Thread by @Norlaine

I would like to tell you a story. It's about a small, insignificant rural municipality, but it is a micro example of what is going on everywhere in Canada. For the past 20 years or so, this RM has had a council dominated by people who support a lot of development. 1/16

It seems there isn't a development project they don't like. Gravel pits near residential areas? No problem. Big box malls even though many, many residents don't want it? No problem. 2/16

In 2012 they had a public hearing and hundreds of residents had either written submissions or spent their evening, with their kids in pjs, crammed into the council building, waiting their turn to speak out against a big box mall. 3/16

The public hearing went on until about 2 am. There were a few voices speaking in favour; the developers themselves, and the land-owners who were selling their land to the developers. All others were opposed. 4/16

And it wasn't NIMBYism. The development plan included an expensive for-profit senior's residence, and a huge shopping complex and they have no sewer system, so "filtered effluent" from the toilets in the development were to be sprayed on an adjacent field. 5/16

Uphill from people's homes and properties. At this point, it should be said that the water table is very high in this area. Overland flooding, basement flooding, is a problem without the waste water from a big mall and senior's complex added into the mix. 6/16

So we were all concerned about waste water coming up in our basements any time there was a good rain. Not just floodwater, but human waste and whatever prescription drug residue that might be carried in urine from the senior's complex. Remember, this is filtered, 7/16

But not treated waste water. So, apart from having moved out of the city specifically to not live near shopping malls, there is the very practical concern of having untreated sewage wash into our yards and basements. 8/16

And when it came to a vote about whether or not to give the developers the go-ahead, one councillor asked the reeve, "Do I have to take what these people said into account in my decision?" And the Reeve said, "No, of course not." 9/16

So they voted against us. 6-3. And the mall proceeds. There are other examples of what this council has done, has permitted, and other areas of the RM that have been adversely affected, but I am only speaking to the one that is right near my home. 10/16

Now the majority of council has moved to further limit the amount of time residents can speak against a development proposal in the RM. Apparently, listening to constituents is boring and a waste of time for our elected representatives. 11/16

I mean, since they have mostly decided how they will vote long before the first resident gets up to speak, I suppose, from their perspective, it is a waste of time. But, at the very least, we get to enter our side of things into the record. 12/16

And maybe some day, someone will care enough about the state of municipal affairs in this part of Alberta to look at how often the council over-ruled the will of their constituents to give developers free reign to do what they people who live here did not want. 13/16

But right now we have a council who wants to limit our access to the democratic process. If you also live in such a municipality, vote with care in the municipal elections this fall. Talk to your neighbours. The ballot box is our only recourse. 14/16

We are, even in small RMs, butting our heads against a way of thinking that gives big business and big money everything, and disenfranchises the people. This is the way of the modern iteration of conservatism. 15/16

If Erin O'Toole and the CPC win the federal election, if provincial conservative parties like the UCP win the next provincial elections, we will have completely lost any hope of any influence in where and how we live. 16/16
#NeverVoteConservative
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