April 10, 1996
Several campers had to be evacuated from their trailers after the Little Red Deer River spilled its banks and poured massive amounts of ice onto a campground east of Sundre. However, there were no reports of injuries resulting from the incident, which occurred at the Westward Ho Park campground. The flood, which included large sheets of river ice, damaged several trailers and tents, also sending picnic tables and other items into the river. At the time of printing, damage estimates were not yet known.
"The ice kept jamming downstream from the park, and then it broke loose," said camp warden Gord Towes.
"We evacuated everybody out right away. Maybe half a dozen families. That's the worst I've ever seen it. We've had other floods before, but nothing like this. The water rose more than a foot in just seconds."
The month prior, flooding of the Little Red Deer River had also caused considerable damage in the Eagle Hill area.
April 9, 1986
The Government of Canada announced that starting January 1987, a new one-dollar coin would begin circulating to replace the old dollar bills, which would be phased out starting in 1989. The measure to introduce the 11-sided, gold coloured coin that is slightly larger than a quarter was anticipated to save Canadian taxpayers millions of dollars.
"This decision is consistent with the government's overall cost reduction strategy. With a 20-year lifespan for the coin, versus one year for the bank note, taxpayers will save more than $175 million in production and distribution costs alone," said Steward McInnes, minister of supply and services.
Additionally, the annual cost for transport authorities to process the roughly 200 million one dollar notes amounted to roughly $2 million, and a widely-used dollar coin was expected to result in significant cost savings. The need for a coin had been identified through meetings conducted by the Currency Advisory Committee since 1978.
More than 75 per cent of consumer transactions at the time involved coins, and much of the marketplace was influenced by coin-operated equipment such as vending machines, public telephones and transit systems.
"The new circulating dollar coin is a necessary improvement to our currency system," said James C. Corkery, president and master of the Royal Canadian Mint, adding that the new one-dollar coin "has been updated to meet modern consumer needs."
