Editorial

Thanks for all the information

Kudos this week go to Chamber Assistant Mary Ellen Ferguson and her cohorts for that bang-up job they did of organizing the All Candidates Forum at the Northwest Inn last week.
Thanks to the Chamber this community knows a little bit more about the hopes, dreams, aspirations and promises from candidates in the Athabasca riding. Hopefully the information session and awareness will prompt more people from this area to get involved – or at the very least go to the polls and vote between now and Monday (June 28).
Congrats, too, to the many Slave Lake and area residents who showed up and asked all the hard questions. They clearly displayed they’re no pushovers, and will definitely expect some representation if they’re going to plant their X on the ballots.
It was impressive to see all the candidates make the trek south, but that’s obviously the only way to let people know they’re in the running.
It must have been hard for the usual ‘good guy’ Doug Faulkner to be taking all the hits for his buddies in Ottawa, but really shouldn’t have expected any different. He’s lives in Alberta, after all, a place that’s not exactly known as the congeniality capital of the country, and where few mince their words – especially when they’re dealing with federal politicians.
But Faulkner was clearly uncomfortable – not his usually folksy self, to the point where he was almost offensively loud with his pitch – and pleas to the crowd. We guess he can be forgiven for that, but it is still difficult to believe that anyone would take such drastic steps as cross that far across that line – especially when he’s from the oil patch hub of Ft. McMurray.
His opponents that shared the stage were mercifully polite to the guy that’s likely been a buddy – or at least an acquaintance for absolute eons – and we applaud their readiness to avoid acting like they’re from Ottawa already. Perhaps they’re still shocked that he’d take his objections to the Tory/Alliance union to such extremes. Or maybe that’s their politicking politeness mode and it’ll all change come June 29 – or July whenever, when the winner is comfortably in his chair in the Commons.
At any rate, we thank the Chamber for its readiness to host the session, and Mary Ellen for all her sleepless nights ensuring it was done so well.
Peek at the Hub
And speaking about June 28 happenings, elsewhere in this paper readers will see an advertisement announcing that the Town of Slave Lake is taking its plan for a Community Services Hub to the next level with an open house in council chambers.
It’ll happen the same day as most heading into the voting booth – just a few short blocks away from the Elections Canada location.
We hope they’ll have all the financial details worked out –and present them in such a way that we won’t have to hold an engineering or accounting degree to understand the intent and its ramifications.
We haven’t heard much discussion on the Hub just yet – at least since the initial uproar over the performing arts facility -- and certainly not on the record.
But this decision to build a new Town office that houses and collects rent from bazillion government offices, could well become a municipal election issue this fall.
That’s why we’re encouraging residents to come out and inform themselves about the new facility that’s assured to give our community a decidedly different look.