May 27, 2020
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Office of the Prime Minister 80 Wellington Street Ottawa, ON K1A 0A2 [email protected]
Dear Prime Minister Trudeau:
I write to you today about the urgent need for financial support for municipal governments in response to the economic turmoil caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
There is little doubt that municipal government workers have been at the forefront of the response to the virus. These are the workers we call upon as emergency first responders. We call upon them to care for our vulnerable friends and neighbours. And we call upon them to drive buses and deal with waste and recycling. In short, these are the workers that make our towns and cities good places to live.
The other side of the coin however, is that municipal finances have been absolutely hammered by the economic downturn associated with the COVID-19 response. Revenue from municipal services, like transportation and recreation, have evaporated leaving massive holes in budgets.
In Alberta, the situation is exacerbated by a provincial government seemingly deaf to the concerns of municipal officials. Prior to the COVID-19 downturn, rural Alberta municipalities were owed $173 million from oil and gas companies, but Premier Kenney has rebuffed calls to help recoup these unpaid taxes. At the same time, the recent provincial budget has downloaded costs and cut grants to municipalities. To add insult to injury, our two largest cities, Calgary and Edmonton, had a long-term agreement for stable funding shredded by the UCP government, despite an election promise to keep it in place.
We understand that there is a provincial role to play. In response to a question from an opposition Member of Parliament, you said, “Our constitution requires that most of the funding for municipalities flow through the provinces”. However, your government has proven adept at finding innovative solutions, regardless of jurisdictional challenges.
Our concern, Prime Minister Trudeau, is that without federal leadership, Alberta’s municipalities will be backed into a corner and forced to make draconian cuts that will disrupt lives, undermine services and delay our economic recovery. Municipal governments can’t run deficits. Only the federal government, in cooperation with the Bank of Canada, can generate the kind of revenue that’s necessary to head-off the catastrophe that’s facing our municipalities.
The need is urgent, Prime Minister Trudeau. Our two largest cities, Edmonton and Calgary, are facing an estimated shortfall of more than $616 million from lost revenue and there are scores of smaller municipalities facing similar facts. Canada, as a nation, will not recover from the COVID-19 pandemic unless the federal government finds a way to help municipalities shore up their budgets.
Sincerely,
Gil McGowan President Alberta Federation of Labour cc: Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs [email protected]
Honourable Bill Morneau, Minister of Finance [email protected]
Honourable Filomena Tassi, Minister of Labour [email protected]
Andrew Scheer, Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada [email protected]
Jagmeet Singh, Leader of the NDP and Critic for Intergovernmental Affairs [email protected]
Peter Julian, NDP Critic for Finance [email protected]
Scott Duvall, NDP Critic for Labour [email protected]
Heather McPherson, MP, Edmonton-Strathcona [email protected]
Pierre Poilievre, Conservative Critic for Finance [email protected]
Corey Tochor, Conservative Critic for Intergovernmental Affairs [email protected]
John Williamson, Conservative Critic for Labour [email protected]
Elizabeth May, Green Party Parliamentary Leader [email protected]
Yves-François Blanchet, Leader of the Bloc Québécois [email protected]