By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

Red Deer city councillor proposes shopping cart ban

Sep 17, 2018 | 9:13 PM

If one Red Deer city councillor get his way, shopping carts in public places would be banned.

Buck Buchanan presented two notices of motion on Monday night, one of which doesn’t go so far as using the word ban, but does propose The City implement a ‘shopping cart protocol.’

“Be it further resolved that administration look to incorporating a shopping cart protocol into the Community Standards Bylaw or create a standalone bylaw to address shopping carts being secure and kept on properties from which they originate,” the proposal reads.

Asked if this is the same as what city council in Vernon, BC dealt with earlier this summer, Buchanan said, “Yeah, I think so.”

In July, council in the Okanagan city of Vernon voted 4-1 in favour of banning shopping carts in public places. Since then, the councillor who proposed it – Brian Quiring – has walked back his stance and council rescinded their adoption of the policy, calling it a ‘knee-jerk solution.’

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In late August, the BC Civil Liberties Association announced it would be fighting the ban.

“There’s really nothing that can’t be,” Buchanan said of things being constitutionally challenged.

“This is not something to hit the impoverished or homeless folks, but we’ve got to do something. It’s past the point of ridiculous.”

Buchanan cited the recent Red Deer River Clean-up, during which there were several carts pulled out the river, he said.

“To sit back and say we can’t do anything about this? Something’s got to be done,” the former RCMP member stated.

“We have to look at and try to figure out ‘is this what we want in our community?’ You’re going to have challenges, but is this an attack on disenfranchised folks or homelessness or poverty? No. It’s just like ‘Hey, we’ve got some problems here and let’s try to figure them out.’”

Buchanan says ultimately, more housing and shelter need to be brought to Red Deer.

The proposal calls for The City to engage with retailers who provide carts to enact measures which would prevent shopping carts from being taken off their properties.

It also directs administration to work with council, community agencies and businesses to address the effects of such a protocol on the homeless and to look at alternatives to shopping carts for that population to transport or store their belongings.

Buchanan also noted a prototype shopping cart replacement developed by engineering students at UBC in Kelowna as a possible solution.

As well, he didn’t specify what the penalties might be or to who they’d be applied to – the person with the cart or a retailer.

Buchanan’s second notice of motion calls for The City to implement a bicycle registry. The idea is inspired by the increasing number of bicycle thefts, he said.

“The bicycle theft is just rampant and in a lot of instances when folks are having their bicycle stolen, the serial numbers are disappearing, the frames are getting repainted, the wheels are getting changed. It doesn’t even look like your bike,” he said.

The motion calls for The City, in conjunction with the Central Alberta Crime Prevention Centre, to initiate a Red Deer Bicycle Registration and Licensing online program alongside community registration events.

Both proposals will come forward for debate at upcoming council meetings.

(With file from CBC News)