LATEST NEWS

Service Alberta is undertaking a stakeholder consultation to explore the possibility of introducing amendments to the Builders Lien Act to address issues with delayed payment in Alberta’s construction industry. This initiative will continue through Spring 2020 and seeks to obtain information from industry stakeholders through a number of channels. In addition to face-to-face meetings and written submissions, an online survey has been prepared.  A link to the survey can be found here. If you wish to participate, the survey will remain open through March 20, 2020.

About the Survey

• The survey is online and can be completed using a web browser of your choice. It can also be completed using a mobile device; however, it has been optimized to be completed at a desktop and this is recommended.


• The prompt payment online survey takes about an hour to complete and covers a wide array of issues with respect to addressing prompt payment in the construction industry.


• You do not need to complete the survey in one session.


• The survey contains specific questions, which in some cases may not be applicable to all survey participants. It is therefore not necessary to provide feedback on all the questions in the survey.


• The survey is not intended to be only available exclusively to particular stakeholder organizations and if representative organizations wish to distribute this to their members, they are free to do so. The purpose of the survey is to obtain feedback from all relevant stakeholders in the construction industry.


• By taking the survey, it is not necessary to provide any identifying information for any participants who wish to maintain their privacy

For enquiries, please contact:

Warren Noga
Policy Advisor
warren@RMAlberta.com

Tasha Blumenthal
Director of External Relations & Advocacy
tasha@RMAlberta.com

Information on tax deferrals for areas facing drought and flood conditions that negatively affect livestock producers now available

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada has released a map showing the areas eligible for the 2019 Livestock Tax Deferral Provision. This list is now finalized for 2019. The Livestock Tax Deferral Provision allows farmers who sell part of their breeding herd due to drought or flooding in prescribed drought or flood regions to defer a portion of sale proceeds to the following year. When prescribed regions are identified, the list is announced publicly and posted to this web page.

The assessment process is multi-phased, and the map is only the initial assessment. Additional regions may be included based on information from final forage yields. For more information on how the assessment is completed, or the criteria used to evaluate drought or flood conditions, please contact aafc.taxdeferral-reportdelimpot.aac@canada.ca.

For more information on the Livestock Tax Deferral Provision, click here.

For enquiries, please contact:

Warren Noga
Policy Advisor
warren@RMAlberta.com

Tasha Blumenthal
Director of External Relations & Advocacy
tasha@RMAlberta.com

AUMA, RMA, and the Alberta Policy Coalition for Chronic Disease Prevention (APCCP) are pleased to host a series of educational webinars on using policy to support community health and well-being. The first webinar, Smoking and Vaping: Policy Options for Municipalities, took place on Thursday, February 13, with the following speakers:

• Kayla Atkey, Alberta Policy Coalition for Chronic Disease Prevention


• Les Hagen, Action on Smoking and Health

You can access the webinar recording and slides, as well as the following links and studies discussed in the webinar:

• Action on Smoking and Health’s Municipal Resource Hub (includes model smoking bylaw)


• Action on Smoking and Health’s School Board Resource Hub (includes model school board tobacco/smoking policy)


• Canadian Student Tobacco, Alcohol, and Drugs Survey showing that 400,000 students in grades 7 - 12 had vaped in the past 30 days in the 2018 / 2019 school year


• Study showing “one adult quitter for every 80 youth starters”


• Study showing “kids who vape are four times as likely to start smoking”

To help us improve future webinars and understand how we can support communities in policy development, please take this short, four-question survey.

The second webinar, Health In All Policies: The Importance and Impact of a Health-In-All-Policies Approach for Municipalities, takes place from 2:00 – 3:00 pm on Friday, March 13 (click on the link to register). You can also save the date for the next two webinars in the series:

• Active Travel – Wednesday, April 8, from 2:00 – 3:00 pm


• Healthy Eating – Friday, May 8, from 2:00 – 3:00 pm

Keep an on eye on Contact, as the links to registration for these webinars will be sent out later this month.

For enquiries, please contact:

Warren Noga
Policy Advisor
warren@RMAlberta.com

Tasha Blumenthal
Director of External Relations & Advocacy
tasha@RMAlberta.com

The Farmers’ Advocate Office (FAO) was established by Alberta Agriculture in 1973, and today serves as an advocate for rural Albertans. The FAO addresses issues related landowner rights, disputes between farmers and other individuals, rules for the sale of farm implements, and general advocacy for the concerns of rural landowners.

The FAO released four advisories over the past year regarding the concerns of farmers with oil and gas sites on their property. These advisories address situations where an oil or gas company has not paid their annual lease or is attempting to unilaterally reduce payments. The advisories can be found here:

• Landowner Rights for Annual Rental Payment


• Denying Access to a Wellsite


• Turning Off Power to Wells


• Surface Rights Review

To receive email updates from the FAO, click here.

For enquiries, please contact:

Warren Noga
Policy Advisor
warren@RMAlberta.com

Tasha Blumenthal
Director of External Relations & Advocacy
tasha@RMAlberta.com

Transport Canada has provided information for municipalities regarding the Grade Crossings Regulations (GCR). As the local road manager, municipalities are responsible for assessing their grade crossings and for determining whether any modifications are required for items that are within their area of responsibility, such as the road approach. They should also contact the respective railway companies to engage on what upgrades, if any, might be necessary to comply with the GCR. These upgrades have a completion deadline of November 28, 2021.

Contact information for CN and CP rail is below:

Canadian National Railway Contact Information

• Grade Crossings Regulations Inquiries: rainfosharing@cn.ca


• General inquiries: contact@cn.ca


• Private Grade Crossings Inquiries: crossing@cn.ca or passage.prive@cn.ca

Canadian Pacific Railway Contact Information

• Grade Crossings Regulations Inquiries: crossing_compliance@cpr.ca


• Other Inquiries: community_connect@cpr.ca

To help municipalities complete this work, Transport Canada has funding available through the Rail Safety Improvement Program (RSIP). For more information on RSIP funding and the GCR, municipalities are encouraged to participate in one of six teleconference information sessions. The two first sessions are scheduled for later this month, whereas sessions for April and June will be scheduled at a later date depending on level of interest:

• French session on February 25 from 9:30 to 11:00 am (MST)


• English session on February 25 from 12:30 to 2:00 pm (MST)


• Other sessions will be scheduled for April and June (dates will follow)

Please register or express interest to one of the sessions by emailing Parvina Ramsahok with Transport Canada at Parvina.Ramsahok@tc.gc.ca. After emailing, Transport Canada will provide a WebEx confirmation with instructions for that session. Attendance is on a first-come, first-served basis with a maximum of 40 participants per session. Transport Canada anticipates that reservations will fill up quickly. Please don’t hesitate to reserve your preferred session today.

For questions about RSIP, please email tc.rsipitr-pasfitr.tc@tc.gc.ca

For enquiries, please contact:

Warren Noga
Policy Advisor
warren@RMAlberta.com

Tasha Blumenthal
Director of External Relations & Advocacy
tasha@RMAlberta.com

Read RMA’s full submission to Alberta’s Fair Deal Panel

RMA has submitted input to the Fair Deal Panel, which has been an initiative by the Government of Alberta to consult with Albertans on measures to secure a fair deal from the federal government for the province. The Fair Deal Panel is exploring nine specific areas:

• Establishing a provincial revenue agency to collect provincial taxes directly by ending the Canada-Alberta Tax Collection Agreement, while joining Quebec in seeking an agreement to collect federal taxes within the province


• Creating an Alberta Pension Plan by withdrawing from the Canada Pension Plan


• Establishing a provincial police force be ending the Alberta Police Service Agreement with the Government of Canada


• Emulating Quebec’s practice of playing a larger role in international relations, in part by seeking Alberta representation in treaty negotiations that effect Alberta’s interests


• Emulating Quebec’s legal requirement that public bodies, including municipalities and school boards, obtain the approval of the provincial government before they can enter into agreements with the federal government


• Using the existing provincial power to appoint the Chief of Firearms Office for Alberta


• Opting out of the federal cost share programs with full compensation, such as the federal government’s proposed pharmacare program


• Seeking an exchange of tax points for federal cash transfers under the Canada Health and Social Transfers


• Establishing a formalized provincial consultation

Some of the proposals being considered by the Fair Deal Panel are outside the scope of relevance for rural municipalities, but RMA has provided feedback on three of the areas:

 

Establishing a provincial police force by ending the Alberta Police Service Agreement with the Government of Canada.

The emphasis of RMA’s submission on this area was to receive information on how the establishment of a provincial police force would improve public safety in rural areas, given that ending the Alberta Police Service Agreement would presumably result in a reduction or elimination of the federal financial contribution to policing in Alberta.

 

Emulating Quebec’s legal requirement that public bodies, including municipalities and school boards, obtain the approval of the provincial government before they can enter into agreements with the federal government.

RMA does not support this proposal as increased oversight will limit municipal access to federal funding as a result of increased administrative delays and create additional red tape for both municipalities and the province. This proposal also negatively impacts municipal autonomy.

 

Opting out of the federal cost share programs with full compensation, such as the federal government’s proposed pharmacare program.

RMA stated concern surrounding the impacts that this proposal may have on federal funding programs that require projects to be cost-shared among federal, provincial and municipal levels of government (such as the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program), or that rely on federal funding to “flow through” the province to municipalities (such as the Gas Tax Fund).

Click here to read RMA’s full submission to the Fair Deal Panel.

RMA encourages members to share their thoughts with the Fair Deal Panel, who have extended their consultation timelines into February. Click here to submit feedback.

For enquiries, please contact:

Tasha Blumenthal
Director of External Relations & Advocacy
tasha@RMAlberta.com