By Curtis Galbraith

Alberta

Municipal Affairs minister says municipalities in the Peace should be cheering Provincial Priorities Act

Apr 18, 2024 | 2:26 PM

Albert’s Minister of Municipal Affairs says he hopes municipalities in the Peace would be “cheering us on” when it comes to the government’s Provincial Priorities Act.

The government’s website says this legislation would require entities in Alberta to obtain approval from the provincial government before making any agreements with the federal government.

Ric McIver says the new Provincial Priorities Act was introduced because Alberta is “getting a raw deal from the federal government.”

McIver says the latest example is an announcement on money housing from a few weeks ago where Alberta was given $175 million while B.C was given $2 billion the next day, even though the provinces have similar populations.

“This is a pattern. This isn’t a one-off. So, we thought to ourselves, rather do the same thing over and expect a different result, we’re going to do something different and hope for a different result.”

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“We thought also we would learn from the successful way Quebec in particular gets funding from the federal government.”

McIver says when it comes to this funding, municipalities in the Peace “have nowhere to go but up.”

“Best I can tell, Grande Prairie and all the other municipalities in the area are getting zero for housing funding and if we were to get the $2 billion that B.C. gets, that would give us another billion-and-a-half.”

“We could work with municipalities, see who has the greatest need and try to spend the money responsibly in other municipalities.”

McIver says since the legislation was introduced, he has learned through cabinet colleague Jason Nixon that there has been some change from the federal government “completely ignoring Alberta” to being willing to negotiate.