Alberta’s Minister of Municipal Affairs, Ric McIver, has shut down a proposal put forth by Calgary city councillors seeking to grant voting rights to permanent residents in municipal elections.
The move, spearheaded by Ward 8 Councillor Courtney Walcott, aimed to amend the Local Authorities Election Act to allow non-citizen residents to participate in local polls.
Walcott is one of three city councilors— including Mayor Jyoti Gondek– who last year supported the decision to ban fireworks on Canada Day over concerns it was culturally insensitive to Indigenous and Chinese Canadians.
“Citizens of Canada can vote in municipal elections. That will not be changing,” stated Minister McIver in a direct response to the proposal, underlining the government’s stance on the matter.
The motion proposed by Councillor Walcott, backed by four councillors including Kourtney Penner from Ward 11, contends that many long-standing permanent residents of Calgary are unfairly excluded from the democratic process of voting.
“Nothing says gate keeping like being unwilling to even entertain the conversation,” Penner stated on X in response to McIver’s rejection.
The proposed motion seeks to rally support from the city to advocate for legislative changes at the provincial level.
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