Lloydminster Mayor Gerald Aalbers will once again serve on the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) board of directors following his re-election.
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The 2026 annual conference and trade show took place in Edmonton and celebrated 125 years of municipal leadership and unity.
“FCM is an annual gathering of municipal leaders from across Canada, coast to coast to coast,” said Aalbers. “There’s various events going, on where throughout the day and into the evening, there’s a chance to chat and socialize and learn more about what’s going on in the country.”
There were a total of three members heading to Edmonton from Lloydminster city council.
“I was able to attend with Coun. Michael Diachuk and Coun. Michele Charles Gustafson,” he said. “It was a great opportunity to connect with other leaders and take in what we call study tours.”
The event featured countless opportunities to learn about other municipalities, including how the City of Edmonton operates as people were taken on study tours.
“Everything from art to culture, to dealing with unhoused, to looking at industry and development,” said Aalbers.
He said he had an opportunity to attend a meeting discussing a federal program with two ministers.
“I had the pleasure of attending a meeting as a representative with the rural forum with minister (Gregor) Robertson and minister (Eleanor) Olszewski,” he said. “What’s happened over a period of time, people will talk about what we knew as the gas tax, or the federal gas tax, (it) became the Canadian Community Building Fund, now it‘s the housing accelerator fund.”
He noted infrastructure is important when it comes to building homes.
“Without water, sewers and roads to connect those new homes into the community, there’s not much to work with,” said Aalbers.
While at the FCM conference, Aalbers had the opportunity to tour a CN rail yard.
“I had a chance to tour the CN Walker yard,” he said. “It was an incredible tour to see the repair shops and the locomotives.”
FCM passed a number of resolutions, which included urging the federal government to work with all orders of government to develop and fund a coordinated strategy on mental health, addictions and chronic homelessness.
“It’s just incredible to see that we all share similar issues; some may have a few people that are unhoused and they don’t have any resources to deal with them like capital cities,” said Aalbers.
Another key resolution for FCM was the call to reverse federal agricultural research centre closures.
“That was overwhelming. I think 98 per cent of the delegates voted to support that,” he said. “It indicated how important our food supply and the research that supports that food supply is to our country.”
Aalbers said it’s important to continue the research.
“You lose that ability to continue that research,” he said. “If you have the research, you can show how yields have improved, the effects of pesticides and certain applications. That’s the kind of research that leads to better and improved crops and agriculture.”
He spoke to the importance of specific agricultural research centres like the one in Lacombe.
“In the case of Lacombe, it’s the only livestock facility in Canada where the federal researchers are involved in livestock production,” he said.
At the annual conference, Aalbers retained his seat on the board of directors, an opportunity that gives the local voice a chance to be heard at the national level.
“We meet two times a year in person,” he said, noting they also hold virtual meetings. “It gives us the opportunity to debate those suggestions and provide suggestions and input to them, to bring forward policy. It’s an opportunity to help voice those concerns at the national level.”
He said while the conference was productive, there were few Liberal MPs present.
“The one challenge was we didn’t see many Liberal ministers or MPs because they’re still sitting in Ottawa with our members of parliament,” he said.
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