Local Authorities Election Act – daveberta.ca – Alberta Politics and Elections

Episode 48: An urban big city agenda in Alberta. Municipally Speaking with Mack Male

Subscribe: RSS

More than half of Albertans live in Calgary and Edmonton, so why does it feel like big city issues are an afterthought for the provincial government?

Daveberta Podcast Alberta Politics Dave Cournoyer Adam Rozenhart — Daveberta Podcast

Mack Male joins Dave Cournoyer on this episode of the Daveberta Podcast to discuss the state of local media in Edmonton, Municipal Affairs Minister Kaycee Madu’s paternalistic approach to municipal relations, the review of the Local Authorities Election Act and how it might change the rules of the 2021 municipal elections, and whether there is hope for ever getting a real urban agenda for Alberta (plus free transit and gondolas).

Mack is a co-founder of Taproot Edmonton and co-host of the Speaking Municipally podcast, which focuses on Edmonton City Council and municipal issues in Alberta’s capital city.

A big thanks to our producer, Adam Rozenhart, for making this episode sound so good.

The Daveberta Podcast is a member of the Alberta Podcast Network, powered by ATB. The Alberta Podcast Network includes more than 30 great made-in-Alberta podcasts.

You can listen and subscribe to the Daveberta Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you find podcasts online. We love feedback from our listeners, so let us know what you think of this episode and leave a review where you download.

Find us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, or you can email us at podcast@daveberta.ca. Thanks for listening!

Recommended:

Missing the Bus (99% Invisible Podcast interview with Steven Higashide)
Should Public Transit Be Free? More Cities Say, Why Not? (New York Times, Jan. 14, 2020)
Edmonton has declared a climate emergency, now what? (Chris Gusen, Taproot Edmonton, Sept. 20, 2019)
Whyte’s motorcycle oasis, and the ties that bind (Ryan Stephens, Taproot Edmonton Aug. 17, 2017)
City leaders ‘frustrated’ as province mulls changes to local elections (Postmedia, Jan. 23, 2020)
Let’s end the myth of partisan-free city council elections (Daveberta.ca, Feb. 10, 2016)
Once upon a time Alberta MLAs had meaningful ideas about Senate Reform (Daveberta.ca, June 27, 2019)
#YegVote and #abvote Google Hangouts: Don Iveson, Rachel Notley, Laurie Blakeman, Derek Fildebrandt, Drew Barnes, Linda Osinchuk, and Kerry Diotte.

Guy Boots’ Fort McMurray residency challenged

Pensive Boutilier Stelmach — MLA Guy Boutilier with former Premier Ed Stelmach during the 2008 provincial election.

In the heart of oil sands country, former Progressive Conservative cabinet minister, Wildrose MLA and now municipal councillor Guy Boutilier could be in trouble. As Fort McMurray Today first reported on January 7, 2015, his eligibility to serve as a councillor with the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo is being challenged.

“At least one person has officially sworn in court documents that Councillor Guy Boutilier did not live in Fort McMurray during the 2013 municipal election — supporting an ongoing legal challenge claiming he was not eligible to run for his council seat.

In an affidavit filed in the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench, Sarah MacLeod says she rented a room in Boutilier’s Thickwood home with several other people during a two-year period. However, she says the former MLA-turned-councillor was seldom seen in Fort McMurray during that period.

None of the accusations in her statement have been proven in court.”

Two more claims have since been made against Mr. Boutilier’s eligibility, as reported by Today. These allegations against Mr. Boutilier began in November 2014, when the issue of his residency was raised by a local businessman.

Unlike the provincial Legislative Assembly, which allows MLAs to live outside the constituencies they represent, municipal residency rules are much more stringent. Section 21(1)(b) of the Local Authorities Election Act states that:

21(1) A person may be nominated as a candidate in any election under this Act if on nomination day the person:

(b) has been a resident of the local jurisdiction and the ward, if any, for the 6 consecutive months immediately preceding nomination day, and

A fixture of Fort McMurray politics since the early 1980s, Mr. Boutilier has represented Fort McMurray councillor, mayor and MLA. But his years of public service have not been without controversy.

He once claimed that he could turn off the part of his brain where he was a cabinet minister to avoid conflicts of interest while testifying to an Alberta Energy and Utilities Board hearing.

Mr. Boutilier was ejected from the PC caucus in 2009 after accusing then-Health Minister Ron Liepert of “talking gibberish” about the construction of a permanent long-term care facility for seniors in Fort McMurray and then criticizing Premier Ed Stelmach for not wanting a cabinet minister “who graduated from Harvard with Barack Obama” (Mr. Boutilier later admitted that he never met Obama while at Harvard).

Mr. Boutilier joined the Wildrose Caucus in 2010 and was defeated by PC candidate Mike Allen in the 2012 election.