Alberta to push fixed election date to October from May

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The Alberta government is proposing shifting the province’s fixed election date to the fall from the spring as part of an omnibus bill it says will make it less likely campaigns will unfold amid emergency situations and improve responses to disasters.

Bill 21 — the Emergency Statutes Amendment Act, 2024 — was tabled in the legislature on Thursday afternoon and, if passed, would change six pieces of legislation.

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Those include the Election Act which would be amended to move the fixed provincial election date to the third Monday in October from the last Monday in May every fourth year.

The government says the move is intended to limit situations like last May when thousands were forced to flee their homes due to wildfires amid an ongoing election campaign.

Premier Danielle Smith said Thursday that she and her other ministers didn’t have access to government devices during that time, and risked Elections Alberta fines if their messaging was deemed to have strayed too far from public safety and towards politics.

“It was bizarre for ministers and other candidates to have to go through these motions while so much of Alberta was burning and so many Albertans were out of their homes,” Smith said. “This whole scenario is not the best way to try to exchange vital information during a crisis.”

The government cited the 2016 wildfire near Fort McMurray and the 2011 fire near Slave Lake, both of which began in the month of May, as examples of why the date needs to change.

“I don’t think any minister or MLA or candidate or premier for that matter would willingly repeat this experience,” Smith said of last May’s campaign.

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Under the current rules, the next provincial election is scheduled for on or before May 31, 2027, but would shift 20 weeks later to Oct. 18, 2027, once the new bill comes into force.

Opposition Leader Rachel Notley accused the government of unilaterally extending its time in office by shifting the date under the guise of concern for campaigns interfering with disaster response.

“If that concern was a truly good faith concern, they would have engaged us in the conversation, and they would of course, consider the alternative which was to change the date to October of 2026,” she said.

The wildfires forced political rivals to temporarily put aside partisan differences during the last election campaign and produced images of party leaders Smith and Notley together greeting evacuees and sharing in briefings on the latest wildfire information.

The wildfires forced some candidates to suspend their campaigns, and Yellowhead County Mayor Wade Williams called for the election to be postponed until the situation improved, saying, “this election is nothing but a distraction at this point.”

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In 2001, B.C. became the first province to set fixed election dates, though its elections are scheduled for May. Six other provinces including Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Quebec all have October fixed election dates.

Nova Scotia’s are set for July and Ontario’s are scheduled for the first Thursday in June.

Alberta’s next municipal elections, which appear poised to include political parties in Calgary and Edmonton, are scheduled for Oct. 20, 2025.

The next federal election must be held on or before the same date as set out in the federal government’s fixed election date law.

Managing emergency responses

Bill 21 also contains several elements that set out how the province can manage emergency responses.

Those include changes to the Emergency Management Act that allow the Alberta government to assume authority over local emergency response efforts if that local authority is deemed to be overwhelmed or asks the province for help.

The bill seeks to amend the Forest and Prairie Protection Act to give the province more discretionary authority to conduct and direct emergency wildfire responses both in and out of the forest protection area.

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It also proposes changes to the Water Act that allow the province to determine usage priorities and decisions on transferring water between major basins.

That decision is currently made through the legislature but under the new bill would be made by cabinet should it declare a geographic area to be under a water-related emergency.

“In emergencies, every second counts,” said Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz. “We will be able to respond more quickly and effectively.”

Notley fears it was another example of the government granting itself more authority.

“It seems to be an opportunity where they exploit crisis in order to accrue power, and to undermine democracy and also transparency,” she said.

As of mid-day Thursday, there were 40 active wildfires across the province, with two of those being classified as being held and one as being out of control.

The government estimates that last year’s wildfire season burned 2.2 million hectares and forced more than 45,000 people to flee their homes.

mblack@postmedia.com

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