Alberta Premier Danielle Smith drew the ire of Calgary politicians after a social media post that incorrectly characterized action the city was pursuing on permanent resident voting rights.
The premier posted to X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday morning that in “rare circumstances” the province has to step in to “take a second look” at city decisions that are unconstitutional or are not their responsibility.
“One example is the City of Calgary attempting to alter election laws to allow non-citizens to vote. That is simply not appropriate nor within their authority,” the Premier posted.
The City of Calgary isn’t attempting to alter election laws to allow non-citizens to vote. The motion that was approved April 30 asked that the City of Calgary forward a joint resolution with the Town of Penhold to an upcoming meeting of Alberta Municipalities.
The resolution asks that Alberta Municipalities advocate to the Alberta Government to amend the Local Authorities Election Act to expand voter eligibility to include permanent residents. The Municipal Government Act is silent on a City’s right to advocate to the provincial government through a collective body of other municipalities.
Alberta’s Municipal Affairs Minister Ric McIver has said on a couple of occasions that they won’t be allowing permanent residents to vote in municipal elections.
Ward 8 Coun. Courtney Walcott, who put forward the advocacy motion, said he was less concerned about Minister McIver’s position, as he has the right to make a conclusion. Walcott said that the Minister can’t stifle the conversation at ABMunis, even though that’s what he thinks McIver is trying to do.
“Do I think it’s fair, not in the slightest, but he hasn’t crossed a line into misinformation to the same degree that the premier did today,” Walcott said.
“Where, to be honest, you just misstated the entire motion in support of Bill 20 and that is massively problematic from the leader of the province.”
Motion misunderstood?
Walcott said that what’s dangerous about the Premier’s post is that she’s trying to validate the push for Bill 20 with something that’s not even happening. Bill 20 would allow the province to repeal city bylaws and remove elected officials.
“It’s not actually about the bylaw. It’s about the perception of the bylaw,” he said.
“That’s not exactly a very healthy sense of democracy, is it, when you don’t even have to read the motion to make the suggestion that it is unconstitutional or that it is something that is illegal.”
Walcott was concerned that instead of referring to the actual bylaw, the Premier instead linked to a local columnist’s piece on Bill 20. In that column, it even states that the City would try to “push” the province to change voting laws.
Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek also weighed in on the post Tuesday, saying that the province continues to try to exercise its control over cities. She said they’re trying to use any example possible to do so.
“The Premier is also making comments about how Calgary has voted to allow permanent residents to have a vote in the election. That’s absolutely not what we did,” Mayor Gondek said.
“So, I think the Premier is finding convenient talking points that are actually not true to advance Bill 20, which is really a power grab.”
