Albertans don't want parties in municipal government

The Alberta government insists it is “strengthening” municipal elections and making them more “transparent,” but ultimately all that's been accomplished is putting hypocrisy on full display.

Bill 20 was introduced in the Alberta legislature last week, which aims to make sweeping changes to the Municipal Government Act and Local Authorities Election Act.

Municipal Affairs Minister Ric Mciver says elections are being made more “transparent” by introducing municipal political parties in Calgary and Edmonton. The province also claims to be “strengthening” municipal elections while simultaneously making them less relevant by asserting much more provincial control over local governments. It's certainly fair to wonder what's really going on here.

The idea of municipal political parties has been vehemently opposed by municipalities and solidly rejected by Albertans in surveys. Yet, we're getting them, anyway — well, the two big cities, that is.

It seems obvious that this is about stacking the deck in support of like-minded candidates in two cities where conservatives have often been on the losing end. Provincial and federal conservatives tend to fare much better, and that is not lost on this government. There is, of course, the added bonus of potentially dealing with more pliant city councils.

It's quite something to be championing “transparency” while being anything but transparent about your true intentions. It's also interesting to see Mciver so passionate about the need for municipal political parties when that never seemed to come up in his many years in municipal politics.

If this is genuinely about transparency and accountability, then why exclude other municipalities? Do voters in the rest of Alberta's cities, towns, counties and rural municipalities not deserve the same respect?

Mciver says this would merely formalize a partisan reality at the local level, claiming that “political affiliations, real or perceived, seem to shine through on a regular basis.” But if political leanings are “shining through,” why the need for party labels? The whole premise for introducing municipal political parties is a supposed lack of transparency.

The unstated implication is that voters aren't sufficiently savvy to discern these differences for themselves. Perhaps voters should be given a little more credit. Learning what local candidates stand for isn't much different from learning what newly formed municipal political parties stand for. It's even easier to see how incumbent candidates have voted on important issues. Provincial hand-holding on all of this seems both insulting and unnecessary.

Furthermore, what are we expecting political parties to deliver other than a shortcut for quasi-engaged municipal voters at election time?

Political parties play a crucial role in provincial and federal politics when it comes to the orderly formation of governments and execution of government business. It would be difficult, and chaotic, for that process to unfold with unaffiliated or independent MPS or MLAS.

At the municipal level, though, none of that applies. Matters that come before city council either pass or fail. There is no vote of confidence that needs to be secured and no government that falls in its absence. So how do partisan stripes make a mayor or councillors more effective at their jobs?

Let's also not overlook the downside of parties. Despite the ideological leanings of elected municipal officials, there is still something to be said for their independence. There is no party line to toe, no party whip or party leader to take marching orders from, and no principles to have to sacrifice in service of the above. Parties also present the added layer of internal nomination races, which doesn't exactly speak to greater “transparency.”

Yes, municipal parties exist in both Vancouver and Montreal and the sky has not fallen. Conversely, though, is there anything about how either city is governed that makes them shining examples for the rest of Canada?

For that matter, the UCP'S underhanded and self-interested actions here aren't exactly a ringing endorsement of political parties, either.