City Notebook: It’s a big deal, even if we aren’t enthused about it

By COLLIN GALLANT on October 22, 2022.

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant

Rate your level of excitement for the coming byelection, and be honest.

Granted, not much in politics is fun anymore, but on the range of 1-10, we’re sensing a drag to the bottom in the current race that’s just two week’s old and two weeks from completion.

You can’t tell by counting signs anymore. You can’t tell online as everyone you disagree with is hidden.

Some Hatters will be very glad to cast ballots for a new premier, a conservative candidate is a conservative stronghold.

Others will be pleased to vote against Danielle Smith, who’s certainly stamping her brand on the province off the hop.

Smith also spent part of the week in a caucus retreat to help heal any wounds that may be lingering from the leadership contest that might not be best described as bruising, but certainly highlighted apparent differences of opinion. That puts it mildly, too.

Alberta’s two major parties are holding AG’s and policy conferences this weekend.

Will the race liven up here when those proceedings are complete?

Will it be waged on blogs and nightly news casts from the major cities? Will it be won on the doorstep? Even in an age of social-media campaigning?

It will be interesting.

Highway 3

At least part of the final work to twin Highway 3 appears to be done deal.

Word arrives through a semi-official grapevine that the Alberta Treasury Board approved cash in September for 120 kms of twinning. The solid source, who has no skin in the game and no reason to lie, states the announcement is under wraps until Ottawa’s share of the money is secured.

Dates are important to note here, though, along with the fact there is a new premier looking to win a seat at one end of Highway 3, and a new transportation minister trying to keep his seat at the other.

In the region

The Foremost Community Pool needs $200,000 in repairs or it won’t open next spring, village manager Marylin Hirsche told the Prairie Post this week. They’re looking for donations and grants to make it happen, but so far the search hasn’t turned up much (hint hint hint).

Further out, it’s election time for half the seats in Saskatchewan’s rural municipalities in early November. And we’re attempting to compile a list of any races forming in the southwest portion of the province, but it’s slow going as the hundreds of RMs slowly post their notices. Traditionally, most divisions are acclaimed.

Out and about

Just when this column asked “Isn’t it Oktoberfest?” last week, we see Oktoberfest will be held Saturday night at the Stampede Grounds.

Also, there’s some buzz growing about the Tigers’ Nov. 11 game that will be broadcast nationally on TSN. It’s sure to feature some Remembrance Day observance, and potentially the reappearance of star prospect Gavin McKenna – as well it’s a debut for the seven-year-old Co-op Place on national television.

Some will see the broadcast as a perfect way to watch a game for free, but do Hatters really want the nation’s junior hockey fans to note empty seats in a great big building?

A look ahead

A plan for the city to sell the Monarch Theatre has apparently been dashed, and an update on the plan forward for the historic theatre will be discussed at Monday’s public services committee meeting.

The long dry summer is coming to an end, according to most forecasts that predict minus-6 overnight on Sunday. Time to roll up the hose, folks.

100 years ago

“The Redcliff field is lost to us forever,” stormed a News editorial on Oct.. 18, 1922, “(city council’s) negligence as been criminal in effect and its reaction on the city’s interests is not pleasant to complement.”

A year-long controversy, the province would agree to the allow Calgary Gas Co. to access the Redcliff field and pipe it to the major centre, Premier Herbert Greenfield announced.

A negotiated settlement on the thorny issue would also moderate exports to the larger city to provide “the necessity of reasonable protections to industries already established in Medicine Hat,” he concluded.

The News’s opinion differed, stating council could have moved in 1921 to acquire the field and then was unwilling to back a counter bid put together by local industrialist H.C. Yuill, C.S. Pingle and C.E. Pratt.

Two men from North Dakota were arrested in Gull Lake believed to be part of the bandit gang know for cutting telephone lines to towns before hitting the local bank.

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