County of Barrhead councillors decide to focus on municipal issues

BARRHEAD- County of Barrhead councillors have decided it was not their role to get involved in provincial or federal politics.

Councillors ultimately made the decision during their June 15 meeting, following a discussion spurred by a letter they received from Town of Barrhead mayor Dave McKenzie informing them that their council passed a resolution on June 8 in support of Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) Saskatchewan MP Randy Hoback's private members bill C-234 (an Act to Amend the Income Tax Act). 

Later in the meeting, council passed McKenzie's letter as information.

The bill, if passed, would see Canadians receive an income-tax credit for the installation and the associated monitoring costs of a home security system for their residence or outbuildings such as garages or barns.

Hoback said in his introduction of the bill that its purpose was in part to help rural residents protect their property, noting the rural crime rate is substantially higher than that of urban areas.

In recent weeks, Peace River-Westlock CPC MP Arnold Viersen has been visiting municipal councils. At the end of these visits, he asked councils to support several CPC private member's bills. Viersen visited the Town of Barrhead council on May 11. Three weeks later, he was at the County of Barrhead council. 

Reeve Doug Drozd suggested the bill fell in line with the CPC's values in that it was an effort to put money back into the hands of taxpayers.

"If it were a Liberal policy, they would probably want to start up a program or a grant process," he said. "As it is, I have no problem with it. It is probably a good idea."

He added that he first learned that the town was contemplating supporting the proposed legislation during a Barrhead and Region Area Crime Coalition (BARCC) meeting.

BARCC is a partnership between Woodlands County, the Town of Barrhead and the County of Barrhead, as well as the Barrhead RCMP and Rural Crime Watch.

Drozd suggested that if councillors agreed with the bill in principle, they could instruct the administration to draft a resolution for consideration at a future council meeting.

Coun. Darrell Troock said he was not sure it was their place.

"I'm always concerned when we get into provincial or federal politics," he said. "If I want to back Mr. Viersen, that's my choice, but as a council, I am not sure that is our place. We have to be very careful about what we do here. We should not be speaking in favour of the conservatives, or anyone else as a municipal leader. My job is to deal with things at a local level. If we need help or if it is something that impacts us as a municipality, then I go to them. Anything else just paints us with a partisan brush."

Troock noted, historically, the council has not entertained such requests, moving that they pass McKenzie's letter for information.

Barry Kerton, TownandCountryToday.com