How will the Act to Renew Local Democracy work in your municipality?
AUMA is interested in hearing from members about how the changes to the Local Authorities Election Act (LAEA) proposed in Bill: 23 An Act to Renew Local Democracy in Alberta, will impact elections in your municipality:
- Which of the changes will improve the election process?
- Which may be challenging to implement and why?
- What questions do you have about the Bill?
Share your thoughts and questions with advocacy [at] auma.ca (advocacy[at]auma[dot]ca) by Wednesday, November 21.
AUMA released an initial statement indicating our support for bringing local election rules in line with provincial election rules. In addition, we appreciate that the province listened to concerns from small communities that candidates who spend less than $4,000 should not be required to open a bank account. Generally, the Bill reflects input AUMA provided to the province based on the 2016 resolution on the LAEA that members adopted in 2016.
However, there are a number of items the Bill does not address, such as providing a tax credit for campaign contributions. AUMA understands the province is willing to work with municipalities to explore options for providing tax credits and we are following up with the province to move this discussion forward.
In addition, there are a number of new provisions, such as limiting campaign fundraising and contributions to a one year campaign period. Again, we want to know you think about these provisions and others, which are summarized on the province’s website.
AUMA will share your questions and feedback with Municipal Affairs. We will also use it to inform future discussions with the Ministry on change management resources to support implantation of the amendments once they are passed.
