Some rural leaders upset at province over policing, oil company property taxes

A new strategy for managing old oil and gas wells and an updated plan to use sheriffs as provincial police has some rural leaders steaming mad at the Alberta government.

“We still want to be at the table, and we still want to be part of the solutions, but we will push back when we don’t think the solutions are fair for everyone,” said Kara Westerlund, president of the Rural Municipalities of Alberta.

The UCP tabled a new bill Monday, taking one more step toward replacing the RCMP in Alberta.

But Westerlund says her members have repeatedly told the government they do not want provincial police.

“If you want us to buy in, you need to show us in numbers, that there is going to be a cost reduction or an improvement in service on the rural landscape. And neither of which have come out on either of the announcements,” said Westerlund.

Other concerns surround a new mature asset strategy authored by former oil executive David Yager on behalf of the government.

A leaked draft of the report said abandoned oil well cleanup should be “backstopped by taxpayers.”

An updated, public version of the document suggests the government create a fund, like a carbon tax, to make sure there is money for cleanup.

But Westerlund is worried the strategy will ultimately let companies off the hook for their messes and property taxes, saying more than $250 million of the latter is already owed.

“They’re just choosing not to pay and to continue to work because they know there is no mechanism to force them to pay,” Westerlund explained.

Alberta’s municipal affairs minister defended both moves Tuesday, saying he’ll keep consulting local leaders.

“They’re not required to be happy with the decisions that we make but we try to work with them. I know one of the recommendations of the mature asset strategy is to have a working group with rma and my ministry and energy to sort out some of these things,” said Ric McIver, Municipal Affairs Minister.

The UCP government won every seat, except for two, outside of the big cities in the last election. That is the conservative power base, but the NDP says rural Albertans are being disrespected.

“I’ll be blunt to our neighbours in rural Alberta. The reason they take you for granted is because they think you will never vote for anyone else,” said Naheed Nenshi, Alberta NDP leader.

Nenshi says Alberta needs to force oil companies to pay taxes and clean up abandoned wells. Adding rural healthcare is also a mess.

“We’re seeing a government that is perfectly content to have closed emergency rooms and closed hospitals across rural Alberta.”

Westerlund says her group will keep advocating for rural Alberta and is encouraging residents to contact their MLAs to back up local leaders.