Thursday, August 20, 2009 I The Hinton Voice www.hintonvoice.

ca 3

Killing your
community
MLA relates 13 ways
we sabotage SUCCeSS
Tyler Waugh
news@hintonvoice.ca
Doug Griffiths has undertaken a lot of fact finding
journeys during his three tenures as an MLA, and just
as many rural visits to deliver his speech, 13 Ways To
Kill Your Community
One point he seems to have trouble getting across
is that the relative health of a community is all in the
hands of its residents and local governance.
“It can be frustrating. Some communities consistently
demand one thing from the province and there’s only
—

so much government can do and then do the exact

—

opposite on a local level,” Griffiths said. “We find out

these communities were doing things to cause their
own death really silly things.”
—

Griffiths, who will present his 13 Ways To Kill Your

Community at a Chamber function Sept. 11, said there
was one community in particular that epitomized
the problems. He had spoken in this town on three
occasions and heard repeated complaints that they
could not attract business.
He stayed around and asked questions for a couple
of days. What he found was that some of the same
politicians and administrators who complained about
the inability of the community to attract business were,
in fact, the culprits.
“They would dissuade and hinder rival and
competing interests from starting in the community,”
he said. “One administrator admitted to keeping
welders away because her husband was a welder
it’s unbelievable.”
Failure to attract new business is one of the 13 ways
to kill a community along with poor drinking water,
living in the past, trying nothing new and shopping
elsewhere the last being a phenomenon he attributes
—

in part to jealousy.
“Jealousy is the most disruptive emotion anyone
can have it’s worse than anger because it’s illogical
— —
and irrational,” he said. “And it’s the same thing that
will motivate somebody to drive 20 minutes down the
road to make somebody there better off rather than
supporting somebody they know in town.”
He said studies show every dollar spent locally
circulates through the local economy seven times,
whereas a dollar spent elsewhere is gone.
“There are certain responsibilities local businesses
have as well there can’t be a sense of entitlement
— tree in Hinton received 200-250 hits, suggesting
just because they are local. With that said shopping
elsewhere is a mind set that has to be overcome for a
lot of communities,” he said.
Another factor in killing a community is the
reluctance, failure or inability to involve youth, seniors
and newcomers.
Griffiths also talks about a concept where
communities fail to break large problems down into
smaller, manageable pieces. He said failure to do so
can cause a flood of negativity through a community
as hurdles aren’t overcome.
Identifying smaller projects or quick wins gives
— —
people a sense of accomplishment and progress and
leads to a reversal of the negative flood.
“All the little things have a way of making the big
things go away,” he said.
Griffiths is a third-term MLA who was first elected
when he was 29.
He grew up in rural Alberta and the MLA for Battle
Piver-Wainwright still calls rural Alberta home, living
in the small community of Hardisty with his wife, Sue,
and two children.
Call the Chamber at (780) 865-2777 for ticket and
event information. Anybody interested in hearing a
recording of the 13 Ways speech can find it at Griffiths’
web site at www.douggriffiths.ca.
A RIDE
Olivia Rodgers, 2, hangs on while older sister Serivia, 6, piggybacks her around the afternoon
of Aug. 15.
Bad HeWS booties
Cont’dfrom Front Page
Home told council there are budget constraints
this coming year and that spread control might not
be as high overall as years past across the province.
His report to council also said that the reduced
funding may mean that resources are diverted to
areas where MPB populations are a higher threat
to the eastern slopes and into the boreal forest
areas. These factors, coupled with the fact that the
resident beetle population was controlled or slightly
diminished this past winter, may mean no significant
control measures are in place for the Hinton region
this coming year.
Forestry companies, like West Fraser, have been
increasing pine harvests as part of a strategy to
decrease the beetle’s food supply, but that approach
has waned somewhat with the decrease in lumber
demand.
Taylor said that, in reality, it was time for officials
to go beyond conventional control methods.
“I respect the work these forest guys are trying to
do, they’ve been good soldiers, but it’s hard to deny
that these steps have not really prevented anything
so far,” Taylor said. “The Rocky Mountains couldn’t
stop the beetle from coming across what is a swath
...
of trees going to do?”
SRD baits trees in each community across the
Tyler Waugh Photo
province in an effort to detect local MPB levels. One
a significant beetle population. Home said that
anywhere from 25-50 hits could kill a tree.
Tinge said the numbers suggest there are likely
other tree hits, but that it was hard to confirm any
findings at this point, beyond what the baited trees
may indicate.
SRD will have a better idea of the size and scope
of the local infestation by the end of the MPB flight
season in mid-September. SRD said there won’t
be any concrete indication until next year, when
infected trees will start to turn colour in June or July.
Until then, Tinge said it’s a wait and see situation.
“We don’t have time to wait. Five years ago we
knew this was coming and we tried to be proactive
and, unfortunately, that’s fallen on deaf ears,” Taylor
said. “What we heard tonight was that it is here, and
it’s here in numbers comparable to (2006), and that
was considered devastating. And we haven’t heard
anything about response that we didn’t hear back
then either. That isn’t very encouraging.”
Attempts to contact the office of SRD Minister Ted
Morton were not returned by the Hinton Voice press
deadline on Wednesday morning.
For more information on the MPB and a number
of maps and reports detailing its spread, please visit
www.mpb.alberta.ca.