By Sheldon Spackman

Hundreds rally in Red Deer for restart to Bighorn consultations

Jan 31, 2019 | 9:09 PM

Hundreds attended a rally in Red Deer Thursday night calling for the province to restart consultations for its Bighorn Country proposal.

Organized by Ryan Brown from Bentley with the assistance of Rally Canada, the event next to the downtown skate park featured several guest speakers and members of the public concerned about the future of Bighorn.

Brown says they feel the government has circumvented the entire process when creating its proposal.

“They’ve been very disingenuous in the way that they’ve gone about it,” states Brown. “They’ve been secretive, they’ve done a lot of lying on this file, including lying about the RCMP shutting down public information sessions. We are calling for a return to the North Saskatchewan Regional Plan, which was a process that was undertaken in good faith by the previous government to involve all user groups and come up with a Made in Alberta balanced approach.”

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Brown says it’s important to note the current Bighorn Country proposal is not the North Saskatchewan Regional Plan (NSRP).

“The government is trying to tell everybody that it is but this is their own plan,” he exclaims. “They have not done the consultations that they pretend to do. If they want to work with us, then we’ll work with them and we’ll come up with a plan that works for everybody and works for the wildlife and works for nature in a way that’s balanced but this is not the plan.”

On January 29, Environment and Parks Minister Shannon Phillips announced new dates for public consultation sessions regarding the Bighorn proposal.

The first will be held Feb. 1 in Drayton Valley from 4-7 p.m. at the Clean Energy Technology Centre, 5400 22 Avenue.

Additional sessions are scheduled for Edmonton on Saturday, the Westerner Park Harvest Centre in Red Deer on Sunday from 1-4 p.m. and another on Monday in Sundre from 4-7 p.m. at the Royal Canadian Legion.

Public information sessions previously scheduled in the region were postponed by Phillips, citing fear for a lack of safety brought on by “inflamed rhetoric” and “inaccurate statements”.

Provincial officials say each of the sites have undergone safety and security reviews, with those attending able to talk to program staff, view maps of the region and submit feedback directly at more than 30 information stations.

Feedback can also be submitted online at talkaep.alberta.ca.

The deadline for submitting feedback is Feb. 15.