'This is a huge mistake': Bill 20 rules on local political parties revealed

Alberta municipalities are getting their first look at new rules around local political parties and how they will be funded – and they don't like what they see. 

Details of the province's new Municipal Affairs Statutes Amendment Act, or Bill 20, were being revealed Friday, two weeks before the legislation comes into effect.

The bill, which has been heavily criticized by Alberta municipal leaders, makes changes to the Municipal Government Act and the Local Authorities Election Act.

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Those changes include allowing political parties on local ballots in Calgary and Edmonton and province-wide changes to expense limits.

Rural Municipalities Alberta (RMA) and Alberta Municipalities, which represent the vast majority of the province's municipalities, both expressed disappointment with the final details after consulting with the province.

"The changes that we would like to have seen made aren't reflected," said Alberta Municipalities president Tyler Gandam.

"We're just wondering where or what the problem was that they're trying to fix, because we weren't aware of any that required this kind of legislation."

"I've seen party politics become so polarizing and really become a toxic environment for democracy," said RMA president Paul McLauchlin. "This is a really big step back for democracy." 

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In the new Local Political Parties and Slates Regulation (LPPSR) released Friday, rules include that: 

• Parties cannot have any formal affiliation with a provincial or federal party, and cannot receive donations from them.
• Parties won't be allowed on school board trustee ballots.
• Parties will be required to submit a list of endorsed candidates, and the party name will be listed next to the candidate's name on ballots.
• Municipal candidates are not required to affiliate with a party.
• Contributions to parties can only be made by Alberta residents and organizations.

While campaign expenses will remain limited, there will be no limits on operational spending for local political parties and contributions can be carried forward into subsequent election cycles.

Union and corporate donations will also be allowed again, ending an almost nine-year ban brought in by the Alberta NDP in 2015. 

'It's not fair'

Jeffrey Hansen-Carlson, president of new Edmonton political party TapYeg, believes political affiliations will make city conversations "more focused on priorities." 

"I think it's time that the forces at work behind the scenes were put overtly in front of Edmontonians," he said. 

However, critics believe the oppostie to be true, claiming partisanship will only muddy the waters. 

"Municipal politics (are) not about ideology. It's not about towing a party line. It's about building communities, and so I think this is a huge mistake by the government," McLauchlin said. 

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After the announcement, municipal leaders reiterated fears that the amendments will effectively put local governments "up for sale."

"(What), frankly, angers me in this situation is that I think one of the fundamental principles of local democracy is fairness," said Edmonton Coun. Andrew Knack. "And now it's not fair.

"Somebody who wants to run as an independent because they believe in putting people over a party will be put at a huge disadvantage from a fundraising capacity."

"This should be creating certainty around forming parties, but not actually making parties an advantage in democracy," McLauchlin said. "We're really concerned about the thumb being on the scale."

Minister of Municipal Affairs Ric McIver has called those fears "ridiculous," claiming just as much money will be spent as before union and corporate donations were banned.

"There's no reason why an individual candidate can't have a corporate backer or several of them," he said. "That's called a campaign – who can raise the most money."

The regulations aren't designed to take "big money" out of local politics, McIver said, just to make them more transparent.

However, Albertans will not know which unions or corporations have donated to a party or candidate in the October 2025 election, as those entities will not be required to disclose donations until March 2026.

"That is an awkward point, no doubt about it," McIver said when asked about the discrepancy. 

The Municipal Affairs Statutes Amendment Act comes into force at the end of the month.

McIver said the province will decide after next year's election if the political-party pilot will be expanded or terminated – though he has consistently refused to define how its success would be measured.

"Between elections, we will look at what actually happened, as opposed to what you and I might expect happened, and we will use the examples of what actually happened to inform future decisions," he said.

Gandam said that's not good enough.

"I'd like to know how we're going to measure that before we decide whether or not it was successful," Gandam said.

"I don't want to see them expanded, and that's not just my personal feeling," he added. "It was voted on overwhelmingly by my membership, and we heard from Albertans the same thing – that wasn't something that they wanted to see."

For more information on Bill 20 and the changes within, visit the Government of Alberta's website.

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Chelan Skulski