SCOTT SCHMIDT
GAZETTE CONTRIBUTOR
Shawn Patience has run out of his last name.

More than four years have now past since Fort Macleod successfully won the bid for the construction of a police college, which has yet to be built, and Mayor Shawn Patience is through with diplomacy. After countless failed attempts with the provincial government to kick-start the project, he is flat out angry.

“We got into this to win, make no mistake,” Patience said. “We put everything we had into it. Other small communities paid more than $200,000 just for a consultant to help with their bids.”

Now, according to Patience, the government not only won’t build the facility, they won’t say why.

Patience said since Fort Macleod won the bid, his council has not been given a single straight answer from anyone, including Premier Ed Stelmach.

“We have been over and over this with the government, with our new MLA, and yet in 2010 we have nothing,” Patience said. “We have become increasingly frustrated with the process.”

When the project was first introduced, it was scheduled to break ground in 2007, no matter where it wound up.

Patience said the government is now saying there isn’t the money for the project but he and his council aren’t buying that.

Patience said the original estimate in 2005 was $50-million, and that grew to $100-million by ’07. In 2010, the estimate is over $250-million and climbing.

Patience said more than enough money was in place in the beginning and the reasons for not starting are personal.

“I firmly believe had Red Deer won the bid, there would be students in there right now,” Patience said. “Understand that by the time the bid request came across my desk, the provincial government had spent six years developing this. They went to 340 communities asking for bids. “The chances of winning were slim-to-none and I guarantee you no one on that board looked at us and thought we were going to win.”

But Fort Macleod did win, and now the community wants their school. And not just because it has cost the town thousands of dollars and hundreds of man-hours, but also because statistics show Alberta is in dire need of more police.

However, what was once a triumphant feeling for Fort Macleod is now one of false hope.

“Last November, we were hearing bad rumblings,” Patience said. “We had just been at a recent convention with ministers of the provincial government and I had some personal discussions with some very high-powered cabinet ministers that were leading me to believe we were in serious jeopardy with this project.”

“We are flabbergasted at that because we did not start this thing. While they have been dilly-dallying, we have invested thousands of dollars in engineering to facilitate the growth we expect.”

“We have a $9.3-million sewage treatment facility almost complete, which was (partially) built to house this project.”

Patience requested a meeting in Edmonton with the finance minister Iris Evans and was blown away by what he learned. It turns out many members of the government think the college was Fort Macleod’s idea all along.

“There are some serious misconceptions about this project,” Patience said. “The feeling we were getting was this was Fort Macleod going to the province saying, ‘Why don’t you do this?’”

“We’re baffled by this strategy, because they were the ones who came to us.”

Patience said the Town of Fort Macleod will continue to do everything possible to ensure Fort Macleod gets the college.

Almost every household in town should have received the brochure drawn up by the council describing the entire process thus far.

A second, similar brochure was made and sent to every MLA in the province and Patience has been appearing on TV, radio and in various newspapers trying to spread the message.

“Our MLA has a significant challenge in front of him,” he said. “Because this community will not, while I’m it’s mayor, and should not ever, despite who’s leading it, give up on this.”

“It was a perfect fit in a perfect place, where it would do the most good. That’s why we won it in the first place.”