The Alberta Municipalities (ABmunis) convention offered Lloydminster council a chance to network, while also discussing struggles the city faces.
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The annual convention took place in Calgary from Nov. 12-14. The event gives municipalities a chance to talk with the provincial government and attend workshops.
Lloydminster Mayor Gerald Aalbers had a positive outlook on the event.
“The convention went well. It was a very interesting convention, for a lot of people attending, it was their first convention,” he said.
Aalbers says nearly half of municipal leaders changed across Alberta following the recent election in October.
“I understand the number is approximately 46 per cent of municipal leaders changed across Alberta,” he said.
Lloydminster is in a unique position as it follows Saskatchewan municipality rules, which saw an election last November.
He says although plenty of questions were being asked about how things were done, it was clear municipalities in the province are facing similar struggles.
“At the end of the day, we all still continue to face the same challenges of infrastructure in particular, policing, unhoused,” Aalbers pointed out.
He says discussions are ongoing with the province to tackle key issues.
“There are ongoing discussions. The Government of Alberta is looking at some things. The provincial police force (being one) and are continuing to investigate that,” said Aalbers.
He said a topic of conversation was the federal budget, as the government released its budget prior to the convention in early November.
“The discussion was around the federal budget and how it can be applied to respective communities,” he said.
Lloydminster, along with other municipalities across the province, continue to struggle with infrastructure funding.
“Infrastructure is still the biggest outstanding challenge,” said Aalbers, noting there could be some housing relief on the horizon.
“With the potential housing program, the federal government did get approved through their budget. It may bring some support for projects like water and wastewater throughout municipalities across Alberta,” said Aalbers.
While potential hope was offered through the federal budget, the Province of Alberta will be facing a difficult budget.
“The government’s starting their budget from the Alberta side,” Aalbers said. “But it was made very clear that it’s going to be a tough budget in Alberta. Oil prices are hovering around $60 (USD) when they were pegged to be at about $68.
“I think the Minister of Finance talked about a billion and a half dollars extra for health care alone. It’s putting a lot of pressures on the finance minister, the treasury board and the team.”
Aalbers says the worry is municipal funding from the province could take a hit.
“When that happens, it’s always concerning as municipalities because people will say, ‘Maybe the municipalities can get cut back a little bit,’ and it’s going to get tougher and tougher,” he said. “We continue to get cut back on capital monies and other monies to deliver the programs, services and infrastructure we have to keep up.”
While budgets were a hot topic, Aalbers took the convention as an opportunity to meet with provincial officials.
“I had the pleasure of chatting with several ministers and I know some of the councillors did as well,” he said. “Always important to be there for that face (and) name recognition.”
He said reviews were good for the recent meeting in the Border City.
“Comments that I received from some of the ministers were that they enjoyed the bi-provincial caucus meeting that was held here,” said Aalbers.
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