Letter: Council needs to canvass hard on behalf of Medicine Hat
By Letter to the Editor on April 19, 2022.
Dear editor, It has been six months since the new city council was elected. I decided not to comment on any proceedings or actions the new council took until I felt they had sufficient time to adjust. This new council has done nothing substantive to alleviate the problems facing the citizens of Medicine Hat. We have seen that Medicine Hat’s growth over the previous five years was 11 people, which is a negative growth when considering normal birth and death rates. The council seems to be stuck listening to the same people who delivered Medicine Hat to our current position. For too long, Medicine Hat has mistaken luck with talent. Medicine Hat was built on a giant gas field, which brought much wealth to the city for many years; the British forces set up an extensive training presence at Suffield. These situations were just luck of location and had nothing to do with planning or positioning. The recent windfalls in our energy sector have little to do with planning but are short-term luck that will go negative again. The power price was affected by the shutting down of two major coal-fired plants, and the gas/oil is due to war. It is time for the city to stop chasing the flavour of the day and develop a high-level plan to ensure an adequate support system for industry to locate in our area. This would include having the Wild Horse crossing changed to an EDI crossing with extended hours, allowing access to the rail yards in Havre, and having Highway 3 twinned from Medicine Hat to Lethbridge. You only need to look at our competition, Lethbridge, and ask yourself what location you would select if you were relocating. I call on the current council to canvass hard on behalf of the city and the other government levels to ensure Medicine Hat gets recognized. The previous councils have waited until someone comes to Medicine Hat to explain our situation. In June 2020, Lethbridge received $28 million for expanding its Exhibition Park, and this year we received $1 million. This is directly related to Lethbridge city council taking an active contact approach and setting up meetings with ministers in Edmonton. The road to Edmonton goes two ways. We do not need to rely on someone coming to the Hat. We can go to them. Alan Rose Medicine Hat 12-11
