Max Chats: Bill 20 seems undemocratic to me

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Anyone who knows me, or reads this column regularly knows I am passionate about democracy and the electoral process. I don’t really care who you vote for — I care that you vote, but recent announcements from the Provincial Government are making me nervous because proposed new legislation could toss election results right out the window if local councillors are doing something the UCP government doesn’t like. 

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Introduced in the legislature earlier this month, Bill 20 would give the Alberta cabinet the power to dismiss councillors and mayors in any municipality and to repeal or amend local bylaws. 

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From where I sit, that’s not their job. There is already a process by which Municipal Affairs can step in if there is evidence of questionable or illegal actions on the part of a mayor, councillor or council. 

We recently saw here that a single individual can start a drive to have someone removed from council. 

Municipal Affairs Minister Ric McIvar recently said, ““The role of an elected official is one with tremendous responsibility and expectations. The Municipal Affairs Statutes Amendment Act will strengthen the accountability of locally elected officials and councils while balancing the need to support local autonomy in areas of municipal oversight.” 

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Good idea, with a big but at the end. Cabinet doesn’t make decisions in public, so if we’re looking for accountability and transparency among our local elected officials, I don’t think Cabinet should be the ones making those decisions because there is nothing saying how they would decide to dismiss municipal officials or how they decide which bylaws need repealing. 

Now, McIvar did say last week he plans to work with municipalities on changes to the bill to reassure them Cabinet would only remove local politicians as a “last resort” and that changing or repealing bylaws would not be done “lightly.”  I’m hoping when he has these discussions any re-writes to this potentially troublesome legislation are crystal clear and don’t provide opportunity for cabinet to toss a council that doesn’t lean their way. 

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Questions of comments? Email cmax@postmedia.com 

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