City Notebook: Name games

By COLLIN GALLANT on March 25, 2023.

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant

And the winner of the best corporate renaming contest is…

Late last year, Clearstream Energy announced it would change the name of the oilfield infrastructure construction firm to… drum roll… Flint.

The back story is the former company acquired the well-known pipeline and oilfield construction company in 2019 and operated it as a subsidiary before deciding to reverse its letterhead to the more distinctive “Flint.” Bravo.

Such corporate rebranding tiddly-winks have been a pet peeve of this column’s author for a while. Last year I promised, if elected, to bar made-up names in the corporate registry, instead requiring names, locations and business-type only (eg. Bob’s Welding).

Gripe level rose to a boiling point when the Petroleum Services Association of Canada changed its name to “Enserva” last fall.

Best product name goes to Cavendish Farms, which wrote a release to let us known a consumers research firm had awarded the potato processor a product of the year award for the firm’s “All-Day Breakfast Mini Quick Cook Hash Brown Patties.” It’s certainly chock full of adjectives.

Speaking of…

McCain’s announced last week it’s doubling the size of its Coaldale potato processing plant – a $600-million investment that will see 240 new jobs added and a contract for renewable power in the region.

Potato plants are a sort of great white whale of economic development – which is back in the News in Medicine Hat recently. City council affirmed a plan to re-load the Invest Medicine Hat model this week.

It’s provincial election time in Alberta, as well as spring time, so expect to see a lot of spaghetti thrown against the wall to see what sticks.

Volunteerism

Short of time and money? You’re not the only ones.

Service clubs and charities in town have been sounding the alarm for years about a lack of members and it being harder and harder to solicit donations.

The Rotary Club of Medicine Hat recently announced it may have to reduce support for its headline annual event, the Rotary Music Festival. Every service club would be happy to welcome new members.

A report from Alberta Treasury Branches notes while donations to charity are up in Alberta, the number of people who donate is down.

About one in five Albertan tax filers gave to charity in 2021, down from one in four 25 years ago. The median donation last year rose to $550, up $40 for the year, for a total of $1.7 billion.

Here’s a thought, though.

If one out of every 10 Hatters dedicated a half hour each week (two hours per month), the cumulative effect would be the equivalent of 80 full-time workers to bolster those groups that try to make this community a better place.

It adds up.

Dauntless

Readers who love the booms and busts in historic notes may want to check out the Historic Society’s presentation this month on the boom-town-turned-ghost-town of Dauntless, south of Medicine Hat.

It happens at the Esplanade Studio Theatre on Thursday, March 30. More details at http://www.histsocmedhat.ca.

A look ahead

City council committee will hear an annual report on the city parks department on Monday, while the city’s year-end financial statements are now due before committee on April 4. The federal budget will be presented Tuesday.

100 years ago

United Farmer MLAs in the legislature “ridiculed” the idea of creating a province-owned bank, the News reported in late March 1923, despite such an endeavour being a central campaign promise 14 months earlier.

The reversal drew heaps of criticism from opposition Liberal Leader J.R. Boyle, who called on the UFA to carry out the promise or seek another mandate in an election.

P.M. Christopher Leader of the Labour Party, which had co-ordinated with farmers in the 1921 election, was also not impressed, at one point cutting off debate.

The session also featured a nay vote on banning the sale of margarine.

The Ottawa Senators won the preliminary series of a “world series” to determine the Stanley Cup champion. They would face the Edmonton’s western league entry in the final. A note to readers: Nightly results would be posted in a News office window on Sixth Avenue to benefit readers too anxious to wait for the afternoon edition.

A solution to the potential immorality of the Fox Trot was proposed by a Toronto finishing school teacher: dancers should hold between them 18-inch “dancing wands” to avoid bodily contact.

“Dancing is the rightful heritage of youth,” she told reporters. “It is only when physical contact enters into dancing that it becomes undesirable.”

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

[Editor’s Note: This version of the article corrects an error in naming a company that is expanding in the region.]