The election has passed and new councils have formed in Bonnyville, the MD of Bonnyville, Glendon, Cold Lake and in all other municipalities around the province.
Although I have only been here for six months I am going to offer up what I feel should be some top priorities heading into a new term.
The first thing councils need to do is start to cooperate better. Sure councillors will tell you they partner up on a lot of different projects and programs, but there are still areas where they could improve. After all, a lot of the councils are dealing with similar issues. Do the region a favour work together, lobby the provincial and federal governments and improve the region.
This region is growing. There are a lot of jobs out here and the oil fields are creating a ton of money for the province. Lobbying as one strong voice could do a lot to bring back some of that money to the communities supporting the industry.
For me it seems like I am going though a time warp. The Bonnyville/ Cold Lake area seems to be behind the times. Many of the issues councilors are dealing with today; I watched councilors of my hometown in Ontario deal with ten, 15 years ago.
The best example and one of the biggest differences I noticed moving to the province is with garbage and recycling collection. Growing up in Ontario, I can't remember a time where we didn't have door-to-door pick up for both garbage and recycling. The fact that this region is so far behind on recycling just baffles me.
Council definitely needs to have a regional garbage and recycling plan on their schedule over the next four years. I know it is going to cost a lot of money initially, but everyone will benefit long term.
Most of the other issues I feel need to be addressed deal with infrastructure.
The population is expanding, more people are coming to the region to work in the booming oil fields, but most of northern Alberta hasn't been able to develop and upgrade the necessary infrastructure to cope with this growth.
The condition of roads and highways is where this is most notable. In downtown Bonnyville, 50 Avenue is congested with traffic most of the day and needs to be fixed for this town to grow properly. Along with that, lobbying the government to improve Highway 28 to Cold Lake 41 to La Corey should be priorities.
Lack of affordable housing is an issue and will most likely be difficult to fix. One idea that came to mind would be to build up the region with other amenities. The proposed splash park in Bonnyville took some criticism at the All Candidates Forum a few weeks ago, but I am all for it. The only way you are going to get people to want to live in Bonnyville is if there are interesting things for them to do. Bringing in amenities like a splash park and maybe a movie theatre will make the region more attractive to both homeowners and developers.
I understand all of this is going to take a lot of time and hard work from the councilors in the region, but I feel they just might be able to pull it off.
Every single councilor I've heard speak during the lead up to the election realizes that the next four years are going to be a critical time for this region. They are well aware of many issues I've mentioned and quite a few more.
There is a ton of potential for the Bonnyville/Cold Lake area over the net four years and from what I have seen most of the councils seem up to the task. Now they just have to turn their words into actions.
