From sports to health care, and taxes to culture, here’s a look back at Red Deer in 2024

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Johnston says though it is a major factor in terms of operations, Red Deer is not unique in dealing with inflation; whether it’s construction, policing, fleet and transit equipment, or recreation, the municipality is like every other.

“We had a series of years where it was 11, 12, 13 per cent [increases], and council and administration fell into what I would call a poor habit of not addressing the actual cost of City Hall, other than bringing it down with reserves or hoping growth would catch up to us,” he said.

A rainbow over the Sheldon Kennedy Centre of Excellence in May. (rdnewsNOW/Ashley Lavallee-Koenig)

“These last five years have been very difficult on Red Deer; we haven’t grown to the extent [we thought]. I’ll go back to why I ran for mayor in 2021; we needed to kickstart the engine and become more collaborative on how we approached the economy. But the last five years, two of them, we decided to go with a zero percent increase. In retrospect, not a great decision for us.”

Johnston said multiple councillors this year expressed a desire to no longer kick the problem down the road.

“In other words, we were leaning too heavily on reserves and not enough on a dependable revenue stream.”

It’s difficult too, he said, to predict what tax increases will look like over the next several years, because a municipality does not know when it could run up against a major infrastructure failure, harkening back to Calgary’s water main issues of 2024.

It could also depend on population and other types of growth.

Pointing to positive things, Johnston mentioned record housing starts in 2024, adding that Capstone development is moving along, tourism is doing well, and that there’s been a swell of small businesses.

“All of these contribute to far more dependability in terms of what revenue streams will be,” he said. “It’ll be an interesting journey for council and administration to take in 2025 and likely 2026.”

One of the final Red Deer sunrises of 2024 was a dandy. (rdnewsNOW/Josh Hall)

Adjacent to the south end of the city’s core is the $1.8 billion Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre development project, the largest health care investment in the province’s history.

“[This project] will position us as a centre of medical excellence for the next 20 to 30 years, maybe more. We’re already starting to see the impacts; there are new clinics opening, the [former] Greyhound] lot has been sold, and there’ll be some community announcements in 2025,” he said.

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“This will affect employment, supplies, housing… [and] stimulate growth on a scale that I’d argue we haven’t seen,” he says, since the Nova Chemicals expansion of the 1990s.

Thirty-one doctors moved to Red Deer this year, Johnston added.

There’s also the cardiac catheterization lab slated to open years prior to completion of the overall redevelopment, as announced by the Red Deer Regional Health Foundation and AHS in October.

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Then there are the challenges of housing and homelessness, which rdnewsNOW reported on in December as it pertains to the 2024 Point in Time homeless count.

The count tallied 766 people experiencing homelessness, and at a record rate chronically.

Johnston said the very-layered dilemma is intrinsically tied to the matter of housing; the city has a $30 million application before the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation to undertake work in that respect.

Aerial view of a house fire in Deer Park on Aug. 30, 2024. No one was hurt. (Contributed)

He also remains optimistic about a permanent emergency shelter being built, but the scope of that facility is up for debate given the way homeless numbers have risen since the project was first announced in early 2019.

What else does Red Deer have going for it, in the mayor’s eyes?

“We are known as a city with a very high quality of life. We’ve become quite the hub for central Alberta on many fronts, whether it’s sports, health or justice, we’re quite the gathering place,” he said during a year-end interview at City Hall.

“There’ll [soon] be a transformational impact on downtown from two perspectives; one, with the hospital and justice centre; and on the other side will be in Capstone where we [already] have a minimum 160 new housing units.”

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Investment from the private sector into Capstone is one of the biggest wins for Red Deer in 2024, the mayor stated.

“Where we have won socially is with the continuing growth, emergence and influence of so many cultural organizations and groups in the city; we’re seeing quite a growth in these groups, be they African, Filipino or Latin,” he said.

“There are cultural centres and places of worship emerging, and that is encouraging people to come, stay and build, instead of leaving to go to Edmonton, for example. The social infrastructure is here to keep people here.”

The year also featured major conventions held by the United Conservative Party and Alberta Municipalities (formerly AUMA)

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Speaking of the Government of Alberta, Johnston reflected upon attempts by the province to take more control of certain municipal issues.

Top of mind for Johnston is Bill 20 and what it proposes for the allowance of political parties in municipal politics.

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Johnston maintained what he said in April, in that it just wouldn’t be right for that to transpire.

“My biggest disappointment was piloting political parties in Calgary and Edmonton, and looking at the prospect of them across Alberta in the 2029 election. Municipal government is the government on the street level of the people,” he said.

“Municipal politicians live, breathe and exist among the population; one of the great tragedies of current politics is that our politicians are physically removed from the locations they serve, and because of that. they begin to lose the feel of what it’s like to wake up in this community, experience the traffic, be in the supermarket, go to the hockey rink, and to church.”

Johnston said Bill 20 will conform future councils and municipal leaders to a party platform or association.

“It remains a challenge for municipalities, and the people we serve don’t want to see us go in this direction.”

On a somewhat related note, Johnston would not commit at this point to running for re-election in October 2025, but did say he’ll have a community announcement early in the year.

Finally, Johnston shared a message to Red Deerians as we collectively shift into 2025.

“This season can trigger poor memories, it can get you down, cause you to lose faith in mankind, and it can be a dreary time for folks, so my message is this: Where you can and when you can, lift people and be conscious of people,” he said.

“If you are blue yourself, find ways of dealing with that in a positive way; talk to a friend or a counsellor. For sure, do not let cynicism or the pace of the season take you away from opportunities to contribute; opportunities where your kindness, your time, or your money can lead to someone getting through the season in a better way. Take advantage over the next two to three weeks to renew and restore yourself, and have hope going into 2025.”

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