LAKELAND - If there is indeed strength in numbers, then it is a numbers game that a 43-member strong group of municipalities, First Nations and Métis Settlements in Alberta’s northeast region plans to play to get some centre stage presence at both the provincial and federal levels.
Loosely based on the corridor that Highway 28 follows from Edmonton to Cold Lake, communities immediately alongside the route and those farther afield to the north and south have come together to speak in a united voice on the challenges they are all facing. The common ground upon which they have chosen to stand are health care, policing and transportation and the message they appear to want to deliver is simple - ‘Hey, what about us.’
“We need to prove to government that we actually have a stake in this game,” St. Paul Mayor Maureen Miller said Friday. “You can call it advocacy, because I’m not really a lobbyist, but it will turn into some form of awareness as to what our communities need. We are now talking to each other, and we have aligned behind these three initiatives.”
With an election looming, the next three months are a prime time to draw attention to the region.
More than anything else, the alliance is borne out of necessity, with participating municipalities recognizing they cannot operate in silos in the region, but rather have open conversations with their neighbours in the northeast about the challenges they are facing, Miller explained in an interview with Lakeland This Week.
Leaders of municipalities coming together is nothing new. The Northern Alberta Mayors’ and Reeves’ Caucus has been meeting for years, drawing urban and rural municipalities to the table to discuss common issues for the vast area that stretches from Edmonton north, and to the BC and Saskatchewan borders. An offshoot of that group is the Northeast Mayors, Reeves, Indigenous Leaders Caucus from which this new movement has emerged.
During the Jan. 23 St. Paul Town Council meeting, Miller shared a two-page document created by the Town of Lamont which provides an overview of the northeast region through which Highway 28 passes and what the area represents.
“You can truly see what our northeast area actually contributes and who we represent.”
Stretching from Lac La Biche County in the north, to Lloydminster in the south, east to Cold Lake and west to Lamont County, the region has a population of 133,141 people that call it home. More than $3.1 billion in major projects is identified in the document along with other stats including: 20,440 people identifying as Indigenous, 30,000 students enrolled in K-12 and post-secondary schools, 19.7 billion mᶟ of proven natural gas reserves with more than 2.5 billion mᶟ of production per year, 718 active oil wells with an annual oil production upwards of 26 million mᶟ, and more than 5,200 active businesses, of which 95.7 per are identified as being small businesses.
“We’re just peanuts in a pot of mixed nuts,” Miller said in describing how communities the size of St. Paul are viewed at the provincial level. And while they have been effective on some fronts, the big asks such as highway infrastructure, health care and policing have not been successful.
Highway 28 is seen as a key economic and transportation corridor, connecting Edmonton north to Highway 63 and the oilsands and east to Cold Lake and Saskatchewan. There are no passing lanes on the 300 km stretch from Edmonton to Cold Lake. The ask for that has been on the table for years. Equally concerning, according to Miller, is the state of disrepair of Secondary Highway 881 – also something that never quite makes it to the provincial road priority list.
“The northeast area is asking that we actually stand together. We are a large area and we do not get our fair share.”
MLA David Hanson said he has long preached the message that regional collaborations are important when it comes to being heard and agrees there is strength in numbers with a better chance of success at the provincial level when everyone is on the same page.
“It is very important that people speak with a common voice and stick to a few common concerns rather than a whole multitude of different concerns. If all of the regional leaders are focusing, maybe on a project like Highway 28, it’s a lot better if we have a common voice.”
