Mayor Tom Pickard, the entire Whitecourt town council, and the town’s Chief Administrative Officer will be heading down to Red Deer this week to participate in the Alberta Municipalities (ABmunis) Convention and Trade Show taking place Sept. 25-27.
The ABmunis Convention and Trade Show is an annual event that brings together over 1,100 leaders from more than 250 municipalities across the province, to discuss important issues, exchange ideas and meet with provincial officials.
Organizers say some of the major issues that will be addressed this year include grants and funding from the provincial government, public safety and policing, respect and collaborative governance and intergovernmental co-operation.
Whitecourt Mayor Tom Pickard says one of the issues he is looking forward to discussing is potential issues around Bill 18 and Bill 20 introduced by the Alberta government.
“For us, it will be the last get-together before the election season starts,” says Pickard. “So we’ll all be brought up to date on the new changes for municipal elections in Alberta, the update on the party system and there’s going to be a really good discussion with the government regarding balloting and electronic vote counting.”
Mayor Pickard says another issue he is looking forward to discussing is accessing funding to upgrade the voting system in Whitecourt to an electronic counting method.
“It will cost Whitecourt a significant amount of money to move away from what is generally accepted as a tried and true method,” he explains. “Locally, we have a returning officer who is very diligent. She ensures there are random audits and random counting.”
Upgrading the voting system would be a major financial investment that could be affected by Bill 18 and Bill 20, says Pickard
“If we move to the new system it will cost Alberta taxpayers, not just Whitecourt taxpayers, millions of dollars extra. It’s items like that where we are just seeking clarification with the government and trying to ensure that the changes they are proposing make sense.”
The mayor also clarified that the upgrade to the voting system in Whitecourt would only affect the way the votes are counted, not cast.
“We use electronic means for tabulation. You still fill in the box, you still mark your spot, and you still feed that through a vote counter.”
Mayor Pickard says this convention also provides an opportunity to talk with the premier and MLAs.
“Danielle Smith and her cabinet have indicated they will all be there, so they obliviously take it to be a very important meeting and so do we.”
There will also be representatives attending the convention from parts of the province that have recently been affected by environmental disasters, such as Jasper, Slave Lake and Fort McMurray, who can offer unique insight and advice on how to prevent disasters or mitigate their effects.
Mayor Pickard says he hopes some of the lessons learned from these disasters can be used to help protect Whitecourt moving forward.
“We have partners that have been devastated,” he explains. “We can meet with them, learn what they’ve learned and hope to ensure Whitecourt stays away from or mitigates against any of those outcomes.”
Mayor Pickard says he and council are ready to represent Whitecourt and its needs at this convention.
“This is an annual event all of council looks forward to attending because we have an opportunity to meet and discuss very important issues for our municipality.”
