Focusing on “woke” and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies is “way off base from the responsibility of a municipality,” according to Alberta’s new municipal affairs minister.
“I want to make sure that Edmonton and Calgary are doing their jobs,” Municipal Affairs Minister Dan Williams told The Macleod Gazette. “There’s not a left-wing and a right-wing way to plow a road or deliver water or treat wastewater. These are just the obligations of municipalities.”
Major municipalities should focus on services taxpayers expect rather than on ideological policies such as creating drug injection sites and banning plastic straws, Williams said.
Williams said that if big municipalities “stay in their lanes, do their jobs and do them well,” he has “no interest” in getting involved.
“But if they’re way off in left field, making up all sorts of problems that don’t exist instead of paying attention to the urgent needs of their residents and of all Albertans as hubs, community centres, and commercial centres for the entire province, then the province is going to step in,” Williams said.
The bill would also allow political parties to run on municipal ballots in Edmonton and Calgary, which McIver said was justified to ensure fair elections and accountability from municipal leaders. He said the new powers would only be used as a last resort, and that the bill was necessary to ensure municipalities are governing on affairs that are within their jurisdiction.
The bill was given royal assent a month later and came into force on Jan. 1 of this year.
Rural Alberta
Large municipalities receive the bulk of funding from the province since major services are typically centralized in big cities, however Williams said the province needs to ensure that “rural communities continue to compete with big centres for direct investment so they can continue to be wonderful places to raise a family, to grow a business, to play and to enjoy.”As the municipal affairs minister, Williams said he will have a heavy focus on making sure rural Alberta has an “attractive investment climate,” and that big urban centres are “doing their job representing their ratepayers and all Albertans by staying in their lane and doing the very important and hard work that it takes to run a big international city like Edmonton or Calgary.”
Then-minister of jobs, economy and northern development Brian Jean said at the plan’s announcement that the actions identified in the five-year plan would “benefit rural and northern Albertans for years to come.”
“With strengths in oil and gas, agriculture and forestry, tourism and emerging technologies, Alberta’s rural and northern communities are the backbone of our province’s economy,” Jean said.
