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

[killer_carlson]

If redford's minister hadn't come out two months ago in strong support for the project, the Redford apologists would have more merit.

Instead it reeks of the petty politics it is

[underGRADFlame]

I think promises that were made to Fort McLeod 10 years ago were based on the fact that the Klein government had plans to impliment a Provincal Police. Farmer Ed comes in and torpedoes that plan eliminating any need for the training facility. Edmonton and Calgary never wanted the facility, the smaller municiple forces could have used it but that does not make it cost effective for the province to train the 25-50 or so officers for lethbridge, medicine hat, lacombe and camrose forces.
Funny that people think that this is because the wr got in in that riding... The reason this got axed is because it's unnessisary, expensive and the money could be better spent on other ways of helping fight crime.

Chief Hanson's news conference regarding the cancellisation of the facility.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkzC_rtxkXE&sns=em

[Dion]

Originally Posted by 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.

Why did the govt wait until $2 million was spent on the project before they did a survey of the police chiefs?

[Slava]

Originally Posted by killer_carlson

Yawn....

Fear mongering from a liberal. So cliche

Stick to the facts. Redford is sticking it to ft Macleod. The braid editorial had it right.

So are you saying that the province should build this?

[Dion]

What a waste of tax payers dollars

Denis said about $2 million of preliminary work was already complete when he called the project off after receiving feedback from cops suggesting the facility would be underused, not financially viable and wouldn’t improve the quality of policing in Alberta.

But Shawn Patience, mayor of the town 150 km south of Calgary, said more than half of $7.5-million-worth of service line installations are already done and he also questioned several millions of dollars set already aside for project planning.

“I think this has cost Albertans a lot more than is being made public,” he said.

“The money and time they have wasted is ridiculous and the money and time we’ve wasted is saddening.”

http://www.calgarysun.com/2012/08/30...-macleod-mayor

[killer_carlson]

Originally Posted by Slava

So are you saying that the province should build this?

Are you justifying Denis' flip flop?

[Mean Mr. Mustard]

Originally Posted by killer_carlson

Are you justifying Denis' flip flop?

When did a politician changing their opinion on a subject based upon supposed new information and situations such as budget restraints become a bad thing?

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by Mean Mr. Mustard

When did a politician changing their opinion on a subject based upon supposed new information and situations such as budget restraints become a bad thing?

Do you honestly believe that had the Macleod riding gone PC, they would be cancelling this whole thing after sinking millions into it already?

Come on man.

[Stay Golden]

When the Calgary Chief of Police slammed the project from the beginning and stated it is a complete waste of resources and would have hurt Municipal Police budgets down the road. Thats good enough of an expert opinion for me that it should not have been built and glad that it wasn't.

[SebC]

I think we all agree that the province messed up when they strung Ft. McLeod along, but for me it comes down to this: What, exactly, would the Wildrose do differently now, i.e. what plan do they have that's better and doesn't involve a time machine?

[Dion]

Is anyone keeping track of the broken Redford promises.

[Jacks]

Every time the PC's screw up for the next 4 years I look forward to folks on here saying the WR would have done it too.

Waste of millions of dollars? Well the WR would have done it too.
Total flip flop on a position they held recently? Well the WR would have been worse.
Incompetence? Well, better the devil you know eh!

Originally Posted by SebC

but for me it comes down to this: What, exactly, would the Wildrose do differently now

Who knows? they might have screwed it up.

[octothorp]

Originally Posted by Dion

Is anyone keeping track of the broken Redford promises.

I hope there's a lot of them, because honestly that PC campaign budget was a mess. The more things in that budget that they decide to hold back on, the better.

For me it has nothing to do with what the WR would have done. That's all speculation, just as it's speculation to talk about whether the PCs would have made the decision had they won that riding. Based on everything I've read, cancelling this project seems like the financially prudent thing to do. It's better than keeping election promises that were a bad idea then, and are a worse idea in light of the falling revenues.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by killer_carlson

Are you justifying Denis' flip flop?

I'm not justifying anything. I'm trying to figure out what your position is.

[longsuffering]

Originally Posted by Slava

I'm not justifying anything. I'm trying to figure out what your position is.

You can guess his position and you can expect to hear it a lot when more spending cuts come.

Every dollar the Redford government spends is wasted and every dollar it cuts is a travesty.

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by Slava

I'm not justifying anything. I'm trying to figure out what your position is.

Do you at least admit that IF the riding had gone PC, the chances of them kiboshing a project they had already promised and sunk millions of dollars into, would be less than...well....zero?

[Smartcar]

Originally Posted by transplant99

Do you at least admit that IF the riding had gone PC, the chances of them kiboshing a project they had already promised and sunk millions of dollars into, would be less than...well....zero?

Sure, it would have meant that a cabinet minister with lots of swat would be pitching to keep a white elephant project, likely successfully. Doesn't make it right.

[killer_carlson]

My position?

I think braid had it bang on in the editorial. It's a bit ridiculous to Claim fiscal prudence on a project they had in the budget, promised for years and even went so far to sign contracts two months ago. It has much more to do with politics.

[Robbob]

the right decision in the end but the route taken was questionable. This facility seemed nothing more then a pipe dream on a promise made when everything was sky high in Alberta. In reality it should have been cut before they went out for a second tender on the contract. Stringing things along really hurt a lot of people. I heard that Alberta didn't actually sign a contract with Bird construction yet so at the very least taxpayers will not be on the hook for a large amount (if it is true that no contract was signed). Not that that makes it any better.

[killer_carlson]

Originally Posted by Robbob

the right decision in the end but the route taken was questionable. This facility seemed nothing more then a pipe dream on a promise made when everything was sky high in Alberta. In reality it should have been cut before they went out for a second tender on the contract. Stringing things along really hurt a lot of people. I heard that Alberta didn't actually sign a contract with Bird construction yet so at the very least taxpayers will not be on the hook for a large amount (if it is true that no contract was signed). Not that that makes it any better.

Again, if this was about fiscal conservatism then the project wouldn't have been in the cards back in February, before the election. The wr ridings are the first to be cut, rather than say terminating evan berger's contract (to start).