RCMP college in Fort MacLeod was a great idea until Wildrose won the riding

[Resolute 14]

Ditto a seniors care facility in another Wildrose riding. Our corrupt government strikes again... and again... and again.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Br...660/story.html

The government claims that police chiefs told them it would be underutilized. One would have thought the PCs would have gotten that info at some point over the six years this has been planned. Convenient that these objections suddenly appear after the election. Fort MacLeod is considering legal options.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Fo...529/story.html

[Traditional_Ale]

Alison Redford kinda reminds me of Judge Judy. Except I'd rather have Judge Judy in charge.

[Bigtime]

It sure looks bad, but what about the two police chiefs (Calgary and Edmonton) saying they have no use for the facility?

[MarchHare]

Excuse my ignorance, but shouldn't construction of RCMP training facilities fall under the jurisdiction of the federal government? Why was the province involved in this at all?

[mykalberta]

Was it an RCMP college? I thought it was an Alberta only initiative for training their own sherrifs etc that would eventually replace the RCMP ?

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

It sure looks bad, but what about the two police chiefs (Calgary and Edmonton) saying they have no use for the facility?

Both major municipal Police Chiefs and the RCMP Division commander didnt want it.

The province received support for kiboshing the college from Calgary police Chief Rick Hanson, Edmonton's Chief Rod Knecht and RCMP K Division Commander Dale McGowan.

Hanson told reporters in Calgary he was "relieved" with the government's decision and said the college was never a "police-driven initiative."

Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Fo...#ixzz2530SIdlC

To me this says it was initially a political decision that wasnt really thought through all that well.

[Rathji]

Government cuts new facilities, saving money.

Party who lost election is mad, because they would have done the same thing, since an underutilized facility would certainly qualify as 'inefficiencies", right?

I assume nothing else has been cut since the election, other than this?

[longsuffering]

If the Tories had gone ahead with the project, they would have been accused of building a white elephant and wasting taxpayers money.

There's no winning with the Wildrose. Every dollar the Redford government spends is wasted and every dollar it cuts is a travesty.

[Mean Mr. Mustard]

Could it be that the provincial government decided that the building of a new police college (whatever that is) at the current time with natural gas revenues being what they are was not economically benificial.

Personally I look at the need for a police college with a great degree of scepticism especially at a price tag of 120 million dollars... a number roughly twice as high as when it was first announced.

[jar_e]

Wasn't an RCMP college, just an alberta police officer's college where the dream goal was to amalgamate all the forces and such with their training.

Only way it would be viable and smart would be if Alberta ever went to a provincial police force, which it probably never will.

[Muta]

You bet it is political. On a related note, I worked on this project, and the budget rose from $90 something million to $122 million after the 'preferred team' was selected. The winning team originally was awarded it in 2005, and then it was re-released in a new competition in 2011. Damn government goes through their selection processes, wasting everybody else's time and money in the process knowing full well who they want from the start.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Well if it looks like a waste of money and it sounds like a waste of money....Of course the PCs lose either way with the Wildrose, either they're petty, vindictive jerks who decided to screw a riding that dared to vote against them or they're wasteful spenders. If both Chiefs and the RCMP say its a waste and that the money can be better spent, they probably know more about the situation than we do. There are more vital projects than this I'd assume.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Mean Mr. Mustard

Could it be that the provincial government decided that the building of a new police college (whatever that is) at the current time with natural gas revenues being what they are was not economically benificial.

You would think they would have made that cut in February with the budget instead of allocating nearly $20 million towards the project, eh?

While it is possible the government made the right decision for the wrong reason, it is still that wrong reason that is concerning.

[First Lady]

This is a quote from less than 60 days ago.

After six years of promises, planning and politics the provincial government has awarded the construction contract for a police training college in southern Alberta.
Bird Construction has been selected to build the $122-million college in Fort Macleod, with work to begin this summer and finish by August 2014.

Source

The construction site office and related temp infrastructure went in this month and now they they pull the plug... this doesn't make sense.

[TurdFerguson]

Originally Posted by Muta

You bet it is political. On a related note, I worked on this project, and the budget rose from $90 something million to $122 million after the 'preferred team' was selected. The winning team originally was awarded it in 2005, and then it was re-released in a new competition in 2011. Damn government goes through their selection processes, wasting everybody else's time and money in the process knowing full well who they want from the start.

Pretty much my experience with government (provincial and federal) tenders in general. They are required to be an open process but the bid process, more often then not, seem to be just a formality. It is pretty common to have vendors actually helping to shape the tender itself.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

You would think they would have made that cut in February with the budget instead of allocating nearly $20 million towards the project, eh?

While it is possible the government made the right decision for the wrong reason, it is still that wrong reason that is concerning.

Originally Posted by First Lady

This is a quote from less than 60 days ago.



Source

The construction site office and related temp infrastructure went in this month and now they they pull the plug... this doesn't make sense.

So just to confirm, you guys are onboard saying that the Wildrose wouldn't have cut the college, right?

[First Lady]

Originally Posted by Slava

So just to confirm, you guys are onboard saying that the Wildrose wouldn't have cut the college, right?

You know neither of us speak for the party.

But I don't recall the Wildrose saying the would pull the plug on a project that has been in the works for well over 10 years. And I certainly can't see them (or any other party) scraping something less than 60 days after a contract was awarded; where we the prime contractor has already built their site office and is in process of hiring staff specific to this job.

[RedMileDJ]

So if I'm reading these articles right, the PCs are being bullies and closing things down, and canceling projects, in Wild Rose ridings? That's what it sounds like to me.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by First Lady

You know neither of us speak for the party.

But I don't recall the Wildrose saying the would pull the plug on a project that has been in the works for well over 10 years. And I certainly can't see them (or any other party) scraping something less than 60 days after a contract was awarded; where we the prime contractor has already built their site office and is in process of hiring staff specific to this job.

Well all I know is that if the Wildrose would do the exact same thing in this situation then its a moot point. I like the attempt to trot out a "we would do the same thing but for a better reason" line, but at the end of the day it doesn't matter. The Wildrose would be doing the same, and no they wouldn't be any closer than the PCs to balancing the budget.

[Traditional_Ale]

Originally Posted by Red-Mile-DJ

So if I'm reading these articles right, the PCs are being bullies and closing things down, and canceling projects, in Wild Rose ridings? That's what it sounds like to me.

Pretty much. Alison's Wonderland, and she's the Queen.

Anything to keep everyone sucking the golden teat of the status-quo and never dare think otherwise. Precious precious status-quo....mmmm....like another blissful day in the womb. Hey what's that light down there!?