Brazeau County received the best news ever and immediately shared it with everyone when they recently announced that the county is one of the finalists in the Smart City Challenge of Canada. Brazeau entered a group submission that also includes three of the surrounding counties.
For the Smart City Challenge, Brazeau selected to team up with Yellow head, Lac Ste Anne and Parkland counties, their proposal is to assist and grow via the connection of land, people and food and to help the agricultural community, while inviting citizens to share in its resilient, innovative and prosperous way of life.
2017 Challenge of The Federal Government
The Federal Government challenged all communities in November 2017 to develop ambitious and bold ideas to improve the lives of every resident by using connected and data technology.
Brazeau County One of The Twenty Finalists
Since the challenge in 2017 several communities across Canada have taken up the challenge and more than 200 communities did submit their ideas. After careful consideration by the Federal Government and top agriculturists, the 20 best ideas were selected to go into the final, and Brazeau made it into the final as one of the twenty finalists. Joining up with Lac Ste Anne, Yellow and Park lands counties was a great idea that now certainly pays off.
Yellow head Member of Parliament Jim Eglinski
Jim Eglinski is the Member of Parliament for the county of Yellow wood and one of the first to make a public statement after the great news. He told newspapers that he was very excited to hear that the four counties have been selected for the finals and can now move up one step in the challenge of the Federal Government. The submission of the counties is one of ten in the different prize categories for a prize worth $10 million and only two of the finalist will be chosen in the near future. According to Eglinski each of the communities that make it as a finalist will now receive a grant of $250,000 to assist it in developing their final proposal.
Brazeau, Yellowood, Lac Ste Anne and Parkland Counties in Final Twenty
It is a great honor and opportunity for the group of four counties, which includes Yellowood, Brazeau, Parklands and Lac Ste Anne who need to work on their final proposal. All four counties look forward to the holiday season and while their proposal will follow shortly after the holidays it will keep the counties pretty occupied until Christmas, yet it is a great way to start the New Year, thinking that the group of counties could make it all the way and win the challenge. The prize money will come in handy to develop the community, although the winners will only be announced by spring, next year and for now, there is a lot of work to be done. The counties will work on developing their proposal and then have to wait until the spring of 2019 when the winners will be announced.