Unpaid oil and gas taxes, stable funding priorities for Alberta's new municipal affairs minister

Rural Municipalities of Alberta president Paul McLauchlin is giving high marks to Rebecca Schulz for her first speech to rural politicians as municipal affairs minister but says there are additional municipal-provincial issues that need more work. 

In a short address to the RMA convention in Edmonton on Wednesday, Schulz talked about implementing the Local Government Fiscal Framework, collecting unpaid municipal taxes from oil and gas companies, and fixing problems with rural healthcare and EMS. 

"I thought it was the perfect speech. It was RMA bingo," said McLauchlin, who is also the reeve of Ponoka County. "She hit all the points that are important to us."

Schulz, the MLA for Calgary-Shaw, was put in charge of municipal affairs when Premier Danielle Smith announced her new cabinet on Oct. 21.  Schulz previously served as Children's Services minister before stepping down in the spring to run for the UCP leadership. 

Schulz also announced the government was bringing back the grants municipalities used for training volunteer firefighters. The program, which provided $500,000 in grants, was cut in early 2020 as a cost-savings measure. 

She stressed how she wanted to listen to and work with municipal leaders. 

"Local government, and every one of you here, is important and we need to work together toward our shared goals — serving our great province and its people," Schulz said. 

Members insulted by UCP proposal

One of the issues on Schulz's plate is calming the controversy that erupted after the UCP membership passed a resolution at last month's Annual General Meeting proposing that municipal staff and politicians must register as lobbyists in order to contact their provincial counterparts. 

McLauchlin said his members — who are the reeves and councillors of Alberta's 69 counties and municipal districts — were insulted by the proposal. 

Treating municipal politicians as lobbyists doesn't reflect how representatives from different levels of government work together, McLauchlin said. 

"I think [the resolution] needs to be discussed because it makes no sense to us," he said. "Our members are upset about it more from a respect standpoint." 

Schulz said she wants to discuss the proposal with members of the Calgary-South West constituency association that brought it to the floor of the UCP AGM and figure out what problem they were trying to solve. 

"Is this the way that we address it?" Schulz told reporters. "Is there another way we can address those issues and what impacts that would have?"

Schulz's speech didn't touch on the government's proposal to dump the RCMP in favour of a new Alberta Provincial Police service. 

The government could be flagging a shift in that policy. 

Premier Danielle Smith said during the UCP leadership race that she wanted to move quickly on "augmenting" the RCMP with provincial officers. 

McLauchlin believes the government is pulling back on a complete swap but said RMA members will likely have questions for ministers at the two "bear pit" sessions scheduled on Wednesday and Thursday.

$253M in unpaid taxes

McLauchlin wants to meet with newly-appointed energy minister Pete Guthire about the unpaid tax issue, which is constraining the finances of rural municipalities. 

RMA estimates its members are owed $253 million in unpaid property taxes from oil and gas companies as of March 2022.

The provincial government said municipal governments could use special liens to recover the money, but the association has found they don't work in many circumstances and are complicated to implement. 

McLauchlin said Guthrie needs to direct the Alberta Energy Regulator to change wording in its policy to compel scofflaw companies to pay their taxes. 

"Recognizing it is different than action," he said. "We need to see action on this file, not just for today but for the future."