Okotoks’ Mayor’s denial of the Calgary veto is simply dishonest

It appears that Okotoks Mayor Bill Robertson has denied the Calgary Regional Partnership’s flawed governance model.

In the excitement leading up to the provincial election, I missed this letter to the editor of the Okotoks Western Wheel, which seems to indicate Mayor Robertson has “drunk the Kool-Aid” as they say (a very morbid reference to the Reverend Jim Jones mass suicide, sorry). In fact, the Mayor quotes word-for-word from page 17 of the Calgary Metropolitan Plan (formerly known as the Calgary Regional Plan during the consultation phase, but suspiciously changed to the CMP after public consultation with regional partners was concluded).

Robertson says, “Calgary represents close to 85% of the CRP’s population so any positive decision would require the city’s consent. However, any five of the 14 CRP member municipalities, no matter how small, could effectively block a decision by the City of Calgary. Therefore, Calgary cannot impose its will on the region, but neither can regional decisions be made without Calgary’s support.”

Let’s analyze this further–Robertson says “any positive decision would require the city’s consent.” In other words, if Calgary does not say “yes” to a planning decision by any of the regional partners, the decision cannot go ahead. Since the opposite of saying “yes” is “no” then Calgary has a veto over those decisions. Full stop. Let’s not mislead people by trying to confuse them.

The definition of veto is: “the power or right vested in one branch of a government tocancel or postpone the decisions, enactments, etc., of another branch.” This applies in the case of the Calgary Regional Partnership–no dispute.

The argument continues thus: “any five of the 14 CRP member municipalities, no matter how small, could effectively block a decision by the City of Calgary. Therefore, Calgary cannot impose its will on the region.”

This is a true statement but is an entirely different scenario. This refers to a situation where Calgary is putting forward a proposal.  No one has ever disputed the City of Calgary could be thwarted by five CRP member municipalities. In this situation the governance model allows for those five CRP members to veto something that Calgary wants to do.

To summarize, there are TWO possible veto scenarios. But the existence of one veto does not negate the existence of the other.

The last sentence of this statement is an interpretation of the governance model that is simply false and misleading. The untrue statement is: “Calgary cannot impose its will on the region, but neither can regional decisions be made without Calgary’s support.”

This “key message” (as we call it in the public relations world) has been repeated by the Calgary Regional Partnership for several years and it now appears the Mayor of Okotoks is echoing the same message. And it is simply NOT TRUE.

Calgary CAN impose its will on the region BECAUSE regional decisions CANNOT be made without Calgary’s support.

Mayor Robertson is on the wrong side of this issue and I guess this is what is done when a municipality realizes it has made a mistake–they try to deny that a mistake was made by denying the facts.

Let’s just be honest about the situation. Premier Alison Redford has already admitted the Calgary veto was a mistake and the governance model will be revisited.

Okotoks Mayor Bill Robertson needs to be forthright with Okotoks citizens and admit the Town has signed on to giving Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi the sign-off on their planning decisions. The truth hurts.

Further reading:

http://www.westernwheel.com/article/20120327/WHE0801/303289997/-1/whe08/premier-visits-highwood

Premier visits Highwood

Premier Alison Redford was the guest speaker at the sold-out fundraiser for the Highwood PC Constituency Association in High River Friday evening, where she told the audience Calgary should not have the ability to veto decisions made by the Calgary Regional Partnership.

During her speech, Redford spoke of the importance of regional planning with provincial leadership to see communities come together and work with the City of Calgary to ensure resources are shared.

“One of the things that means is that Calgary can’t have a veto,” she said, which was met with applause.

Rural municipalities such as the MD of Foothills and Rocky View County have expressed concerns over Calgary’s veto power.

There needs to be a balance between local and provincial government decisions, Redford said, adding there are some areas where the Province needs to lead and take responsibility to work with local governments to ensure integrated regional planning happens and the Province joins in the conversation.

“Not because we know what’s best, not because we’re going to tell local decision makers what to do, but because we have a role with respect to the fact that we as a provincial government and as Albertans are making investments and contributions to infrastructure, to education, to health care and what we’re able to do as a result of that is to build a network that supports communities and people across this province,” Redford explained.

Redford told journalists she was in town to support Highwood PC candidate John Barlow, adding the PCs are not conceding Highwood to Wildrose Party candidate and leader Danielle Smith. Redford said she wants to ensure any constituency with a long-standing PC tradition such as Highwood, remains Tory blue.

“For me the symbol in this riding is whether or not the riding should be represented by someone who is from the riding and understands the riding inherently or whether it’s a candidate that’s come from somewhere else,” Redford said.

The association sold 400 tickets for the event and some people had to be turned away.

The event’s popularity is an indication of what a strong candidate Barlow is, Redford said in a follow-up interview, adding he has strong roots in the constituency and met people who told her they’ve known Barlow for years.

“This is what democracy is about,” said Redford. “It’s finding candidates that can truly speak to the values of a community, not just for the moment, but understand the history of the community and understand the future of the community.”

Redford also spoke highly of current Highwood MLA George Groeneveld who plans to retire. MLA for Livingstone-MacLeod Evan Berger and Barlow thanked Groeneveld for his help during their speeches.

Barlow told PC supporters a local representative is needed to represent the constituency.

“We are here for Highwood and Highwood alone,” he said.

Barlow has spoken about involving young people in the political process and arranged for students from high schools in the constituency to attend the event.

Highwood High School students Paige McCredie and Mikaela Valgardson attended the Forum for Young Canadians program, where they visited Canadian Parliament, and said they were excited to hear Redford speak at the event Friday.

Both students said it is hard to get young people interested in politics. Valgardson said ways to engage youths could include putting more attention on issues concerning them such as education and post-secondary opportunities.

“I know that some people don’t think of politics that way just because we’re youths and we kind of get ignored in that way,” she said.

McCredie said she can already tell education is becoming a focus in politics.

“They’ve already made that step,” she said.

McCredie added Barlow speaks with confidence, something politicians need to be able to do.

“He definitely seems to be able to talk to youths,” said Valgardson, “which is, I think, an admirable trait to have in someone.”

The PC Party is putting up a strong fight in the Highwood with recent funding announcements and Redford’s attendance at the fundraising dinner, said Wildrose contender Danielle Smith.

It’s no surprise to Smith, who said it is not new for a party leader to support candidates across the province, especially in key constituencies.

It’s something she said her party is also doing in Redford’s constituency of Calgary-Elbow.

“I have to say fair is fair – we’re throwing a lot into her riding too,” she said. “I’ve held two fundraisers in her riding in the last couple years so we have a nice war chest for our local candidate there, James Cole.”

Smith is confident going into the election, saying the PCs are in trouble and they don’t have any safe seats.

“I believe they’re going to outspend us three-to-one and we’re going to outwork them 10-to-one,” she said.

With files from Don Patterson. Copyright: Okotoks Western Wheel

http://www.westernwheel.com/article/20120418/WHE0902/304189970/0/whe

Okotoks mayor says there is no partnership veto

During this election season there has been statements made by both PC and Wildrose Party candidates about the City of Calgary having veto power over decisions made by the Calgary Regional Partnership. I believe these statements are incomplete and need to be grounded on the full facts.

First, our partnership is committed to achieving our regional decisions through consensus. Arriving at consensus has been a successful practice since this group voluntarily came together in 1999. In very rare cases, when consensus may not be reached, we have a decision making process in place to make regionally significant decisions:

A vote must contain at least two-thirds of the CRP’s 14 municipal members, or in other words, 10 out of 14 municipalities need to vote in favour; and a vote must contain a majority (50%) of the region’s population.

Calgary represents close to 85% of the CRP’s population so any positive decision would require the city’s consent. However, any five of the 14 CRP member municipalities, no matter how small, could effectively block a decision by the City of Calgary. Therefore, Calgary cannot impose its will on the region, but neither can regional decisions be made without Calgary’s support.

The process is a democratic model striking a balance between the principles of one municipality/one vote and representation by population. The candidates may not be aware that this is the same decision model the Province of Alberta has legislated for the municipalities of the Capital Region Board in Edmonton.

The Calgary Regional Partnership is important to the long-term planning of the Calgary region. Membership in the partnership is voluntary, with local municipalities driving the work we do. Rather than go at it alone, municipalities can use knowledge that resides in other communities and share in the economic benefits that result from this type of collaboration.

Our local governments work together to resolve problems and develop common solutions for their communities. As mayor of a mid-sized town there is nothing worse than having to direct limited municipal resources on services that could have been better delivered by collaborating with other municipalities.

There is no catch-all solution for all the challenges that come with a growing region. But we will be much farther ahead by working together and sharing our knowledge for the betterment of our communities. The future of our region depends on it.

Bill Robertson,

Mayor, Town of Okotoks;

Secretary Treasurer, Calgary Regional Partnership