Premier Jim Prentice
After stagnating for more than two years the province has restarted negotiations on special city charters for Calgary and Edmonton. The mayors of both cities met with Premier Jim Prentice and Municipal Affairs Minister Diana McQueen on September 7 to sign an agreement that will open discussions on the substance of the charters. The province previously signed a similar memorandum of understanding in June 2012 under then-premier Alison Redford though little was accomplished after the signing.
Mayors Naheed Nenshi and Don Iveson want the city charters to give Alberta’s two largest municipalities special powers governing city infrastructure and taxes and the ability to create stronger bylaws. Those powers are currently regulated by the Municipal Government Act which the mayors say ignores the unique needs of Calgary and Edmonton which are different than smaller towns and cities.
During a press conference following the signing of the agreement in Calgary’s Old City Hall Prentice said Calgary and Edmonton face “serious” infrastructure deficits as government has not been able to keep up with the nearly 100000 people who move to Alberta each year the vast majority of whom move to Edmonton or Calgary.
“When people move here they do not bring schools for their children. They don’t bring health-care facilities with them they don’t bring roads…. These are the areas where governments must get caught up’ said Prentice.
“In the last three years alone the city of Calgary has added more people than live in the third largest city in Alberta. We’ve added Red Deer times 1.25” said Nenshi. Though tax increases are not on the table Nenshi said the potential charters will include a new fiscal framework — “a new way that the city can fund our capital and operating budgets going forward reducing our reliance overall on the property tax which… is a regressive and horrible form of taxation” he said.
The charters’ development is planned in three phases and expected to be complete by the spring of 2016.
