Hello Calgary Journal Subscribers!
We should come up with a better name for you folks than that.
October is off to a bit of a rough start around the city. We at the Calgary Journal like to play the optimist, but between the accidents, public transit fails and general increase in finacial dread, that has been a little more challenging a role to play of late.
At the time of this publication, the skies are blue, the leaves are colourful and the sun is still shining. Those are worth the attempt at optimism, however lost the cause.
On the docket
- Devastating Cochrane explosion hospitalizes five.
- Calgary quality of life on the sharp decline.
- Halloween event season already in full swing.
You shouldn’t be the only one reading these newsletters. Send it to a friend.
Please. Pretty please. Cherry on top. 🍒
—Kobe Gallagher Tulloch, Newsletter Editor
Explosion rocks Cochrane
By Kelsea Arnett, News Editor
Last week started off with a bang — literally. A terrible explosion at a well site north of Cochrane on Monday hospitalized five workers, three of whom sustained life-threatening injuries. HWN Energy Ltd. — the company responsible for the well — said the fire was extinguished Tuesday afternoon, with Alberta Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) taking over the investigation.
The incident prompted renewed questions about the safety of oil and gas well workers in Alberta, so we dug into the numbers to see just how dangerous the oil and gas industry can be.
OHS’s most recent numbers from 2022 show injury claims in mining and petroleum development, which includes oil and gas, rose to 1.35 per 100 person-years. That number was 1.11 in 2021, representing the highest increase of all industries at just under 22 per cent.
Injury claims for explosion incidents specifically, went from 36 per cent in 2021 to 59 per cent in 2022. So, yeah, being a well worker can be pretty dangerous.
Other notes from the news desk
- Alberta’s fall immunization program is set to launch later this month, but Alberta Health told family doctors and nurse practitioners they won’t have access to key vaccines, including an updated COVID-19 shot.
- The province hasn’t raised its minimum wage since 2018, and is now tied with Saskatchewan for the lowest rate in the country at $15 an hour.
- On Friday, close to 200 people gathered on Stephen Avenue for the 21st annual Awo Taan Sisters in Spirit walk and vigil to honour Red Dress Day and the hundreds of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people.
- The Calgary Flames’ home opener is this Saturday against the Philadelphia Flyers, in what could be one of their last few seasons in the Saddledome, ahead of the new event centre expected in 2027. They kick-off their season on the road against the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday.
The Newsweek Index
Grand opening
Around town
- Pumpkins After Dark: Entire Month of October
- The Pumpkins After Dark festival has returned to Calgary for Halloween 2024 and is ongoing for the entire month of October! Get ready for an award-winning outdoor walk featuring thousands of hand-carved pumpkins. Learn more here.
- The Fretless: The Glasswing Tour: Oct. 10
- The string quartet is bringing their highly anticipated sixth album, Glasswing, to Calgary, playing live from the Grand Theatre on Oct. 10. Buy tickets here.
- Screamfest: Oct. 11-26
- Are you a lover of all things scary and scream-inducing? Then get excited, because the highly-anticipated Screamfest is coming back to Calgary from Oct. 11 until Oct. 26. Get those costumes ready and prepare to scream! Secure your tickets online.
- Diary of a Wimpy Kid The Musical: Oct. 11-Nov. 2
- The Storybook Theatre brings Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid to life on stage from Oct. 11 until Nov. 2. Looking for a fun night for the whole family? Learn more here.
- Necromanteum Part II : Oct. 12
- American deathcore band Carnifex is bringing their 2023 album Necromenteum to the stage at MacEwan Hall on Oct. 12. Learn more.
- Thanksgiving Dinner at Flower & Wolf: Oct. 12-14
- Flower & Wolf is hosting Thanksgiving dinner on Oct. 13 and 14. Want to enjoy a three-course meal with traditional dishes prepared by a team of culinary artisans? Make sure to book a table in advance
- Flower & Wolf is hosting Thanksgiving dinner on Oct. 13 and 14. Want to enjoy a three-course meal with traditional dishes prepared by a team of culinary artisans? Make sure to book a table in advance
The consequences of decline in QOL
As financial pressures weigh heavier on Calgarians, so too are they less and less able to participate in acts that support the rest of their community.
A glance at the Journal
COVID ‘petdemic’ of animal surrenders continues long after lockdowns
During COVID-19, getting puppies became popular. The mix of loneliness and boredom that came along with […]
Photos: Intense Crowchild Classic soccer match ends in 1-1 draw
The MRU Cougars faced off against the U of C Dinos in the second-ever Crowchild […]
We’ve got your guide to larch season in the Rockies 🏔️ 🥾
Strikingly yellow and orange pine needles of larch trees take over social media in mid-September […]
Meet The Masthead
This week… Me!
Kobe Tulloch: Can you introduce yourself for me?
Also Kobe Tulloch: Hi! I’m Kobe! I’m the newsletter editor for the Calgary Journal. No, I don’t normally talk to myself like this. At least not that I’m willing to admit on the record.
What brought you into journalism?
On Dec 5th, 2016, I read about the Siege of Aleppo for the first time. It was three days after it had happened, and I only read about it while looking for a modern conflict for the sake of a social studies class. I learned about the civil war in Syria for the first time.
I felt failed. I was ashamed that I didn’t know about it already, forget that I was 15 years old. I should’ve known. Somebody should’ve told me.
I decided that day I wanted to be a journalist.
Do you have a favourite piece that you’ve had published in the journal?
Technically it wasn’t published in the Journal, but I won Mount Royal Research Days for work on the Is Home Here? project, breaking down the cities housing action plan. No, looking at how bad the housing market is for four months was not good for my mental health.
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