A group of residents opposed to the MD of Bonnyville contributing $2 million to the roundabout slated for the intersection of Highways 55 and 892 presented the MD of Bonnyville council with a petition signed by 1,100 people and letters of opposition from 180 truck drivers this past Wednesday.
Council had previously agreed to chip in $2 million for the provincial government to do something about the notoriously dangerous intersection, where the two provincial highways meet. The government said a roundabout or traffic circle was the best option. The MD agreed to provide the funds so the government would bump the intersection up its priority list and also widen a stretch of Highway 55. The MD also asked for a resource road grant for Wolf Lake Road, which it has since received. The grant is for $3 million.
"This was the package we threw at them. If we were going to put money into it, this is what we wanted in return," said Reeve Ed Rondeau at the meeting.
He stressed it was the Ministry of Transportation's decision to construct the roundabout.
"Basically, the Minister (of Transportation, Luc Ouellette) had told us and is still telling us, that the solution to that problem was a roundabout and that he was not putting lights there and he wasn't putting a stop sign there."
The petition was signed by people who are against the MD contributing $2 million to the project, explained Gilbert Proulx, one of the petition organizers.
"What a lot of people have expressed a problem with is that we are being bought out by our own money," said Proulx. "If we deserve a grant, if we deserve some money for those roads, we should not have to bargain anything because this should be done. It's the government's obligation to step forward and put the money in. We shouldn't have to put money in to get money out."
The petition also states, "All the petitioners that we talked with were all against the building of a roundabout PERIOD." It also questions why no information meetings were held to inform the public. The group states it would prefer traffic lights and said the wiring is already in place.
Coun. Don Sinclair said if the MD hadn't volunteered to contribute to the project, it still would've gone ahead.
"Somehow we interfered in the process and asked the government if we gave them $2 million to do their project - which we had very little interest in at the time, almost none - if we gave them $2 million so that they were happy doing their project, which is the roundabout, would they do us a favour and widen (Highway) 55 and give us a grant to do another road. That's surely not how government is supposed to work. And that is why I voted against it."
He said the decision to contribute to the roundabout bothered him since the day council voted on it.
"We voted to give the government money to bribe them to do another job."
Coun. Fred Bamber noted how council was invited to meet with Ouellette to discuss the project and two councillors decided not to attend.
"You can't really know what's going on if you're not at a meeting."
"Oh, I know what's going on," replied Sinclair.
"We didn't go to the meeting for the simple reason that this was a done deal before we went to the meeting," said Fox. "So why bother wasting our time, walking in there, sitting down and say, 'Yes sir, yes sir, yes sir' to the minister?"
Fox and Sinclair said a lot of people think the roundabout is an overpass.
"People just don't know what it is," said Fox.
He said a public meeting to explain the roundabout was supposed to be held, but it has been delayed repeatedly.
Rondeau said it was clearly explained in the local newspaper along with photos that it was a roundabout.
Bernard Chartrand, one of the petition organizers, said Highway 55 was a federal highway.
Coun. Barry Kalinski agreed it was.
Rondeau said the MD would look into whether it is, adding it was the first time he had heard about that.
After the meeting, Proulx said he wants the MD to reverse its decision to contribute the money to the roundabout. He said he didn't expect a decision at the meeting, as its purpose was for petition organizers to answer councillors' questions.
Proulx said it is healthy for politicians to listen to their ratepayers.
He said signatures collected represent about 20 per cent of MD and thinks the majority of the signatures belong to MD ratepayers. Of the 400 he collected, he thinks about five are from people in town.
MLA for Bonnyville - Cold Lake Genia Leskiw was given a copy of the petition. She said she couldn't see it impacting the roundabout project.
"My question is still, are they against the roundabout or are they against the MD contributing $2 million to it?"
She questioned if people would still be against the project if the provincial government paid for it entirely.
Leskiw said all evidence on roundabouts prove it the safest option for the intersection. She said the government chose roundabouts for safety reasons and will not consider lights or a four-way stop. She the type of accidents with lights and four-way stops are more devastating than the type of accident that can occur in a roundabout.
She said people might not understand exactly what a roundabout is, and an open house to explain the roundabout could address some of these concerns.
No date has been scheduled for the meeting yet, but Leskiw has been meeting with truckers who are tweaking some of the plans.
She said the MD's contribution is commendable and noted the successes with the widening of Highway 55 and Wolf Lake Road.
Leskiw said if the MD had not contributed, the province likely would not have addressed the intersection for another three or four years.
"It's like on every issue, you've got your pros, you've got your cons. You've got the oil companies that are thrilled that we're doing this and then we have this petition going by people who don't even use that particular intersection."
