Medicine Hat Minute: Election Candidates, 2022 Report, and an Air Service Survey

Medicine Hat Minute - Your weekly one-minute summary of Medicine Hat politics

This Week In Medicine Hat:

• There will be a City Council meeting this afternoon. As usual, the meeting begins with a closed session at 3:45 pm. During this secret session, Council will discuss an extension to golf course lease agreements, grant recommendations from the Community Vibrancy Advisory Board, and the 2023-2024 Budget Feedback Survey. Once the meeting opens to the public at 6:30 pm, Council will receive a presentation from Tourism Medicine Hat, hear some Committee business, and vote on a few land use bylaw amendments.
  
  
• The Energy and Infrastructure Committee will meet on Thursday at 4:30 pm, but no agenda is available yet.
  
  
• The City is seeking feedback regarding the air service strategy for the Medicine Hat Regional Airport. The goal of the survey is to determine the demand, needs, and wants for air service. Residents can provide feedback online at the Shape Your City website until June 2nd.

Last Week In Medicine Hat:

• The City made its 2022 Annual Report public. The report recaps the City’s accomplishments with regard to its identified strategic priorities and updates residents on its financial outlook. Among the things the City has chosen to highlight are a $485,000 investment from the Municipal Climate Change Action Centre for the installation of a combined heat and power generation system at Big Marble Go Centre, the development of a more streamlined process for grant applications related to the City’s strategic priorities, and 50% of Medicine Hat Utility customers choosing to receive paperless electronic bills. The full report is available online.
  
  
• The City has promoted its Acting Fire Chief, Chad Eakins, to the role of Fire Chief and Director of Emergency Services. Eakins has worked with the fire service since 2007 and was the Deputy Fire Chief in 2021. The former Fire Chief, who became Managing Director of Public Services earlier this year, expressed his support and confidence in the appointment.
  
  
• The candidates have been finalized for the May 29th provincial election. There are seven candidates running in the two Medicine Hat area ridings. In Brooks-Medicine Hat, UCP leader Danielle Smith will run against the NDP’s Gwendoline Dirk and Alberta Party leader Barry Morishita. In Cypress-Medicine Hat, Cody Ray Both is running for The Independence Party of Alberta, Cathy Hogg for the NDP, Matt Orr for the Wildrose Loyalty Coalition, and Justin Wright for the UCP. All of the information on where and how to vote is located online on the Elections Alberta website.

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