The last few weeks have clearly shown the Alberta government wants there to be no confusion on questions of governance jurisdiction.
After tabling a bill that will limit a municipality’s ability to negotiate directly with the federal government for funding, the province introduced a bill that will allow it to scrap municipal bylaws, remove elected officials and formalize political parties in Calgary and Edmonton for the 2025 municipal election.
Anyone wondering who yields power in provincial and municipal politics can stop.
The bill has met with swift derision from across the province, with its necessity openly questioned and provincial officials giving little to no reasoning behind the need for certain legislative changes in the bill.
Alberta Municipalities – the advocacy group for more than 260 of the province’s municipal governments – called it a “power grab” that allows the provincial government to fire any council member and remove any bylaw it doesn’t like.
Although Premier Danielle Smith and Municipal Affairs Minister Ric McIver have continued to state they would rarely use the powers, the ability to do so on a whim is now present.
Despite being a blatant reminder to municipal governments about who is in control, aspects of the bill look promising, including giving municipalities the ability to require criminal record checks for candidates, having orientation training for councillors be mandatory and making political donations more transparent.
The ability to fire elected officials and amend or repeal bylaws, however, could be Pandora's box, the province potentially wading too far into municipal weeds.
Like it or not, under existing legal precedence, provincial governments have full control of municipalities. Whether or not there will be a legal challenge remains to be seen, but it’s unlikely to be successful.
Municipalities in Alberta are about to enter a new and unexpected future, while tensions between the province and municipal governments are likely only to grow.
Rocky Mountain Outlook
