News
Lacombe Mayor Christie to receive prestigious award for civic leadership
Lacombe, Alberta (October 11, 2017) – The City of Lacombe is proud to announce that Mayor Steve Christie has been chosen to receive the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association (AUMA) Award of Excellence, which recognizes outstanding civic leadership by either past or present municipal elected officials who have held office for at least three years in Alberta.
“Mayor Christie has demonstrated his dedication and outstanding leadership on many levels and many fronts,” said Chief Administrative Officer Dion Pollard. “The City has continued to progress under his tenure and has established solid principles and policies for future growth. With Mayor Christie acknowledging his intent to not participate in the upcoming municipal election, this prestigious award ensures his legacy is recognized.”
The award will be presented at the AUMA Convention Session on November 22, 2017, in Calgary.
Mayor Stephen (Steve) Christie has had a long and distinguished career serving the residents of Lacombe, as a dedicated volunteer through his church, the local Rotary club, youth advisory boards, as a long-time volunteer firefighter and as an elected official.
Steve served as a councillor for six years before being elected mayor in 2010. His first term in office resulted in many positive developments for Lacombe, including achieving municipal oversight on the Highway 2A twinning project. He worked tirelessly to encourage open dialogue between members of Council, City administration and residents, promoted meaningful community consultation through the 2013 Citizen Satisfaction Survey, championed heritage preservation and continued investment in critical civic infrastructure.
Mayor Christie also introduced new initiatives to help the City connect directly with residents and stakeholders, such as the youth-oriented Mayor for a Day program and the Mayor’s State of the City Address, delivered annually at a joint City/Chamber of Commerce business luncheon for business professionals, political figures, service groups, and community influencers.
Mayor Christie’s second term in office yielded even more successes for the community, including the attraction of a new hotel to Lacombe along with a number of thriving businesses, which has led to Lacombe becoming an emerging foodie destination. His community boosterism has resulted in significant investment in the arts, and Lacombe is now considered as a regional culture hub.
Mayor Christie oversaw significant renovations and upgrades to the Gary Moe Auto Group Sportsplex, the commissioning of a new municipal police station, the revitalization of Lacombe’s downtown core, and the development of an affordable housing strategy, which has led to partnerships with developers and Habitat for Humanity Red Deer to provide affordable housing to local families.
He also helped to introduce residential blue box recycling, and played an integral role in the development of a safe and affordable regional public transit project (BOLT Transit) that connects the communities of Lacombe and Blackfalds with Red Deer. Most recently, he realized a long-held dream to ensure a sustainable future for Lacombe by spearheading efforts to secure the construction of the North Red Deer Regional Wastewater System.
Mayor Christie believes that accountability, teamwork and passion are key ingredients for successful leadership, and that the people of Lacombe have the ideas, talents, and energy to meet their challenges head-on and build sustainable opportunities to create a strong and successful future for their city.
From the Fraser Institute
By Alex Whalen and Tegan Hill
Back in the summer at a meeting in Halifax, several provincial premiers discussed a lawsuit meant to force the federal government to make changes to Canada’s equalization program. The suit—filed by Newfoundland and Labrador and backed by British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Alberta—effectively argues that the current formula isn’t fair. But while the question of “fairness” can be subjective, its clear the equalization program is broken.
In theory, the program equalizes the ability of provinces to deliver reasonably comparable services at a reasonably comparable level of taxation. Any province’s ability to pay is based on its “fiscal capacity”—that is, its ability to raise revenue.
This year, equalization payments will total a projected $25.3 billion with all provinces except B.C., Alberta and Saskatchewan to receive some money. Whether due to higher incomes, higher employment or other factors, these three provinces have a greater ability to collect government revenue so they will not receive equalization.
However, contrary to the intent of the program, as recently as 2021, equalization program costs increased despite a decline in the fiscal capacity of oil-producing provinces such as Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Newfoundland and Labrador. In other words, the fiscal capacity gap among provinces was shrinking, yet recipient provinces still received a larger equalization payment.
Why? Because a “fixed-growth rule,” introduced by the Harper government in 2009, ensures that payments grow roughly in line with the economy—even if the gap between richer and poorer provinces shrinks. The result? Total equalization payments (before adjusting for inflation) increased by 19 per cent between 2015/16 and 2020/21 despite the gap in fiscal capacities between provinces shrinking during this time.
Moreover, the structure of the equalization program is also causing problems, even for recipient provinces, because it generates strong disincentives to natural resource development and the resulting economic growth because the program “claws back” equalization dollars when provinces raise revenue from natural resource development. Despite some changes to reduce this problem, one study estimated that a recipient province wishing to increase its natural resource revenues by a modest 10 per cent could face up to a 97 per cent claw back in equalization payments.
Put simply, provinces that generally do not receive equalization such as Alberta, B.C. and Saskatchewan have been punished for developing their resources, whereas recipient provinces such as Quebec and in the Maritimes have been rewarded for not developing theirs.
Finally, the current program design also encourages recipient provinces to maintain high personal and business income tax rates. While higher tax rates can reduce the incentive to work, invest and be productive, they also raise the national standard average tax rate, which is used in the equalization allocation formula. Therefore, provinces are incentivized to maintain high and economically damaging tax rates to maximize equalization payments.
Unless premiers push for reforms that will improve economic incentives and contain program costs, all provinces—recipient and non-recipient—will suffer the consequences.
Authors:
National
Liberals, NDP admit closed-door meetings took place in attempt to delay Canada’s next election
From LifeSiteNews
Pushing back the date would preserve the pensions of some of the MPs who could be voted out of office in October 2025.
Aides to the cabinet of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau confirmed that MPs from the Liberal and New Democratic Party (NDP) did indeed hold closed-door “briefings” to rewrite Canada’s elections laws so that they could push back the date of the next election.
The closed-door talks between the NDP and Liberals confirmed the aides included a revision that would guarantee some of its 28 MPs, including three of Trudeau’s cabinet members, would get a pension.
Allen Sutherland, who serves as the assistant cabinet secretary, testified before the House of Commons affairs committee that the changes to the Elections Act were discussed in the meetings.
“We attended a meeting where the substance of that proposal was discussed,” he said, adding that his “understanding is the briefing was primarily oral.”
According to Sutherland, as reported by Blacklock’s Reporter, it was only NDP and Liberal MPs who attended the secret meetings regarding changes to Canada’s Elections Act via Bill C-65, An Act to Amend the Canada Elections Act before the bill was introduced in March.
As reported by LifeSiteNews before, the Liberals were hoping to delay the 2025 federal election by a few days in what many see as a stunt to secure pensions for MPs who are projected to lose their seats. Approximately 80 MPs would qualify for pensions should they sit as MPs until at least October 27, 2025, which is the newly proposed election date. The election date is currently set for October 20, 2025.
Sutherland noted when asked by Conservative MP Luc Berthold that he recalled little from the meetings, but he did confirm he attended “two meetings of that kind.”
“Didn’t you find it unusual that a discussion about amending the Elections Act included only two political parties and excluded the others?” Berthold asked.
Sutherland responded, “It’s important to understand what my role was in those meetings which was simply to provide background information.”
Berthold then asked, “You nevertheless suggested amendments to the legislation including a change of dates?”
“My role was to provide information,” replied Sutherland, who added he could not provide the exact dates of the meetings.
MPs must serve at least six years to qualify for a pension that pays $77,900 a year. Should an election be called today, many MPs would fall short of reaching the six years, hence Bill C-65 was introduced by the Liberals and NDP.
The Liberals have claimed that pushing back the next election date is not over pensions but due to “trying to observe religious holidays,” as noted by Liberal MP Mark Gerretsen.
“Conservatives voted against this bill,” Berthold said, as they are “confident of winning re-election. We don’t need this change.”
Trudeau’s popularity is at a all-time low, but he has refused to step down as PM, call an early election, or even step aside as Liberal Party leader.
As for the amendments to elections laws, they come after months of polling in favour of the Conservative Party under the leadership of Pierre Poilievre.
A recent poll found that 70 percent of Canadians believe the country is “broken” as Trudeau focuses on less critical issues. Similarly, in January, most Canadians reported that they are worse off financially since Trudeau took office.
Additionally, a January poll showed that 46 percent of Canadians expressed a desire for the federal election to take place sooner rather than the latest mandated date in the fall of 2025.
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