Poor child at the government table?
By Lethbridge Herald on November 13, 2020.
Lethbridge has actually received its fair share of funding from the province
If you spend any time at all listening to certain political voices on social media, a concerning narrative emerges with regards to our city. A picture is painted of Lethbridge, the poor child, at the government table, fighting for scraps of any remaining government spending. You may even hear a narrative that will leave you with the impression that the City of Lethbridge is receiving “nothing” from the provincial government.
I have to admit, if the claim that Lethbridge has received nothing was actually true it would be very concerning. And as a citizen of Lethbridge, I would have some very serious words about what my elected officials were doing to mitigate this.
I am here, however, to tell you that this narrative is false.
If you read my article last month, you will already be aware of the significant spending that our government has either committed to investing in Lethbridge or committed to Lethbridge and area that will have a direct economic benefit to our city.
The most important take-away is that Lethbridge has received over $300 million in funding initiatives this year alone. Some of the funding initiatives include funding for the University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge College, Exhibition Park and the twinning of Highway 3.
But, what I didn’t mention was that the award to the University of Lethbridge was the single-largest post-secondary maintenance award in the province. Furthermore, I didnÕt mention that the university and the college received nearly $4 million in additional funding for new agricultural based research that will help Lethbridge and area to remain one of the primary agricultural hubs in our province.
After the debacle cause by the SCS here in Lethbridge, real supports were needed to help those with mental-health issues and addictions. That is why Lethbridge received $2 million for a mobile SCS site, $10 million for 125 new treatment beds, $1.2 million and $2 million for Foothills and Lethbridge ongoing annual treatment funding respectively, and over $1 million in Community Grant funding to aid those in need of support for recovery. In the spring our government announced $20 million which will be used, in part, to set up a Drug Court in Lethbridge and to fund four new ALERT officers. Not only that, but as of last week, there is no user-service fee for any treatment bed in Alberta.
There are also increases in funding for maintenance at both of our school boards totaling $6 million, and community grants for the arts and for local businesses. More than 245 Lethbridge businesses received up to $5,000 each through the Small and Medium Enterprise Relaunch Grant and $1.25 million was given to the community through culture-funded community grants.
Finally, the City of Lethbridge itself was given over $25 million in additional funding. This funding was in the form of an additional $12 million for Municipality Sustainability over and above its normal allocation, a further $11 million for operational support, and $3.5 million for seniors and housing to create 64 new beds.
While our government continues to face the challenges of COVID and helping our economy recover, many initiatives have seen Lethbridge receive the highest dollar value per capita in the province. And this doesn’t even take into consideration the benefits that Lethbridge will experience from the lion’s share of investment made in irrigation infrastructure that will feature Lethbridge as a hub of global agriculture.
In light of all that our government is doing for our city, it remains a mystery to me how Lethbridge could ever be perceived as the poor child at the government spending table. There is still more work to do and needs to address but in more ways than one, Lethbridge is leading the way.
Nathan Neudorf is the UCP MLA for the Lethbridge-East riding. His column appears monthly.
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And, it remains a mystery to me, Mr. Neudorf, that you continue to recite yesterday’s political news ad nauseam. How many “thanks” do you require? Get on with the job you are being paid to do and get down to business with the “work to do” and the “needs to address”. Criticism comes with the job. As per the old adage, ‘If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen’!
How does this even hold a candle to the “lightbulb” handout and the millions squandered on SCSs? I mean really!
Exactly, Dennis. Now we’re only spending $2 million a year on a couple of dudes in a Winnebago, when all that we need is a tent.
Nathan, you forgot to mention the EMS consolidation… how hard did you fight Kenney over this?! Several jobs will now be lost here in Lethbridge, along with extra annual expenses in the millions for Lethbridge residents to now cover.
Also, how does twinning a few km of a highway East of Taber benefit Lethbridge?
Perhaps, this might provide a better reflection on what is, really, going on with the Kenney UCP, let alone the $30 million/year war room, the $4.7 billion corporate welfare handout, the folks closest to the Premier making in the $190,000s to $200,000s/year, the iffy pipeline $1.6 billion….and all the while, not exploring other avenues of revenue now that oil and gas booms are over along with the corporate welfare tax cut to 8% which will prove to be ineffective for trickling down…..
“How do Kenney’s cuts affect you? Kenney’s Cuts Tracker”
http://www.kenneyscuts.ca/kenneys_cuts_tracker
Perhaps we’re all missing what is really the crux with the Alberta economy now, i.e.”the Kenney UCP assuring Albertans that there are plenty of beds in the system with regard to COVID, and seems to have forgotten that we need doctors, nurses and other health care workers to treat people in these beds. It seems that it hasn’t occurred to Kenney that if we completely lose control of the virus, that bodes no good for the economy.”
“COVID-19 is out of control and Alberta’s United Conservative Party Government looks like a deer in the headlights”
http://www.albertapolitics.ca
And to think if AB Conservative governments had followed Lougheed’s ‘Six Principles’ for resource development we might have had a few $100 billion in the Heritage Trust Fund to help AB businesses get through lockdowns.
The ‘Six Principles’ which were not followed are: “Behave like an owner, Collect your fair share, Save for a rainy day, Go slow, Add value, and Practice statecraft.”