Let's try some collaborative journalism. We know a few things. We need to find out more things. Can you help?
What we know:
1. Danielle Smith, Leader of the Wildrose Alliance, has had a very successful tour of Alberta over the past 3 weeks. As Don Braid commented in the Calgary Herald one of the things that has made this tour both useful and unusual is that Smith has met with a number of town, city and municipal councils to review their concerns. As Braid put it, "Until Wildrose came along, most councils were terrified of the blowback from the government if they paid any opposition party such respect. Liberals couldn't get in even if they brought the doughnuts."
2. Smith's tour organization had set up (and publicized) a meeting with the city council of Cold Lake for 4:30 pm on August 9, just prior to the council's regular meeting at 6:00 pm.
3. In the interval between the scheduling of Smith's meeting and it taking place, Lloyd Snelgrove, Progressive Conservative MLA, president of the Treasury Board, and Minister of Finance and Enterprise, contacted the City of Cold Lake to inform them that he could meet with them and the meeting was set at 4:00 pm on August 9. Cold Lake officials after accepting the meeting with Snelgrove said that the meeting with Smith would be "re-scheduled" to a later date.
4. Cold Lake has had long running financial difficulties as the cost of providing services to the rapidly growing community has outstripped the city's tax base. There has even been consideration of dissolving the City and adopting a set up analogous to Sherwood Park which is an unincorporated community in the County of Strathcona. A similar arrangement for Cold Lake would give them access to the oil related revenues of the surrounding municipal district.
What we don't know:
1. The purpose, content, and outcome of the Snelgrove meeting with Cold Lake council.
2. Whether Snelgrove was aware of the scheduled meeting of Smith with council before asking for his own meeting and whether another day or time would have been possible for him.
3. Whether anyone suggested including Smith in the meeting of Snelgrove with council.
4. Whether the citizens of Cold Lake are better off because of the meeting that took place or whether they will be better served after the "re-scheduled" meeting takes place.
If you can provide information about the things we don't know, please comment below. If we get informed, useful, and accurate comments - we can continue to construct the story together.
