Opinion
See Lethbridge and Red Deer’s Opposing Growth Patterns By Looking at Henderson and Hazlett Lakes
Lethbridge maintains positive growth while Red Deer is experiencing negative growth. Why?
My favourite examples are Red Deer’s Hazlett Lake and Lethbridge’s Henderson Lake.
Lethbridge and Red Deer have similar size population in the same province. Lethbridge is the 5th fastest growing city in Canada and grew by almost 2% per year, while Red Deer shrank by 1% last year.
Lethbridge took a man made slough and turned it into a multi-faceted tourist attraction, while Red Deer will turn a lake into a residential subdivision.
So why I am I suggesting Lethbridge turned lead into gold and Red Deer might be turning gold into lead. Let us look at what Lethbridge did with a man-made slough then look at what Red Deer will do with a lake.
Henderson Lake Park Henderson Lake Park is one of Lethbridge’s premier parks featuring a 24 hectare (59 acre)man made lake, mature trees and groves, gardens, picnic shelters, playgrounds and over 7 km of trails.
The Park is home to numerous annual community celebrations including Canada Day Festivities, the Lethbridge Rotary Dragon Boat Festival and many community runs and walks. Whether you’re a family with small children, an exercise or sports enthusiast, a non-motorized boating enthusiast, a fisherman, a horticulturists, or someone simply looking to get out for a walk this park is definitely for you.
The lake is perfect for kayaks, canoes and paddle boats alike and provides easy access to the water via the boat launch and dock. The dock is often used by fishermen looking to catch Pike, Perch or Whitefish (provincial fishing regulations apply).
For the nature, exercise, and history enthusiasts there is a 2.5 km trail around the lake and another 4.3 km trail around the perimeter of the park providing ample opportunity for one to stretch their legs, check out all of the local wildlife, or view the commemorative and historical markers and displays located throughout the park. There is also plenty of open space in the park which is often used for ultimate frisbee. There are also great little areas for you to put down a blanket and enjoy a good book, have a picnic or simply relax and watch the world as it goes by.
For families with children Henderson Lake Park has three playgrounds: one located on the north side of the Park just off Parkside Drive, one at the end of the park, and the third located behind the Henderson Lake Pool. The playgrounds feature climbing apparatus, slides and swings. The playground on the north side of the park near the dock is completely accessible. After the kids are done playing families can enjoy a picnic at one of the many picnic tables located throughout the park, or for something more formal one can book a covered picnic shelter.
Henderson Park is also home to the Demonstration and Rose Gardens. The Rose Garden is located in the northwest corner of the park and commemorates 9/11. The Demonstration Gardens are located east of the Tennis Courts and celebrates the contributions of Communities in Bloom to the Community.
Henderson Park is surrounded by a multitude of facilities like the SLP Skate Park, Henderson Horseshoe Pits, the Henderson Lake Golf Course, the Henderson Outdoor Pool, Spitz Stadium, Henderson Park Ice Centre, Henderson Tennis Courts and Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden.
Henderson Park has something to offer absolutely everyone and there isn’t a day where you won’t see families, exercise enthusiasts, seniors, people out exercising their dogs, fishermen, boaters, golfers, and just about everyone else under the sun out enjoying this wonderful park. From the photographic opportunities to the areas for quiet solitude and reflection to the exuberant playgrounds, to the trail system that is linked to the rest of the south side, this park is sure to meet everyone’s needs.
Hazlett Lake Park?
Remember, Hazlett Lake is a natural lake that covers a surface area of 0.45 km2 (0.17 mi2), has an average depth of 3 meters (10 feet). Hazlett Lake has a total shore line of 4 kilometers (2 miles). It is 44 Ha. (108.8 acres) in size. Located in the north-west sector of Red Deer.
Currently on the NADG.com website we will see a residential community around Hazlett Lake. Encompassing about 12 percent of the land north of 11A currently up for development. Phase I will be home to 5,000 residents with the nearest high school on the other side of city on the east end. A K-8 school site to be located north-east of Hazlett Lake currently planned for a later phase.
On nadg.com:
“Hazlett Lake is a 350-acre master planned residential community located in North Red Deer at the intersection of Alberta’s busiest Highway -QE2 and Highway 11A. The community will consist of over 2000 new residential units and will be Phase 1 of Red Deer’s North of 11A Major Area Structural Plan. Additionally, this development will be the first new housing project in North Red Deer in 10 years”
Red Deer also wants to build an Aquatic Centre, and the current plan is to demolish the downtown rec centre and build it there. The Collicutt Centre was built in the south east corner of Red Deer, helped to kick start development. Why not build the Aquatic Centre in the north west corner, kick starting development and build it on Hazlett Lake and create a tourist industry?
An Aquatic Centre on a lake, ludicrous right? A tourist destination highly visible to one of the busiest highways in Canada, insane right? 2 miles of shoreline may have room for a beach, impossible right? The current plans in Red Deer indicates some trails, a small community building with some historical placards, possibly a bathroom and a playground.
Not quite Henderson Lake Park, tourist attraction, is it?
To me Red Deer has a gold mine of an opportunity that will be ignored at the expense of the citizens of Red Deer. Do you agree?
Daily Caller
New York City Reportedly Seeking 14,000 Hotel Rooms For Migrants, To Spend Over $2 Billion As Crisis Rages On
From the Daily Caller News Foundation
“The taxpayers can’t pay for this indefinitely” …
Spending on migrant services for the next three years will reach a total of $5.76 billion… The average cost to house illegal migrants per room is $352 per night.
New York City officials are reportedly looking to keep thousands of hotel rooms available for illegal migrants as the crisis in the Big Apple rages on, according to the New York Post.
The city’s Department of Homeless Services is seeking a contract with local hotels to provide roughly 14,000 rooms in order to shelter migrants through 2025, according to a report from the New York Post. The city anticipates spending on migrants in need of housing for the current fiscal year and the past two years combined will surpass $2.3 billion, with a significant amount of these costs going toward hotel rent.
“The taxpayers can’t pay for this indefinitely,” Nicole Gelinas, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute think tank, said to the Post. “We should stop using hotels as shelters by the end of the year.”
Spending on migrant services for the next three years will reach a total of $5.76 billion, with around 150 hotels currently sheltering migrants, according to the Post. The average cost to house illegal migrants per room is $352 per night.
A spokesperson for New York City’s Department of Homeless Services did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Well over 200,000 migrants have overwhelmed New York City since the spring of 2022, according to city officials. The influx of illegal migrants forced Mayor Eric Adams to declare 5% budget cuts in September 2023 for government programs and services in order to pay for their housing and other services, and in August of that year he said the city was reaching a “breaking point” from the sheer volume of migrants.
Spending on migrant housing forced city leaders to cut back on how long people could remain in the shelter system. Adams had said that the city’s right-to-shelter laws were never intended for large-scale migrant populations.
Migrants living in city shelters were ordered to leave after 30 days with no ability to reapply, although some exceptions for medical conditions or “extenuating circumstances” were made, per a decree from the mayor in March. Migrants under the age of 23 were given 60 days to remain in the shelter system, and other exceptions were made for migrant families.
“This issue will destroy New York City,” Adams said during a September 2023 town hall. “Every community in this city is going to be impacted. We have a $12 billion deficit that we’re going to have to cut – every service in this city is going to be impacted.”
When addressing the public last month after being indicted on alleged bribery charges, Adams claimed he had been targeted by the Justice Department ever since he began speaking out about the city’s immigration crisis.
New York City has several sanctuary laws in place that restrict how federal immigration authorities can cooperate with local law enforcement. While some moderate lawmakers have attempted to roll back these laws in the wake of numerous high-profile incidents involving illegal migrants, those efforts have so far fallen flat with the City Council.
From the Fraser Institute
Approximately three years have passed since the end of the initial phase of the COVID pandemic that saw large swathes of the economy shuttered for most of the 2020-2021 period. And it’s almost nine years since the 2015 federal election, which resulted in a majority government for Justin Trudeau’s Liberals. So, it’s a good time to do a pulse check on Canadians to see how they’re faring and feeling about the country.
Overall, the news isn’t particularly cheerful, on either front.
Dealing first with economic prosperity, the big story is that Canada’s population has been growing faster than the volume of output produced by the economy (defined as gross domestic product, adjusted for inflation). This means the economy has been shrinking on a per-person basis, prompting some analysts to coin the term “per-person recession” to describe the performance of Canada’s economy since 2022.
The trend has been stark in the last two years, but it started earlier. The absolute level of per-person output is smaller today than in 2018 in seven of 10 provinces including Ontario. More importantly, income and earnings growth has been essentially stagnant for most Canadians over roughly the last decade. Canada has also fallen further behind the best-performing advanced economies on productivity, per-person income and real wages.
What about public attitudes? A recent Ipsos survey finds 70 per cent of Canadians think the country is “broken,” an opinion especially common among young adults. Older Canadians have a more positive view of things. A Statistics Canada survey shows a significant drop in the percentage of Canadians reporting high levels of “life satisfaction.” The same survey shows that 40 per cent of respondents between the ages of 25 and 54 say it’s difficult to meet their financial needs.
The shock delivered by the recent bout of high inflation no doubt has contributed to this gloomy assessment. And it doesn’t help the public mood that housing has never been less affordable, that crime is on the rise, and that basic health-care services are harder to access than they were five or 10 years ago.
Other data paint a more nuanced picture of how Canada is doing. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)—a collection of mostly rich countries—publishes a “Better Life Index,” which aims to gauge overall citizen wellbeing. In the most recent iteration of the Index, Canada beats the OECD average on income, employment levels, education attainment, life expectancy at birth, and environmental quality, among other indicators. Our relative ranking has slipped in some areas—a worrisome sign—but overall, Canada puts up a decent score.
Still, stagnant real incomes and an economy that’s expanding more slowly than the population is not an ideal place to land. To do better, Canada will need at least a few years of stronger per-person economic growth. This will require a turnaround in our notably lacklustre productivity record and a sustained pick-up in business investment. Revisiting the federal government’s ambitious immigration targets may also be necessary, as Trudeau government ministers have publicly (albeit somewhat sheepishly) acknowledged.
Getting the economic fundamentals right is essential to making progress on most economic and social indicators. As the OECD notes, “while money may not buy happiness, it is an important means to achieving higher living standards and thus greater well-being.”
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