2025 Summer MLC update

Alberta Municipalities’ annual Summer MLC events took place in Picture Butte, Medicine Hat and Devon last month, attracting about 250 participants. Another 20 members participated in an online session in late June, after wildfire-related evacuations required us to postpone our in-person event in Peace River to September.

Each session began with a presentation of ABmunis’ preliminary findings on research we’ve been conducting on municipal finances since January 2025. Provincial funding hasn’t kept pace with Alberta’s growth or inflation, and many of our members say their councils feel the pinch at budget and tax time. The findings of our municipal finance research project will help shape future discussions with regular Albertans and the provincial government.

A discussion about water generated valuable input from members that will be included in ABmunis’ feedback to the provincial government on proposed amendments to the Water Act.

We talked about two policing topics: funding and governance. We sought members’ input on what a fair and equitable police funding model for smaller municipalities (i.e., communities with populations of up to 5,000) would look like. We also asked participants about the new, mandatory civilian governance bodies that were recently introduced.

Members discussed how municipal elected officials will be recalled, ahead of Municipal Affairs’ upcoming engagement on recall and recent legislative amendments. We shared our proposed improvements for recall rules under the Municipal Government Act (MGA) and discussed how potential changes to recall petition requirements could affect the municipal landscape.

We also reviewed the latest election-related resources, webinars, and tools we developed over the last six months to support municipalities and prospective candidates as they prepare for this year’s municipal election.

An in-person MLC session in Peace River will take place on Friday, September 19. Click here to register.