One of council’s responsibilities is to advocate on the community’s behalf, whether it’s dealing with issues of land rent with the federal government or discussions with the provincial government about the need for Jasper to be designated as a resort municipality.
It’s all part of a days work.
That’s why Coun. Dwain Wacko has requested that council receive a workshop from Sean Moore, principal of the Advocacy School.
According to his website, Moore is one of Canada’s most experienced practitioners, writers and teachers on public-policy advocacy, and he teaches professional-development training in advocacy for industry and professional associations and NGOs.
Wacko heard Moore speak during the provincial Family and Community Support Services conference last month.
“I learned about his thoughts on how to conduct advocacy and realized that we have an awful lot to learn,” said Wacko during the Nov. 25 committee-of-the-whole meeting.
“What he does is he conducts training on how to learn theories on advocacy. I think it would be a very worthwhile process for somebody on any municipality to have this training.”
Wacko suggested the training might be beneficial for the municipality’s discussions with the province about resort municipality status and with Parks Canada about land use, planning and development, as well as the town’s land rent.
“I think if we wanted to pursue with the federal government the land rent issue or perhaps getting them to put some of their skin in our game for funding from gate revenues, maybe a session with Mr. Moore before we embark on that in any detail may be beneficial.”
Mayor Richard Ireland agreed that it could be beneficial to council and the community, and suggested it might be an idea to partner with the councils in Canmore and Banff for such a workshop, since the three municipalities are working together to find alternate sources of revenue for resort municipalities.
Nicole Veerman
[email protected]
