Bill 50: Major legislative changes proposed for munis
The Government of Alberta introduced Bill 50, the Municipal Affairs Statutes Amendment Act, 2025, last week. The bill proposes significant amendments to the Local Authorities Election Act (LAEA), the Municipal Government Act (MGA), and the New Home Buyer Protection Act and Safety Codes Act.
Key proposed changes that affect municipalities include:
- Revisions to the Intermunicipal Collaboration Framework (ICF) process, including new data-sharing requirements, updated cost calculation models, a list of mandatory ICF services, and guidelines for collaboration on new capital facilities.
- Updates to the ICF arbitration process.
- Elimination of municipal Codes of Conduct for councillors.
- A foundation for the future standardization of meeting procedures by the Minister of Municipal Affairs.
- New reporting requirements for Chief Administrative Officers (CAOs), including mandatory notifications to council when a municipality uses its "natural person" powers.
- Clarifying the authority of Official Administrators.
- Streamlining rules for owners-builders of new homes.
While Municipal Affairs consulted with ABmunis on some of the proposed amendments, many changes were unexpected and not previously shared with us.
In response, ABmunis is actively engaging with municipal administrative associations to assess Bill 50's full impact. Once this review has been completed, we will publish a comprehensive report outlining the key changes and their implications.
To support your understanding of these amendments, we invite municipal elected officials and staff to join us for a webinar on April 24, 2025, from 12 to 1 p.m. During this one-hour session, we will present our analysis of Bill 50 and seek your feedback to help shape our continued advocacy with Municipal Affairs. Register now to attend the webinar.
If you have any questions or recommendations ahead of this session, please contact your ABmunis Board representative or send an advocacy [at] abmunis.ca (email) to our Policy and Advocacy team.
