May 1962 began with historic news for St. Albert that was greeted with some reservation. By order-in-council from the Minister of Municipal Affairs, the province announced it would rescind St. Albert’s “new town” status effective July 3. Elections for a municipal council that would take over from the board of administrators were to be held June 27 for the position of mayor and six councillors. The move came as a surprise to the board and its chair, William Veness, who were notified of the decision by phone. The board had not petitioned the province for the change. Yet some in the community were suspicious of the timing of the move as it coincided with the removal of J. Potter from the board following a complaint to Social Credit MLA Keith Everitt. While no details were available, Potter was accused of being “anti-Roman Catholic.” Soon afterward, the Civic Electors Association formed to “supervise the municipal affairs on behalf of electors and select suitable candidates for municipal office.” Following a general meeting, during which a nomination committee was appointed, the association decided to run Veness for mayor and Dr. W. Skrobot, Dr. D. Stewart, L. Wheating, E. Powell, J. deBruijn and B. Montpetit. Several independent candidates also announced their intention to run.
By the following May, the town was in financial trouble. A group of concerned citizens had, months earlier, submitted a petition citing 14 possible problems with council to Municipal Affairs. An inspector’s report released found almost every accusation was without merit. Despite being exonerated, the town council was still carrying a tremendous debt load and were unable to meet the debts accrued by the board of administrators. With deficit financing illegal under provincial law, the town asked for help from the province. It advised the town to seek a debenture of $850,000 — $350,000 of a “general benefit nature” and $500,000 for local improvements on town-owned land. But securing the $350,000 meant seeking relief under the Local Authorities Board Act, which also required the town hand over control of its budgets and mill rates until “the board is satisfied that sound financial equilibrium has been attained.” Council announced in the Gazette that it was authorizing an application to that effect.
There was little of substance for the next three years, other than the city passed first reading of a bylaw to borrow $650,000 to build a sports complex with swimming pool and the announcement that Lt.-Gov. J. Percy Page would officially open St. Albert’s Rodeo 104 put on by the Kinsmen. Unfortunately for the Gazette, there are no copies of May 1966 available (if you happen to have any, please do let us know).
By May 1967, Canada’s centennial year, the library announced it would close for three weeks to move into its new building, one of the town’s centennial projects. Grosvenor Pool was also almost ready to open. Scheduled to open on the Victoria Day long weekend, all that was left to do was lay down gravel in the parking lot. The province also held an election, during which Everitt was re-elected as MLA.
While May 1968 was relatively news-free, the following May saw the formation of the Women’s Auxiliary to the Sturgeon General Hospital. It also saw the town grudgingly amend its Sunday bylaw to allow for movies at the St. Albert Drive-In Theatre. Unfortunately for the town, it was again in a financial quandary. It was not able to issue tax notices because council was late finishing its capital estimates, which still had to be reviewed by the Local Authorities Board. With no tax revenue coming in until the end of June at the earliest, the town was forced to borrow money to operate, to the tune of $208 per day.
While the Kinsmen announced in May 1970 it would field the $40,000 cost for installing artificial ice at the city’s new arena, the biggest news was an announcement from the province that a section of land three miles northeast of St. Albert would be home to the province’s fourth university with a projected enrolment of 10,000 students by 1979. Council immediately called a special meeting to “get the ball rolling.” By 1971, what was to be called Athabasca University, scheduled to open in 1973 and focus on arts, sciences and education under the theme “Man and His Environment.” The idea, the province said, was to develop generalists and not specialists. But within a year, the university’s future was in doubt. May 1972 saw the government shelve the project, announcing it was reviewing capital projects and that it was not prepared to commit to a specific site or opening date until it watched university enrolment trends for the next two or three years. While the squabbles continued, one St. Albert youth was out on Pigeon Lake in his family’s aluminium fishing boat when a strong wind capsized two nearby rubber rafts carrying four men. The 12-year-old, Donald Ouellette, raced over, picked up two of the men and took them to shore and returned with an adult to help the last two. Unfortunately, one panicked trying to get into Ouellette’s boat and flipped it. That man later drowned but another man on shore watching the disaster unfold hopped in his boat and saved Ouellette, the adult and the remaining boater.
The following May was rather quiet. Notable in the sea of local headlines such as “St. Albert woman marries Edmonton man,” “Team does well,” and “Event a success” was the announcement of the official opening of Paul Kane High School. Minister of Education Lou Hyndman was present to cut the ribbon of the $1.46-million school.
Peter Boer is an editor at the Gazette.
