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Sohi says Alberta budget a 'slap in the face' for Edmonton

"We asked for four basic needs that would help us to make life better for all Edmontonians, but we received next to nothing in return"

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Mayor Amarjeet Sohi decried what he called Edmonton’s “second-class treatment” in the provincial government’s 2022 budget.

Shortly after the budget was tabled Thursday afternoon, Sohi called it “a slap in the face” after what he described as significant efforts to reset government relations since his election last fall. He suggested the capital city, represented in all but one riding by NDP MLAs, is getting short shrift from the United Conservative government.

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“The message that we got from the provincial government today is that Edmonton doesn’t matter, that our needs aren’t being heard, that collaboration doesn’t matter,” Sohi said.

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“We asked for four basic needs that would help us to make life better for all Edmontonians, but we received next to nothing in return.”

Sohi’s call for those four “bare minimum needs” was whittled down from a longer list, leaving funding requests for Downtown recovery, transit operations, the city’s 2026 FIFA World Cup bid and seven new supportive housing projects slated to open this year.

The province’s 2022 fiscal plan fulfills a specific request for Downtown revitalization funding to the tune of $5 million, with $1 million of that total directed to the city’s Downtown Business Association.

Sohi’s view is the grant for Downtown recovery was added at the last minute “just to maybe say that they’re doing something for Edmonton” while ignoring the city’s other requests.

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Notably left out of the budget is $8.9 million in yearly operating funds the city says it needs on a “priority basis” to run the wraparound supports in 348 new units of supportive housing in Edmonton.

That housing is nearing completion and, without more funding, social services agency Homeward Trust will need to reallocate its budget.

“I don’t know where we’re going to get the money from. We will be scrambling to run those, or they will stay vacant,” Sohi said.

He added those resources are desperately needed to address the needs of people living in houselessness, or dealing with mental health and addictions issues.

Balancing the budget ‘on the backs of vulnerable Albertans’

Alberta’s operating budget for homeless and outreach support services is set to be flat over the next three years, sitting at $193 million. But the province is promising an additional $14 million over the next three years “to fund additional rental supports for approximately 3,000 households in need of affordable housing.”

The United Conservative government is projecting a balanced budget for the first time in years with their latest fiscal plan. NDP seniors and housing critic Lori Sigurdson accused the government of ignoring consequences for social programs.

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“I think that their priority was to balance (the budget), and guess what, we’re balancing it on the backs of vulnerable Albertans,” she said.

Justin Marshall, the press secretary for Alberta’s Minister of Community and Social Services, wrote on social media Thursday that the budget includes $118 million in capital funds and $25.3 million in operating funds as part of a 10-year strategy to expand affordable housing.

That, he said, “clearly shows that (the government) remains committed to the affordable housing sector and protecting vulnerable Albertans.”

NDP seniors and housing critic Lori Sigurdson, right, with NDP MLA Janis Irwin.
NDP seniors and housing critic Lori Sigurdson, right, with NDP MLA Janis Irwin. Photo by Greg Southam /Postmedia

The province isn’t offering help to close Edmonton’s COVID-driven public transit operating gap, but capital funding for the Valley Line LRT expansion is on the books. The city will receive roughly $1.5 billion over the next three years, but nearly two-thirds of that total will come from federal funding, with the remainder paid by the province.

The budget also doesn’t mention Edmonton’s FIFA World Cup bid, but Finance Minister Travis Toews said the province still hasn’t made a final decision about monetary support.

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Sohi said Edmonton deserves a “fair deal.”

“What we saw today was the same-old, same-old neglect for the capital city. That is absolutely unacceptable.”

Other budget details for municipalities

With the new budget, the province is also a step closer toward changing municipal grant funding, a move it has touted as “returning municipal infrastructure support to predictable and sustainable levels.”

After municipal infrastructure dollars were “front-loaded” in 2021 to aid economic stimulus, capital grants for cities and towns get an expected cut to a $485 million shared pot starting in 2022.

Beginning in 2024, the province is transitioning to a new grant model called the Local Government Fiscal Framework. That year, Edmonton and Calgary are expected to get a combined total of $382 million in grants — how that will be divided between the two cities is yet to be determined.

Alberta’s big cities cried foul when the new framework was announced in 2019, since it amounted to reduced funding, and this year’s City of Edmonton’s budget submission called for formal discussions about the plan.

Municipalities are getting $23 million over each of the next three years for 911 system technology upgrades, plus $5 million over the next three years to support a “strategic stockpile of personal protective equipment” in the event of “future public health events.”

This year’s provincial budget also allocates $14 million in both 2022 and 2023 for Edmonton’s 50 Street widening project and $12.5 million for rehabilitation work on Anthony Henday Drive.

masmith@postmedia.com

Twitter: @meksmith

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