Alberta Premier Smith calls out federal interference in Edmonton housing rules

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said on a call-in radio show Saturday that federal interference prompted her government to roll back some Edmonton housing rules.

Smith said the province reversed zoning bylaw changes this week that Edmonton made in 2024 because Ottawa influenced the city’s rules.

She said the federal government at the time offered Edmonton millions in funding in exchange for the zoning changes that made it easier to build multi-unit complexes in older, established neighbourhoods.

She called Ottawa’s funding a bribe and said it disrupted the integrity of the home building process in Edmonton.

“In Edmonton, … they didn’t start seeing what it meant until the bulldozers showed up, took down a single family home and put up a (multi-family building) so 16 units go up beside them with no parking,” Smith said on Your Province, Your Premier on CHED and CHQR.

“So I would say that the overreach happened when the federal government came in and and bribed city councils.”

Edmonton has been given three months to reverse the 2024 changes.

A statement released in February 2024 from former prime minister Justin Trudeau’s government said a Housing Accelerator Fund would fast-track over 5,200 new housing units in Edmonton over the next three years.

“As part of the agreement, the city will streamline zoning bylaw approvals, build more homes around public transit, and use city-owned land to build hundreds of new homes.”

It said Edmonton would shorten project approval timelines.

Edmonton implemented new zoning changes the same year in order to build higher-density neighbourhoods and make room for intense population growth.

But Smith said this week alone, she received hundreds of letters from people asking her to do something on the infill issue.

“We’re undoing some bad federal policy,” she said.

The mayors of Alberta’s two major cities have pushed back on the reversal by Smith’s United Conservative Party government, with Calgary’s Jeromy Farkas saying the province was threatening local democracy.

While the latest reversal will leave Calgary unaffected, Farkas said it sets a dangerous precedent for the province working to influence city councillors in the future.

Calgary repealed its blanket rezoning rules earlier this year following a public hearing over a span of two weeks, with more than 400 public speakers and nearly 3,300 written submissions.

Smith directed Calgary maintain its rollback this week.

The issue of federal interference is being tested in the upcoming referendum in Alberta.

Albertans are set to vote in person Oct. 19 on 10 questions. The 10th and most debated question will ask whether they want to stay in Canada or have a second, binding referendum on leaving Confederation.

The first nine ask if the government should have more authority to push for Constitutional reform and impose limitations and financial guardrails around some newcomers.

In a booklet about the referendum that the province distributed to homes this month, the government gave its reasoning for each question and urged voters to give it a mandate on them.

Under a question about the Constitution, it said it’s time for Alberta to gain more control from Ottawa over its provincial affairs.

“Often, the federal government will seek to control provincial affairs by offering federal funding in return for allowing them to interfere with a province’s laws and policies,” it said.

“Over time, this has allowed Ottawa to gain more and more power over provincial affairs.”On Saturday, Smith said that in her travels around the province, she has heard people say “they want more autonomy from Ottawa.”

On the separation question, she said, as she has repeatedly said, that she plans to vote to stay in Canada.