Achi news desk-
A Calgary city councilor has labeled a recent social media post by Premier Danielle Smith “misinformation”.
On 1 May, Ward 8 Cllr. Courtney Walcott introduced a motion to ask Alberta Municipalities to explore allowing permanent residents to vote in municipal elections. The motion was passed 9-6. Walcott said he wants permanent residents to engage with their communities.
He said the proposal does not mean the council allows non-citizens to vote but instead opens the debate at a provincial level.
On Tuesday, Premier Danielle Smith said in a social media post that the province needs to take a “second look” at city decisions that are “unconstitutional or outside of their responsibility” in rare circumstances.
“One example is the City of Calgary trying to change election laws to allow non-citizens to vote. That is simply not appropriate or within their authority. Bill 20 will provide the province with a tool to deal with these rare but serious examples of municipal overreach,” Smith’s post on X read.
This comes after the United Conservative government introduced Bill 20, or the Municipal Affairs Statutes Amendment Act, in a provincial legislature on April 25.
If passed, the amendments to the Municipal Government Act will allow the Cabinet to sack a councilor “if (it is) in the public interest” or order a referendum to decide whether to sack a councillor, which will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis . – cause basis.
The amendment will also enable the cabinet to require a municipal government to amend or repeal a by-law, as well as giving the cabinet the ability to postpone elections.
Municipal Affairs Minister Ric McIver previously said that only Canadian citizens can vote in municipal elections and that the province will not change this requirement.
Walcott labeled Smith’s social media post “misinformation,” saying it misrepresented the motion in favor of Bill 20.
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“That is hugely problematic from the provincial leader,” he told reporters on Tuesday. “I can’t guess why she would have said what she said, but I can point out that she referred to a columnist’s article instead of the proposal itself. And that raises problems because it’s not the first time that’s happened.”
Walcott added that Smith’s push for Bill 20 shows that she does not disapprove of a bylaw because of the content of the bylaw but based on a perception of the bylaw.
“That’s not exactly a very healthy sense of democracy, is it, when you don’t even have to read the motion to make the suggestion that it’s unconstitutional, or that it’s something that is,” he said.
Mayor Jyoti Gondek told reporters on Tuesday that the province is trying to exercise control with Bill 20 and is using any example to do so.
“The premier is also making comments about how Calgary has voted to allow permanent residents to vote in the election. That’s not what we did at all. I think the Prime Minister is finding convenient talking points that are not actually true to advance Bill 20, which is actually a power grab,” he said.
McIver has promised to amend the bill and discuss the proposed changes with civic leaders, who say they should have been consulted before the bill was even introduced. But on Monday, when asked by reporters about the state of the consultations, McIver pointed out that he had already spoken to multiple leaders “over the last few days” about the upcoming changes.
When asked if he considered those discussions to be the promised consultation, McIver refused to explain.
— With files from Bob Weber, The Canadian Press.
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