Linda Cox,
Mayor, Town of High Prairie

Following is a portion of Town of High Prairie Mayor Linda Cox’s report for June 22 to July 5:
June 23, I attended the Northern Alberta Mayors and Reeves Caucus held in Grande Prairie. There were approximately 50 mayors and reeves who travelled to Grande Prairie to participate.

NAMRC meets twice per year to discuss issues of relevance to northern mayors and reeves. The host city provides presentations of a timely and educational nature. Because of the Municipal Government Act review, Minister of Municipal Affairs Danielle Larivee was in attendance to brief us on upcoming changes to the Act.

A tour of the Philip J. Currie Dinosaur Museum was also arranged. For those who have not yet visited the museum, this is a must-see attraction in our region. Conde Naste Traveler Magazine has listed the museum as one of the Top 10 Museum Openings Around the World. It is the only destination given this status in Canada with peers including Tate Modern in London, Shanghai Natural History Museum and the Bordeaux Wine Museum in France.

The museum has a special focus on interactive exhibits, bringing the world of the dinosaurs to life before your very eyes. For those looking for something to entertain children and grandchildren this summer, this would be a perfect day trip.

The afternoon was spent with presentations. Seven Generations Energy Company, is working in the Montney, a natural gas formation about 100 km south of Grande Prairie [Kakwa area]. The Montney is one of North America’s largest and most prolific tight gas resource plays. It runs from Fort Nelson in the north to Rocky Mountain House in the south – 130,000 square km [equal in size to Canada’s three Maritime provinces] of high-pressure, tight [shale] hydrocarbons. Seven Generations is competing in an over-supplied North American market so is working hard to decrease their average horizontal drilling and completion costs.

Although just eight years old, it sits fourth, between Encana and Cenovus, in the amount of active drilling rigs in Alberta. Seven Generations ships its product to Chicago for refining.

But there is enough resource potential in the Montney to support large new energy market integration plants that can turn field natural gas and liquids into consumer and commercial market products [a refining plant]. This would truly be an effective economic diversification using our resources in our region, not shipped south to add value and jobs somewhere else.

Our next presentation was from Aquatera, a full service utility corporation owned by the City of Grande Prairie, County of Grande Prairie and Town of Sexsmith. It provides regional water supply and distribution, wastewater treatment and collection, and landfill and recycling services to a residential, commercial and industrial population of approximately 72,000 people.

Aquatera’s goal is to provide services at utility rates below the median of comparable Alberta cities, and in 2014 they reached it, while fully recovering costs of service. Aquatera was formed in 2003 and, for assets transferred to the corporation from the founding shareholders, preferred shares were issued. Shareholders have received $71 million in direct cash benefits since 2003, as well as franchise fees of 10 per cent of revenues collected and dividends paid at the mandatory rate of five per cent. As our region moves forward with a regional water system, here is a model that bears investigation.