City Notebook: Bumper crop of issues showing green shoots

By COLLIN GALLANT on March 19, 2022.

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant

Spring has sprung, and already a bumper crop of issues are showing green shoots in the City of Medicine Hat.

This week saw a city hydrogen strategy discussed. Next week sees council take back up the issue of clubs on land planned for a large industrial park, presumably to house new entries to the city’s industrial sector.

Council will also get a look at what’s been hashed out for a recreation master plan, including a boo at new facilities planning.

Friday saw some action on another issue from the fall election (remember that?).

The province announced new money for local addictions outreach programming. Hatters have been sounding the alarm about the state of social disorder in the city. Advocates are tearing their hair out trying to get action on opioid crisis which worsened across the province last year.

As well on Monday, council will hear an over of tax assessment roll, which is a big factor in local property tax bills.

The higher the overall total, the lower the millrate, and sources hint good news is on the way.

Cross-borders

As well on Monday, Cypress County officials will make a rare presentation to city council hoping to line up support as they push back against potential linear tax adjustments floated by the province to stabilize the oil and gas sector.

As it struggled mightily over the past four or five years, the patch lobbied hard for a remaking of the property tax system that is based on property value, but didn’t change bills when oil and gas prices tanked.

Now that things are rolling again, the Rural Municipalities Association is asking its members to have a word with urban counterparts, focusing on the idea that system change isn’t the way to approach sectoral supports.

That’s the same position outlined by tax assessors in the province who objected to potential political inference in their highly technical and highly regulated field.

It’s an assessment issue, meaning beyond boring for most folks, but linear accounts provide a good whack of Cypress County’s tax revenue, and the county’s argued not so long ago that they’d literally go broke with out it, no matter cuts or increases to other classes, such as residential and farmland.

Alberta, the ungovernable

It would be crass to mention the old saying that you shouldn’t get involved in a land war in Asia considering current geopolitics.

But maybe it should say don’t get bogged down as premier of Alberta.

Think about it.

Many people surmised a few years back that Jason Kenney’s move to “unite the right” and win government in Alberta was a mere career move for a federal cabinet minister prepared to step away during a Liberal government, then swoop back for a national leadership bid.

So where are we today?

Some sympathy here for COVID throwing a wrench into the promised economic recovery, but Kenney is facing a stiff leadership challenge early next month and the prize could be to run in the toughest election of his life 12 months later.

Historians will have to answer whether an Alberta gambit sunk Kenney’s career, but running this province generally hasn’t been a good career move.

At the same time, name one thing Jason Kenney has ever lost.

Supply chains

Just a hypothesis, but it may be interesting to see if or where convoy supporters land on the issue of a lockout at CP Rail.

Many said they were simply and squarely against mandates, but there are obviously many who are aggrieved by other issues, like inflation, shortages, the general state of the economy coming out of the pandemic, etc., and rail shutdown is likely to aggravate all that.

So, maybe they’ll come down against the railroad locking out workers?

Not so fast.

While many on the prairies may generally object to unions, they probably have less sympathy for railroads.

Also to consider is that as for convoy supporters, there’s some connection to the United we Roll or Yellow Vest protests from a few years ago. That’s an assumption, but they sport the same paraphernalia and have the same beefs with Ottawa in general, specifically Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

That earlier group came out against workers locked out at the Co-op refinery in Regina in 2020 and set up counterprotests to picket lines at the Carseland fuel depot, much to the delight of Federated Co-op officials.

As for the Teamsters, who represent truckers and rail workers, they’ve made it clear they aren’t aligned with protests.

But can anyone guess where public opinion will fall these days?

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.