by Chris Clegg

I was at a meeting Sept. 14 and it was again discussed how the region could work together in attaining a specific goal.

As if we haven’t beat this horse to death enough!

For the purpose of this column the goal the group was trying to achieve is not the focus. Rather, it’s the inability of our elected officials in the Town of High Prairie, Big Lakes County, First Nations and Metis Settlements to regularly meet to talk about local issues.

The past 28 years I’ve been here is littered with attempts to meet. Agreements and accords have been signed between certain local governments.
However, they never seem to last. Once the photo op for the press has taken place, the desire to meet dies as quick as a fart in a hurricane.

All good intentions aside, let’s examine the latest fiasco at the expense of the taxpayer. The Regional Collaboration group first proposed in 2014 was a good idea. The idea was to get our local politicians together to lobby government on items of mutual interest.

Let the broken record play!

Anyway, the meetings began, but so did the expense claims from councillors.

Then came along the Alberta government! It’s the same one that comes up with needless bureaucracy and worthless grants to sway votes from Albertans. In Budget 2014, the Alberta Community Partnership replaced the province’s Regional Collaboration Program. A budget of $48.8 million in 2014-15 was set up for anyone wanting some money.

Along came the former M.D. of Big Lakes. With the blessing of council, they applied for $50,000 to help “assist” the local group. Later, the county approved a bid from a consulting group for $35,225 to assist this endeavour.

I predicted at the time this was doomed to fail. I questioned why in the world we needed anyone from outside to come and assist us with this? Are we so dumb that we can’t organize a meeting? Are we so incompetent that we need a consulting firm to tell us how to organize ourselves so we can have a meeting?

So, how did that regional collaboration group turn out? What value did we get for our $35,225? Let’s let Reeve Ken Matthews tell us how wildly successful this was!

“I wouldn’t consider hiring another consultant,” he said at the March 9 county meeting. “We had a lot of people who wanted to get on with projects and they got tired of that.”

“Of that” was the needless time spent on terms of references.

The county earmarked no more money in their budget for the group, knowing full well is was not worth the effort.

So in short, despite all the money spent, we still don’t have a regional group that has scheduled meetings. We still don’t have an effective regional lobby to get things done.

We’re still not even smart enough to hold a meeting!

It is inexcusable for all our local governments to not meet every 2-3 months to discuss items of mutual concern. The noise coming from town and county chambers that “we’re all in this together” makes no sense when you can’t have a meeting to discuss strategy toward a common goal.

There is only one reason why a regional collaboration group doesn’t take hold and blossom. Somewhere, no one wants to make the effort.
Somewhere, no one has the time. What a shame!

As politicians and elected governments, it is extremely difficult to lobby toward a common goal when you can’t even set aside time to have a meeting. What must they think in Edmonton?

The last word is from former county CAO Bill Kostiw.

“These [cultural challenges] are huge challenges and we should turn them into opportunities,” he said March 9. “This could be done by partnering on projects, lobbying government and securing finances.”

Really! And just how is that working out?