A letter sent to municipalities across the province by Municipal Affairs Minister Ric McIver earlier this month says Alberta is trying to renegotiate aspects of a proposed 10-year funding agreement with the federal government, which could lead to communities like St. Albert not receiving millions of dollars in infrastructure funding on time.
The new 10-year agreement between the province and the federal government is for the Canada Community-Building Fund (CCBF), which was formerly called the Gas Tax Fund. The CCBF is a major source of federal grant funding municipalities rely on to pay for infrastructure projects such as road and bridge repairs, new recreation amenities, and more. Including the proposed amount for Alberta, the program will provide a combined $2.4 billion to municipalities across the country in 2024.
The existing 10-year contracts for the program between federal and provincial and territorial governments expired on March 31. McIver's June 14 letter to municipalities, a copy of which was obtained by the Gazette, says the province received a renewal agreement from the federal government late last year, however, “the agreement has several aspects that are concerning for Alberta and for local governments.”
“As a result, we are standing up for the interests of Alberta in negotiations and doing our utmost to ensure funding continues to flow to local governments with as much flexibility as possible to address local priorities without unnecessary administrative burdens,” McIver's letter reads.
“As these negotiations are ongoing, there may be delays in the 2024 program, including the notification of allocation amounts and timing of payments to local governments.”
Just four other provinces have signed the new agreements so far: Quebec, Ontario, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island.
St. Albert's Mayor Cathy Heron called the situation “frustrating.”
“It's just another example of the fight between the provincial government and the federal government, and municipalities are getting caught in the middle,” Heron said. “There's still hope that we'll get it this year, just delayed, so we'll take out of reserve in the short term and then when the grant comes in we'll just replenish those reserves — we have not really had conversations about if it's delayed further than a few months, or to the end of this year.”
“If that's the case then we will have to delay projects, and these are important projects.”
In 2023 St. Albert received $4.14 million in CCBF funding, which city spokesperson Marci Ng said in an email was spent on repairing bridges, roads, and trails as part of the city's repair, maintain, replace (RMR) program.
The city received $3.96 million in 2022, which was also put towards road and trail rehabilitation work, as well as the Kingswood Park Disc Golf Course, the major Villeneuve Road rebuild project, traffic calming, and more.
Heron said she hasn't been told what the provincial government specifically finds concerning about the proposed new agreement, and in a statement provided to the Gazette McIver also didn't provide specifics.
“Alberta's government would like to ensure the Canada Community-Building Fund program retains its flexibility for municipalities to allocate the funds according to local priorities and that any new reporting requirements do not impose undue administrative burdens,” McIver said. “Through the negotiating process, we are advocating for the best interests of Albertans and their local governments.”
But Heron said something municipalities already appreciate about the CCBF program is the lack of strings attached.
“The [CCBF] is great money for municipalities because there's very few strings that are attached to it,” she said. “It's an example of the way grants should be because it's indexed and its always predictable, and [it has] have very few strings attached so it's good money that the province is just getting in the way of.”
Caleb Spassov, a spokesperson for Housing, Infrastructure, and Communities Canada, the federal department that administers the CCBF, said in an email that one new aspect of the long-term agreements is that the federal government is tying funding “to actions by provinces, territories, and municipalities to increase housing supply where it makes sense to do so.”
Spassov said the department couldn't comment further since negotiations with the province are ongoing.
“The federal government has committed $26.7 billion over the next ten years to renew the Canada Community-Building Fund, and we are continuing to work with our partners across the board to ensure that those funds will go towards meaningful investments in core infrastructure and local priorities,” Spassov said.
Unless the ongoing negotiations between the Alberta government and the federal government result in a change in funding, Alberta is pegged to receive $265.1 million in CCBF funding in 2024-2025, followed by $276.2 million in 2025-2026.
