Local democracy worth defending in the face of overreach

Province's Bill 20 will strip council of ability to do its job

For a group of elected officials who proudly elevate the concept of sovereignty, the Government of Alberta is doing a great job of destroying the ability for municipalities to do the work that councillors were elected to do for the people they serve.

Municipal governments are the closest to the people, focused on delivering the services everyone needs to get through their day-to-day tasks. The provincial government's goal with its proposed Bill 20 is to strip local governments of this ability, making it impossible for people to have any certainty in how those daily needs will be met.

Let's begin with the understanding that there is no partisanship in municipal responsibilities such as snow removal, road paving and water treatment. For more than a century, municipalities in Alberta have done this work in a non-partisan way. So what is the rationale for the introduction of explicit partisanship into local government through the proposed bill?

If one digs a bit deeper into what is proposed, Bill 20 also throws open the doors for big money to return to local elections. It further gives unprecedented powers to cabinet.

With Bill 20, MLAS who don't even live in the city can throw out any local bylaws they don't like. They're even giving themselves permission to throw out council members that citizens elected, in the name of “public interest.” All of this behind closed doors.

Yet, an anonymous member of the premier's office recently told Postmedia columnist Rick Bell that my comments on Bill 20 sounded like a conspiracy.

Bill 20 is a hammer to be used against local governments.

Irony at its best.

There are also those who say this bill is just a safeguard, that it will not actually be used. Why else would a government give itself new sweeping powers if not to use them? Just look to all of the other bills introduced in the legislature. Bill 20 is a hammer to be used against local governments.

Ever the optimist, I have found a couple of things to like in the wide-sweeping bill. Just as your local government has eliminated municipal property taxes for affordable housing providers over the years, the provincial government is finally ready to also remove its property tax requirement for this much-needed housing stream. Additionally, criminal record checks for candidates will ensure that citizens have peace of mind about who is seeking to represent them in an election.

Those are perhaps the only highlights in this proposed bill that is wrapped in overreach and partisanship.

For some context, the House of Commons and the Alberta legislature hold court in a rectangular room, with two opposing sides positioned against each other in both a physical and ideological manner.

At Calgary city council, the opposite is true. We sit in a semicircle we affectionately call “the horseshoe.” As a local government, we have only one side: we're on the side of Calgarians.

Our democracy is based on the idea of one person with one vote electing a government that has a limited term, and then we do it all over again. During that term, electors are hopeful that government can make changes that improve the lives of the people they serve in the time they have.

Bill 20 destroys that trusted process by introducing uncertainty, with a provincial cabinet thumbing its nose at electors through mechanisms to arbitrarily remove locally elected representatives and overturn their decisions — all on an ideological whim.

Fundamentally redrawing the blueprint for local democracy not only undermines the ability of a municipal government to improve life for residents, it also introduces instability in the very bedrock of our society: the democratic process.