Though Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says she’s “in favour” of introducing party politics at the municipal level, Calgary’s Mayor is firmly against it.
Smith voiced her support of the idea on her radio show, ‘Your Province. Your Premier,’ on Saturday, even hinting that legislation on the matter could be tabled by the province in the spring.
“We’ve got 355 municipalities. The smaller municipalities — I don’t know that they’re partisan — but when you get into a city the size of Calgary or Edmonton, you better believe it’s partisan,” Smith said.
It’s an idea not supported by Calgary’s mayor.
“I am not affiliated with a party, nor do I want to be, so I don’t know what more transparency (Smith) would want from someone like me,” Mayor Jyoti Gondek told reporters Tuesday.
“What (the premier) will do is take people who are willing to work for Calgarians first, rather than a party, and make them ineligible to run, and I think that would be a great disservice.”
Speaking on her radio show, Smith said municipal governments are “too often” straying away from handling issues of local infrastructure and garbage collection.
The premier pointed to single-use item bylaws in Calgary and Edmonton as issues politicians didn’t campaign on and should have.
“I would say that because they are now getting far more political, and far more ideological, there probably needs to be a little more transparency about that,” Smith added.
Alberta Municipalities, an advocacy group representing more than 300 cities, towns and villages in the province, says its members overwhelmingly oppose political parties in local elections.
According to the association, a poll it commissioned by Janet Brown in September 2023 found 68 per cent of Albertans are against the idea of political parties at the municipal level.
“The current municipal government model ensures that local elected officials selected by most voting residents stand for the best interests of their residents and businesses,” said Tyler Gandam, the president of Alberta Municipalities and Mayor of Wetaskiwin.
“Local governments should be safe spaces for conversation and dialogue among neighbors without the divisiveness or vitriol we are seeing at the provincial and federal levels,” he said.
However, some councillors at Calgary city hall believe it may be time to explore the idea.
Ward 10 Coun. Andre Chabot says he used to believe in the independence of individual councillors, but not so much any more.
“It seems more and more that there are party lines, even within municipal government,” he said.
“So, to have the opportunity to articulate that prior to people voting would give better people a better sense on who they’re electing.”
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the NDP is caving to political pressure from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre when it comes to their stance on the consumer carbon price.
Trudeau says he believes Jagmeet Singh and the NDP care about the environment, but it’s “increasingly obvious” that they have “no idea” what to do about climate change.
On Thursday, Singh said the NDP is working on a plan that wouldn’t put the burden of fighting climate change on the backs of workers, but wouldn’t say if that plan would include a consumer carbon price.
Singh’s noncommittal position comes as the NDP tries to frame itself as a credible alternative to the Conservatives in the next federal election.
Poilievre responded to that by releasing a video, pointing out that the NDP has voted time and again in favour of the Liberals’ carbon price.
British Columbia Premier David Eby also changed his tune on Thursday, promising that a re-elected NDP government would scrap the long-standing carbon tax and shift the burden to “big polluters,” if the federal government dropped its requirements.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Simon Jolin-Barrette, minister responsible for consumer protection, has tabled a bill to force merchants to calculate tips based on the price before tax.
That means on a restaurant bill of $100, suggested tips would be calculated based on $100, not on $114.98 after provincial and federal sales taxes are added.
The bill would also increase the rebate offered to consumers when the price of an item at the cash register is higher than the shelf price, to $15 from $10.
And it would force grocery stores offering a discounted price for several items to clearly list the unit price as well.
Businesses would also have to indicate whether taxes will be added to the price of food products.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
