NEWS FILE PHOTO Medicine Hat City Hall is seen in this file photo. The head of the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association says while understands Medicine Hat city council's decision to boycott a conference in Quebec City, taking the province's message of resource development to Eastern Canada has its benefits.
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant
The head of an Alberta municipalities lobby group says he respects a decision by Medicine Hat council to show support for the oil patch by boycotting a national conference in Quebec City this month.
However, Barry Morishita says municipalities have an opportunity to “depoliticize” conversation about responsible resource development by attending such events and making a push face to face.
“Municipalities are free to do what they want, and I understand why (Medicine Hat councillors) would choose to do that,” said Morishita, mayor of Brooks and head of the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association, which could have about 500 of its members attend.
“I think in the long term more impact will be felt as a result of something AUMA is doing, which is a campaign to support Canadian energy, and talk about what it means to all of Canada and in turn, hear why there are some objections.”
Medicine Hat council members voted 9-0 against sending delegates to the annual gathering of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities at the end of May.
Citing equalization and a stance by Quebec provincial government to oppose new pipeline development, local councillors said it wasn’t in the interests of the city, or its oil and gas production business, to send delegates.
Mayor Ted Clugston also said he had thought a wider boycott, led by the Alberta cities association, would have sent a louder message.
“I think they considered it quite frankly, but their position is to go in force and make the presence of Alberta known,” said Clugston.
Most councillors across Alberta are generally left to decide which conferences they attend, but Morishita says he hasn’t heard of other local governments taking a blanket stance against attending.
“We determined that it made a lot more sense to engage all municipalities across the country in the conversation about responsible resource development,” he said.
“One of the problems is that there’s over-politicization and polarization about the issues … At the end of the day it effects individual municipalities and the people who live there. Factual conversations aren’t happening, and municipalities should be leading that.”
At AUMA’s request, the issue of resource development will be discussed in one of three major morning sessions at the three-day conference in the Quebec capital city that typically includes addresses from national party leaders.
Hat Coun. Brian Varga said the boycott was about making a statement.
“We’re hoping it shows a little bit of support for our oil and gas industry in southeast Alberta,” said Coun. Brian Varga, who moved the boycott motion. “Are there pros and cons? Of course there are. Some people may think we’re crazy not to go and protest (prime minister Justin Trudeau) right when he’s speaking.”
At last year’s conference in Halifax, delegates from Alberta cities made up the second largest contingent by province.
Morishita said that considering the next three FCM conferences will be held in Eastern Canad,a a “prolonged dialogue” over that time could move the conversation forward.
It seems to be a “cut off your nose to spite your face” situation. I believe we would be better represented with an individual representing Medicine Hat, Southern Alberta. We cannot have effective dialog if we aren’t there, and if we don’t show up, will we be missed?
Les Landry
4 years ago
I agree with AUMA President Barry Morishita.
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Why AUMA will not boycott the FCM Conference in Quebec
Message from AUMA President Barry Morishita
For the past several weeks, I have heard a lot of chatter about municipalities considering boycotting the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) conference taking place in Quebec, including the City of Medicine Hat, who recently announced their decision not to attend.
While I respect their decision, it is unfortunate they have chosen to forego the event based on the comments made by Quebec Premier Francois Legault. We should not assume Premier Legault’s words hold true for the municipal leaders in Quebec. There are many times municipalities in our province disagree with the provincial government. In fact, much of the advocacy work we do at AUMA is based on trying to get our own government to understand the municipal perspective, to acknowledge our role, to realize how the decisions they make impact our communities, and that the provincial voice is not our voice.
Attending FCM in Quebec is an opportunity to have peer-to-peer conversations with leaders across Canada about responsible resource development – both renewable and non-renewable. It’s not just about oil and gas. It’s not just about pipelines. AUMA, along with Rural Municipalities of Alberta (RMA), Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM), Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association (SUMA), and other municipal associations across Canada are coming together to coordinate the Support Canadian Energy campaign as part of the FCM conference. We are doing this to set the framework for us to engage in two-way conversations with other leaders across the country, not only to hear the Alberta perspective but for us to hear their perspectives as well.
A respectful debate cannot happen if we are not all at the table. We cannot learn and understand from each other if we shut down the conversation before it can even occur. Boycotting FCM is taking a firm position and saying there is no interest in participating in a respectful debate in pursuit of achieving a common understanding about how resource development – not just oil and gas – benefits and impacts our communities.
From my travels last summer, I saw how different the communities are within the province, and yet in many ways, we are the same. The same is true in communities across this country. We all have unique perspectives that are important to share, and some of those perspectives will differ greatly. But we need to understand those differences so we can create an understanding of how we – as municipal leaders – can support a responsible energy industry that benefits our communities and Canada as a whole.
That the FCM conference is in Quebec is merely location. What is key is coming together to have these conversations, regardless of where they occur. We need to build bridges, not walls. Everything that happens in Canada happens in our communities, and it is important we have a role in the conversations regarding all resource development.
It seems to be a “cut off your nose to spite your face” situation. I believe we would be better represented with an individual representing Medicine Hat, Southern Alberta. We cannot have effective dialog if we aren’t there, and if we don’t show up, will we be missed?
I agree with AUMA President Barry Morishita.
~
Why AUMA will not boycott the FCM Conference in Quebec
Message from AUMA President Barry Morishita
For the past several weeks, I have heard a lot of chatter about municipalities considering boycotting the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) conference taking place in Quebec, including the City of Medicine Hat, who recently announced their decision not to attend.
While I respect their decision, it is unfortunate they have chosen to forego the event based on the comments made by Quebec Premier Francois Legault. We should not assume Premier Legault’s words hold true for the municipal leaders in Quebec. There are many times municipalities in our province disagree with the provincial government. In fact, much of the advocacy work we do at AUMA is based on trying to get our own government to understand the municipal perspective, to acknowledge our role, to realize how the decisions they make impact our communities, and that the provincial voice is not our voice.
Attending FCM in Quebec is an opportunity to have peer-to-peer conversations with leaders across Canada about responsible resource development – both renewable and non-renewable. It’s not just about oil and gas. It’s not just about pipelines. AUMA, along with Rural Municipalities of Alberta (RMA), Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM), Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association (SUMA), and other municipal associations across Canada are coming together to coordinate the Support Canadian Energy campaign as part of the FCM conference. We are doing this to set the framework for us to engage in two-way conversations with other leaders across the country, not only to hear the Alberta perspective but for us to hear their perspectives as well.
A respectful debate cannot happen if we are not all at the table. We cannot learn and understand from each other if we shut down the conversation before it can even occur. Boycotting FCM is taking a firm position and saying there is no interest in participating in a respectful debate in pursuit of achieving a common understanding about how resource development – not just oil and gas – benefits and impacts our communities.
From my travels last summer, I saw how different the communities are within the province, and yet in many ways, we are the same. The same is true in communities across this country. We all have unique perspectives that are important to share, and some of those perspectives will differ greatly. But we need to understand those differences so we can create an understanding of how we – as municipal leaders – can support a responsible energy industry that benefits our communities and Canada as a whole.
That the FCM conference is in Quebec is merely location. What is key is coming together to have these conversations, regardless of where they occur. We need to build bridges, not walls. Everything that happens in Canada happens in our communities, and it is important we have a role in the conversations regarding all resource development.
Barry Morishita
https://auma.ca/news/why-auma-will-not-boycott-fcm-conference-quebec?fbclid=IwAR3eQqzB58ZygCYfpkKFTeZd1wYExYzHPxYdbRdYt2QstXJCEF9RxTNVP5c