The Path Forward On Bill 20
Welcome to Municipal Affairs.
After months of work behind the scenes, the Alberta government has finally unveiled the regulations around Bill 20—legislation that was passed in the legislature back in May.
Now, according to the provincial government, Albertans expect free and fair elections, a cornerstone of any healthy democracy.
And to that end, the government has made a series of changes aimed at boosting transparency and strengthening voter confidence in the lead-up to the 2025 municipal elections.
So, what exactly does Bill 20, also known as the Municipal Affairs Statutes Amendment Act, do? Well, it makes some significant updates to both the Local Authorities Election Act and the Municipal Government Act. For one, it sets expense limits for local election campaigns across the province. It also introduces new rules and regulations for political parties in the two major cities in the province, Calgary and Edmonton.
The Province hopes that the regulations will gain greater transparency and accountability from local councils and elected officials.
These new regulations officially come into force on October 31st, just in time for the 2025 election season.
But the big question is: Did the government achieve its goal with Bill 20? Are these regulations enough to fix the issues they were hoping to address?
We spoke with Municipal Affairs Minister Ric McIver to get his take on whether these new measures will make a meaningful difference. Not everyone is on board with the new regulations. Just after the rollout, Alberta Municipalities, representing 265 member communities, released a statement raising concerns.
They believe these changes—especially the introduction of political parties in local elections—create an uneven playing field and increase costs for candidates.
Despite providing months of feedback, Alberta Municipalities expressed disappointment that their input wasn’t reflected.
They also pointed out that Albertans have repeatedly called for less money in local politics, not more.
While the new rules around local political parties only apply to Calgary and Edmonton for now, there's concern form Alberta Municipalities this could expand to other municipalities in the future.
We spoke with Tyler Gandam, President of Alberta Municipalities, to get his perspective and learn more about their concerns.
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