On Tuesday evening, members of Strathmore town council had the chance to participate in a conference call with the Premier after Premier Jason Kenney addressed the province.

Mayors, councillors and Chief Administrative Officers were invited to join the call and ask COVID19 related questions of provincial ministers, and Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw.

The meeting was attended by Strathmore’s Mayor Pat Fule and councillor Bob Sobol.

It was a roughly 90-minute meeting, and participants got to speak to the Premier and various ministers.

The town hall meeting lasted for roughly 90 minutes and was aimed at keeping municipalities up to date on the COVID19 health crisis. It was also a chance of municipalities to ask questions.

It revealed that after a redrawing of the boundaries for Wheatland County and other municipalities on the Alberta Health Services COVID-19 geospatial map, Strathmore only has one case of the virus, and there is one case of COVID19 where someone has recovered in the region now called Wheatland County.

Rocky View County has 26 cases with 17 individuals who have recovered.

Mayor Fule was able to ask Hinshaw about the change made to the map.

Hinshaw explained that they were responding to concerns that the original areas in question were too large, so the province changed the boundaries for cases to fit more with where they were in regards to their boundaries.

Previously Strathmore was considered an area that encompassed pieces of the town, Wheatland County and Rocky View County, and the area had six cases.

A question was also asked about supports for small businesses in Strathmore. Sobol explained to ministers that local businesses still need to pay rents, with no income coming in.

He asked Minister of Municipal Affairs Kaycee Madu whether the province was considering any type of rental assistance for small business.

Madu said that it was a major concern, one that has been discussed repeatedly and he confirmed that the issue of financial assistance to small businesses is being actively looked at.

The town hall was the second such meeting that was held by the province so far. Another meeting is being planned for next week.