Critics call for complete elimination of incoming Alberta federal funding oversight law

A rule that will require cities, health agencies and schools to get provincial approval on federal funding now excludes universities.

Municipal leaders in Alberta say funding is at risk under legislation requiring cities and health agencies to get provincial approval before receiving federal dollars.

And the provincial government has now exempted universities from the rule, leaving critics calling for a carve out or for the law to be scrapped altogether.

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Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, when Bill 18 was introduced in April last year, said it was needed because Ottawa “funds in a certain way, based on a certain ideology.”

But Andrea DeKeseredy, a doctorate student at the University of Alberta, said Thursday opting universities out of a law that would have required schools, cities and health agencies to get provincial approval before accepting federal funding is not enough.

She told CTV News Edmonton on Thursday she believes the university exemption is a clear indication the government could not find evidence of liberal ideology creeping into research.

Not only that, DeKeseredy said, her and a fellow PhD student’s research “showed the opposite,” with education, psychology, and management in business and administrative studies received the largest share of federal funding, and that “business research in the province received more money than most social science subjects, a phenomenon that is most likely in line with Smith’s UCP party.”

“The entire bill needs to be revoked,” DeKeseredy said. “Giving an exemption to the post secondary sector is not enough. The bill itself should not have existed in the first place.”

Rajan Sawhney, the province’s advanced education minister, disagrees with the assertion that the law, which goes into effect on Tuesday, isn’t needed.

“This was a tremendous exercise for us to find out exactly what those federal transfers were, and even though these exemptions are in place, we are still going to have a close look at some of those federal transfers coming in,” Sawhney told media on Thursday.

Kara Westerlund, the president of the Rural Municipalities of Alberta, said Bill 18 will “be a huge detriment for rural Alberta and for our municipalities, and some really missed opportunities and cancellation of many projects.”

Westerlund calls the law concerning and says rural cities didn’t ask for it.

“It’s like big brother watching over us,” she told CTV News Edmonton on Thursday.

“We don’t see any good coming from this legislation.”

Edmonton city councillor Andrew Knack says the law erodes the autonomy of local governments and also calls for the law to be scrapped.

“It’s about the inability for local governments to accurately represent the people they were elected to serve,” Knack told CTV News Edmonton.

Municipal Affairs Minister Ric McIver said Thursday at the Alberta legislature he is not considering further exemptions to the law.

He said it will ensure Alberta cities get fair funding from the federal government.

“Our objective is the same as the municipalities that they don’t miss a legitimate penny coming from the federal government,” McIver told media.

“What’s equally important is to make sure that Alberta municipalities get a full measure of the funding that the federal government gives to all other provinces.”