MLA Report: Those who say Medicine Hat is in decline are simply wrong
By Medicine Hat News Opinon on August 24, 2018.
The largest crowds in a generation that packed into the seats of Athletic Park and lined the banks of the outfield to cheer on the Medicine Hat Mavericks earlier this month was a great and heart-warming sight for our community. I’d like to thank the Mavs for an amazing season, the heightened community spirit they brought to the city and to congratulate them on behalf of grateful Hatters for winning the 2018 WMBL championship. It is events like that championship series that reflect just how united our community is and the esprit de corps Hatters share. But that feeling is not limited to baseball. It is felt by seeing the crowds of parents and their children on a beautiful evening who crowd the lawn in front of the Esplanade to take in the free Truck Stop show at the beginning of this month. The spirit of the city is reflected in the pride we feel when a visitor comes to our community during their summer vacation and remarks what a charming place Medicine Hat is. So it is with great difficulty that I strive to understand those who continue to portray our community to be in economic ruin. Someone once told me there are none so blind as those who refuse to see. There are numerous metrics that go into measuring employment data — like in July 2018, Medicine Hat had 3,500 fewer unemployed than two years prior — but at the end of the day, it is citizens of our city who know intrinsically how healthy or not our local economy is. In the past month I’ve talked to dozens if not hundreds of Hatters while attending events in our community like the opening of the new hospital expansion with Premier Rachel Notley and Health Minister Sarah Hoffman. What I saw was health staff beaming with pride over the new facility, patients who appreciated what it had to offer and a public glad to see the years of efforts to build this expansion finally rewarded. I’ve talked to hard-working, middle-class families who have appreciated not being left out when it comes to supports for child care and the hundreds of dollars they will now save each year to put back into their son’s and daughter’s development. I see our community as a safe place to live, grow up and grow old with affordable as well as accessible facilities for Hatters of all ages. Make no mistake, there are people in our community who continue to struggle, our economy has room to grow and there is always room for improvement. But those Hatters who continue to see and describe our community as going into a drastic decline are simply wrong. I don’t see how anyone can experience our parks, watch our children walk to one of the city’s newly constructed or renovated schools or experience the reconstructed Veiner Centre and say our city isn’t getting better but worse. I’m proud of our city’s past, encouraged by its present and optimistic for its future. (Bob Wanner is MLA, NDP, for Medicine Hat constituency.) 18-17
