SANDRA M STANWAY
Brooks Bulletin
In 2024, Alberta premier and Brooks-Medicine Hat MLA Danielle Smith addressed everything from micro issues that serve the riding to major provincial issues.
“I think the job of an MLA is to identify problems and solve them,” she said during a year end discussion with The Bulletin.
Micro issues such as re-opening the group camping site at Kinbrook Provincial Park, working with the county to build a new road at JBS Food, upgrading boat launches with the Lake Newell Marina Association and meeting with doctors regarding equipment deficiencies and upgrades for operating rooms.
“So, there’s a lot of things that are local,” she said.
One of the larger local micro-projects has been working with the County of Newell to reopen the CDC South facility. The county initiated the project to better utilize the provincial asset. At the final county meeting, council agreed to sign a lease agreement. The county will find occupants and sublease space.
“To find a way to get it back to its former glory,” she said.
“We’re in the process of transferring over the management and the budget for that locally and then working as a connector.”
The connection is with the Prairie Rose School Division, which plans to add agriculture to their high school curriculum, Medicine Hat College which is interested in including ag programs and the CDC.
“That’s the exciting part. You meet a lot of people, find out a lot of little problems, and you can connect them with each other. If there’s a provincial role to play, then I’m happy to play it. They’re micro issues. They’re not a lot except to the people who are impacted by them,” she said.
AQUATIC INVASIVE SPECIES
As mussels have now been found in the Assiniboine and Clear Lake river systems very close to Saskatchewan, the Alberta AIS task force has released it final recommendations.
They include increasing the number of inspection stations to 11 this year from seven last year and to add in 2026 to pilot a dip tank for watercraft that would kill AIS in extremely hot water.
WATER
The Eastern Irrigation District (EID) and its users will not be negatively impacted by any of the water changes being considered by the province. Over the past couple of months there have been water meetings that irrigation districts have encouraged the public to attend.
“The only way they (EID) might be affected is if we could find more allocation so that we are able to do more irrigated lands and more irrigated acres,” Smith said.
“That would be one of the ways they would be impacted but that is a very clear use case about why you want to make sure that you’re using water well because it’s such an incredible growth area for our agricultural products.”
She mentioned that the province is water-restrained, with Calgary expected to run out of its allocation when it reaches 1.5 million people. The province is looking at 100 sites for more reservoirs to catch more water, whether it’s melting or raining, so the allocation doesn’t flow through the jurisdiction. “That will create more water allocation and hopefully provide those who need more water with the ability to get some of those rights,” she said.
Smith said there is also the issue of overallocated systems and the need for transparency in water licences.
She mentioned the lack of a return flow credit for municipalities that clean and return water to the system.
“They should get some return flow credit. Some municipalities have more water that they return to the river system than they take out in the first place.”
The province is eyeing the Eyremore Dam and exploring the expansion of the Ghost Reservoir to protect downstream communities on the Bow River to provide water security for the Bow River Basin. That option will move forward to phase three, which will begin this year with the engineering and regulatory approval process.
Smith emphasized the importance of efficient water use and ensuring that existing water rights holders do not feel nervous. “It’s just a matter of how can we get more water users by getting more efficient use of the water,” she said.
