Red Deer Mayor Ken Johnston (left) and Red Deer County Mayor Jim Wood. (rdnewsNOW file photos)

By Josh Hall | @Vancan19

"overreach"

Red Deer and Red Deer County mayors perplexed over rationale of proposed Bill 20

Apr 27, 2024 | 11:54 AM

The mayors of both Red Deer and Red Deer County admit they’re not entirely sure why the government would enact legislation giving it the power to remove council members and repeal bylaws, as well as allow parties into local politics.

This week, the UCP government announced Bill 20, which proposes these and other changes to the Local Authorities Election Act (LAEA) and Municipal Government Act (MGA).

PARTY?

Red Deer Mayor Ken Johnston is not confident there’ll be success when municipal political parties are piloted, as proposed, in Calgary and Edmonton.

“I ask myself what is the problem that is trying to be solved with Bill 20?” Johnston says. “The government has come out with surveys, and Alberta Municipalities passed a resolution in 2023 with 95 per cent agreement that talked about political parties and not wanting them. It is concerning that what I would call the grassroots movement of politics, that being municipalities, are not having their voice heard on this issue.”

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County Mayor Jim Wood says municipal politics works well because members are not tied to a party compelling them to vote one way.

“[With this], we will only see two parties fighting against each other because the other one has to be wrong,” he says. “Instead of working together to get the best things done, this will be a huge detriment to municipal politics, and I don’t think the right decisions will be made.”

Wood also questions who will create this parties, calling party politics akin to being in a, “club.”

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READ MORE

• Red Deer mayor, council members, staunchly against party politics at municipal level
• Op-Ed: Albertans do not want political parties in local elections

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REMOVAL OF COUNCIL MEMBERS

Mayor Johnston asks the same question: what is the power to remove council members meant to solve?

He points to the Council Code of Conduct, legislated by the MGA, as an existing mechanism to deal with cases where a council member may need to face a penalty or be removed.

Red Deer has made ample use of the Code of Conduct, and Johnston believes it’s worked well.

“For some unclear reason, we are going beyond that and now enabling cabinet to recall or dismiss a councillor or mayor. I understand the province wants to provide transparency, but the public elects their representatives. Therefore, the public should still have the right to recall or not re-elect a member, and without another order of government coming in,” he says. “This would take away the public’s right to exercise their own decisions over council and mayor.”

He’s also concerned there’s no clear definition of what the bill refers to as ‘in the public interest.’

Just a few months ago, he adds, the City of Red Deer made a change to how sanctions through the Code of Conduct are made, and this is now through a municipal ethics commissioner instead of council continuing to investigate its own.

“The government could increase the powers of the provincial ethics commissioner,” he says. “Why would we choose to take this additional step when we already have safeguards?”

Mayor Wood concurs.

“Sometimes things do go awry but there has to be a pretty valid reason to overturn the will of the electorate who votes to have people in office,” Wood says.

ON REPEALING BYLAWS

On the matter of the province repealing bylaws, Wood says simply that it’s an overreach.

“What’s changed? Why is it now that the province is taking a look at legislation they’ve never typically used over decades? I believe it’s an overreach honestly,” says Wood.

“We have people who are elected that are very, very capable of making these decisions, and I think if you don’t allow municipalities to make decisions, then why are we here?”

During a press conference this week, Municipal Affairs Minister Ric McIver cited the example of when the City of Edmonton implemented a masking bylaw during the COVID-19 pandemic after the UCP had rescinded the provincial masking mandate.

McIver said if this type of legislation was in place, it could’ve much more easily prevented Edmonton from doing that.

“First of all, I’d hope that it would never come to a place where the province would overturn a bylaw. Municipalities go through a very structured and transparent debate, we often have public hearings for land use matters, and we have three readings. Municipalities don’t operate in a vacuum away from the public,” says Johnston, who notes that the Edmonton masking bylaw, a health matter, was one where the province would typically have jurisdiction.

“I see this as a safeguard which doesn’t need to exist, and I say that with the greatest respect. We are accountable to the public who elects us, and the public should have the voice around bylaws. They can already recall us, or not re-elect us, they can go through the Code of Conduct; there are so many ways councillors are accountable, so I don’t know why the province feels it needs to reaching into a fully democratic process.”

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING

Elsewhere, the Alberta NDP say Bill 20 sets up a totalitarian government for Premier Smith.

“Without running on it in the election, without any mandate from Albertans, and without public support, Bill 20 gives Smith sweeping powers to overrule local bylaws, dismiss any councillor or mayor at her whim, and give her Minister final say over recall petitions,” says Irfan Sabir, Justice and Public Safety critic. “Plus, this Bill will allow for local election donations to be gathered into campaign war chests outside of an election year and for party banners to be formed at the local municipal level in Edmonton and Calgary.

Alberta Municipalities (ABMunis) says for the last eight months, it has been insisting that the introduction of political parties into local politics is a bad idea that most Albertans don’t want.

“We have publicly offered sound ideas to strengthen local elections, boost turnout rates, and limit the influence of affluent donors – all the issues that Premier Smith identified as concerns,” the organization says.

“Alberta’s local governments have no interest in fighting with the province. Nor do they want to be caught in the middle of an Alberta-Ottawa ‘forever war.’ Our members want to be respected by the provincial government as a democratically elected order of government and allowed to focus their attention and energy on providing the services their residents expect and deserve.”

ABMunis adds it’ll have more to say on Bill 20 early next week.

Albertans can learn more about Bill 20’s many other proposed changes at alberta.ca.

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READ MORE: Red Deer concerned about province’s proposed requirement to approve any federal funding

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