PENHOLD – The town is reaffirming its support for the province's beleaguered oil and gas sector.
Town council passed a motion during the Jan. 14 council meeting to publicly demonstrate their support for Alberta’s largest energy resources.
“I do believe this council needs to reaffirm our commitment, that we support the oil and gas industry,” said Coun. Mike Walsh, who put forth the motion. “I think it’s very clear when things are going quite well in those industries that our town benefits. We probably have hundreds of people, maybe thousands of people employed in one way or another in one of those two industries.”
He noted the town’s recent letters sent to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Premier Rachel Notley and William V. Morgan, of Kinder Morgan, asking for urgent attention to the Trans Mountain pipeline.
“Obviously nothing’s happened yet,” he said. “I don’t know if there’s another step we can take, but at the very least we need to reaffirm our support for the oil and gas industry.
“It has a huge impact on our community and our region, our province and our country,” Walsh added.
The Town of Penhold joins other municipalities in Alberta in showing their support.
Walsh pointed out similar motions recently passed in the towns of Bonnyville and Cold Lake, while the City of Red Deer council has also publicly shown support for the industry with a motion at its Jan. 7 council meeting.
“I think at the very least we could send more letters and just reaffirm that we support this industry,” said Walsh. “The bottom line is we need a pipeline built.”
Council discussed different ways the town could show support for the industry.
Coun. Shawn Hamm suggested adding a logo on the ice at the Penhold Regional Multiplex or possibly decals on town vehicles.
The motion put forth by Walsh incorporated several ideas that were discussed.
Those ideas included sending letters to both the prime minister and Alberta premier, creating a banner to hang in the entrance of the multiplex, decals for town vehicles and advertising their support for the oil and gas industry on the town’s digital sign.
Rick Binnendyk, the town's chief administrative officer, confirmed letters were sent out on Jan. 17 with the banner, vehicle decals and digital sign logo expected to be complete in the coming week.
