This Month with Mayor Ken Johnston: March 2023

1. Please share some reflections on Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day? – rdnewsNOW

International Women’s Day, which we celebrated in early March, is an opportunity to celebrate women’s achievements in central Alberta, but also recognize the challenges that still exist. It is a chance to celebrate the great contributions women make to their families, communities, country and world. It is also a day of action so women can know they have a voice, a uniqueness and a talent.

As Mayor, and a community leader – it is important to encourage, cultivate and curate diverse perspectives, empower women and other marginalized voices and amplify inclusive community building. It is also very important in my mind that citizens hear their views and voices reflected on council. Women bring a wealth of unique insight and understanding to the council table.

City council should be a microcosm of the community. Those entrusted to legislate and make public policy are making decisions for the people they represent. Local government, in particular, makes decisions that impact the everyday lives of citizens. The fact that women are half of the population makes it imperative that there’s strong representation, so those voices are represented amongst the policy makers who are affecting community change.

I look forward to continuing to break down barriers, and am grateful to some of the innovative programs announced by our Provincial Government this spring, through the Women Building Futures program. Over the next three years, $10.7 million is being earmarked to support Women Building Futures in their work while ensuring employers have the talent they need to grow their businesses.

There are many countries around the world that gender equality is not a reality, or have had recent setbacks recently. I am so grateful to be in a country where my daughter, friends, partner, relatives, coworkers and everyone in my community have the opportunity to be what they want to be, to reach for their full potential without discrimination. We can’t forget the struggles of the past, and the struggles around the world as women are still underrepresented in many areas. We’ve come so far, but also of course we still have a long way to go.

2. What are your thoughts on the federal budget and what it means for Red Deer? –rdnewsNOW

The federal budget tabled Tuesday focuses on some big-picture concerns, from the rising cost of living, to health care, to shifting the economy away from fossil fuels. One major focus of this year’s budget is developing Canada’s green economy by introducing a slate of corporate tax credits meant to encourage investment in clean energy. The budget represents progress on some priority issues for Canadian municipalities, and leaves significant gaps on other critical challenges facing communities and cities.

Some proposed measures will make a direct impact on households, while others will change the kinds of charges and interest rates businesses can levy at Canadians.

We could hope to see investments in green technology, energy or manufacturing by private industry through federal tax incentives, and investments by industry in turn have impacts on our local economy, employment, growth and thus revenues.

We were pleased to see the new investment of four billion over seven years in an Urban, Rural and Indigenous Housing Strategy, but would have liked to see additional investment in other critical programs addressing both housing and chronic homelessness challenges across our country, such as Reaching Home and the Rapid Housing Initiative—programs designed to help our most vulnerable.

3. The province has announced $2 billion over three years in LGFF (formerly MSI) funding for municipalities. The province is yet to announce its allocations for this, however; can you put a dollar amount to what you’d hope Red Deer will receive, and please explain where some of that money would be spent? –rdnewsNOW

I think I speak for our administration and city council when I say we hope to receive similar funding that we had under the former Municipal Sustainability Initiative (MSI), but that is yet to be seen. The transition from MSI to LGFF (Local Government Fiscal Framework) originally had a decrease in total funding, with projections up to a 37 per cent decrease. With the provincial budget announcement, this program looks closer to being held whole. That allocation formula is still a big question mark for us, and all municipalities in Alberta – even with the program getting a boost, we certainly don’t know what Red Deer’s portion will be.

And where would the money be spent? Traditionally, the MSI program formed a big part of our regular asset rehabilitation and replacement program in our annual budget. We would fully expect the LGFF to be used the same way: to support basic asset maintenance such as roads, community amenities and modernization.

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EDITOR’S NOTE: The views expressed above are those of the Mayor and do not necessarily represent those of rdnewsNOW or Pattison Media. Column suggestions and letters to the editor can be sent to news@rdnewsNOW.com.

by Ken Johnston, Mayor of Red Deer

This Month with Mayor Ken Johnston: March 2023

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