Disagreement over Canadian Badlands membership tables issue

Miriam Ostermann
Times Associate Editor

 

The renewal of the town membership with the Canadian Badlands grew divisive, when former empty promises and a lack of effort for increased town involvement divided council on the issue and shelved a decision to dish out thousands of dollars.
The Town of Strathmore received an invoice from the Canadian Badlands, the largest municipal partnership in Canada, for the 2016 annual shareholder levy totalling $6,423 – a figure derived from $0.50 per capita based on the population provided by the 2012 Municipal Affairs population list. The request for the continuation of the membership, however, was met with dissent from some councillors who felt the organization failed to follow through on previously agreed upon commitments.
“I cannot sit here and support our involvement any longer to the Canadian Badlands, we’re still not even on the list of stops, at this time I’m not prepared to vote in favour of staying with this organization,” said Councillor Brad Walls.
“I felt like I had a gun to my head when they came to us last year at this time when they said ‘We’re going to pull the AGM if you guys decide to pull out.’ I listened to the executive director and I listened to Barry [Morishita] talk about some of the good things that have come from Strathmore, and some concerns about getting our name on the map and really trying to make us actually part of the team. That hasn’t been done. So I cannot sit here and support an organization that can’t even update their map because now we’re a part of that.”
According to Walls, he is receptive to further discussions with the organization, upon a new map, including Strathmore, being presented to the town. In a letter to the town, the Canadian Badlands outlined their achievements, including their efforts to implement regional and local tourism initiatives, facilitating the development of new tourism products, marketing many of the region’s key attractions and events, and promoting the region as a whole. Yet the lack of representation and promotion in relation to Strathmore raised concerns among other councillors.
“This is a never ending story, and … the only reason we went another year was they said they wanted the AGM here but other than that, I haven’t seen them,” said Councillor Bob Sobol. “On a couple of occasions, when we come to this point, I’ve heard that the onus is on us to do a little bit more to deal with these people. That’s where I have my issue.
“I think the onus should be on them to be working with us and I have yet to see that to any great extent. I see some value in this, but I see some value in a group that’s going to take their responsibility seriously and I have great concerns about that.”
Asked whether attempts had been made to contact the Canadian Badlands and increase promotion for the town, Chief Administrator Dwight Stanford confirmed that efforts had been made in the past.
However, not all councillors dismissed the proposal so quickly. With 63 partnering communities across southeastern Alberta, Councillor Denise Peterson felt that better communication and raising their concerns with the organization would help acknowledge different applications.
“I think it needs to become a part of this municipal council planning initiative and we can bring things to the Canadian Badlands that we want to see on that agenda; I don’t think that we’ve done as much as we possibly could,” said Peterson. “I see huge opportunities for this 63 partnering community organization to move into areas, for instance the senior advisory have acknowledged that there’s opportunity for senior events within this capacity.
“Anytime we can bring 63 communities into a communication partnership for $0.50 a person, I think it’s a wonderful opportunity and it’s one that we need to put on our planning agenda for the spring. I think we can encourage them to do a much better job than they’ve been doing.”
While Peterson said she understood her fellow councillors frustrations, she proposed an interim solution to contact the organization and request actions to be taken to address council’s concerns before making a motion.
Council agreed to accept the request for the 2016 Canadian Badlands annual shareholder levy as information, and advised administration to draft a letter to the organization outlining the concerns of the council with regards to the omissions related to the community within their advertising tourism structure, at the Dec. 16 regular council meeting.