INNISFAIL – There was reaction of stunned surprise Tuesday from top regional leaders of the provincial government’s announcement that drought talks will start with water licence holders, including municipalities, to secure “significant and timely reductions” in water use.
The official announcement came in a media release issued by the provincial government on the morning of Jan. 31.
“Starting Feb. 1, the Drought Command Team will begin negotiations with major water licence holders throughout Alberta to secure significant and timely reductions in water use,” said Rebecca Schulz, provincial minister of environment and protected areas, in a media release issued on the morning of Jan. 31. “This effort will be the largest water-sharing negotiation to have ever occurred in Alberta’s history.”
While provincial ministry officials insist all notices of drought related news and town halls was released correctly and timely, local leaders and a senior official with the six-member Mountain View Regional Water Services Commission (MVRWSC) are saying not so, most notably a telephone town hall drought-related invitation for Jan. 30.
Town of Innisfail Mayor Jean Barclay said “things have evolved very rapidly” and that she did not receive a town hall meeting invitation from the province to hear Schulz's input on the drought situation.
“There was a town hall yesterday, apparently, in the afternoon,” noted Barclay. “At this point in time it’s difficult for me to comment because I just happened to see this on social media, and then this letter comes this morning and again, I get it off of social media.
“And so, yes it's a surprise but obviously the government realizes this is a serious situation and that we all need to be involved and watch what the next steps are from the government.”
Innisfail town councillor Gavin Bates, council’s representative to the six-member Mountain View Regional Water Services Commission (MVRWSC), said he was also caught by surprise.
“Do I know anything really more than what you've already published? No, I don't,” said Bates. “You’ve got to look at this thing again and its like, take a breath.”
Following a board meeting on Jan. 24, the MVRWSC created a Drought Committee and a Technical Committee to begin planning for the expected drought.
Bates noted the Drought Committee is meeting Feb. 5, while technical experts from the commission’s six communities are getting together Feb. 1.
“We're doing this inventory of our six communities, and then we’re going to have a group think and try and figure out the best response the commission can have as a unit and as individuals to help a situation,” said Bates. “But has anything been done?
“It starts tomorrow (Feb. 1) with a technical meeting.”
The Albertan attempted to contact Lance Colby, the chair of the commission’s board, but he was not immediately available for comment.
However, John Van Doesburg, the commission’s chief administrative officer, told the Albertan on the morning of Jan. 31 the MVRWSC did not know anything about a town hall meeting on Jan. 30 but had heard “through the grapevine” the province was going to look at water sharing agreements with water licence holders.
“It was about 10 minutes ago I opened it up,” said Van Doesburg when asked how long he knew about the province’s media release. “It’s too early for us to comment. We have the (drought) committee meeting next Monday, and we’re going to take this to them to have a look at it.
“I think we're all at this kind of, ‘okay, this is a new one.’ This is the next step in the process, I guess,” he added.
As for the claims of not knowing about the town hall meeting on Jan. 30, a senior ministry communications spokesperson told the Albertan an invitation was extended to “hundreds and hundreds” of stakeholders, including those with Alberta Municipalities (AM) and Rural Municipalities of Alberta (RMA).
The spokesperson added the Jan. 30 telephone town hall was only the first of what is believed to be several telephone town halls, “depending on how severe the drought becomes.”
The spokesperson added he was not “100 per cent” sure why some, like senior Innisfail and MVRWSC leaders, did not receive an invite to the Jan. 30 telephone town hall.
Most importantly, added the ministry spokesperson, is that the province does want to work closely with all municipalities, noting an earlier drought-related letter went out to them in December.
“They are by and large major water users. There's lots of things they can do to conserve water,” said the spokesperson. “We don't want anybody to be left out. We're attempting to over communicate, and sometimes it’s challenging to get emails into the right inbox.
“But as far as we know we did invite every single municipality through the RMA and AM.”
