Mount Royal students, staff gather to protest UCP’s controversial Bill 18

Faculty members and students of Mount Royal University gathered Tuesday to protest legislation that prevents Alberta entities from getting federal funding without provincial approval.

The school’s campus in southwest Calgary hosted the large rally on Tuesday in protest of Bill 18, the Provincial Priorities Act introduced by Premier Danielle Smith back in April and passed before the spring legislature wrapped at the end of May.

The act prevents the federal government from entering into funding agreements with municipalities, school boards, health authorities, post-secondary institutions, crown corporations, and housing organizations, unless the province is consulted first. Similar legislation is already in place in Quebec.

Members of the Mount Royal community are arguing the bill unfairly targets universities and will prevent a lot of cutting-edge research from getting done.

“Some of our top researchers will actually leave the province and go elsewhere, where it’s a little bit friendlier and they won’t have this intervention,” she says. “That’s not good for Albertans.

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Bill 18 was one of the 13 bills passed in the spring sitting and many of them, including Bill 18 and Bill 20, aim to give the province more control.

Mount Royal University political science professor Lori Williams says the bills brought forward by the UCP present a stark contrast to Smith’s history as a libertarian.

“This is at odds with some of the things she has said in the past,” says Williams. “It may not sit will at all, particularly with small town rural municipalities that are really struggling.”

She says she was not surprised to see fellow staff and students rallying against Bill 18.

Bill 20, the Municipal Affairs Statutes Amendment Act, makes it easier for the province to overrule local bylaws, allows the UCP the right to start a recall of councillors and mayors, and paves the way for political parties in Calgary and Edmonton.

“We already know that municipalities are worried about this, because it’s going to cost them time and money to run their elections,” she says.

The legislature resumes with the fall sitting on Oct. 28.