Starland County wants the Alberta government to be upfront with regulations and all the other details affected before passing legislation.
To that end, Starland, is sponsoring a resolution at the Central Zone meeting of the Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties (AAMD&C) it resolves, “…that the AAMD&C lobby the Government of Alberta to enact a legislative requirement that all delegated legislation including regulations, orders in council, ministerial orders and codes, that are essential to the implementation of new or amending legislation, be submitted for review to the public and the legislature before final reading of the enabling legislation takes place.”
The resolution is seconded by Kneehill County.
Starland CAO Ross Rawlusyk explains the resolution, while not exclusively focusing on Bill 6, the legislation is certainly indicative of how government does business and the pitfalls that come with passing legislation.
“Bill 6 reaffirmed in council’s mind, that something is flawed with this process,” said Rawlusyk.
Other examples he cites was Bill 50, passed in 2009, altering the regulatory process for the approval of high powered transmission lines. Another is the current review of the Municipal Government Act (MGA).
“They are coming with its new MGA, in the spring legislature, but it will have 50 or 60 regulations that go with it, none of which we will see. Some of them are very significant like the City Charter,” he said. “There could be sweeping changes in there and we would have no opportunity for input into the process.”
He adds that after a regulation is implemented there is a review, but only after five years.
“Five years is a long time to wait, and I think it is time that Alberta does something progressive.”
They recognize this is a sweeping change.
“While this type of requirement would be unprecedented in Canada it is required to address the scope of the problem in public and legislative oversight we are now dealing with,” it states in the resolution rationale.
Further, “While it could be argued that a change of this kind is not required as all meaningful regulations are eventually released to the public often with a reasonable amount of consultation, the point is that the system could be improved. There is no reason that draft delegated legislation could not be submitted with a draft bill.”
The resolution will be presented at the AAMD&C Central Zone Meeting. If it passes at the central Zone Meeting, it will be presented to the AAMD&C at its convention.
