Alberta government moves to eliminate municipal codes of conduct

Alberta Municipal Affairs minister Ric McIver introduced a new bill Tuesday that would automatically repeal all municipal codes of conduct as soon as it is proclaimed into law. 

Bill 50, the Municipal Affairs Statutes Amendment Act, proposes changes to three existing laws: Local Authorities Election Act, the Municipal Government Act, and the New Home Buyer Protection Act.

Amendments to the Municipal Government Act in early 2015 compelled municipal councils across Alberta to pass codes of conduct by 2018. 

But McIver said they have since become a tool for councillors to target other members of council. 

"Most municipalities get along just fine and behave well and serve their citizens without a whole bunch of interpersonal drama," he said at a news conference Tuesday.

"But there's been more than enough instances of people using the bylaws as weapons, weaponizing them, if you will, and they're trying to silence people that disagree with them that are on council." 

McIver is proposing an external third party, like an ethics or integrity commissioner, become the arbiter of breaches but he wants to consult with municipalities first. 

Such a change would also relieve the chief administrative officers of municipalities of the responsibility of having to resolve disputes. 

McIver said the current situation puts these officials in an awkward position because they are hired, evaluated and can be fired by councillors. 

"It's not a fair position to put them in," he said. "So we're going to try to fix that too."

Other measures in the bill include a change that would allow municipal political parties to share campaign funding with their candidates and compel them to disclose their donors before election day in October. 

The bill also proposes a temporary measure to allow Jasper residents to vote or run in the municipal election even while they are displaced by last summer's wildfire. 

The government plans to keep these amendments in place for the fall municipal election and through 2026 just in case there is a byelection. The provision is to expire by Dec. 31, 2026. 

Political donation disclosure

The proposal to eliminate municipal codes of conduct follows some high-profile cases where councillors used the rules against another council member. 

Last year, Linnsie Clark, the mayor of Medicine Hat, was stripped of some of her powers and given a pay cut for failing to treat the city manager with "courtesy, dignity and respect" at a council meeting in 2023. 

A Court of King's Bench judge later ruled that the sanctions were not in proportion to her code of conduct breaches and reversed most of them. 

Last year, members of Alberta Municipalities passed a resolution moved by the Town of Rocky Mountain House to set up an independent office of integrity to investigate code of conduct breaches. 

Edmonton Coun. Andrew Knack is concerned that there will be a period of time between the repeal of the codes of conduct and the enactment of what replaces them. 

"I don't want to be closed-minded to it," he said. "If they have a good system that has clear standards across the province, then that might actually be a really good thing. I want to give him the benefit of the doubt on this particular issue."

Knack is more concerned with the rules for candidate donation disclosures. While Bill 50 will require political parties to disclose their donations before the election, there isn't a similar provision for individual candidates or third-party advertisers. 

Knack said the new system imposed by the province hurts candidates who choose to run independently. 

He says political parties can still get more donations from corporations and numbered companies. 

"This change in legislation just allows political parties to, again, get more corporate money, more money, you know, from numbered companies that people aren't going to know enough about and that's going to help influence the elections," he said.