Bouquet...

To three Central Alberta sculptors who have won national acclaim for chipping off the old block.

Red Deer artists Brian McArthur and Alain Favre and Michael Decarie of Mirror, travelled to Ottawa this month to compete in the National Snow Sculpture Competition.

They came away with three prestigious prizes: the Jury Award, Artists’ Choice and People’s Choice awards. Prizes that went with the awards included $6,000 and gift certificates.

The subject of their sculpture was explorer David Thompson and a fellow voyageur carrying a canoe.

The stunning image started as a 40-tonne block of densely packed snow, measuring slightly less than four by four by five metres.

It took five days of cutting, shovelling chiselling and sanding to turn it into art.

The subject matter is dear to McArthur’s heart. He mounted a brilliant, whimsical exhibit of ceramic sculptures at the Red Deer and District Museum and Art Gallery last year, focusing on Thompson, the fur trade and the exploration of Western Canada.

The courage of Thompson and his companions — including many aboriginals — still resonates with Canadians 200 years on.

No matter where you live in Canada, with a canoe, you are only one portage away from the wilderness.

— Joe McLaughlin

Bouquet...

To Lt.-Cmdr. William Kuebler, an American soldier who stood up to his boss to defend a Canadian.

Keubler is a distinguished lawyer as well as a soldier. For the past two years, he has been defending Omar Khadr, who has been imprisoned in Cuba for 61/2 years.

In 2002, Khadr was a 15-year-old Canadian-born boy, under the spell of his Islamist father. He was the only survivor of an attack by American soldiers at an encampment in Afghanistan that summer.

Khadr was charged with throwing a grenade that killed an American soldier. As the only “enemy soldier” who survived the firefight, Khadr was the only person who the Americans could charge.

But the evidence against him is weak and sketchy. By any fair standard, he was a “child soldier” at the time, entitled to special legal protections.

But Khadr, and others like him, were held in Guantanamo Bay to evade, rather than to uphold the law. Bringing them into the United States would have meant full and fair access to the American judicial system. President George W. Bush was more interested in interrogation — by torture if deemed necessary — and indefinite incarceration without due legal processes to prosecute his “war of terror.”

Lt.-Cmdr. Kuebler stood up to his commander-in-chief and has taken on the challenge of diligently defending Khadr.

Next month, his efforts will be recognized by the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association.

Every year, the association presents an award to recognize exceptional efforts in defence of freedom. This year, Kuebler will become its first American recipient.

He is a worthy winner, truly an officer and a gentleman.

— Joe McLaughlin

Dart...

To the Alberta government for its feeble attempt to cool the debate over massive waste of potable water quenching the thirst of the oilsands projects.

Environment Minister Rob Renner announced this week that, after years of study, Alberta has ordered some operators to develop technology that cuts back on pigging out at the water trough. The companies have five years to comply.

Give us a break!

Is the government saying that after years of study, it now realizes water is precious? Experts have been telling the Tories for years to turn down the taps at the oilsands.

Why the sudden revelation? Was it U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit to Canada on Thursday?

Obama’s agenda includes environmental concerns. Canada is the No. 1 exporter of oil to the U.S., most coming from the oilsands. But environmental groups in the States and Canada have aggressively campaigned against what they call “dirty oil” produced by an industry guzzling precious water while spewing high emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants.

The government’s wimpy crackdown amounts to a drop in the bucket.

It applies only to operations using steam to extract oil from the sands too deep to be mined from the surface.

Those on the surface will still be licensed for the same amount of water used by a municipality the size of all Alberta’s cities combined.

“It’s time they (the government) stopped trying to pull the wool over people’s eyes and did something substantial,” said University of Alberta ecology professor David Schindler, an internationally recognized water expert.

Keeping in mind Obama’s visit, Schindler is suspicious about the timing of the government announcement.

He might have a point there.

— Rick Zemanek