Legacy of Cochrane's fallen Grandfather Tree will live on through new bench

30-05-2025

The Town of Cochrane has found a way to pay tribute to its most treasured tree.
The Grandfather Tree, an estimated 300-year-old white spruce in Cochrane Ranche, was toppled by high winds during a storm in January.
Now through a proposal reminiscent of Shel Silverstein's book The Giving Tree, it will live on in the form of a commemorative bench made with its salvaged wood.
WATCH | Grandfather Tree mourned by Cochranites:
This tree outlived generations until high winds took it down
4 months ago
Duration 2:04
The bench was chosen over two other options presented to Cochrane town council on Monday: a children's book authored by a local author and the production of wooden key chains made from the tree.
"In the weeks that followed [the tree's collapse], we saw an incredible outpouring of community sentiment," said Michelle Delorme, the town's director of parks and active living.
"Residents left reflections, drawings and stories in a temporary mailbox and journal placed at the site, showing us how much this landmark meant to so many people."
The tree is currently commemorated through two public art installations at The Station in downtown Cochrane.
The bench will include infographic interpretive signage and a mailbox where visitors can share their Grandfather Tree stories and reflections.
Calling the bench project "a meaningful, long-lasting tribute that can be delivered within our parks and active living budget," Delorme said it would cost from $7,000 to $10,000.
Some council members balked at that estimate.
Price tag not popular
Coun. Patrick Wilson said he was "amazed" and "kind of disgusted" by the proposed cost.
When asked by Wilson, Delorme said the price is in line with that of other municipal benches in Cochrane's parks, with those costing anywhere from $5,000 to $7,000.
"I can't believe that number. I'm absolutely aghast that we pay that," he said.
Stacey Loe, community services executive director with the Town of Cochrane, said that while the cost would continue to be evaluated, this particular bench will likely be more expensive than others due to the labour involved with creating it from the Grandfather Tree.
Delorme added that the entire bench won't be made from the Grandfather Tree's wood, but that the goal is for "at least half" of it to be.
"We will have to piece everything back together," she said.
Coun. Marni Fedeyko said that "unless it's made out of, like, African rainforest wood, it seems kind of on the high side."
She supported the motion but emphasized that hiring local artists and contractors for the bench's construction should be prioritized.
Coun. Morgan Nagel acknowledged that the project sounds "a little too expensive," but said it was a reasonable proposal, likening it to "an artisan project off of the woods."
Councillors floated the idea of combining the bench proposal with the children's book idea, but ultimately approved the construction of the bench at the proposed price. Six of seven council members voted in favour of the motion, leaving Wilson as the sole dissenter.

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‘Worst cuts in modern history': Report warns of cuts to public service for Liberals to meet campaign promise

CTV News

39 minutes ago

CTV News

‘Worst cuts in modern history': Report warns of cuts to public service for Liberals to meet campaign promise

The federal government's deficit has grown to $7.3 billion so far this fiscal year. The Confederation building on Parliament Hill is reflected in the windows of the Bank of Canada in Ottawa on Monday, May 6, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick The Liberal government's plan to find billions of dollars in operating efficiencies would require a 24 per cent cut in public service spending and 'devastate the federal government,' according to the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Prime Minister Mark Carney's campaign platform included savings from 'increased government efficiency,' with $6 billion in savings in 2026-27 and $13 billion a year in 2028-29. The government promised $130 billion in new measures during the election campaign, including cutting the lowest marginal tax rate from 15 per cent to 14 per cent, boosting defence spending and balancing the government's operating budget. A new report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, written by economist David Macdonald, says $13 billion in savings will 'mostly be in personnel expenditures in non-defence departments,' amounting to a 24 per cent cut in government spending. 'If the prime minister follows through on his election promise, Canada's federal public service will undergo the worst spending cuts in modern history,' the report says. 'That will inevitably diminish the quality of public services.' The Liberal Party platform said the party was committed to 'capping, not cutting public service employment.' The platform promised a reduction in the use of external consultants and using Artificial Intelligence to enhance government productivity. Macdonald says Canada's pledge to boost defence spending to two per cent of GDP likely exempts the department from spending cuts, meaning spending reductions will need to come from the $89 billion in operating expenditures in other departments. Macdonald says cutting contracting out would result in $1.2 billion in savings, and 'almost of the cuts' to get $13 billion in savings will be on staffing expenditures. 'Cuts at this level wouldn't be 'capping hiring,' 'finding efficiencies using AI' or 'not replacing retiring workers.' For cuts this is deep, it would require across-the-board job losses and major service reductions,' says the report. 'In other words, if it proceeded it would represent a major disruption to federal public services and would rival the 18.9 per cent cut in operation expenditures of Paul Martin's 1995 budget as the most extreme budget slashing in Canadian history.' 'Cuts of this size, and restricted in these ways, are clearly not feasible.' In an interview on Newstalk 580 CFRA's The Morning Rush with Bill Carroll, Macdonald said the proposed spending reductions are 'likely far too big to be implemented without major impacts on services.' 'We often go through these cycles where government expands to fill a need. There were long waits at the Passport Office, you couldn't get anybody on the phone at Canada Revenue Agency – you go on a big hiring binge to fill the staff to try to fulfil these needs and now we're at the high point in the cycle where you may have actually enough staff to deal with the need and you say, 'We've got too much staff, let's cut this staff,'' Macdonald said. 'So, I think at this point we're at the high point of that cycle where you think, 'Oh, we can get efficiencies', and you cut a whole bunch of staff. And there is an impact on service, it may take a year or two to bubble up to the political level.' Macdonald says the report looks at the biggest item for savings in the Liberal platform Last month, the parliamentary budget officer said the government would need to cut the size of the federal public service to implement its campaign promises and 'respect its fiscal bottom line.' 'There were promises made during the campaign, but the real test comes in the implementation of these measures. In the campaign, the government promised to increase national defence spending, for example, $30 billion over a number of years, but it could choose to take a slightly different path, which would allow the government to post deficits that are aligned with its election pledges without cutting the public service,' Yves Giroux told CTV News Channel's Power Play. 'But it would require reducing the speed at which it implements its programs. If the government really wants to implement its program as outlined in the campaign and respect its fiscal bottom line that it also indicated in the campaign, it would mean reducing the size of the public service rather than just capping its growth.'