Danielle Smith is famously jealous about provincial rights. She fights with the feds continually, going on the offensive over every perceived breach of the province’s jurisdiction. And she perceives many breaches.
One might think, therefore, that she would respect the jurisdiction of the municipalities, the level of government subject to hers. The golden rule and all that—treat others as would you like to be treated.
But such is not the case. Her urge for power runs down as well as up. The municipalities are constitutional creatures of the province and she has no intention of letting them forget it. Her government has passed a number of bills to keep the peasants in line.
One is Bill 20, the Municipal Affairs Statutes Amendment Act which gave her cabinet the authority to dismiss municipal councillors without explanation and repeal bylaws of any municipality.
The bill also allowed for the creation of municipal political parties in Edmonton and Calgary. Formerly candidates were independent, the way 70 percent of the citizens preferred. In addition, the bill brought corporate funding back into municipal politics, something the former NDP government banned (with the support of the Conservatives at the time).
The UCP, frustrated by the two major cities consistently electing progressive councils and mayors, can now dream of well-financed Conservatives finally taking over the province’s two most important city halls.
Another was Bill 18, the Provincial Priorities Act which requires the federal government to involve the province in any deals it wants to make with provincially legislated bodies including municipalities, universities, school boards, housing agencies and health authorities. For a government that dislikes bureaucracy so much it has a Red Tape Reduction Minister, it adds an awful lot of red tape.
And for a reputed libertarian, the premier often acts more authoritarian. This week she issued a public mandate letter to her municipal affairs minister, Dan Williams, directing him to ensure that municipalities stick to providing core services. Smith has expressed concern about the major cities particularly “not staying in their lane” by getting involved with “woke” issues. She has, for instance, expressed displeasure at the City of Calgary’s climate strategy which aims at such goals as net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and building a “climate-resilient community.”
One might think that dealing wth climate change is a core service for everyone, and every government, as it directly affects everyone, but apparently oil industry-oriented governments disagree. In any case, the municipal affairs minister duly warned the municipalities that if they were caught “wading out into identity politics” he would “step in.”
On October 20th we will have our civic elections. Will Danielle’s rigging of the rules pay off? We shall see.