New bill would require Alberta cities, towns to get okay from province for federal funding

Alberta’s United Conservative Party government has tabled legislation in an attempt to take control of federal agreements to send money to municipalities and other provincial entities.

Premier Danielle Smith introduced Bill 18, the Provincial Priorities Act, in the legislature on Wednesday — the act would prevent the federal government from entering into funding agreements with municipalities, unless the province is consulted first.

The change would also apply to school boards, health authorities, post-secondary institutions, crown corporations, and housing organizations. Similar legislation is already in place in Quebec.

“Albertans are uninterested in the virtue-signaling from Ottawa and the related strings that come with it,” Smith said Wednesday. “We are interested in our fair share of federal funding.”

The government says the new bill will “ensure federal funding is aligned with provincial priorities, rather than with priorities contrary to the province’s interests.”

Smith says Albertans have paid far more in federal taxes than they get back in federal programs and transfers, and claims the funding the province gets comes with “ideological strings attached.”

The UCP government cites the example of what it calls Ottawa’s “ideological push” to get electric buses in Canadian cities, which the province says don’t work in winter weather.

“Alberta’s government believes the funds that Ottawa allocated for unreliable and impractical electric buses would have been better spent on Alberta priorities including strengthening the province’s economic corridors with improved roads and commuter rail,” reads a release outlining the new bill.

Smith also brought up the prospect of safe supply, where medications are prescribed as a safer alternative to the toxic illegal drug supply.

“We’re not going to allow them to go down a pathway of supporting safe supply in this province,” she says. “We’re looking at what’s happening in British Columbia — the nurses, they’re talking about what a disaster it is.”

In recent weeks, Ottawa has announced millions of dollars in grant programs with Calgary, Edmonton and smaller municipalities under its Housing Accelerator Fund.

The fund goes to municipalities proposing innovative ways, such as zoning and planning changes, to get more affordable housing built.

Calgary mayor blasts new bill

Calgary mayor Jyoti Gondek weighed in on the new legislation on Tuesday, saying she wasn’t consulted on the matter and urged the province to stop picking fights with the federal government.

Gondek echoed those sentiments in reaction to the introduction of the bill on Wednesday, saying it’s shameful that the federal and provincial governments keep bickering.

“Both of them need to put their ideological differences aside and work together,” she says. ” We’ve got a city that’s growing at a rate that’s unprecedented in this country.”

“We are the economic engine of this province and this country, and they’re fighting with each other.”

“While we wait for a newly minted provincial bureau of overreach to plod through agreements, other cities across this country will be eating our lunch,” she says. “I’ve fought too hard, alongside other mayors to push the federal government to fund us properly.”

Alberta’s municipal affairs minister says if a city or a town want something the province isn’t willing to approve, they can pay for it themselves.

“Municipalities have their own tax base, if they have a priority different than what the federal government’s might be, they collect property taxes and other sources of revenue that they have the right to spend as they see fit,” says Ric McIver.

The legislation is expected to come into effect before the end of the year.

With files from Tiffany Goodwein, Darcy Ropchan and The Canadian Press