UCP tables Bill 21, would expand province’s powers during emergencies

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The Alberta government is seeking to expand its powers during emergency situations such as wildfires, flood and drought in a bill tabled Thursday.

Bill 21 — called the Emergency Statutes Amendment Act, 2024 — will give the Alberta government enhanced ability to overtake local authorities’ powers “in situations where additional provincial oversight and support is required” and changes how Alberta manages water in extreme situations.

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“There are some things that have become so obvious because you’ve been through them over and over and over again — everybody’s come to the same conclusion that we can’t sit back and wait for a fire to jump the border,” Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said at a Thursday press conference.

Local authorities will be required to report more information to the government during local emergencies, and the province will more easily be able to step in when large wildfires cross several jurisdictions, achieved through changes to the Forest and Prairie Protection Act.

The bill includes changes to the Water Act. During water emergencies, the province would now be able to take actions including allowing “temporary low-risk water transfers between major water basins.” Alberta will also be able to determine who gets priority water use in an emergency area and direct water licence-holders to change if, when and how they can divert water.

The province said these measures would only be taken as a “last resort.”

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Alberta is also proposing provincial elections be permanently rescheduled to October instead of late May to avoid the likelihood of government having to respond to an emergency during an election. That scenario played out last May when Alberta declared a state of emergency during the hotly contested provincial election.

The move would align Alberta’s election dates with several Canadian provinces and municipalities which have traditionally held their elections in the fall, Smith said.

The bill would need royal assent to come into effect. It’s unclear how long that would take, and whether the changes would be implemented for this year’s wildfire season.

‘These are the kinds of decisions that have to happen quickly’: Smith

The changes will have a greater impact on rural municipalities that don’t have the infrastructure to respond to significant emergencies, Smith said.

Calgary, Edmonton and Fort McMurray’s emergency response teams are sophisticated to a level that they likely wouldn’t need provincial assistance. But small hamlets and towns tend to be at greater risk, she said, and can be costly.

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“We have no interest in getting into firefighting in areas that are completely under control that are within the boundaries and borders of an individual municipality,” she said. “As soon as it threatens to cross a border … we have to be prepared to step in. These are the kinds of decisions that have to happen quickly.”

Smith said she can’t foresee a situation in which the province’s new powers are abused but didn’t cite specific guardrails that would prevent such a scenario.

Water transfers would only occur in extreme circumstances, says environment minister

The new changes to the Water Act would be used, for example, to provide drinking water to communities where it’s scarce, which Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz said would be a low-risk interbasin transfer. She said such transfers have happened six times in the past and required a special decision by the legislature.

The most recent interbasin transfer was in 2020 when the province authorized water to be transferred from the North Saskatchewan River Basin to the Athabasca River Basin, which provided treated water to communities in Parkland County and Lac Ste. Anne County.

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Schulz said the new legislation would be used in a Stage Five emergency, which has never happened in the province’s history.

“We surely hope we don’t have to get there,” Schulz said, adding the province’s new water-sharing agreements will hopefully diminish the need for such a measure.

Large-scale transfers would require much broader consultation to ensure any major transfers would happen fairly, Schulz said. She added that’s an ongoing conversation among Alberta’s water advisory panel, established in February to help manage the ongoing drought.

Rural municipalities have been asking for changes, premier says

Smith said municipalities have been asking for these changes, though the province did not undertake a formal consultation process.

Smith cited a late-2023 resolution from Rural Municipalities of Alberta (RMA) promising to engage with the province on a long-term strategy to fight wildfires outside forest protection areas. Rural municipalities have said the province has been slow to respond to out-of-control wildfires.

A recent RMA briefing also said municipalities wanted “more effective communication between the province and municipalities.”

Many local governments have balked at recently-tabled legislation that would give Alberta control over federal funding agreements and greater authority to intervene on municipal affairs. The province was criticized last week for not consulting with Alberta Municipalities before rolling out Bill 20.

“There’s lots of ways to consult. We do formal consultations, in some cases, we do public consultations, in some cases we listen to resolutions … I would say in this case, this is so obvious that we have to make the changes,” Smith said.

mscace@postmedia.com
X: @mattscace67

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