City Notebook: Not-so-secret Black Hat Gang one group that will eat up an Alberta Bill of Rights

By Collin Gallant on October 26, 2024.

The Alberta Bill Of Rights is on the agenda when the legislature resumes Monday, which should lead to more than cream being aded to the coffee of the “Black Hat Gang” in Medicine Hat.

The mysterious group is being credited with focusing Premier Danielle Smith’s agenda on the idea of strengthening what’s largely an aspirational document without much weight of precedence or legal authority.

Not that Smith has to be pushed very hard, we think.

Positioning Alberta as a larger part of the Confederational equation was job No. 1 for the United Conservative leader.

Enter the Black Hatters, identities of whom are easy to decipher for any Hatter with eyes, judging from reporting that arose this summer on the push for adding property and gun rights, “life, liberty, property and the pursuit of happiness” and “informed consent” on medical issues, likely code for vaccines.

If pics are to be believed, the group includes local longtime politico Ian Parkinson and former MP Lavar Payne (who never fails to get a shoutout from Smith when she addresses a crowd in the Hat), along with Scott Payne, the MP’s son, among others.

The group has become a bit camera shy since a CBC columnist first detailed the push in August, but beyond the “no official comment” stance, your author has discerned the work stems out of a sort of coffee klatch that arose during the pandemic. Some conservative actors noted long ago that Constitutional conventions (those things not specifically written, but done as practice) could be changed or deleted, so why not add some?

The gang’s political work seems based on the work of former Alberta finance minister Ted Morton, who’s having a revival of his own of late and was here not that long ago.

Morton was part of the “Calgary School” of conservative academics at the University of Calgary’s Political Science Department, which helped pen the so-called “firewall” letter with then researcher Stephen Harper.

The department also claims Smith, Pierre Poilievre and Ezra Levant as alumni (as well as Naheed Nenshi, by the way, and in the interests of full disclosure, your author).

Hometown characters

This issue includes a nice tribute to Fred Beaupre, former Zamboni operator at the Medicine Hat Arena years ago, whose memorial service is set for Sunday.

It brings to mind a good saying from another old character of Medicine Hat, Pete Mossey, who said in a piece about the 100th anniversary of the News in 1985 that one constant is “newspapering is about people.”

It also raises a good question: There are TV channels dedicated to fireplaces, aquariums, sunsets and even roasting turkeys, so why not Zambonis?

A look ahead

The initial business plan for the city’s energy production units will be the focus of a long-planned council committee of the whole Wednesday, about one week after a mid-year financial report showed steep decline in dividends from the power plant.

A “community wellness plan” ordered by council in the 203-24 budget will be discussed at Monday’s public services committee. An action list is due before the end of the year.

The provincial legislature resumes sitting Monday, also.

A warm weekend presents a perhaps final chance to get the yard put away.

Halloween is Thursday, so Boo!

100 years ago

Modern technology would knit Canada tighter together, further uniting the regions as one, prime minister MacKenzie King told a Chamber of Commerce Luncheon in Medicine Hat on Oct. 30, 1924.

The packed Cecil Hotel crowd heard from the prime minister in pre-election mode that the Liberal Party would protect interest of all Canadians as the traditional geographic barriers to trade fell in the coming modern age.

King also provided an address at the Empress Theatre and visited the high school during the tour stop in the city.

The Medicine Hat junior “Barber Poles” would compete in the Alberta Amateur Hockey Association in the coming season, while a local city loop could feature four teams.

A meeting of farmers in the RM of Excelsior, surrounding Medicine Hat, suggested voiding four-year-old liens placed after seed loans as a relief measure in light of persistent drought.

“When you are tired and thirsty drink Silver Spray Beer – the healthy drink!” available at the Medicine Hat Branch, the Standard Bottling Co. on Park Drive.

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.