A central Alberta community is divided on a crucial vote to determine its future — whether it should continue existing as a village or be dissolved into the neighbouring county.
Donalda, located about 110 kilometres east of Red Deer, is best known as home of the world’s largest oil lamp, a 12-metre replica overlooking the Prairie Badlands. But the community of about 220 people is now drawing attention after the Alberta government ordered a viability review to assess its future.
The review was ordered in July 2025, following repeated loss of quorum triggering byelections in May 2024 and January 2025. Each time, two out of three councillors resigned.
The first public information session was held last week and an online public survey is open to collect additional input. The official vote is expected to happen this fall.
“This is actually a blessing in disguise,” Donalda Mayor Shaleah Fox said about the government-ordered review. Fox herself was first elected in a May 2024 byelection held to fill two open seats created by the first wave of resignations.
Declining business-to-resident ratios and difficulty finding people willing to serve on council, she said, are making it harder for villages like Donalda to sustain themselves.
Fox said an upcoming infrastructure audit, being done as part of the province’s review, will provide a clearer picture of the village’s condition.
“Even though I’m on council and there’s a risk of it being dissolved, this is one of the best things that could happen for Donalda because we’re learning all we can about it, … deciding what we want for our future,” she said.
Fox said she believes maintaining village status preserves local autonomy and shared responsibility.
“If there’s a water main break, I’m going to suffer with that water main break just as much as the other person,” she said.
This isn’t the first time Donalda has faced a dissolution vote. Fox said a residents’ petition triggered a viability review in 2010.
Residents then voted 85-29 to remain as a village, she said.
Around 200 residents of Donalda, Alta., a village about 120 kilometres southeast of Edmonton, are divided on a crucial vote: whether to retain its village status or dissolve into a hamlet under Stettler County. The provincial government intervened after repeated loss of quorum. CBC’s Nadeer Hashmi reports.
Mixed reactions
People in the community have mixed opinions on what should happen this time.
“I think if Donalda went as a hamlet, it would survive,” said resident Jody Solar.
If a vote to dissolve Donalda goes ahead, it would become a hamlet and would be governed under Stettler County.
Solar believes the community would benefit from the county’s deeper experience managing the community’s aging infrastructure and public works, as well as access to more services.
Others are undecided.
Gwen Wood said she needs to see the financial details.
“We can have a sense of community. I think that’s great. But the numbers are required to understand how to keep the water flowing,” she said.
Wood noted Donalda’s history of difficulties with councillor resignations as well as changes in the chief administrator’s office. She said the village needs more stability to grow.
Those years of governance challenges have helped shape the view of longtime resident Frank Raymond Sutton.
“I would probably vote to become a hamlet. … We didn’t really get heard anymore,” he said.
Sutton, a former fire chief who has lived in Donalda since 1986, said he has watched the community change over the decades.
“The whole place was just booming, [but] now I look, it’s just sad,” he said.
“We had a gas station, we had restaurants, we had stores. … If you’re not growing, you’re dying. We’re not growing.”
Rural reality
Donalda’s situation reflects a broader rural reality across central Alberta.
Several communities within a 130-kilometre radius of Red Deer faced viability reviews in 2025: Ma-Me-O Beach voted to keep its status, while Halkirk dissolved into a hamlet. Reviews are still ongoing in both Carbon and Cremona.
Kara Westerlund, president of the Rural Municipalities of Alberta, said the trend is unlikely to slow.
“There are multiple factors that we are seeing driving the increase in dissolution, including the declining tax bases, reduction in provincial capital grant support — aging infrastructure is a huge one,” she said.
Westerlund cautioned against the idea that dissolution provides an overnight solution to a community’s problems.
“The struggle will continue,” she said. “We can see that in communities across this province that have gone through this process. It’s a slow process.”
In an email, a spokesperson for Alberta’s Ministry of Municipal Affairs said restructuring decisions are driven by municipalities and their residents.
Dissolution is generally considered when communities face ongoing financial pressures, difficulty filling council positions or challenges delivering services efficiently, read a statement from Jack Alarie, press secretary to Municipal Affairs Minister Dan Williams.
“Where integration with a neighbouring municipality could provide greater stability and service continuity,” Alarie said.
The province said it supports absorbing municipalities through transitional funding, ongoing advisory support, and allows the use of differential tax rates where necessary.
For Sutton, the hope is simple — whatever the outcome, Donalda still finds its spark again.
“We had so much fun … at one time,” he said as he looked across Main Street.
“It could come back again but you gotta have the right drive for the people.”
