INNISFAIL – Following an evening of rodeo excitement at the legendary Daines Ranch Premier Danielle Smith got down to business the following morning with the mayor of Innisfail and members of town council.
Smith was happy to take in the 62nd annual Daines Ranch Pro Rodeo on June 16, but she clearly had serious work on her mind the following day when she and Innisfail-Sylvan Lake MLA Devin Dreeshen met with Innisfail mayor Jean Barclay for breakfast at the Innisfail Golf Club.
The premier, mayor and local MLA were joined by the rest of council, except Coun. Jason Heistad, who could not attend due to employment commitments. Todd Becker, the town’s chief administrative officer, also attended the breakfast meeting.
Barclay said the hour-long meeting was the first time since she was elected to council in 2017 that council has had the time to meet with the sitting premier of Alberta.
She said Smith, whose UCP party claimed a majority government on May 29, was “extremely engaging” and showed sincere interest in what was going on in the Innisfail community.
“I just think for us it was a great start to building a relationship with her,” said Barclay. “It was more of an opportunity for us to tell her what's going on in Innisfail.”
She said it was an excellent opportunity to brief the premier on Varme’s waste-to-energy project for Innisfail, as well as the hydrogen locomotive retrofit initiative at Bilton Welding and Manufacturing Ltd.
“That took up a big part of that discussion time,” said Barclay.
However, the issue of provincial funding support for the town’s planned new $28.5 million aquatic centre was not raised.
“I didn't want to have an agenda. I thought it would be better to let’s just get together to get to know each other; have some laughs and be relaxed. I don’t think it was an appropriate time to talk about that,” said Barclay. “We will do that moving forward.”
She added the premier left a positive impression on the community during her rodeo weekend visit.
“She was at the Daines rodeo the night before, which is wonderful for the Daines family and then to have her in our parade is a really big deal for our community,” she said. “I am looking forward to much more dialogue going forward.”
