Calgary Herald from Calgary, Alberta, Canada • 8

A8 TUESDAY. DECEMBER 5. 2017 CALGARY HERALD Liberals say bill is soft on 'dark money' Local grandson reminisces about Halifax Explosion's hero grandfather PAC BILL FROM Al Bill 32 also creates an election commissioner, who will have an estimated $l-million budget and be tasked with investigating PACs and recommending prosecutions. The Alberta Liberals, who introduced their own anti-PAC legislation last week, call Bill 32 a "half-measure" that's nowhere near comprehensive enough to "get dark money out of Alberta Exactly one century after he died, mustachioed train dispatcher Vince Coleman's status as the ultimate Halifax Explosion hero will be cemented Wednesday. Calgary lawyer Jim Coleman Vincc's grandson will deliver brief remarks during that city's commemorative ceremony to mark the 100th anniversary of the blast that killed or wounded 11,000 people.

The recognition of Vince Coleman is the culmination of his growing legend for his selfless act of saving a trainload of passengers at the cost of his own life. Halifax now has a condo building named The Vincent Coleman, he was the runaway favourite in a namingcontest this year for a new harbour ferry, and his belongings are proudly displayed at a popular museum. But Coleman says his father Vincc's son didn't talk much about livingthrough the horror of the Halifax Explosion, and neither did the rest of his family. "It's amazing how many people have asked me about it, but we don't have family lore," says Coleman. Coleman's story has enjoyed a revival since the early 1990s, when Historica Canada produced one of its most dramatic "Heritage Minutes," which started with the di spatcher bein al erted by a avy sailor that the SS Mont-Blanc, a French munitions ship, wason fire and was about to explode.

Exactly one century after he died, train dispatcher Vince Coleman will be honoured Wednesday as a Halifax Explosion hero. Calgary lawyer Jim Coleman Vince's grandson will deliver remarks during the Nova Scotia city's commemorative ceremony, the Canadian press As thc45-ycar-old fatherof four was about to flee thcbusyrail yard, he remembered that Train No. 10 wascarryingscveral hundred people from Saint John, N.B., and was due to arrive at 8:55 am. He returned to his telegraph key inside the Richmond railway station, less than a kilometre from where the ship was burning. Despite the imminent danger, Coleman tapped out a message that warned stations up the line to stop all trains from entering Halifax.

"Holdup the train," the message said. "Ammunition ship afire in harbor making for Pier 6 and will explode. Guess this will be my last message. Good-bye boys." Within minutes, the Mont-Blanc and everythingnear it was obliterated by a super-heated shock wave that caused a tsunami to roll over the waterfront, including the station where Coleman worked. Coleman's hurried message was among the first to alert the world to the unfolding tragedy.

As a result, the Canadian Government Railway was able to quickly dispatch six relief trains carrying firefighters, doctors, nurses and badly needed medical supplies. "Periodically, we would talk abou i bu i wasn 't that we real ly discussed it," said Jim Coleman, whose grandmother Frances died in the 1970s. "When I lookback, I find it quite strange." Coleman, a senior partner with a Calgary law firm, says his father. politics." Last year, government lowered donation limits and imposed spending caps. But an all-party committee tasked with overhauling the system was so plagued by political infightingit was dissolved before it could get to changes around PACs.

Alberta has seen a proliferation of political action committees over the past year or so. The groups face no donation limits or restrictions on union, corporate and out-of-province contributions, and only limited disclosure rules. Critics say PACs can be used to get aroundcxisting donation rules. The issue was also raised by the chief electoral officer, Glen Resler. Resler warned in his annual report last month that PAC activih'es could skirt provincial law and "create an uneven playing field" in the next provincial election.

Bill 32 also makes a range of changes to the Elections Act intended to make voting more accessible. It removes the minimum residency requirement to vote in an Alberta election (ifs currently six months) and bans government advertising during an election or byclection. Bill 32 adds a fifth day of advance polls and allows Albcrtans to vote in advance outside their electoral division. Thatmeansyou'll be able to vote on your lunch-hour downtown, rather than having to head home. The change also expands the ability to set up mobile polls at emergency shelters and support centres, post-secondary institu Gerald Patrick Coleman, was an altar boy taking part in a mass early on Dec.

6, 1917, when the blast hit Just after 9 a.m., the ground shook and the church walls fell in, crushing a fellow altar boy. "All the houses were knocked down," says Jim Coleman, recalling one of the few stories his father told him about that day. "And here he was, this 11-ycar-old boy, helping to dig people out It was traumatic. And then he found out that his father had been killed in the explosion and his home was gone." The blast killed about 2,000 people and wounded another 9,000. Hundreds were blinded by flying glass, and another 25,000 were left homeless.

The city's north end was levelled, and much of what was left standing was eventually burned by fires started by upended coal stoves. As the search for survivors stretched in to the night, a blizzard descended on the port city, heaping misery on a community that had already lost so much. Days later, from deep within the wreckage of the railway station, searchers recovered Coleman's watch, wallet, pen and telegraph key, all of which arc now part of a permanentexhibit at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in downtown Halifax. "You can still sec water stains in his wallet," the museum's website says. "His watch speaks grimly of the violent forces which descended on Coleman as its crystal and hands arc blown away and its back is poundedin as if by hammers.

Coleman no doubt died instantly at his telegraph key." Jim Coleman says the exhibit holds special meaning for him. "Sceingthepicturc of my grandfather and his personal effects, obviously, it touches you somehow," he says. The Canadian Press tions, work camps, correctional centres and otherpublicbuildings. It will also allow Albcrtans to use their health-care card as a validation tool when updating their information on thcelectoral register. egraneypostmedia.com Twitter.comEmmaLG raney Ruins of the city of Halifax after the massive explosion of Dec.

6, 1917. Vince Coleman's last message from Halifax saved a trainload of passengers at the cost of his own life. w.g. macla ughlanthe Canadian pressfiles Costly tampons at Calgary airport mirror steep prices in the North: women's group transat SEAT SALE Great deals on winter flights Roundtrip flights, taxes included the machines had been refilled and the price at Relay had been lowered to $6.25. M(Kn Time Sisters, a group that collects feminine hygiene products to donate to communities in northern Ontario and Saskatchewan, says a box of tampons can cost $19 in areas where Indigenous women arc often struggling with unemployment and low incomes.

Founder Nicole White said she started the project after hearing about girls in northern Saskatchewan who were missing school during their periods. She said she has heard of women using used socks when they can't afford pads and tampons. "That is something that's unacceptable to me," she said. "If you're a person who's living under the poverty line, feminine hygiene products arc seen as a luxury." The Canadian Press A $15 box of tampons sold at Calgary International Airport may have elicited shock online, but it's common for feminine hygiene products to cost that much or more in many remote northern communities. Carlce Field was waiting for a flight from Calgary to Vancouver last month when she stopped to use the ladies' room in the terminal.

Inside the bathroom, she saw a box of tampons with a note that saidall of themachines were empty and that it had been necessary for someone to buy a $15 box from the Relay shop. The unsigned note's author said the price mark-up was unacceptable and invited others to take a tampon if they needed one. Shortly after Fiel posted a photo on the social media site Reddit, the airport authority wrote that Cancun January to April Starting at Vancouver January to April One way Starting at Puerto Vallarta January to April Starting at Punta Cana January to March Starting at Varadero January to April Starting at London' April Starting at Auburn Bay shooting involved theft of a vehicle, police say 1 WEEK ONLY December 5 to 11 one man suffering from a gunshot wound. The victim was rushed to Foothills Hospital in serious but stable condition. Police believe the incident involved "both a shooting and the theft of a vehicle." Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to contact CPS at 403-266-1234 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or www.calgarjTrimcstoppcrs.org.

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