Minister Dreeshen drives home points on QEII Highway expansion project

The “deal” that is yet to be completed is with respect to negotiations between Red Deer’s municipal government and the Alberta government on how the city will be compensated for loss of parklands; that conversation also includes Red Deer County, and according to Dreeshen, the Rotary Club of Red Deer.

It was at the end of July when Red Deer city council unanimously agreed it would negotiate with the province on everything from environmental mitigation to remediation and restoration, plus compensation and replacement of assets to a degree which reflects the loss or impairment of parkland.

A date to meet with the minister is to be set this month, and city council is slated to meet by the end of September to set a mandate for those negotiations.

Mayor Cindy Jefferies said to council on July 28 that she was frustrated with the province because it seemed like they had already made up their mind on bisecting the park.

Earlier in July, Red Deer-North MLA Adriana LaGrange said during a media scrum alongside Premier Danielle Smith at a local Chamber of Commerce event that, to her understanding, it was not a “done deal,” answering a question about whether the park would be disturbed.

“That park, yes, it’s beautiful, but where people can see from Highway 2 to the east, the water that’s there, I do remind people that was actually an old gravel pit that was created in the 60s when they actually built Highway 2,” Dreeshen remarked.

“Obviously, the environment is the environment, and it’ll always be a priority; we want to make sure that when we build this, when we widen Highway 2 and make it that much safer, that obviously we have the [most] stringent, the toughest environmental standards.”

Dreeshen noted that whether it’s nesting birds or aquatic life, “there’s a tremendous amount of environmental process that has to be followed for a project like this to happen.”

He added that one possible topic of discussion is Slack Slough, located southeast of Gasoline Alley in Red Deer County — 14 km or 10 minutes down the highway from where the highway project is proposed to cut through Maskepetoon Park.

As for Red Deer County, they were unable to comment by our deadline, but said they may have information to share in the near future.

Rotary Club of Red Deer, meanwhile, also said they could not comment at this time, nor confirm that they are part of discussions.

In 2024, the club celebrated completion of the first phase of a large-scale conservation project at Slack Slough.

rdnewsNOW also received information about this project from Dreeshen’s ministry in July 2025.

At that time, we reported that there were 213 reported motor vehicle incidents on the stretch of highway in question from 2016 to 2025, 22 of which involved injuries.

Dreeshen also said then that the ministry would require the city’s input on various aspects involving the acquisition of city-owned lands.

It was explained last year, as well, that the Burnt Lake pit, which is located immediately upstream of the highway crossing, is currently being converted into a natural space with a total area more than three times the size of the land being impacted.

According to Alberta.ca, the project consists of three phases, the first of which is underway, and involves replacing the overpass over the CN Railway line north of the city.

Phase two will widen the highway north of the Highway 11 interchange (and north of the park), while phase three will include the final widening from 32 Street to 67 Street and the replacement of the bridges as previously reported.

by Josh Hall

Minister Dreeshen drives home points on QEII Highway expansion project

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