MARRIOTT: Switching out municipal councils every two years would be an improvement

It seems there’s lots of political discontent in Alberta’s biggest cities, but nothing that some good old fashioned democracy can’t solve.While the UCP government has been fighting high-profile issues such as Ottawa’s constitutional infringement, healthcare and the Alberta Pension Plan, they are nonetheless proceeding with reviews of other areas as well. One of those is a review of municipal governance and the strained relations between local governments and the province. Yeah... some changes likely need to be made.This is the first of two articles on municipal governance. If you prefer to just look at solutions try my next instalment. Otherwise stay tuned for some needed context.There are nearly 300 individual municipalities in Alberta from the very tiny to the huge. During the voting in the 2021 equalization referendum, 185 municipalities cast less than 1,000 votes, 280 cast less than 10,000 votes and Calgary and Edmonton alone accounted for nearly 60% of all votes.Further, Calgary is really very big. If you somehow got rid of Alberta and Calgary was the sole province between Saskatchewan and BC, it would still be the fourth largest province based on population after Ontario, Quebec and BC. Six other provinces and all the territories are smaller. And yet the entire 1.4 million population of Calgary is represented by 15 elected officials (around 93,000 people per official) as compared to nine officials for the city of Medicine Hat (Alberta’s 8th largest city) with a population of around 65,000 (or 7,000 people per official).It is probably worth noting a few myths surrounding local government. First, we have all heard there are three levels of government; federal, provincial and civic or local. Except the first two levels are established by Canada’s constitution and the division of broad powers and responsibilities has sadly been the source of much discord within our nation. Ottawa has essentially all the taxing authority but the provinces are saddled with the actual delivery of services. This creates large problems for the provinces as they are often begging for money from the federal government to appease their unhappy constituents.By contrast, the local governments operate at the sole pleasure of the provincial government and there is no separation of powers. Local governments have no direct taxing authority except what is granted to them through the provincial legislation. Local governments merely take over some the administrative duties of the provincial government. So they are primarily concerned with very practical things such as fire fighting, policing, providing water, sewer, electricity, garbage removal and clearing snow off the streets. Very mundane, but very necessary services for quality daily living. Make no mistake, municipal governments are extensions of the provincial government, not separate entities. The recent spat where the Alberta government is going to fire the Chestermere City council and administrators should make this abundantly clear.The challenges facing municipalities across Alberta are many but can be generally summarized as (1) the very small have insufficient resources and tax base to provide adequate service, while (2) the very large seem to be squandering their legitimacy to govern.So it is a good thing that the province is soliciting feedback to “improve accountability and maintain public trust in local elections and elected officials in Alberta's local governments.” It is a conversation worth having but probably of almost no interest to anyone outside of Calgary and Edmonton.So why should there be any concerns around public trust with local elections or local officials?Well, from the perspective of Calgary, it seems voters are unhappy with the current mayor and city council. Less than 40% of Calgarians seem to think the city is moving in the right direction. And Mayor Gondek’s approval rating has slipped into the 30s as well. Various councillors have faced personal scandals that have tarnished their credentials as reputable public servants. The list of things that are upsetting people range from the phoney 'climate emergency,' the scuttling of the original arena deal, subsidizing downtown developers, ignoring some serious warnings about the Green Line, as well as general concerns around poverty, homelessness, public safety and affordable housing. These are substantive concerns and show a lack of confidence by Calgarians in their elected politicians.The depth of the discontent seems to extend even to those voters who supported the mayor and council in the last election. For the mayor, the drop in support amounts to about a 25 to 30% decline as she finished the 2021 election with about 45% of the votes. This is a significant decline and it doesn’t look like she will be able to reverse it anytime soon. When the majority of voters essentially want a ‘do-over’ you have to seriously question the legitimacy of the whole process and be willing to look at improvements designed to enhance democratic ideals and provide more accountability to elected officials.For me, I believe the fundamental reason for our lack of confidence stems from the fact our elected councillors are just not happy merely making sure garbage collection runs efficiently. They seem to think their job is so much bigger. Much, much, bigger. Such as using taxpayer money to lobby the Quebec government over their controversial dress code restrictions or purchasing advertising for Enmax to influence a plebiscite in Maine. Or telling Calgarians which side to support in the Middle East war or whether or not they can use plastic straws (something it appears even the federal government can’t seem to legislate). I can’t imagine former alderman Dale Hodges getting into such flights of fancy, because he knew that saving taxpayers some money was his real job. Mayor Gondek is actually proud of this overreach of her mandate and jurisdiction. “Sadly, the only order of government that has stepped outside its legislated mandate to actually serve the public has been municipal government.”Ouch. You have to feel for Smith. She has overreach from above by the woke feds and from below with a woke city council. What must be particularly galling is trying to reduce the tax burden as a provincial objective, only to have it ramped up again by city politicians.So what is it that the province wants your opinion on? You can check out the website for yourself and I will address the critical issues in the next instalment of this article. Remember to tell the province in the website comments to institute biannual municipal elections. Democracy can solve lots of issues. William D. Marriott is a retired economist who specialized in public policy analysis of the oil and gas industry. His second article on this theme appears Monday, 27th November 2023

MARRIOTT: Switching out municipal councils every two years would be an improvement

Related Stories