Red Deer Minute: Tourist Guide, Recovery Summit, and a New Rideshare Service

Red Deer Minute - Your weekly one-minute summary of Red Deer politics

This Week In Red Deer:

• There will be a Special Meeting of City Council on Wednesday at 9:00 am. The majority of the meeting will be held in-camera (in secret) discussing an item entitled “Westerner Advocacy Update”. Also on Wednesday, at 1:00 pm, the Council Agenda Review Committee will meet to set the agenda for the next City Council meeting, which takes place on May 27th.
  
  
• The Red Deer Public Market is back in action. Having moved to Red Deer Polytechnic last year, the transition has been successful, attracting over 120 vendors compared to its humble beginnings with 18. The Market, which runs every Saturday from 8:00 am to 12:30 pm until Thanksgiving weekend, has evolved from a farmers' market to a diverse public market over its 54-year history.
  
  
• There is a brand new section in the tourist guide called Indigenous Red Deer. It provides insights into the city's Indigenous roots, powwows, and related activities. The initiative, along with a renewed partnership between Tourism Red Deer and Hotels Red Deer, was celebrated at a recent event that included a smudge ceremony and a blessing from Elder Lyle Keewatin Richards, who consulted on the tourist guide.

Last Week In Red Deer:

• Council decided against withdrawing $50,000 from City reserves for a local Recovery Summit scheduled for this fall, opting to postpone the event until next spring. During this delay, Council plans to request additional funding from the provincial government. They will request an extension to the May 2025 spending deadline for an existing $70,000 provincial grant earmarked for the event, with plans to request an additional $50,000 for hiring an event planner. Council members expressed concerns about the financial sustainability of funding the Summit through one-off requests, instead suggesting that alternatives be sought within the City budget. However, some questioned the necessity of a local Summit given the existence of a larger, successful provincial conference on the same topic. Nonetheless, the local Summit was defended for its regional focus and the success of the previous year's event, which attracted around 300 attendees.
  
  
• Council has opted for a new strategy to advance the stagnant permanent homeless shelter project by halting the selection of new sites until the provincial government clarifies its plans and selects an operator for the facility. During a recent meeting attended by key provincial ministers, Council was informed that even this new approach may not simplify the selection of a location. Still, Council is pushing for the Province to issue a call for Expressions of Interest to identify potential operators, hoping to include community input and comprehensive services within the shelter. This comes after numerous challenges in finding a suitable site, despite evaluating around 130 potential locations.
  
  
• Uride, a rideshare company focusing on smaller communities, launched its services in Red Deer on May 17th, marking its third Alberta location after Grande Prairie and Medicine Hat. The company aims to provide reliable transportation options and end impaired driving. Uride currently employs several dozen drivers in Red Deer, with more in the pipeline, and the company says it is dedicated to assisting its drivers as they navigate the City's licensing procedures.

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