Sewage lagoons were a topic of discussion for both the Village of Carbon and the Village of Rockyford during their regular council meetings held on Tuesday, September 7 and Wednesday, September 8 respectively.
In Carbon, at least one of the lagoon holding cells is having issues with back-up stemming from lack of maintenance. Sludge and slime was last cleaned from the lagoon in 1999 and was scheduled for maintenance in 2011. However, this maintenance was not completed and the lagoon is now a decade overdue for clean-up.
Along with overdue maintenance, council also heard how the lagoon is also in need of repairs, though this is not within the scope of the 2021 budget.
Due to the estimated cost, it was recommended repairs be budgeted for 2022. Council also discussed increasing the ATCO gas and electric franchise fees to help cover the anticipated lagoon repair costs.
Council proposed to increase the electric franchise fee from 5 per cent to 8 per cent, with the gas franchise fee proposed to increase to 16 per cent from 15.07 per cent. Prior to proceeding, the Alberta Utilities Commission will need to approve these changes; confirmation on the amount of revenue these increases will generate for the village were not available at press time.
The Village of Rockyford also discussed repairing their sewage lagoon and reviewed quotes from two contractors during their Wednesday, September 8 council meeting.
Council received a total of three quotes from two contractors and awarded the contract to Knibb Development.
Knibb had provided the village with two repair options, with a price difference of some $3,000; the first option would be to repair and replace affected pipes with PVC, while the second would use stainless steel. The PVC option would cost the village $16,000 and carry a one-year warranty while the stainless steel option would cost $19,000; however, the stainless steel option would carry a 10 year warranty.
Mayor Darcy Burke tells the Mail council went with the stainless steel repair option, and he adds the work is anticipated for completion this year to ensure the lagoon is operating correctly.

The federal election is coming up on Monday, September 20, and midway through the campaign, it has become more competitive than first thought. While the Liberal party remains slightly favoured to win the most seats, the popular vote has swung to the Conservative Party of Canada. The NDP has been slowly gaining momentum. To win a majority, the party must win 170 seats.

The Mail asked a few politically-minded residents their take on the campaign, and their projections heading into the final week of the campaign.

Chris Bobra has been following the race, and he thinks it is going to be close. He says it will be a minority, but can’t say whether it will be the Liberals or the Conservatives who will be asked to form government.

“I wouldn’t be shocked if the Conservatives win with a minority,” said Bobra. “ I think from what I am hearing, the country is going into a tremendous amount of debt because of CERB and that is continuing into the latter part of October. Because of CERB there are people happy with the Liberal Government, but on the negative side I think people are getting tired of Mr. Trudeau and the things he has done.”

One thing is for sure, he says is the west’s voice will be muted.

“The election will be decided once they get just west of Ontario. Ontario and Quebec have the most MPs,” he said. He adds in Nova Scotia, the provincial Liberals were defeated by a majority.

“The Maritimes are always very Liberal, so that could be something to watch.”

He doesn’t believe the Green Party or the People’s Party of Canada (PPC) will get any seats.

“If I was a betting man, I wouldn’t bet on the election.”

John Sparling has been observing the election and he is confident the Conservative Party will win, but it will be a minority government.

“The Conservatives will get 140, the Liberals, 130, and the rest will be split out among the other parties,” said Sparling.

He said the question is whether the NDP will support the Conservatives if they form government, as they indicated, or will they support the Liberals.

The PPC has been making modest gains during the campaign, going from about 3.4 per cent support when the election was called to hovering around five per cent currently. Sparling doesn’t feel they will siphon on too many voters from the Conservatives.

“I don’t think their numbers are strong enough but I could be proven wrong,” Sparling said.

Jim Fisher seems to be in the same camp as Sparling in projecting a Conservative minority government.

“And that’s not based on any research,” he chuckles. “I would say the Conservatives would get 140 seats. It depends on how many seats the NDP takes from Trudeau. It is really hard to call.”

He feels Trudeau didn’t have to call the election and, as the campaign progresses, it appears it might not have been a good decision.

He does predict the Battle River-Crowfoot riding will be won by Conservative Damien Kurek.

“That’s one prediction I can make.”

Bryce Nimmo has been watching the campaign and he believes the Conservatives will form a majority government.

“I honestly think there are going to be 178 Conservatives. I think the last week will make a world of difference,” said Nimmo.

“I think you have more people voting for than against, and I think you are going to find more and more people saying ‘we didn’t need this election, why did he call it?’”

There have been predictions the Conservative Party might be peaking in the polls too, soon.

“I don’t think that matters too much, truthfully. I think you are going to find they are not going to drop, and I’m not sure the others are going to catch up,” he said.

He sees more support for the Conservatives in the Maritimes, and in Quebec, the Bloc Québécois and NDP could siphon votes from the Liberals. The west will stay the way it is.

“I don’t think the Liberals have a chance in Western Canada, I don’t think they do anything to make people happy.”