Mountain View County reeve Bruce Beattie says he plans to bring up a number of concerns and issues with provincial ministers at this week's Alberta Association of Municipal Districts & Counties (AAMD&C) annual convention.
Redford government ministers expected to attend the convention and to make themselves available for consultations with municipal councils include the health minister, the minister of infrastructure and the minister of transportation.
The convention takes place in Edmonton Nov. 12 – 15.
Beattie says he plans to speak to Municipal Affairs Minister Doug Griffiths about the government's proposed Bill 28.
If passed, Bill 28, The Modernizing Regional Governance Act, would give the provincial cabinet the authority to set up boards to oversee shared needs of municipalities in close proximity to each other, and the board's decisions would have be to be approved by Municipal Affairs.
Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills Wildrose MLA Bruce Rowe, who is his party's Municipal Affairs critic, calls Bill 28 “flawed legislation.”
On Oct. 31 the premier said the government plans to consults with AAMD&C members and members of the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association about the bill before proceedings.
Reeve Beattie says he plans to tell Griffiths that even with consultations, the bill may not be wanted by Mountain View County.
“Bill 28 is certainly a big issue,” said Beattie. “Our position will be that we don't like bill and I don't know how useful consultation is going to be because the concept is just not a positive thing for rural municipalities.
“From my perspective, and I think from our council's perspective, it's not a road we want to go down, that's for sure.
“We had regional planning when we had the Red Deer Regional Planning Commission, and I know that there still a bad taste in the mouth from that. We are very much in favour of regional cooperation, but when it comes to land use planning and regional planning in our municipality we want to be able to do that according to the wishes of our residents, and not somebody who has been appointed by Edmonton.”
Beattie says he also has a number of issues to bring up with Minister of Transportation Ric McIvor.
In particular, he plans to speak to him about the need to keep a number of east-west county roads that currently cross the QE II.
“Certainly when it comes to our access across Highway 2, we want to make sure we maintain that access before they ever consider closing those accesses” he said. “We are lobbying to have flyovers (bridges) built there for safety reasons, so we can get farm machinery across the highway safely.
“That access to the east part of the county is critical to our farming community.”
There are no current plans to close those accesses, including the one at Bergen Road, he said.
Beattie also plans to bring up concerns with McIvor regarding new traffic dividers on Highway 2A in Olds, dividers he says restrict agriculture equipment traffic.
“Those have created a lot of issues for our agriculture community. Large equipment just won't fit through there so we are going to be talking about that too,” he said.
The county will be asking Minister of Health Fred Horne for any updates on the status of hospitals in the region, he said.
The annual AAMD&C conference is held to allow municipalities to meet with government ministers, as well as for members to discuss and pass resolutions relating to rural governance and issues facing rural communities.
“There's always lots to talk about,” he said.
