Alberta’s Minister of Municipal Affairs Hears Local Concerns at Vegreville Meeting

Alberta’s Minister of Municipal Affairs Hears Local Concerns at Vegreville Meeting

Emily Mailhot Reporter – Vegreville News Advertiser

Minister of Municipal Affairs Kaycee Madu has been touring Alberta’s municipalities to hear from leaders on what their main concerns are approaching budget. In Vegreville, leaders from throughout the area met at the Legion hall for a closed meeting on Thursday, September 19.

Minister Madu said that he will be travelling all across the province to speak with every municipal government in order to ensure communication about priorities for the upcoming budget.

“In my capacity as Minister of Municipal Affairs, I want to make sure I’m hearing from municipal governments to understand their local issues and concerns so that we can begin to figure out how to collaborate.”

Minister Madu said that a prominent issue brought up at the meeting was the MSI funding, which is the primary tool used by the province to fund projects in municipalities.

The Municipal Sustainability Initiative (MSI), which is a major capital grant fund to municipalities in Alberta, grants approximately $900,000/ year. The program has expired, and the government has renewed it for two years.

Municipalities expressed the need for a long-term funding strategy to help stabilize their finances. “The funding formula really needs to be addressed to deal with all the different types of municipalities in Alberta,” said Cliff Craig, Town of Vegreville Manager. “The other concern that comes hand-in-hand with the funding is that municipalities are required to do a five-year Capital Plan, and at this point, we only know what our funding from the Province is going to be for the next two years.” Everyone in the room reportedly shared this concern.

“My message to every one of them is that we need to all work together to rebuild our economy… and return the prosperity we all share.”

Also brought forward by Vegreville’s representatives at the meeting, including Town Manager Cliff Craig and Deputy Mayor Ann Waters, was the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program funding.

“The town put in an application over a year ago and went through a whole process… there were some delays on a provincial level, which were then followed by a change in government,” explained Craig.

“We’re very pleased that Minister Madu paid a visit to our community to visit with municipalities in our region,” concluded Vegreville Deputy Mayor Ann Waters. “It shows that he really wants to hear from us and work together for positive change.”

Fort Saskatchewan- Vegreville MLA Jackie Armstrong-Homeniuk shared this sentiment.

“I just wanted all of the municipal leaders to get together and discuss common problems with the Minister so that their questions could be answered in an open, friendly format,” Homeniuk stated, “We had a good first step to get to know each other and work together going forward.”