Mayor says proposed provincial oversight bill not in Calgary's best interest

Calgary's mayor said proposed legislation which would allow the province to have oversight over municipal-federal agreements would cause delays in funding and increase costs and uncertainty for municipalities across the province if it's passed. 

Speaking at a news conference on Wednesday afternoon, Mayor Jyoti Gondek said the legislation is "intended to stifle Calgarians' ability to have their hard-earned tax dollars flow back into their communities."

"Now that cities actually have the ear of the feds and they've created funding streams that will allow us to build more homes, to fix broken roadways, and make sure that your drinking water is safe, the provincial government, the very same one that wants to cut red tape and operate at the speed of business, that provincial government now wants to slam the breaks and slow things down to the speed of a bloated bureaucracy."

But Alberta's minister of municipal affairs pushed back against the mayor's assertions.

In an interview with The Calgary Eyeopener, Ric McIver said his government's aim is to secure more federal dollars for more Alberta municipalities.

"What we're doing is making sure that we can provide the most resources to the most municipalities and get their treatment compared to other provinces," McIver said.

He suggested the province could negotiate better deals with Ottawa for communities, with fewer strings attached.

"They [municipalities] should be all cheering for us because we're certainly on their side," he said.

WATCH / Mayor Jyoti Gondek responds to provincial bill:

Calgary's mayor says proposed provincial oversight bill not in the city's best interest

9 months ago

Duration 6:53

Mayor Jyoti Gondek sits down with host Rob Brown to talk about the Provincial Priorities Act, which was tabled in the legislature Wednesday by Premier Danielle Smith.

The Provincial Priorities Act was tabled in the legislature Wednesday by Premier Danielle Smith. It is framed as a step to prevent federal interference with the Alberta government's priorities.

If passed, the new law would require that any agreement between the federal government and an Alberta town, school board, university or other provincial entity be vetted by the provincial government first.

Gondek said that while many questions about the new bill remain unanswered, such as how it would be rolled out and how long reviews of federal-municipal agreements would take, she's been made aware that no additional resources will be allocated to manage the influx of work. 

She said that, as the provincial government is working through these reviews, "other cities will take what belongs to us. That's not something I'm interested in enabling." 

Gondek also pointed to uncertainty for municipalities around the new legislation, questioning whether the province's concerns over what premier Danielle Smith calls ideological differences between her party and the federal government could affect which agreements are approved. 

"If the provincial government is prioritizing the things that are important to our residents than this may be an easy process, but I don't know how they feel about those priorities."

Calgary funding a priority

She argued Calgary deserves a fair share of federal funding because it is one of the country's fastest-growing cities and the "absolute economic engine" of the province. 

Gondek added that securing funding from the federal government has not been an easy task, and called for that level of government to step up its support of municipalities as well. 

"I think this has more to do with the federal and provincial governments' relationship than anything else. I believe it is a convenient speaking point to say that we're not getting a fair deal. I think it's equally convenient to fly into a metropolitan centre, snub your nose at both the local and provincial government and make an announcement," she said.

"I don't think it's good behaviour on anyone's part. Like I said yesterday, mom and dad are fighting and the kids are stuck in the middle and I'm getting very tired of it. Both of them need to figure out how to put their ideological differences aside and work together." 

McIver said the province is acting in the best interest of Alberta municipalities, accusing the federal government of "big-footing" into provincial jurisdiction by making conditional deals with cities.

Of such conditional deals, the minister said, "If it's not a problem for municipalities today, it will become a problem someday when the federal government asks them [to do] something they don't want to do. And we're going to prevent that."

For example, McIver said the Alberta government would never allow a deal between a municipality and Ottawa that would restrict the use of natural gas in new homes.

Addressing the mayor's criticism, he said he respects the fact her job is only to look after Calgary.

"Our job is to look after all the municipalities," said McIver, a former Calgary alderman.

"The mayor of Calgary shouldn't have to care that 328 out of 330 municipalities are getting nothing. But we are required to care about that. And we do."

Speaking to CBC News on Tuesday, before the new legislation was announced, Coun. Dan McLean said he didn't have a problem with the bill.  

"Well ... what I've heard from the province is that they feel that the federal government is actually playing favourites with mayors and councils that are friendly to them," said McLean.

"I don't think that should be the case, I think they should actually be across-the-board fair to everybody." 

Lori Williams, a political scientist at Mount Royal University, said the legislation would put up barriers to accessing funding for municipalities across the province. 

"This clearly is an attempt to take control from municipalities and put it into the hands of the provincial government," said Williams.

"I think it disrespects the democratic will of people who vote for their municipal governments. Municipalities have only property taxes and what they get from the federal and provincial government to run their budgets and this now puts an additional barrier in the way of municipalities getting agreements and funds that are badly needed for the unique needs of each of those municipalities."