It was my privilege as Acting Mayor to make the announcement in Centennial Park that WestJet has chosen Fort St. John for its regional Encore carrier!  It was especially rewarding for me as I was a member of the Team representing our community that traveled to Calgary in June of 2012 to make the bid that "IT JUST MAKES SENSE" for the airline to begin service to Fort St. John.

Westjet Encore is scheduled to begin regular scheduled service to Calgary and Vancouver on June 24, 2013.  This is a real indication that Fort St. john is growing and is seen as an area with great potential for business and investment.

The Toys for Tickets Program wrapped up today. We were able to collect toys as well as cash from parking tickets and other generous sponsors. Between the 100 toys collected and the monetary donations, we raised around $1,600 for the Salvation Army to help with the kid’s Christmas joy. Thank you everyone for helping out with this program.

It was en exciting day at Baldonnel School as they officially opened the brand new Wheel Chair Accessible Playground, in memory of Curtis Hadland.  This awesome new structure was made possible thanks to the efforts of the entire community, including donations of time and money from many generous businesses and individuals.  The sun was out and it was a great celebration for the entire school and community!  Congratulations to all!

I celebrated with Bob & Lori Slater as Lori received the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal, honouring her significant contributions in the community.  Lori acts as the Chair of the Mayor's Disability Advisory Committee, and has a long list of work she's done, including organizing the Wheels in Motion events in Fort St. John, being responsible for the Accessible Parking Campaign, working with an "Aging with Disabilities" study, and bringing workshops on visitable housing.  Congratulations!

It was a mixture of fun and frustration as I competed (unsuccessfully) in the 40th Anniversary of the World Invitation Gold Panning event at Peace Island Park.  The annual competition has been held in Taylor since 1972, and the Class "A" event has attracted panners form as far as Holland, Australia, the USA and the Yukon.  It was a great weekend with a variety of family activities, including a cherry pit spitting competition, a frisbee toss, a petting zoo, horseshoe tournament and a root beer chugging contest.

It was so so cool to visit with our Canadian Snowbirds pilots and CF-18 pilot Patrick "PACO" Gobeil yesterday, as they touched down in Fort St. John for the formal announcement of our 2013 Fort St. John Air Show. The Air Show will take place next July 27 & 28, 2013, the first time in almost a decade that it will take place on a weekend. Can't wait!!!

I had the privilege of visiting with BC Premier Christy Clark at the Official Grand Opening of the Fort St John Hospital & Peace Villa.  She was here to join in a great day of celebration and appreciation for an incredible project completed on time and on budget.  What an amazing addition to our community.  The new hospital and care centre measures 23,000 square-metres, doubling the size of the previous facility, which was built back in the 1960’s.

We enjoyed an amazing Canada Day Celebration in Fort St. John, beginning with a free pancake breakfast!  After the church service in the park, we climbed aboard the Fire Truck and led the Canada Day Parade through the city.  Then it was back to Centennial Park for an afternoon of entertainment and fun, topped off with a great fireworks show just before the day ended.  Thank you to all who gave of your time and talents to make this day so special!  My little grandbaby was there to wave and cheer as the parade passed by.

I went with a team from Fort St John to the WestJet headquarters in Calgary to present to the executives there why IT JUST MAKES SENSE for WestJet to begin air service to our own North Peace Regional Airport.  We were there along with approximately 30 communities from all across Canada.  WestJet expects to make a decision by the end of the year which cities they will begin flying to with their new regional service.