Fall 2016

Newsletter Archive

Environmental Stewardship poised to become a 'purpose' of Alberta municipalities

Alberta's municipalities are at the front lines of land use planning, which puts them at the front lines of being able to affect conservation … for good or bad. Something that has always confounded the many people within municipal governments who are trying to promote environmental conservation is that the Municipal Government Act doesn't see this as their role.

That may be about to change.

The Municipal Government Act is being reviewed and a "Modernized" version was introduced in the legislature in May. Responding to public input gathered over the summer, the Minister of Municipal Affairs introduced amendments at the end of November, including adding "environmental stewardship" as a purpose of municipalities.

The press release said:

"The MGA does not give municipalities explicit authority to incorporate environmental stewardship considerations in their operational and land-use decision-making processes. The discussion guide proposes a policy that would allow environmental stewardship to be included as a municipal purpose."

The discussion guide explains this change would "give municipalities authority to cite environmental consideration in a range of operational and growth decisions."

See the press release here.