Some Cold Lake base staff forced to take second jobs
Military salaries unable to cope with rising costs: ombudsman
OTTAWA — Junior members of the military at the airbase in Cold Lake have to take second jobs to make ends meet, says a new report from the military ombudsman.
Pierre Daigle investigated the sky-high cost of living in the resource-rich region of Alberta after complaints from people posted to 4 Wing, a major jetfighter base.
“I was surprised,” Daigle said in an interview Tuesday.
Some families are struggling to pay bills by selling off possessions, and go to great lengths to keep their children in extracurricular activities.
The mostly non-commissioned members aren’t trying to get ahead — they need the extra income to survive, said Daigle.
“They are just trying to keep what they have, and what they have built up over their lifetimes,” he said.
The cost of living at Cold Lake has soared in recent years, driven by the oil and gas industry, the report found.
As many as a third of the members of one squadron have had to take second jobs. The investigation also found that some air force members choose to retire rather than accept a posting at the base.
The finding should alarm military brass because it affects operational effectiveness and getting the right people in the jobs, Daigle said.
National Defence needs to grapple with losing highly skilled technicians and senior non-commissioned officers lured to work on oil rigs, says the report.
“You don’t replace those senior folks overnight,” Daigle said.
The problem is no surprise to the town’s mayor, Craig Copeland, who says many businesses in the city depend on the part-time labour pool created by military members.
Copeland suggested the numbers in the ombudsman report may even understate the problem.
“To be honest with you, I thought they were low. Boy, if it wasn’t for the military members, a number of our business people would be really hurting for staff,” he said in an interview.
Daigle says there’s little offbase accommodation available, and rent for military housing at Cold Lake is double that charged at major air bases in Greenwood, N.S., and Bagotville, Que.
He recommends National Defence re-examine a posting allowance that reflects economic conditions around the base.
“Let us give you that amenity that brings the value up and brings the people down and gives us the quality of life that we all want.”
The water will be just under a metre deep, providing a beautiful view in the summer, and a place for skating, curling and festivals in the winter.
But why a canal? Why not just build a better, riverside walking path, one that follows the edge of the river itself?
The North Saskatchewan’s flow is controlled by dams upriver, so it’s not as treacherous as Calgary’s Bow and Elbow, Rolingher says, but it’s still unpredictable, the banks always shifting, small floods occurring, the current dangerous. To harden the river’s edge and build a walkway would be extremely costly. “You can’t do anything on this riverbank,” Rolingher says. “It’s unstable, it’s slippery, it’s muddy.”
Instead, he says, a canal is the way to go, as cities such as San Antonio and Oklahoma City have found. They’ve both built canals that have become popular tourist destinations.
For more than a decade, Rolingher led the River Valley Alliance to come up with a plan and find $112 million in funding to greatly expand the trail and bridge system. The funding came from various levels of government.
But to get the canal project moving, Rolingher sees private money as the key. Private benefactors will front the $50 million to build the canal. The sale of the city’s land will eventually repay the $50 million.
Rolingher’s group is working with city managers on the project. To proceed, city council will have to rezone parts of Rossdale to allow for a canal.
It’s all about giving Edmontonians what they yearn for, Rolingher says, more access to their most cherished place. “They want to be by the water.”
A second leg of the canal would eventually be built to flow east, hooking up with the river past the James Macdonald Bridge.
This canal walkway will become part of a downtown promenade, an enticing, interesting stretch for us and for visitors to go for a walk, from Winston Churchill Square, down through the Shaw Conference Centre to the water’s edge, along the canal through Rossdale, up a funicular on 104th Street, along cool 104th Street toward the arena district, past the new “Oil Dome” arena, then through the arena district along 103rd Avenue and back to City Hall.
At long last, downtown will have the right amenities and pedestrian links to become a thriving people place. At the same time, city council’s difficult problem on how to proceed with revitalizing the Rossdale Power Plant will be easier to solve. A bustling Canal Street will bring street traffic and customers much nearer to the isolated power plant site, giving a boost to any businesses or amenities built there.
“We’ve got to do something today to develop the city with the quality of life that we want now,” Rolingher says.
“That’s what drives me with this. As a committed Edmontonian, we don’t want to see people say, ‘I’m not going to come to that city because it’s in the middle of nowhere.’
“With that all in mind, what can we do? Well, we have an opportunity.” Yes, we do. Visionaries like Rolingher have created the blueprint for the downtown this city needs and craves. If he can also come up with the $50 million, the canal will be a great and affordable amenity for Edmonton.