Prince Albert Mayor shares how provincial election can affect local politics
The provincial election is over and the municipal election is coming up soon, and so the future of a lot of community projects could be decided in the next few weeks. While members of the municipal government are focused on their campaigns, they are also watching the ongoing cabinet shuffle in the provincial government.
Current Mayor Greg Dionne shares that regardless of which party is in power in the province, having local MLAs that are part of the governing party can make a huge difference for the city.
“It’s always good to have MLAs in your city when they’re the governing government because when you’re going for funding requests and other requests for policing, at least you have somebody there waving the flag. That’s what I found interesting about the two other cities, because they had the majority of cabinet ministers, and now they have one, so I’m positive because you have to work with the government that’s in power and because most of our funding arrangements are a third (federal), a third (provincial) and a third (municipal), you have to make sure that they’re going to step up with their third so you can proceed with your project.”
While new faces in provincial government are a good thing that can allow new perspectives, it also causes setbacks in projects that were already ongoing. Dionne cited recent discussions the City was having about policing in the province with Minister of Justice Bronwyn Eyre and Minister of Corrections, Policing and Public Safety Paul Merriman. Now that those two are gone and set to be replaced, it means the City will have to start all over in trying to push those changes through to the federal level.