Alberta Minister Advises Municipalities Not to Focus on ‘Woke’ and DEI Policies

Focusing on “woke” and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies is “way off base from the responsibility of a municipality,” according to Alberta’s new municipal affairs minister.

“I want to make sure that Edmonton and Calgary are doing their jobs,” Municipal Affairs Minister Dan Williams told The Macleod Gazette. “There’s not a left-wing and a right-wing way to plow a road or deliver water or treat wastewater. These are just the obligations of municipalities.”

Major municipalities should focus on services taxpayers expect rather than on ideological policies such as creating drug injection sites and banning plastic straws, Williams said.

There are six government-run supervised drug consumption sites in Alberta, including three in Edmonton and one in Calgary.

Several municipalities across Alberta have implemented plastic bans or restrictions, including Edmonton. Calgary implemented a bylaw to reduce the use of plastic, which came into effect on Jan. 16, 2024, but it is no longer in effect after city council voted to repeal it last May.

Williams said that if big municipalities “stay in their lanes, do their jobs and do them well,” he has “no interest” in getting involved.

“But if they’re way off in left field, making up all sorts of problems that don’t exist instead of paying attention to the urgent needs of their residents and of all Albertans as hubs, community centres, and commercial centres for the entire province, then the province is going to step in,” Williams said.

Former Municipal Affairs Minister Ric McIver introduced a bill last April that aimed to grant the province sweeping powers over municipalities, including the right to fire councillors, overturn bylaws, and postpone elections.

The bill would also allow political parties to run on municipal ballots in Edmonton and Calgary, which McIver said was justified to ensure fair elections and accountability from municipal leaders. He said the new powers would only be used as a last resort, and that the bill was necessary to ensure municipalities are governing on affairs that are within their jurisdiction.

The bill was given royal assent a month later and came into force on Jan. 1 of this year.

Williams is the province’s first minister of municipal affairs from rural Alberta since 2021, and was sworn in on May 16. He has been the MLA for Peace River since 2019, and served as minister of mental health and addiction from June 9, 2023, until transitioning to his current role.

Rural Alberta

Large municipalities receive the bulk of funding from the province since major services are typically centralized in big cities, however Williams said the province needs to ensure that “rural communities continue to compete with big centres for direct investment so they can continue to be wonderful places to raise a family, to grow a business, to play and to enjoy.”

As the municipal affairs minister, Williams said he will have a heavy focus on making sure rural Alberta has an “attractive investment climate,” and that big urban centres are “doing their job representing their ratepayers and all Albertans by staying in their lane and doing the very important and hard work that it takes to run a big international city like Edmonton or Calgary.”

The province announced a five-year plan to boost communities in rural Alberta at the end of 2022, which included investing in infrastructure, tourism, skills development, and entrepreneurship.

Then-minister of jobs, economy and northern development Brian Jean said at the plan’s announcement that the actions identified in the five-year plan would “benefit rural and northern Albertans for years to come.”

“With strengths in oil and gas, agriculture and forestry, tourism and emerging technologies, Alberta’s rural and northern communities are the backbone of our province’s economy,” Jean said.

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.