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Water Management

Ms Blakeman: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The public needs to trust the government to protect our most precious natural resource, water. However, the Balzac fiasco has brought one thing into the light: that trust was violated. My questions are to the Minister of Environment. The 2006-07 supplementary estimates allocated $8.3 million to support waste-water elements for the entire Balzac project. They specifically mentioned the horse-racing track and the equine centre. Now that only the mall is being built, where is the money?

Mr. Renner: Well, Mr. Speaker, the allocation of funding to various water and waste-water projects throughout this province is not dependent upon what develops in the area but, rather, on the participation of the municipality. So the project is facilitated through a cost-sharing agreement with the municipality, and the development that comes forward is at various paces. I’m sure that this particular development will be fully built over a reasonable period of time.

The Speaker: The hon. member.

Ms Blakeman: Thank you. My next question is to the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development. Given that this money for a horse track and an equine centre came from a program restricted to a confirmed agricultural processing investment, meaning food and beverage processing, and there is no longer any connection to this at all – there’s only a mall left – why have Albertans paid for water treatment for a privately owned mall?

The Speaker: The hon. minister.

Mr. Groeneveld: Well, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Certainly, the agriculture component of this doesn’t relate at all to what the hon. member is talking about. It was the transfer of water to Balzac, which met the criteria at that particular time from the municipality.

The Speaker: The hon. member.

Ms Blakeman: Thank you. Again to the Minister of Environment. Giving a water allocation to a horse racing track and a megamall through a completely unrelated agricultural food processing program is subverting sound water management principles and betraying the public trust. To the minister: how can Albertans trust that you will make proper decisions about our water, based on this past history?

Mr. Renner: Mr. Speaker, I made a commitment at the beginning of this session that I would not allow myself to be baited by inflammatory preambles, and I hold firm to that, but this member is coming very, very close. The fact of the matter is that the water allocation is to the municipality. The municipality of Rocky View is the one that holds the licence. It has nothing whatsoever to do with racetracks or malls. She should ask the municipality of Rocky View what they intend to do with the water that they have on their licence.