Chris Clegg
To say the sale of the land where the old hospital was located in High Prairie has caused quite a stir recently would be an understatement. The angry people attending council’s Feb. 13 can attest to that.
South Peace News continues to dig into this story to arrive at the total truth. What has come up recently is very, very interesting.
And no one is talking.
The only record this newspaper has of the land being turned over to the Government of Alberta is in a May 21, 1969 story on Page 3 entitled “Sisters to withdraw” which states, “At a special meeting of the hospital advisory board, the Sisters of Charity of Providence of High Prairie and the Hospital Advisory Board have announced that a formal decision has been made to withdraw from ownership of the Providence Hospital. Full details were not released, however, solicitors for the Order have commenced negotiations with the government.”
A second story was never published but it clearly indicates transfer to the provincial government.
Also being revealed recently is that the site where the old hospital stood was in fact part of three parcels, not one. First was the original property. Later, two additional parcels of land were purchased by the provincial government to the north and to the northeast, where J.B. Wood Continuing Care was built. The land was purchased for expanding the hospital and building of J.B. Wood.
In April 2023, the provincial government offered the entire parcel of land to the Town of High Prairie for $148,000. Why such an odd figure? Why not $50,000 or $100,00 or $200,000? A nice round figure. Makes you wonder.
Alberta Health Services has been asked how they arrived at the figure. High Prairie town council screams “negotiations” every time you ask them a question much to the chagrin of the public. If they know the reason they are not saying.
It is not a reach to speculate the $148,000 figure was in part or entirely the price the Alberta government paid for the two additional properties.
Why is this important? Because town council said they should get the land for free. Most agreed.
But there exists the possibility that the land was being offered for free and the $148,000 was in fact the government’s effort to recoup their money for purchasing the two other properties, plus inflation. Even if this was not a “possibility” the Alberta government fell into a pile of manure and came out smelling like a rose because this is exactly what happened.
South Peace News wonders if anyone brought up this possibility during debate behind closed doors at the town office. Had this information been made public, perhaps the few people opposed to the purchase based on the fact it should be “donated” would change their minds.
The problem with all this? Both the Government of Alberta and High Prairie town council decided the people didn’t need to know about any of this and did their business behind closed doors.
An argument can be made the land offer to town council was a lot closer to free than any of us