Submitted for his approval: Danielle Smith's new job at Trudeau will affect cities, universities too

Earlier this week, the Daniel Smith government held its latest round of “budget tape-cutting” celebrations. It promised to ease and cut red tape for rural utilities, cannabis sellers and autonomous vehicle innovators.

What happened two days later?

The premier announced legislation next year declaring that any municipality, school or agency looking to spend any dollars or any deal with Ottawa must first review, discuss and give provincial civil servants Alberta's seal of approval.

Based on the new legislation, this will include new Canada Post PO Box sites or the City of Alberta hosting Red Deer's next sponsorship. Canada Day Celebrationor a school board that wants to continue the funding program Local students with disabilities. The list of examples could be much longer.

United Conservative Papers

Not only does it include any new deal between any of these provincial entities and any federal agency, but any expanded or renewed agreement will require Alberta's consent. fortis et liber seal too.

Current deals on projects — like affordable housing, sewers or rebuilding bike lanes — would be nice, though Municipal Affairs Minister Rick McIver added a caveat that could chill the province's mayors.

“Unless they have unlivable conditions,” he warned.

The opportunity for the Smith government to mediate has long appeared municipal leaders are fuming advance and could ensnare university and college presidents as well, it is now clear that the bill will require post-secondary schools to get provincial OK for federal research grants as well.

Smith says he doesn't want to create more red tape for agencies — he thinks bureaucracy is bad and his government's policy goals are good. All to stick it to the guy who sticks it all the time.

“Today in Alberta, we're taking more of our jurisdictional control and telling Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet they can't make deals without our direct approval.”

He is no longer the only Canadian premier in this mood.

Others, like Ontario Premier Doug Ford – Trudeau's usual ally, albeit a conservative – became increasingly angry at the announcements of the Ottawa Liberals, who were on the jurisdictional square of the provinces. Trudeau's recent pre-budget tour was full of them: school lunch programs, housing funding tied to local zoning reform and, before that, child care, pharmaceuticals and dental care—all provincial constitutional areas.

Municipalities are also a provincial jurisdiction, as mayors protested this week, and should not always be treated like the prime minister's children.

Alberta, however, was the first to act on the frustration, mimicking a 40-year-old Quebec law that allows the government to void any deals between Ottawa and provincial entities not signed off by provincial cabinets. It was adopted in 1984 under the Parti Québécois, a party with a different flavor than independence. Smith's UCP.

Like the province that has held two secession referendums, Smith wants to block access to Alberta's “priorities.” The account name claims that.

For the Prime Minister, it's the Liberals' net zero net goals, green building codes, contraception and insulin-first pharmaceutical deals, safe delivery harm reduction and more. means to fight back.

“They fund in a certain way based on a certain ideology,” the prime minister said before departing for Ottawa for the annual conservative policy conference of the Canada Strong and Free Network.

Smith knows the initiatives his government opposes, and he wants to maximize his power to keep them away from all Albertans.

It's like electric city buses that aim to promulgate laws. He vilified Ottawa for subsidizing Edmonton's navy, ie. prone to breakdown.

However, the province was related to the purchase In 2018 (when PDP was in power). Alberta officials checked, signed and cut their checks.

Only the current government has retrospective regret, skepticism, and preference for hydrogen fuel. Last year, it allowed the Ottawa and Calgary councils to make their own arrangements Purchase of bus 259.

Grants are pending

The UCP's ideology and involvement could also affect campuses, with the bill requiring external agreements with post-secondary schools to be approved.

Smith said he would like some federal grants to be given provincial attention.

“Look at the social research fund they have. I think it's $400 million, and then you see the kind of projects they're financing.”

In fact, total federal grants to both the University of Alberta and the University of Calgary totaled $400 million in 2022-2023. For Calgary's main facility, that's about 13.3 percent of that total incomeconsists of dozens, if not hundreds, of small grants with engineering, health and social science research agencies, as well as research professors across Canada.

Smith and McIver insisted that would not happen Governors are afraid of pain, the province has a much closer relationship with municipalities, and much of that would be a windfall. Either way, it means more federal funding for them.

Smith said of the nearly 14,000 intergovernmental agreements analyzed before the bill, only 800 were submitted to provincial ministries for scrutiny. (This still requires a lot of review, although there are no provincial estimates of how much office time all of this will consume.)

There will be more consultation with councils and agencies to determine bureaucratic processes and exemptions from smaller, less likely federal agreements.

It's the opposite of the usual way of doing legislative work — consult, define limits and parameters, then pass the law — but it's created opportunities to alert and warn Trudeau's Liberals sooner rather than later, given that they won't be in power for long.

This raises another issue.

Time is…

This reform is expected to enter into force in early 2025. And with the federal election just months away, that's what voters are looking like now. the probability of shooting is very high Choosing the Trudeau government, Smith chose the Pierre Poillevre Conservatives to ally.

A few carrots and sticks for individual municipalities.

… everything

It means that in a few months, after the UCP government thwarted liberal interventions, it will spend years like this.”goalkeeper“The leader of the federal Conservatives stands between him and the action in triple formations, expressing contempt.

But Smith doesn't mean it's a problem for Puyevres, city councils, provincial bureaucracies or anyone whose name doesn't start with a T and end with a U.

Albertans in the public sector may want to consider the idea carefully, review it, and weigh it against reality before deciding whether to approve it.