Questions for the Candidates: Tangible Capital Assets

Today, I have a question for the provincial candidates in Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills about Tangible Capital Assets! 

For the last few years, Alberta municipalities have had to include a list of all their Tangible Capital Assets (TCAs) and the depreciation of those assets when building next year's budget.  For large municipalities, this isn't a hardship - but for smaller ones it can really hurt.

Let's say a town of 1500 Albertans wants a new public building.  They are given a provincial grant to build a multi-million dollar facility in their town.  That building must now be listed as a capital asset - and its depreciation calculated into the town's budgeting process.

According to the Municipal Government Act, the municipality cannot operate with a deficit budget, so they may have to raise taxes considerably to cover that amount - even though they didn't fund the project in the first place!  Smaller municipalities, like Beiseker, are the most vulnerable.

Question #2;  If elected as a government, will your party address this serious error in calculating a municipality's property taxes and financial status - and remove the TCA depreciation from the mix?

Rocky View Weekly on Bassano Station

In an article in the electronic version of the Rocky View Weekly posted on Monday, it mentioned that the Village of Beiseker bought the Bassano train station for $10,000. 

In fact, the Village of Beiseker has not invested any funds into the relocation and restoration of the Bassano Station project.  The Village originally supported the project in principle, but that interest has waned over the last few years.  At no time was tax payers' dollars given over to the project!

Last summer, I did volunteer some of my own time to help liaise between the various groups to see the station building finally placed on its foundation.  But again, no Village resources were involved.

By my calculations, almost half a million dollars have been spent on the project so far and with little to show for it.  Village Council has asked to meet with the Centennial Railway Museum and other interested parties in the near future to get an idea where they are going from here.  The only way that the Village of Beiseker is involved is that the project is within the Village boundaries, and the village does issue development and building permits for construction there.  That's it!

Questions for the Candidates: Airdrie Hospital

Each day this week, I will suggest a question for he candidates in Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills in the upcoming provincial election, slated for May 5th.

They are in no particular order; one is not more important that another.  But the answers are important to all of us here in this area!

Question #1;  If your party forms Alberta's next government, how does party plan to address the Airdrie Hospital debacle?

When the answer comes back, I'll be looking for specifics.  A city of 50,000+ - and growing by the day - must have a fully operational hospital!  I'm expecting to hear how they plan to revise/update the province's hospital building program to include Airdrie?  I'm also expecting to hear about a proposal for a three level plan involving the Feds, the province and the city to get things rolling.

I know times are tough financially, but the health situation in Airdrie is getting tougher by the day, too!

Community Links Open House

The Beiseker office of Community Links is having an open house on April 28th, between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m.!  This should be good! 

Beiseker Community Links is in the Community Services building located in the Lions' Centennial Park at the corner of Fifth Street and Third Avenue, across the street from our Community Centre in beautiful downtown Beiseker. 

They'll have most of the service providers there for you to meet.  The Counsellor, Public Health Nurse,  Dietitian, and Parenting Consultants will be there, along with the folks from Intake Services, Seniors Outreach, and Volunteer Services!  Beiseker Community Links is making Beiseker stronger!  Come meet the people who make that happen. 

Stop in for refreshments and meet service providers in our area.

Aggie Days 2015 was Awesome!

We shut down Aggie Days on Sunday afternoon, and turned the BMO Centre from a barn back into an exhibit hall.


photo via Aggie Days on Twitter

Overall, Aggie Days 2015 was pretty awesome. During our educational component, which ran from Wednesday through Friday, 7500 students visited! That's down from its usual 10,000 students, because two school divisions we draw from were on Spring Break.

During family fun days on the weekend, we had about 16,000 visitors, each day! I'm still tired out but pleased that we were able to show so many people how important Alberta's agriculture is to this province. Aggie Days is a free event down at Stampede Park, although guests still have to pay for parking.

Most of us who operate Aggie Days are volunteers. Our payment comes from watching the faces of youngsters who were seeing a cow milked for the first time or a sheep sheared, or one of the other multitude of agricultural related activities there.

We'll start planning for Aggie Days 2016 in a couple of weeks. I hope you'll all come to see as next year! Until then, remember; If you eat, you're involved in agriculture!

Aggie Days 2015 Starts, with a Huge Crowd!

Spring is here, and so is the Calgary Stampede Aggie Days! 

We started Aggie Days 2015 with a super day, today.  Over 3000 students along with their teachers, parent supervisors and assistants toured around the BMO Centre at Stampede Park - that's now turned into a barn! 

They saw chickens, horses, ducks, cows, goats, sheep, and a host of other barnyard critters.  They watched cows being milked, sheep being sheered, and a number of other agricultural demonstrations.  We all had a great day!

Tomorrow, Thursday, is the second of a three day educational component.  This weekend signals the two day Aggie Days Family Fun Days. 

Come on down and see which Albertans produce the food you eat.  See you there.

As an Aggie Days volunteer, my duties carry on long after I've returned to Beiseker.  I write up the next days newsletter, which is distributed each morning at Aggie Days.  I didn't finish up until almost 9:00 p.m. - which prevented me from attending the First Annual Volunteer Appreciation Night at the Community Centre. 

I dropped in for a couple of minutes to thank Rec Coordinator Michelle Boyer for organizing the event.  I heard Deputy Mayor, Al Henuset, stepped in to bring greetings from village council and thank the volunteers for their dedication and valuable work they do in making Beiseker one of the best villages in Alberta!   

Well done everyone!  I'm looking forward to next year's appreciation and hoping it doesn't conflict with Aggie Days again.

Province and Airdrie Making a Great Start

I was very pleased to hear that the City of Airdrie and the Alberta Government have begun the initial steps in providing Airdrie with health care facilities worthy of that fast growing city.  A 24-hour emergency health care facility will be built in Airdrie using public and private money. 

I understand that the building will house 24 hour emergency clinic, doctors' offices, and medical related retail space.  Alberta Health Services will lease or buy one floor for its clinic, while doctors and retail space will occupy the other two floors of the building.   I also know that this whole project has come to fruition thanks to some local businessmen and, in a big part to a generous donation from an unknown benefactor!

This is wonderful news!   This will provide the 50,000-plus Airdrie residents - and the thousands of folks around that city - with a stop-gap facility, until the hospital is built.  

Now I'm hoping to hear soon that a site for the new Airdrie Hospital has been chosen.  I realize the hospital is quite a few years away.  Look at how long it took to create the South Health Campus in Calgary!

But that journey has now begun!  Well done Airdrie!