After a considerable hiatus, I find myself compelled to comment on the present state of affairs in St. Albert municipal politics. It is my observation that within the first two years of their mandate, the current members of the St. Albert city council have readily succeeded in isolating themselves from the citizens/electors who put them in office. Through various measures, they and the administrative mandarins from the CAO downward have constructed ‘firewalls’ that serve to insulate them from accessibility and accountability alike. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the restrictive constructs of the St. Albert procedural bylaw, behind which they hide time and again despite the fact it is of their own creation and logically therefore not cast in stone. They made it and they can fix it!
For myself and countless others, the issue that has recently brought this to the fore is the proposed creation of a municipal utility corporation (MUC) that has been the epicenter of unparalleled public opposition. At the Dec. 2 council meeting, as prescribed by the current Municipal Government Act (MGA), a public hearing was held during which a large number of individuals and groups voiced their individual and collective opposition to the plan. As in the past their efforts were given minimal credence and the public hearing was unceremoniously closed, rather than adjourning thus allowing for its reopening at a follow-up date where additional input could be given. That was not to be because the procedure adhered to under the bylaw in question forbade the further submission or receipt of any substantive new information despite its relevance.
The good news is that the motion to begin the process of incorporation was defeated due in no small part to a blitzkrieg of editorials, letters and a full-page ad in the Dec. 14 edition of the St. Albert Gazette just two days before the aforementioned council meeting. In addition, Coun. Hughes, who was in attendance by teleconference, provided a thorough grilling of the administration and an at times emotional appeal to her fellow council members to defeat the motion; to wit councillors Hansen, MacKay and Watkins also cast negative votes. Despite their desperate attempts to salvage things, Mayor Heron along with councillors Brodhead and Joly suffered the loss.
Although things may have worked out well for the ratepayers and citizens of St. Albert this time, the same situation will most certainly rear its ugly head over future issues unless the serious flaws in the procedural bylaw are rectified.
Murray Lambert, St. Albert
