Mountain View County council has decided to have the county’s intergovernmental communications committee (ICC) conduct a review of proposed one-page issue provincial ministry summaries outlining concerns and issues facing the community.
The move came during the recent regularly scheduled council meeting.
The summaries outline concerns the county has in areas such as agriculture, forestry, economic development, energy, health, justice, municipal affairs and transportation.
The summaries have been prepared by the ICC, which is comprised of three councillors, the county CAO, the director of legislative services, and the communications coordinator.
A proposal to have the summaries approved came before council at the June 27 council meeting, but at the suggestion of Deputy Reeve Angela Aalbers the summaries will instead be returned to the ICC for review and update, and then brought back before council.
The committee had not met for several months, making updates needed, she said.
The summary for the minister of agriculture and forestry outlines concerns related to agriculture plastics recycling:
- Mountain View County funds, through our Ag Services Board, and jointly operates with our regional waste commission an award-winning Agricultural Plastics Recycling Program that provides incentives for producers to save, collect and drop off their agricultural plastics. Items like hay tarps, silage tarps, grain bags, and clear plastic bags are among the products accepted.
- Despite the success of the program locally, a collapse of the market for many of these recyclables has undercut the viability of the program, meaning that only a shell of the former incentive program remains, whereby the regional waste collection agency will collect certain ag plastic products on a temporary basis.
The summary calls on the government to take specific actions:
- That the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry supports the Ministry of Environment and Parks developing and adopting regulations regarding agricultural plastics and the safe handling and disposal of said products to reduce potential harm to the environment and people. There are jurisdictions in Canada, including Saskatchewan and Manitoba, which have developed regulations successfully.
- Further, that when those regulations are approved and in place, that the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry support the Ministry of Health to use the regulations to develop a promotional campaign to actively support the goals of the regulations, and to encourage producers to utilize other alternatives instead of harmful practices such as burning of agricultural plastics.
The summary for the minister of energy speaks about solar panel recycling:
- Mountain View County has been supportive of the provincial solar programs that have promoted and expanded solar energy production for individuals, businesses and agricultural producers in Alberta. A byproduct of these successful programs is the requirement that solar panels be replaced after finishing their life cycle. Materials and elements used in solar panel construction can be hazardous and recycling can mean a significant cost.
The summary calls for the following government action:
- The county endorses the resolution adopted by the Rural Municipalities of Alberta (RMA) requesting the province expand existing recycling programs to include solar panels (photovoltaic modules). Initiating such a program during this proactive phase of solar installations will reduce the costs that may have to be borne by the taxpayer in a reactive scenario in the coming years. This will also begin the process of keeping the materials in solar panels out of landfills and potentially endangering the environment.
The summary for the minister of health includes comments on rural physician retention and recruitment and programs such as the Rural Physician Action Plan.
- While review of all plans and programs is a positive step to ensure that health funding is properly apportioned, our municipality remains steadfast in its support of a strategy that directly addresses the issues of retention and recruitment of physicians in rural areas.
The summary calls for the following government actions:
- That the province develops a clear strategy for physician recruitment and retention and gather input from the professionals in rural communities regarding the special circumstances faced by rural areas when it comes to recruitment and retention of physicians.
- That the ministry refers to the Rural Health Services Review Final Report, issued in March 2015 regarding the challenges of rural physician recruitment and retention while developing the aforementioned strategy.
The summary also includes comments on health funding consistency:
- Mountain View County is concerned about the practice of inconsistent funding models (activity-based funding vs. block funding) from zone to zone within AHS. As a municipality that is split by the zone boundary (Central zone and Calgary zone) our hope is for our residents and those who receive health services within our municipality, be able to access consistent levels of care. Further, as a municipality that provides enhanced health-care funding and serves as a member of Mountain View Seniors' Housing, the difficulty caused by having to navigate and at times manage multiple health funding models is unsustainable.
It calls for the following action:
- That AHS review the current health funding models and arrive at a single, patient-based funding approach that not only serves the patients and health-care professionals but takes into consideration situations of governing bodies like Mountain View County that straddle health zone boundaries and the administrative concern faced by these organizations.
