Boutilier right to intervene at hearing
Editorial appeared in Fort McMurray Today July 21, 2006
MLA Guy Boutilier's appearance before the Alberta Energy and Utility Board panel looking into Suncor Energy's application for its proposed Voyageur Thursday was a unique event.
The local politician, who rose from a city council seat to become mayor of Wood Buffalo, has insisted that this region remained his priority since being elected to the Alberta legislature.
It's a tough undertaking.
Politics within his party, the demand for secrecy and allegiance to not only the organization but to its increasingly erratic leader must be difficult.
What's important for Fort McMurray and Wood Buffalo is not always politically expedient for those who toil in the provincial legislature.
A party seeking to expand its base in Edmonton, for example, might want to spend money on new schools and asphalt in the Alberta capital. Spending cash in Wood Buffalo -- probably a safe Conservative constituency with Boutilier as candidate -- would only take away from the Edmonton effort.
The local MLA has consistently lobbied for his home since he was first elected in 1997, even if that process went against the will of his colleagues on the government benches.
That's what the people of this region want.
They've voted in Liberals -- many still remember Adam Germain's time in the spotlight. They support the person, not the party.
But Boutilier's passion -- don't forget it was he who coined the municipal motto "We've got the energy" -- seems to have followed that lead.
His AEUB appearance is one example.
While many from outside Fort McMurray criticized the process and the legal questions surrounding his appearance at the same time he served as environment minister (the department has a formal role of its own at the hearing), locals just shake their heads. "That's Guy," they remark.
Lawyers tried to question Boutilier in his role of cabinet minister, but he shook them off.
Good for him.
McMurrayites wanted to hear what their representative said, not a bureaucrat controlled by his underlings and party protocol.
Why not hear from the man who has more experience with the complex municipal/provincial/oilsands relationship than anyone else, including the present crew at city hall?
His ideas are plausible and unique. While holes can be shot in anything, especially by opposition politicians who visit Fort McMurray for a day to get some press, Boutilier's solutions to the problems that growth has brought on this region would work.
© Copyright 2006, Fort McMurray Today.
MLA Guy Boutilier's appearance before the Alberta Energy and Utility Board panel looking into Suncor Energy's application for its proposed Voyageur Thursday was a unique event.
The local politician, who rose from a city council seat to become mayor of Wood Buffalo, has insisted that this region remained his priority since being elected to the Alberta legislature.
It's a tough undertaking.
Politics within his party, the demand for secrecy and allegiance to not only the organization but to its increasingly erratic leader must be difficult.
What's important for Fort McMurray and Wood Buffalo is not always politically expedient for those who toil in the provincial legislature.
A party seeking to expand its base in Edmonton, for example, might want to spend money on new schools and asphalt in the Alberta capital. Spending cash in Wood Buffalo -- probably a safe Conservative constituency with Boutilier as candidate -- would only take away from the Edmonton effort.
The local MLA has consistently lobbied for his home since he was first elected in 1997, even if that process went against the will of his colleagues on the government benches.
That's what the people of this region want.
They've voted in Liberals -- many still remember Adam Germain's time in the spotlight. They support the person, not the party.
But Boutilier's passion -- don't forget it was he who coined the municipal motto "We've got the energy" -- seems to have followed that lead.
His AEUB appearance is one example.
While many from outside Fort McMurray criticized the process and the legal questions surrounding his appearance at the same time he served as environment minister (the department has a formal role of its own at the hearing), locals just shake their heads. "That's Guy," they remark.
Lawyers tried to question Boutilier in his role of cabinet minister, but he shook them off.
Good for him.
McMurrayites wanted to hear what their representative said, not a bureaucrat controlled by his underlings and party protocol.
Why not hear from the man who has more experience with the complex municipal/provincial/oilsands relationship than anyone else, including the present crew at city hall?
His ideas are plausible and unique. While holes can be shot in anything, especially by opposition politicians who visit Fort McMurray for a day to get some press, Boutilier's solutions to the problems that growth has brought on this region would work.
© Copyright 2006, Fort McMurray Today.
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