Okotoks Mayor Tanya Thorn has concerns with new legislation that would allow the Province to play middleman in funding agreements between municipalities and the federal government.
Premier Danielle Smith introduced legislation on April 11 that, if passed, would require municipalities and other organizations to have approval from the Province before they can make funding deals with Ottawa.
Thorn said the legislation would be a drastic change in the way municipalities access federal funding.
“If it's to give another level of government control, it's putting municipalities like Okotoks at risk for funding, because we rely on that funding,” she said after the legislation was announced.
About $3 million comes into Okotoks every year through federal agreements or programs, Thorn said.
“To potentially have that held up between a provincial and a federal conversation now causes me concern," she said.
Municipalities provide all kinds of services, from service to recreation, but they rely on additional funding to pay for it, she said.
Thorn said the federal Canada Community-Building Fund (CCBF) is a major source of funding for municipal infrastructure projects, but details are being renegotiated with the Province, and the federal government is looking at attaching its own rules to how the funding is used.
She said she believes that is one of the reasons the Province tabled the legislation, but that it won’t help solve the problem of predictable funding.
“Municipalities, like ours, we're going through this period of major growth, and we have to be able to count on some flexible and predictable funding,” she said.
The Province said legislation would ensure federal funding aligns with provincial priorities, but Thorn said different municipalities have different needs.
“The priorities for the Town of Okotoks versus the priorities for Foothills County, they're not necessarily the same,” she said.
During a press event on April 10, the premier said the legislation is another measure to defend Alberta’s jurisdiction.
“We are taking back more of our jurisdictional control and telling Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet that they cannot make deals without our express approval,” Smith said.
Municipal Affairs Minister Ric McIver said the act is not intended to be retroactive and won't interfere with existing federal-municipal agreements, "unless they have terms that can't be lived with," such as requiring homes be built without natural gas hookups.
Alberta Municipalities (ABmunis) president Tyler Gandam said he has concerns about how funding for municipalities could change and whether projects will be cancelled, and he is disappointed the Province didn't consult with municipalities before introducing the act.
Thorn said that to solve municipal funding shortfalls, all three levels of government need to work together, and that includes taking a new look at municipal funding frameworks at both the federal and provincial levels.
Town and cities are being caught in the middle of a provincial-federal spat, she said.
“At the end of the day, municipalities end up being the fall guy for all of this,” she said.
