Premier Danielle Smith came under fire from some members of Calgary city council on Tuesday over a social media post about the province’s controversial Bill 20.
In a post on X regarding the proposed legislation that would give Alberta sweeping powers over municipalities, the premier alluded to Calgary city council voting to allow non-citizens to cast ballots in civic elections.
Council instead voted to put forward a resolution for Alberta Municipalities to lobby the province to change the Local Authorities Election Act.
Smith cited the issue as an example for when Bill 20 could be used.
“I can’t speculate on why she said what she said,” said Coun. Courtney Walcott, who put forward the original motion to explore giving permanent residents voting rights. “She referenced a columnist’s article instead of the motion itself, and that raised problems because that’s not the first time that has happened.”
In his own post on X, Walcott accused the premier of circulating misinformation, posting a copy of the notice of motion he brought forward at an executive committee.
“The city can’t change voter eligibility,” he wrote. “Only the provincial legislature can do that.”
Calgary mayor Jyoti Gondek called the premier’s comments in the post “a power grab.”
“I think the provincial government is trying to exercise control with Bill 20,” she says. “They are using any example they can to do so.”
Smith also took aim at Calgary’s now-repealed single-use items bylaw during a discussion about the new bill in the legislature on Tuesday.
“Sometimes councils do a reversal,” she said. “They ended their single-use plastics ban to a lot of accolades. The citizens of Calgary saw that as an overreach.”
The controversial bylaw required businesses to charge 15 cents for a paper bag and one dollar for a reusable bag, as well as offer other items like cutlery and plastic utensils by request only.
Bill 20 was introduced last month and has been widely condemned by municipal leaders as a broad overreach into their authority with a possible chill effect on their decision making.
The bill not only gives cabinet broad power to fire councillors, but also to overturn any council bylaw.
Alberta’s municipal affairs minister said last week he would talk to municipal leaders about looming amendments to the bill.
With files from The Canadian Press