MLA Report: Hargrave had commitment to the land

By Medicine Hat News Opinon on October 27, 2017.

Our community has experienced devastating disasters this month with one of our rural neighbours suffering serious injuries, the tragic passing of community advocate James Hargrave and major damage to homes, properties and infrastructure all caused by a series of grass fires.

For Hatters, it’s hard not to be at least familiar with the Hargrave family name that has been synonymous with the city since its inception more than a century ago.

For me personally, I came to know James following my election as Medicine Hat MLA.

I came to know James as a man whose personal politics began and ended with protecting the land of southeastern Alberta and those individuals whose livelihood was dependent on the healthy rangelands of the shortgrass prairie.

His commitment to the land and people of southeastern Alberta would not allow him to be pigeonholed into partisan politics.

He was equal parts environmentalist and land-rights advocate who was able to show to his fellow Albertans that you could be both without comprising either.

The outpouring of condolences from across the political spectrum is a testament to James’ support, first and foremost, to southeastern Albertans.

It will come as no surprise to anyone who knew James that he died as he lived — protecting the rangeland that was so dear to him and generations of his family.

The coming days and weeks will be a time of grieving for the family and friends of James but I hope our community will come together to find a way to mark the legacy of this young man whose contributions to Alberta are so many.

Medicine Hat economic outlook

The three-year trend in Medicine Hat’s employment numbers is continuing its steady rise upwards, according to the latest city-specific Statistics Canada jobs report.

Between September 2015 and 2017, the actual number of Hatters employed has risen by 4,500 while the unemployment rate has dipped from 6.4 per cent to 4.9 per cent over the same period.

Data from Statistics Canada also reflects an increase in the participation rate of the Medicine Hat labour force from 54 per cent to 61 percent between 2015 and 2017.

Another bright spot for southeastern Alberta is the near completion of the Brooks solar farm which is now the largest such energy project in Western Canada, topping the Bassano-area Green Acres generation facility as the biggest in the province.

The Brooks solar project will produce enough energy to power half the homes in the Centennial City on an annual basis while maintaining a footprint that is shared by pump jacks and gas wells.

Southeastern Alberta is blessed with an abundance of energy resources — gas, oil, solar, wind — and the continued development of all of them need not come at the expense of any specific source.

The trickle of sustainable electricity generation projects is poised to turn into a steady stream that will provide employment for skilled workers and contracts for local companies in Medicine Hat — Alberta’s Energy Central.

Bob Wanner is MLA (NDP) for the Medicine Hat constituency.

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