St. Albert Minute: Issue 131

St. Albert Minute - Your weekly one-minute summary of St. Albert politics

📅 This Week In St. Albert: 📅

• There are no City meetings scheduled in St. Albert this week. The only meeting that had been on the calendar, a Subdivision & Development Appeal Board meeting set for Wednesday at 6:00 pm, has been cancelled. The next scheduled meeting is City Council on Tuesday, October 6th.
  
  
• St. Albert City Council had both of its resolutions approved at the 2026 Alberta Municipalities Convention, held in Edmonton from September 23rd to 25th, meaning Alberta Municipalities will now take both issues to the Government of Alberta. The first asks the Province to work with industry and municipalities to tighten regulatory oversight of door-to-door sales of solar power systems, in line with the protections already in place for other home energy products. The second calls on the Province to review the charitable gaming model, which distributes casino revenues to eligible charities and has remained relatively unchanged since it was introduced in 2003. Based on 2024 figures, St. Albert charities waited 31 months for a turn to host casino fundraising events, with an annualized return of just over $7,000, compared with about 22 months and more than $40,000 for charities in Edmonton. The resolution also points to online gaming revenue through Play Alberta, which grew from $37 million in 2020 to $270 million in 2025, as a reason to update the model. Mayor Scott Olivieri called on the Government of Alberta to consider implementing the requested changes.
  
  
• Rob Van Hecke is St. Albert's new Fire Chief and Director of Fire and Emergency Medical Services. The appointment was made public through a Facebook post by St. Albert Firefighters Local 2130 on September 16th. Van Hecke joins from Regional Emergency Services in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, where he most recently served as deputy fire chief. The union said it looks forward to building a strong working relationship with the new chief to support its members and continue providing a high level of fire and emergency medical service. 
  
  
• Land developer Landrex is calling on the City to commit to the Northeast Servicing Project, after placing a public advertisement in the St. Albert Gazette's September 10th issue urging the City and its partners to come together on it. Council approved an $88-million borrowing bylaw for the project in July, the largest in the city's history, but a $28.1-million federal grant through the Build Canada Strong Fund has yet to be approved by the Province. Chief Administrative Officer Bill Fletcher told Council that Administration expects more information on the grant once the Legislature returns in October. Landrex Vice-President of Operations Mike Yochim pointed to past decisions where Council and City staff split on the northeast, including a 2025 rezoning for a school site that staff opposed over the lack of servicing, and said the company wants "more of a united front from the city". Yochim said Landrex is now awaiting a tribunal decision on its appeal of the City's refusal of a subdivision for that school site. 
  
  
• The City's Public Art Bus Tour made its fourth and final trip of the season. The free tour was new this year and was led by Art Gallery of St. Albert curator Emily Baker, with six stops where passengers could get off the bus to see the artwork up close. Along with St. Albert Place, the route took in Garden Nature Park, Rotary Park, the BMX track, the Mike Mitchell Recycling Depot, and Element Park. The bus itself is part of the public art collection, wrapped in artwork by Linda Wright. Baker said the response to the earlier tours, one in May and two in July, surprised her.

🚨 This Week’s Action Item: 🚨

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