Modernizing municipal processes

Alberta’s local elections must be fair, accessible, and transparent. These updates will help ensure all voters can cast their ballots with confidence while clarifying election processes and refining the rules for local political parties in Calgary and Edmonton.

The proposed legislation would make the following key changes.

• Improving voter accessibility – Enabling elector assistance terminals in local elections so voters with disabilities can mark a ballot privately and independently while maintaining election integrity.
• Updating local political party campaign finance rules – Allowing registered local political parties in Edmonton and Calgary to transfer funds among their candidates, mirroring the rules for provincial parties, while also clarifying the definitions of ‘campaign expense’ and ‘contribution’ to enhance transparency and consistency in reporting. Finally, updates will be introduced in upcoming regulation to require local political parties to disclose financial records in September 2025, prior to the October election.
• Clarifying election rules – Refining recount procedures and clarifying rules for candidates who withdraw from local elections.
• Protecting voter rights in Jasper – Ensuring wildfire-displaced residents can still vote and run in Jasper’s local elections this fall.

Functional councils and healthy intermunicipal collaboration are essential for effective local governance. These updates would prevent the misuse of council code of conduct rules, streamline collaboration between neighbouring municipalities, ensure fair cost-sharing rules for shared services, and strengthen administrative accountability and transparency in municipal operations.

The proposed legislation would make the following key changes.

• Ending political misuse of codes of conduct – Removing all councillor codes of conduct to prevent abuse while working with municipalities to develop a fairer, province-wide accountability system.
• Strengthening intermunicipal collaboration – Clarifying the services required to be in intermunicipal collaborative frameworks to remove a source of friction identified by municipalities.
• Ensuring fair cost-sharing rules in intermunicipal agreements – Ensuring no municipality is forced to pay for a capital project that it didn’t agree to or help design.
• Enabling flexible frameworks for rural communities – Allowing neighbouring municipal districts to opt out of mandatory intermunicipal collaboration frameworks by mutual agreement.
• Strengthening arbitration in intermunicipal disputes – Clarifying the role of arbitration to help resolve cost- and service-sharing disagreements between neighbouring municipalities.
• Enhancing accountability for municipal administrators – Strengthening the roles and responsibilities of municipal chief administrative officers and official administrators, while improving elected officials' access to information from municipal administration.

Buying or building a home is a major investment, and Albertans deserve strong protections. These updates would improve oversight of builder licensing, streamline processes for owner-builders, enhance recourse options for homebuyers and make it easier to navigate warranty and exemption rules.

The proposed legislation would make the following key changes.

• Expediting approvals for owner-builders – Simplifying the process for Albertans building their own homes.
• Expanding exemptions for home sales – Making it easier for homeowners to sell without warranty under certain circumstances.
• Protecting future homebuyers – Placing a caveat on homes built and sold without warranty but under exemption, so buyers are fully informed before purchasing.
• Restoring appeal rights – Reintroducing fair appeal processes for homebuyer-related decisions.
• Accessing expert-driven guidance – Establishing a homebuyer protection advisory group and enabling government to seek expert input from the Safety Codes Council on protection matters for buyers of new homes.
• Strengthening builder licensing and improving warrant dispute resolution – To be introduced in regulation following further stakeholder engagement.