Provincial:Happy birthday, Alberta
Regional:Here's a good project
Jeff Burgar

Provincial
Happy birthday, Alberta

For some of us, we might not have the best governments one could want. Or the best hospitals, or schools, or military, or scientists, or roads, or restaurants, or stores. Perhaps.

But you know, there aren't too many places in the world where so many of us can wake up and not really worry about going to work.

Maybe we have bill collectors hounding us, maybe we don't have the nicest house on the block, maybe we aren't as healthy as we would like, maybe we can't travel the places we would like <197> so? Nobody is there, twisting our arms, forcing us to do things we don't want to do. So much of life here in Alberta is our choice. We decide where and how we want to live.

Besides our freedoms, no one is shoving a rifle in our backs, no one is setting up a blockade down the street, and no one is building a car bomb in a garage.

Alberta isn't perfect. But, in this our 100th anniversary, it is one of best places, if not the best place, to be.

We love it here, and we hope for many more wonderful years to come.





Regional
Here's a good project

Gangs. Road rage incidents day after day. Drive by shootings. Stabbings every night outside bars. And how about the woman who was accosted in broad daylight outside a mall? She was threatened and told by a masked man to get back in her car in the underground parkade. The woman shouted and screamed and ran inside the mall instead. Police are still looking for the bad guy. This friends, is just another day in Edmonton or Calgary.

It sounds terrible. And in fact, Albertans are likely in agreement there is a city problem. But is the problem so bad, the majority of 120 or so new cops coming to Alberta are mostly going to end up in those two cities? Not only that, their job will be strictly gang related.

Alberta is already Cheapsville when it comes to paying for police. High Prairie argued for years for a fair shake from the province over it's policing costs. The province threw a few dollars at the problem and for about 20 towns in Alberta like High Prairie and Three Hills, the noise they were making went away. But, there are still problems.

Just because somebody else is picking up the bill, doesn't mean crime stops. Grande Prairie claims it now has the highest criminal case load in Alberta. Both our own Lesser Slave Lake Regional Police and our own RCMP are working long hours to keep up. The province picked up the bill for a bunch of small towns, yes. But that was the end of it. There was no new money for more feet on the street.

Admittedly, it was a smart move by the province. The MD of Big Lakes continues to groan now and then about not enough cops, but it's the same old story. No big advances there. High Prairie hasn't said a word since they got relief over a year ago. Except to spend some of the money on second special constable. Many bigger communities, like Slave Lake, which got no special relief, mostly just carry on. They know they need help, but golly gee whiz, maybe that $7 billion provincial surplus just isn't big enough to help out.

High Prairie worked hard to get financial relief. It took a long time, and working with everybody involved, but eventually, the tide turned and the day was won. It's time for rural governments to once again join forces and demand more officers in our communities.