Art of the Peace

Did you know that a local artist and writer, Wendy Stefansson, is the editor of a beautiful magazine called Art of the Peace? This is a publication of the Art of the Peace Visual Arts Association, with financial assistance from the Alberta Foundation for the Arts and the City of Grande Prairie Arts Development Fund.

Art of the Peace is available in Peace River at Frameworks (9903-100th Ave.) and Claire's Custom Framing (10002-100 St.), in many locations in Grande Prairie and around the Peace Country, as well as in PDF format.

Inside there is a wealth of fascinating information about artists and art connected with the Peace Country. The "Exhibitions & Opportunities" section highlights the variety of events that are available all around the whole Peace Country--South and North and into BC.

The Spring/Summer edition includes an Artist & Gallery Directory that is a great guide to have on hand to help plan outings around the Peace.

What a wealth of talent resides in the Peace Country--check out Art of the Peace--maybe you'll find a local artist that intrigues you enough to consider a purchase.

Online Survey: What will you need as a senior?

On July 14, 2008, the provincial government issued a news release where "Albertans are invited to complete an online survey to share their thoughts on what support they anticipate they will need when they become seniors and how these needs should be met. The survey findings will assist the Alberta government as it plans for an increasing population of seniors.

The survey is focused on baby boomers and those who are almost 65 years old, but Albertans of all ages can complete the survey. The news release goes on to say that the survey information "will assist the province in the development of an Aging Population Policy Framework that will guide future government decisions on seniors’ programs and policies."

I think it's very important to have sufficient input from rural and small town Albertans or we could get lost in the urban perspective when that framework is developed.

The online survey will be available until the end of August at www.TomorrowsSeniors.alberta.ca. Albertans without access to the Internet can have a survey mailed to them by calling toll-free 1-800-642-3853.

Peace River's New Roundabout

Alberta Transportation has started the roundabout project at the site of the confusing 5-way traffic light at the entrance to Peace River by the Sawridge and Boston Pizza. Modern roundabouts are apparently different than the feared traffic circle and the expectation is that it will make for smoother driving at that intersection, once people figure it out.

There will be some public education attached to the project, but in the meantime, residents can access a pamphlet from Transport Canada, or have a look at the excellent animations and video on BC's Transportation Ministry website.

When you watch, keep in mind that our roundabout will only be one lane, which makes things even simpler. But if you drive in Edmonton, you'll appreciate knowing the correct way to navigate the roundabouts you encounter there.

At the Council meeting last night when representatives from Alberta Transportation, Stantec and Ruel Brothers outlined the complete project (which also involves re-surfacing Main Street on up to Judah Road) and described the public education they would provide, I half-jokingly asked if they could also throw in education about merging, since much of our population appears to have difficulty with this.

We have one particularly difficult merge coming onto the highway and when people don't understand the difference between yielding and merging, it becomes pretty dangerous. Here's some information from the Alberta government on how to safely merge. Check it out and see if you are doing it properly.

Sometimes in small towns we don't pay enough attention to traffic flow, courtesy and efficiency or just get inattentive. Watch this video of graceful merging in India and be amazed!

Rural Matters Conference Days 1 & 2

Mayor Callioux, Councillor Laurin, and I are attending the national Rural Matters conference in Edmonton. The theme of the conference is "Forging healthy Canadian communities," and the variety of speakers shows the many ways in which a healthy community can be viewed.

At the opening gala on Saturday, we were entertained by a wonderful Cree singing group called Asani, which aside from performing internationally, has, according to Councillor Laurin, also been to Peace River for a performance at one of the schools.

I met a young woman from Newfoundland, one of the youth delegates from across the country and we sat together for the gala. She represents a provincial level youth organization called FINALY (Futures in Newfoundland and Laborador's Youth). Seems like a great idea to have a provincial youth network that is developing future leaders and is perhaps something for Albertan youth to consider.

Day 2 (Sunday) included an inspirational speech by Rex Murphy--funny, insightful, sometimes profound--all that I expect from Rex. There was a second keynote address by Dr. Mark Partridge entitled "Building Vibrant 21st Century Communities: Skip Hot Fads and Lose the Rearview Mirror." There was plenty of provocative information and statements to consider, but I take issue with a number of assumptions, including the desirability of commuting.

the two afternoon sessions included one presented by Ross Risvold, former mayor of Hinton, that looked at what Ross calls "virtual clusters" as a way of tying together rural communities and promoting innovation and opportunities. This is a concept worth exploring further and I'll be talking to Ross about the idea.

The second session was entitled "Tools to Build Entrepreneurial and Vital Communities" by Mike Stolte of the Centre for Innovative and Entrepreneurial Leadership (CIEL), based in Nelson, BC. He gave us some great tools for gauging a community's business friendliness, quality of life and discussed ways to assist communities to thrive in this constantly changing 21st century.

That's it for now--I'm heading off to Day 3 in a few minutes.

July 4: Don't Miss the Literacy Bus in Peace River!

Parents or caregivers and anyone interested in literacy or just having fun will want to check out the Alberta Prairie C.O.W. Bus at the Peace Parent Link Centre (7715-99^th Street, Peace River, south of Springfield School) on Friday, July 4 from 10:00 – 4:00 PM (closed from 12-1 PM).

Parent Link describes the COW (Classroom on Wheels) bus as "a friendly space for parents and young children, zero to six years, to learn and explore fun new ways to add literacy activities to their daily lives."

Call Peace Parent Link at 780-624-0770 for more information.

Council is Back At Full Strength/Voter Turnout

The election of Geoff Milligan on Friday has brought the Town of Peace River's Council back up to full strength after Jim Hancock resigned in May for a job transfer. Geoff brings a great deal of experience from his previous years on Town Council and former work life and will be a welcome addition. Congratulations, Geoff!

I'd also like to offer thanks to Tom Day and Hayden Gust for running in the by-election--it takes courage to put yourself out there--and to the 408 residents who took time in the busy month of June to cast a ballot.

Not to take away from the candidates in any way, since between-election vacancies on Council are often filled by acclamation, but this is a pretty sad voter turnout--just under 9% by my calculations (see below for explanation of how I came to this number). Where were the other 91% of citizens?

In October, when I was elected to Town Council, it seemed like the mayoralty race and the high number of candidates brought out a lot of voters. But using the same method to calculate that voter turnout, it was only about 30%. Certainly better than for the by-election (it's typical for by-elections to have a smaller turnout) but that's still an astonishing 70% choosing not to have a say in who represents them on Town Council.

The poor performance of voters in the March provincial election has sparked a great deal of discussion and debate that may have spillover at the local level. The Edmonton Journal is currently running a 3-part series called Project Democracy to look at the topic.

The authors of the Sunday article, "Too 'distracted' to vote?", note that "Leaders from municipal councils to the House of Commons worry a troubling trend is emerging across the country, as more people disengage from the democratic process" (p. A3). The article notes that 6 in 10 residents stayed home in March, giving Alberta what appears to be an historic low voter turnout and the dubious distinction of having the lowest in Canada for recent provincial elections (41.4%).

This turnout has sparked Elections Alberta to commission a first-ever post-election survey to gauge public attitudes on voting. I hope that the results and ensuing discussion will lead to greater understanding of why people appear to be so disengaged at all levels of government.

I can't help but wonder what recent immigrants from struggling democracies or countries where there is no vote think about how little our citizens appear to value the gift of living in a democracy.

Compulsory voting is one method that has been proposed to improve turnout. It is used in Australia and other democracies and might be dramatic enough to alert citizens to the importance of the vote. But I do hope there are also other ways to get people engaged, and perhaps we must start at the municipal level, where government is closest to the people.

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Estimating Voter Turnout:

Unfortunately, Statistics Canada doesn't make it easy to figure out how many eligible voters live in the Town of Peace River. One reason is that ages are divided up in 5 year segments, which means that 18 and 19 year olds--potential voters--are included in the 15-19 segment. But, going with the 2006 census numbers, here's how I estimated the voter turnout in Friday's by-election:

Population in 2006: 6315.

Subtract 1840 children aged 0-19 
6315 - 1840 = 4475

Add back in 105 18 year-olds and 105 19 year-olds (assuming 105/year in the 15-19 segment; students who live away are counted on their parents' census)
4475 + 210 = 4685

408 voters divided by 4685 eligible voters and you get an estimated voter turnout of 8.7%.

For the October municipal election, using the total votes cast for the two mayoralty candidates (1425), the estimated turnout was 30.4%, based on 4685 eligible voters.

(If anyone reading this sees an error in my calculations or knows of a better way to do them, please let me know!)

Town's New CAO starts August 18

The Town of Peace River issued a news release on Monday to announce the hiring of our new Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), Norma MacQuarrie. She will start on August 18 and we're all excited that she decided to come to Peace River. Her education (an MBA) and 25 years of work experience in local government (most recently in the Town of Beaumont) will be a great asset to the Town.

Norma herself indicates that she has "a passion" for local government and notes that "Peace River holds great potential in terms of growth opportunities." She says that she is "very excited about participating in the strategic planning process that the Town has started [and is] looking forward to working with the Council and staff of the Town of Peace River, carrying on with initiatives that have recently started."

And the runners in town will be glad to know they have another marathoner in their midst, as that is one of Norma's leisure activities.

Welcome, Norma!