Here’s another story of a music festival gone horribly, horribly wrong.

I take you back to June 1970, for the Celebration of Life Festival, which was held on a farm in Louisiana. Promoters called it the South’s answer to Woodstock, which had happened a year earlier. The lineup included Pink Floyd, Ike & Tina Turner, the Beach Boys, and BB King. Local authorities wanted none of this, and two days before the show was supposed to start, cops moved in and shut everything down.

This left thousands of people with nothing to do and nowhere to go. Some sat in the field in the blistering heat and humidity. Others found abandoned farmhouses. There was no food, water, sanitary facilities, or medical care. Two people drowned while escaping the heat in the South Louisiana River, while others were injured in fights with police.

The Celebration of Life Festival of 1970 was a total disaster but has been largely forgotten. Good.

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Whenever you get a bunch of music fans into a field and introduce alcohol, drugs, and dodgy weather, things can and will go wrong. The Powder Ridge Rock Festival, held at a ski resort in Middlefield, Connecticut, was one such event.

Local authorities tried to stop it, but 30,000 people showed up anyway. There was no music because everything had been cancelled. The promoter, the owner of the ski resort, was arrested for allowing people onto the property. Meanwhile, everyone had to deal with no music, no food, no water, no sanitary facilities, and some very bad drugs, especially the cheap dollar-a-tab acid.

The only artist to show up was Melanie, the folksinger, who performed an impromptu set powered by a couple of ice cream trucks that had been commandeered.

One more horror show festival next time.

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We’ve evolved when it comes to being able to stage music festivals. In the 70s, though, people were still learning, often with disastrous results.

Let’s go back to Labour Day 1972 for the Erie Canal Soda Pop Festival in Illinois. There was a solid line-up: Black Sabbath, Allman Brothers, Fleetwood Mac, Joe Cocker, and more. About 50,000 people were expected, but the actual number of people who tried to get in might have been close to 300,000.

The result was a 30-kilometre traffic jam. Vendors ran out of food and water and you don’t want to know about the porta-potties. And then it started to rain. Hard. The crowd went crazy, burning a food truck. And get this: A cow from a nearby farm was stolen and butchered for its meat. By the end of the weekend, the main stage was set on fire and hundreds were injured.

The story of another disaster next time.

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New documents show that more than 300,000 acres of land could be transferred to Vancouver Island First Nations, which are currently finalizing treaties.

Approximately 30 parcels of Crown land would be given to five First Nations, which are located from Parksville to Victoria.

The list includes Hatley Castle, Royal Roads University, waterfront in Victoria, property next to the legislature, Discovery Island Provincial Park and Sooke Mountain Provincial Park.

“This is a betrayal of our core democracy here in British Columbia,” Conservative leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay said.

“British Columbians as a whole own this province; we should have a say.”

Lawyer Geoffrey Moyse spent decades advising the province on Aboriginal law.

“There was no requirement to renegotiate the Douglas Treaties, so I think this was a political decision,” he said.

The B.C. legislature’s website states, “The Douglas Treaties, along with Treaty 8, which was signed in 1899 between the federal government and Indigenous peoples and included the northeast area of the province, are the only historic treaties in British Columbia.”

“Now, they’re not renegotiating the Douglas Treaties, they’re adding on modern treaty accoutrements to those agreements, but my point is there’s no legal requirement to deal with Aboriginal title or any of that because it’s already been dealt with,” Moyse added.

Some concerns state that transferred lands would essentially become private property with no legal requirement to preserve public access or adhere to existing zoning.

“This is an ongoing theme from this provincial government of not having public consultation when it matters and it’s overriding democratic oversight in this province,” Steve Kooner with the Conservative Party said.

Global News requested an interview with B.C.’s Indigenous relations minister, but he did not make himself available.

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The city is taking a closer look at how and where e-scooters and e-bikes should operate in Edmonton.

Councillors heard Tuesday that safety and parking still remain a top concern for Edmontonians, so they’re looking at ways to address that.

Those concerns ring a bell for Kyrie Herman and her daughter, as they are part-time wheelchair users. The pair use a lot of shared paths and roadways in the city, but sometimes e-scooters block their way.

“We’ve run into a lot of situations where they’ve been parked on the sidewalk, and then they tip over, or even if they’re just like not tipped over, but parked the wrong way, then we can’t get our wheelchairs around them,” said Herman.

Herman and her daughter are able to get out of their wheelchairs and move them out of the way, but that’s not the case for everyone.

“There are some people that are by themselves, so they can’t get somebody to move it, or they’re not able to pick it up and move it or go around,” Herman said.

Herman is one of many who support changes to Edmonton’s shared micromobility program, covering e-bikes and e-scooters.

A new report from city staff says since the program was launched in 2019, use has nearly tripled to more than 1.4 million trips last year.

It also says that parking and ride behaviour remain among the biggest concerns for Edmontonians.

“I think this is the next natural evolution of that conversation, is how do we make sure that we’re best supporting folks who are, not only using micromobility, but the people who are moving about the districts where they are most popular,” said ward Métis councillor Ashley Salvador.

“We need to work to find ways that accommodate everyone, and that can be tricky in condensed zones and in condensed areas, so I think that’s where some of those intricacies come in, but at the end of the day we wanted people to provide options for everyone to safely get where they’re going.”

The city is considering permanent changes to where e-scooters and e-bikes can go, where they can park and how fast they can travel.

Staff say these tools give flexibility to respond to construction, festivals and other emerging issues without needing permanent infrastructure.

Vendors could also potentially include penalties for people who improperly park and incentives for those who follow the rules.

It’s first testing those options out in an expansion project in Mill Woods with designated parking zones. There are also slow zones and no-riding zones, where the devices automatically reduce their speed or shut down, especially around busy public spaces or special events.

That’s already been tested around Whyte Avenue and during the Edmonton Oilers’ 2025 playoff run.

But some councillors are concerned about too many restrictions.

“If you have to be parking two blocks away, I think that starts to take away from the benefit. So that’s important to me and figuring out how we implement that, so that it’s practical but also helps address the clutter that we see at times,” said ward O-day’min councillor Anne Stevenson.

No permanent changes were decided at committee Tuesday.

For Herman, she hopes whatever eventually changes, people follow suit. So shared paths can be accessible for people like her and her daughter.

“With everything, I think the more you do it, and the more we do it as a community, people will get used to it,” she said.

© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

A central Edmonton neighbourhood is a step closer to having its own community arts hub for artists and performers.

ArtsCommon 118 in the Alberta Avenue area has achieved an important milestone after running into roadblocks a number of times over the past two decades.

“This is gonna be a game-changer project for the Alberta Avenue neighbourhoods,” said Christy Morin, the executive director for Arts on the Ave, which has acquired the land needed to build the hub.

ArtsCommon 118 is designed to be a home for artists not just to collaborate and perform, but also live.

“To have a permanent home where artists can not only work and live and talk to each other and make art together but also show their artwork and congregate as a community is invaluable to Edmonton” said multimedia artist Kaida Kobylka.

The multi-use arts hub is set to be built in the heart of Alberta Avenue at 9131 118 Ave., on a vacant lot that has sat empty for years.

This project has stalled a number of times at City Hall for various reasons.

“We’re cautiously optimistic that this project will actually be delivered this time around,” said Erick Estrada, the executive director for the Alberta Avenue Business Association.

“It’s been over 20 years. The city has shown their support to this type of project before three times and I think, hopefully, this time around they made the right decisions.”

The cost of the project is $10.4 million and the City of Edmonton has already committed $3.3 million. That leaves Arts on the Ave to cover the remaining $7.1 million.

“The city is very clearly indicating that there’s buy-in on our end,” said Ward Metis councillor Ashley Salvador. “I also think there’s opportunities to leverage other funding from provincial and federal partners.”

It will still be a few years before ArtsCommon 118 becomes a reality.

“We are very optimistic in this project because we’ve right-sized the project to the land,” Morin said.

Once ground is broken, organizers say it will take two-and-a-half years to build.

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For months, residents of Sherwood Park’s Glen Allen neighbourhood have been fed up with a property where an overnight fire this past weekend was the latest in a series of incidents at the home.

Around 2 a.m. Sunday, flames could be seen jumping out the front window at 58 Glengarry Crescent. The fire was eventually put out and accelerant detection dogs were brought to the scene.

Strathcona County says both the fire department and the RCMP are investigating the blaze. Fire investigators were on scene Tuesday gathering evidence.

The house on Glengarry Crescent has been under scrutiny for nearly a year, where neighbours have plenty of stories of being “terrorized” by its tenants.

Concerns from neighbours of the property garnered attention from both the mayor and RCMP. Alberta Health Services declared the home unfit for human habitation in November 2025.

Global News has been working on this story for weeks, first speaking to neighbours at the end of July.

Area residents say law enforcement had been spotted at the home a handful of days each week, sometimes two or three times a day.

“Lots of police presence, lots of dogs getting loose to the point where we had to call by-law because my dogs have been attacked, multiple people have been attacked,” said Nicole Johnston, who lives next door.

“They have no running water in that house and the landlord seems he doesn’t care anymore,” said Adele Delplanque, who lives across the street.

“It’s a slum house.”

Her husband Robert Delplaque said while different tenants have lived at 58 Glengarry Crescent over the years, the recent tenants are the most disconcerting.

“They come out of the house they yell, they swear at the neighbors.”

Neighbours believe up to 10 people were staying at the bungalow in recent weeks.

“I just don’t feel safe in my home,” Adele said. “We’ve had to put up cameras.”

Last September, Alberta Health Services issued an order to vacate the premises. In November, the health authority declared the house unfit for human habitation.

Everyone was supposed to be out by December 12, 2025, but the Delplaques said that never happened.

“It is condemned. They’re supposed to be evicted and it’s not being enforced,” Robert said. “They keep giving them extension dates. I don’t know why.

“If it’s condemned, it should be shut down and boarded up.”

Global News tried contacting the landlord repeatedly in recent weeks, including via registered letter, but was unable to make contact.

Glen Allan residents said they have been seeking help from every authority they can think of: RCMP, Strathcona County’s mayor, SPCA, peace officers and AHS.

Strathcona County Mayor Rod Frank said he understands their frustration.

“We are not sitting idly by. I wish I could make it happen quicker. That’s not the legal process. If we do that, then we’ll be under legal liability,” he explained.

On July 27, Strathcona County RCMP released a statement saying it was aware of concerns being raised regarding activity at 58 Glengarry Crescent in Sherwood Park.

RCMP encouraged neighbours to report criminal activity surrounding the property, saying they’re trying to identify “appropriate long-term solutions.”

But residents are tired of hearing that.

“It’s just been going on for so long and we feel there’s been empty promises,” Johnston said.

“We need somebody to act and help us, you know, shut down this house,” Robert agreed.

Following Sunday’s fire, the neighbours are hopeful the house will be torn down — finally putting an end to their problems.

“It’s unfortunate that it had to come to this,” Robert said.

© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

The City of Calgary and Rockyview County have signed on to an agreement that’s set to accelerate work around Prairie Economic Gateway, a multi-billion dollar logistics hub slated for the city’s southeast limits.

The memorandum of understanding announced Tuesday is between the two municipalities and the Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB), and is set to “speed up the transition from engineering design to construction activities” near the proposed site.

Dubbed an “inland port,” Prairie Economic Gateway is set to be built on 1,300 acres along 114 Avenue S.E. as part of a regionally-approved collaboration between the city and Rockyview County.

Once complete, it would be one of the largest trade, logistics and manufacturing hubs in Canada, anchored by the Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) rail network.

Oyin Shyllon, the city’s project manager for Prairie Economic Gateway, said the agreement with the Canada Infrastructure Bank is “very significant” in advancing the project from a vision to reality.

“It’s about progression,” he told Global News. “This is about moving from regional potential into coordinated action.”

Shyllon said the deal also signals momentum and confidence in Calgary’s economic future in the region.

According to a press release issued Tuesday, the deal establishes a framework for the organizations involved to assess the commercial, technical, and financial feasibility of the public off-site infrastructure needed to enable future development.

“The Canada Infrastructure Bank’s expertise is second-to-none from an investor lense,” said Rockyview County’s manager of intergovernmental services and economic development, Ben Manshanden.

“I characterize it as the gold standard of due diligence that would allow all parties the comfort they would need to proceed.”

The move follows an earlier MOU signed by the same parties in early 2025, the city said, which explored the Canada Infrastructure Bank’s potential participation in the project.

“This agreement with the Canada Infrastructure Bank is an important step toward finalizing the infrastructure investments needed to unlock new trade, logistics and industrial development, create jobs and strengthen Calgary’s competitiveness,” Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas said in a statement.

That infrastructure is expected to be built between this year and 2031, including water, wastewater, stormwater, road improvements and emergency response planning.

The initial projects listed by the City of Calgary show plans for a stormwater trunk to be completed by 2028, and a 10.6-km-long feeder main scheduled to be operational by 2029. The timing around road improvements for 114 Avenue and Glenmore Trail are listed as still to be confirmed.

Those off-site projects will come with a cost that’s expected to be at least partly covered by municipal taxpayers. However, how significant those investments will be isn’t expected until November, when city council will debate the upcoming four-year budget.

According to project officials, there will be a return on the public investment, with city estimates projecting the Prairie Economic Gateway will generate over $7 billion in economic activity and create more than 30,000 jobs across the Calgary region over the next 10 to 12 years.

“Every dollar is going to generate at least $8.90, or roughly nine dollars of private investment.  It is the catalyst, it’s what gets things going,” Shyllon said. “Without the major road network, without the underlying water infrastructure, those developments can’t happen.”

News of the memorandum of understanding was welcomed by the Calgary Chamber of Commerce Tuesday, with expectations the logistics hub will help improve “bottlenecks” in the supply chain.

Ruhee Ismail-Teja with the Calgary Chamber said supply chain issues have impacted nearly 40 per cent of the chamber’s member businesses, with one in six surveyed saying those issues have prevented growth.

“Supply chains, we initially thought closer to the pandemic were going to be a shorter-term trend in terms of the level of issues and acuteness of those, and they’ve proven to be a much more persistent challenge,” she said.

“Now, having a real plan to address the structural issues really helps move us forward.”

Project officials hope to have the first phase of the project ready for business operations by 2031, with shovels in the ground on enabling infrastructure sometime next year.

The buildout of further phases of Prairie Economic Gateway would be based on market demand and uptake, the city said.

A deal structure and statutory plan for the project were approved by both councils from Rockyview County and the City of Calgary in February 2025.

© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

The former chief executive officer of a Saskatoon arena is among a group of residents considering filing a petition to put the city’s Downtown Event and Entertainment District (DEED) project to a referendum.

Ken Wood, who was at the helm of what is now known as the SaskTel Centre when it was called SaskPlace and the Credit Union Centre, is leading the charge of the citizen-led initiative, launching a website Tuesday to gather registrants before launching an official petition.

“This is not the official petition. It is an advanced commitment to sign the paper petition when the formal campaign begins,” Wood told reporters Tuesday morning.

The DEED project has been in the works for several years now, with the intention of transforming a section of Saskatoon’s downtown core into a centre focused on commerce, tourism, entertainment and nightlife.

While not shovel-ready, the project has been the centre of recent discussions with the city agreeing to move ahead on negotiations with Muskeg Lake Cree Nation on a potential partnership for the project in June. The two parties signed a memorandum of understanding later that month.

The website, voteondeed.ca, allows residents to provide their names and contact information, something the group says will help them gauge interest and prepare for the official petition period.

“Whatever one’s position on the proposed project, a public expenditure and commitment of this magnitude deserves the direct consent of Saskatoon taxpayers,” said Wood.

To launch a referendum in Saskatchewan, residents must get a petition signed by 10 per cent of the city’s population, according to the province’s The Cities Act. In Saskatoon, the threshold for meeting this requirement is 26,615 valid signatures, according to the city.

The petition must then be presented to the city clerk within 90 days of the first signature. If a valid petition is filed, the referendum must take place within nine months.

If the petition were to move ahead, it would not be the first in the city. In 1986, residents previously voted to approve the current location of the SaskTel Centre. Meanwhile, Saskatoon residents also struck down the idea of a downtown casino project in 1994.

Organizers, who are largely made up of community leaders and former council hopefuls, say they believe the vote should go to the public democratically given the magnitude of the DEED project and its price tag.

“If people were happy with this, they could have a say at the ballot box. If they’re not happy with this, they could also have a say at the ballot box,” said Henry Chan, chair of the Saskatoon West Business Association, who also previously ran as a city councillor for Ward 8, coming second to Coun. Scott Ford, in 2024.

“The duty of leadership is not to bypass the public, but rather to consult them,” said Chan.

Tuesday’s announcement was held at the site of one of three contentious public art pieces made of discarded plastics, resembling glacier rocks that are gaining criticism online. Wood says the site was chosen as it exemplifies civic expenditures, adding that public dollars could be used on other projects rather than a new arena when existing infrastructure is still viable.

“SaskTel Centre is in tremendous condition. It can move forward in its current state and host all the events that it is now. It hasn’t missed any events,” he said.

Wood says that any improvements at the SaskTel Centre can be funded from reserves that “already exist on the balance sheet of the facility,” alongside facility loans.

“In the history of the building, we did incredible improvements over my tenure there, and it was all done through productivity loans, and our retained earnings are out of reserve,” he said.

Karen Kobussen was the first to put her name down on the website, saying she agrees with the sentiments expressed by the citizen-led initiative, adding that a petition would be an opportunity for residents to engage with a project currently priced at around $1.2 billion and with several unknowns.

“I just think that there are so many more questions and answers at this point. That’s all we’re looking for, and that’s, I think, what people are looking for. Where’s the other money coming from?” said Kobussen, who also previously ran as a city councillor for Ward 2 in 2024.

Kobussen says she also wants to make sure that decisions made today will not become a burden for future generations and should be made with consideration of current issues across the city.

“I do think addressing homelessness, crime, safety and social disorder are certainly priorities before we consider building this mega project,” she said.

Two weeks ago, the provincial government announced its intentions to back the DEED project by matching potential federal contributions for up to one-third of the total project costs, should the event centre receive funding approval under Ottawa’s Build Communities Strong Fund.

Organizers say they do not currently have a cut-off date for receiving online registrations, but are hoping to see strong support in advance to gain a clearer picture of whether to launch a referendum in the coming weeks.

City administration is expected to provide an update on the negotiations with Muskeg Lake Cree Nation regarding DEED at its governance and priorities committee meeting on Wednesday.

© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

As flames roared through the community of Faulder, the Wagners never imagined their homes could vanish in only a few hours.

“You’re thinking, like, ‘I’m going to be gone for a few days,'” Shawna Wagner told Global News.

“Not, ‘I’m never going to come back to anything that we’ve left behind.'”

Shawna and Lucas Wagner were forced to leave behind what they had envisioned for their future as the newlyweds had only purchased the home in December.

“I think Luke and I both agreed we wanted our kids to have a childhood like he did,” Shawna added.

Video captured by Faulder residents Brock and Rick Leitner confirmed that Lucas’ childhood home was gone.

“It looks like we got hit with the bomb,” Lucas said.

“Like it just in an hour. It was, it just was a war zone, is what it looks like.”

He added they will be returning to a heartbreaking, burnt-down memory.

Lucas’ dad, Joe Wagner, built parts of the home himself as he was a contractor by trade.

“Sweat that my family and I put into giving ourselves a home, all the belongings that are in there, all the memories,” Joe said.

He said his home was the first in the subdivision, but now his community is unrecognizable.

He said he is determined to rebuild, however.

“I want to be a part of helping everybody else get their lives back, as well,” Joe said.

The family is staying at Lucas’ aunt’s house and they say they feel overwhelmed by the support of family and friends.

“Everyone’s going to be there for each other at the end of the day, and that’s all you can ask for when you know you’ve already lost so much,” Lucas said.

© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.