City Notebook: Is a stint at premier and two failed retries enough for Notley as leader?
By COLLIN GALLANT on December 9, 2023.
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant Was it really nine years ago that this column detailed the growing excitement inside the Alberta New Democratic party for new leader Rachel Notley? In Nov. 2014, most eyes were on new PC party leader Jim Prentice. He was set to enter the Alberta Legislature as premier, when about three dozen NDPers gathered at the Connaught Golf Club to hear their leader suggest winning the next general election was possible. Now, that could have been something a third-place party leader is required to say, but the crowd believed it. About six months later, most of the province couldn’t believe it. Nine years later, it’s still a bad dream for Alberta’s conservatives who spend an amazing amount of energy and ink obsessively warning voters about a repeat. Many, when cornered, will admit that getting a female leader was a key consideration to counter Notley – thereby negating the chance of another “math is hard” incident from Prentice in the 2015 election debate. But, reports are suggesting Notley’s time as Opposition leader could be coming to an end after winning the 2015 election, including a seat in Medicine Hat, and losing the 2023 vote, including a Medicine Hat riding to Danielle Smith. A party leadership contest would follow, and just like the last year’s United Conservative Party contest, it could all have major implications for politics in this province. Adding it up More and more often these days, things just don’t seem to add up. Case in point is the city’s Fair Entry Utility Credit, which suffered in 2023 from a lack of applications and will continue in 2024 with leftover funds. Are thousands of low-income Hatters who could qualify really leaving a $1,200 subsidy on their utility bill on the table? (This is apart from the $800 credit to homeowners given to all this autumn). We spent the entire summer hearing tales of hard times and record bills. And, while the income level is quite low, it’s easy, if not sad, to believe many Hatters are below the bar. A single breadwinner for a family of four qualifies if they earn less than $23 per hour working full-time. The Post The closure of the Post thrift store last week doesn’t look good from any angle. For 40 years it helped sustain the local Canadian Mental Health Association operation. It’s the great, perhaps wishful, hope that social service agencies should be industrious and exist without set operational funding from government. That it can’t, in this case, should not stain the programming provided in the community. Mental health supports, which everyone including government continuously promotes, are critical, especially in Medicine Hat. What becomes of that local programming? Can it be done well from Lethbridge? That said, there is an important note to how the closure was handled. It’s an admirable thing to volunteer for a local board that’s helping to address local problems, and more so to step up when problems invariably arise. That’s the position Carol Hillson was in last week when, after just 18 months on the board, she was lone person in the entire CMHA-Alberta organization with the fortitude or sense of duty to answer reporters’ questions as best she could. Decision date? A petition calling for Mayor Linnsie Clark to be removed from office is due at the end of business on Monday afternoon, but figures (it needs 26,000 signatures to be successful) may not be known until it is examined and certified. “Needless to say I’m looking forward to finding out the results, but we probably won’t know on Dec. 11,” Clark told the News this week. Overall, she said of the effort that formally began 60 days ago, “It’s important to encourage respectful discourse.” A look ahead Council’s public services committee will discuss work that’s been done to date on a promised “Community Well-Being Plan,” as well as Co-op Place operations and potential support for local roller derby enthusiasts. 100 years ago A broken thigh and fractured elbow was the result when two boys were thrown from a school wagon near Enchant, the News reported in early December 1923. Fire destroyed a hotel, two banks, hardware store and drug store in Gleichen as heavy winds whipped the flames. A special trainload of firefighters was sent from Calgary, but the damage was done. Canadian auto and truck exports for the year would likely top 60,000 units, worth $40 million, including a good number to New Zealand. That’s up from $71,000 in all of 1914 Queen’s University walloped Regina 54-0 in the second Dominion Rugby Football Championship game before 8,000 onlookers at Toronto’s Varsity Stadium. 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. 36-35
