While a UCP minister says the changes will make local elections more transparent, AB Munis is slamming the changes as ‘costly and unfair’
Sweeping changes to the rules governing Alberta’s municipal elections will come into effect later this month, including campaign expense and donation reform, and the introduction of political parties in Calgary and Edmonton.
The Municipal Affairs Statutes Amendment Act 2024, which the legislature passed in the spring as Bill 20, will amend both the Municipal Government Act (MGA) and Local Authorities Election Act (LAEA).
After a summer of consulting municipalities on the legislation, Municipal Affairs Minister Ric McIver outlined the new regulations at a press conference Friday, where he revealed the rules will be in effect as of Oct. 31 – just under a year before the next municipal election.
“Our intent with introducing Bill 20 in the spring and now with the regulations I am announcing today, has been the same from the very beginning – to increase accountability, transparency and public trust in local elections,” he said.
Local political parties
Under the new rules, candidates will be allowed to affiliate with new local political parties in Calgary and Edmonton for the 2025 election. However, the parties are prohibited from being affiliated with any provincial or federal parties, and McIver said their abbreviations or acronyms must also not resemble any of those parties.
Prospective political parties must sign up at least 1,000 members, all of whom must be eligible voters with their names, addresses and signatures included, before being registered through the local returning officer.
Parties must also be prepared to field candidates in at least one-third of the ridings in Calgary or Edmonton.
While local election regulations did not technically forbid candidates from forming affiliations, McIver noted that ballots were previously not allowed to contain the party’s name.
The party system will only apply to Calgary’s and Edmonton’s council and mayoral elections – not the school board trustee elections.
“We think the most shining and bright examples of where political party activity was already taking place was in the municipal elections of Calgary and Edmonton, so we chose that would be where we start,” McIver said.
Provincial and federal parties will be forbidden from donating to a municipal party, he added.
Campaign finance rules
Bill 20 also outlines new campaign expense rules for candidates and maximum donation limits for corporations, unions and third-party advertisers, using population as a guiding principal.
The changes allow individuals and organizations to contribute up to $5,000 to any party annually. Parties must disclose their donations by March 1 each year. However, new parties won’t have to file these statements until 2026.
Slates of two or more candidates, who may have the same platform but do not formalize as a political party, only have to file annual disclosures if their candidates shared campaign expenses, such as election signs.
Campaigning expense limits will vary, depending on the population of a municipality and whether it’s the year of or before a general election.
In an election year, mayoral candidates are able to spend up to $1 per person, based on the population of their municipality, or up to $20,000 – whichever number is greater.
In cities with a ward system, such as Calgary, council candidates can also spend up to $1 per person in an election year, based on the average population per ward. For Calgary, with its 14 wards, McIver mused this would amount to approximately $100,000.
In municipalities that don’t have wards, expense caps for all candidates are based on the population of municipality as a whole.
Local political parties will be allowed to spend up to $1 per person based on the average population of wards in Calgary or Edmonton, for every ward in which the party is fielding a candidate.
Third-party advertisers will be allowed to spend $0.50 per person based on the population of the municipality, but only during the election year advertising period, which for the next election runs from May 1 to Oct. 20, 2025.
In the year prior to an election year, McIver said the campaign amounts are halved, while the two years after an election year will be considered a “cooling off” period, when politicians are not allowed to actively campaign.
“Elected people need to focus on serving Albertans as their primary responsibility and the new rules are designed to help them do just that,” he said.
The penalties for breaking the rules mirror those already outlined in the LAEA, and reach up to a maximum fine of $10,000.
AB Munis slams new rules as costly and unfair
At least one group in Alberta is already criticizing the changes.
Immediately after McIver’s press conference, the association that represents more than 250 of Alberta’s cities, towns and villages criticized the new rules as unfair and costly.
In a press release, AB Munis’ board of directors claimed Bill 20 will create an uneven playing field for candidates and result in more costly electoral processes for municipal governments.
The association also criticized the province’s level of consultation on the bill, citing the province’s decision to introduce political parties and do away with electronic vote-counters, despite a lack of public support for those ideas.
“Albertans have repeatedly said they want less money, not more, in local politics,” the statement read. “They have also said they do not want political parties in local elections.
“We note that candidates who run under a political party will benefit from greater funding. This creates an environment in which independent candidates are at a significant disadvantage, a concern we raised during our consultations with the provincial government.”
The next municipal election in Alberta is slated for Oct. 20, 2025.