EDITORIAL: Is Alberta Calling—But Ignoring the Voices Within?

Earlier this week, the Alberta government unveiled plans for an $8 billion education infrastructure project, designed to address the growing need for schools in the province. With Alberta seeing an influx of new residents, the government’s initiative promises to expand educational facilities, ensuring that both public, Catholic and even private or charter schools can accommodate all incoming students.

On the surface, this initiative seems like an obvious win for everyone involved. After all, building more schools should mean smaller class sizes and less overcrowding—outcomes that are universally applauded by parents, educators, and students alike. Who could complain about that?

But as we dig deeper, things are not as straightforward as they appear.

The government’s School Construction Accelerator program is built on four key pillars, and, as always, the devil is in the details. Several municipal representatives I’ve spoken with in recent days have raised their eyebrows over some of these specifics.

“I ask our school boards to work closely with Alberta Education and their respective municipalities to move projects forward as quickly as possible,” Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides stated at a press conference earlier this week.

It was these remarks that prompted me to ask: what exactly will the municipalities’ role be in ensuring these schools are built on time? According to the Minister, the faster an agreement is reached, the quicker the construction phase can begin. This suggests that municipalities are expected to play a significant role in expediting the process.

This raises a significant question: Are municipalities now being tasked with fast-tracking school infrastructure, shouldering yet another responsibility in an already strained system? It seems that much of the onus for school construction will now rest squarely on local councils. If a school board wants to build a new facility, it seems they’ll need to get in touch with their municipal representative rather than their provincial one.

In my conversations with municipal councils across Alberta—ranging from small rural communities to the largest urban centers—one common issue keeps coming up: infrastructure.

Many of these municipalities have been urging the provincial government to increase infrastructure funding, citing the desperate need for investment. And now, the province is telling them that if they want new schools, the provincial government will provide the funding—but it’s up to the municipalities to ensure the projects move forward by having the necessary infrastructure in place.

Minister Nicolaides emphasized this point further during the press conference: “School boards and municipalities, be prepared to ensure that your school zones are permitted, serviced, and ready to go for construction work.”

This statement comes at a time when municipalities are already struggling to keep pace with growth, a challenge exacerbated by the provincial government’s highly publicized “Alberta is Calling” campaign, which was initiated by former Premier Jason Kenney and is now being continued by current Premier Danielle Smith. The campaign has been successful in drawing new residents to the province, but this growth has placed significant pressure on municipalities to provide essential services such as housing, transportation, and utilities—all while remaining financially strapped.

According to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM), it costs approximately $107,000 for a municipality to service a single new house. To put that into perspective, the small Village of Marwayne in northeastern Alberta received $298,086 from the Local Government Fiscal Framework (LGFF) this year—enough to service about two new homes. Meanwhile, the Town of Slave Lake received just over a million dollars, roughly equivalent to the cost of servicing a new subdivision. For Fox Creek, their allocation amounted to about half a million dollars, which might cover the costs for five or six new homes.

But servicing houses is one thing. Servicing schools and other provincial projects, such as seniors’ homes, is another matter entirely.

With new Albertans arriving in the province at a rapid pace, it’s clear that municipalities need help. And the provincial government’s $8 billion investment in schools is a step in the right direction—but it isn’t enough if municipalities don’t have the financial capacity to service these projects.

This brings us to another issue that Premier Smith raised earlier this month. Smith openly opposed the federal government’s plan to disperse 200,000 asylum seekers across Canada, a decision that would have brought roughly 24,000 of these individuals to Alberta. In a social media post, she explained her stance: “Alberta’s government is opposed to the Federal Government’s plan to relocate tens of thousands of asylum claimants to Alberta, especially without any financial assistance to support the province in doing so.”

She was right to call for more federal funding to help Alberta manage the influx of potential new residents. But it’s worth asking: is the provincial government now guilty of a similar offence?

Municipalities have been calling on the Alberta government to do the same thing they’ve been asking of Ottawa—namely, to provide additional funding to help them handle the consequences of the successful “Alberta is Calling” campaign. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like the province is picking up that call.

While population growth is undoubtedly a positive sign for Alberta’s economy, it also brings with it a host of challenges—chief among them the strain on local infrastructure. If the province is going to continue to promote itself as a destination for new residents, then it needs to ensure that municipalities have the resources to manage that growth.

Rather than offloading the responsibility of infrastructure entirely onto local governments, it’s time for the province to step up and offer genuine partnership. Alberta’s municipalities need more than just encouragement from the province—they need financial assistance to ensure that they can provide essential services like water, housing, and transportation. The last thing we want is to see new schools built in areas that lack the necessary infrastructure to support them, or worse smaller communities folding because they can't afford to service potential new schools.

This issue is likely to come to a head later this month when the Alberta Municipalities Convention takes place in Red Deer from September 24th to 27th. Representatives from municipalities across the province will be there to discuss the challenges they’re facing, and Premier Smith is expected to attend as well. I would wager that during her Q&A session, the question of infrastructure funding—and the province’s role in supporting municipalities—will be top of mind for many of the delegates.

One of the key themes we’re likely to hear from municipal leaders is that Alberta’s current system is unsustainable. Municipalities are already stretched thin, and as the population continues to grow, the demand for services is only going to increase.

The provincial government’s new education infrastructure project is an acknowledgment that more needs to be done to accommodate Alberta’s growing population. But schools are only one piece of the puzzle. If municipalities are expected to fast-track school construction projects, they need the funding and resources to do so—resources that, so far, the provincial government has been hesitant to provide.

As we look toward the future, it’s time for the province to answer the call. If Alberta truly wants to be a place of opportunity, where new residents can thrive and communities can flourish, the provincial government must stop passing the buck to municipalities. Instead, it’s time for genuine collaboration, where both levels of government work together to ensure that Alberta’s growth is managed responsibly and sustainably.

The stakes are high. If the provincial government doesn’t listen to the concerns of municipalities, the “Alberta is Calling” campaign could lose its momentum.

After all, people won’t continue to flock to a province where the infrastructure can’t support them. Alberta is Calling, and it’s time for someone in the province to pick up the phone. If not, Alberta may not be calling for much longer.