What to Expect
One of the province’s most important political and networking opportunities begins this week – the Calgary Stampede. Leadership hopefuls will barnstorm the festivities. As everyone’s team prepares, look for the week to be relatively quiet, with a few announcements from the government on select policies.
Early next week, Premier Kenney will attend his last Council of the Federation meeting, which is being hosted by B.C.’s Premier Horgan. The focus, as it has been in the last few meetings of Premiers, will be on pressuring the federal government to increase health care transfers to the provinces.
The Week That Was
Minister of Service Alberta Nate Glubish is scheduled to meet with officials from July 3-9, in both Estonia and the U.K. to discuss digital innovation and modernization, such as designing simpler and faster digital services, building digital capability and infrastructure, and public sector innovation.
The provincial government is dedicating $4 million to increase the accessibility and affordability of youth activities. In partnership with KidSport Alberta and the Alberta Recreation and Parks Association, the funding will be directed as follows:
- $1.85 million will support more than 7,000 children with registration costs for sport programs across the province; and
- $2.1 million will be distributed to 140 qualified sport, physical activity, and recreation organizations.
Municipalities will have the opportunity to revitalize underdeveloped areas through the Community Revitalization Levy (CRL) program. The CRL program was paused in 2013. The CRL program has been updated and improved with the following changes made:
- introducing a three per cent cap on the total assessment base of a municipality that can be within all its combined CRL zones;
- opening the program to more areas (however, the program still excludes greenfield or previously undeveloped areas); and
- requiring municipalities to include the amount of municipal and education taxes that will be directed into the CRL in their CRL bylaw.
