After months of waiting, the community of Hanna received some support as they face a future without coal.
Community Action to Create Diversification, on Monday, received a grant of $450,000 from the Alberta Government to create Community Action teams. This is a partnership among the Town of Hanna, residents, local business leaders and economic development experts to attract investment and create new jobs for local economic diversification, according to a press release.
“The Town of Hanna has a proud history of helping power a prosperous and industrious province. We want that to continue so people here can build a good life for themselves and their families. We know that Canada’s move away from coal has created a lot of uncertainty – that’s why we are working with local leaders and residents to support their made-in-Hanna plan for a resilient, diversified economy,” said Deron Bilous, Minister of Economic Development and Trade.
Mayor of Hanna, Chris Warwick, says the announcement is a good first step.
“When we did our opportunity study, which we approved earlier this spring, it identified some opportunities we could probably get going on right away, but there is going to be a few costs incurred. So now we can get the community involved, we can hold a town hall meeting and get some of these things in place and working on them right away,” said Warwick.
The Town of Hanna is planning to host community meetings to establish the teams. These teams will be led by the Cactus Corridor Economic Development Corporation, which includes members from the Town of Hanna, the Special Areas Board, the Village of Youngstown and the Hanna Learning Centre. The teams will also collaborate with the Rural Alberta Business Centre in Hanna, which helps more than 65 entrepreneurs and startups in the area each year.
“We accomplish more when we work together, and when it comes to creating new local economic opportunities during this transition, local people know best. Residents here have shared their ideas with our task force, and getting funding for this project means we can make those ideas a reality in various economic sectors of opportunity. Rural communities have always been important to this province, and when our economies do well, Alberta does well,” said Trisha Sewell, economic development officer, Cactus Corridor Economic Development Corporation.
This week Bilous held meetings in coal affected communities to allow those facing the changes to have their voices heard. MLA Rick Strankman attended one of the meetings in Hanna on Sunday night.
He says diversification might come through agriculture.
“I have been trying to lever for other opportunities whether it be irrigation or agricultural development, and that sort of benefit we could bring forward,” he said.
Warwick says the Advisory Panel on Coal communities has yet to file its final report, and he hopes there is more support coming when it makes its recommendations.
“There better be. This is not even close to enough. This is something. We have had a few companies interested in setting up some industry in our region, If we could have a little bit of a competitive advantage it would certainly go a long way to encourage some of these companies to invest here,” said Warwick.
Another factor are the plans of the operators of the facility. While the federal government has set 2029 as the deadline to end coal fired, generation, ATCO has indicated it wished to move the deadline up substantially.
“Until ATCO really comes up with their final plan there is still a lot up in the air,” said Warwick.
The Advisory Panel on Coal Communities is expected to complete its report this fall.

    The Salvation Army is on the move and with a new facility, will be better suited to serve the needs of the community.
 The Drumheller church just purchased the building at 90 Railway Avenue, which most recently housed ATCO Electric’s local offices.
    “It’s been a long time coming, so it is a very exciting time,” said Captain Jennifer Hillier of The Salvation Army.
    The facility is just over 9,300 square feet. With this purchase The Salvation Army is able to bring together its church ministry, community services, including the food bank, and thrift store, all under one roof.
     “It is just one level, so we will be separating the building into different sections. The thrift store operations will be in the front of the building (south side) the other sections of the building will house our community service and Church ministry,” said Hillier.
    Accessibility for the congregation and the users of its services will be met with the new property.
    “Many people know we have been looking for an appropriate space for quite some time. Our current properties have been challenging in many ways for us, so this new space will be accessible, it’s all one level so there are no stairs. We will have the appropriate mechanisms in place to accommodate folks with different abilities, so that is really exciting for us,” said Hillier.
     It will also allow the church to more effectively deliver their programs and even grow.
    “When we think about the long term and the vision for our community services, and programs we have been running, I think it opens up new doors for programs and maybe invite some new people in because of the location and accessibility,” she said.
    There are no firm timelines for the move.  There will be extensive renovations to the facility before they can inhabit the space. Hillier says they anticipate it will be well into 2018 before they are able to move.
    The new space will help create efficiencies.
    “It will be nice to get in there and get established and re-direct more of our resources back into our programming.  That is a key part of the vision, it will enable us to better serve the community,” she said.