Since Alberta's Conservative government released the findings of the MacKinnon Report back in September 2019, red tape elimination has been under constant attack.
The blue ribbon panel that was assembled to find the way for Premier Kenney and the newly elected government was led by former Saskatchewan Minister of Finance and history professor, Janice MacKinnon.
You might think that choosing a former Finance minister under Saskatchewan's Rowmanow NDP government is almost non partisan. However, after a short drill-down you can see that MacKinnon was the Saskatchewan equivalent to Ralph Klein's Dr. No - Finance Minister Steve West. Under the Romanow Government, she took swift and decisive action to give the biggest government cuts seen in the history of the province of Saskatchewan.
So, it only made sense that MacKinnon and the rest of her panel would prepare Alberta for the next wave of austerity as the Kenney government edges closer to a budget in February.
This has certainly been the case, as cuts to primary and post-secondary education have already been felt. In the meantime, additional cuts to Municipal funding by reductions to MSI (Municipal Sustainability Initiative) are sandwiched between reductions in federal gas tax reductions.
As a result, municipalities are being squeezed more than ever, while being told to make lemonade by Minister of Municipal Affairs, Kacy Madu.
So what are Municipalities to do? Stay tuned for more thoughts in the next blog post.