Okotoks - Town policy earns
world recognition
Sustainability concept wins international awards
By Laurel Nadon
Staff Reporter
Two international awards were proof Okotoks’ commitment to sustainability
is gaining a reputation on the world stage.
Okotoks Town Councillor Ed Sands and municipal manager Rick Quail travelled
to La Coruna Spain from Nov. 4 to 7 for presentations to the international
judging panel for the International Awards for Liveable Communities.
On Nov. 7, the duo accepted a third place and gold standard achievement
award for the project submission called “Soaking Up the Sun —
Okotoks’ Solar Initiatives”. For the town’s overall
submission entitled “Okotoks on Purpose”, a powerpoint presentation
with the themes of air, water, land and community soul, the town received
a silver award achievement.
There were 15 community submissions in Okotoks’ population category.
Sands said the judging panel seemed impressed with their solar initiative
project.
“They were most impressed by the fact that we were screening out
solids in the sewer process and then composting that and using it as a
resource,” Sands said.
One specific project that caught the audience’s eye was Drake Landing
in Okotoks — the first seasonal solar power storage facility in
North America which will provide the houses on the new development with
90 per cent of their energy needs through solar power.
Sands said judges were also impressed with the amount of community involvement
in sustainability initiatives and intrigued with concepts to reduce energy
needs. Sands would like to see these initiatives continued, including
installing automatic light dimming in municipal buildings.
Sands said he came back with several ideas for the town.
“Sustainable Okotoks is very much the right direction to go,”
Sands said. “Though we’re on the right track, if we just sit
here, we’re going to get run over.”
The town didn’t receive an award for its third presentation called
“The Roots Project.” Sands said he didn’t mind not receiving
the bursary funds which would have been used to restore the banks of the
Sheep River, as the town is expecting to receive $6 million from the province’s
flood damage fund.
He added that Okotoks’ water situation is much better than what
other communities around the world are facing.
“Some of these countries can’t turn the tap on and get drinkable
water,” Sands said.
Quail said that the only downside of participating in three competitions
instead of one like most countries was they weren’t able to spend
as much time as they would have liked listening to other presentations.
The international panel of world-renowned judges at the finals listened
to presentations from 53 finalists from 20 countries across the globe.
Okotoks was in Category A for populations up to 20,000 in which there
were seven other finalists.
The 2005 awards saw the international launch of the LivCom Awards for
Environmentally Sustainable Projects. The project awards are a major development
for LivCom and are open to both public and private developers, and a partnership
of both. Major developments have a profound effect on the environment
of a community and therefore the judging criteria for the project awards
are based on those of the community awards.
“What LivCom brings to the task of increasing sustainable development
is in the area of grass roots mobilization,” said Jan-Gustav Strandenaes,
global coordinator of the UN Commission for Sustainable Development. “If
only one community implements sustainable policies they are alone, but
if they know that communities around the world are doing it, they are
strong.”
Alan Smith, director of LivCom said, “The finals of LivCom once
again provided a very high standard of finalists with important information
exchanged and partnerships between towns, cities and nations forged that
will be mutually beneficial for years to come. Communities that meet through
participation in the LivCom Awards frequently form partnerships to address
common environmental challenges and these partnerships often widen to
embrace cultural, educational and other matters.”
Sands presented the two awards to Mayor Bill McAlpine at council’s
meeting on Nov. 14.
Cutline 1: Okotoks Municipal Manager Rick Quail and Councillor Ed Sands
receive awards from Javier Losada, deputy mayor of La Coruna, and Joss
de Wael, chairman of the project judges, at the International Awards for
Liveable Communities in La Coruna, Spain last week. photo submitted
Cutline 2: Okotoks Municipal Manager Rick Quail and Councillor Ed Sands
receive awards from Javier Losada, deputy mayor of La Coruna, at the International
Awards for Liveable Communities in La Coruna, Spain last week. photo submitted
Cutline 3: Councillor Ed Sands presents awards to Mayor Bill McAlpine
on Nov. 14 which were received at the International Awards for Liveable
Communities last week. photo by Laurel Nadon
|
|
A day to remember
Flight Sergeant Darren Goodison (left)
and Sergeant Tolu Ajele lay wreaths during the Remembrance Day ceremony
in Turner Valley at the Flare 'n' Derrick on Friday morning. photo
by Rae Holtsbaum
Province - Klein accused of privatizing health care
Highwood MLA says Opposition over reacting
By Pamela Roth
Staff Reporter
While the Alberta Liberals continue to be up in arms
over leaked health documents that claim to reveal the government’s
strategy to privatize health care and violate the Canada Health Act,
Highwood MLA George Groeneveld is having a tough time understanding
what all the fuss is really about.
“I am quite interested in the documents they found,” said
Groeneveld. “There have been no decisions made on any of these
documents they have come up with so far, so they are making lots of
hay out of it. At this point, it’s just in discussion and it’s
one of the hundreds of topics up for discussion on health care.”
The documents obtained by the Liberals claim the Klein government
is poised to violate the Canada Health Act, knowing full well that
Ottawa will likely withhold money.
According to Liberal health critic Laurie Blakeman, the documents
prove the government plans to break the law with their Third Way agenda
by allowing doctors to operate in both the public and private health
system, beginning with hip and knee replacements.
The documents also suggest the government plans to “shift public
expectations from an ‘entitlement to all’ perspective
to a ‘shared responsibility’ perspective” —
a concept that doesn’t sit well with Blakeman.
“We don’t elect governments to launch propaganda campaigns
against our entitled rights,” said Blakeman. “Albertans
have been pretty clear with me that what they wish for the most is
a functioning publicly funded health care system. It’s not working
as well as it should right now, so people are seeking ways to improve
it. The government seems to believe that is best done through a private
delivery and I don’t think handing our health care system to
a private insurance company is going to get us the best health care.”
Blakeman vowed to continue pressing the government on the issue to
revoke the contract with Aon Corporation — a company she claims
was handpicked to design a three-tier health system for Alberta.
She added that the concerns from some Albertans are echoed loud and
clear across the province, with some seniors expressing alarm with
the future of health care.
Elisabeth Ballermann, president of Health Sciences Association of
Alberta, even went so far to say, “Albertans should be afraid
of what the government plans to do to the health care system.”
But Groeneveld believes that statements such as these are an example
of how the Liberals are blowing the documents way out of proportion.
“To me that’s a very foolish comment. Health care as it
is, is not sustainable,” said Groeneveld, who confirmed the
government has no plans to take the private route. “The Liberals
can say what they want, but it’s about 34 per cent of our total
budget right now and it just grows and grows. We have to look at some
alternative to not only bring down the cost, but shorten the waiting
time and I think that is probably our major challenge right now.”
Groeneveld added that he would like to see health care follow the
same steps as in Quebec, which will release a discussion paper next
month proposing to allow a parallel, private health system in their
current multi-tier system.
This would allow Quebecors to be treated in private hospitals as long
as they continued to be covered by the public system and continued
to support it through their taxes, according to a study released by
the Montreal Economic Institute.
The Canada Health Act specifies that medically necessary health care
must be publicly administered and provided to all citizens on the
same terms and conditions.
The last time Alberta was accused of violating the Canada Health Act
was in 1995-96 when it allowed doctors to charge facility fees. As
a result, Ottawa penalized the government monthly, racking up charges
of $3.4 million before it complied.
| |
In this issue...
|
| |
|
Fabric of Alberta -
Leighton Centre hosts centennial show
• See News
Cashing in -
Local cowboy has
strong run at CFR
• See Sports
|
|
|
