Adult leadership needed

By now, most Medicine Hat residents are well aware of the recent infighting within City Council.

Months of behind-the-scenes squabbling between management, elected officials, and the Mayor has boiled over, resulting in an ongoing series of embarrassing headlines and media stories.

As a former MLA, it is not my place to take sides in this public spat, other than to gently remind council that nobody really wins in situations like this, least of all city residents.

It is extremely frustrating for local citizens, who find themselves stuck with rapidly rising tax bills and utility costs, to watch elected representatives sniping at each other over codes of conduct and procedure.

The whole situation reminds me of a saying by late author and renowned management expert Peter Drucker: “Management is doing things right, leadership is doing the right things.”

All sides of this dispute need to put their issues in perspective, and remember that their first duty is to put the interests of local families and business owners first. If not, voters certainly will be well within their rights to make necessary changes in next year’s municipal election.

In the meantime, there are several things the Provincial Government needs to do to reset and clarify the roles of our elected officials and municipalities. 

The fact is, the Province has exclusive jurisdiction over municipalities under Section 92 of the Constitution. As such, it is the Provincial Government’s duty to quickly clear up any confusion over the powers that may be exercised by municipal officials. Yet the Province has spent much of the past three years ragging the puck on its review of both the Municipal Government Act and the Local Authorities Election Act. Issues concerning such matters need to be resolved decisively to ensure transparency and accountability in all municipal operations. Voters expect clear rules to be applied evenly across all municipalities, and when these rules are broken punishments should not be applied on an ad hoc basis.

In the long term, the Province also needs to work with municipalities to create a clearly defined separation duties. Over the past decade, the Provincial Government has cycled between PC, NDP, and UCP administrations, each with their own idea of what services municipalities should provide. At the end of the day, the Province should provide predictable, long term funding, while municipalities need to know exactly what services they are expected to provide (and what services they are not). 

Whether its infighting within City Council or partisan sniping between governments, the public has had more than enough blame shifting and finger pointing.

Taxpayers are currently being asked to provide more of their paycheques than ever before in difficult economic times. At the very least, government officials need to stop acting like squabbling children. 

Adult leadership is needed.