INNISFAIL – A greater focus on provincial recreation funding has become a new Town of Innisfail priority for resolution advocacy at Alberta Municipalities’ 2024 fall conference.
The recreation issue for Alberta Municipalities (AM) to consider as an advocacy item was raised at town council at its March 4 Agenda & Priorities Meeting; less than a week after town council discovered a promised new provincial recreation funding program was slashed in the 2024 provincial budget by about 50 per cent.
Todd Becker, chief administrative officer for the Town of Innisfail, presented a report for information at the March 4 meeting that outlined advocacy priorities.
He told council administration is currently developing an advocacy framework document that will include council-directed advocacy priorities.
Becker’s report noted that on Feb. 12 council gave administration direction to research active AM resolutions associated with energy.
“Administration is not looking for formal direction yet on AM resolution advocacy as meetings have been set up with stakeholders over the next two weeks to determine what gaps may exist in energy policy that council may wish to explore further,” said Becker.
Mayor Jean Barclay noted council is looking at a couple of ideas to take forward as resolutions to the AM fall conference later this year, with Demand Side Management (DSM) programs advanced by Becker as an “energy policy gap” that has proven to be cost effective over the past three decades for consumers, utilities, and government.
“We need to have a resolution that impacts the majority of the province and that (DSM) would be one of them,” said Barclay. “Secondly, if things don't move forward with that particular resolution it’s to have Alberta Municipalities (AM) advocate to the province for recreational funding.
“And the reason I bring that up is I personally believe that sport, recreation, health and wellness is so important to our communities, both for the physical and mental well-being of our residents.”
Barclay said there is also an economic development driver component to recreation.
“We know people want to live and work in a place that has a good mix of recreational opportunities, and as we have seen in the last few months it’s very difficult for communities the size of Innisfail to be able to afford to modernize our facilities,” said Barclay. “And yet these facilities are part of what attracts people to come and live in our communities.”
The mayor said her request to have recreation funding included as an AM resolution was triggered from the provincial government’s 2024 Budget decision to cut back on its original funding promise for the new Community Recreation Centre Infrastructure Fund (CRCIF).
The CRCIF was originally established as a four-year, $80-million program to help fund community recreation facilities for mid-sized towns but it was scaled back to a $30-million program over three years.
“That signals to me the importance of recreation is not recognized, and yet we look at the cost of health care,” said Barclay. “And maybe one of the best ways of reducing health care costs is through prevention. How do you support prevention?
“I support that through things like recreation and sport and physical and mental well being,” she added. “It is so important.”
Council was told there would be further discussions on DSM and whether it could be included as a resolution to take to AM’s fall conference.
Barclay then directed Becker to also include another specifically for recreation funding, as well as another that would oppose political parties in local government.
Council passed a motion to accept the discussion as information.
