Foothills County has confirmed that it is likely to withdraw from the Calgary Metropolitan Region Board (CMRB) in early 2025.
Following Rocky View County's vote to withdraw from the CMRB on Dec. 10, Foothills County Reeve Delilah Miller stated that her council "most likely" will follow suit.
"This shouldn't have come as a surprise to anyone. If it did, they certainly weren't paying attention to what rural Alberta wanted," said Miller, who previously voiced her support for the Government of Alberta's decision to make membership in the CMRB voluntary for its eight member municipalities.
The provincial government announced that starting in 2025, membership in the Calgary Metropolitan Region Board and the Edmonton Metropolitan Region Board will be voluntary, and that the government — which had given $1 million in annual funding to the CMRB — will no longer provide funding to either organization.
"We see this as a huge win for rural Alberta to keep our autonomy and run our municipalities the way we know how, because we feel we know how to run our municipalities best," said Miller.
Foothills County has extensively lobbied the provincial government to make membership in the CMRB voluntary, she continued.
"I have met tirelessly with the municipal affairs minister (Ric McIver), twice a year at every convention, probably for the last five to six years, complaining about the inequities and the treatment that rural Alberta receives under regional planning," said Miller.
The membership of the CMRB currently consists of the cities of Airdrie, Calgary and Chestermere, towns of Cochrane, High River and Okotoks, and Foothills and Rocky View counties.
According to Miller, the CMRB's growth plan prioritizes urban members over rural ones.
"We are assuming they're going to remove the growth plan as well, however our county most likely will leave," she said, adding that, from what she's heard, the Province is "trying to work through the details of what dissolving this CMRB growth plan looks like, but as far as we know, for sure the funding will be cut and the membership will be made voluntary, which of course gives Foothills an out that we've been looking for."
As the official decision will be implemented in early 2025, Miller stated that Foothills County has not yet formally decided to withdraw from the CMRB.
"We haven't made a firm decision yet because the ministerial order has not come down," she said. "It will take time for the ministerial order to come down and work its way through the system, so as of now, we are still mandated to be at the board. Foothills wants to be there to make some of these important decisions [on the CMRB's future]."
Miller said an official decision will likely be made by Foothills County council early in the new year.
"As soon as the ministerial order comes down, the county will make that decision," she said.
While the decision for Rocky View County to withdraw from the CMRB passed by a 4-3 vote, Miller said Foothills County councillors are relatively united in their desire to leave.
"Our council has always been pretty steadfast on being removed from this plan right from the beginning," she said.
Miller acknowledged the value of the CMRB "as a board to talk about regional initiatives such as tourism or economic development," but remained adamant that Foothills County will refuse to reconsider its membership "if there's going to be any type of control."
She added that if council votes to leave the CMRB, Foothills County will be revising its intermunicipal development plans with neighbouring municipalities to foster ongoing dialogue.
- With files from Robert Korotyszyn/Western Wheel.
