On Monday September 12th the City of Leduc Community Report was approved by council. This report is a valuable report to understand what took place in the City of Leduc in 2010. The report highlights key achievements, and departmental activities.

Topping the reports achievements is the implementation of the C-line inter-municipal Public Transit System. On November 1st the C-line will celebrate it's first anniversary. This project has made our community more inclusive by offering an alternative way to the single occupancy vehicle to get around the region.

Other major achievment include: New housing starts - valued at over $111 Million, Multi-way and new parks, Facilities - new Operations Facility that will allow our Public Services staff greater capacity to service a growing City, and Planning - Major plans were undertaken in 2010 such as the MDP and Downtown Plan.

Some other interesting statistics from the report: In 2010, there was over 94 thousand visits to the Public Library. 9 solar powered crosswalk signs have made our community more green and safe. And Emergency Services responded to over 2 thousand calls, just to name a few.

Please take a look at the report to find out what the City does with hard urned tax dollars.    

It's been a while since I've last had the opportunity to post on my website. Yes! I have been keeping very busy.

In April I had run for the PC Nomination in the new Provincial Constituency of Leduc-Beaumont. I came short loosing by just 7%. However, the experience was incredible. As in any good campaign, I had the opportunity to discuss many issues that are important to people. It was a great chance to hear concerns from constituents at the provincial level of government. Everything from economic development, education, healthcare, social services, and of course taxes. My experience will help me be a stronger advocate for the issues of the Citizens of Leduc and I thank all of you for allowing me this opportunity. I congratulate Mr. George Rogers and look forward to continuing working together.

The other major task that I've been working on since before being elected in 2007 was my university education at the U of Alberta. I'm very happy to have completed my double major in Political Science and History this summer.

My goal from the beginning of university was to learn how to become an effective political leader. The combination of university and application, through my work with the city, I think have helped me along my goal. However, I think this is a journey that will continue for a long time to come. I would like to thank the many professors and fellow students who have helped along the way and also tolerated my many questions.

I titled this post "The Beginning of a New Era" because it truly will be. The experiences gathered from the Nomination and University have sharpened my abilities to most effectively represent citizens. I look forward to the fall and working with my colleagues on council and the citizens of Leduc to address the challenges to come.

Thank you for taking an interest in the future of our region!

My name is Dominic Mishio and I am running to represent the PC Party in the new Leduc-Beaumont constituency. I have been a member of the Progressive Conservative Party for years and I think our party needs to re-energize with fresh ideas to get re-connected with Albertans.

In my work with City Council and in the business community, I have brought a results oriented approach and I pledge the same dedication to achieving results for the Leduc Beaumont constituency.

Our region has growing communities with citizens of all ages and diverse needs. I will work to bring our region the schools & infrastructure we desperately need, and protect and sustain our healthcare system. I will also do everything I can to put forward environmental policies that will support jobs while protecting our environment.

Our constituency is home to the International Airport, one of North America's largest industrial parks, and rich agricultural land as economic generators. Leduc-Beaumont needs to take its proper place as a key region in Alberta's future.

Join our Team!!! I want to work with the people of this constituency to find collaborative solutions. Lend me your support so I can work hard for YOU to bring the Leduc-Beaumont constituency into the future.

"Dominic understands the priority Albertans place on access to quality healthcare. He also supports the need to focus on wellness programs that will help us ensure our healthcare system remains sustainable"

Beth Holland Retired Beaumont Community Health Nurse and Birth Doula

"Dominic is the type of representative I want. He has the courage to stand in front of a group and be asked the tough questions and provide thoughtful and realistic responses."

Don Kadatz Farmer & Retired School Teacher

"I have observed Dominic's success and I feel that he is clever and knowledge beyond his years. He delivers on his commitments and has an immense capacity for hard work which I appreciate in people. He gets the job done and does it well."

Del Sveinsson Leduc Business Person – Realtor

"Dominic has a good understanding of what Beaumont requires for it to continue to provide its growing population with an exceptional quality of life."

Maina Kehdy Beaumont Business Owner

"Although still a young man, Dominic is very supportive of the need to look after seniors and advocate for the services we require."

Norman Hartfelder Leduc Senior

"Dominic is definitely a team player who knows that by getting everyone to work together we will get much accomplished."

Aaron Giesinger Hockey Coach, Business Owner and Long-time Leduc Resident

Leduc Foundation's Nancy Lang came to make a presentation to update council on their past and future direction. With a staff of just 70 people, the Foundation is able to provide support services and living services across Leduc County. Housing needs for both seniors and affordable housing residents are provided by this valuable organization. The City of Leduc helps support each living unite with a financial contribution of $1.36/per day per resident. Leduc, Beaumont, and Devon, came to a partnership agreement to maximize funding and build more unites. The City of Leduc is expecting to have "Leduc 1 & 2" (yet to be named) completed by July.

In the future, Leduc Foundation is expecting to increase the amount of support services, such as linking clients to other assistance organizations.

This year the Federal Census will also be taking place along side our City of Leduc Census. We wanted to combine the two, but as this is a "1 Year", it will be a more extensive census. Every year that ends in 1 (1991, 2001, 2011) are years that the census is more extensive. Because the City has many grants that are based on accurate population numbers, we have decided to go ahead with our municipal census because the results are produced far quicker.

The City of Leduc has partnered with the City of Fort Saskatchewan to jointly conduct a revision of our Land Use Bylaws. Because efficiencies can be met by looking at issues that we both face, and only pay once, there will be cost saving also.  We were also able to capitalize on some grant dollars for municipal cooperation.

Mayor Krischke will be taking a two moth leave of absence to battle prostate cancer. The mayor has such a wonderful reputation that he is using his profile to raise awareness of this type of cancer that affects so many. I wish him the quickest and best recovery. Get'em Greg!!!

Well its great to have a moment to post comments on my website again!!

I have been amazed with the response to the smoking in vehicles bylaw. Although there are some who do not agree with the bylaw's validity, the majority of the people who have responded, applaud the leadership demonstrated by our Council.

I feel that I must address the two major concerns that I hear from people who disagree with this bylaw. First, the limitation of individual rights. The first thing that I must say to this is: consider the right that has been restricted. What we have decided is that an adult should not smoke in a vehicle with a minor. The right that has been limited is the right to smoke in a vehicle with children present. Do you feel that this is a right you require? There have been many rights that have been restricted that most would agree are not what society would consider "good behaviour". You no longer have the right to a sentence under 5 years if you commit an offence with a firearm. Is this a right you think is required? Liberty is based on individual sovereignty. That is, you have the right to do as you please as long as you do not infringe on the rights of others to live as they please. I believe that this bylaw has increased individual liberty as individual sovereignty has been strengthened.

Second, how will this be enforced?

I agree, it will be difficult to enforce this bylaw until there is provincial legislation. The thing is, I feel that a successful bylaw raises awareness of a circumstance that is not tolerated. It's success should not be measured in number of fines issued or dollars raised. I hope that it becomes common knowledge around our City that smoking in a vehicle with a child is not only inconsiderate, but in the City of Leduc, its now illegal.

Although the smoking bylaw gathered most of the attention from Monday's Council Meeting, we also passed our in-term budget. I had great difficulties deciding how to vote on this budget. I feel that we did not have enough of an opportunity to incorporate the things that were heard on the campaign trail. I also had the opportunity to study many practices that are being used around the world to deal with budget concerns, while I was creating my platform. Governments are taking an internal look at what can be accomplished in a given year. There is no need to be over ambitious and allocate dollars to projects that we could never actually get to. They are also looking at utilizing technology to gather the greatest efficiencies. I will be looking to make sure that we discuss some of these things before we pass our real budget in the spring.

At the beginning of every Council meeting, there is an opportunity to make public comments. At this meeting, a gentleman took the chance to address his concern regarding the changes that Minister of Education Dave Hancock is making regarding students with learning difficulties. The Provinces is wanting to integrate people with learning difficulties into regular classrooms. Now, this is not a municipal issue, but he simply wanted Council to be informed when we  have the chance to speak with MLA's. I really appreciate citizens who bring these issues to our knowledge. Its important to use all avenues possible to bring concerns forward.

Reg Milley, the CEO of Edmonton International Airports and Chairman of Port Alberta, came to speak about Port Alberta. I was very pleased to have this opportunity to ask Mr. Milley some questions. I have had concerns regarding Port Alberta. It has been a popular tag-line for the past few years but has seen, in my opinion, little progress. Port Alberta is known as an Inter model transportation hub. It is supposed to help facilitate business in the capital region. The question that I had, and have been pondoring for some time, is what sort of business would benefit from Port Alberta. Mr. Milley suggest that it can help with shipping logistics and better competitiveness for manufactures. Alberta is always challenged when it comes to manufacturing. There are 3 main issues that need to be resolved for manufacturing to work. First, access to markets. Alberta is in a low population area. We have to ship most of our good to larger markets. Second, cheap labour. If you have been living in our province for the past few years, you may know that when the oil field is active, even workers at McDonald's are going to make over average wages. Finally, expertise. This is something we do have going for us in Alberta. We have become experts in oil & gas and I hope energy in general. This is what we will need to capitalise on to help something like this get going. I'm Still a skeptic as to the feasibility of Port Alberta, but Mr. Milley did a good job answering my questions.

Inspector Jackson came to council to bring good news. The province has provided 2 more RCMP members to the Leduc detachment. This was a part of the Premiers election promise to add 300 new officers.

Black Gold Broadcasting also presented to Council and asked for a letter of support for there case to add a new FM radio station in Leduc. I will definitely support this and hope that other in the community will support this radio initiative also.

Alderman Young brought forward a motion to add $112,000 to sod soccer fields in Lede Park. I voted against this motion as I felt that this project has had it's scope change already twice to add more money to it. I would have preferred this to go through the regular budget process. We started with a project that just included irrigation we then expand the amount of irrigation and field improvements such as trees. I felt that if Parks determined that sod was the better way to go, they would have suggest this in the original project. The motion was passed and the funds will come from the Parks Reserve. I have issues with this also, as the Parks Reserve doesn't fund more that 5% of Parks liability.