Lloyd Snelgrove, Alberta's minister of finance and enterprise, was forced to answer tough questions and defend the province's decision not to include Bonnyville in the decision-making process for the tax reassessment of the Cold Lake Air Weapons Range (CLAWR) at Town council last Tuesday evening.
The issue has been on the Town's radar since mediation talks between the Town, the MD of Bonnyville, the City of Cold Lake, and the Village of Glendon in 2009 resulted in the Town and Glendon signing a deal with the MD.
According to the deal, the MD transfers a certain amount of funding to the Town and Glendon to cover services used by MD ratepayers within the urban boundaries.
Cold Lake declined the offer saying the dollars discussed would not make them sustainable.
After officially declining the MD's offer, the City wrote a letter to Municipal Affairs, listing four options to deal with sustainability issues, one of which was a tax reassessment on the CLAWR. Formerly, none of the tax revenue from the CLAWR went to Cold Lake, Bonnyville, or the MD.
As a result of that, and petitioning by former 4 Wing commander Col. David Wheeler, the provincial government has been in negotiations with the City of Cold Lake, the MD of Bonnyville, and other affected municipalities about the future of revenue generated on the CLAWR.
Despite repeated attempts by the Town of Bonnyville, they were not invited to attend the negotiations, and it is unlikely any of the resulting funding will be directed to the Town, though some is being redirected to the MD to pay for road maintenance to and from the CLAWR.
Early reports of the deal claimed after the municipalities currently slated to receive funding from the tax revenue reached a certain amount, the remaining revenue would be available to other municipalities, like Bonnyville, based on an application process.
Snelgrove explained to Town council this part of the agreement had been dropped.
Snelgrove, who was accompanied by Genia Leskiw, MLA for Bonnyville – Cold Lake, explained how the decision involving the tax revenue was made.
Councillors asked some very tough questions, forcing Snelgrove repeatedly to defend his position.
“The fact that all the tax revenue from the base was going to Lac La Biche County was impractical,” he said. “It was, I think, by any stretch of judgment, not what was going to make the region sustainable, and what wasn't going to make the base able to expand, or the City of Cold Lake able to make any commitments to infrastructure.”
He said Wheeler had approached the provincial government and explained unless the City became sustainable, they could not expand the base to prepare for the arrival of the F-35 jet purchased by the federal government.
Military personnel could not afford housing prices in the area and expansion was impossible because of the already-stressed infrastructure, Snelgrove added.
Snelgrove expanded after the meeting, saying, “I might be a little biased, but if you don't want to come and live in this part of the world, than there is something wrong with you. Quite honestly, I'm not sure where it gets better than this, but if you can't come because financially, you can't afford housing, we all lose.”
He also explained making the City sustainable was as important as the military training facilities on the CLAWR are, “if not the premiere weapons range in the world, certainly one of them. Definitely in the free world.”
It was an important asset to protect, he said, and the government began looking at ways to move some of the revenue generated from industrial development on the CLAWR south, into the City.
“You can divide the existing pie up, but I know very well how stressed a lot of communities are financially, even those that are in the middle of a very significant boom or economic activity,” he explained. “Or you can try to generate a bigger pie for the region.”
How exactly the provincial government intends to make a bigger financial pie for the region will be announced this week, and Snelgrove took the opportunity at Town council to address the councillors' concerns with the process.
Councillors said they were particularly concerned the Town of Bonnyville had not been invited to the negotiations.
They were also upset the province's decision to focus primarily on the City of Cold Lake's financial issues, while ignoring Bonnyville's, was rewarding imprudent spending as well as subsidizing federal employees.
Bonnyville Mayor Ernie Isley began, saying Bonnyville had been completely left out, despite the fact the idea to annex revenue from the CLAWR had come from Town leaders during mediation talks two years ago.
The lack of communication was particularly vexing, particularly when multiple letters and phone calls from Bonnyville went unanswered, Isley said.
“I've attempted to follow up verbally at least eight times with your office, Mr. Minister,” Isley said. “I haven't had the courtesy of one returned phone call.”
Snelgrove replied, saying, “Why wouldn't we respond? I'll have to take the blame for that. I have 12 or 13 councils in my riding and I have not met with any of them for well over a year. There is no excuse to say that you're too busy.”
He explained he would have felt uncomfortable inviting Bonnyville and not any of the other communities facing similar financial issues, and there was only so many points of view that needed to be brought to the table.
Nevertheless, he said that Bonnyville's interests were represented by Leskiw.
“There is a place you need to draw a line and say ‘I only need to hear so many stories and so many points of it,'” he explained after the meeting. “We also have (Leskiw), who has been very, very active in lobbying for Bonnyville, for them to have this meeting, and we just don't have a lot of time. Whether it's good, bad, or otherwise, that's the way my life is. It's not that Bonnyville has been left out of the discussion. The MLA has represented them very well, to the point that she's become a bit of a pain in the ass.”
In reference to comments the deal was rewarding the City of Cold Lake for imprudent spending in the past, Snelgrove said, “I think if you head on down to Ducharme Motors and get in one of their vehicles, in every one of them, you'll see they have a great big windshield and very little rearview mirror. There's a reason for that. You can use your rearview mirror effectively when you're backing up a short distance, but we cannot spend our time looking backwards at what Cold Lake has done decades ago as a reason not to solve this problem.”
Snelgrove told town council, “I know it's been very difficult for the municipal district to try and deal with a city that is virtually at the end of their line when it comes to funding, and I guess we could spend time, if you thought that was productive, to rehash how Cold Lake got there, but that's really not productive time.”
He also hopes once Cold Lake's financial situation has improved, they may be more open to helping Bonnyville out with a regional waterline, one of Bonnyville's main problems at the moment.
When Councillor Ray Prevost brought Cold Lake's refusal to consider a regional waterline up, Snelgrove said, “You've got to remember too, you're dealing with a community that was at the end of their borrowing rope and done. What could they do?”
“Here's one thing they could have done,” said Prevost. “The best water customer that they could have had is right here in the Town of Bonnyville if they want more revenue.”
Snelgrove again defended his position.
“I actually think when you finally have a functioning municipality in your midst, I think the opportunity for you to negotiate from a position of equal strength or the opportunity that could be present is far greater than if we have done nothing,” Snelgrove said.
Isley stressed the deal suggested the provincial government was subsidizing federal employees — a federal responsibility — over taking care of the region's seniors, adding tax reassessment would potentially split the riding, causing future problems for Leskiw.
He wondered if maybe Bonnyville should have used more dramatic means of getting the government's attention, saying, “We haven't screamed at you, we haven't damned you, we haven't threatened to dissolve, we haven't threatened to do whatever … We've never threatened to shut down. Maybe we have to get your attention.”
After the meeting, Snelgrove addressed that issue, saying, “I wish there was an easy answer, because as several of the other councillors mentioned, we're not in the business of rewarding communities that haven't been as prudent or as sound managers or growth managers as some.”
