Correctional officers across Canada are one step closer to ratifying a new contract.
 On Sunday, November 16, members of the national Union of Canadian Correctional Officers (UCCO) struck a tentative agreement with the Treasury Board and Correctional Services Canada.
    In Drumheller, membership at the Drumheller Institution voted in favour on Tuesday, November 28, of the proposed contract.
    “It was very positive, but it is not official until they finish voting in the whole country,” said local UCCO representative Jacob Suelzle.
    He explains the main issue was sick leave.
    “Our sick leave stayed intact for now, which is the biggest concern our members had,” he said. “The big concern was what we were going to lose, not so much as what we were going to gain, and the losses were minimal which was a pleasant surprise.”
    Another big concern is the injury on duty leave.
    “Up until about really August, if an officer was injured on duty, how they were going to be compensated during that time and what kind of leave they would be placed on, was a little up in the air, depending on who was dealing with the case, whether the Workers Compensation Board (WCB) was going to pick it up and how it was going to be interpreted. So we did come to a good conclusion on that,” said Suelzle.
    Under the proposed agreement, correctional officers will receive 1.25 per cent retroactive pay increase each year from June 1, 2014 to 2017, as well as a 2.3 per cent market adjustment, effective June 1, 2016.  There will also be a roll in of Correctional Officer Allowance into salary Effective June 1, 2016.
    All sick leave provisions will remain status quo, and there have been adjustments and improvements in the area of discipline, notice period for shift changes, leave provisions, allowances, overtime meal allowances and including CX III in its bargaining units.
    “I don’t think anyone was looking for the moon when it came to money, people would be satisfied with a decent cost of living, but the big thing was what we would lose and sick leave was the biggest concern,” said Suelzle.
    Voting across the country is expected to be completed in the Pacific Region on December 15.
    UCCO has been in negotiations for 42 months.

    The trend of tiny homes has hit the Village of Delia as its village council approved the construction of one such home.
    A High River couple have put in a permit to build an 800 square foot home in Delia. They are expected to begin construction in the spring.
    “We don’t have tons of empty lots but any development is good development and people moving in to Delia is a good thing,“ said Delia CAO Mark Nikota.
    The home has many restrictions to adhere to like a permanent foundation and it must be properly skirted. The current land owners are also required to sign the development permit prior to the permit taking effect. A public hearing was held and the permit is now in the final stages of begin accepted.
    “The lot they bought was a private deal but the purchasers put in a development permit application and that of course went to council to make sure that was something they wanted to allow,” said Nikota.
    Nikota argues that the house isn’t too far off in size in terms of housing in Delia.
    “The area that the lot is in is zoned R2 Residential General so it wasn’t like it was a big stretch, it was definitely a much smaller size than what the land use plan calls for but when you look at some of the surrounding houses in Delia, it’s not like it’s way out of bounds and it’s good for the village to have development on an empty lot.”
    Delia is not the only community that is embracing the minimalist movement. Big Valley recently opened a section of land with the purpose of intriguing prospective buyers into developing tiny homes.
    So far, no one has fully committed to buying a lot.
    “We did a number of press releases and we had, I would say, significant interest so there is a lot of people who are interested in it, unfortunately I think a lot of it has to do with the current economy,” said White.
    They feel that the idea and interest is there but was introduced early.
    “Unfortunately, we might have come up with something that is a good idea but the timing of it might not be entirely the best,” explained White.
    Since the zoning introduction back in May, the village has come up with more specific guidelines for the development area.
Height limits, exterior finish, colours and so on are now put in place through the architectural guidelines for houses that would go on the property.
    “Council actually didn’t want the cookie cutter kind of style where each house is exactly the same but at the same time we wanted them to be similar enough that there’s not going to be something completely stand-out and incredibly different,” said White.