The Current comes to you from Calgary and Okotoks, Alberta today.
Satire
It's Tuesday, January 9th.
A lingering and malodorous smell spread throughout much of New York City yesterday. The Department of Homeland Security quickly ruled out terrorism as the cause.
Currently, further to that statement, the Department re-assured twitchy New Yorkers that terrorists are also not to blame for: the absent winter, the disappearing trans fats, Woody Allen's waning career, and what the pigeons did to your Beemer.
This is The Current.
Okotoks Growth
Anna Maria started this segment on a tour of Okotoks. The population is 15-thousand and climbing though if town council and the electorate persevere it will be climbing no higher than 25 to 30-thousand.
Rick Quail is the municipal manager and was at the wheel and Mayor Bill McAlpine was Anna Maria’s tour guide.
The road runs along the Sheep River for a while just a sliver of open running water visible ... next to a stretch that's frozen. It isn't a big community and that makes its efforts at environmental longevity all the more impressive and challenging.
Back at the town office, Rick Quail clearly proud of the municipal plan gets out the talking points he's used around the world. He's got the whole thing organized with a picture at the top of every page.
The Okotoks plan is ambitious and Mayor McAlpine admits there are political obstacles to seeing it through. We heard from Mayor McAlpine and his municipal manager, Rick Quail.
Music Bridge
Artist: Bedouin Soundclash
CD: Sounding a Mosaic
Cut: CD 5 "Gyasi Went Home"
Label: Stomp Records
Spine #: STMP043
Problem with Sprawl
To get a clearer picture of how the land around Okotoks could evolve. We were joined by Brad Stelfox. He is a landscape ecologist with the University of Calgary. He does projections of how the Alberta landscape will look like in the future. He was in our Calgary studio.
Listen to The Current:  Part 1
(Due to various rights issues some segments may be edited for internet use)
The Current: Part 2
Okotoks Water
How appropriate that The Current is beside the running waters of The Sheep River tripping along the rocks. The open water peeking out from long stretches of frozen water in a River that runs through the community of Okotoks. A river that Okotoks considers its lifeblood and is reluctant to drain through over-population.
There are many who consider the Okotoks plan ahead of the curve or the bend in the river, if you will and Danielle Droitsch is among them.
She runs an organization called the BOW Riverkeepers, a not-for-profit group set up to protect the Bow River watershed, which includes the Sheep River. Anna Maria spoke with Danielle Droitsch at the shallow banks of The Sheep to explain why she's so enthusiastic.
Water - Airdrie Mayor
From the Banks of the Sheep River in Okotoks - to the municipality of Airdrie, Alberta. Now Airdrie, just north of Calgary, is also one of the fastest growing communities in Canada - the fastest growing in Alberta. Already - with a population of roughly 30 thousand people Airdrie and Okotoks are - a sort of - Tale of Two Communities. To find out why, we were joined by the mayor Airdrie, Alberta, Linda Bruce.
Okotoks Water - David Schindler
Well the debate over how much water use is too much in a province which thirsts for more all the time - is a contentious one.
To share his perspective we were joined by David Schindler. He is a water expert and the Killam Memorial Professor of Ecology at the University of Alberta. He joined us from our Edmonton studio.
Listen to The Current: Part 2
(Due to various rights issues some segments may be edited for internet use)
The Current: Part 3
Okotoks Solar Home
Anna Maria started this segment this time in a subdivision called Drake Landing which at first glance looks like any other subdivision. What makes Drake Landing different is that all the houses are designed to run on solar energy.
For a committed environmentalist like Liz Reese this is the place to be. It is the only solar-powered neighbourhood in North America. She and Lyle McCrea were so excited to be part of this new environmentally-advanced neighbourhood that they bought their place while they were still in Seattle after only seeing pictures of it.
Liz Reese and Lyle McCrea moved to Drake Landing, a new neighbourhood of houses powered by solar energy last year. We heard from them.
Alberta Energy
As Liz Reese and her husband, Lyle McRae admit - Alberta is better known for its oil consumption than for its commitment to renewable energy sources. Still, they believe - the money put into Drake Landing by the Province and the Federal government - indicates that there IS a political will to foster more communities like their own.
However, others have nagging doubts that such a will exists. So, this morning wanted to ask how much responsibility does an energy rich jurisdiction like Alberta have to develop renewable resources?
Gordon Howell is an Edmonton engineer who has been working with solar energy for more than 30 years. In fact he was on the design team for Drake Landing in Okotoks. He believes the Province does have a responsibility to develop alternative energy. We heard from him.
***The two websites mentioned in this interview are: Climate Change Central and The Alberta Solar Municipal Showcase.
Energy Critic – Yager
Of course, this being Alberta, there are plenty of people who are leery of governments getting involved in any business enterprise, let alone one with the potential risks and political complications of renewable energy.
One of those people is David Yager. He's chairman and CEO of HSE Integrated, a company that provides safety services to industry across the country and he was in Calgary this morning.
Last Word – Nationhood
Canadian identities come in all forms - Quebecois, Albertan, Christian, Muslim and many more.
On tomorrow's program we're examining the state of the Canadian nation and the role of a new Alberta in Confederation. Ted Morton, Catherine Ford and Roger Gibbins come together in a lively debate.
And speaking of what it means to be Canadian, we went to the heart of multicultural Toronto and asked that very question to a range of hyphenated-Torontonians. We ended the show with that today.
Listen to The Current: Part 3
(Due to various rights issues some segments may be edited for internet use)
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