Battle River-Crowfoot MP Damien Kurek hosted a virtual town hall meeting over Zoom and Facebook Live on Wednesday, June 2 to answer constituent questions and provide an update on parliamentary happenings.
This is the second Zoom meeting MP Kurek has held since March 2021, although he has held several town hall meetings via Facebook since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This is not the last year and a half anybody has expected, but it’s been an honour to fight for you amidst all the challenges and be your voice in our capital,” MP Kurek said as he opened the meeting.
During his opening remarks, MP Kurek acknowledged the mass grave at the former residential school in Kamloops, B.C. where the bodies of 215 children were found on Thursday, May 27.
“It’s unknown how many more sites like this exist across the country, and it certainly has touched Canadians from coast to coast. It’s important for us to acknowledge these aspects of our history,” he stated, noting his previous work with the Saskatchewan Legislature to designate the cemetery footprint of the former Regina Industrial Indian School.
Among other topics which MP Kurek addressed were a misunderstanding over Motion 118, which he has received numerous emails and Facebook messages from constituents. MP Kurek clarified it was a “non-binding motion” from the Bloc Quebecois party warning the Liberal party from calling an election during a global pandemic as a political ploy.
“I want to make sure you understand very, very clearly democracy is still strong in this country and Conservatives are still fighting for you,” he stated.
He also addressed his disappointment with the Liberal government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic-from their slow response to the global pandemic, to vaccine supply and distribution concerns-and his concern over the federal government supporting two pharmaceutical companies in Eastern Canada over a Calgary-based company in developing ways to treat COVID-19.
MP Kurek also spoke on his opposition to vaccine passports, calling it a “grey area.”
One topic, which was previously brought up during MP Kurek’s March 2021 virtual town hall, was Bill C-21.
MP Kurek voiced his disappointment over the bill, saying, “I am a licensed firearm owner and I understand your concerns. It is unbelievably frustrating to see how it’s law-abiding firearm owners that have the target on their back, no pun intended, by this Liberal government.”

While an interim project leader for the Flood Mitigation program has just been installed, the flood mitigation team is still hard at work.
Last week the town announced it has replaced the leadership of the Flood Mitigation program and has an interim leader. A few days before, an interim communications team was also put in place. While these new teams are familiarizing themselves with the program, work is still being completed.
“We have changed the project management coordination, but all the engineering teams and everyone else involved all remained in place, and are well on their way to complete their project assignments to be able to take them up to tendering,” said Drumheller CAO Darryl Drohomerski. He adds timelines should not be affected much by the change.
Drohomerski explains the current assignment work will culminate with a project that is ready to tender and he estimates they are probably about a month away from completion.
He notes work will be spread out over the next few years. They are formulating a plan as to which project they are going to build in the coming construction window. At council on Monday night, June 14, Drohomerski explains they are looking at rolling out the project in stages, such as neighbourhoods or berm areas, through in-person open houses. No construction will take place until it is communicated with the public.
“This is a multi-year project and as a result, we are revisiting how quickly we can release all the information,” he said. “Our process has been talking to potentially impacted property owners prior to the release of any berm alignments or designs. The last thing we want to do is have someone find out at an open house a berm is going through their backyard.”
Currently, they have an interim project leader and they are planning to put out a new request for proposals for a project leader and communications team in the very near future.