September 28, 2020

AB Today – Daily Report September 28, 2020

Quotation of the day

“It’s a bad omen.”

NDP Municipal Affairs critic Joe Ceci said the UCP offered little in the way of a relationship reset with municipalities at the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association conference.

Today in AB

On the schedule The house will reconvene on Tuesday, October 20.

Committees this week The Select Special Public Health Act Review Committee will meet in the afternoon on Tuesday and Wednesday, as well as all-day Thursday to draft its final report. The committee was established to correct potential government overreach authorized by the UCP’s controversial Bill 10.

Premier watch Premier Jason Kenney spoke at the Police and Peace Officers’ Memorial Day ceremony at Calgary City Hall on Sunday.

UCP warns municipalities of tough times ahead UCP heavyweights discussed the province’s plan to get Alberta’s municipalities out of the economic quagmire at the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association’s conference Friday — but didn’t offer a major bailout or funding reform.

Premier Jason Kenney told conference attendees “there’s no point in trying to deny the reality” of Alberta’s grim fiscal picture, noting the province’s GDP is expected to shrink by 20 per cent this year.

Newly minted Municipal Affairs Minister Tracy Allard echoed Kenney’s message during the conference’s virtual bear pit session, which gives local lawmakers the chance to grill members of cabinet.

“I hate to say this, but it has to be said — there is a fiscal reckoning coming,” Allard said.

Allard suggested big funding increases won’t be coming and that new cash flows can no longer be relied upon to pave over municipalities’ fiscal “sins.”

“They cannot be covered up any longer by the revenue that’s no longer here,” she said.

She reiterated the UCP’s $500 million for shovel-ready infrastructure projects, and promised “operating support” for cities and towns.

Finance Minister Travis Toews, who was also at the bear pit, said he would keep watch on the cash flow of hard-hit municipalities. The day before, the AUMA delegates passed resolutions proposing the province collect education taxes directly, rather than through municipalities, and offer a rebate should residents fail to pay their education property tax.

When it comes to greenlighting business development, Kenney urged municipalities to put job creation over “unnecessary rules, red tape and costs.”

“When I speak to major business leaders about prospective investment in Alberta, very often a message that I hear back is the greatest impediments they’ve experienced are at the local level, at the municipal level,” Kenney said in a pre-recorded address.

AUMA president Barry Morishita told reporters on Thursday he was hopeful there could be a reset in relations between municipalities and the province — and said Allard appeared to be open to listening to suggestions.

Under former minister Kaycee Madu, Morishita had described the relationship between municipalities and the province as “broken.”

NDP calls for a reset NDP Municipal Affairs critic Joe Ceci charged the UCP with “continuing to re-announce inadequate investment programs” while failing to tackle the specific challenges being raised by municipalities.

“It’s a bad omen for the future,” said the former finance minister.

NDP Leader Rachel Notley spoke at the convention, stating she would take up cities on their challenges to fix the education property tax model and negotiate a new fiscal framework, should she be re-elected premier.

She also promised to inject cash into affordable housing and waive the current requirement for municipalities to match provincial and federal dollars for infrastructure funding.

Today’s events

September 28 at 9 a.m. — Peace River Minister of Culture, Multiculturalism and Status of Women Minister Leela Aheer will tour the Peace River Museum, Archives and Mackenzie Centre.

September 28 at 1:30 p.m. — Edmonton Seniors and Housing Minister Josephine Pon will attend a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the opening of an affordable housing complex in Belvedere.

Topics of conversation

● The province announced 153 new Covid cases Friday, as the number of active cases rose to 1,497 (up 35). As of Friday, the provincial death toll remained unchanged at 261, but on Sunday the Foothills Medical Centre reported its fourth death. There were 56 people hospitalized, including 14 in ICU on Friday. ○ The Edmonton Sport Council told the Edmonton Journal it wants stricter guidance from the government on sports cohorts. Currently, guidelines suggest people stick to cohorts of 50 or fewer people and there is a soft recommendation to limit the number of cohorts that athletes are in, but no hard cap.

● U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted he will issue a presidential permit for the Alberta to Alaska rail line, which would carry oil and grain between Delta Junction, Alaska, and Fort McKay in northern Alberta. ○ The rail line would still need to undergo an environmental impact assessment in Canada before moving ahead. As of July, the A2A Rail company was conducting survey work for the Alberta portion of the line.

● The Beaver Lake Cree Nation is bringing an application to the Supreme Court after the Alberta Court of Appeals reversed a lower court’s decision ordering both the governments of Canada and Alberta to pay the First Nation’s legal fees. ○ The Beaver Lake Cree Nation has been fighting a court battle for more than a decade over the impact of industrial activity on its territory. ○ A year ago, Beaver Lake won a decision that would have covered $300,000 per year of its legal costs.

● 630CHED fired its morning radio show host Ryan Jespersen after Edmonton City Councillor Mike Nickel — who ran for the UCP nomination in Edmonton—South in 2019 — alleged Jespersen called his staff “chimpanzees.” ○ In the meantime, Calgary radio host and former Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith’s show will be syndicated in the time slot.

● Business confidence is down in Alberta according to the Canadian Federation of Independent Business’s business barometer, which clocked a drop from 64.3 points in August to 59.2 in September. However, it is still in line with the national average.

News briefs

NDP to pitch affordable housing strategy as it awaits government housing panel report ● NDP Housing critic Lori Sigurdson called on the UCP to reverse its cuts to housing ahead of a report expected by the end of the month from the affordable housing panel. ○ Sigurdson said in the 2019 budget the UCP cut rental assistance funding by 24 per cent and housing management funding by 3.5 per cent. In the 2020 budget, the government cut housing maintenance funding by $52 million and did not announce new capital funding for affordable housing.

Funding announcements

More TIER cash doled out ● “Cutting methane and creating jobs.” That the goal of the $52 million announced by Environment Minister Jason Nixon Friday. ○ Through TIER, the government will give a $25-million grant to Carbon Connect International, which has been tapped to deliver a program that offers a 50 per cent rebate for oil and gas operators that purchase emissions reduction equipment. ○ Separately, $10 million will be provided to help small- and medium-sized oil and gas producers identify on-site methane emission sources and “increase their awareness of provincial and federal funding programs.” ○ Another $17 million will go towards the Fugitive Emissions Management Program, which will fund “new research and demonstration activities” to help oil and gas companies detect and monitor methane emissions. ○ Nixon said the $52 million will “create jobs and cut about 1.5 megatonnes of emissions right away.”

AB Today is written by Catherine Griwkowsky, reporting from the Alberta Legislative Press Gallery.

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