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The Alberta Townships Annual Convention and Trade Fair concluded on Friday and the city of Grande Prairie took some key victories from the convention.
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On Friday, Grande Prairie City Councilman Dylan Bressey was elected chairman of the towns of Alberta’s municipalities under the 500,000 board.
“We really work hard for that, [Bressey] I worked hard for that, so well deserved and deserved, ”said Grande Prairie Councilman Chris Thiessen.
Thiessen is also pleased that the city’s resolution to lobby for increased funding for core cities like Grande Prairie was adopted on the Alberta municipalities’ advocacy agenda.
“It makes sense that as a larger city, we get a little extra funding to help offset those additional costs,” Thiessen said.
Thiessen is also excited about the approval of increased mental health support for first responders, as well as an initiative around promoting more housing support for the homeless.
“That is important to all communities, especially with increasing homelessness and poverty across the country,” Thiessen said, “who will work to find solutions to address that and create options for people to find stability in their lives. life”.
Thiessen was also surprised by the vote against an initiative to advocate for secure online voting for municipal elections to help increase voter turnout. Voter turnout for the last Grande Prairie municipal election was just under 22 percent of eligible voters.
Alberta Municipalities is an advocacy group that lobbies the provincial government on behalf of Alberta’s summer cities, towns, and villages.
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The convention’s final day also marked the speeches by Prime Minister Jason Kenney and Alberta’s Minister of Municipal Affairs Ric McIver, which Thiessen says shows how much influence Alberta’s municipalities have in provincial affairs.
“[Alberta Municipalities] it’s really good at making the wheels roll pretty fast, especially if it’s something you can actuate, “said Thiessen.
Thiessen says the conference was useful in helping municipalities in the province to begin to chart their future political goals and to meet face-to-face with the leaders of the provincial parties and the MLA.
“We couldn’t achieve our strategic goals if we weren’t building those relationships right now, and this is what the Alberta Municipalities conference is allowing municipalities and Grande Prairie to do specifically,” Thiessen said.
Reference-www.dailyheraldtribune.com