Keep Fair Deal out of city election, Nenshi says
Mayor Naheed Nenshi said Thursday he doesn’t want the Alberta government’s planned equalization vote to be attached to municipal elections in 2021, but the province says doing so would save money.
The United Conservative government publicly released the report from the province’s Fair Deal panel on Wednesday, and Premier Jason Kenney said the province plans to go ahead with a recommendation to hold a referendum on equalization payments next year.
It isn’t yet clear when the equalization referendum would happen, but Kenney suggested during the 2019 provincial election campaign that the vote could be tied to fall municipal elections, which are set for October 2021. Nenshi said he doesn’t think it’s fair to voters to take up space with questions beyond a local scope.
“It is disrespectful to citizens voting in local elections to use those local elections as a convenient crutch for other issues that have nothing to do with local issues,” he said.
“People who are voting in local elections are voting because they’re worried about local issues. To mess that up with plebiscites, referenda and so on is, I think, disingenuous at best, and disrespectful to citizens who want to have their voices heard in local elections at worst.”
Tim Gerwing, a spokesman for Municipal Affairs Minister Kaycee Madu, said holding an entirely separate referendum “would cost tens of millions of extra dollars.”
“Holding referendums simultaneous to local elections is a common practice that exists in jurisdictions across North America; it saves time and money, and leads to increased voter participation, which is a good thing.”
Nenshi added he worries about media coverage and voter turnout being “influenced by non-local issues.”
Equalization payments are set by Ottawa and a referendum in Alberta would be non-binding. Making changes would require approval from the House of Commons, the Senate and at least two-thirds of the provincial legislative assemblies, and come with legal and political consequences, the panel’s report says.
But the report notes a referendum would make the federal government and other provinces morally obligated to negotiate the proposed amendment.
Last year, Calgary city council passed a motion to make a formal submission to the Fair Deal panel on “Calgary’s perspective and interests.” The province is currently examining the report’s suggestions on creating a provincial police force and pulling out of the Canada Pension Plan. Those changes would have major implications for cities in Alberta, and officials in Calgary are currently analyzing the report.
Nenshi has been critical of the Fair Deal panel in the past, saying the ideas they were looking at would mean “increased costs.”
Kenney said Albertans understand that equalization is “fundamentally unfair,” long arguing that Alberta shoulders far too much of the burden of supporting economies in other provinces.
But Nenshi said Thursday he questions the usefulness of a vote on equalization.
“I just don’t see the point to this. What would the question be? What would the repercussions be of the other provinces and the federal government not agreeing?” he said. “I’m not sure what firing people up rather than getting to work really accomplishes, but that’s above my pay grade. I’m sure the province has some strategy there.”