AUMA President visits Lethbridge to discuss local issues

He noted that the best way to learn about what’s going on is to visit communities directly. Morishita is in Lethbridge throughout the day before moving on to Crowsnest Pass.

“It leaves a good impression for us at the board level when issues come up, whether they’re about Lethbridge, Crowsnest Pass or Brooks or whatever. It informs us a lot better when we’re talking to ministers as well, and it’s a great personal experience. It’s kind of neat. I’ve been in communities that I’ve never stopped in before,” he said.

When it comes to Lethbridge specifically, Morishita brought up a few issues he’s aware of.

“I think municipal funding is a huge issue everywhere, it’s certainly no different in Lethbridge. What that looks like, the uncertainty in the near future and then having something that’s certain going forward – I think that’s a huge issue,” he said.

“Provincial support for other community (plans) and obviously, the safe injection site here in Lethbridge is a big issue and there’s a lot of combinations between what the province does, what the City does and what the community does.”

Morishita said collaboration goes a long way, and it’s important to work together to help build a thriving community.

“We’re not mutually exclusive of each other. The people in Lethbridge are Albertans, the people in Alberta that reside in Lethbridge want their community to look, feel and be a safe place for a number of people,” he noted.

“The other thing is our society should be supporting people who have less means to support themselves. I think by getting together and talking about it – that’s what AUMA’s job is – to advocate for communities like that and make sure these communities become better places to live in the future.”

He said one problem communities can face is they will have a great idea come through municipal office doors, but provincial policies and regulations derail those plans.

Using a waste-water project as an example, Morishita said that can result in major cost savings for a community and be sustainable, but provincial regulations may prohibit the project from going through.

“The thing that AUMA has advocated for a lot is flexibility, so we’ve been big proponents for things like block funding and unconditional grants because while generally the issues are the same broadly (in urban Albertan areas) – individually in a community, the same solution or the same initiative doesn’t suit every community,” he said.

“Lethbridge has a significant resource, they’ve a very sophisticated community, it seems to be kind of a little bit redundant to have someone oversee everything they do or to prescribe certain solutions for certain problems. I think a community like Lethbridge is much better positioned to say, if I have this issue in Lethbridge, how do (we solve) it…or maybe you don’t even have that issue in Lethbridge, and you can use the money for another issue no one else has. That’s kind of our focus. We think communities know how to build themselves and they certainly make their voices really loud and clear at this local level.”

Morishita said his tour will conclude at the end of the month. The AUMA’s top priorities for this year include infrastructure funding, police services, red tape and cannabis revenue.

The organization has represented urban municipalities since 1905 and serves over 275 communities.

by Justin Goulet

AUMA President visits Lethbridge to discuss local issues

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