Penhold town council got the chance to ask MP Earl Dreeshen a variety of questions when he stopped in at their meeting Jan. 23.
Council covered several topics, ranging from funding for continued development on the land around the multiplex to long-term financial aid for disaster-like events.
Mayor Dennis Cooper kicked off the questioning by asking if there was a point to having shovel-ready projects ready to go in case funding opportunities came up to help develop the over 80 acres of land around the multiplex or “are they holding the purse strings pretty tight?”
Dreeshen said it’s not neccessairly right to have shovel-ready projects on hand in case funding comes up. He noted the federal funding that helped build the multiplex was a project that happened to fit the criteria for the Build Canada grant money.
Cooper followed up by asking if there would be any money to “put some trees and windbreaks up” on the property.
Dreeshen said they could look at environmental-type grants but noted Penhold is increasing its tax base.
“You are attracting more and more people to Penhold,” he said.
Coun. Heather Klein asked about long-term assistance for towns when events that are “verging on disaster” like bad storms occur.
“We are facing several million dollars in infrastructure [changes],” Klein said, regarding infrastructure that has to be updated after flooding. When Dreeshen said there was often short-term emergency funding available for municipalities, Klein said she was looking for longer-term help.
Dreeshen said certain situations are looked at but it’s possible municipalities will have to look at the damages and take responsibility.
Coun. Kathy Sitter asked what federal funding would be available for seniors’ housing as the baby boomer population ages.
“We do have housing strategies,” Dreeshen said, but added the federal government’s role is to allocate tax dollars to communities so the municipalities can solve problems.
“The expectation is you will be able to fit projects in,” Dreeshen said.
Coun. Klooster asked about opportunities for the town to participate in programs that would bring things like agri-food, agri-processing and biomass business opportunities to the area. She suggested the federal government could work with the town to direct their attention to where the programs are.
Dreeshen suggested first checking with the Western Diversification department but otherwise said ideas should flow to the federal government from municipalities instead of from the federal government to towns.
“It has to come the other direction,” he said. “The objective is to make sure it is something that’s important to Central Alberta.”
Klooster followed up with a question about whether or not income tax deductions for childcare costs would be reviewed soon. She said the deduction was last changed in 1998.
Dreeshen said he wasn’t sure if it was something that had been discussed but asked Klooster to get him the numbers.
The mayor asked the last few questions, inquiring about funding for the airport and pointing out that Red Deer Regional Airport falls just two kilometres outside of the 100-km Canada customs unit limit for pilots to land at a municipal airport using a CANPASS permit.
“This is a barrier to business,” Cooper said.
As for funding for the airport, Cooper said requiring airports to have 1,000 scheduled passengers landing annually in order to qualify for the Airports Capital Assistance Program is a challenge for smaller airports that might be busy with unscheduled flights.
“Let’s look at the funding and see if it can’t be tweaked,” Cooper said.
Dreeshen said he has talked to Transport Canada about the 100 km radius rule before. Addressing both Cooper’s questions he said “we have to make sure … that we have all our ducks in a row” that the airport would qualify. He said more clout could be had if airlines were interested in using the site.
“It does look as though things are progressing quite well at the airport,” Dreeshen said.
Dresheen then highlighted some of the major pieces of legislation that have been passed by Parliament, including the changes to the wheat board, the crime omnibus bill and the addition of more seats to the House of Commons.
The bill to scrap the long-gun registry is coming up, he said.
“These are the kinds of things that are significant,” Dreeshen said.
