City notebook: Seriously though, you’ll find it here first
By Collin Gallant on October 6, 2018.
Jim Bertram was named to the Methanex board of directors this week, and Bob Nicolay took over the reins as the City of Medicine Hat’s chief administrator this week. So, the obvious next question is, “what’s Brian Keating up to?” Keating, the Hat-raised, Calgary-based wildlife specialist, joined the other gentlemen in a three-part interview series titled “future shift” in our 2016 regional report on business. Nicolay discussed the future of utility sector, Bertram the oilpatch outlook, and Keating tourism. Fast forward to today, where you can read a scoop in this edition about Bertram brought to you exclusively by your local newspaper. Today is also the end of National Newspaper Week, during which local papers across Canada took the unusual step of promoting our contributions to the community. It’s a funny thing to have to do in an era when calls to “shop local” or “support local” are ever-present, but, here we are. Personally, I’ve always considered the best advertisement for the News to be the News itself. Your friends on Facebook didn’t tell you Jim Bertram’s thoughts on Methanex expansion first. The News did. And they wouldn’t be if the News didn’t first. Nor did they figure out marijuana production facilities won’t pay property taxes by 2022 (the way the News did last week), or that the Manyberries oil field would be threatened by environmental restrictions (the way the News did first in 2013), or any number of scoops in between. We will mention here that if you read the News’s 2016 report on the region you’d be two years smarter than your friends on social media are today. That’s not a bad return on the investment of less than a buck a day for subscribers. Oh, Keating’s blog notes he spent time in Waterton Lakes and Tanzania this summer, but stay tuned. No guts, no green One major question arising from Thursday’s release of 17 AGLC interim cannabis retail licences is, “Where in the world are the chain stores?” In Medicine Hat, three locally owned, independent businesses are one the list. Calgary has two, and Edmonton six, and only three companies angling to set up retail networks were successful. The suggestion has always been that these well-oiled enterprises were going to make a big move to corner the market, but none will be operating locally on Oct. 17. Hat businessman Patrick Wallace, who did obtain a licence and will add a cannabis outlet to his fleet of three independent liquor stores, has a theory about that. Considering the process and relative uncertainty of obtaining a licence, larger companies are waiting to get the licence before sinking major construction dollars into properties. Independents made a bigger gamble, says Wallace, and are rewarded. “That’s the power of local enterprise,” he concludes. As for the chain, they most certainly are coming. Liquor Depot owner, Alcanna, has said they envision having 37 stores in Alberta. Of note here, is that provincial regulators won’t allow any single company to hold more than 15 per cent of the cannabis licences in Alberta. A look ahead A special Tuesday-edition of the public services committee will be held in the late afternoon to discuss possible make-up of a public-use cannabis bylaw. That issue was sent back to committee this week, and it was suggested the meeting time be adjusted to allow more councillors input. 100 years ago The recently liberated territory of Palestine will be administered by France and England while a scheme of self-government is developed, newspapers in Paris reported. That route had been laid out in an agreement between the Entente powers, including Russia in 1916, In other war news, Bulgaria requested armistice terms in a telegraph to Paris. A portion of Hillside Cemetery was designated as a veterans section after a request from the Great War Veterans Association. Earl J. Gillett, of Cutback Coulee Farm south of Whitla, would compete for the $500 challenge cup for best half-bushel of Spring wheat offered by the CPR at Kansas City later in October. Train inspectors at North Bay seized a boxcar consigned for a shipment of pickles when it was discovered that the glass jar contained liquor. City council discussed a further stage of a civic beautification program involving the extension of the CPR gardens and cleanup around the station. It was remarked that the full benefit of a tree-planting campaign launched one decade earlier were now coming into full display. Collin Gallant covers city politics and a variety of topics for the News. Reach him at 403-528-5664 or via email at cgallant@medicinehatnews.com 33-32
