To highlight reporting on resolution advocacy, the RMA releases a monthly bulletin highlighting recent actions undertaken on select active resolutions
The Monthly Resolution Update Bulletin is a way of routinely highlighting a selection of the over 70 currently active resolutions, offering embers a more detailed insight into the work being carried out on their behalf. For the latest formal statuses and reactions to all resolutions, view the RMA’s Resolutions Database.
The April 2026 edition of the Monthly Resolution Update Bulletin features the following resolutions:
Increased Centralization in Provincial Cabinet 2-23F and 5-24S
RMA members have historically – and with increasing pace – called upon the Government of Alberta (GOA) to work cooperatively with municipal governments. This is reflected in Resolutions 2-23F: Amendments to the Municipal Government Act and 5-24S: Legislation Consultation with Municipalities, among others. These resolutions highlight long‑standing concerns about provincial regulators overriding municipal planning frameworks, inadequate consultation on legislation affecting municipal finances and responsibilities, and the need for the province to recognize the economic and administrative capacity of rural communities. Despite these efforts, there is an ongoing trend for the GOA to continue to centralize decision-making authority and impose decisions on municipalities rather than meaningfully incorporate municipal input.
Bill 28 is emblematic of this trend. The Bill will likely increase administrative burdens while reducing municipal discretion over local developments. Amendments that expand provincial primacy over aggregate development, ministerial authority to override statutory plans, and new reporting and procedural requirements, will significantly limit municipalities’ ability to tailor decisions to local conditions. Collectively, these developments prioritize uniformity and centralized authority over local expertise, community context, and long-term planning considerations.
RMA does not support provisions that increase provincial overreach and reduce local autonomy. Rural municipalities should retain the ability to make effective, locally informed decisions on development, governance, and service delivery without excessive provincial interference.
Resolution 5-23F: Municipal Involvement in Quasi-Judicial Agencies
Resolution 5-23F follows several years of rural municipalities raising concerns about the engagement and approval processes of quasi-judicial agencies such as the AER, the NRCB and the AUC. The resolution calls for increased accountability, involvement and transparency for municipalities involved in project approval and hearing process across all provincial quasi-judicial agencies. These requests emerged from cases where local needs, public interest, and municipal development plans were not adequately considered by the AUC as part of the agency’s approval process. Rural municipalities need to be meaningfully involved in engagement and approval processes as early as possible to help support municipal decision-making and informed land use planning.
Rural municipalities should also be involved in consultation processes seeking to change existing regulatory practices administered by quasi-judicial agencies. To that end, the AUC conducted an extensive consultation process through their review of Rule 007. RMA is pleased to see that many of the outcomes of this consultation have resulted in regulatory changes that will benefit municipalities.
In February 2024, as part of the Rule 007 review, the minister of Affordability and Utilities requested that standardized setbacks for renewable energy infrastructure be implemented across the province. RMA previously provided input that setbacks are established locally, which should remain at the discretion of municipalities. The AUC recently conducted a consultation on the proposed standardized setback distances. RMA’s submission reiterated the position that setback distances should remain at a local authority’s discretion and that the implementation of standardized setbacks minimize municipal autonomy. AUC approvals and changes to AUC processes should meaningfully account for local contexts so that developments and decisions remain within the public interest.
Resolution 2-24F: Increased Funding Support for Rural Family and Community Support Services Programs
RMA members are seeking fair and reasonable FCSS funding that promotes and supports the availability of preventative social services for rural municipal residents. Resolution 2-24F calls on the GOA to increase funding to FCSS to keep up with population growth and inflation and reduce the requirement for municipal over-investment. RMA released a report on the challenges that FCSS programs in rural Alberta are facing. RMA found that many rural municipalities contribute more than the required 20% and that since the closure of some GOA rural service offices, many rural residents have turned to FCSS as one of the few locally available support programs, further increasing the demand on FCSS programs. RMA continues to leverage findings and recommendations from this 2023 report, completed jointly with the University of Alberta’s Centre for Sustainable Rural Communities.
RMA shared resolution 2-24F with Alberta Seniors, Community and Social Services, Alberta Health Services, and Alberta Children and Family Services. To date, including in Budget 2026-27, the GOA has not increased funding to support FCSS programming. In Budget 2026-27, $105 million is allocated through FCSS to municipalities and Métis Settlements to develop and deliver preventive social services programming. In addition to joint advocacy ABMunis and the Family, Community, and Social Services Association of Alberta, RMA undertook additional research on transportation and navigation to learn more about preventative social programs that members may be funding in addition to FCSS. RMA will continue to advocate for increased funding for core FCSS operations.
Stay tuned for future editions of the Monthly Resolution Update Bulletin, where we will continue to feature updates on selected resolutions.
Warren Noga
Manager of Policy and Research
825.319.2285
warren@rmalberta.com