Medicine Hat Minute: Issue 262

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

📅 This Week In Medicine Hat: 📅

• City Council approved a $245,000 budget amendment on Monday to move forward with the Water Management and Adaptation Strategy, a 25-year action plan for the city's water supply. The increase will be fully funded through a grant from the Federal Canadian Municipalities Green Municipal Fund and Results Driven Agriculture Research, and Council says the amendment is a formality needed to keep the budget in line. The strategy, adopted in 2024 as part of the City's Environmental Framework, is meant to address aging infrastructure, limited water licences, growth in water demand and climate-related risks such as drought and low river levels. The City says the plan will focus on what City operations can do and "will not direct or dictate the actions of businesses or residents". Staff are also reviewing groundwater aquifer wells in Police Point Park to assess whether they could serve as an alternative water source.
  
  
• Council also approved $25,000 to make the City a premium-level sponsor of the 2026 Grand Slam of Curling Masters, held at Co-op Place from November 3rd to November 8th. The sponsorship costs $50,000 in total, with the remaining $25,000 already secured internally through existing budgets. The City told Council the premium level offers the highest return on investment, while the $25,000 tier would not deliver enough reach and the $100,000 tier would bring diminishing returns. In exchange, the City will receive four 30-second advertisements on Sportsnet, 40 placements on the Rock Channel streaming platform, four logo spots on the rink boards, and two concourse spaces for parks and recreation. Staff valued the camera-visible rink board assets at more than $363,000 over the six-day event. Organizers anticipate in-person attendance will exceed 50,000, with 16 men's and 16 women's top teams competing, alongside a U21 junior event running from November 5th to November 8th at the Medicine Hat Curling Centre.
  
  
• The City has launched a confidential hotline and online portal for reporting suspected wrongdoing at City Hall, following Council's approval in May of an updated whistleblower policy. City employees, contractors, suppliers and members of the public can now report concerns such as fraud, crime, unethical conduct or violations of City policy through a third-party service run by the accountancy firm MNP. The policy follows directives Council issued last fall, when a motion called for enhancements allowing anonymous third-party reporting as a way to increase public confidence. It also strengthens anti-retaliation protections and requires annual anonymized reporting to Council on the number, types and outcomes of disclosures received. The City says the service is not meant for general service complaints, access to information requests, job performance matters, or reports of workplace harassment and discrimination, which fall under the respectful workplace policy. The hotline can be reached at 1-866-529-9589, and a link to the portal is posted on the City's website.
  
  
• City staff say they have submitted 22 expressions of interest to passenger airlines across the country as they push to find a replacement before WestJet flies out of Medicine Hat for the last time on June 24th, ending scheduled service between Calgary and the city. Administration says the City has received positive feedback and follow-up inquiries since being notified of the departure in February, but no formal requests have come back, and any new service could face several months of regulatory hurdles. Council adopted the first phase of the Airport Strategic Master Plan on Monday, a 20-year plan built on more than 700 survey responses, with the regional airport reporting a 30% year-over-year rise to 37,000 air traffic movements in 2025. Airport manager Logan Boyd warned that WestJet's withdrawal will mean a material loss in passenger volume, connectivity and revenue, and noted that nearby Lethbridge and Lloydminster have already lost their scheduled service. Councillor Yusuf Mohammed said keeping air service is the priority and that recent talks with local MLAs and federal officials have been constructive, while Council pledged to continue supporting staff and facility costs.
  
  
• Building development in Medicine Hat continues to trail last year, with the number of permits issued so far in 2026 almost 20% fewer than at the same point in 2025. According to monthly statistics from the City, May saw two permits for single-family homes and one for a manufactured home, for a combined residential value of $1 million, alongside 10 permits for commercial alterations and 6 for institutional renovations worth a total of $5.4 million. To date, the City has issued permits for construction projects valued at $26.6 million, down from more than $42 million by May last year. The 2025 figures were boosted by large residential projects, including a 189-unit apartment block approved on Dunmore Road worth $21.7 million and a separate 25-unit apartment worth $5.2 million.

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