City likely to stay in FCM despite delegation asking questions

Mayor Craig Copeland says that city council’s inclusion as members of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities will likely continue, despite a delegation last Tuesday from residents who were asking them to reconsider.

Trevor Schaffrick and Cheryl Michaud were advocating to “Keep Lakeland Politics Local” and are concerned that the FCM has departed from its expressed mandate, advocating for national and international causes.

The main symptom, they say, is that the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) has partnered with the federal government to create the Partners in Climate Protection (PCP) Program, which they say is being disseminated to municipalities through the FCM.

“We elected you because we trust you to make local decisions for us, and we hope that you’re not being pressured to conflate global agendas with local ones. We cannot vote for the United Nations. We can’t vote for ICLEI. We can only vote for you,” Schaffrick said.

They were asking for Cold Lake to pull out of FCM membership.

This follows the tour of Maggie Hope Braun, who recently visited the Lakeland to speak on these similar points.

Mayor Craig Copeland attended that talk in Bonnyville. He says that people have to realize there are a variety of seminars and tours that come along with FCM, and councillors pick what they want to attend.

Plus, the FCM’s support of the City in the recent courtcase victory on the Payment in Lieu of Taxes file, has made their membership a plus.

“It’s interesting because at FCM this past year, it was all about homelessness, crime, meth,” Copeland said on The Morning After. He also responded to Schaffrick during the meeting and said that climate change is one of the last issues the City of Cold Lake is currently dealing with. 

“I understand what the people are concerned about. I totally get it. But FCM has been a partner with us on our fight with the federal government on the payment of lieu at taxes.

“They were instrumental in helping us be a voice in front of the appeals that the judges just ruled in our favor. So having them at the table representing all municipalities across Canada in our fight was instrumental.”

The item can come back at the next council meeting for discussion.

City council meeting (discussion begins at roughly 46:00)