Mayors from across Central Alberta gathered in Red Deer this week with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith at the 18th Annual Christian Mayors’ Prayer Breakfast.
Organized by Success Builders, the event was held at the Pidherney Centre and included about 500 municipal, provincial and federal elected officials.
“It was certainly an honour to gather with the faith community and engage with other mayors,” said Red Deer Mayor Ken Johnston.
Municipal leaders heard Premier Smith speak briefly about her government’s plans and priorities: for fiscal responsibility, for addictions recovery through treatment, and for standing up for parents’ rights in education.
Johnston was pleased to hear the provincial leader also speak up for the need for more affordable and supportive housing, and give recognition to people working in the addictions recovery community in north Red Deer.
The format of the breakfast event did not allow municipalities to bring any concerns to the premier, who came and swiftly left.
For months, municipalities and many Albertan citizens have expressed opposition to the province wanting to allow political parties into municipal politics.
On Thursday afternoon, Smith’s government revealed that this would, in fact, be part of Bill-20, which is to be introduced by the government in the fall. If passed, the bill would also outlaw electronic vote-counting machines in future elections and create new grounds for the province to recall democratically elected municipal councillors.
Alberta Municipalities publicly spoke out against this proposed legislation on Friday, saying “it appears to fundamentally redraw the blueprint for local democracy in Alberta.”
The association questioned why the government would introduce political parties in elections when Albertans have been saying for the last eight months they do not want them?
“The provincial government has ignored them … blinded by …incessant fighting with the federal government,” the association stated. Alberta’s municipalities “do not want to be caught in the middle of an Alberta-Ottawa ‘forever war.’
“Our members want to be respected by the provincial government as a democratically elected order of government and allowed to focus their attention and energy on providing the services their residents expect and deserve.”
Alberta Municipalities promised to release more about the proposed bill next week, once there’s time to consider its long-term effects.
At the Mayors’ Prayer Breakfast, former Red Deer Mayor Morris Flewwelling was honoured for starting the breakfast 18 years ago.
And participants heard from guest speaker Chad Reyes, founder of Lions Pride Leadership, a business coaching company in New York, and author of Awaken Your Potential. The book puts forward solutions to a global “leadership crisis.”
Reyes stresses that effective leaders need to focus on their purpose, separate who they are from what they do, learn to turn failures into valuable returns, and unlock the potential of others.