When it comes to hosting major curling events, this region is second to none.
Last winter, Tisdale hosted the seniors’ curling championships, while Melfort hosted the women’s provincials. This year, it’s Humboldt’s turn to host the women’s provincials.
Why does the region host such big events again and again? It’s because the local communities are behind them 100 per cent. Volunteers from all of the curling clubs are able to approach businesses to ask for funding for the events and get the money. People from the communities have no problems buying a ticket and watching some of the draws.
I’ve been told this isn’t exactly the situation when these events are held in the big cities.
Having covered the women’s provincials in Melfort last year and going to be covering the women’s provincials in Humboldt, it strikes me how there are common threads between the two.
Will Team Silvernagle win the final this year and wear the green jackets at the nationals? Will Sherry Anderson, who skipped a young team last year and won it all, manage to repeat that performance with a brand-new team? Will the mix of experience and new blood on Team Streifel prevail? Will the winner of the tournament be a team that’s not on anybody’s radar?
The best way to find out is to come to the Humboldt Curling Club and support the efforts they’ve done to make the provincials possible.
Driver safety
There’s some good news when it comes to improvement commercial truck driver safety.
Marc Garneau, the federal transport minister, announced Jan. 21 that minimum entry-level semi-truck driver training standards are being developed. They are planned to go into effect next January.
There were no details given about what these standards look like.
We’ll have to see what the details are, but having a national system that no driver can avoid because they live in a different province is a positive thing when it comes to improving driver safety.
