What makes us, in St. Albert, think we’re so special? Is it the new logo – the City of Botanical Arts? Or is that just another way of saying welcome to the home of Hole’s Enjoy Centre.
There are a vocal number of St. Albertans who say they soon won’t be able to afford living here any more. It’s not a new call. For years we have had a camel-humped population distribution pattern with a dent in the curve where the 20- to 40-year-old group should be. Not surprising really. Once school is over, our children move away. Some return when they are professionally established while others move here when they have children and are seeking a place to settle and raise their families. Still, this has been touted as a sign of an incomplete society even though we do keep growing.
Our distribution curve might be more ‘normal’ if we had been able to attract a college or university campus. That hasn’t happened despite gallant efforts dating back at least two decades. And, outside of service industries that cater to the needs of our residents, our commercial/industrial base is not very large for reasons which have been earnestly debated on the pages of this newspaper, even to the present day.
The newer distress calls are coming most predominantly from our senior citizens, many of whom truly are struggling with property taxes and utility bills. Some posit that if we dispense with our local government and meld into Edmonton that our property taxes would suddenly drop. Maybe too, the LRT line that one of our longer serving city councillors has been forever yearning for, will come into being sooner if we were enclosed within the ample bosom of our adjoining metropolis. It could happen – as soon as the new hockey palace and the ultramodern development of the doomed municipal airport are complete and we help pay for them.
In our ongoing desire to become a self-sustaining, full-service city, it is wonderfully entertaining to follow the paths of ineffectiveness of successive city councils since the heyday of Mayor Dick Fowler. The promises made at election times over the years are stirring stuff. And our city administration is well known for the number of times that it has convinced council to hire outside consultants to do the job that some of us naively thought they had been hired to do in the first place. Who knows? With a new city manager, maybe something extraordinary will happen with economic development. Of course, that will depend on who council hires this time.
Meanwhile, in an enthusiastic search for a contemporary identity, we hired a sage from Seattle to tell us who we are. He determined that we are the City of Botanical Arts. And since that tablet descended from that particular mountain of sagacity, various advisory committees have been busy interpreting what that means. It hasn’t been all bad, of course. We have an attractive signature posted on buses and public signs. The exercise has helped keep our idea of a distinct society alive.
Still, we need to keep in mind that the true distinctiveness of St. Albert lies in our unique history. And it is this scribe’s conviction that citizenship in St. Albert carries with it a responsibility to be the stewards of our society’s rich arts and heritage.
St. Albert has been a settlement for centuries. We predate the founding of the Catholic mission that we celebrated last year. And we have played a rich role in the settling of new Canadians ever since.
So as this city marches on to the 65,000 population mark and we pursue our enthusiastic new and jazzy identity, let’s not forget.
We are an important part of Canada’s history.
Or did you know that in the first place?
Alan Murdock is a local pediatrician.
