Ray Gibbon Drive, LRT, regional transit and sustainable funding for housing needs are just some of the priorities on council’s advocacy plan.
Council unanimously approved the strategic advocacy plan after an in camera session of a special council meeting on Monday. There had been a brief debate, initiated by Coun. Bob Russell, about the need to go behind closed doors for the discussion. A majority of council voted in favour of going in camera.
“We didn’t deep dive into one particular topic,” said Mayor Nolan Crouse in an interview.
The advocacy plan is a tool developed for council, with support from city staff, to focus their efforts when dealing with other governments, be it provincial or federal governments or other municipalities. It’s updated annually, so some of the items are new or revised while others have been on the list before.
Crouse said from council’s point of view one of the highest priorities is lateral advocacy, as in advocacy with other municipalities. For instance, advocating with Sturgeon County on regional issues, working with St. Albert’s county neighbours on a joint growth study or seeking a leadership role in the development of a regional economic development organization.
Other regional initiatives now involve Ray Gibbon Drive. Not only does the city want to advocate for the expansion and extension of the busy road, but council is hoping to drum up regional support for the idea.
Some items on this year’s list are related to the city’s smart city initiatives, like broadband connectivity and speeds, looking for open data agreements with other governments or pursuing a business incubation and acceleration strategy in partnership with other organizations.
Transit advocacy items, like seeking to get the LRT extended to St. Albert’s borders and working with the City of Edmonton on regional commuter transit, also make an appearance.
Other examples on the list include seeking a sustainable source for local housing needs, grouping affordable housing, homelessness prevention, seniors lodgings and rental assistance together, advocating for Parent Link Centre services in St. Albert, advocating for provincial support for monitoring and studies being worked on by the Sturgeon River Watershed Alliance and seeking an appointment of a regional waste diversion co-ordinator by the province.
Some items that have appeared on past council advocacy lists, like the long-planned Campbell Park and Ride or increased funding for the city’s family and community support services, have moved off of the active advocacy phase and are now awaiting an action or being watched for information from other levels of government.
Crouse said many of the items are related to the plans to modernize the Municipal Government Act.
When it comes to Ray Gibbon Drive, he predicted it could take years for success.
But the point of having an advocacy plan, he said, is so council members have some ideas at their fingertips of what to talk to someone about if they suddenly find themselves at a table with a cabinet minister or attending an event with a councillor from another community.
“It’s wherever you go you’re pretty much aligned to talk about these things,” Crouse said.
The city’s new intergovernmental and external affairs manager, Lynette Tremblay, will support council’s advocacy efforts. Tremblay also played a large role in helping develop the advocacy plan that council signed off on during Monday’s council meeting.
Tremblay started with the city a few months ago. Jacquie Hansen had previously held the job. Hansen announced her departure in October 2015 and was the first person to have the position, which was created by council in July 2014.
While Tremblay’s role can involve several tasks, some of the consistent ones are research, both internal and external meetings and keeping abreast of other governments’ initiatives or activities.
“My ultimate role is to support council,” she said.
