Phendrana Drifts

If I was sent off into the wilderness to find a new Minister of Infrastructure for Alberta two thoughts would roll about in my head.

You don't find Ministers of Infrastructure in the wilderness.
You would need someone who understands both rural Alberta and our urban municipalities.

If Endiang, Alberta is in fact in the wilderness, I would in fact be wrong on the first count, but in newly sworn-in Minister of Infrastructure Jack Hayden we definitely have the latter. Before becoming the MLA for Drumheller-Stettler, Hayden was a former Councillor and Reeve of the County of Stettler but that isn't where his talent for understanding rural and urban Alberta will come from. His depth of experience in dealing with municipal governance and the issues facing our communities comes from:

Serving as director and president for the central district of the Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties;
Being on the Board of Directors of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities; serving as the chair of the FCM's Transportation and Communication committee and as a member of the Environment committee;
His appointment to the Prime Minister's External Advisory Committee on Cities and Communities, which completed its work and was presented to Prime Minister Stephen Harper in June 2006; and
Being placed on the Federation of Canadian Municipalities Roll of Honour.

What I find more intriguing about Hayden is his proximity to Premier Ed Stelmach and obvious political track record for getting stuff done. Jack Hayden was Ed Stelmach's rural campaign chair during the PC leadership race in 2006 - given how well Premier Stelmach did in rural Alberta during that race is a testament to Hayden's obvious political skills. As albertatory said about Hayden in his post on the cabinet appointments:

"Mr. Hayden is rumoured to be one of the Premier's closest advisors in caucus... with someone going as far as to say that he should have been the Chief of Staff. As a stand-alone from Transportation, Infrastructure will get to deal with a whole lot of capital planning issues... issues that the Premier loves to sink his teeth into. Expect the boss and his new Infrastructure Minister to be working together very closely."

Alberta has serious infrastructure issues. As the Premier pointed out at every opportunity, we're growing at an unprecedented rate, and families do not move here with roads, schools and hospitals packed in their suitcases and moving vans. How serious is this issue - and how serious does Premier Stelmach take it?

"Providing the roads, schools, hospitals and other public infrastructure to meet the needs of a growing economy and population," is one of the government's top five priorities as they enter their new mandate. Hayden will have a full plate today, day one of his new job, and will get to look forward to all sorts of challenges on the way.

Splitting Infrastructure and Transportation into two ministries will help, as Minister Luke Ouellette gets support from Hayden in the task of building the stuff Alberta needs, and importantly getting the political will around the cabinet table to meet this objective. As any politician should tell you, building new schools and hospitals is sexy yet expensive, while working on the deferred maintenance to an old facility is a thankless yet expensive task. This team from central Alberta should be able to make the case for sustainable and prudent investment into new and existing infrastructure.

On a side note, I was enthused by Hayden's core promises to his constituents: maintaining open, honest and accountable representation with an open-door policy; spending as much time as possible in the constituency (the Premier just made that one harder...); keeping his constituents informed through a column in local newspapers and through three constituency offices - Stettler, Drumheller and Hanna; and actively listening to concerns and responding to each inquiry in a timely manner.

Far from the scandalous lifestyle former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer made it seem, being a politician is about helping people and treating them with respect while you try and make a difference in their life. Going out in the community as much as possible and responding to each concern in a reasonable amount of time is something that many politicians find hard to do once the ballot box is put away, and good on Hayden for making it a firm promise to his electors.

He made another promise to the people of Drumheller-Stettler that brought a smile to my face. He promised to engage young people by holding quarterly meetings with a constituency-wide youth advisory council. It isn't a brand new idea, but it is rare, especially in rural Alberta.

He's made reasonable and sustainable commitments to his constituents and earned their trust; I doubt we will get anything less from him as Minister of Infrastructure.

Links:
www.jackhayden.ca

Labels: alberta politics

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