Province sending fiscal policy down to municipalities
By COLLIN GALLANT on October 26, 2019.
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant It’s generally agreed that Jason Kenney and the United Conservatives are prepped for a fight with the federal government, but it’s obvious from the provincial budget that their guns are also trained downward. Municipalities are still considering the implications of a budget that reduces capital and operating grants and delays some major projects in major centres. Calgary’s mayor, Naheed Nenshi, and Edmonton’s Don Iveson called changes to the agreed-upon City Charters funding formula a betrayal, but maybe it shouldn’t be so surprising. There’s a growing pattern of this government making policy based on the letters to the editor sections in major cities. An ocean of ink has been spilled over business tax increases in Calgary as well as calls from the business community there to halt the Green Line light rail transit project, and similar projects in Edmonton. Is it beyond belief that the people Kenney and finance Minister Travis Toews are listening to want to export stricter spending and lower tax regimes down to local government as well? To such an end, the province has the power of the purse strings, and besides a reduction, can and likely will apply all sorts of new strings on remaining amounts. Cities themselves have argued long and hard against downloading responsibilities every time a higher level of government needs to fix its budget. This time the Alberta budget document itself is laced with reminders that local governments have room to raise taxes and many have reserves they can draw from. If the underlying theme in the surgical cuts is to affect Calgary and Edmonton, then other mid – to small-sized centres will have to take the medicine as well. It’s a double whammy for Medicine Hat, where city hall begrudgingly admitted in 2017 that it is in the same boat as the province when it comes to the roller-coaster revenue ride associated with subsidizing taxes and volatile resource revenue. Since then they’ve been raising taxes and cutting costs, and now find themselves in a tighter vice in a rough provincial budget. The whole thing is reminiscent of the province’s decision to blow up the regional health board system and centralizing spending to rein in overspending in city regions, while Medicine Hat’s was balancing its budget. Renewed energy This week a presentation in Medicine Hat detailed a $75 million energy storage research project that the University of Alberta is undertaking. Host of the event and local member of that university’s senate, Colleen Wilson, informs the News her second term will end next July. Her hope is that a local alumnus will consider applying to give both Medicine Hat representation within the institution as well as promote the U of A’s presence in this quadrant of the province. A process will begin in December with applications toward a round of appointments in May 2020. Times have changed Public notice has been made that Telus plans to remove the payphones in Cypress Hills Provincial Park and the final phone booth in Manyberries. According to the notice the next nearest pay phone is the 7-11 on Carry Drive in Medicine Hat. A look ahead Thursday is not only Halloween, but Oct. 31 also marks the opening of pre-tournament play in the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge that will be co-hosted by Medicine Hat. 100 years ago The nation was gripped with the prospects of how the United Farmers of Ontario would form a minority government in that province, the News reported this week in 1919. Discussions were underway with newly-elected Labour party MPPs toward a potential coalition agreement. Locally, the now-64 local chapters of the UFA within the Medicine Hat federal constituency were planning a conference to nominate a federal candidate. Reports from overseas noted that national debt of Germany had surpassed 200 billion Marks – 40 times higher than pre-war level – in part due to reparation payments from the peace settlement. A federal government panel studying farm trade and combinations declared that newsprint was a “necessity of life” and would fall under provisions to regulate its trade. An international conference of female physicians resolved that tobacco use should be considered an industrial disease of the lungs and should be abolished. The conference also supported physical examinations of both partners in a pending marriage, a tenant proposed by a growing eugenics movement. Collin Gallant covers city politics and a variety of topics for the News. Reach him at 403-528-5664 or cgallant@medicinehatnews.com.. 31-30
