Christmas. How’s this fair? So Mr. Kenney where are the teeth in this “reasonable expectation” if no one resigns or gets fired? In fact, this shows a lower standard is expected and allowed for UCP Ministers.

ROAST: A huge roast to all the government officials who choose to travel after Dec 12. They should be sanctioned if not fired! Kenney has lost control of his followers!

ROAST: to the UCP leadership regarding members travelling in violation of your own guidelines. You have one chance to separate yourselves from them. It’s the difference between “a few bad apples” and a party policy. Please make the right decision if you expect my vote.