FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 19, 2025
(Calgary)
CALGARY, AB (June 19, 2025) – Mayoral candidate Sonya Sharp pledges a fresh start in provincial relations if elected mayor in October. She will request the Premier and Minister of Municipal Affairs to re-establish a committee on municipal-provincial roles, responsibilities and resources (3Rs). Sharp is confident that this request will help turn the page on what has been a rocky relationship between the provincial government and Calgary over the past few years. This initiative will set new standards for how The City deals with other orders of government.
“It’s no secret that the relationship between The Province and The City has been fragmented over the past few years. Municipal governments are the most junior order of government; we’re creatures of the Province. Having positive, productive relationships with all orders of government is essential to be successful, regardless of their partisan stripe,” says Sharp. “At the municipal level, we have to try to get along with everyone when representing Calgarians’ interests. We don’t have the luxury of being the official opposition or cheerleader for any other government.”
Sharp believes that a new 3Rs committee will set a new tone and create a forum to address long-standing and long-term issues related to the responsibilities of each order of government and how these services to citizens are paid for. This forum would look at both the on-going operating costs of municipalities in performing provincial responsibilities and the long-term capital needs of municipalities.
“Every year at budget, we hear complaints from our Administration and many members of Council about the ‘downloading’ of provincial responsibilities and nothing ever comes from the griping. A 3Rs Committee brings all of Alberta’s municipalities together with the Province to put these issues on the table, clarify our roles and responsibilities and determine sustainable and fair ways to pay for them,” says Sharp.
Similar to previous iterations of the 3Rs Committee, Sharp is calling for a small group comprising the Minister of Municipal Affairs, the presidents of the rural municipalities of Alberta and Alberta Municipalities and the mayors of Calgary and Edmonton.
“The last time Calgary was at the table with a 3Rs committee, it helped lead to the Municipal Sustainability Initiative, the largest multi-year municipal capital funding program in Alberta’s history,” concluded Sharp. “There’s a precedent for success with this approach and it could go a long way toward putting things back on the right track.”
Download the full policy here.
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