Letter in Leader

Further to my last post, I thank the Edson Leader for printing the letter I submitted in their September 12 edition.

Letter to the Editor re: Edson Projects

Below is a letter I Submitted to the Leader after reading the July 4, 2011 edition of the paper. I am not sure if it will get printed but want it to get out there.

I take issue with the tone and substance of the editorial in the July 4 edition of the Edson Leader regarding the field house and theatre proposals. Characterizing the issue as it has is unfortunate. I suggest a much more positive view can be advanced and the paper, as a long standing information source in our community, could play a positive role in shaping the debate. In response I suggest:

1. This is not an either/or situation. Both projects have their own merits and will be assets to our community. Timing maybe an issue, but that is not insurmountable. That's why it's called "timing". Both projects will potentially take legacy buildings and greatly improve them. To suggest the debate is one or the other lacks insight into how diverse our community is and it is an insult to how innovative we can be.

2. These particular projects are being brought forward by citizens, volunteers, concerned with improving our community. These are people who are here because they want to be here and want to make our community better. Their meetings have been reported in the papers and radio many times and they have asked for community input in many different ways.

3. Nice things cost money. The everything to everyone multiplex didn't "fizzle out" it was shot down by the community and powers that then were. That nice thing apparently cost too much money. In my view the proposed projects are already the compromise position. It is a leadership challenge to our political persons, residents and greater business community to find a way to make it happen. I think we can meet the challenge.

To conclude, suggesting a "referendum or survey" only clouds the issue. People opposed to these can petition against these projects at many points along the way. We elect our representatives to make decisions on many different things. Many of these decisions are things that need to be done, but most of us don't have the time or interest to be properly informed to make them. That's why we elect people to do it. Their job is to make decisions. Saying some particular thing you don't like should go to a plebiscite gives the representatives too easy a way out. I want to know where they stand and why. And this doesn't subvert direct democracy because I can still petition against a decision I don't like. I just have to actually to do the work to find friends and neighbours who feel the same way. Much like the hard work the people in support of these projects have been doing for months and years in support of these projects.

Arlan Delisle
Edson Resident, County Taxpayer

ok I may start this again

I will endeavour to semi regularly update this blog again. Or at least provide some interesting links.

Now....I advise you to go to go to ted.com and blow your mind. Repeatedly. You will stay up late. My beloved long suffering wife pointed me to is this. Parents should watch this.

I am working my way through the Ted speakers as time permits. These types of talks are what I miss from being in a university town. You could go to a talk by someone you've never heard of talk about something you never knew you were interested in and be blown away. The web makes living in a small town very different than the world many of us grew up in.

I have taken a break from this blog thing due to work and family. Both have however conspired to cause some (brief) moments of reflection. I hope to continue the discussion and relate some thoughts and interesting links or information.

Election 2010

As the nominations have now closed, and it was printed in the Edson Leader so it must be true, I confirm I will not be running for Council again.

I also understand there was some discussion in the nether regions of the Internet about mayoral ambition. I guess Mayor Pasychny's acclamation settles that. To be clear there was never any intention on my part to seek that job. At this time.

Between family, work and Council I am finding that there's just not enough time in the day to do it all right. And I feel like the least interesting person I know as I don't have time to look into the new things that interest me, or even just go fishing once in a while.

It is not a decision I have come to lightly. I appreciate all the support from people and greatly enjoyed dealing with council and town staff. I will miss that.

I was last elected in a byelection after Mary Olson passed away. One of the things in the back of my mind when elected was to ensure that, in the remainder of what would have been her term, some of the issues that she had devoted herself to were addressed. In particular I hope that the progress made on affordable housing options would make her happy.

Though there will always be work to do, (we always must keep Moving Forward) I think we addressed a number of points set out in my by-election campaign.

I think public service is important, whether through the political or voluntary fields. Everyone should participate in public life in some fashion. Hopefully I make room on council for another person with the drive and skills to build our community into an even better place. I look forward to continuing my involvement in different facets of public life in our community, just not at the Council table. For now.

I hope to continue this blog, commenting on issues affecting Edson, the Yellowhead region, and the province generally, but I also hope to include more posts relating to my work as a rural lawyer and legal issues that affect people in a community like ours.

Thank you for reading this, thank you for your past support, thank you for the constructive criticism along the way, and I look forward to continuing the discussion.

I am enthusiastically supporting Kevin Zahara's re-election and ask you to vote on October 18.

Whoa, whats this 2 posts in 2 days? I saw this and it resonated with the issue of civility, or lack therof, I think about often. Civility between lawyers is a subject that comes up from time to time in some of the legal publications I read. Civility amoungst us all is something that often feels lost. Hopefully the good news part of the article is something we continue to see more of.

August 2010

Over the weekend I finally had time to review my July copy of Alberta Venture and the "50 most influential Albertans" named therein. I was dismayed that I was again overlooked this year, but took some solace at least that Kevin Zahara wasn't named either.

Speaking of Zahara, he has a good run down of the Town projects going on and I suggest you check it out.

I will comment further on whether or not I will be running for council again at a later date. I can however quash one rumour floating around the nether regions of the internet: I will not be running for mayor. I don't have time to do what I have right now.

New Edson Hospital in GOA Health Capital Plan

I am happy to see the announcement from the Provincial Government today that the new "health centre in Edson" is on course. Credit must be given to Mayor Greg and MLA Robin for their work in moving this forward and I thank the ministers for their commitment. I hope my small contribution by raising this issue with government types whenever the opportunity presented itself played at least some role.

The relevant portion of the announcement reads:

"$108 million to build a new health centre in Edson. This total includes $73 million allocated out of the 2010-13 Plan, which is an increase of $70 million from the 2009-12 Plan in order to build a new facility rather than upgrading the current facility. Construction is anticipated to start in Spring 2012 and be completed in Spring 2014.

The health centre will be built on a new site to provide health care services and programs to meet the needs of the community, including acute care, emergency and outpatient services. Community care services (such as mental health, addictions treatment, newborn follow up, etc.) will be consolidated and expanded."

This will be a huge benefit to our community, particularly when looking at recruiting new doctors, nurses or other heath care people, but also for every other industry here. If you are trying to get an operator, truck driver, lawyer or trades person etc. to relocate here, this could be a significant factor when they consider the impact on their family.

While I am happy today, I will be overjoyed when I actually see shovels in the ground.

By the way, including the "lawyer" in the bit above was not by accident. If anyone reading knows of one that wants to leave the big smoke to come where there is more work than you know what to do with, but can still go to lake/river on the weekend, tell them to call me.

I am humble enough to advise that Zahara Views has another fine update on what is going on in town. I again piggy back on his post to ensure concerned persons see that their tax dollars are in fact at work.

Take care.