The resolution, which was to lobby the province to amend the Local Authorities Election Act, received roughly 40 per cent support at AB Munis’ convention this week.
A Calgary city councillor’s pitch to extend voting rights for municipal elections will not be moving forward, after it was voted down at the Alberta Municipalities’ convention in Red Deer this week.
Because cities do not have the authority to amend the LAEA, Walcott’s motion was to forward the idea as an advocacy item to the municipalities convention, which was held in Red Deer this week.
The resolution did not pass, receiving roughly 40 per cent support among membership.
“I knew it would be a contentious discussion,” Walcott said Friday. “As many people noted, there’s a lot of fear of what was called the ‘slippery slope.’ The arguments went that way as well. A lot of people thought engaging at the local level would somehow diminish the values of national citizenship.
“I disagree, and I think part of the debate revealed that this is not such a clean-cut conversation.”
After Calgary city council’s vote in April, Municipal Affairs Minister Ric McIver said the councillors were wasting their efforts, as the provincial government would not entertain the idea of extending voting rights to include non-Canadian citizens.
“Alberta’s government has been clear since the beginning: only Canadian citizens are able to vote in civic elections. That will not be changing,” he said in a May 1 statement, which his office resubmitted to Postmedia on Friday.
“Our government will continue to protect the integrity of our elections and make sure voting is accessible for all Albertans who are Canadian citizens.”
When introducing his motion in the spring, Walcott said it was still worth initiating the discussion to challenge the status quo. Permanent residents deserve the right to vote in municipal elections considering many pay property taxes, use city services and contribute to the vitality of their municipality, he argued.
“Locally, it seems crazy to me that a permanent resident who pays taxes, who might live in your community for decades, volunteers for your campaigns, spends money in your community’s businesses, whose kids go to your school, who have committed to being in your community forever…they won’t have a vote in who builds the community they pay for and are a part of,” he said.” I don’t see that being right and will fight for that every year if I have to.”
More to come…