Sherwood Park Minute: Issue 128

Sherwood Park Minute - Your weekly one-minute summary of Sherwood Park politics

📅 This Week In Sherwood Park: 📅

• Strathcona County Council and its committees have no meetings scheduled this week. Council’s next meeting is on Tuesday, September 15th at 9:00 am, followed by the Priorities Committee on September 22nd and a Council public hearing on September 29th.
  
  
• Elections Alberta is recruiting nearly 2,600 election officers across Sherwood Park and Strathcona-Sherwood Park to staff the October 19th provincial referendum, which carries 10 ballot questions. Shanna Ramage, Returning Officer for Sherwood Park, and Susan Oliver, Returning Officer for Strathcona-Sherwood Park, say the number of questions has created a large need for poll workers and ballot counters. The paid positions are open to Albertans aged 16 and older and include shifts on voting day as well as ballot-counting work that continues through October 21st. The officers say many first-time workers are surprised by how much planning goes into running an election, from verifying voter eligibility to ensuring every eligible voter can cast a ballot. Residents can apply through the jobs section of the Elections Alberta website or by calling the local returning offices.
  
  
• Elk Island Public Schools has reappointed Colleen Holowaychuk as board chair and Krista Scott as vice-chair as the division launches a new four-year education plan. Trustees selected the pair at their August 27th organizational meeting, giving each a second consecutive year in the role. Holowaychuk, who represents Lamont County, said the plan centres on student engagement and on giving students more chances to connect their learning to future careers. She said classroom complexity and class size remain a top concern for families, and credited recent provincial funding aimed at the issue. The division serves about 17,750 students in 42 schools across Sherwood Park, Fort Saskatchewan, Vegreville, Strathcona County, Lamont County, and the western portion of Minburn County.
  
  
• Strathcona County RCMP and Enforcement Services are reminding residents of the rules governing e-bikes, electric scooters, mopeds, and off-highway vehicles as their popularity grows. Power-assisted bicycles need no licence, registration, or insurance, but riders must be at least 12 years old, wear a helmet, stay off sidewalks, and keep to a 500-watt motor and a top speed of 32 km/h. Privately owned e-scooters are prohibited on public roadways in the County, which has no approved shared e-scooter operator, unlike neighbouring Edmonton and St. Albert. Electric motorcycles, mopeds, and off-highway vehicles all require registration, insurance, helmets, and an operator at least 14 years old holding a valid licence. Police point to figures from the Injury Prevention Centre showing about 19 people are killed in off-highway vehicle crashes in Alberta each year, with most head-injury deaths involving riders who were not wearing a helmet.
  
  
• Nate Glubish, the MLA for Strathcona-Sherwood Park, is making the case against using Alberta energy as leverage in the trade dispute with the United States. Writing in a column, Glubish noted that trade talks have broken down and that Ottawa has announced $28 billion in counter-tariffs taking effect September 8th, but argued that calls to cut off Alberta oil and gas exports or impose an export tax would backfire. He said much of the oil and natural gas serving Ontario, Quebec, and Eastern Canada crosses the United States before reaching those markets, so choking off exports could invite Washington to do the same and put hundreds of thousands of jobs at risk. Glubish said Premier Danielle Smith has ruled out weaponizing energy, and he argued that further rounds of tariffs and counter-tariffs would only raise costs on both sides. He wrote that Alberta is instead focused on diplomacy, supporting affected businesses, removing interprovincial trade barriers, and accelerating new pipelines to reduce reliance on any single customer.

🚨 This Week’s Action Item: 🚨

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