City Notebook: As if we didn’t have enough to discuss in town already…

By Collin Gallant on May 3, 2025.

Never a slow news day it Medicine Hat, it must be said, despite Ticked Off’s comments that often wonder whether the News can’t find anything better to write about.

Or, the tightly held belief that we all live in Dullsville.

Of course, the current edition of the Tigers is dynamite and getting talked up on national sports networks with more to come.

Our premier and MLA is no stranger to headlines, she practically lives in them, and similarly on the national news scale, the Conservative Party leader is about to set up shop just north of here.

Oh, sure, it’s impossible to get localized unemployment numbers from Statistics Canada, or maybe believe that much is afoot compared to Calgary or Edmonton, maybe even Lethbridge.

Mind you, how much great news do you hear coming out of those cities?

Few people have uttered, ‘Wow, they’re really doing something right in Red Deer!’ (No particular offence to Red Deer, it’s just how it goes.)

There’s a difference between being a good ‘news town’ and a ‘good news’ town, so to speak.

On the a similar front, city council received a 500-page packet Monday at a special meeting during the waning hours of the federal election last Monday. That encompassed three plans that are now log-jamming with other voluminous efforts underway at city hall. No one’s pulse has been threatened by a plan, no matter how good.

But, we are, as the constitution reminds, the land of good government.

Of course, there’s lots of separation chatter about these days, which is keeping newsrooms on their toes.

Speaking of…

As rumoured King Charles III will open parliament later this month as part of a sovereignty posture from the new Canadian government, but it’s just a two-day visit to Ottawa.

It was a scoop by freelance journalist Stephen Maher (who was in town last week poking around about Alberta independence), and quoted Carleton University professor Philippe Lagasse, a Westminster Parliamentary buff.

He said there is some question about the British government’s excitement level for the visit when they have their own trade deal to work out with the U.S.

“I don’t know if (Canada’s) settled on his $20 bill yet, but if you really wanted to lay it on thick, you could have him do a bunch of stuff, send him to the North, send him to Alberta, have him check out the military,” said Lagasse.

Now, where do the British have military interests in Canada?

Hockey talk

The Medicine Hat Tigers and Spokane Chiefs will get up close and personal in the WHL title series starting next Friday, but what of the two cities?

We get cable TV from there for some strange reason, and therefore know a lot more about them than they likely do about us.

It’s also the home of southern Alberta’s favourite U.S. college basketball team (Gonzaga), but more on this next week.

By the way, where’s Rimouski?

What’s up downtown?

The fun is a back in hockey and the Monarch Theatre appears to be perking up as well.

The enterprise now run by local Rotary clubs has held a few event-specific movies this spring – the sort of thing promised by the community hub.

It also got a bump last week hosting watch parties for the Tigers’ road playoff games, and will host a “May the Fourth” event with the original Star Wars (1977) showing on Saturday (May 3).

A look ahead

Council sits Monday with Mayor Linnsie Clark’s legal fees on the agenda, some discussion on legal indemnification and administrative salary ranges for non-union workers and managers.

100 years ago

City council was again gripped with whether the contract of Supt. Carr at the power plant should be extended, the News reported after council session lasted past midnight on May 5, 1925.

One year earlier, Carr was re-hired after a no-cause firing and a brokered deal between factions led an outside firm to survey the plant one year out. That returned showing improvements, but not enough to satisfy Ald. Hole and Simpson.

“I’ve lived up to my side of the contract,” Carr told council. “And I don’t think that you, as representatives of the citizens of Medicine Hat, would be justified in side-stepping your part of it.”

A list of commonly flouted city bylaws was distributed to school masters to use as an educational tool. Top regulations barred the riding of bicycles on sidewalks, climbing city trees, using catapults, profane language, trespassing on CPR property and vacant lots, or discharging firearms inside city limits.

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.