Mountain View County councillors have told Alberta Infrastructure Minister Ric McIvor that the Redford government needs to address safety concerns with the QEII and Highway 27 intersection.Reeve Bruce Beattie and his fellow MVC councillors, as well as representatives from the Town of Olds, met with McIvor during last week's AAMD&C conference in Edmonton.“We wanted to present a united front on that and hope we can move it forward,” said Beattie. “He told us that it is on the list, but when they will do it, he couldn't tell us. They recognize the importance of it (changes). It is a priority, but where it fits on the list of priorities is the question.”Both MVC and the Town of Olds have been calling on the province to make major changes to the intersection, which Beattie says is a dangerous and out-of-date interchange.Held in Edmonton Nov. 13-15, the AAMD&C conference also saw MVC councillors meet with Alberta Environment Minister Diana McQueen.“We talked about the berm and other issues related to the river around Sundre,” he said.“We are going to be setting up a meeting between our technical people and their people to look at the alternatives and what are the strategies that we can use to deal with the whole issue around the river and flooding. We are going to see what we can come up with.”That meeting could take place before the end of the month, he said.During the conference, the Redford government announced that the provincial well drilling tax will be extended for another year.That move is certainly welcomed by MVC, said Beattie.“We are pleased that there is going to be an extension of the tax for another year until they decide what to do with it,” he said. “That's good news for us. This year it is going to generate about $1.2 million for the county because of oil drilling activities. They were thinking of cancelling it and now they have one more year. I'm very happy with that.”Also during the conference, the government announced that plans to extend municipal elected terms to four years, from the current three years, will likely move forward starting in Oct. 2013.“I expect that will be passed without any problem. Some of us have some concerns about whether that might lead to more byelections,” he said.The province also announced a review of the Municipal Government Act over the next two years.“I think there will be good consultation and we will have good input into how that goes,” he said. “They are going to be looking at all aspects of the act. It hasn't been reviewed since 1993, so it is time that it is updated.”
