City Notebook: No hurry for Harry

By COLLIN GALLANT on January 25, 2020.

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant

The whole world is wild about Harry, but not, it appears in Medicine Hat.

A more imaginative town might extend an invitation to the prince who is in the middle of a very public debate about how he wants a more private life.

It’s not that strange an idea.

Not so many years ago Lt. Wales was based here, though admittedly, it’s a bit of a stretch to think that private citizen, Henry Sussex (as in “Duke of”), his actress wife and young son, would settle in southeast Alberta.

A decade ago a British tabloid reporters showed up with a stack of 100-pound notes to grease the palms of anyone with a tale to tell.

There wasn’t much, in the end, and not even a picture in the local paper after he was whisked out the backdoor of the Panorama Bowling Lanes.

At the time it was a bit of fun, but mostly a non-story, and mostly because Hatters felt it was such. The general feeling was that if it’s a soldier who’s due for deployment to Afghanistan, live him alone.

There’s no shortage of former British soldiers who have chosen southern Alberta as a place to make a life of their own.

They’re looking for a life of opportunity and, like Harry, to break out of the British class system that persists beyond all usefulness, albeit the other way around.

He’s a bit of a Maverick, which is something Albertans should be able to appreciate.

Instead, there’s an endless argument in some quarters about what he should and shouldn’t be doing, and who should pay for it.

North Americans increasingly lump the monarchy in with celebrities and athletes as people whose lives we should have a say in.

This and that

Local businessman Perry Dooley is running for re-election to the Servus Credit Union board of directors. Another Hatter, Simon Neigum, isn’t seeking another term in a membership voting process that concludes this winter.

Also on the ballot, interestingly, is Len Rhodes, the former president of the Edmonton Eskimos who ran unsuccessfully for the UCP in the last election and is now the head of the AGLC.

City State

This week sees Ted Clugston’s seventh State of the City address as mayor – a record for this century – but there’s still no hint about what’s on tap for the annual luncheon that’s presented jointly by the Kiwanis Club and Chamber of Commerce.

“This year will be a little tamer, but there are still some interesting things going on,” Clugston told the press this past week.

The 2019 edition was highlighted by the announcement of the Folium Biosciences plant construction project. The 2018 edition included teasers about ongoing but secret negotiations about cryptocurrency and cannabis operations (and who could forget helium?). The 2017 edition was a run-through of new budget program (Financially Fit) capped by Clugston’s announcement that he’d seek a second term.

A look ahead

The Mayor’s State of the City address is set to take place on Tuesday at the Medicine Hat Lodge.

100 years ago

Potentially confused birds made headlines in Medicine Hat this week in 1920.

Miss Goudie of the high school staff reported that waxwings were being spotted in the city in the middle weeks of January – the earliest on memory that the migratory birds had returned to the Hat.

Especially concerning was the extreme cold snap that had gripped Medicine Hat and featured temperatures of -40F.

Mr. M.J. Noxid, of Vauxhall, became the first farmer to place an order and take receipt of a “Canadian” model tractor produced at the Alberta Foundry in Medicine Hat.

An ongoing expansion of the Dominion Glass works at Redcliff would be much larger than the original plant and make it the largest in North America.

Ald. McLarty unveiled a slate of proposed amendments to the city charter that he would push for in the coming year, including advanced voting and a program to offer city bonds to local investors.

In Europe, the Supreme Allied Council in Paris announced it would seek commercial relations with Russia – a substantial reversal of policy from the victorious powers in the Great War. The move was painted as a measure to aid Russian peasants, not an endorsement of the Lenin-Trotsky regime.

Collin Gallant covers city politics and a variety of topics for the News. Reach him at 403-528-5664 or via email at cgallant@medicinehatnews.com