Alberta Premier Rachel Notley shook hands with seniors, took selfies with millennials and – literally – smiled for pictures with a baby Sept. 22 on a surprise visit to Athabasca.
The whistle-stop tour of the town was the first official visit for the NDP leader. Her first stop was Athabasca University, where she announced $215,000 in mental health funding for each of the next three years with Advanced Education Minister Marlin Schmidt and university officials at her side.
Following the announcement, Notley attended a community lunch and then stopped by Pleasant Valley Lodge. She then went to a meeting with the Keepers of the Athabasca at the Athabasca Train Station.
“Even though the vast, vast majority of people in Alberta do live in our urban centres – and in fact, a little known fact, Alberta is now the most urbanized province in the country – we know that much of our resources and much of the economic prosperity that we enjoy still comes from rural Alberta.” she said, speaking to the media after the announcement at AU. “We can’t just sort of abandon it.”
At Athabasca University, Notley said money for its mental health programming for students comes from a $25.8-million pot the government is investing in post-secondary mental health across the province over the next three years.
“I want every student at Athabasca University to have access to the mental health supports that you need, if and when you need them,” Notley said.
“Funding for mental health and schools and universities should not ever be on the chopping block every time the price of oil goes up or down,” she also said. “A strong post-secondary system is fundamental to the work we need to do to help our economy recover.”
Speaking to the media at AU, Schmidt said the government assessed money distribution based on factors that included student access to community mental health resources, rather than on a per-student basis. Students in Slave Lake have less resources available than students in Calgary, he gave as an example.
“What we’re really focused on is making sure students have a place of contact and then they can be directed on to further supports that they may need in their own communities,” he said.
Athabasca University chair of the board of governors Vivian Manasc said the funding may go towards improving the university’s already-established 24/7 student lifeline.
“This new funding will help us move beyond being just an open university to becoming truly inclusive distance institution,” Manasc said. “It’s vital that we align the services that we offer with the unique needs of our distance learners and we’re in the process of doing just that.”
Notley also spoke about a $400,000 grant for Indigenous mental health, to be formally announced later. The money will be divvied up between Albertan post-secondary institutions that apply.
At Pleasant Valley Lodge, Notley entered the dining hall unannounced, joined by Athabasca-Sturgeon-Redwater MLA Colin Piquette. Seniors applauded her anyway.
Notley shook hands with the residents and asked what they thought of the facilities, how their days were or what the secret to living to 100 is.
Lodge resident Pat Hussynec said she reminded Notley that she knew her as a little girl, whose father would bring her to play while he talked with Hussynec’s landlord.
“She was a very nice, very polite little girl … She always had this smile and I don’t think she even changed,” she said. “I’m sure she looks the same as she did when she was younger,” she said.
“It seems like the residents really enjoy the political people coming in and taking their time and going to each resident. That seems to be very important to them,” said assistant manager of Pleasant Valley Lodge, Wanda Willcott. “Hopefully, with (Notley) coming and seeing this kind of positive feedback from our residents, how good the lodge is, there’s funding somewhere for another one.”
After speaking with the seniors, the premier went to the train station to meet with members of the Keepers of Athabasca.
The Advocate was prevented from entering the building.
Keepers of the Athabasca director Harvey Scott said Notley reassured them that she is committed to the environment and encouraged them to be patient with the progress.
“I think most of us in the environmentalist community who have looked at it and thought about it we think that she’s made a good start,” Scott said. “Yes, we’d like to go faster, do some more dramatic things.”
The Keepers also had the chance to give her suggestions. Scott said the group suggested she place more emphasis on water protection and divide the Alberta Energy Regulator into two parts, one interested in energe development and one in environmental protection.
“There’s no doubt that she’s heard it; she’s a good listener,” he said. “I think her officials are already headed in the right direction. Generally, they need to do more, I think they need to go faster. She feels they’re going about the right rate for what they can accomplish with the economy. She has her own good mind about how quickly to do.”
The media got a chance to speak with Alberta Premier Rachel Notley about transportation, public school funding and rural Alberta in general. Here’s what she had to say.
“So the minister of transportation has been consulting with rural communities for a while on this matter. It’s an issue that came up right before the last election, as we saw the failure of service with private-sector Greyhound and those other ones. And so we started consulting. After the first round of consultation, we realized that that model is probably not sustainable, because there just isn’t the demand for it. So now what’s happening is the ministry of transportation is engaging and has already begun that work again with rural communities to look at other models that might work to support transportation from rural communities, particularly to urban communities, by people who don’t otherwise have transportation available. So that work is underway now, and certainly Athabasca will be part of that consultation process, but I can’t tell you exactly when the meetings will be.”
“As things sit right now, a number of the smaller school boards do actually get additional funding, for the Small Communities grant or the rural boards grants. So there already is some provision for additional funding to deal with the struggles that arise with the lack of volume ... At the end of the day, our government is committed to coming up with the most predictable, stable funding model that we can, one that supports a high quality of education that respects the value of our public education and the importance to Alberta families.”
“There are strong vibrant communities, people who live and raise their families in rural Alberta who’ve done so for generations, as well as new Albertans who’ve come to this province and decided that rural Alberta is the place to make their life and to set up their life, and to have the quality of life they’re looking for. So as government, we need to do whatever we can to support folks wherever they live, and that’s what we’re focused on doing.”
