Mackenzie County held a special council meeting this afternoon to discuss splitting up the county.
The discussion quickly became heated when Ward 10 leader Lisa Wardley brought up her concerns on county funding going to those that are in bigger centres South of the River.
Wardley aired her concerns on the county being to large to support the needs of all the people in the area.
“It should not take you three hours to get from one end of your county to the other”
It was brought up that if the council could agree on a border to split up the county, Municipal Affairs may agree with the suggestion.
One of the suggestions was splitting the county along the Peace River.
Ward 7 leader Cameron Cardinal stated his concern that it could leave Fort Vermilion on the South side, when he feels most of his members would prefer being part of the North.
Finding consensus on how to proceed was a struggle.
It was brought up that this was an issue 20 years ago, and it still is today.
A petition from 2019 to form a new municipality was shown:
The council was told that the petition would be considered this Fall after Municipal Elections.
The meeting ended with a request to ask the Minister of Municipal Affairs to look at the potential of creating a boundary to split Mackenzie County, and that it include a larger area than just Ward 9 & 10.
-Damien Gnass, Trending 55
