Alberta Municipalities 'on board' with school construction funding

Tyler Gandam, Alberta Municipalities president, joins Alberta Primetime host Michael Higgins to discuss Premier Danielle Smith’s recent announcement of province-wide school construction funding.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length

Michael Higgins: The premier is asking high-growth communities to make new construction a priority. How is this plan, how is the message that comes with it, going over with your member municipalities?

Tyler Gandam: I think it's fantastic. Our members are growing at unprecedented rates right now... Even just the two big centres right now, we're seeing close to 30,000 new students over the last two years. So hearing that we're going to increase that capacity is amazing. I know that municipalities are on board, ready to build, ready to be a part of the growth that Alberta is seeing right now, and just looking forward to it.

MH: Headlines are filled with municipal councils wrestling with budget realities and looking for ways to rein in spending. To what degree do you expect this school construction push to contribute to those financial pressures?

TG: It continues to add to it. The province is looking at a $30-billion infrastructure deficit across the board. It's why Alberta Municipalities has been pushing to have that extra billion dollars for the local government fiscal framework-based funding model, and a big part of that is what happens with the partnership with the province.

We're not able to do it on our own. When we get cuts like we've seen over the last 10 to 15 years, especially with the infrastructure funding – it used to be $420 per Albertan that we would get, to now we're down to about $186 – it makes it incredibly hard for municipalities to be able to offer that kind of infrastructure and look after the growth.

We're ready to have that conversation with the province and increase the funding for our infrastructure to help with the growth that we're seeing here in Alberta.

MH: $8.6 billion over three years on education alone, historic levels of spending. How do you feel that could impact the degree of funding municipalities receive from the provincial government moving forward?

TG: I'm hoping that it's step one of what we're seeing for infrastructure funding for municipalities. They're recognizing the lack of resources and the lack of infrastructure that we've got with schools in our municipalities, and this is where people are ending up in all of our municipalities across the province.

So while that increase is definitely needed, so is the increase for our infrastructure and what we're dealing with in each of our communities.

MH: Calgary city council pulling the plug on the multi-billion dollar Green Line project in response to the actions of the provincial government. What's the takeaway here for all municipalities across Alberta in how this situation is playing out in Calgary?

TG: I think it goes back again to having that partnership with the province. Calgary has obviously been working on that Green Line for a number of years. That's a huge ticket item in terms of the billions of dollars that it's going to require to build.

I think as we grow as a province, Calgary and Edmonton are obviously seeing large growth, but so are the other municipalities. The impacts we're having with that and not having that support with transportation, with education, with health care, all of these things play a vital role in how we grow our communities and Calgary is no different.

MH: How does it change how municipalities approach the province on major projects like this, multi-billion dollar projects?

TG: I guess it goes back to: What's that conversation that you're having in the very beginning? And maintaining that open line of communication as you work through it. And I don't know what got Calgary and the province to the point that this is at, but making sure that each of these communities recognize what their needs are, the province understands what the needs are, and working together as best we can.

MH: Do you see a positive outcome here? Do you see a Green Line being built?

TG: I hope so. I hope that Calgary is able to identify the transportation shortfalls that they have within the city and moving forward they're able to figure out a way to make that work. Of course, within partnerships with the provincial and federal governments.

MH: Alberta Municipalities as a group is gathering in Red Deer next week for its convention for the fall and already generating headlines is a St. Albert motion advocating for use of vote-counting machines in local elections, something we've talked about in the past. How much discussion and debate do you expect that to generate at the conference?

TG: I think that, along with the other 26 or 27 resolutions that we've got, will generate a lot of talk. We've had the conversation before, ‘Why would we be bringing a resolution forward that the province has already opposed or said that they're not willing to support?’

I think what's important is that the province understands and hears why municipalities find these issues important, what the impact is on our communities, and how we're going to work on this moving forward. And if that opens up that conversation again on things that maybe the province has said, ‘No, we're not interested in having that conversation,’ they can hear from 1,100 attendees from our convention in Red Deer ... why things like that are important, and maybe why not implementing or not being able to use some of the things that the province isn't in favor of has that impact on the municipality.

MH: As has been the tradition in past fall conventions, the premier and cabinet are to be on hand. Is that the case again this time?

TG: Absolutely. We'll have Premier Smith there, as well as two bear pit sessions with a number of ministers. So our delegates will be able to ask our ministers questions, get some feedback, and maybe help drive some of that dialogue moving forward.

Everybody across the province wants to build that strong relationship with the province, with the government, so these kinds of events are really important to get that one-on-one conversation or time with the ministers and the premier and this is going to be no different.

MH: And do you expect there will be a resounding message this time around to the premier and cabinet?

TG: Absolutely. I think our association has done a really good job of representing our members and we'll continue to do that.

What's special about the convention is that the premier will get to hear from the members themselves, not just from myself or other board members with Alberta Municipalities. So it'll be a good opportunity for members to share their concerns. We’re about 13 months away from a municipal election which could have some dynamic changes as we get into the following term, but I think these kinds of conversations are important and the premier's already said that she'll meet with our board, or at least with our executive, on what it's going to look like, what the feedback was from our convention, and how those resolutions are going to impact our municipalities.

So I think that's a great step in that building of the relationship.