Writing the Next Chapter of Municipal – Provincial Relations
On behalf of the Alberta Counsel team, please allow me to be among the first to congratulate the swath of rookie and incumbent representatives for their success in last week’s municipal election. Elected or not, individuals who put their names forward in order to serve their communities deserve a high degree of commendation and respect in the interest of bettering their communities. It can often be thankless, and the work can seem endless, but it is critical to ensuring our society continues to function effectively. For your dedication and accepting the call to serve, we commend you all.
Many councils across the province will look incredibly different from the last as many incumbents across the province were either defeated in the election or decided that it was time to step away from municipal politics. Albertans are likely acutely aware that both of the province’s largest cities will swear in new mayors (Amarjeet Sohi in Edmonton; Jyoti Gondek in Calgary); however, what is more intriguing is that both councils will see a majority of first-time councillors. Edmonton elected eight new councillors out of a possible twelve. Calgary elected eleven of a possible fourteen rookies.
While some councils will look relatively similar, it is clear that the status quo was no longer something municipal voters were interested in continuing.
Intergovernmental Relations – A Constitutional Challenge
Although municipalities operate as autonomous governments, they are constitutionally under the jurisdiction of the province in which they reside (Constitution Act, S. 92, Para 8). As a result, there is an inherently imbalanced power relationship between local councils and the provincial government. This means that; while remaining subject to the Constitution Act, they are also bound by the legislation put into place by their provincial counterparts.
Unfortunately for local governments, they have been subject to relative instability when it comes to the office holder of Minister of Municipal Affairs. Since the UCP were first elected in 2019, there have been three ministers of the portfolio – Kaycee Madu, Tracy Allard, and Ric McIver. If you go back to the NDP’s term as government, municipalities have shuffled through six ministers in the last six years.
Here in Alberta, we have witnessed many examples of how the province has the ability to impose legislation that directly impacts those who serve on municipal councils. We have witnessed significant funding reductions and changes to the Municipality Sustainability Initiative (MSI) which will be phased out and become the Local Government Fiscal Framework (LGFF) in 2024-25. Communities like the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo fought against the centralization of EMS services. There were changes to the police funding model which impacted local government’s bottom line. Municipalities were required to become responsible for a portion of the province’s disaster recovery funds. You get the idea.
There is a long line of stories that could be highlighted to demonstrate the challenges the two governments have experienced in their relationship in the past two-and-a-half years, but that is not the purpose of this article.
What we want to do is explore what newly elected councillors and the provincial government can do use last week’s election as a reset button of sorts and rebuild the relationship between the two orders of government in Alberta.
Municipal Advocacy and Relationship Building with the Provincial Government
The challenges in improving the provincial-municipal relationship have been well documented over the past two years. As outlined above, it can prove to be a complicated obstacle for municipalities to overcome the constitutional power imbalance between themselves and the provincial government. While the challenge is palpable, it is by no means impossible.
As the title of this section suggests, perhaps the most important role for a council to play in intergovernmental relations is advocacy for their municipality. Al Kemmere, former president of the Rural Municipalities Association and senior advisor here at Alberta Counsel, was kind enough to share a few pieces of wisdom for improving advocacy to the provincial government.
While we highlight the high degree of turnover on councils across the province following last week’s municipal election, there is also a large number of experienced incumbents who were re-elected. For Al, one of the best ways to begin the term is to revisit council’s priorities with the new members at the table to ensure council messaging is consistent. This allows council to approach the provincial government on a united front and helps to mitigate any miscommunication.
Of course, each councillor will bring their own unique perspectives on any given issue which can include a degree of partisanship. With that said, councils are elected in a non-partisan way and are expected to operate in a non-partisan manner. Keeping messaging devoid of partisanship also makes it much simpler to remain consistent in their advocacy to the province. This is especially important when considering there have been three different parties in power in the past seven years with very different ideologies.
In order to ensure the messaging from council is both accurate and consistent, it is important to understand who council’s official spokesperson is. Unless otherwise ordered by council, this responsibility will fall to the mayor or reeve with the back up being their deputy. It is important for elected officials to be familiar with their council’s code of conduct as this responsibility can be designated to another member in some instances.
“As elected officials, you are now part of the team and your relationship with the provincial government needs to be from that team and the designated spokesperson.”
While the municipal-provincial relationship is an important one, municipalities must also remember that they are not the only stakeholder that the provincial government must engage with on a regular basis; nor are municipal officials only responsible for advocating to the province. For those who have met with elected or bureaucratic officials, you will know well that meetings move quickly, and it is of critical importance to keep messaging brief and easy to understand. If you have an hour-long meeting with government, you may only have around 25 minutes for you to discuss your issues.
In speaking with Al, he suggested that it is wise to never bombard the minister with too many issues in a given instance. It is both more effective and efficient to approach government with three or four key items prepared for discussion while developing a briefing document to leave behind with the minister’s office. With the pace of these meetings, it is likely that participants will not remember every detail nor have time to really engage in the technical details. Keep the meetings high-level; leave the details to the briefing document.
Provincial Responsibility in Relationship Building
Of course, it is the responsibility of all parties involved to put in the effort required to improve a relationship. As the power balance leans heavily in the province’s favour, there is a very simple (albeit important) responsibility they must undertake with municipalities.
Engagement.
Following the tabling of the 2019 provincial budget, former-Mayor Don Iveson cancelled an overseas business trip as a result of a surprise announcement which repealed the city charters for both Edmonton and Calgary, an initiative both cities worked hard to implement for some time. Iveson recounted the news as a “profound disappointment and a broken campaign promise”. The incident is one of many over the last two years that has resulted in damages to the intergovernmental relationship that could have been mitigated through adequate consultation and collaboration.
To be completely fair, we have seen the province take steps towards improving this relationship. Former Minister of Municipal Affairs Tracy Allard was instrumental in building a consultative and collaborative framework in negotiating a stop gap measure for handling unpaid oil and gas property taxes in municipalities. While the deal does absolutely lean in favour of the energy industry, municipal leaders were involved in the consultation process that was ultimately agreed upon.
It is a challenge to have consistency on a file when there have been three different ministers in 30 months. Despite this reality, Minister Ric McIver has an opportunity to help foster a degree of stability in Municipal Affairs as he is quite experienced in both municipal and provincial governance. With about 17 months to go until the next provincial election, there is a little time for all parties involved to strengthen the relationship and get intergovernmental relations back on track.
