City Notebook: Can Hatters handle the void if the power plant shifts to MCC?

By Collin Gallant on June 14, 2025.

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Breaking up is hard to do.

That’s as true in romance as it is in habits, charting action when once-comfortable situations are suddenly not so certain.

Or, as the City of Medicine Hat and Hatters are finding out, sectioning off the power division into a stand-alone enterprise.

That runs in line with the wish of many Hatters who pen their property tax bills and wish for city departments to be run “more like a business.”

It’s also contrary to those who open their utility bills and want to chew the ear off their local elected official.

For a long time the two have been intrinsically linked.

There’s only one City Hall, which has been happy to declare itself a golden example of entrepreneurship, and its publicly owned power plant and side businesses that offset the cost of running a city.

Now, it is in the midst of advancing a decision to most of its utility operations into an arm’s length municipally controlled corporation.

Advocates say it’s a route to stabilize the power business to withstand monumental challenges – decarbonization, regulations, challenges from green energy and a changing export landscape – and hopefully survive to provide profits in the future.

Opponents hold it up as an example among many that government is shirking responsibility and elected officials just simply can’t get anything done.

The middle ground is more likely that there are nuggets of truth in both, but will Hatters or council members be able to hold both concepts in their mind simultaneously? That the world has changed, especially in the utility business, and smart or perhaps inspired and decisive action may be needed?

That, and should managing a public enterprise valued at a half-billion dollars should be a top priority?

Is it right to expect “part-time” city councillors to become masters of a new complex sector of the economy for $40,000 a year?

Many former council members have said ‘no,’ but those same councillors managed the business, or at least didn’t get in the way of managers.

Is inaction a sound strategy? On the other hand, with so much uncertainty, is a wait and see approach better?

Medicine Hat is facing big issues and serious outcomes with or without an MCC in Medicine Hat.

Hatters and council should be ready for complicated answers to complex questions and perhaps some difficult decisions.

Four years ago during an emerging election debate about selling the power plant, this column hoped that Hatters would take the opportunity to get a handle on complex concepts involved in the city’s power business.

The same column said the city should look to renew its mandate from residents vis a vis public utilities.

Today, there’s a lot of material, including several hour-long presentations and Q&A sessions posted by city administrators on the MCC and general outlook for the utility.

A public hearing on the subject is set for June 24.

There’s no better time to have that discussion.

Nothing happening?

College convocation was Friday and grad season is wrapping up.

The YMCA Cancarb River Run is Saturday, chuckwagon racing at the Stampede grounds on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon. JazzFest fires up on Tuesday and runs through next weekend.

If you prefer loud rock ‘n’ roll and heavy metal, the Alternative Waves Music festival concludes at the Mainliner Pub on Saturday.

Younger crowds should check out “Energy in Motion” at Central Park as a celebration of parks and recreation month on Saturday.

Don’t forget about Redcliff Days this weekend.

A look ahead

Council will sit Monday to debate re-inserting a composting facility that was pulled out of the city budget. The city’s initial financial report for 2025 will be presented to audit committee meeting Tuesday

100 years ago

Medicine Hat MLA William Johnson died after a short bout of illness after a history of heart problems, the News reported on June 8, 1925 – noting the sense of loss in the community for the 49-year-old Labour Party MLA and popular member of the locomotive driver’s union.

A funeral at St. Barnabas was the “largest ever staged in Medicine Hat.”

A motorist escaped with his life in Lethbridge after the automobile he was cranking to start leapt into high gear and smashed through the picture window of an insurance office.

Striking miners at a Cape Breton colliery stormed the Empire Mine and restarted a power plant that supplied the town. The strike, involving 12,000 workers, was entering its fourth Monday

For the first time since signing of 1877 treaties, leaders of the Western Plains Indian from Canada and Montana would meet at Fort Macleod in early July. The event involving Sioux, Blackfeet, Cree, Sarcee, Piegan and Assiniboine leaders would involve the creation of an alliance known as the Allied Tribes of Western Canada.

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.