Photo by Curtis Galbraith

By Emily Keller

AUMA

AUMA passes Request for Decision to keep provincial and federal issues off municipal ballots

Jun 19, 2020 | 5:30 AM

The Alberta Urban Municipalities Association (AUMA) has passed a Request for Decision that was brought forward by the City of Grande Prairie regarding municipal elections at the AUMA Municipal Leaders Caucus on Thursday.

The Request for Decision asks for local elections to remain solely focused on local issues, and for provincial and federal issues such as referendums, or things related to the Senate, be kept off municipal ballots.

“Local governments deal with a lot of complex issues that are very important to residents, very niche geographically,” said Mayor Bill Given. “They matter in a local area, and actually do take a lot of thought.”

The decision was passed with 95 per cent of the vote, and Mayor Given adds that despite some outliers, there were no discussions in objection to the Request for Decision.

Grande Prairie City Council voted to have the Mayor bring forward the Request back in February, and concerns regarding the issue were raised after the province indicated they were going to hold several referendums and Senate elections at the same time as the municipal elections in 2021.

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Mayor Given says they want to enable residents to focus on things that matter to them locally.

“Our concern is that if that local space starts to become occupied by provincial and federal issues, that residents will not have as much time to concentrate on these really meaningful issues when it comes to local elections. We want people to think about who they’re electing to their local town council or city council.”

He adds that an amendment was made that took out municipalities requesting financial compensation if provincial and federal affairs were included on local ballots.