City Notebook: If you build it, who’d apply?

By COLLIN GALLANT on September 24, 2022.

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant

“It’s the economy, stupid,” has been the winning strategy of more than a few political campaigns and is the current sizzle of couple more.

Local to the Hat, calls for new “smokestack” industries and the city’s excruciating efforts to bring new jobs has dominated politics here for 10 years.

That’s even while regional unemployment sank below 4 per cent over the summer, though joblessness, or perhaps job prospects, remains a top concern for the public.

So, it was interesting news from afield this week as de Havilland Aircraft plans to build an airfield and manufacturing plant for water bombers in Wheatland County east of Calgary. The number here is 1,500 jobs.

As well, Canadian Premium Sand is proposing to build a solar panel manufacturing facility in Selkirk, Man., near Winnipeg, and bring 300 jobs to the community that’s a short jump to Winnipeg.

Sure, Medicine Hat has the hydrogen strategy, and a near one-year-old council has endorsed a workforce strategy.

Mayor Linnsie Clark talks about small wins to build momentum, rather than swinging for the fences every time.

But, Hatters can be impatient. Recall that the city is already once-bitten in attempts to lure private jet makers here.

We’re seemingly at the centre of the Canadian solar system, but white collar and manufacturing jobs have eluded the region.

While it’s fun to imagine workers buying homes in rural hamlets near the plants, it’s easier to imagine a large available workforce of city dwelling engineers, machinists, etc. not minding a half-hour commute to Selkirk or just past Chestermere.

The never-quite-official jobs estimate at the Aurora Sun cannabis plant ranged from 300 to up to 600. It has always been a question in my mind whether they could fill that, or keep it filled.

How many in the oilpatch would have signed up for $20-an-hour position at the pot plant? How many would have stayed through another oil boom? Who would have replaced them?

The meat plant in Brooks has offered similar, going-rate wages for decades, but has relied on foreign workers and migrants to fill 2,500 positions on the production line.

Mind you Goodyear, and even Witke, 15 years earlier, rarely had troubles outside the peaks of oil booms to attract workers.

But there’s a larger discussion required about population, demographics and skills needed in this region.

Quick ones

– The WHL hockey season opened Friday night with some interesting facts from longtime hobby statistician and league commentator Alan Caldwell. He notes the average Medicine Hat Tiger player on a revamped roster stands a hair over six-feet and weighs 180 pounds. These kids are high-school aged, remember. That that puts them in the top-five in the WHL for size of a team whose DNA was typically small and speedy over the years.

– Regionally, the Siksika Nation, near Gleichen, will form its own police force, it was announced Friday. The reserve and the nearby town also figure prominently in a broadband announcement which includes Queenstown in the remote southern portion of the province.

A look ahead

It’s hockey season, but also expect some news about the plan to develop the Medicine Hat Arena site this coming week. It’s been a while since there was an official update on a potential sale to a housing developer, but there are new zoning rules and development subsidy programs in place.

100 years ago

Charles Pingle was named president of the newly formed Medicine Hat Hockey Association, the News reported on Sept. 30, 1922, after several weeks of meetings to form a local league.

The initial four teams would be formed by the Great War Veterans Association, the Hedley Shaw Mill, the Fire Dept and the high school.

The sons of former German Kaiser Wilhelm officially opposed his upcoming marriage, concerned with how it may affect the eventual disposition of an estate estimated at 20 million marks.

Revolutionary military factions in Greece had gained control of several ships, and an edict demanded the dissolution of the national assembly.

In Alberta, new game hunting regulations which prohibited the sale of meat obtained through licences left sportsmen wondering if hotel keepers would be kept from providing roast duck or goose to their sportsmen guests.

Construction of breeding pens of the Silver Black Fox Company had begun in Medicine Hat.

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