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CMRB is not the Alberta way

Airdrie letters_text

Dear Editor,

The economy and future of rural municipalities and residents are at risk under the Calgary Metropolitan Regional Board (CMRB).

As former reeve of Rocky View County (RVC) and a long-time resident, I sent the following letter to Municipal Affairs Minister Kaycee Madu and my local MLA. It would be helpful if all landowners and residents were to contact their MLAs regarding this issue.

Dear Kaycee Madu, Minister of Municipal Affairs

I am writing this letter to express my concern and fear that the CMRB, if not disposed of, will give Calgary complete control of the Calgary region, thereby sterilizing lands and potential investment in RVC and other rural municipalities.

I was reeve of RVC back in the ‘90s when the old Calgary Regional Planning Commission was abolished. In those days, that commission had to give its consent for all development – even a farmstead isolation needed its stamp of approval. Calgary, with its veto power, literally froze rural lands until the City could annex for its own benefit with development.

Because RVC and other municipalities were given back their autonomy when Ralph Klein nixed that planning commission, we have much to be proud of – Elbow Valley Estates, Pinebrook, Calaway Park, CrossIron Mills mall and Harmony Beef are all great developments that would not exist if the urban municipalities, like Calgary, were able to control rural lands. Think about that for a second. CrossIron Mills and its 4,000-plus full-time equivalent jobs, and Harmony Beef and its 500 jobs in the agricultural industry would not be here. Why would we chase investment and jobs away from Alberta?

I voted UCP because of your platform of making Alberta open for business. My neighbours did, too, and many of us stepped up with big cheques for Premier Kenney. This is a province where entrepreneurs bring ideas forward that improve and enhance the quality of life and well-being of Albertans. There are sound ideas for business and recreation that will be stymied by this CMRB and its protectionist, socialist nature.

Please don’t disappoint me and the thousands of rural Albertan and landowners by giving socialist bureaucrats the power to stop development. The CMRB is dictatorship, not democracy, and it’s not the Alberta Way.

Larry Konschuk

Former RVC reeve

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