Hi everyone, Mark Iype in Edmonton today.
It seems like the flood of complaints from Alberta municipal leaders, from both big and small communities, rural and urban, may have made a difference.
This week, the Alberta government walked back parts of its new legislation that had rankled many of those leaders – specifically, the unfettered power of cabinet to unilaterally fire mayors and councillors.
Under the amendments to Bill 20 introduced Thursday, cabinet could only push out elected municipal officials by ordering a recall vote.
“I’m pleased that we can provide more clarity in the legislation as municipalities, some of them at least, have asked for,” said Municipal Affairs Minister Ric McIver in the legislature.
The government has been insisting that it wanted feedback from municipalities, and McIver said the amendments were the result of those conversations and complaints.
Of course, municipal leaders have been voicing their concerns about the power the province was affording itself and the lack of consultation around the legislation since it was first introduced last month.
Alberta Municipalities president Tyler Gandam told The Canadian Press that there hasn’t really been meaningful conversation beyond a few phone calls.
“We’ve shared a number of concerns we had with Bill 20 and have not had the opportunity to sit down and talk that through with the province,” said Gandam on Thursday.
A meeting with Premier Danielle Smith and McIver is scheduled for next month.
Another amendment introduced this week pulls back the government’s proposed power to strike local bylaws it found distasteful. Under the changes, cabinet could still overturn bylaws but only those that are deemed unconstitutional, go beyond municipal jurisdiction or are contrary to provincial government policy.
Paul McLaughlin, head of the Rural Municipalities of Alberta, said he thinks the amendments remain too vague, allowing government to justify cabinet interference for nearly any reason.
“You’ve empowered a future monster,” he told The Canadian Press. “I don’t know who the future monster is, but you’ve inadvertently armed these folks with the largest baseball bat you can imagine.”
The legislation is just one of a number of moves by the government that critics have said are designed to tighten the grip of cabinet over affairs that have not always fallen under provincial jurisdiction, often behind closed doors.
That includes another piece of legislation introduced this month that gives the province emergency powers over local authorities in times of crises. As well as the appointment of an ethics commissioner who has clear ties to the ruling party, having once sought a United Conservative nomination.
This is the weekly Western Canada newsletter written by B.C. Editor Wendy Cox and Alberta Bureau Chief Mark Iype. If you’re reading this on the web, or it was forwarded to you from someone else, you can sign up for it and all Globe newsletters here.