Contrary to what our City Councilors are telling us, the best thing about Spruce Grove is not their financial management of the City’s money, nor all the now unaffordable sports facilities, nor all the forced development and growth justified by the hopes of lower taxes in the future but the best thing we have is what we already have, the things that grow naturally. The images I made this morning in the park are the proof that the best things in Spruce Grove are not forced to grow but ar... [More]

Last night the city budget for next year was announced. And you guessed it. Taxes are indeed going up by 5%, AGAIN! Oh yea and water usage is going up 10%. “Merry” Christmas. But that’s all ok Council promises. We have budgeted funds for the economic development plan so we can bring in more businesses and tax the s*$t out of them and eventually reduce residential taxes. Yeah right, like Spruce Grove is going to become an industrial power house, and taxes will come down in t... [More]

The article regarding the OneHockey tournament feud between the City of Spruce Grove and the Spruce Grove Chamber of Commerce by Naeema Siddiqua in the November 5th 2010 issue of the Spruce Grove Examiner raises a number of questions to this reader. The article states that Mayor Houston called a special council meeting on Monday November 1st to clarify the specifics of bringing in the US based for profit OneHockey group in to displace local user groups, to which the Chamber took exception. A... [More]

Dr. Jason Acker was recognized by Spruce Grove City Council on Monday night November 8th 2010 for receiving the Horizon Award from the University of Alberta. Councillors Acker and Baxter presented Dr. Acker with the City of Spruce Grove's Outstanding Achievement Award. The Horizon Award recognizes the outstanding achievements of University of Alberta alumni early in their careers and is presented to graduates who make significant contributions to their local communities and beyond. Dr. Acke... [More]

I have been preaching for years that our banking system is the root of all our evils and here is the best confirmation of these thoughts yet.

Congratulations to the elected. Shame on the “voters”. Monday October 25th was the inaugural meeting of the newly elected Spruce Grove Council. I would like to congratulate the winning candidates on their victories in the municipal election in Spruce Grove on October 18th. I would like to wish, Louise Baxter, Searle Turton, Bill Kesenko, Wayne Rothe, Bill Steinberg and Jeff Acker all the best for the next three years. Having said all that I cannot ignore the fact that voter tur... [More]

Here is a terrific argument for an economy that is not based on creating wealth through debt.

That this past year City Council voted to let Doug Lagore (cit manager) borrow up to $5 million dollars on behalf of the citizens for any reason without having to inform the Mayor or Council? That they passed a Bylaw that prohibits the public of recording the “Open Council” meetings because they were afraid that they might be made fun of? The city borrowed almost $9 Million dollars to buy land for the Gateway Towne Centre and ultimately leaving us on the hook for it if the projec... [More]

Here are the links to the audio files from the Spruce Grove Candidate Forum held on Tuesday October 13th 2010 sponsored by the Spruce Grove and District Chamber of Commerce. The original recording has been split into segments so as to make for faster downloads. The segments are in order from first to last as presented at the forum. Please note that the question audio files are large and may take a few minutes to load Introduction - Moderator Tyler Perozni Forum Rules and Candidate introduct... [More]

Yes, its election time. I was over to the candidate forum at the Horizon Stage last night hosted by the Spruce Grove Chamber of Commerce. I even asked a question. But lo, the incumbents still did not get it excepting maybe one, well kind of. It seems they are unable to hear properly or something, as their answers did not address the question. They just repeated what they did. In fact it was the same cookie cutter answer that was given to me last fall by their hired gun (City Manager Doug La... [More]