Regional & Provincial Relationships

In a previous blog, I talked about the role of your local government and why it is critical to the vitality and sustainability of our community. The three key functions of our local government are the provision of core services, community planning and money management. 

But we cannot do that in a vacuum. We need to, and do, interact and participate with our municipal neighbours, regional stakeholders and province.

We work with our neighbours on Water Commissions, the River Valley Alliance, Industrial Heartland, and the Beaver Hill Initiative. These and many more partnerships ensure that we share responsibility for adjoining areas and wisely utilize our resources. 

On the regional level we contribute to and benefit from interacting with 24 other municipalities on the Capital Region Board. Mayor Oleson has been a strategic player in the evolution of that organization and retains a key position of several committees. Councillor Wlodarczk, Dunn and myself represent Council in the areas of GIS, Transit and Affordable Housing. The principal goal of these 25 autonomous municipalities is to plan as a team to meet the challenges of the future. Sharing knowledge and planning together with the Province, we can more effectively use what resources we have.

Provincially, we work as members on both the of the Alberta Municipalities’ Associations for urban and rural jurisdictions. In addition, I am a member of the Inter City Forum on Social Policy – meeting and lobbying with other municipalities to get our concerns across to the provincial government.

It is true that all municipalities are ‘children’ of the Province. Local governments were created and are legislated by the Province. The Municipal Government Act (MGA) is the primary statute governing the municipal affairs and does give municipalities’ a fair amount of autonomy in local decision making.

As I said, we cannot live in a vacuum. Taxes are not enough to provide for all the needs of our people. Secure, direct funding is imperative to implement the needed programs in our communities. As the Province downloads more responsibilities for things like affordable housing and health care - we as municipalities must increase our lobbying power with the government.

While we do not make the decision as to when and how big Strathcona County’s hospital will be, or whether to bury the powerlines, we do have many avenues and ways to influence the Provincial government. As individual Council members, we must continue to engage you, our residents, listen to your opinions and advocate your wishes to our local provincial MLA’s. Council as a whole works with MLA’s and Ministers to make our position known and further our case for fair treatment.

Please continue to let your concerns be known to your Councillor.