President of AB Munis offers alternatives to municipal party politics

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The president of the affiliation that represents greater than 260 of Alberta’s cities, cities and villages is constant to beat the drum that social gathering politics can be “a nasty thought” on the municipal degree.

At a information convention Tuesday, Tyler Gandam, president of AB Munis, outlined 4 suggestions for the Alberta authorities to extend transparency on the most native degree of presidency.

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The recommendations embody reducing private marketing campaign donation limits to $2,500 per candidate and tightening monetary guidelines to require candidates to file pre-election disclosure statements.

“A discount in contribution limits would go a good distance towards making a extra degree enjoying area and guaranteeing massive donors don’t drown out the voices of grassroots Albertans,” mentioned Gandam, who can also be the mayor of Wetaskiwin.

Limits on marketing campaign contributions also needs to apply to 3rd events, he added, in order that political motion committees don’t have a bonus over particular person candidates.

“Voters ought to know who’s donating cash to candidates or not directly supporting them by means of promoting,” he mentioned.

The affiliation can also be advocating for a requirement that candidates should verify on their nomination types that they perceive their position as a council member, as set out within the Municipal Authorities Act.

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Gandam additionally mentioned the Alberta authorities ought to make academic assets on this matter accessible to potential candidates.

Tuesday’s information convention was in response to the province’s intent to introduce laws permitting for events to area candidates in municipal elections.

Whereas some Canadian cities — akin to Montreal and Vancouver — have entrenched a type of localized social gathering politics, Alberta has maintained a municipal governance system the place council candidates run and are elected as independents.

Premier Danielle Smith has expressed help for the thought of municipal social gathering politics, significantly for the province’s largest cities. She argued in February that Edmonton and Calgary’s councils are already partisan, and members usually introduce motions they didn’t marketing campaign on.

However Gandam has lengthy claimed there may be little public help for municipal social gathering politics, citing surveys executed by AB Munis and the Alberta authorities. He reiterated Tuesday {that a} provincial survey final fall confirmed greater than 70 per cent of respondents opposed the thought.

A celebration-based system would doubtless encourage councillors to stay to their social gathering’s stance, Gandam mentioned, moderately than hearken to their constituents and contemplate their neighborhood’s welfare as a complete.

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“We imagine a party-based system would contribute to a extra adversarial and combative atmosphere,” he mentioned. “It appears doubtless that divisions on municipal councils alongside social gathering traces will enflame current divisions amongst teams inside the communities, and even between neighbouring municipalities.”

Most municipal councils, Gandam argued, are busy contending with non-partisan challenges, akin to enhancements to snow-clearing, wastewater remedy, street restore and public transit companies. The established order encourages municipal councils to collaborate and compromise to seek out consensus on a specific situation, he argued.

“The present non-partisan system creates an atmosphere through which councillors are inspired to pay attention to at least one one other, contemplate various views, weigh the professionals and cons, search extra data and debate points earlier than voting on them,” Gandam mentioned.

However, the province seems poised to introduce laws as early as this spring.

Final month, Municipal Affairs Minister Ric McIver informed reporters the federal government is contemplating amendments to the Native Authorities Election Act to permit candidates to listing social gathering affiliation alongside their title on ballots.

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“This isn’t a takeover of municipalities by our political social gathering or another one,” McIver, who beforehand served as a councillor in Calgary, mentioned on the time. “Nobody can be allowed to be affiliated with a provincial or federal social gathering in the event that they resolve to run in a municipal election as a celebration.”

In Calgary, a grassroots group of political activists dubbed Challenge YYC emerged in March, with the target of serving to get a “frequent sense” conservative mayor and council elected in 2025.

Teams akin to Challenge YYC are examples of the democratic course of in motion, Gandam argued, moderately than proof of an rising political social gathering.

“I feel that whereas anyone can present allegiance to any political social gathering proper now, the introduction of political events on the native degree . . . doesn’t change or enhance the standard of life for residents in that municipality,” he mentioned.

— With information from Matthew Black, Postmedia

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