Period 2000 - 2010 - Crowsnest Highway

Period 2000 – 2010 for South-western Canada

2000 Jan. 1
A Saturday.
2000 Feb. 10
AB: Lois Elsa Hole becomes the 15th lieutenant-governor.
2000 Mar. 25
Federal political: The membership of the Reform Party of Canada votes to reconstitute their party as the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance Party of Canada.
2000 Apr. 13
Ottawa: Nisga’a Final Agreement receives Royal Assent.
2000 May
St. Eugene, BC: Ktunaxa-Kinbasket Tribal Council and Columbia Basin Trust open the golf course of the St. Eugene Mission Resort.
2000 May 11
BC: Nisga’a Final Agreement goes into effect.
2000 July 1
Nelson, BC: Maglio Industries launches the MV Osprey 2000 (1780 tonnes).
2000 July 8
Federal Political: Stockwell Day replaces E. Preston Manning as the leader of the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance Party of Canada.
2000 Aug. 26
B.C.: The MV Osprey 2000 enters service between Balfour and Kootenay Bay on Kootenay Lake, B.C. The MV Anscomb (700 tons) retired.
2000 Sep. 2
Federal Political: Giuliano Zaccardelli appointed 20th Commissioner of the RCMP (to Dec. 15, 2006).
2000 Sep. 6
AB political: Municipal District of Lethbridge erected.
2000 Nov. 27
Federal Election: Jean Chrétien leads the Liberals to another federal victory.
2001
Canadian Hydro Developers complete installing a further 20 wind turbines on Cowley Ridge, AB.
2001 AB: CP rips up the southern branch of the C&E from Fort Macleod back to High River.
2001 Galloway, BC: Washington-based McFarland Cascade take over Canada Cedar Pole Preservers, Ltd.
2001 Mar. 12
Alberta election: Ralph Klein and Conservatives retain power in Alberta. Landslide.
2001 Mar. 31
Federal Political: The Softwood Lumber Agreement between Canada and the United States expires after its five-year life.
2001 May 16
B.C. election: Gordon M. Campbell and Liberal party wipe Ujjal Dosanjh’s NDP off the political map in B.C.
2001 June 28
B.C. political: Iona Campagnolo appointed lieutenant-governor of B.C.
2001 July 17
B.C.: Teck Corporation and COMINCO merge.
2001 July 30
Winnipeg, MB: Amalgamation of Agricore Co-operative and United Grain Growers announced.
2001 August
American administration imposes a crippling tariff on all softwood lumber imported from Canada.
2001 September
Pincher Station, AB: Sinnott wind plant put into operation by Cowley Ridge Wind Power, a subsidiary of Canadian Hydro Developers, Inc.
2001 Sep. 1
Utilicorp Networks Canada takes over TransAlta’s Transmission and Distribution business.
2001 Sep. 15
Fruitvale, BC: The Bryden family officially open their vinyard at Columbia Gardens.
2001 Sep. 19
Teck Cominco Limited officially named.
2001 Autumn
Jaffray, BC: Evergreen Restaurant and service station burns. Motel subsequently closed.
2001 Oct. 3
Canadain Pacific Limited breaks itself into Canadian Pacific Railway, CP Ships, Fairmont Hotels, Fording Coal Limited, and PanCanadian Energy.
2001 Oct. 16
Devon Energy Corporation merges Anderson Exploration Limited and Northstar Energy Corporation to form Devon Canada Corporation.
2001 Oct. 22
West Kootenay Power becomes UtiliCorp Networks Canada.
2001 Nov. 1
The United Grain Growers and Agricore Co-operative merge to become Agricore United.
2001 Dec. 21
Kimberley, BC: Teck Cominco shuts down Sullivan mine on schedule.
2002
May
St. Eugene Mission, BC: The big barn built in 1913 as part of the Mission residential school opens as the club house of the St. Eugene Mission Resort.
2002 May 31
UtiliCorp Networks Canada becomes Aquila Networks Canada. UtiliCorp United of Kansas City, MO, now Aquila, Inc.
2002 Jan. 21
Canadian dollar bottoms out at US$61.79, with talk of “50-cent Looney” by the end of the year.
2002 Mar. 20
Federal political: Stephen Harper selected to replace Stockwell Day as the leader of the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance Party of Canada.
2002 Aug. 12
Tudor House Hotel in Cranbrook gutted by fire.
2002 September
Cranbrook, BC: The Windsor Arms hotel downtown burns.
2002 November
AB: Vision Quest WindElectric, and the ENMAX Corporation begin construction of their wind farm at McBride Lake, south-east of Fort Macleod.
2002 November
Cowley, AB.: Cowley Forest Products/Johnson Bros. succumbs to the effects of the Amerikan softwood embargo.
2002 Dec. 4
Teck Cominco and West Shore Terminals acquire Fording Inc.
2003
Lethbridge, AB: Walking/cycling lane cantilevered from the downstream side of the Whoop-up Drive bridge.
2003 Lethbridge, AB: City sells water tower on Magrath Boulevard. Soon converted into a restaurant.
2003 February
Cowley, AB.: Cowley Forest Products/Johnson Bros. liquidated.
2003 Feb 28
Fording, Inc. converted into Fording Canadian Coal Trust in association with Teck Cominco Limited, Westshore Terminals Income Fund and Sherritt Coal Partnership II (a partnership of Sherritt International Corp. and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan).
2003 May 20
AB: Case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy reported in a cow slaughtered into the dog food stream. US Dept. of Agriculture closed the Boundary to import of Canadian beef, as do 34 other countries, including Japan and Mexico.
2003 June 7
Battleford, SK: The old North-West Territories’ Government House burns.
2003 June 21
Vision Quest WindElectric, and the ENMAX Corporation commission the last generator at their McBride Lake wind farm in Alberta.
2003 Summer of Fire
B.C.: The weather is the driest on record and forests of trees killed by Mountain Pine beetle and Spruce Bark beetle.
2003 July 17
Anarchist Mountain, BC: Fire begins burning on above Osoyoos.
2003 July 21
Cranbrook, BC: The ancient wood-framed building lately housing The Ranch Bar and Grill downtown burns.
2003 July 23
AB: The Lost Creek fire erupts south of Hillcrest in the Crowsnest Pass area. Not contained until mid-August, forcing the evacuation of Hillcrest, Blairmore and surrounding homesteads.
2003 late July
Keremeos, BC: Fire threatening to move across the Boundary into Cathederal Park.
2003 late August
Kelowna, BC: Okanagan Mountain Park fire moves into the City displacing 30,000 residents and destroying some 250 homes.
2003 Sep. 5–7
B.C.: Okanagan Mountain Park fire destroys 12 of the 18 Kettle Valley R/W trestles above Lake Okanagan. Two badly damaged.
2003 Nov. 14
Paul Edgar Philippe Martin elected leader of the Liberal Party.
2003 Dec. 5
The membership of the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance Party of Canada votes 95% in favour of uniting their party with the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada to form the Conservative Party of Canada.
2003 Dec. 6
The membership of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada votes 90% in favour of uniting their party with the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance Party of Canada to form the Conservative Party of Canada.
2003 Dec. 8
The Conservative Party of Canada legaly constituted under the provisional leadership of Québec Senator John Lynch-Staunton.
2003 Dec. 11
Federal political: Jean Crétien resigns as Liberal prime Minister, replaced by Paul Martin, jr.
2004
AB: Stoney Band of the Treaty 7 nations launches a lawsuit against Alberta and Canada to recover CAN$20 billion of monies from natural resources removed from their traditional hunting grounds since the signing of the Treaty in 1877.
2004 Fort Steele Heritage Town, BC: Tembec Limited donates its two Canadian Locomotive Company DT-2 centre-cab engines.
2004 Jan. 6
U.S.A.: Dept. of Agriculture announces that DNA testing has determined that a cow in Washington state infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy was born in Alberta.
2004 Jan. 11
Sunday.
2004 Jan. 11
Ainsworth Hot Springs, B.C.: 1115 hours: The retired M.V. Anscomb, awaiting conversion to an excursion craft at Woodbury Marina on Kootenay Lake, capsizes and sinks.
2004 Jan. 12
Federal political: The Canadian Alliance Party votes itself out of existence to become the Conservative Party of Canada.
2004 Jan. 21
Federal political: The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada holds its last caucus meeting.
2004 Jan. 22
Federal political: The Conservative Party of Canada holds its first caucus meeting under the interim leadership of Grant Hill.
2004 Feb. 1
AB: Amalgamation of the police services of Coaldale and Lethbridge as the Lethbridge Regional Police Service.
2004 Mar. 20
Federal political: Stephen Harper elected the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada.
2004 Apr. 1
B.C.: The Friends of Fort Steele Society take over the operations of Fort Steele Heritage Town.
2004 June 28
Federal election: Liberal minority government under Paul Martin elected in Canada.
2004 Summer
B.C.: Extreme fire danger in the forests which escaped the cleansing conflagrations of 2003.
2004 Jul. 21
WA: The Colville Confederated Tribes launch a lawsuit against Teck-Cominco to force the company to clean up a century’s worth of pollution in the Columbia River system downstream from Trail, BC.
2004 Aug. 8
Kuskonook, BC: Mudslides wipe out several buildings thanks in part to fire damage in the forests above in 2003.
2004 Aug. 27
Governments of Canada and BC announced a $13.5 million project to rebuild the Kettle Valley R/W trestles destroyed by fire in August, 2003.
2004 Sep. 1
WA: The state announced that it will join in the lawsuit against Teck-Cominco.
2004 Sep. 4
Cranbrook, BC: Grand opening of the The Canadian Museum of Rail Travel.
2004 Oct. 20
Nelson, BC: A luxurious Rocky Mountaineer RailTours train leaves for Golden, the first passenger train to depart Nelson since January of 1964.
2004 Oct. 21
Stand Off, AB.: Grand opening of the Saipoyi Community School on the Kainai Reserve.
2004 Nov. 24
Castlegar, BC: Mercer International agrees to buy the Celgar Pulp Company plant for US$210 million.
2005
Jan. 6
Edmonton, AB: Lieutenant-governor Lois Hole, the “Queen of Hugs,” dies in the Royal Alexandra.
2005 Jan. 20
AB political: Norman “Normie” L. Kwong installed as lieutenant-governor.
2005 May 17
BC Election: Gordon Campbell and the Liberals retain power.
2005 Oct. 18
Trail, BC: Northern Hawk Aviation suspends operations, depriving the City of its only scheduled carrier.
2005 Oct. 28
Midway, BC: Pope and Talbot Limited announces the closure of operation, thanks in part to the continuing American softwood lumber import duties, in part due to a lack of timber.
2005 Sep. 27
Federal Political: Michaëlle Jean installed as 27th governor-general of Canada.
2005 Nov. 25
Federal Political: The government of Canada pledges to spend some $5 billion to compensate First Nations people for abuse suffered at residential schools and to integrate Native economies into that of the Dominion.
2006
AB.: CPR renews the entire length of its Crow’s Nest Line between Medicine Hat and the Municipality of Crowsnest.
2006 Lethbridge, AB: Lethbridge Regional renamed “Chinook Regional” Hospital.
2006 Jan. 23
Federal election: Conservatives elected federally in Canada.
2006 Feb. 6
Federal political: The Conservative minority government of Steven Joseph Harper is sworn in at Ottawa.
2006 Apr. 9
Princeton, BC: the Princeton Hotel destroyed by fire. Built 1912.
2006 Apr. 23
Medicine Hat, AB.: Three members of the Richardson family found murdered in their home. The family’s then 12-yr. old daughter, Jasmine, was convicted of three counts of murder in the first degree on July 9th, 2007, and on November 8th was sentenced to a maximum of 10 years, four in a psychiatric institution. Her boy friend, Jeremy Allan Steinke, 23 yrs. old at the time of the murders, was convicted of the three murders in the first-degree on December 5th, 2008 – automatic life with no parole eligibility for 25 yrs.
2006 Oct. 23
Lethbridge, AB: Addition to the Galt Museum opened.
2006 May 17
Kimberley, BC: Environmental consultant Doug Erickson, Teck-Cominco employee Bob Newcombe, and two rescue personel, Kim Weitzel and Shawn Currier, asphyxiated in a water-sampling hut at the abandoned Sullivan mine.
2006 Sep. 12
Ottawa: the minority Conservative government of Stephen Harper votes to accept the Canada-U.S. Softwood Lumber Agreement.
2006 November
Regina, SK: The Saskatchewan Wheat Pool launches hostile take-over bid for Agricore United.
2006 Dec. 2
AB Political: Edwd. Stelmach selected as the leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta, replacing Ralph Klein.
2006 Dec. 6
Federal Political: Giuliano Zaccardelli resigns as Commissioner of the RCMP.
2006 Dec. 14
AB Political: Edwd. Stelmach sworn in as Premier.
2006 Dec. 15
Federal Political: Beverley Ann Busson appointed 21st Commissioner of the RCMP (to July 16, 2007).
2007
Winnipeg, MB: James Richardson International Limited of Winnipeg announced that it was buying Agricore United and would form Richardson Agricore Limited.
2007 May 23
Regina, SK: RCMP Heritage Centre museum is opened.
2007 May 29
The Saskatchewan Wheat Pool pays $1.8 billion for AgriCore United pending governmental approval.
2007 June 15
Upon receiving regulatory approval from the Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench, the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool buys Winnipeg-based Agricore United for $20.50/common share, $24.00/preferred share, and will operate it as a subsidiary.
2007 June 29
Friday.
2007 June 29
Creston, BC: Around supper time: “plow wind” (?) crashes across the southern margins of town injuring ten, two seriously.
2007 July 16
Federal Political: William J. S. Elliott appointed Commissioner of the RCMP.
2007 Aug. 30
Regina, SK.: The new name for the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool / Agricore United combine is announced: Viterra
2007 Sep. 20
Canadian dollar reaches US$1.00.
2007 Oct. 23
Lethbridge, AB: Fire consumes the main factory of Triple M Housing, Limited, at Kenyon Field.
2007 Sep. 4
B.C. Political: Steven L. Point (Xwelixweltel in Stó:lö), former Chief of the Skowkale First Nation and chief commissioner of the British Columbia Treaty Commission, is appointed lieutenant-governor of B.C. Sworn in morning of Monday, October 1st.
2007 Nov. 7
Canadian dollar hits US$1.10, but quickly sinks back through par by January, 2008.
2008
Jan. 19
Alberta political: Alberta Alliance and Wildrose Party merge to form the Wildrose Alliance Party.
2008 Mar. 13
Federal political: Industry Canada approves “Viterra” as the corporate name of the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool / Agricore United combine.
2008 Sep. 29
New York: Dow-Jones Industrial average begins a melting, losing nearly 3,000 points by the 10th of October.
2008 Oct. 14
Federal Election: Stephen Harper Conservatives minority government.
2008 Nov. 15
BC Political: Province-wide Civic and District elections held.
2008 Dec. 1
Federal political: Provoked by the Conservative cabinet’s threat to their funding, the Liberals, New Democrats and Bloc Québécois confirm plans to form a Coalition to bring down the Government in a vote of non-confidence at the next opportunity.
2008 Dec. 4
Federal political: Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper prevails upon Governor-General Michaëlle Jean to prorogue parliament, thus avoiding a non-confidence vote.
2008 Dec. 6
Afghanistan: The 100th member of the Canadian Expeditionary Force dies in theatre.
2008 Dec. 28
Fernie, BC: Eight of a group of 11 Sparwood-based snow-mobilers killed in an avalanche nearby.
2009
Jan. 8
Vancouver, BC: Teck-Cominco Limited announces the impending lay-off of 1400 mainly B.C. workers in its zinc, copper, exploration and coal mining segments.
2009 Jan. 15
Oliver, BC: Information from the Interior Health Authority indicates the trace of uranium in the Town’s two main water wells is very much too high. Same advisory issued to Faulkner, BC, too.
2009 Jan. 27
Regina, SK: Tuesday, 1510 hours; James Wesley Wilson (1919/12/05) dies. Bless your heart, Dad, and fare Ye well. We sure miss U.
2009 May 12
BC Election: Gordon Campbell’s Liberals win 49 of 89 seats with 45.8% of the popular vote.
2009 June 17
BC Economic: B.C. Hydro pays Teck $825 for a third ownership of the 493 megawatt Waneta Dam.
2009 July 3
BC Economic: The China Investment Corp. buys a 17.5% stake in Teck Resources Ltd. for $1.74 billion.
2009 July 6
BC Economic: Teck Resources Ltd expects to ship some 22 million tonnes of coal to market for the year ending April 1, 2010. Fiftenn per cent to arrive at The Coast on CNR steel via Kamloops interchange.