City money locked in limbo
By COLLIN GALLANT on June 22, 2019.
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant Barring an emergency ratification of the North American free trade deal, the House of Commons is done its business for the spring and likely before the October election. That means that the pre-campaign period of program and spending announcements should begin soon (indeed, some say, it’s underway). However, the lining up of elections may indeed lead to less money for the time being, for the City of Medicine Hat. Follow the bouncing ball: The federal government announced a one-time doubling of the Federal Gas Tax Grant for municipalities in the spring budget. The program (that gave Medicine Hat $3.5 million for infrastructure projects in 2018), is administered by the province. The province needs to pass a budget to get the money out, and new premier Jason Kenney says the budget won’t be updated or passed until the fall. This begs the question of whether the UCP will make a special effort to get a deal with the Trudeau government so it can hand out a bunch of money before the federal vote. Delaying it would seemingly stall a number of projects that could get Albertans back to work. That was the criticism, anyway, that was launched at the NDP government when an infrastructure fund agreement was delayed a few years back. As well, Canadians are seeing an unprecedented level of co-ordination between Conservative premiers. Ontario Premier Doug Ford has essentially closed that province’s legislature until the late fall. The move, observers say, could be timed to keep Ford out of the headlines until after Andrew Scheer makes the case for a Conservative government in Ottawa. As for federal money flowing this summer, the rumour mill gives evidence that an announcement for southeast Alberta region is in the offing, likely related to the environment and municipal services. Grocery guessing Speaking of rumours, one is circulating again about the future Safeway in the Medicine Hat Mall. The same worrisome chatter circulated in 2012 when the theory was the grocer would takeover the old Canadian Tire location (How’s that for nostalgia?), though actually, Canadian Tire, did. This time however, Safeway owner Sobeys is re-evaluating locations it leases in an effort to streamline the massive network created by the mega merger several years ago. Grocery shoppers may have their interest piqued, but demanding answers is the union representing Safeway workers in talks to replace a long outstanding contract. What’s not clear, says the United Food And Commercial Workers, Local No. 401, are company plans to bring in discount store brands, such as FreshCo. that would affect its members. This month they called on the company to bargain in good faith and disclose potential locations that might be on the block or see formats switch. For the record, the firm owns outright in Medicine Hat the Southeast Hill location, and, probably, the closed-down Crescent Heights space. It operates a total of five stores in Medicine Hat, counting IGA, Sobeys and Safeway. A look ahead Most city meetings are closed this week, but the whole city is prepping for the annual Canada Day celebration. Sunday also marks the sixth anniversary of the 2013 flood. In Calgary they celebrate “Neighbour Day” to commemorate the disaster there. Why not say hi to the folks on your block as an act of solidarity? 100 years ago Local union members voted to donate a day’s wages toward a legal fund set up to defend Winnipeg strike leaders who had been arrested for mediation following rioting in that city, the News reported on June 22, 1919. The Treaty of Versailles was a “peace of violence” declared leaders of the Wiemar Republic who were preparing to sign the peace treaty that imposed harsh reparations on Germany. Efforts were afoot to revive the city’s lacrosse team after a challenge to a match was received from Lethbridge. Weddings in Alberta during 1918 featured 32 brides aged either 15 or 16, according to a vital statistics report that was set to be published by the province. About 4,000 weddings took place, according to the report, and the most popular age for brides was 20-24 and 25 to 29 for grooms. Interestingly, the number of deaths nearly doubled from the previous year to 7,921. The increase of about 3,000 was attributed almost entirely to the Spanish influenza epidemic. A constable in Sutton, England was killed when 400 Canadian soldiers in the area – and upset about orders to head back to France – stormed a police station to free two comrades who had been jailed for fighting. In the region, 800 attendees took in the Winnifred Agricultural Fair. Collin Gallant covers city politics and a variety of topics for the News. Reach him at 403-528-5664 or cgallant@medicinehatnews.com 33-32
