City Notebook: You break it, you’ve bought it
By COLLIN GALLANT on August 19, 2023.
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant A provincial pause on new wind and solar approvals is provoking predictable reactions, and it’s further predicted here the whole affair will likely be a home run for the United Conservatives. And, that’s even if there’s some daylight between good policy and good politics. It goes without saying that Albertans are at their limit with the electricity system – their part in it is to receive larger and larger bills, it seems. And have little patience to learn more about how the how things works. Ask a Hatter and you’ll find deep hunger for a discount, but little appetite for an explanation. So, while the obvious implication that green energy is causing current record prices in Alberta is highly debatable, the six-month halt is the sort of thing most can wrap their heads around. First, this is the sort of off-the-cuff action from the UCP that drives academics and the opposition NDP crazy, which itself provides ammo for the conservative base. Second, renewable firms are flocking here for a reason – to make huge money alongside gas-fired utilities – and that’s unlikely to stop unless the market changes. Third, projects that would be built in 2024, 2025 and 2026 are still approved, and the pause ends in early 2024 when three, probably four new or recommissioned gas plants come back online. So why the freakout? Perhaps it’s that Albertans wake up nearly every day to a new government statements about the dreadful, economy-crushing results of red tape or regulatory delay. And the New Democrats are right to roll their eyes over the wild back and forth regarding the power grid. In 2019, Jason Kenney solved the riddle of attracting investment and soothing the party base by saying the market should decide on renewables. Just last year, the UCP enacted power line regs that promoted building pretty much whatever, wherever as long as it expanded generating capacity. Now Smith is also hinting at stabilizing the market with some sort of capacity market measures… like those the NDP suggested in 2017. Of course, all that requires an explanation. If prices fall by the time the review is up in February, the ball may leave the park. If not, there will still be a lot of angry Albertans. Said it best There were lots of laughs and more than a few tears at Thursday’s memorial service for former alderman John Hamill. The rascally old politician, radio host, businessman, army captain and civic booster died Aug. 1 at age 86 (according to one of his birth certificates). He was laid to rest at St. Margaret’s Church in the Cypress Hills on Friday. Included in the eulogy given by friend and fellow Shriner Eldon Wells was a tribute from council colleague Ken Sauer: “John gave the impression of being tough, and he was,” it read. “But as they say, if a man loves his dog there must be some softness. And there was.” Donations in lieu of flowers should be directed to the SPCA. Congrats To the Medicine Hat Mavericks who posted a major turnaround this season but lost in the Western Canadian Major Baseball League final on Thursday in Okotoks. The Dawgs outscored the Mavs 30-17 in the three-game final series, lending evidence to the fact that there’s never enough pitching in the summer league that often sees college players put on limited pitch counts or sent back to school when the playoffs roll around. A look ahead City council will kick off again Monday following a break in early August. When last we left our elected officials they were debating a trap-and-spay bylaw and changes that would increase the prominence of committee work. 100 years ago The first branch of the Alberta Wheat pool was established at Coronation in an overnight meeting of producers worried that extended deliberations by the province would miss the 1923 crop, the News reported in mid-August 1923. The creation of an “Alberta cooperative Wheat Pool” was generally supported in the legislature and by the United Farmers Government. Final details of the Coronation UFA association enterprise were hammered out at a meeting that began on a Tuesday night and concluded at 8 a.m. on Wednesday. U.S. President Warren G. Harding died in office at Seattle following a brief illness. Workers at Carnegie Steel mills won an 8-hour work day in talks with the U.S. Steel subsidiary (down from 12) as well as a 25 per cent hourly raise to balance the change in wage. The American League banned the use of the “Crawford Bat” that slugger Babe Ruth had used successfully that season. The instrument, designed by former Tigers’ batsman Sam Crawford, was actually four separate boards glued and turned on a lathe. 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 37-36
