Highwood MLA Wayne Anderson is hopeful 2017 will be the year the Town of Okotoks finally sees progress on its longstanding request for provincial funding to build a water pipeline from Calgary.
Anderson said he is “cautiously optimistic” a decision will come this year after recent fruitful meetings he has had with the Town and provincial ministers.
“I think we’ve found some of the quirks with the bureaucrats for what’s holding up the pipeline,” he said.
The pipeline ranks high on Anderson’s priority list in the Highwood in the New Year, along with a new bridge in High River, expanding high-speed internet, supporting the local economy and creating new jobs.
He said 2016 began on a bright note with united opposition to Bill-6, legislation to include farms under Alberta labour laws.
“I said to myself I’m a lucky guy to have people from rural Alberta who stand up for something they believe in and make their presence known and that’s how we started last year and that’s in the history books,” he said
Other highlights of 2016 for Anderson include wrapping up the majority of disaster recovery program files, the approval of a new school in Okotoks and a good year for farmers. However, he said the year is ending on a darker note as the provincial carbon tax is set to take effect on Jan. 1.
“It’s ending with more people who will have to put out more of their dollars for this carbon tax,” he said.
Anderson believes 2017 will be a tough year in Alberta, despite reports the provincial economy will turn a corner next year.
“They said last year things are going to turn around for 2016,” he said. “At the end of 2016 we’re not seeing that. In 2017 people personally are going to be hit.”
Anderson said drilling activity is down and oilfield service companies are either sitting idle or they are selling equipment south of the border. This will make it even more difficult for the oil sector to rebound as companies will be paying a premium for new equipment, he added.
“It’s pretty hard to hear the economy is going to change in 2017 when all of these indicators are moving against it,” said Anderson. “Plus with the federal government now bringing in a carbon tax over and above what we’re doing, I’m not sure how that’s going to play out.”
While the recent federal approval of the Trans Mountain Pipeline and the Line 3 pipeline replacement will help, Anderson believes giving the green light to the contentious Keystone XL and Energy East pipelines will make a real difference.
“Right now 100,000 barrels of oil every day comes into Canada from foreign resources, why isn’t it coming from Alberta?” he said. “Venezuelan oil and Saudi Arabian oil are in tankers burning marine diesel, which is the worst fuel in the world, coming up the St. Laurence Seaway and dumping their fuel off at the refineries in Montreal or taking it to Irving refineries out east.”
Anderson sees opportunity in the Foothills economy.
However, he said it’s important to support local businesses to help them get through the next year.
“Okotoks seems to be bringing in a lot of small to medium size businesses... whether they can sustain themselves is my concern,” he said. “Talking to some of the small businesses, their business is down 15 to 20 per cent but some of them are holding steady.”
Expanding access to high speed Internet is essential to giving businesses a chance to grow. Anderson wants to bring officials from companies like Axia and Xplornet to High River and Okotoks to meet with residents and businesses about what could be done to improve high-speed Internet service in the area, as well as tap into federal funding in this area.
“If we get fibre optics organizations will be able to move massive amounts of data,” said Anderson.
