The latest in the long line of Ministers of Municipal Affairs is perfectly positioned politically to connect with this conservative constituency.  But it’s going to take more than announcements to truly connect.  If there is to be a redeemer for this infamous ministerial position, it might just be Danielle Larivee.

​Larivee, recently minted Minister of Municipal Affairs, becomes the sixth Minister of Municipal Affairs since the 2013 Floods, and the latest to inherit the DRP Disaster.  That is a new boss every 4.5 months, or 19 weeks.  Marginally longer than the average probationary period for a job at Tim Horton's.

Following the provincial election in the spring we were expecting the NDP to appoint a saviour for the flood victims who would oversee DRP’s repairs and the completion of mitigation projects.  Apparently the title Minister of Municipal Affairs is filled with bad joo joo, and Deron Bilous was shifted out of the job, just like his four predecessors.

It’s this premonition I am most worried about.  Thankfully Minister Larivee is actively combatting those bad omens.

Today she announced $30 million in funding for the various mitigation projects on the Highwood River, the most significant of which is the southwest berm, a project High River Mayor Craig Snodgrass has deemed of the utmost importance.  In addition, she has also committed to studying upstream and downstream mitigation to prevent further disasters.  The Deltares reports have been used to reaffirm that diversion is not the best option, and represents a good decision and initiative started by the previous PC Government.

Minister Larivee has also stated a number of fixes to the DRP program.  One of those fixes was that every file that was paid a little too much (likely from the 90% advance promised by Jim Prentice) will be able to keep that money if it was under $5000.  For those who were given over $5000 too much, other arrangements need to be made.  Larivee also said she was looking for complete closure of all DRP files by June 20, 2016.  She indicated that DRP will take “a proactive approach to establishing contact with” the people whose files have remained inactive, likely because the applicant isn’t calling the province back.  There are plenty of reasons why they wouldn’t call the province back, all of them legitimate, so it is great to hear that the government will seek them out rather than waiting for contact themselves.  This should also allay fears that DRP will close files prematurely, and show care, consideration and compassion for the remaining applicants.

Much of this is good news.  It means her hands are on the files, and she is actively seeking completion in this area of her ministry.  I feel the need to apply a bit of pressure, as she is after all the sixth person tasked with this.  To be clear, after having talked with Minister Larivee briefly, she is very aware that nobody wants yet another person in charge, and she wants to be the one to finish the job.  That in and of itself is a huge plus, and if she gets it done, she could be considered the redeemer of that infamous ministerial position's bad joo joo.

The pressure has to be on three issues.

1. Minister Larivee committed to closing files, but as she was asked by staff of the High River Times and as I have asked before, the word “closed” is not the same as “fully funded”.  She admitted today to not being briefed on the difference in definitions.  I assert that in order to be able to fulfill her June 20, 2016 deadline, she needs to know exactly what those definitions are, and not just be briefed on them.  Briefings have been shown to fall short of fact, and as a result former Ministers have had their ability to oversee the DRP limited.
2. Minister Larivee did not commit to an independent review of the DRP program, and in fact led people at the announcement today to believe that she has no intention of going down that road.  That is dangerous territory, because few Albertans are going to trust the reports she has received, as they were all commissioned by the Alberta Emergency Management Agency, the office in charge of DRP.  That would be like an employee conducting their own employee review.  In order for the recommendations to be trustworthy in the eyes of Albertans, including the 91% of Alberta Urban Municipalities who voted to call for this inquiry, such recommendations must come from a study that is entirely independent of the AEMA, and maybe even the Ministry itself.
3. Finally, today was yet another announcement.  After every shuffle, whether it is because somebody quits to run for a leadership, a Wildrose caucus defects to the PCs, or a new Ministry of Economic Development causes the shuffle, the new Minister comes out to High River with an announcement.  High Riverites cannot be faulted for demanding more than an announcement.  They want action.  $30 million for flood mitigation is action.  Helping flood victims close this chapter of their lives is action.  This was a great announcement from Minister Larivee, but now the pressure must be placed on her to ensure she converts it to action, and that she is directly involved throughout the process.

Time will tell how serious Minister Larivee is about getting this job done.  The metric to be watching for is how hands-on she remains.  Her predecessor didn’t.  Maybe Larivee can rebuild some bridges, both literally and figuratively, and while she’s at it, make connections between the NDP Government and people out here in conservative country.

We want to trust our government.  We need a reason to.  Minister Larivee is perfectly positioned to give us that reason.  The Ministry of Municipal Affairs is in big need of redeeming.  So I’m watching.

​And I’m hoping.

Wildrose MLA Wayne Anderson, the DRP Advocacy Committee, and Alberta Party Leader Greg Clark have all been upset about the supposed progress the DRP has been making.

I don’t believe they’ve been upset enough.  I am so disappointed in this government operation that I am now calling for the resignation of the Director of the AEMA Shane Schreiber, and am joining the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association in calling for an independent review of the Disaster Recovery Program.

Minister of Municipal Affairs has shown how out-of-touch he is with the program in his latest statement to the press.  It is obvious he is being fed manipulated information from the AEMA Director, and has no clue what actual progress on the DRP files actually looks like.

Allow me to review how I came to this conclusion.

I have kept a log of the various updates to DRP statuses, particularly for High River.  Here are some strange anomalies I have found:

That wasn’t the only time that happened.  In fact, between mid-August and early-September, 4 more residential DRP files (including tenants) seem to have been found.  This makes the total “found” files since Prentice’s promise to close all files by the summer add up to 11.  Where have these files been since the deadline 22 months ago?

These are just the examples of mismanagement.  Now I get to the anomalies that show misinformation.

Up to mid-April, an application may have been considered fully-funded, and therefore in progress, but it was not considered “open”.  Yet every month following, fully-funded files were considered “open”.  I have to wonder if this was done so that the DRP office could report, during an election, that only 6% of High River files remained open, even though a month after the election that number would suddenly jump to 16% after the NDP took office.

Stranger still is Minister Bilous’s explanation of what “fully-funded” actually means.  He suggests that designation means a claimant has received all the money they are going to get.  To be clear, I don’t believe this is his own personal definition, but rather a definition that has been handed to him.  One has to wonder what the “paid” designation means, if not that the claimant has received all the money they are going to get.

“Open” doesn’t really mean requiring closure.  Based on how DRP has been run, even a closed file can be open again without entering an appeals process.  Interesting to note, while the PCs were in power, the number of “open” files got smaller more quickly.  Once the NDP came to power, the number of “open” files suddenly spiked, and the only way to close them is to force the issue, such as with the small business deadline mentioned.

“Paid” doesn’t really mean applicants have received money.  It means a cheque has been authorized.  It hasn’t necessarily been printed, and certainly doesn’t mean it’s been delivered.  I think.

I don’t believe the definition of the term “fully-funded” Mr. Bilous offered, although I suspect the definition was fed to him.  None of the statistics up to this point verify his proferred definition.  “Fully-Funded” is a particularly confusing term, because what it suggests to me is that those that are not fully-funded have no funding available for them, even though DRP currently has a surplus.  Based off information I've received from the DRP Advocacy Committee, this is not far from true.  Claimants submit their receipts, and hopefully 100% of those receipts get funded; or claimants who can't afford to pay up front submit quotes for work to be done, and hopefully 90% of these quotes get funded (matching Prentice's January Promise).  Those that are in “Administrative Processing” therefore must be files that are open and for whom DRP must lobby government to fund.  Those that are in “Eligibility Review” must be those that are being reviewed as to whether or not they are worth lobbying for.  Those that have “Action Required” must be those that are waiting to enter into either category.  I hope I’m wrong about these, but one thing is for certain; “fully-funded” cannot simply mean claimants in that category have received all they’re going to get.


There is also another designation that hasn't made it to the statistics reports, and that is the term "Complete".  At one point in time "Complete" meant everything that could be done with a file was done, the only thing missing was the issuance of a closure letter.  Why have this designation if not to delay sending closure letters so as to delay potential appeals?

But that's not even the best part; the term "Complete" has also changed as well, the biggest change surrounding then-Minister of Municipal Affairs Ken Hughes.  At one point in time we thought he'd be running for the PC Leadership, and his announcement that all DRP files would be 90% "Complete" by March 31, 2014.  When he realized that wasn't possible, he changed what the word meant; "Complete" now meant that DRP had sent out cheques for 90% of receipts received.  Suddenly lots of small cheques backlog the system, and claimants get confused when they are told their file is "Complete" yet they haven't handed in all their receipts yet.

This is similar to the current issue around the term "Fully-Funded", it is a term that confuses claimants into thinking they've got all the money they're going to get, so why bother continuing on?

All of this results in the steady, albeit slow, increase in the number of “closed” files (to the tune of two or three files each week).  At least that is true in High River, where the DRP Advocacy Committee continues to raise a stink.  If you live anywhere else, your number of “closed” files are actually decreasing.

Meanwhile 2014 DRP files (for the floods that happened in southwestern Alberta) have been delayed by the 2013 backlog, and Calgary has been denied DRP funds to deal with “Snowtember”, yet DRP money is not being completely spent.  I can only conclude one rationale for all these things.

Someone is trying to save their own skin.

If the 2013 DRP files appear to be closing, and the program manages to turn a surplus, your boss, the Minister of Municipal Affairs, is likely to let you to do your work.  He might even give you some leniency for your high rate of staff turnover, the apparently complicated files being closed slowly, and the fact that almost 20% of files go to appeals (much higher than the 10% norm).

Frankly, I might be willing to do the same.  Until I see how I’ve been manipulated.

And make no mistake, Mr. Bilous has been manipulated. I would bet certain staff are counting on the fact that Mr. Bilous may not fully understand the definitions of each category of claim, which is why those definitions keep shifting.  He may agree with a staff member who says “snow is not an abnormal event in Alberta”, despite “Snowtember 2014” being the heaviest snowfall any September has ever seen in the past 130 years.  But the fact is definitions are being manipulated, facts are being blurred, and staff members are keeping their jobs by doing it.

And through it all, somehow one extremely important fact has been lost in the reporting of statistics.  At the end of each statistic is a human being.

A human being who has watched their file move from open to fully-funded to administrative processing to fully-funded to closed and paid back to open again to closed and finally to appeals.  For over 2 full years.

I personally have lost patience, and I don’t even have a DRP claim.  The Disaster Recovery Program is a Disaster in need of Recovery.

The lowest common denominator is not the government; it has changed and DRP has not improved.  The lowest common denominator is not the advocates; they too have changed not only their personnel but their approach.  It's also not the front-lines staff trying to process the claims, as even the Municipal Affairs Report to Legislature said that staff has had a high rate of turnover.  The lowest common denominator is the staff leading the program.  Only they could lose files, redefine categories, and manipulate data to make it look like work was getting done when in fact it hasn’t.  The goal of a good DRP manager should be to work themselves out of a job.  It seems managerial staff in this case are preventing their jobs from being lost, and they’ve managed to do so across a government change through confoundery.

Mr. Bilous must recognize that he has been played, and ask the AEMA Director Shane Schreiber to step aside.  Even he named Mr. Schreiber as the individual who has been the main communicator, so therefore the main manipulator of facts.

91% of Alberta Urban Municipalities don't trust DRP.  This is why they have called for an independent review.  An independent review will allow the rest of the staff to continue working on open files (preferably in a case-management format), and not interrupt their work too much.  But more importantly, it will clarify what exactly is going on in those offices, where data has been manipulated, and what must improve so that those who suffer disasters in the future do not have to contend with a governmental disaster as well.

Thanks to the DRP Advocacy Committee, Mr. Clark, and most recently Mr. Anderson and their colleagues for never giving up.  While we hope every Albertan never needs to use the Disaster Recovery Program, we must feel as though we can count on it if we do need it.

Alberta Urban Municipalities can't.  Neither can I.

Mr. Bilous, fix the DRP.

Residents of the Hampton Hills in High River continue to be victimized, but not just by flood waters or sewage backup, but by the Alberta Government.

17 months ago, I attended a meeting in a small room with a number of residents from that neighbourhood and others from the nearby Sunrise community to discuss their ongoing issues with flood recovery with MLA Danielle Smith.

Smith then said that the government needed to fix this, and they need to get it done right.  They simply haven’t, and Albertans are now suffering through yet another loss.

The homes regrew mould, only a year after the Alberta Government spent $45 million on a contract with Tervita to remediate them, among other things. Now many are being torn down, and those that aren’t are left with vacant lots dotting their neighbourhood.

It’s not Tervita’s fault. They were placed in a no-win situation. The onus is on the Alberta Government to help these people the first time, and they didn’t.

10 days ago, Alberta Party Leader Greg Clark called on Premier Jim Prentice to show leadership and take an active role to resolve DRP claims. I'm glad to see Prentice answer that call as he makes his way to High River to discuss the issues with that town’s Disaster Recovery Program Advocacy Committee.

But simply resolving claims might not be enough, especially when resolved claims seem to be inadequate, so much so that people keep going back to appeals. These people have been victimized time and time again by the Alberta Government. Mr. Prentice must show he values Albertans and their contributions, and correct the wrongs this PC government has caused.

I'm calling on Prentice to put Albertans first, especially these less fortunate, and provide them with adequate compensation to return to a life of normalcy.  This meeting with the DRP Advocacy Committee this weekend, along with Municipal Affairs representatives and PC MLA Danielle Smith is a perfect opportunity to get this done right.

Smith has been having "high level"  meetings about this, apparently.  What the product of those meetings will be is yet to be seen.  However, she had a high-profile meeting 17 months ago, complete with cameras and reporters.  She heard these concerns, and even then residents knew that these homes should not be remediated.  They should have been razed.  I know this, because I was there.  If her high-profile meetings didn't produce fruit, why should we expect her high level meetings to be any different?

Any movement forward has been at the hands of volunteers on the DRP Advocacy Committee in High River.  We must also acknowledge the hard work and effort to bring awareness to these issues by the Disaster Recovery Program Advocacy Committee, and I strongly believe they already know the best method forward.

The fact that a committee was required to intervene on behalf of people dealing with DRP is disturbing, but these committee members have done an amazing job at keeping the awareness up, and the hope alive. No other representative, even our MLA, has been able to do that.

So now it falls to Mr. Prentice to listen to these advocates.  Solutions are possible, but as has been said by many others, "it's going to take some political will to do it."

I expect that when Prentice meets with the committee this weekend, he will have to make some politically difficult decisions about how to help these residents and others in limbo with the DRP process move forward.  Decisions that the PCs have avoided for 17 months.

These decisions would show a will to help the least fortunate Albertans, so he must make them, and he must make them now. Only then can these residents truly recover.

I spoke to a former PC supporter recently who voted for the new Premier.  I've also read a blog by a PC supporter as well.  Both indicated that the new Premier has given them hope that the PC party can lead the province again.  These responses, only two weeks into Jim Prentice's Premiership, lead me to ask the question;

Do you like fishing with knots and kinks in your line?

Me, I'd prefer to fish with a good straight line.  I have a better chance of getting the job done without the line breaking ... again.

Make no mistake, anyone who believes in the PC party's ability to govern is fishing with knots in their line.  And there are a lot of knots.

Prentice was silent in his first week as Premier.  He spent that entire week loosening knots so that he could unravel them in public in his second week, as a way of saying "look, I'm fixing things!"

But a trust is broken.  The line is kinked.  That makes the line weak.  And Alberta is a big fish.

Not only that, but he has ignored some fairly significant knots that remain, and have no glimmer of hope that they be untied.

The Disaster Recovery Program, or DRP (which in flood-affected communities is now a three-letter swear word) is not even on Prentice's radar.  He mentioned nothing of it to Diana McQueen, who is now the fourth minister in 14 months to be in charge of the program.  The program is in shambles, and hundreds of people still remain displaced from their homes.

It was one place former Premier Alison Redford tried to keep the line straight, by telling flood victims that they would be helped to full recovery.  Then other ministers like Doug Griffiths, Ken Hughes, and lastly Greg Weadick tied it into the DRP knot.  And this isn't just some shoe-tying knot, this is a Gordian knot, and Prentice is no Alexander the Great.

Another knot made bigger since the 2012 election was patronage appointments.  Starting with Evan Berger, who was ousted in the last election but given a sweet management position in the Agriculture Ministry, this knot was made bigger by the appointments of Stephen Mandel in Health and Gordon Dirks in Education.  Nothing suggests that Mandel and Dirks can't do a good job, it's just that no Albertan chose them.  Prentice might be able to untie the patronage knot, but that kink will always be in the PC line, making voters wonder if they just can't see the trough for the pigs.

A kink sits where the government aircraft knot once sat.  Just because government officials can't take advantage of planes anymore doesn't mean there aren't other ways.  That kink can still knot up again, but it might not be airplanes doing it.

The entire Education portfolio is tied up in knot after knot.  Former Education Minister Jeff Johnson started by bargaining in bad faith (knot 1), compromising teachers' private emails (knot 2), legislating instead of negotiating (knot 3), trumpeting an uninformed taskforce on teaching excellence (knot 4), usurping teacher conduct review unnecessarily (knot 5), and attempting to force Boards to provide information that had no chance of being compiled properly (knot 6).

Prentice had a chance to start loosening these knots back in August at a gathering of some of the most influential teachers in the province.  He skipped it.  Instead, he appointed someone nobody had the opportunity to speak to about Education.  To teachers, that equates to appointing someone with no intention of listening.  Teachers will say they hope that's not the case, but they have no proof.  Not only that, but Jeff Johnson was given another portfolio, but rather than the defenceless youth, now he's in charge of the defenceless seniors.

Prentice also made an attempt at untying a knot when he announced the opening of four starter schools in Calgary.  But have you ever tried to untie a knot using mittens?  That is in effect what he's doing when he builds makeshift schools with no gyms, libraries, music rooms or other specialty spaces.  Taxpayer dollars will be spent on sub-par temporary buildings that will direct resources away from the permanent facilities that are meant to replace them.  That's like using 4-pound test line to fish for tuna ... after dark.

Am I taking the metaphor too far when I say schools of fish will never be caught with this tangled line?Albertans need a hook.  Albertans need a straight line.  And Albertans need a strong angler to reel us in.

The PCs have no hook.  Their line is so kinked and knotted it looks like it's been braided by a four-year-old.  And Prentice is no fisherman.

There has been a great deal of good news coming from High River. Our presence has never been more noticeable at the Calgary Stampede, what with our float getting so much coverage and awards, and a chuckwagon with our logo on the side running every night.  Shortly a book will be released sharing some of the stories of the flood; stories of immense challenge balanced with unyielding persistence and survival.

If that were only the way it really was.  For many High Riverites, the nightmare doesn't ever end.

Recall Richard Murray, given full approval to remediate his basement, only to have that approval swiped away from him after he sunk every last dollar he had into it.  With three separate Associate Ministers managing the portfolio, all answering to three different Municipal Affairs Ministers in the past year, it's no wonder the DRP changed multiple times.  The process stole his home from him as a result, and now he is no longer a resident of Alberta.

Introducing Jim Morgan, owner of a small business in High River, and a passionate High Riverite.  His Facebook and Twitter feeds are a treasure trove of one-liners and insightful knee-slappers mixed with musings about the awesomeness in High River.  He is known for his positivity.

Except when the Disaster Recovery Program, the system whose primary purpose was to help people get back to what they once were, offered him $702 to cover the costs of all things lost in his business.  They demanded 350 photos, reams of itemized lists of things lost, and even 3 years of business statements, only to tell him that they were covering half of the labour for cleaning his business.  Why only half?  Because DRP expects insurance to cover the rest.  Morgan is being shirked by insurance as well.  Again, as I have asked for from the very beginning, where is the event-specific ombudsman that would have negotiated these nebulous lines?

Introducing D and L, High River residents who have not spent a single night at home for 13 months.  Their full names are not shared because they don't want anything jeopardizing their work with the DRP.  DRP is not offering them even a fraction of the cost to remediate their homes, because they determine whether or not the home is in flood fringe or floodway based on the elevation of their front door - not their walkout basement.  Their walkout basement is clearly in floodway (and as Jim Morgan explained in the Facebook post listed above, that should never have been allowed to happen, but because it did, Government now needs to deal with it), yet this tiny piece of fine print the DRP has arbitrarily decided to create is preventing the Sundby's from affording to live at home.  They hold out, hoping to move back to the town they love soon.

Interestingly, the government is still using outdated maps for determining where floodplains are.  Observe the two maps below.  The first was the one I demonstrated shortly after the flood as grotesquely out of date.

The second is what is currently posted by Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development.  The changes are only in roadways and town boundaries.  When we asked for updated flood maps, we didn't ask for something Google could produce for us; the floodplains were supposed to be updated long ago and they haven't been.

By the way, if you are a Cardston resident or business owner who got flooded this year, do everything possible to get your recovery assistance to ignore flood maps, because your maps are horribly inaccurate as well.

If it's not changing leadership, confusion with insurance, or maps, what other reasons could there be for people to be denied DRP funding? Introducing Chuck Shifflett, High River luthier.  As a single example in his saga with DRP, he was told that his heritage home needed to have the foundation completely fixed, and to mitigate against future floods they even raised it two feet.  Then DRP chose not to reimburse him for his foresight or care for parts of our heritage.  The reason: the house is too old.

If these four people were in the buyout territories known as floodway, they would have cost taxpayers approximately $1.5 million.  They aren't looking for buyouts, so really their combined costs are actually half that, if not even lower. Still sounds like a lot, right?  So if the government is saving that money by not giving it to the homeless and businessless, where is all this money going?

To golf courses.  $18 million that will fix a golf course that will likely be damaged again in the next high rainfall event.

They say it is to help encourage the tourist economy in that area of the province.  What they didn't divulge is the link to another Progressive Conservative party sole-sourced contract to PC friends.

But let's look passed that little nugget for a moment and consider the 150 jobs lost when the golf course closed, and the 51,000 rounds of golf Albertans play there each year.

I guess the 120 people still living in Saddlebrook, homeless, and with no certain resolution on their homes is less than 150 jobs.

I guess the many businesses, like Morgan's, that have to close up shop, or the dozen businesses that will be left homeless when their temporary structures get torn down this summer (their original locations are still under heavy construction or in lease agreement disputes) is less than 150 jobs.

I guess rounds of golf are more important than people.

If each damaged home in High River cost $200,000 to remediate (not an unrealistic number), that $18 million would fix 90 homes.  So I ask you, 600 rounds of golf, or a place for a family to sleep?

This argument, however, ignores a problem the government is having to deal with; inappropriate developments in inappropriate places.  Homes are built in floodplains.  Thankfully the local government is trying to deal with this by undeveloping certain areas.  It might be wildly unfair to people who purchased those places hoping to stay until their mandatory relocation to Heaven, but hopefully even they understand that those developments are costing taxpayers year after year.  However, in saying this, people in these areas, like Jamie Kinghorn, need to be compensated for the loss of their homes due to undevelopment (and any money they unwittingly spent fixing them prior to the undevelopment announcement).

But a golf course with links to the PC party is too important to relegate to undevelopment.

All development in the foothills causes problems in the watershed.  In a natural state, the water gets slowed down, spread out in the groundwater, and doesn't gather anywhere near as much in rivers to cause high water events.

When development occurs, it packs down the ground, making it so that water doesn't seep, spread out and slow down.  Rather it gathers in gutters, ditches, and eventually rivers, and causes high water events.

But don't you dare suggest undevelopment when it comes to a golf course.  High River homeowners can be shunted to ... well, wherever, but PCs need to make sure Albertans get their 36 holes in.

How many of those golfers at this golf course were High Riverites, I wonder.

Please don't fall into the trap of thinking High River is on the road to recovery.  It's not.  It's not even on a paved secondary highway getting there yet.  There are too many golf courses in the way.

The Alberta Party has a plan for the following things that would be of interest particularly to flood victims still dealing with DRP;

• A transparent DRP appeals process that includes in-person interviews (not just a closed-door paper appeal)
• A strong plan for updating floodplain maps
• An elimination of the flawed buyout programs, and reallocation of those moneys to help people rebuild
• Long-term mitigation measures
• Better development planning that considers flood control
• Better province-wide emergency planning and warning systems
• Working with the insurance industry to develop overland flood coverage
• Increasing funds available for all this by offering Alberta Flood Bonds

This is just a smattering of how the Alberta Party views proper management of the disaster recovery, and all of these measures can still be put into place after the PC government is gone.

This weekend will be bittersweet for me, and for many in High River.

Tomorrow we begin the celebration of Graduation for many students here.  I am very proud of our students who have braved this past 12 months to get this far.  However, to see our youth go away reminds me how lovely it would be to see them come back, and even more, to stay.

Notre Dame Collegiate Grads in particular have my respect.  They put up with far more than most other graduating classes in Alberta.  They started their year late.  When they did finally start, there were only two classrooms available to them in a borrowed building.  Unfortunately for them, they were not joined by their friends in the younger grades for another week, and in some cases, more.  Students didn't have lockers, and so for Grads they would carry their 35 pounds of textbooks throughout the day on their backs. No cafeteria.  No gathering space to hang out with friends.  After school programs like sports and music were either cancelled or put on hold in hopes of a quick return to the original Notre Dame Collegiate.  Some programs didn't come back.  Yet the students still hit the books and made the best of it, because after all, they were alive.  A Me To We celebration at the end of September reminded the students of just how strong we are together.

When the rest of the grades finally joined them, classroom space was at a premium for both our host school and our own, so Notre Dame Collegiate had to run eight classes at a time in the gymnasium, while other classes crowded into every nook and cranny possible in that structure.  The band program hoofed it two blocks away to the nearby Masonic Lodge, which was also experiencing a space crunch accommodating as many as 12 groups at one time with only three useable spaces.  With the only gymnasium taken up, a school bus sat on standby at all times to take kids to the community RecPlex, but then again every other community group was fighting for space, and having three schools vying along with those community groups for time, that made things all the more challenging.  So when the RecPlex wasn't available, students would be bussed to Blackie, 25 minutes away.

All the while, each and every High River family was having their own battles at home, if they had a home.  Some were trying to finish the cleanup.  Some were trying to start the cleanup.  Some were trying to get insurance, Disaster Recovery Program, or anybody they could to help them recover.  Some were just happy to have a roof over their heads, even if it was an ATCO trailer in Saddlebrook.  Some were losing their jobs or clients because they were flooded away.  Some were fighting to keep their businesses open.  Some were simply battling on their neighbours behalf, hoping to keep the community together.

Glimmers of light shone on the students from time to time.  If families couldn't afford school materials, they could get a backpack from the Parent Link Centre in town.  Various donations trickled in from various locations.  Opportunities like bringing a huge group of kids to the set of Heartland were welcomed.  The most brilliant light in the fog was the host we had, for Ecole Senator Riley School very quickly became not only a neighbour and host, but friends who were there when they were needed.  Friends we will never forget.

After a few weeks, camera crews, people in suits and ties, and photo opportunities started to grate on students' nerves.  Politicians, many of whom had never set foot in the original Notre Dame Collegiate, came out in droves.  Occasionally a student got their 15 minutes of fame, but even then some students would turn down the opportunity because they were just tired of it all, and wanted to get back to normal.  Normal would never come.

All the while, Grads counted down to the projected arrival of the portable classrooms, only to have their hopes and deadlines dashed not once, not twice, but thrice.  It's hard to concentrate on your classwork when you're not even certain of what your classroom space is going to look like from one day to the next.  In October some of the portables finally opened up.  Some classes moved in.  Some stayed in the gymnasium and Masonic Lodge.  The shuttles to the RecPlex and Blackie continued.  In late October, the gymnasium and the Masonic Lodge were no longer used, and the shuttles to the RecPlex or Blackie became less constant.

Our community seemed to suffer blow after blow.  In November our Filipino community was struck by another disaster, a typhoon that hit their families back in their home country.  With a huge cohort of Filipinos in the school, for many it brought back the tragedy we recently experienced, and our community gathered around our Tagalog- and Visayan-speaking friends, including many of our Grads.  Our elementary school remained in an untenable position running an over-capacity school in an even smaller Memorial Centre, where classrooms had to be torn down nightly for other community events.  All we wanted to do was help, but when we are in need of help ourselves, feelings of helplessness can set in.  For some, they had to leave, and in a community such as ours, any loss gets mourned.

Christmas was a much needed break.  When we returned, our elementary friends all were in their portable school, and the end was in sight.  Preparations for Grad celebrations were well underway, and the first sighs of relief came as the Grads completed their first sets of diploma exams.  They had made it through the toughest part of the year.  The school bid adieu to our hosts at Senator Riley, who said goodbye to us in a grand procession out our temporary front doors, and although they were likely happy to have the full capacity of their building back, hugs, tears and cheers for each other were still exchanged.

After the teacher professional development break, students came back to another press field day, but it would also be the last.  However, the school they came back to was still far from finished.  Grads found themselves in borrowed class spaces again, as small gathering areas became classrooms for displaced teachers.  Busses continued to travel, but mostly only to the RecPlex.  The Public Address system in the school didn't work, phones weren't connected, there was no place to eat lunch, and many classrooms didn't even have whiteboards yet.  Nonetheless, they were in a building, it smelled new, it had a few upgrades already completed and a few more on the way, and most importantly, it was home.

In the back field of our refurbished home sat our elementary school in 26 portable classrooms.  Very quickly our two schools got a chance to work together, which was a novelty as the original location (which sat underwater for 2 months after the flood) was too far away to really develop any sort of connection with.  Grads were often found working with elementary students, and the two schools became closer than they have ever been since the elementary school was built.  While challenges still continue, which should be expected when 750 students have to share a single gymnasium, the comraderie in the Catholic community coagulated, and new opportunities were born.

Though the Grads have moved through trial into opportunity within the school context, some still continue to battle issues at home.  Many are still rebuilding homes.  Some have just moved back home from the temporary housing, and thankfully only a few remain in Saddlebrook.  Some businesses have recovered, some remain in temporary structures, some are going further and further into debt hoping that critical point where they have to close their doors forever never comes.  For some, it has already come and gone.

This is why I believe there are few graduating classes that deserve a celebration as much as Notre Dame Collegiate's Grads this year.  They fought through it all.  They faced challenge at home, at school, in their minds, their bodies and in their souls.  And they stood tall and strong.  They are some of the best examples of what it means to be a High Riverite.

This is also what makes me somewhat sad.  It is likely that many of them are leaving, be it for post-secondary or simply to find work where it's available and stable.  High River's loss will be the rest of the world's gain.  But I hope that High River recovers in such a way that these beacon's of our future choose to return home, live, grow families here, build a community here, and remain.

To these amazing human beings who, as the youngest of adults, have faced some of the most incredible challenges imaginable, I hope these remain the most incredible challenges you will ever face for the rest of your life.  I hope that you are aware just how powerful you are, and that you never falter in the steps you take forward.  You have no need for a lack of confidence; if you could manage this year, you've got an amazing potential ahead of you.  I pray that as you move forward, wherever you go, you take the lessons you have learned here and share your power, strength, resolve and potential to make everything you touch better.  But most importantly, I pray you come back to High River, because you indeed are our future, and you are needed.

And even if you don't come back to High River to stay, you had better visit!

But let's be honest, it's been in need of a defibrillator for quite some time now.

A week and a half ago, I went to a meeting that discussed the downtown High River of old, the opportunities that the flood presented, and the vision for its future.  Most of the attendees were either downtown business folk, people who have been advising such as myself, or area planners and politicians.  The conversation was frank.

First in the presentation, a slide that showed High River's downtown from decades passed.  Even then it looked more alive than it has ever looked in my near-decade of living here.

Then a photo of 4th Avenue, which looked, as our mayor put it, like a truck lot.  Angle parking all the way down the one-way street.  Storefronts were not visible, nor were shoppers.  Sidewalks were narrow enough that the event-planners rule of being able to accommodate two wheelchairs was barely accommodated, if it was at all.

This is what made downtown High River dead.  People came into town, parked in front of the store they wanted to visit, walked in, walked out, and drove away.  People were not encouraged to walk around downtown much unless they were a visitor coming to check out the murals, which are in desperate need of some resuscitation as well.

This is not what makes a community.  Communities in the physical sense of the word are areas where people gather and commune, sharing the same space for similar reasons.  In the case of downtown, those reasons should be to operate a business, to participate in events and functions, and to have a place to gather and socialize.  In High River, that last point is missing not just in downtown, but in the entire community.  It is for this reason that downtown High River is dying.

Drive through it now, and you'll see that it's dead.  A select few businesses remain open.  Frankly, the 50's style restaurant is likely doing relatively decent business right now because it is located within a stone's throw of the Disaster Recovery office.

Landlords and owners are wondering why they should feel any pressure to rebuild it right now?  It didn't have a significantly large economic function before, it certainly wasn't the town's economic engine (mind you, if it was, then that is a pretty significant indicator that a reboot is required).

Well at that meeting I found out why.  The current town council is applying a significant jolt of energy to get the heart of High River beating again.

The images and descriptions that followed, honestly, scared me.  They discussed Phase 1, which included adjustments to Macleod Trail, 3rd and 4th Avenues.  Parking in these areas will be reduced to a fraction of what existed before the flood and exists right now.  Instead, sidewalks will be widened significantly, any parking that does exist will be parallel, and storefronts will be visible.  Even the roadways will not be paved as they had been before, but will rather have a "walking path" feel to it.  4th Avenue will easily be converted from a road with just enough space for cars to drive through in both directions into a place for any form of community fair, such as the popular Show 'n' Shine.  I was reminded of Stephen Avenue Mall in Calgary, but with a much more small-town atmosphere.  This is a complete and total change from what High River looks like now.  The magnitude of the change itself is scary.

But after thinking about it for a bit, I found myself being won over by the concept.  Imagine a space in High River already built for outdoor community events that will help drive the economy because it is amongst the small businesses in town.  Imagine that the businesses create their own small events because they have the latitude and real estate to do so both inside their building and on the street in front of it.  Imagine a "High River Experience" bringing people off of Highway 2, and not just McDonald's or Tim Horton's.

I am not going to give away all the details.  Honestly, townspeople should come out to the public information sessions and open houses to discuss it with the people planning it.  However, there are a couple of things we should be careful of when it comes to this drastic change.

My first concern; we do not live in the Field of Dreams.  Just because you build it doesn't mean people will come.  There has to be a reason for people to visit.  I'd like to say the "Mom and Pop Shops" will be the reason, but the truth is that it won't be.  This is why, at the meeting, I shouldered up to the town's mayor, gestured at the artist's conception of the future 4th Avenue, and said "I see an Arts Facility complete with theatre, public art gallery and classrooms going right there!"  (To my great delight, he said "I agree")  People need to have a reason to come to downtown to check it out.  If the design is done properly and the businesses are truly as on board as they suggest, then those things combined will keep people wanting to come back.

My second concern; public buy-in, especially when they realize they're going to have to walk a block or two to get to their favourite local shop.  High River has lived in a state of under-exertion for a couple of decades at least, now.  Thankfully, I share the mayor's viewpoint on this.  When asked at the meeting about handicapped individuals, that concern was addressed and evidence that they had been considered and accommodated was in the presentation.  When asked at the meeting about people who don't want to have to walk very far in the dead cold of February to get to a store they need to visit, mayor Craig Snodgrass made a comment that vaulted him near the top of my list of favoured politicians: "thicker coats and liquor".  This tongue-in-cheek comment did not tell me that he would endorse more bars to move into downtown; it told me that High Riverites will no longer have the option of being idle.  I don't think that this will be as difficult of a sell these days as it would have been a year ago, but there will be some people not pleased with this idea.

My final concern; parking.  The one untied loose end discussed at the meeting was parking.  Considering they are planning on reducing downtown's parking by a minimum of 50 spaces, this is a considerable loose end.  Thankfully they are hoping to come upon some arrangement with the real estate historically owned by Canadian Pacific Railways.  I'll buy into this arrangement, but really hope this loose end is tied up quickly.

So High River's downtown is dead.  The Town Council is giving it a much needed jolt to get its heart beating again.  We as High Riverites must encourage them not only to give it the jolt it needs, but to keep working to help it live, thrive, and grow.  Council needs to deal with the issues of the Field of Dreams, public buy-in, and parking.  Let's push Council to deal with these issues, and give them the high five they deserve for figuring out how to get the heart beating again.

Recently, Minister of Municipal Affairs Ken Hughes announced that, despite former estimates, only 90% of DRP files would be closed at the end of March, 2014.  Then he took another step back and said "no wait, not until the end of June, now", which basically means a full year of homelessness for those affected.  Not that I'm surprised, he inherited a mess from his predecessor, Doug Griffiths.

However, in order to meet those targets, people who were already told they are going to be covered through the DRP are now being told "nevermind, no money for you."

The best example of this is the first completed DRP file in High River.  That file refers to the basement of Richard Murray.  On September 23, 2013 he was given approval to go forward with rebuilding his basement in writing.  Throughout the next two months, he rebuilt, had inspected, adjusted, continued rebuilding, inspected, and completed his basement all with great collaboration with the DRP office.  On November 23, 2013, all paperwork for his claim was considered complete, and he was given every indication that he would be given his funds.  He followed all the rules, and worked very closely and collegially with the decision-makers.

On March 11, 2014, Murray got a brief phone call saying that his DRP claim was denied in full.  When he asked why, the response was "we have no details for you."

The result is that he will no longer be an Albertan.  He will be moving to British Columbia.  What's even more telling about this is that he has dedicated decades of his volunteer service to High River, even running for the public service of Town Councillor in the last election.  In the end, the Disaster Recovery Program has run this incredibly dedicated community advocate out of town.

Why on Earth, or in Alberta, would the DRP process choose to rip this man's spleen out through his throat like that?

DRP has been changed multiple times since the first files were created.  Any file completed before the latest iteration of the DRP process will be referred to a "special review" process.  To me, this smacks of duplication; files that were already well-handled are being held back to be looked over one more, two more, seven more times.

If DRP was broken the first time, all those first files will be wrong too, right?

That's not what was broken.  The first files completed were the ones done well.  Reviewing them added a significantly unnecessary bureaucratic layer.  What was broken was the multitude of files that did not get addressed, did not have deadlines met from the government side, and did not get money in a timely fashion to the residents who desperately needed.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.  If it is broke, don't fix the pieces that work.

Hughes stepped back from his commitment to complete the DRP process to only complete 90%.  Apparently, even that target is so hard to hit, that files that were stuck in the "special review" process were simply too much to handle.

So they called Richard Murray to say "no money for you", with no further details.  The only logical conclusion is that they've done so because those details are "we just don't want to handle your file anymore."  It's the only way they'll hit that target.

And considering the political turbidity surrounding the PC Party of Alberta right now, they can't afford to miss another target.

How many other High Riverites are going to get the exact same phone call?  All the ones who did get their files started early theoretically have been living in relief.  Those who did not are the ones who are most in needed of mental health support.  Now that the ones who got their files started early are being told they are under "special review", the DRP program is now forcing even those early-starters into mental health disarray.

Just to meet a target, to save a party, to retain power.

If people can't rebuild their basements, homes and businesses, they can't move back.  Therefore, they won't shop in High River.  They won't open up shop in High River.  They won't work in High River.  They won't break bread with each other in High River.  They won't play in High River.  They certainly will have no vested interest in protecting it and rebuilding it for the future.

With this new revelation, I can confidently say High River is dying.  And right now, the easiest and most valid scapegoat is the one thing preventing residents, workers, business owners, and community builders from moving back into town.

The Disaster Recovery Program.

So my call to Ken Hughes is to completely shift his position on the completion of the DRP.  Not renewing a contract with LandLink is a good decision, but letting them keep the files they've already got is not going to solve the issue of their involvement.  The current position is forcing active files to be rammed through, and if necessary cancelled, with little to no consideration for the people and communities they directly affect.

I am asking that Hughes commit to fully fund every Disaster Recovery Program claim as property owners have been promised.  I am asking him to completely remove LandLink from the process with no exceptions.  I am asking his office take over any remaining outstanding files where no statement of coverage has been offered to the property owner.  I am also asking him to add the consideration of these two questions in the completion of those outstanding files;

• Is this going to get people home sooner? and
  
• Is this going to help High River rebuild?
  

Lastly, I’m asking that he resist every urge to shift a deadline or target date again.  Flood victims need something stable to work with, and the regular shifting of deadlines and target dates leaves them with complete instability.

Or else I fear for the future of my town.

Good news does abound, and while it took a long time, Richard Murray now has received his DRP payments.  However, he has some sage advice for all those who have dealt with DRP, and the advice does not end once you've received your cheque.  I recommend reading the article here, as it can not be said better than by the man himself.

Votes for the Conservative nominee in the Macleod riding byelection are tabulated today, and the story of the campaign is not "hopefuls listen to residents."

The entire campaign has been usurped by the National Firearms Association, Canada's version of the National Rifle Association south of the 49th parallel.  It has also been grabbed by right-wing media outlets trying to make a name for themselves in a new market.  No surprise, as the agenda had already been pushed by right-wing provincial opposition leader Danielle Smith, who represents a section of Macleod provincially.

In the middle of it all, the residents of Macleod seem to have been left out in the frigid cold of February.

The main topics discussed should have been the backlog of our bumper crops due to rail competition, oil and gas markets, and flood mitigation.  Other topics could have included innovations in our area in agriculture and small enterprise, the geographical and demographical diversity and "how can you represent people in Okotoks beside people in Crowsnest Pass or Lomond", or even the value the Conservative government places on veterans.

But they weren't.  The "High River Gun Grab" was.  And it was the only thing some candidates were talking about.

This seems odd, as every gun owner affected by the actions of the RCMP have never been unhappy about how the guns were handled, only the violent invasion of their privacy.  A valid point and an important issue, but by no means is it the only issue nomination hopefuls should be discussing.  It is also in stark contrast to the gun-toting whackadoodle image the NFA is portraying Macleod conservatives as.  Perhaps the NFA forgot about the story of the "Nose Hill Gentleman"?

Scott Wagner spoke with me twice, and seemed to have a decent grasp on the issues, and although I didn't fully agree with them, kudos goes to him for making a concerted effort to connect with me (he is a very intelligent fellow).  Phil Rowland's wife bombarded me with robocalls in the last week.  Melissa Mathieson never once contacted me.  I can't tell if I prefer Mathieson's or Rowland's tactic.

I was concerned about John Barlow at first, recalling that he ran as a Progressive Conservative candidate in the 2012 Alberta election.  I also recalled how he presented himself in those forums.  He was strong, articulate, and didn't shy from confrontation.  He did, however, leave me wondering if he could be a positive force, or if he would fall victim to the childish bickering that we now see in both provincial and federal houses.

When he called me, I asked him about how he felt the tone of his provincial campaign went.  He explained to me he was disappointed with how the Progressive Conservative party lowered themselves to the point where issues were no longer their focal point.

He hit the nail on the head.  The issues must be forefront.  And Barlow knew the major issues, and also knew some less obvious issues that matter to our residents.  Barlow is the only one of these four nomination hopefuls who did not bow to the whims of a lobby group and right-wing media.  He has his thumb on the pulse of the constituency, and stuck to talking about the issues, not just in person, but also in the media.  With regards to the NFA's focal point, he stuck to his word; he said if new information came out suggesting an inquiry was warranted, he'd stand behind it, so when it did, he stood behind it.

A politician that stands by his/her word should be considered a valuable asset.  But even more valuable is one who refuses to let lobbyists dictate the agenda, and rather let constituents dictate it.

And as a side-note, if you knew the level of discourse Barlow and his family was exposed to on his campaign Facebook page on the matter of the guns in High River, you would understand why I use the term "gun-toting whackadoodle".

So today is the last day for Conservative members to cast their ballots for their nominee.  After today, we will know if Macleod conservatives really are the gun-toting whackadoodles the NFA paints them as, or if they thoughtfully consider more than just a single issue with an eye to the future.

And I, for one, am no gun-toting whackadoodle.