It’s not exactly a topic that gets people excited, but Rural Municipalities of Alberta’s (RMA) president Kara Westerlund says it’s one we need to have.
“Infrastructure is… you know it’s a non-sexy topic,” joked Westerlund. “We’re talking about roads, we’re talking about bridges, we’re talking about water and wastewater.”
On Thursday, the RMA launched its advocacy campaign dubbed ‘Closing the Gap‘ which is highlighting what Westerlund says is a concerning growth in the difference between how much money they have and how much money they need to cover ongoing infrastructure maintenance and upgrades.
“The infrastructure deficit within rural Alberta, which is about 85 per cent of the land mass in this province is sitting around $17 billion and continues to climb each year,” Westerlund explained.
“We did an extensive review, and the numbers are from the 2024 year, and moving forward we’ve got some costing of what that’s gonna look like.”
According to the report the RMA estimates their members are responsible for around 135,000 km of road, 75 per cent of the province’s bridges, and 30 per cent of the province’s water systems. Westerlund notes many of those assets are reaching the end of their lifespans.
“We’re looking to highlight the need to work with the provincial government and the federal government on trying to close the gap,” Westerlund stressed. “Figure out a long-term solution and a plan moving forward, because what we’re doing is sticking band-aids on issues that are going to continue to grow.”
In 2023, the UCP updated the Local Government Fiscal Framework in order to provide capital funding for municipalities across the province. And because those changes came into effect in 2024/2025, the province says municipalities shouldn’t expect more money anytime soon.
“That rides up and down with provincial revenues, of course the funding will not stay the same from year to year,” remarked Alberta minister of municipal affairs Dan Williams.
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“When Alberta has a good year, because oil and gas is booming, because we see royalty revenues coming in, then so will the municipalities share in that. But also the municipalities understand that when we don’t have that revenue provincially, we can’t spend money we don’t have.”
So as the potential for future royalty looks bleak, Williams says it’s up to local councils to plan ahead.
“Ultimately this is the responsibility of municipalities to have asset management plans,” Williams stated. “To have a plan to say, ‘We know infrastructure is growing old, we have a plan to replace it,’ just as any homeowner or business owner would.”
The mentality that rural municipalities — who, according to the RMA, allocate 50 per cent or more of their budgets to transportation and infrastructure — should be left to fend for themselves on large ticket infrastructure projects is disappointing to some.
“You know Lethbridge County and I would argue the majority of other municipalities in the province want to be partners with the province,” said Tory Campbell, Reeve of Lethbridge County.
“We want to work hand in hand to find solutions. So to hear comments from the minister? It’s tough.”
Campbell continued by noting that the province has continued to place more responsibilities on municipalities.
“So we continue to increased downloading… it just makes our job to service that infrastructure, to service, to build that infrastructure that much more challenging,” Campbell noted.
“There’s one taxpayer, so as it gets more challenging, it just becomes tougher for us.”
And as the province looks to scrutinize the City of Calgary over its management of maintaining infrastructure, the hope is they’ll heed the canary in the coal mine before they go silent.
“We can’t continue to kick this can down the road,” Campbell reiterated. “Because when we do, there are catastrophic things that happen, and we’re seeing them, and it’s scary.”
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