And now they step in
Posted 4 months ago
Many concerns about the Calgary Metropolitan Plan (CMP) have been brought forward by the rural members of the Calgary Regional Partnership (CRP).
Of those, most revolve around the voting structure, and the power it gave urban municipalities over the rural members. To put those concerns at ease, Wheatland County has met with provincial ministers, explained their concerns and even presented solutions to the ministers and the CRP membership.
Those efforts were fruitless though, as at the June CRP meeting where the CMP was accepted, a motion to fix those issues was voted down.
The lack of concern for the rural members, Wheatland County, Rocky View County and the Municipal District of Foothills, seems to have stopped now that all three have withdrawn from the partnership. It is possible, an urban member or two took the time to look at what their municipality plans to do when expansion is necessary. Those three municipalities have 100 per cent of the land required for growth in the region.
They have said that since the beginning, and now it seems someone has heard them, sort of. In a press release sent out to most Alberta media outlets last Friday, Alberta Municipal Affairs Minister Ray Danyluk expressed his plans to have the CMP undergo a cross-ministry review.
“The members saw that a strategic plan would help guide the region through growth and they took action,” said Danyluk in the release, sent out after a meeting with the CRP. “This (review) will ensure the plan aligns with provincial policy. Having Alberta’s municipalities work together is essential to the success of our province, and I believe this is a better plan because of the involvement of both rural and urban municipalities.”
One may wonder, where are these rural municipalities he speaks of? Chances are, the minister was referring to the four years of work Foothills and Rocky View put into developing the plan (Wheatland County was not a member of the CRP for the whole time period it took to develop the CMP).
Or maybe, he was remembering a conversation between Minister Ted Morton and Wheatland County after they withdrew last year. The county was told, in no uncertain terms, that life without the CRP was not going to be easy, especially when applying for provincial grants.
The county chose not to be intimidated, and withdrew once again last week, but it’s still unknown what the province may be willing to do to regain them and the other two rural members back in the CRP.
