Why Bill 20 Could Be the Most Impactful Legislation of the Current Term

In 2022, one of the top political stories that emerged with the election of Danielle Smith as the new leader of the United Conservatives was the introduction of the Alberta Sovereignty within a United Canada Act. Even before the bill was tabled, there was significant debate about the impact the proposal would have on Alberta’s political landscape.

This spring, a new bill once again dominates the political discourse in our province, leaving many with questions about what it means and who will be impacted. Of course, we are referring to Bill 20, the Municipal Affairs Statutes Amendment Act, 2024.

If you missed our webinar reviewing Bill 20, you can replay it by visiting the Alberta Counsel News website. You can also read the government’s fact sheet on the changes here. We would encourage you to review the changes prior to continuing this article as we will be discussing the potential impact of this bill.

Perhaps the most obvious change proposed is the introduction of political parties in municipal elections. For now, only Edmonton and Calgary will be part of the pilot project which is expected to be in effect for the 2025 municipal election cycle. Prior to this announcement, the only two jurisdictions in Canada that foster municipal parties were Vancouver and Montreal.

When this change comes into force and effect, municipal voters will see both the candidate’s name and party affiliation (if applicable) on their ballots next October. The impacts of this proposal can already be seen in Edmonton with the establishment of TAPYEG as the city’s first political party. Although the group does not have any candidates at this stage, they have already begun to organize in advance of the next municipal election.

Traditionally, municipal politics is run in a non-partisan way as most of the issues a council deals with tend to be non-partisan in nature (snow removal, street sweeping, etc). However, the provincial government has advanced the argument that allowing political affiliation will increase transparency for voters as it will make it easier to understand a candidate’s political leanings.

Of course, two of the more significant changes proposed involved strengthening the provincial government’s ability to remove councillors from their positions “in the public interest” as well as the power to amend and repeal municipal bylaws.

Shortly after being introduced, Municipal Affairs Minister Ric McIver released a statement promising that the provincial government would be amending the bill to provide better clarity on these two items. With respect to the latter, Minister McIver wrote “this is quite serious, and we would not do this lightly. We will also be working with municipalities to propose amendments for the legislation and clarify that this would only be used in very limited circumstances related to areas that are primarily overseen by the province, like health care, education, the provincial economy or public safety.”

While there are many other items worth reviewing in Bill 20, one of the provisions that seems to have flown under the radar more than others is limiting the practice of vouching. Currently, provisions exist to allow for an elector to vouch for another’s age, address, and identity. However, Bill 20 proposes to limit the process of vouching to only one’s address.

In the province’s 2023 engagement summary of the Local Authorities Election Act, it was reported that “forty-six per cent of survey respondents did not support removing vouching and attestation from the LAEA”. Additionally, the summary reported that “those that agreed (30 per cent) that vouching and attestation should be removed felt it was essential in stopping election fraud.”

What Does This All Mean?

In short, the changes proposed in Bill 20 will have a profound impact on not only the 2025 municipal election cycle, but the entire upcoming term for the next municipal councils. The entire scope of the impact cannot be understood until we see the amendments to councillor removal and bylaw changes; however, it is clear that 2025 will be the end of the current municipal politics era.

However, one may be able to look at some of the changes included in Bill 20 and use it as a crystal ball for the next provincial election. While this is all speculation, items such as the prohibition of electronic tabulators and the reintroduction of corporate and union donors may end up on the agenda for a future bill before the 2027 general election. It is possible that these ideas and others will be trialed during the next municipal election to see how they would perform in the real world.

But until the government says one way or another, this should be treated as nothing more than a passing thought.