INNISFAIL – The Town of Innisfail's elected members and chief administrative officer attended the two-day Alberta Municipalities’ Spring Municipal Leaders’ Caucus last week in Edmonton and provincial funding and the ongoing tariff crisis were the big issues on most people’s minds.
That is the assessment of Innisfail mayor Jean Barclay.
“I would say the number one topic was funding,” said Barclay. “The reality is we know what our LGFF (Local Government Fiscal Framework) is this year. Provincial revenues went up three years ago.
“But I would say the general consensus is that it’s not nearly enough,” she added. “There's also a mood I would say amongst communities that are not larger urban centres are wondering if we are getting our fair share.
“We’ve been down this road many times on the aquatic centre and there is no potential funding for it and nothing we can apply for as a municipality at the provincial level.”
Nevertheless, the Trump tariff issues was also on the minds of many of the more than 400 municipal elected officials and senior administrators who attended the Edmonton conference.
In a media release from Alberta Municipalities (AM) it was noted municipal attendees heard Premier Danielle Smith’s call to adjust their municipal procurement policies to “buy local” as much as possible in response to the ongoing American efforts to impose tariffs on a wide range of products.
“Our members will enthusiastically purchase locally and provincially made products whenever possible,” said the release. “For most, this represents no change from their current policies.
“Alberta Municipalities stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the provincial government on this important issue.”
Barclay said there was a one-hour session that dealt with the tariff issue, as well as separate discussions among attendees.
“There was as much concern around the uncertainty as there was about what the tariffs are going to be because it's on again, off again as we know, and that creates more of an issue than knowing,” said Barclay.
She noted the town and other Alberta communities are represented by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities that is now doing significant groundwork on the tariff issue in the United States.
“I think at the local level, we do have a good understanding of how these tariffs, whether they're here or not here, going to be here, going to impact our local business community and we have to be concerned about layoffs potentially in the future,” said Barclay.
“I think it's more a case right now of gathering information and educating ourselves.
“We can't figure out what's going on from day to day, and try to prepare the best we can,” she added, noting there was helpful advice from a session speaker. “In other words, Trump may be saying one thing out on his social media but is what he's saying actually doable?”
But what can municipalities, including Innisfail, do to continue operating effectively amidst the Trump-driven uncertainty?
“We just have to face each day as it comes and the noise will be noise,” said Barclay. “Nobody right now knows what's going to happen tomorrow. Nobody knows what's going to happen five hours from now.”
