Alberta Liberals unveil plan for municipalities
Interim Liberal leader David Swann on Wednesday announced a five- point plan to bolster Alberta’s municipalities.
He pledged to introduce big city charters for Edmonton and Calgary and to provide stable and predictable funding to municipalities.
Swann also promised to transfer $ 254 million in unallocated Climate Change Fund money to public transportation and to make municipal political contributions eligible for a tax receipt.
Finally, the Liberals said they will redistribute $ 1.6 billion in annual industrial tax revenue, most of which currently stays with rural municipalities where oil and gas infrastructure operates.
“It’s time for change in Alberta, a different relationship with our municipal governments, especially the big cities,” Swann said outside Edmonton City Hall.
“This five- point plan will unleash innovation in our cities, helping them compete with the best on the planet.”
Candidate Laurie Blakeman, who is running for the Liberals in Edmonton- Centre, said the Tory government is moving “at a glacial speed” toward big city charters.
“We need to acknowledge that the cities of Edmonton and Calgary have unique situations,” she said. “It’s part of today’s urban Alberta, and we’d like to see an aggressive urban agenda.”
Blakeman said the Liberals would keep the existing Municipal Sustainability Initiative in place, which promised $ 11.3 billion in funding for municipalities over 10 years starting in 2007. To date, the province has provided $ 7.4 billion of the promised funding, Blakeman said.
In addition, the Liberals would take the controversial step of redistributing industrial and linear tax revenue, which is collected by rural jurisdictions that are home to oil and gas extraction operations.
Blakeman has repeatedly argued that rural Alberta should share the revenue with cities.
“Cities are always looking for money, and have very limited revenue streams,” Blakeman said.
The party says 95 per cent of the roughly $ 1.6 billion in revenues stays in rural Alberta, benefiting just 20 per cent of the population.