ST. PAUL - MLA Scott Cyr told Town of St. Paul council he wants to be “part of the solution and not part of the problem,” inviting Mayor Maureen Miller to share what the municipal politicians believe should be on the priority list when he heads back to the Legislature.
Cyr attended the July 13 Committee of the Whole meeting and Miller wasted no time in sharing council’s top three items with Cyr, those being healthcare, crime and Sec. Hwy. 881.
“It starts with health… there are multiple levels of health that we have been challenged with in our community,” Miller said, with doctor attraction being the key one.
While the community has been successful in attracting several new doctors to set up practice in St. Paul, retaining doctors remains an ongoing challenge.
“We were very fortunate to attract seven physicians over the last few years, but we have had four recently leave. So, we are in the process now of attraction again.”
Cyr said the UCP’s foreign nurses’ program which attracted 1,400 nurses to the province has been successful and that approach now needs to be taken with attracting doctors.
“Right now, what we are seeing is our foreign doctors are finding roadblocks repeatedly,” Cyr said, adding this process needs to streamlined. He also says nurse practitioners also have a role to play.
“They are not doctors, I recognize that, but I believe that as rural communities we need to say that there’s just not enough doctors to go around. How do we fill that gap? Nurse practitioners are ready and raring to go with this and I’m looking forward to seeing our province do more with that.”
Following comments by Miller that a recent shut down of emergency services at the hospital due to staffing had put the community as risk “over the whole weekend,” Coun. Nathan questioned Cyr as to “when do you think municipalities took over the role of health care?”
“That’s a loaded question isn’t it?” Cyr responded.
“Health care is supposed to be a provincial responsibility. You get money from the feds, the province distributes it out. The province spend money on health care. It’s not run by the feds, it’s not run by the Town,” Taylor said. “What I’m wondering about is: doctor recruitment is turning into nurse recruitment, is it going to turn into police recruitment.”
Taylor said that as a result, rather than spending money on creating high quality of life in the community for its residents, the Town is spending money on doctor recruitment “which is your job."
“I don’t believe the province should be the only dictators on physicians going into communities,” Cyr responded. “I believe the communities should always be involved in that process.”
Cyr acknowledged that “we need to be better at this,” adding that, “we’re seeing our health care be leached off to Edmonton and Calgary.”
“They are not prepared for it either,” Miller interjected. “When we have moms in labour and they have to show up in Edmonton, Edmonton is not ready to take on the entire (region). Two days last summer there was no deliveries – Lac La Biche, St. Paul, Cold Lake.”
She said communities in the region are already working together towards sharing of resources where possible in the health care setting in order to meet needs.
Crime 'snowballing out of control'
Switching the conversation to rural crime, Miller said residents are not feeling safe.
“I too am frustrated too,” Cyr said, recounting the story of a Cold Lake business that has experienced 28 thefts with three of them being armed assaults over a three-year period.
“Crime seems to be snowballing out of control. I believe it is a lack of trying to hold people accountable for petty crime that we need to start dealing with. As you look at the fact that we’ve allowed petty crime to take off, the more serious crimes follow.”
“Can we be clear that it isn’t me as mayor and council that have allowed petty crime,” Miller said. “We seem to be the culprit but that is an overall federal initiative that has happened. Just being clear when you said ‘we,’ I didn’t want to be included.”
Cyr placed the blame squarely on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Federal Justice minister.
“It seems like they’ve created a revolving door and they’ve broken the bail system,” he said, noting the provincial government has no jurisdiction over federal legislation. However, he said the Province needs to take some creative approaches to dealing with petty crime.
Coun. Taylor also challenged Cyr on the issue of police funding stating that it has been downloaded onto municipalities, giving municipalities no alternative but to raise taxes.
“$2.2 million equates to about one third of our tax dollars. So, on my property tax, one-third of my property tax goes to policing. Your government - I understand you weren’t there at the time - also then added that to rural farmers and so all rural farmers are now paying for policing,” Taylor said.
He added, "I have trouble with your government saying we don’t raise taxes, and yet you raise it in a backhanded way like the Liberals do, creating a level of tax. You guys are doing the same thing forcing elected officials at the local level to then raise property taxes on a mill rate that goes directly to the provincial government.”
“Just because I wasn’t in (office at the time), doesn’t mean I don’t wear it,” Cyr responded.
The MLA acknowledged that the provincial population has likely tripled since the Province brought in the 5,000 population threshold where urban municipalities with populations under 5,000 did not pay for policing costs, while those over did pay. More recently, the Province downloaded policing costs to rural municipalities such as the County of St. Paul.
“I hear you and I recognize this is a hardship. We also have some municipalities that have more means than others, with more industry involvement,” Cyr said, suggesting the municipality put their concerns in writing, noting that the 5,000 threshold may no longer be appropriate.
A rough ride
Last but not least was the ongoing state of disrepair of Sec. Hwy. 881.
Describing 881 as a main agricultural corridor for St. Paul, Miller said it continues to be a challenge.
“Right now, I’m focused on Highway 28 because that is the big project. I want to see movement on that one because getting it funded is the next challenge,” Cyr said. However, he noted that he will be moving forward with a letter to Transportation outlining what fixes are needed for 881.
“I will be looking for letters of support for that,” not only from the Town and County, but also from businesses and farmers and anyone else that uses it on a regular basis, he said.
“We are not going to get 881 fixed without the support of your local community, that’s just a fact. If you’re not out there getting people ready to write letters, [but] not form letters please – it needs to be ‘I broke an axle on 881’,” Cyr said, giving an example of specific experiences that need to be shared to add weight to the ask of the government department.
“Can we recommend that the next time you bring the ministers up, bring them in a school bus?” Taylor asked, which drew laughter around the table, but spoke of the experience bus drivers have noted in recent years of just how rough the ride down 881 is.
