Skip to content

Cold Lake slams Wood Buffalo MLA

The City of Cold Lake council is speaking out after comments made by MLA for Fort McMurray - Wood Buffalo Guy Boutilier suggested the province should force Cold Lake to amalgamate with the MD of Bonnyville to alleviate Cold Lake's financial issues.

The City of Cold Lake council is speaking out after comments made by MLA for Fort McMurray - Wood Buffalo Guy Boutilier suggested the province should force Cold Lake to amalgamate with the MD of Bonnyville to alleviate Cold Lake's financial issues.

The comments were made in regards to how the provincial government is looking at redrawing municipal boundaries after the City and former 4 Wing base commander David Wheeler suggested Cold Lake should receive tax assessment from the Air Weapons Range to help alleviate its deficit and sustainability issues.

Cenovus runs its oilsands operation on the Air Weapons Range - tax assessment which goes to the County of Lac La Biche.

According to reports from the Fort McMurray Today, the provincial government is looking at a deal that would see Lac La Biche receive compensation by gaining part of the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo. The local council voted to send a letter to Minister of Finance Lloyd Snelgrove expressing it disagreed with the government changing any boundaries.

Boutilier was quoted as having said, "Why don't they demonstrate the leadership we showed 15 years ago by formulating the kind of regional government we formed? So one has to ask the question, why isn't the province forcing them to do that? Seems to me it'd be a logical course of action to solve this resolution."

This spurred Cold Lake council to issue a statement denouncing his comments and questioning if forcing municipalities to amalgamate is a Wildrose Party policy, as Boutilier is a party member.

Cold Lake Mayor Craig Copeland said council was bothered by Boutilier's reference to council's leadership and the suggestion of forced amalgamation.

"What upset us was just the lack of knowledge on his part as an MLA and as a person that's been around provincial politics as long as he has, to imply that Cold Lake hasn't done any work," he told the Nouvelle, explaining how council has been in support of amalgamating with the MD of Bonnyville since 2007, while the MD has not.

"For him to make the comments that he did, it sure appeared that he was very misinformed about the situation in Cold Lake and our council over the years, and so we just thought it was a lack of due diligence on his part, if he's going to make a quote like that to make sure that you understand what you're talking about and who you're talking about."

He said council felt it had to respond and met at a special meeting to write the statement.

"If he were to stick to the knitting about the so-called deal that would've been fine, but when he took shots at our council, he crossed the line," he said.

"We wanted to defend the integrity of our council and also the integrity of our city because he put it out there and we just wanted to correct some misinformation that was coming out of Fort McMurray and also to notify our ratepayers that statements were being made by the MLA up there."

Copeland questioned if Boutilier's comment about how the province should force amalgamation indicated forcing municipalities to amalgamate was a Wildrose policy.

He said the idea of amalgamation made sense, but typically municipalities are not forced to amalgamate.

Boutilier sent a letter to Cold Lake council dated July 21.

"Recently the topic of amalgamation has received press coverage and I would once again like to reiterate that I do not support forced amalgamations," the letter reads. "Many of you are already aware that as former Municipal Affairs minister, I never supported such. I do not believe one size fits all, and that the good folks in our respective regions know what is best locally as opposed to bureaucratic-driven answers from the province. I do believe that the incredible work done by your council on seeking solutions and the positive initiatives taken are to be applauded."

Wildrose candidate for Bonnyville - Cold Lake Chuck Farrer said he recently spoke with Boutilier, and reiterated he is not in favour of amalgamation.

"We believe that the monies that are generated locally should be distributed locally," he said. "There's a certain portion that has to go to, say, the special areas that don't have the source of revenue that we have here. Some of that money has got to go to them - we can't let one region starve and the other one prosper. Everyone's together on this. But as far as forced amalgamation, no we're not in favour of that."

Farrer said he supports Cold Lake receiving tax assessment from the Air Weapons Range.

"I'm all in favour of that. What I'm not in favour of is one particular community or region receiving all the money because then you're plotting neighbour against neighbour," he said.

"Cold Lake should be getting money directly from the province, but as a central distribution, I don't know if that's the answer either. It's got to be administered locally and it has to be administered fairly."

He noted how Cold Lake is in a difficult position, as it does not have much rural area for tax assessment.

In terms of a solution to the boundary issue, Farrer said he did not have the answer, but believes money cannot be promised to one municipality and then given to another to keep it happy.

"It has to be long-term and you've got to determine what your priorities are province-wide," he said of a potential solution.

"I don't know what the solution is, I just can't wait to part of it though. And I think that it's near and it's not that hard to come by. But the money that is generated in this area, a large portion should stay here," he said, adding some would have to go to other areas that need it.

"You can't send it all to Edmonton and then have it be administered there."

Bonnyville - Cold Lake MLA Genia Leskiw was not available to comment.

Copeland noted how a "series of dominoes have to be aligned" for a deal to be reached, noting how Lac La Biche and Wood Buffalo would need to be compensated. He said the provincial government has been co-operative in trying to see if Cold Lake's proposal is doable.

Aware of the deal's complexity, he said council has been waiting patiently allowing the government to work with the different parties.

"We were upset that all of the sudden, the deal was getting put out onto the media the way it did out of Fort McMurray, and when ... we have never seen what the deal is."

Copeland said certain parties might have lost regional intent of the proposal, noting how it was about the air base being strong enough to bring people in to work. He explained how the wing commander controls access to the Air Weapons Range, his staff work there, and he allows oil companies to work there, yet the taxes go to Lac La Biche. He believes it should go to 4 Wing, which is a part of Cold Lake, to be invested in 4 Wing and the city.

He questioned whether the range would be what it is without 4 Wing, which has 2,400 military members.

"If they're willing to send people over to Libya and to Afghanistan, why aren't they willing to make sure that our military folks have a nice place to live in?"

Copeland said while there are not many solutions, a balanced deal needs to be reached.

"I've always said there's more than enough non-residential assessment in northeastern Alberta to go around and help the situation in Cold Lake. We're at zero," he said.

He said amalgamating with the MD of Bonnyville always remains on the table, but the MD does not support it. He also noted how council could consider capping residential development.

"We don't have many options. If somebody's got a better option, we're willing to hear it. And I guess that's what we were expecting out of Mr. Boutilier. Instead he just rubbed our nose in the dirt."

push icon
Be the first to read breaking stories. Enable push notifications on your device. Disable anytime.
No thanks