BOYLE – Boyle's council chambers included three more politicians than usual last Wednesday as Athabasca-Barrhead-Westlock MLA Glenn van Dijken was joined by two Alberta cabinet ministers for a chat about the role of a rural MLA, infrastructure funding, and cutting down on red tape.
Infrastructure minister Prasad Panda and Associate Minister of Red Tape Reduction Grant Hunter joined Boyle councillors at their July 7 meeting along with van Dijken who talked about some of the work he has been doing in the area, and how he generally works with the nine counties, seven towns, and numerous villages and summer villages in his constituency.
“I believe very strongly in elected representation and in elected representation I believe that my role is to come and listen as much as I can to the needs and concerns and to try and understand if the village is being treated fairly; being able to access all the programming that they need to access; and also, if there are concerns with any type of government policy that would be getting in the road of getting things done for the village,” van Dijken told council members.
van Dijken said he primarily works through the mayor of a community, and commended mayor Colin Derko for being very open and expressing the concerns of the village to him on a regular basis. For instance, the recent regular closures of the emergency department at the Boyle Healthcare Centre due to lack of physician coverage have been a frequent topic both have been trying to find solutions to, and have hopefully found one with the recruitment of a locum that will be in the community until the expected full-time doctor finishes his Canadian orientation in October.
“It was helpful that council, the mayor, contacted me earlier in May about the potential that we were going to only be seeing one doctor here, so that that work started in the beginning of May when they became aware,” said van Dijken.
Derko pointed out that the village didn’t just lose one doctor, it lost 50 per cent of its doctors, which is a distinction in language that should be made when talking about healthcare in rural centres, like Boyle. Healthcare shortages across rural communities in Alberta are a serious issue, and van Dijken said the argument they made to the minister that incoming doctors should receive their Canadian training more quickly if they have already found a rural community in which to practice, was a convincing one, and something that only came about as quickly as it did because council came to him early.
“The minister and his office were quite open to work with trying to ensure that rural Alberta needs were being highlighted and prioritized,” van Dijken said. “To be quite honest with you, if at the beginning of May the mayor hadn’t reached out; I would not have known at that time. So, once they reach out, then at least I can start working on that file and again try and ensure that your concerns are being heard. It's good to see that some good has come out of this.
“As an MLA for rural Alberta, the ministers fully know that I'm there to represent rural Alberta.”
Minister Panda then took the floor, saying he appreciated the collaborative approach displayed by two levels of government and complimented van Dijken’s work ethic, competence and the sincerity of his approach.
“As far as Alberta Infrastructure is concerned, we have been busy the last two years, but even during the pandemic, we haven't shut down construction,” Panda said, adding the ministry was able to continue with the construction of projects, despite pressure from the media and others. “We kept the work going in smaller communities because I saw firsthand how much impact that would have on smaller communities.”
He gave the example of the recent construction of a new swimming pool in Consort, in southern Alberta. As an urban MLA, Panda said being able to visit these rural communities as a minister has given him some perspective.
“They told me how much difference it makes in their day-to-day lives … Unless you provide that basic infrastructure, those communities’ viability itself is threatened, so then people are moving, then they lose tax base and all that. So, that opened my eyes,” he said.
Panda went on to discuss the Alberta government’s $10-billion infrastructure plan to help the province recover from the pandemic and recent fluctuations in the oil and gas sector which includes 70-plus schools; upgrades at provincial buildings like courthouses and at existing healthcare facilities, along with new hospitals; seniors housing; and trying to expand broadband accessibility to everyone in the province.
“It's not a luxury anymore, it's essential, and we’re learning, particularly after the pandemic when everyone is trying to work from home or children at school are trying to work from home,” he said, before handing over the floor to Hunter, who spoke of his work in reducing red tape and from his seat on the Treasury Board.
The associate ministry of red tape reduction was created after the UCP won the 2019 election, and has been working to minimize the regulatory roadblocks that are sometimes an impediment to business, with results to show for their efforts.
Hunter gave the example of using Municipal Sustainability Initiative (MSI) funding and having the Treasury Board get behind an idea to distribute new infrastructure funds through the old MSI model instead of instituting a new revenue stream or fund for municipalities, saying it was the local representatives who had the knowledge to decide where the funding should go.
Council also turned it around on the MLAs and provided a run-down of how the village was able to save millions on its Third and Fourth Street projects over the last year, by cutting its own red tape.
Incidentally, the next day, Hunter was replaced in the red tape reduction portfolio by former cabinet minister Tanya Fir, who was shuffled out of Premier Jason Kenney’s cabinet in January after the UCP holiday travel scandal.
