Peter Brown, mayor of Airdrie, discusses the city’s population growth and council’s priorities as they continue to expand.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity
Michael Higgins: Let’s start on this proposed Health Campus, as it’s being termed.
Your city does not have a hospital, just one urgent care centre. So how likely is this to happen and what does it represent?
Peter Brown: It represents great change. I think we’re going to be the model for, or the pilot project for, many opportunities throughout the province once this gets up and running.
I’ve had a huge commitment. I heard Dr. Kyne there earlier. He’s been a catalyst through this process, along with Doug Smith and the developer, in making sure that this new way of looking at health care and primary care and urgent care tied together is really a significant change.
It’s very exciting. I know that they’re going to be able to attach one of the key challenges most municipalities faces – general practitioners and access to primary care – and they’re going to be able to attach close to, or just over, 20,000 new patients to this new form of primary care that they’re focused on.
So it’s very exciting. It’s going to divert patients from urgent care to primary care, it’s going to save the system a lot of money, and it’s going to provide an opportunity to see just how well we can approach providing community members, not only in Airdrie but outside of Airdrie, with that access to primary care, which is really lacking right now.
So it’s really exciting. I feel like it’s going to happen.
I’ve had great conversations with the deputy minister, with the minister, the premier’s aware of this, they see a lot of opportunities here. It’s a model that significantly changes how we do things by joining two together and I think they’re going to see the opportunities that exist for that, the cost savings, but most importantly the health opportunities it provides for Airdrie and area residents.
MH: Where would you expect this to leave expansion plans of the existing urgent care centre and Airdrie plans the province put on pause earlier this year.
PB: They did but they’re back on. The renovations are happening.
The minister was very clear, Airdrie is a growing population and the existing urgent care as it is, is not adequate for a population of its size.
So I think it was welcome news to have this initiative come forward, really driven by the community. I’ve had nothing but very positive responses from the minister, specifically the deputy minister and their staff.
They’ve been integral, Alberta Health has been integral.
A lot of people to thank through this process because it’s really been an expedited.
Where do you see government and municipalities and health care providers coming together in such a short period of time to make something happen and this is that opportunity.
It’s been really the last eight months that this has come forward and we’re looking at decisions being made here, hopefully in December or the early fall.
MH: Your city was caught up in Calgary’s water feeder main woes earlier in the summer and now there’s the need for another round of repairs. More water restrictions from the end of August through much of September. Where will that leave your community?
PB: First of all, I want to thank our residents and businesses because they were very successful through the stages.
This summer we reduced our water uses from the average 2023 numbers upwards of, at times, close to 30 per cent.
The goal was 25 per cent so everybody did their part.
We all assumed – I was fortunate to be in some briefings in Calgary with some of their key personnel – that this is going to be an ongoing situation with the existing infrastructure.
So we didn’t anticipate that further repairs were going to be necessary but I think we’re all in a good frame of mind, we understand how to conserve water.
It’s falling into that time of the year when we are not really watering outdoors. I think that’s going to be the biggest impact, to be honest with you.
I know that they’re going to be making some amendments. Obviously, we’re going to be following what the City of Calgary is putting forward but we’re trying to stay away from shutting any businesses down.
The pools and recreation facilities that were closed initially, I don’t believe they’re part of that again.
So they’re going to be making some amendments, same with the landscaping companies, etcetera, and we’re looking forward to seeing more details as we kind of progress.
I’m sure people are bit fatigued over the summer, but honestly, a lot of people have reintroduced best practices.
They bought rain barrels, they’re doing all that they can, they haven’t changed their ways, we’re seeing a continued reduction.
We had a bit of a spike since we went back to level one but the reality is, people have new habits now and I don’t think there’s going to be a huge burden to go back to that for three to four weeks while we get these very important repairs done.
MH: Given your front row seat to Calgary’s water crisis and the impact that it has had on your city, what needs to be the takeaway for municipalities across the province when it comes to vital infrastructure?
PB: Asset management should be, probably, the number one priority for any community and just to reiterate, I don’t know any circumstances of how Calgary got into this situation but I think it’s a real wake up call for not only Alberta’s municipalities but across the country.
In North America there’s a lot of old infrastructure that needs to be addressed and some of it will meet its expectation.
I know that this pipe had 100 year window on it and I think it’s just over 50 years. They’re starting to see issues with it.
So you really need to be very cognizant of what’s in the ground and what needs to be maintained and I think your asset management teams are absolutely key and critical.
I don’t think you’ll ever avoid these types of circumstances, something will always come up, but as long as you’re proactive and providing some redundancy I think most people would be safe.
But for me, and I know a lot of other municipal leaders I’ve talked to, it’s really key to understanding what’s in the ground and what we need to maintain and where it’s at for its life cycle and changing those things out.
MH: The Census results are in and the population in Airdrie is now 86,000. That’s nearly that’s 6.4 per cent over 2023. What kind of discussion is that driving around your council table?
PB: It’s exciting. We’re welcoming a lot of new people from around the world here.
Airdrie seems to be the place that people want to land, for obvious reasons, but it does put a lot of pressure on our infrastructure.
The nice part is we’ve got a strong relationship with the province and they’re recognizing some of the challenges that we face around health care and education, infrastructure funding, affordable housing, etcetera. And of course our recreation needs.
There’s sort of a long list but it comes with some great opportunities.
Obviously we’re chasing it a bit. I think when I talk to people here that have just come into our community, they love it here so it’s exciting from that perspective.
But as you know, with more population there’s lots of pressure across the spectrum, whatever that might be.
So we’re hopefully on top of everything and continuing to move forward in a good way.
But there are lots of challenges when it comes to growth, especially as significant as we’ve grown, and we’re forecasting to grow in the next two years.