Shout Out to Alberta Health Services

Over the past three weeks, I have had to visit Alberta Health Services facilities on numerous occasions. 

Here's a shout out to the folks at the Drumheller Hospital Emergency Department and the Airdrie Home Care Clinic for the fantastic job they're doing to keep Albertans safe and healthy. 

I fear that some of the recent criticism of Alberta's health services has rubbed off on these hard working people.  These folks on the front line are going above and beyond to provide Albertans with the best health care possible!  Good on ya!

Super Town Hall Meeting!

We had an excellent turnout for our annual Spring Town Hall Meeting last night in the Beiseker Community Centre!

Council faced some difficult questions on topics ranging from the burned out Bassano Station to sick trees.  There were some questions about the Village's finances, and suggestions on how we could save money.

The topic of junky back lanes and a disreputable Main Street business was a hot one.

Our application to the Canada 150 Fund to build a new Tourist Information Centre was questioned.  The water valve replacement program was discussed.  (Surprisingly, street paving was barely mentioned.)

We had some excellent suggestions made, too;

• We offer a babysitting service at town hall meetings to attract more young people.
• We encourage volunteers to re-engage at the recycling facility to relieve pressure on Public Works.
• We re-examine our Municipal Plan on a regular basis so it may be updated to reflect the current situation in the village
• We encourage residents to notify the village in writing of any junky or messy area within the Village.

To mention a few.

Overall, I thought it was a very productive meeting, giving council a good idea of what some of the folks out there are thinking about their town.  Now, council will take these suggestions and work out a plan to deal with them under the constraints of provincial and federal law, and available tax dollars.

Well done everyone!  Thank you so much for coming last night!

I'm Disappointed

I'm admittedly disappointed that our newly elected councilor, Nikki King, has been called away on a business trip and will not be able to attend the Spring Town Hall Meeting to be sworn in.

I was hoping to see a tiny bit of Beiseker history made this coming Monday!  As far as I can tell, it would be the very first time in Beiseker history that a councilor would be sworn in at an open public meeting.

Oh well, we'll have to have the brief ceremony at our next regular council meeting to be held on Monday, May 9 in our council chamber at the Village Office.  You are all most welcome to come and observe the ceremony there, although seating will be very limited.

Our New Councilor and Legislative Shenanigans

Congratulations to Nikki King who yesterday was elected as Beiseker's new councilor until the end of the term in October of 2017.

I'm looking forward to having her sworn in at our Spring Town Hall Meeting this coming Monday, and having her join us on council!  Try to be at the Town Hall Meeting next week to watch this historical swearing in.

In other news; shenanigans in Alberta's Legislature yesterday caught my attention.  Alberta PC interim leader Ric McIver was tossed out of the session by the Speaker of the House. 

I don't fully understand what happened, but I believe Mr. McIver was standing on a point of order about an unfriendly amendment to a private members bill.   I understand he insinuated that the government had already accepted the amendment without any discussion or vote in the House. 

He refused to sit down when asked to do so by the Speaker.  When he refused a second time, he was escorted out of the House by the Sergeant At Arms. 

Although somewhat unorthodox, getting tossed out of the Legislature is one way of having your opposition heard and recorded.  I was impressed with MLA McIver's move.  This shows me that the members of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition are doing their job!

By-Election Day, Tomorrow!

Tomorrow (April 18) is By-Election Day in Beiseker!  This is a by-election which will elect a new councilor to fill a vacancy left by Dave McKenzie, when he resigned to become our new Public Works Foreman. 

I have listened to and read about each of the four candidates running for election.  I can tell you sincerely that, in my opinion, any one of the four would make an excellent councilor!  We are most fortunate to have four strong, civic minded folks willing to run for basically a volunteer position within our village.

Our next Council Meeting will be our Spring Town Hall Meeting held at the Community Centre.  There will be a bit of history in the making as our newly elected councilor will be sworn in at the beginning of that meeting!  I hope to see you all there.

The polling station  will be at the Village Office and it will be open from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. tomorrow.  Let's have a big turnout to select our new councilor! 

Back from Aggie Days 2016!

I'm back after an exciting week at Aggie Days 2016 at Stampede Park.  We had about 7500 students, teachers, and parent helpers visit us during last week's Education Component, and somewhere around 30,000 Calgarians came in to see us at our weekend Family Fun Days!  What a fantastic turnout!

This year Aggie Days moved into its new venue, the Agrium Western Events Centre, south of the old Agriculture Building.  What a beautiful facility!  The move produced some stress as little glitches became apparent, but overall I thought it was an awesome Aggie Days!

We milked cows, sheared sheep, milled grain, herded ducks, gave wagon rides, hatched chicks, made honey, made canola oil, planted potatoes, milked goats, and a host of other agricultural related activities - all designed to show where Albertans get their food.

What a week!  By Sunday afternoon I was exhausted, but happy!

I have (mostly) recovered now as we start to plan Aggie Days 2017!

One negative about Aggie Days is that it prevented me from visiting Doug and Heather Verbeek over at the Beiseker U.F.A. location last Wednesday, to congratulate them on their 30th anniversary as U.F.A. Agents!  That is a great milestone to have achieved.  I sincerely hope you two will be around for many years to come!  Good on ya guys!