Alberta’s NDP opposition says the latest bill from Danielle Smith’s UCP government is another step towards a “totalitarian government” in the province.
The province tabled Bill 20 on Thursday and, if passed, it would grant the government sweeping powers over municipalities, including the right to fire councillors, overturn bylaws and postpone elections.
Irfan Sabir is the NDP critic for justice public and safety and says the latest legislation is another example of the control that Smith is trying to seize in Alberta.
“It’s essentially a full on attack on the institution of democracy in municipalities,” he says. “With this bill, Danielle Smith is setting up a totalitarian regime for herself.”
“She wants to control municipalities, she wants to control police, she wants to control CPP.”
The provincial government’s authority over local bylaws was previously limited to land-use and, more recently, public masking and vaccinations.
The UCP say the new powers outlined in Bill 20 are justified to ensure fairer elections and accountability from municipal leaders.
The proposed law would also allow political parties to run on municipal ballots in Edmonton and Calgary, and ban the use vote counting machines in provincial elections.
“It doesn’t respect the democratic will as expressed in elections at the municipal level,” says Lori Williams, political science professor at Mount Royal University.
Williams says despite the provincial government having constitutional authority over municipalities, the bill contradicts the UCP government’s promise of listening to Albertans.
“To continually squeeze municipalities financially and otherwise limit their control their ability to respond to local concerns is not gonna play well to municipalities, and not play well to traditional conservatives,” she says.
When asked about how the power of cabinet to make changes would be checked in the future, the province’s Municipal Affairs Minister Ric McIver said voters would hold politicians accountable, and if mistakes are made it will come up in future elections.
Two weeks ago, Premier Danielle Smith’s government introduced a bill that would give it the power to veto any deal between the federal government and provincial entities, including municipalities and post-secondary schools.
With files from Silvia Naranjo and The Canadian Press