Central Alberta leaders would be concerned if more delays and red-tape result from proposed provincial legislation to prevent municipalities from dealing directly with the federal government.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said the bill, introduced in the house Wednesday, acts as a safeguard against Ottawa muscling in to fund federal ideological priorities—such as safe supply addiction treatment and green power mandates—that run counter to her province’s objectives.
“It’s come to a head in the last month, because they’ve been so outrageous and egregious in how unfairly they’re treating our province and how unfairly they’re treating our municipalities (on housing),” Smith told reporters before introducing the proposed provincial priorities act.
“The federal government is picking favourites.
“They’re not giving us our fair per capita funding, and they are making municipalities jump through a bunch of hoops and agree to a bunch of onerous conditions in order to be able to receive it.”
If the province becomes the gatekeeper of federal money, there’s always the potential it could slow down the granting process, said Sylvan Lake Mayor Megan Hanson.
“There is always that risk if you add another layer,” she said.
This is also a concern for Red Deer Mayor Ken Johnston.
On the positive side, he suggested having to go through the province to get federal funding might give a municipality more clout — that is, if Ottawa feels a town or city has the support of the provincial government when seeking a federal grant.
Since Alberta municipalities were not consulted about this new proposed legislation, they are awaiting more details.
“Without seeing what level of involvement the provincial government wants, it’s hard to say if it would speed up or slow down the process, said Brent Ramsay, acting deputy mayor for Red Deer County.
Ramsay said Red Deer County recently received some federal money for broadband internet service, and the provincial government was involved in that application, so the municipality is used to working with all three levels of government.
Sylvan Lake recently received $5.5 million from the federal Housing Accelerator program to be spent in various ways to incentivize the private sector to create a variety of affordable housing units.
While getting this kind of federal funding is an infrequent event for Sylvan Lake, Hanson said the process went quite smoothly, taking five or six months from applying to getting the funds. She hopes the new legislation will not create more red-tape.
This proposed provincial legislation wasn’t a surprise to Johnston, who first heard it discussed by the government in January. But he added municipal leaders are still in the dark about exactly why it is being proposed, and how it is intended to help, so he looks forward to hearing more details.
Under Wednesday’s priorities bill, any entity that is regulated by the province would not be allowed to enter, renew or extend a deal with Ottawa without approval from the province.
It would apply to a sweeping range of provincial bodies, including municipalities, post-secondary schools, school boards, health authorities and other Crown-controlled organizations.
“Any entity that we regulate has to follow these rules,” said Smith.
The bill mirrors similar legislation in Quebec.
Alberta’s proposed law would not apply to existing deals but to all agreements if it comes into force, which is expected to be early 2025.
Smith and Municipal Affairs Minister Ric McIver said the law won’t create more red tape because, if applied properly, it would create a one-stop funding shop for the federal government rather than having Ottawa work with individual agencies and municipalities.
-With files from the Canadian Press