At a Glance - March 24, 2023
Police Mandated to Wear Body Cameras
The provincial government will soon require police officers to be outfitted with body cameras while working. Alberta will be working with the Alberta Association of Chiefs of Police to develop the mandate. The cameras will be equipped with a microphone and internal data storage.
Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services Mike Ellis indicated that "by documenting the behaviour of the police in public, collecting better evidence, and improving our approach to resolving complex complaints during investigations, [body-worn cameras] represent an objective measure to show what occurs in the moment."
Alberta is Calling New Locations
After first targeting the Vancouver and Toronto markets, the provincial government is expanding its “Alberta is Calling” campaign designed to attract new residents to the province. This new phase of the campaign will focus on eastern Canada, namely:
· St. John’s, Newfoundland
· Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island
· Moncton/Saint John, New Brunswick
· Halifax, Nova Scotia
· Hamilton/London/Windsor/Sudbury/Sault Ste. Marie/North Bay/Chatham/Timmins/Cornwall, Ontario
In a statement, Minister Brian Jean said “as Alberta continues to create jobs, attract investment and diversify its economy, we are once again putting out a call for skilled workers to join our great province and appreciate the quality of life that Alberta has to offer. It is the Renewed Alberta Advantage, and I encourage more people to experience it for themselves.”
Province Issues Directives for Chestermere
Following the release of a formal inspection report commissioned by the Minister of Municipal Affairs, the province has issued twelve binding directives for the City of Chestermere to complete. The report was commissioned in May 2022 following the results of a preliminary review ordered earlier that year. The inspection was ordered as a result of numerous complains related to the administration and governance of the City of Chestermere.”
In a statement, the City of Chestermere indicated that “there is some initial concern regarding some of the findings in the Cuff report, the process by which the report was arrived at, the recommendations in the report and the directives of the Minister – legal counsel will be reviewing options, although at this point no decision has been made regarding any actions and no decisions will be made without due consideration.”
School Transportation Funding
Alberta Education will be providing school authorities with an additional $414 million over the next three years to improve access to transportation to school – especially in rural communities. The funding will include measures such as the creation of 100 new bus routes and increased funding for driver training, aimed at increasing the driver workforce by six per cent.
The province is also reducing the eligibility distance for families to receive government-funded bus service. Currently, students must live at least 2.4 kilometres from their school to be eligible, but this distance is being lowered to 1 kilometre. This is expected to improve access to funded busing by about 33,000 students.
New Fiscal Framework Proposed
When Budget 2023 was released by the provincial government, we also learned of a new proposed fiscal framework that would put rules in place for how future governments allocate surplus dollars. According to the province, the new framework would have four pillars, including:
· Mandatory balanced budgets (except for exceptional circumstances such as disaster or sharp decline in revenues)
· Limiting year-over-year operating expense increases to population growth and inflation
· Limiting in-year increase to expenses to a “budgeted and voted contingency”
· Implementing policies for the allocation of surplus dollars, including debt repayment, deposits into the Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund, and non-permanent increases to government spending.