Notley blasts Kenney's economic plan for municipal funding cuts as a job killer

NDP Leader Rachel Notley condemned the UCP government's economic plan Thursday as a job-killing strategy that will force municipal councils to raise local taxes.

In a video address to the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association (AUMA) spring leadership convention, Notley said government budget cuts such as funding reductions to the municipal capital infrastructure program will kill jobs and take hundreds of millions of dollars out of local communities for essential services.

The program was first outlined in February's budget and would take effect if Bill 56, which is currently in its second reading, passes in the legislature.

“I would argue that the economic plan was absent (from the government's agenda), and by that I mean, Ferris Bueller absent,” said Notley, adding that some municipalities may have no choice but to increase taxes on residents to pay for rising costs such as policing.

The Village of Forestburg in east-central Alberta is recommending the AUMA lobby the province to allow municipalities to pass a special tax bylaw to raise money for policing.

Following February's budget, the City of Edmonton projected a $150-million cut to infrastructure funding for projects like roads, bridges and recreation centres over the next four years as a result of the program changes.

Municipal Affairs Minister Ric Mciver has said in a statement that the decrease in base funding to be split by municipalities as part of Bill 56 is necessary to rein in spending.

“Alberta's expenditures far exceed those of other provinces and we know in the long run that is just not sustainable,” he said. “The fact is we've got an $18-billion deficit in this year's budget. I think most Albertans would agree that all of us need to do what we can to live within our means while we're still providing the services to our citizens the best we can.”

Municipalities have publicly sparred with the province on multiple fronts, including rising policing costs, the province's downloading of disaster relief funding and move to centralize AHS emergency response dispatch.

Notley said a good provincial partnership with municipalities is in jeopardy under Premier Jason Kenney's leadership.

In the legislature Thursday, Finance Minister Travis Toews responded to criticism from NDP municipal affairs critic Joe Ceci by saying the government is making strategic investments in its economic recovery plan.

“We need to continue to work to deliver government services most efficiently, and we call on municipalities to work together with us on both our economic recovery and delivering the most efficient government services,” said Toews.

Mckenzie Kibler, press secretary to Mciver, said the minister is proud of the government's relationship with municipalities.

Kenney will be speaking at the AUMA event Friday.

Alberta's latest budget boosted capital funding by $1.7 billion in 2021-22 from its previous budget projections, and the government projects that infrastructure spending over the next three years will support more than 50,000 direct and 40,000 indirect jobs before 2024.

Alberta's expenditures far exceed those of other provinces and we know in the long run that is just not sustainable.