Edmonton could be taking province to court over infill decree

Edmonton could be taking the province to court as city councillors wonder aloud if they’re being set up to fail.

On Tuesday, Mayor Andrew Knack questioned the legal validity of the decree handed down by Premier Danielle Smith last week ordering city council to abolish its zoning bylaw and replace it with the previous one.

As part of the directive, council must hold a public hearing within three months to hear arguments for and against the bylaw — and then vote to rescind it, which Knack said belies the Municipal Government Act requirement that councillors enter a public hearing with an open mind.

“As per provincial rules under the MGA, I am required to go into a public hearing with an open mind,” he said. “They are issuing a directive that says how I have to vote. If I don’t follow the directive, I’m in violation of the directive. If I do follow the directive, I’ve gone in without an open mind. That would again put me in violation of the MGA.

“Either way, every member of council will be in conflict of interest. If they have a desired outcome, they should just do it. I don’t think they’re following the law and I think we need to actually take this to the courts.”

Suggesting the province hasn’t thought this decision through, Knack said normally when the province issues a directive it includes it in writing, but said nothing has been received from the province.

He said he was told written instructions would be issued within three weeks, which is approximately when the city’s draft four-year budget is being released.

“I would have expected that the provincial government, if they wanted to provide a directive, would have actually had the directive written before they announced it,” he said. “The fact they don’t is an embarrassment and it makes it really challenging for our staff to do their job — how can they start beginning to follow through without knowing what (the province) would like to see?” Knack said.

“It’s interesting to me they’ve chosen to not put something in writing before making an announcement.”

Council is holding an emergency meeting on Friday to discuss what the financial, logistical and legal implications of the decree are and to determine what the city’s next steps will be.

Knack added the city’s expenses are already going up because of the decree, since municipal staff working on the draft four-year budget will likely have to put in a lot of overtime to ensure it is ready by year-end.

“Even if everything had been ready on the day of the announcement, three months to make sure you’re following the proper legal requirement for notice, to make sure you’re doing a proper report the public can read and provide feedback on — all of those take quite a large amount of time,” said Knack. “So there’s no doubt that staff time is going to be limited and they will have to use overtime in order to fulfill this directive the premier issued.”

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