'It changes the nature of politics': RMA wary of Bill 20 impact

Paul McLauchlin, president of the Rural Municipalities of Alberta, discusses provincial funding and changes to municipal governance with Alberta Primetime host Michael Higgins.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Michael Higgins: Let's start on this infrastructure grant program. Given the population parameters, how much of this $20 million-a-year over three years do you expect to trickle down or make an impact in rural municipalities?

Paul McLauchlin: I commend the government for looking at this. Eighty thousand people a year are moving to Calgary, 180,000 moving to all of Alberta, so definitely, there's pressures.

And growth takes two forms, it's population growth, but also that corporate, commercial and industrial investment.

So these dollars going into that infrastructure pot could be beneficial to them, and many of the members I represent which are the bedroom communities around the two big metros and the other cities as well.

MH: Do you see your members submitting applications, maybe getting access to this $20 million-a-year to build roads, build bridges?

PM: Build roads, bridges, the ancillary infrastructure to build industrial parks, look for those core investments, these folks moving here, giving them places to work, and that's the people that I represent.

I think, definitely, I’ve got members that will have big core investments and definitely the biggest problem with these investments, it takes a lot of money. I think that the minister did recognize that this is not enough money to solve many of the problems that we have, but it's a good first step forward and I think that we can use this, leverage it, learn from it, and make bigger investments as we move forward.

MH: Did you have an expectation that more funding streams will come, especially where rural municipalities are concerned?

PM: Our core funding, it used to be called MSI and is now LGFF, is about a billion dollars short. But we've also just done a study as an organization, $2+ billion dollars in bridge liability, $13 billion in liability related to roads.

We need some core investments now to allow us the best return on investment, the best use of our dollars, and the downloading of a lot of these funding requirements, whether it's police funding or this billion dollars. This is causing pressure to our ability to hold the line on infrastructure.

So our hope is that we can start looking at these core investments again. They've got a great return on investment of seven years, and using this money to build our infrastructure will get goods to market, get people jobs, and continue to grow as rural Alberta.

MH: Bill 20 is back on the radar. There are changes to legislation and regulation set to take effect in a matter of days. Minister McIver said last week this is good for municipalities, good for voters and good for Albertans. How much Bill 20 upside do you now see from a rural, municipal standpoint?

PM: Many of the changes, the changes related to parties, that's going to change municipal politics. It's not going to occur outside of the big metros, but it's going to be a huge shift, and we're disappointed by that. I think the nonpartisan nature of municipal politics is a huge benefit to Albertans.

The lack of tabulators, I heard an MLA say that now they cannot be hacked, just so you know, tabulators are not connected the internet so hacking is not a concept for those.

So we're frustrated that there's a lot of AGM driven issues for the party, that have actually pulled themselves into municipal politics. This is nothing that anybody asked for, we didn't ask for it, we’re kind of frustrated by it.

We'll see what happens in our metros related to this but it's quite disappointing that we're going to continue down this path.

We've always had good democracy in rural Alberta, we've had good people run, and I hope that we can maintain that non-partisan nature that makes better councillors, and better decisions.

Ideology doesn't work too well on bridges, by the way.

MH: Where then do you expect this to have the biggest impact on the electoral process? Where will it leave candidates?

PM: I think it's going to be really affected in the larger cities and metros, the donations and all those pieces. We hand draw our signs, honestly, in rural Alberta.

We don't have the population, we don't have the issues related to people funding you, we don't have developers funding municipal leaders.

So I think that the party piece could be a bit influential but I think that the reality is you pick a blue sign and you put a blue sign that matches UCP, that's what's gonna happen to rural Alberta, or you pick an orange sign or a red sign.

But again, it changes the nature of politics, it changes your representation. The fact is, I have 100 per cent accountability. The folks elected me. I get feedback at the feed store. Actually, they come to my house on occasion, and I'm good with that, I like that. I like being represented in that way.

MH: RMA Fall Convention is now just a couple weeks away. As always, there’s a multitude of resolutions on the agenda. Where do you expect discussions to be focused?

PM: I think really the perennial issues are infrastructure. Undeniably, we really want to have a better partnership with this government.

I think that the distraction of the AGM has stepped away from what we want to do, which is build communities, make those core investments, and I hope that we can start to build bridges with this government and work together and move forward.

I think we're going to, I think that this AGM has been just a huge distraction. So I sure hope we can dust ourselves off and get back to building rural Alberta. I think we can, I think we will, and I'm looking forward to it.

MH: A new RMA president will be elected at convention, as your time winds down. How are you reflecting on your tenure in the role?

PM: I tell my members this all the time, this is the best political job in the province of Alberta. I'm accountable directly to the some of the best salt-of-the-earth people.

I think that whoever fills my shoes will do an amazing job, these are great people to represent. We have immediate feedback, it's a fantastic organization, and I'll still be around. I'll be supporting from the sidelines, and I'll continue on as reeve of Ponoka County.

It's an amazing group of people and I'm proud of the work we've done together. And there's lots more work to do so I think the new president's not going to run out of things to do, that's for sure.