Red Deer Mayor Ken Johnston. (rdnewsNOW/Josh Hall)

By Josh Hall | @Vancan19

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Year-in-review: Diving deep on 2023, and what’s to come in 2024, with Red Deer Mayor Ken Johnston

Dec 16, 2023 | 2:10 PM

Red Deer’s mayor, Ken Johnston, is speaking proudly of Red Deer’s year that was, but admits there were also disappointments.

Asked to pick a few words to describe the last 12 months, he chose community, renewal, connection and gratitude.

Johnston spoke to local media at his City Hall office this week, offering up his thoughts on the economy, social issues, plus diversity and inclusion, among other things.

The year included, he noted, nearly 600 meetings with citizens and other stakeholders.

That includes eight 100+ birthdays, 67 constituent meetings, 39 cultural meetings, 82 government relations meetings, 18 of the health care variety, 25 with the Indigenous community, 68 with local businesses, 54 media events, 67 encounters with non-profits, 17 sports events, and 25 City-led functions.

Métis Week

RDP celebrates Métis week through educational events

A few moments ago

Nov. 8, 12-1 P.M.

RDP holding Indigenous Veterans Day ceremony

1h ago

Learn on the job

RDCRS and Eagle Builders launch construction camp for high school students

19h ago

“2023 was also a year of keeping the [city council] team together, not necessarily in full agreement — that’ll never happen,” Johnston quipped. “But they were focused on why they’re here and what the public expects of them. They also made me a better mayor by their feedback, gentle criticism, suggestions, ingenuity and creativity.”

ECONOMIC STRIDES

On the economic front, Johnston was quick to note a new near-80-unit project is set to finally go up in Capstone this spring.

“I was very encouraged that Capstone is starting to get roots in the ground. There was life and interest in Capstone [this year],” he said. “It continues to be under-leveraged obviously, meaning its potential is still not realized, but council, with administration’s help, modified development guidelines for Capstone and that has been catalytic in getting interest in arguably the best piece of property in central Alberta.”

The hospital project, once here, he said, will drive Capstone to a degree, and other commercial developments will come online in 2025, he predicts.

Johnston points to a recently completed annexation which will pave the way for a ‘power centre’ that will be, “extremely transformational for Red Deer.”

There was also airport expansion with a new runway completed and a new terminal coming. Johnston’s belief is that a low-cost carrier and freight services are on the horizon, adding that he learned a ton from attending the Paris Air Show on a joint business trip with the province and Red Deer County.

There were 580 business licenses applied for in 2023, 74 of which were in the downtown.

“We continue to position the city, post-COVID, as an affordable place to live,” he said, noting a recent ranking by HGTV which listed Red Deer as the eighth hottest real estate market in Canada, according to data from the Canadian Real Estate Association.

The ranking notes the MLS benchmark price in Red Deer rose 22.2 per cent from October 2022 to October 2023.

Red Deer Mayor Ken Johnston and a gifted jersey from Red Deer’s Molly Simpson, a world champion BMX racer. (rdnewsNOW/Josh Hall)

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Then there was tourism and sports, with the G.H. Dawe expansion opening, the Senior Men’s Baseball Championship, as well as the returning Red Deer Air Show (set to return in 2025 after renovations), the opening of the Red Deer Resort & Casino, and defending the title of Alberta’s most active city. The new year holds early promise with the Grand Slam of Curling in January and the Alberta Municipalities 2024 Convention and Trade Show in September.

Johnston also noted the farmer’s market relocation and how it was well-embraced by Red Deerians.

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THE SOCIAL SIDE

The social fabric of Red Deer has a deep place in Johnston’s heart, he shared, noting how the city and local residents rallied around making available a world class evacuation centre for people fleeing wildfires in the Northwest Territories.

Johnston called the centre ‘extraordinary’ and reiterated how many texts and emails he received from evacuees expressing their thanks for Red Deerians’ generosity.

By the end, Red Deer welcomed more than 1,000 people and distributed over 10,000 meal vouchers, among other things.

Then there’s the hospital.

“There is a public hearing upcoming this Monday, Dec. 18, which is fundamental to how hospital planning will go forward,” Johnston pointed out. “I suspect it will pass after council deliberates, but it’s a tangible sign that the hospital is coming into view. When we start looking at zonings, land usage and traffic patterns, the hospital is coming into view, and that’s very encouraging.”

The public hearing is for a road closure and rezoning of the paid parking lot behind the hospital parkade, “to facilitate the development of an Ambulatory Care Facility,” the council agenda notes on page 102.

In March, Johnston joined a group of doctors to amplify their demands for action on the $1.8 billion hospital file.

And there’s the new Red Deer Justice Centre, which will open in 2024. Johnston expressed excitement about a much more strategic approach to mediation that he understands will be carried out there.

He notes the successful recovery conference held in October, adding that the City considers recovery as, “fundamentally the only way to bring hope and restoration into the community.”

(rdnewsNOW/Josh Hall)

“I don’t want to thump an ideology, but as I said at the conference, my dad was an alcoholic, and he got sober late in life,” said Johnston. “Typically, addiction buries the heart, soul, character and potential of people. Recovery then becomes a doorway or beacon, and we’ll continue on that path in 2024.”

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EMBRACING DIVERSITY & INCLUSION

Whether it was the International Pow Wow or the ground-breaking of a new mosque for the local Muslim community, Red Deer’s had an, “extremely exciting year,” on the diversity and inclusion scene, Johnston said.

“The growth in the ethnic communities in our city is just amazing. The African communities have become far more visible, and there is a Francophone African community [agency] now in Red Deer,” Johnston said. “A lady came up to me recently at a cultural event and said there are 60 people from Mauritius here now. That group’s currently putting together their first Christmas party.”

The mayor also noted a booming Filipino population which as of 2021 was listed at over 7,400. Anecdotally, he’s heard that number is likely much higher now.

“We have a Sikh temple in Highland Green, a muslim temple under construction in Timberlands, and we’ve earmarked money for an Indigenous cultural centre,” he said. “Then there were all the cultural celebrations — we had Sri Lankan New Year, Chinese New Year, with record numbers of people coming out, and Festival Hall has never been more busy.”

Though he doesn’t discount that racism and other discriminatory events have occurred, he is proud of where the city is going.

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NOT MEETING EXPECTATIONS

With the good comes the bad.

Johnston’s upfront about his biggest disappointment being the failure to nail down and announce a location for a permanent shelter, funding for which was announced by the NDP in 2019, then again by the UCP following that year’s election.

Ever since, finding a location to put it has been mired in red tape, difficult land negotiations, and the unwillingness of some people to have it nearby.

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“This is a file, and I’ve said this in a public hearing, that I tuck under my arm every day, bring it to work, bring it home, put it on my dresser, and when I wake up, I pick it up and bring it back to work,” said Johnston. “I speak not just for me, but for council, administration, and many members of our community who’ve worked hard on this. It’s certainly a goal to see through because our community is tired, and we’re tired.”

There was also the loss of Canadian Finals Rodeo, which after five years will return to Edmonton.

It was a sudden turn of events because in 2018, it was billed that Red Deer would host for at least 10 years.

rdnewsNOW reported in October that the deal was for five years with an option for another five. Westerner Park didn’t exercise that option, choosing to bid for a different term, and lost.

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“It was a wonderful event,” said. “We did everything we could and a decision was made by the CPRA [to choose somewhere else during the bid process]. We started trying to get that contract back the day we heard we’d lost it.”

ANSWERING QUESTIONS, A COMMUNITY APPROACH TO AFFORDABLE HOUSING, RESPECT AND DIVISION

Mayor Johnston has ambitions for 2024 to see an affordable housing project come to fruition.

That’s why he’s personally trying to garner $1 million — $10,000 from 100 people or another combination — to leverage more funding from the province and/or Ottawa toward such a project.

“We are an affordable city, but there are folks in our community who are finding it more and more difficult. I received a staggering email from a young lady which I keep on my desk as a reminder [of that project]. Obviously it wouldn’t get constructed in 2024, but we need to be far more strategic now. I’m not sure where the feds are going to be. Should they be more involved? Yes. But have they approved anything west of Winnipeg for medium-sized cities? No, they havent.”

Three people have already come forward, he shares.

Meantime, Red Deer’s homeless population was reported in March, following a point in time count conducted in late 2022. The tally revealed at least 334 people experiencing homelessness, up drastically from 144 in 2018.

“By community approach, I mean we need to rally people around the cause, and the understanding that the community needs to be involved if things are going to really happen,” he said. “This young lady who emailed me, her rent went up $300 last December and again this December. She talks about how many people are affected like her, and so we need to understand that it’s a pretty fundamental right of people to have safe and affordable housing. Our community can make a difference.”

Is Red Deer respected?, the mayor was asked.

“We have to earn respect of course but we’re quite valued when I think of orders of government. Provincially, we have a solid relationship; the province funded our recovery conference and will do so again in 2024,” said Johnston.

“We’re respected by our peers; I have a great relationship with the mayor of Lethbridge, regionally with Red Deer County, it’s great and we have a new intermunicipal development plan coming to the table in 2024. I hear great things from people visiting too.”

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Johnston urged residents to keep trumpeting Red Deer, “but in the same vein, we definitely stand in good stead.”

Trumpeting together, as he stated, would theoretically lend itself to Red Deerians gelling better in a world of division. Johnston said the emotional temperature of the global population has been rising.

“We’re all a little more short with each other, more P.O.’d with each other, less patient, a little less tolerant, and we all have the opinion that every hill is a hill to die on, which is so unfortunate,” he said.

“In a Red Deer context, these 500+ meetings I had in the community in 2023 — if the mayor is not engaged and pulling people in, gelling them in that way, if a mayor is not plugged in, they aren’t functioning. The mayor has to walk the talk.

“We don’t live in a utopia, but I believe we’re more tolerant and accepting than we were.”

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