October 14

After reading The Camrose Booster of September 30, I was disheartened to read that the City of Camrose is again resurrecting the issue of utility accounts and mistreatment of their staff. In this article, management has also tossed revenue into the mix.
Tenants/renters? Landlords? This is what the City is doing. The City is going to transfer your account for utilities into your landlord’s name. Why? Because the City has identified inappropriate behaviour towards staff that staff, at times, have found threatening and unsafe. So the City’s response is to lump all tenants/renters in the same group and label them as ones who are responsible for inappropriate behaviour.
It doesn’t matter how long you have had utilities in your name, you are one of those “tenant/renters” and are being grouped in with the troublemakers.  Tenants/renters are not second class citizens and should not be treated as such by lumping them into a group that has very negative connotations.
This same topic has come up in prior years and it is quite clear that City Hall doesn’t have an effective policy or people in place to ensure the staff are treated respectfully and to deal with those who display inappropriate behaviour.
The councillors who voted for this amendment have enacted unjustly and unfairly to the citizens who pay their utilities promptly and with respect.
This new policy applies to business as well as residential, so you are no longer good enough or responsible enough to have utilities in your name. Doesn’t matter how much pride you take in paying on time or for how long–you are now under the wing of your landlord, unless of course you own your own home–you can have utilities, however, if that same homeowner rented space for their business the landlord would have utilities in their name.
In summation, mayor and council, the citizens expect leadership, downloading the problems of some by carving out a segment of the population and labelling them the same as troublemakers is irresponsible.
The way to convey to the City that you are responsible for yourself is to make your voices heard to the mayor, councillors and City management. The City staff who have endured inappropriate behaviour have been failed miserably by everyone involved which is why we are still discussing this topic. Enough, fix it once and for all. Take responsibility.
Hold those who cause the trouble accountable. Put staff in place who are capable of enforcing policy/procedures to protect staff.

Mickey Mohan,
Camrose

October 7

A teachers’ strike seems inevitable now because of the skewed priorities, the financial incompetence and lack of integrity of our current government.

The government will pay parents $150 per student per week, and hundreds of thousands on ad campaigns instead of negotiating in good faith with the people tasked to educate our children. They fully fund students in charter schools, even though they can charge significant fees and decide which students can attend (eliminating special needs kids), something no other province does, and they don’t have money to properly fund public education? ALL Alberta children deserve a good education.

The government wasted millions of dollars on an unusable Tylenol substitute (much of it never delivered), questionable private healthcare contracts and set up a costly, top-heavy bureaucratic structure and they can’t pay for Covid vaccines? They spend millions of dollars in legal fees to fight a lawsuit alleging fraud by government insiders instead of calling a public inquiry to find out if there is substance to this challenge.
Our Premier spent millions on travel to the USA to attend the inauguration of a president who is trying to annex Canada, attending right-wing policy think tanks and her Ministers met with American politicians that have no sway in trade policy and came away with no deliverables. Then they claw back federal disability benefits and increase rents for AISH recipients.

They spent millions on an “Alberta is Calling” advertising campaign in 2022. In March of 2024, Premier Smith argued with the Federal government for a higher allotment of immigrants to help grow Alberta’s economy, yet by October, she was fighting with them once again, complaining that immigrants were putting a strain on provincial resources and housing. They are now vilifying immigrants and threatening to cut services for them.

This government has spent millions touring the province with their agenda of promoting an Alberta Pension Plan (rejected in a 2023 provincial survey), a provincial Police Force, an Alberta Tax Agency and an Alberta Immigration Agency. They have passed a law to lower the threshold for provincial referendums. The Premier declares that she wants sovereignty within a united Canada yet spends taxpayer dollars on legal fees for the separatist APP challenging Elections Alberta’s decision to have the court adjudicate the constitutionality of their referendum question. All of this sounds a lot like supporting Alberta Separation.

Delphine Doerksen,
Camrose

October 7 

The Camrose Bike Bus has been running for the last school years and it has been amazing seeing kids get excited about riding their bikes to school with friends and classmates. For those unaware of the Bike Bus, it starts at one family’s house and then rides past other kids’ houses, picking up other riders along the way to St. Pat’s. There are adults leading, often some fun music and the “vibes are immaculate.” However, the number of Camrosians in vehicles who have shown impatience or general disdain towards the riders is unbelievable.

Bikes are an incredible tool and relatively inexpensive form of accessible transportation. The Bike Bus provides a fun and engaging way to empower kids to get out and exercise while getting themselves to school. We hear too much about how “kids these days” can’t, won’t or don’t do any number of things, yet when provided an option of transportation that has been available for generations, we honk at these kids and wave them to hurry up. Drivers are able to sit in climate controlled bubbles with music and a morning coffee yet are unable to appreciate kids having safe, fun transportation because they cost us two minutes on a commute.

So the next time you’re angry at kids having fun getting to school, take a deep breath, maybe sip that coffee and offer a friendly smile and wave. Next time you too could ride your bike to work and have as much fun as they are. The kids are all right.

Cole Boyd,
Camrose

October 7 

I do wonder if all those 55,000 workers of Canada Post who voted for the Liberals to save their jobs from being axed are regretting voting for this government.

The Liberals have decided to end door-to-door delivery which will take a decade to put into action.   This caused the union to have their 55,000 workers go on a complete national walkout. I personally do not send letters, but instead write emails. I do not get my government cheques by mail and most bills for are paid online.

I do understand that there has to have something done to stop the financial losses which this Crown corporation has suffered. There has to be a better way to do this – restructuring?

The way the Liberals are going is causing a lot of people to lose their jobs.   Our unemployment numbers are going to climb by thousands of claims. This will be very expensive so I do wonder how the tax payers are going to afford to pay for the thousands of dollars per month in claims. This is just something for all of you to think about.

Lorne Vanderwoude,
Camrose