[5:07] Good morning. My name is Sally Cooer

[5:09] Johnson and I will be the chair of this

[5:11] council meeting for today, February 2nd,

[5:15] 2026.

[5:17] I call this meeting to order at 1 1:00.

[5:21] I will proceed with today's com uh

[5:24] members. We have five counselors in

[5:27] attendance and one mayor and councelor

[5:30] McNab is not present for today's

[5:32] meeting.

[5:34] Could I ask um councelor Ducet to um put

[5:40] the to put the motion for the adoption

[5:43] of the gen agenda?

[5:46] » Uh I motion that we adopt the agenda

[5:50] please and thank you.

[5:51] » Okay. And could I ask uh councelor

[5:53] Jesperson to put the to adopt the

[5:56] minutes of Oh, could we have a vote on

[5:59] that, please? All in favor?

[6:03] » All in favor? Okay, moving on to the

[6:06] adoption of the minutes. Uh, councelor

[6:09] Jesperson,

[6:10] » Deputy Mayor Sally Cooer Johnson, there

[6:12] are no minutes to adopt for this agenda.

[6:15] » Okay. No delegations

[6:18] and or anything like that. New business.

[6:20] Okay. So then we'll just move on to uh

[6:23] 6A1 which is the creation of a rural

[6:26] charter. I will hand that over to uh

[6:30] Mayor Shagus.

[6:33] » Thank you madam chair. So I am going to

[6:34] put a motion forward that the creation

[6:36] of the rural charter be tabled uh to the

[6:39] June 23rd 2026 council meeting at

[6:42] Parkland County Center in council

[6:44] chambers. And the reason I'm tableing

[6:46] this, I um had hoped to uh bring this

[6:49] matter before the PMAN zone meeting uh

[6:52] on the 9th of February. Um they do need

[6:55] agenda items in believe that the

[6:57] deadline is today or tomorrow. Um and I

[7:01] [clears throat] I believe we need to uh

[7:04] spend a little bit more time in

[7:05] presenting the uh and developing the

[7:07] background information so uh it's

[7:09] provides greater clarity to the

[7:11] delegates um at the zone meeting. uh

[7:14] should it get past council. So, um with

[7:17] that, I do have the tableing motion on

[7:19] the floor.

[7:20] » Okay. At this time, um does anybody have

[7:23] any uh questions for clarification?

[7:29] Okay.

[7:32] Okay. I I guess I understand what you're

[7:34] doing. Um, I think it would be

[7:35] interesting to find out um let uh the

[7:39] RMA speak to it to find out if they

[7:41] actually do any measurable enforcable

[7:44] outcomes at this stage.

[7:48] Um, okay. So, I guess we can move on

[7:52] since that would be tabled, but we'll

[7:53] put we'll we'll have a vote on that. All

[7:56] in favor?

[8:00] So, moved. Okay. Um then we'll move on

[8:03] to uh 6 A2

[8:07] increase the general corporate corporate

[8:09] income tax rate. I'll hand that to Mayor

[8:12] Shagus.

[8:13] » Thank you, Madam Chair. So, I'm bringing

[8:15] this motion forward and I'll read it in

[8:16] for the records. And that is that um

[8:21] uh this motion is for the Rural

[8:24] Municipalities of Alberta to advocate to

[8:26] the government of Alberta to increase

[8:28] the general corporate income tax rate

[8:30] from 8% to 9 and a a half% while

[8:34] maintaining the current small business

[8:35] corporate income tax rate. and further

[8:38] be resolved that all new revenue

[8:40] generated from the corporate income tax

[8:42] be directed to grant funding to Alberta

[8:44] municipalities to address infrastructure

[8:47] deficits. And I would speak to that if I

[8:48] may.

[8:49] » Of course.

[8:50] » Thank you. So I am bringing this forward

[8:53] um recognizing the significant financial

[8:55] challenges

[8:56] um that municipalities are having and

[8:59] the growing responsibilities that we

[9:01] have without um corresponding increases

[9:04] in revenues. Um, I think this is uh

[9:08] about uh this motion does bring about uh

[9:10] and addresses fiscal responsibility and

[9:13] long-term sustainability of Alberta

[9:15] municipalities and also helps address uh

[9:18] the many uh issues that we do have uh

[9:22] across the province, both urban and

[9:24] rural municipalities regarding

[9:25] infrastructure deficits. And uh

[9:28] currently in the [clears throat]

[9:30] province of Alberta, we do have the

[9:31] lowest uh general corporate income tax

[9:34] at 8%. Um and it's the lowest among all

[9:37] Canadian provinces and uh sign

[9:40] significantly below the the national

[9:43] average and it also is competitive with

[9:46] most of the American states. Um,

[9:49] according to a 2025 report from the

[9:52] Fraser Institute, Alberta's general top

[9:55] combined corporate income tax uh is the

[9:58] seventh lowest amongst 61 peer

[10:01] jurisdictions and the lowest of any

[10:03] province at 23%.

[10:06] Alberta holds the third lowest combined

[10:09] sales tax in North America at 5%.

[10:12] So unquestionably uh unquestionably

[10:15] maintaining a competitive uh business

[10:17] environment is important for the

[10:18] province. Uh but Alberta's overall tax

[10:21] structure including uh no provincial

[10:24] sales tax, no provincial payroll tax and

[10:26] the low natural resource royalties,

[10:28] there are substantial uh advantages to

[10:32] businesses operating in the province.

[10:35] And so I I believe increasing the income

[10:37] tax rate to 9 and a half still keeps

[10:39] Alberta uh competitive um amongst

[10:43] jurisdictions across North America while

[10:46] uh generating significant new provincial

[10:48] revenues.

[10:52] the uh the uh anticipated revenue

[10:56] conservatively would be about a billion

[10:57] dollars a year. And again, this would be

[10:59] directed at um grant funding for

[11:02] municipalities uh both urban and rural.

[11:05] Um we did receive information from uh

[11:09] last week where I identified the

[11:11] significant infrastructure deficit of

[11:13] the urban municipalities. Alberta

[11:15] municipalities which represent the uh

[11:18] roughly 260 urban municipalities

[11:20] estimates that their infrastructure

[11:23] deficit is about 30 billion and

[11:25] currently for RMA members the rural

[11:28] members it's about 20 billion. Again, as

[11:30] shared last week, um RMA is forecasting

[11:33] that the rural uh infrastructure deficit

[11:36] will climb to roughly 40 billion dollars

[11:38] by 2028 if all things remain constant.

[11:42] So um I see this as an opportunity to

[11:46] um again help support uh rural

[11:49] municipalities and industry as a whole.

[11:51] And there might be some people who

[11:53] believe this might have a negative

[11:55] impact on the economy. Uh but with the

[11:58] significant investment that is required

[12:00] for infrastructure improvements and

[12:02] enhancements uh that will create uh

[12:05] significant jobs and I believe it'll

[12:07] also improve to uh greater efficiencies

[12:10] and uh effectiveness in the movements of

[12:12] goods and services which uh will

[12:15] increase uh the province's position and

[12:18] our GDP. So happy to answer any

[12:21] questions. Thank you, Madam Chair.

[12:23] » Okay. Thank you very much. I guess we'll

[12:25] open that up to debate. Councelor Ducet,

[12:27] » I would just like to ask the mayor um

[12:29] for information. Um when was the last

[12:32] time the corporate rate was raised,

[12:36] please? And thanks.

[12:38] » I don't have that information. Um, but

[12:42] it was in uh when Premier Kenny was the

[12:46] uh premier of Alberta, he did lower it

[12:47] from 12% to 8 8%. Um, and so that's been

[12:51] in place for I think I think that was in

[12:53] 2018 or 2019.

[12:57] Councelor Olsen,

[13:01] » I think I it's more of a comment than a

[13:03] question, but um

[13:06] RMA has just launched a campaign called

[13:08] Close the Gap, which is targeted

[13:11] directly at reducing

[13:14] infrastructure deficits. So I what I

[13:16] what I'm not sure of is if something

[13:20] like this is already proposed within

[13:23] that campaign. And if that's the case,

[13:26] um I think this is certainly the time to

[13:28] get on board with that campaign and

[13:30] support

[13:32] as a whole um the movement. Thank you.

[13:36] » Thank you for that comment. Anybody

[13:39] else? Uh Councelor Jesperson,

[13:43] » I just have a few questions. Um

[13:45] [clears throat] could this really affect

[13:48] uh businesses that want to move into

[13:50] Alberta negatively? right now where we

[13:52] seem to be the place to to go and uh I

[13:57] don't know I feel this could affect it.

[13:58] Um the second is

[14:01] how is this going to affect businesses

[14:03] coming to Aches

[14:05] » And uh the third is this even something

[14:08] that uh uh as a municipal government we

[14:11] should be pushing forward or advocating

[14:13] for this is kind of their thing.

[14:19] Um to the first question about Alberta's

[14:21] competitiveness um as mentioned um

[14:24] increasing it to 9 and a half% will

[14:26] still keep Alberta in a very competitive

[14:29] uh position relative to other

[14:31] municipalities. In fact Ontario and

[14:34] Quebec um their their corporate income

[14:37] tax is 11 a.5%. Um BC, Saskatchewan and

[14:42] Manitoba are at 12%. And again, Parkland

[14:45] or pardon me, um, Alberta does not have

[14:48] a provincial sales tax as well. Um, no

[14:50] payroll tax. So, we are still very

[14:53] competitive and I don't think it will uh

[14:55] impact or pro uh uh businesses from

[15:00] coming in nor the businesses in Aerson.

[15:02] Yes, there will be um additional

[15:05] additional um taxes being applied, but

[15:09] again for um businesses in Aches and

[15:13] some of the constraints that we're

[15:14] seeing uh in the transportation network,

[15:17] specifically roads, um those funds will

[15:20] be going to improve um the ability for

[15:23] businesses to move their products. Um,

[15:26] so I I think we still will see a very

[15:30] competitive business environment.

[15:33] » Okay, thanks for your comments. I guess

[15:35] uh my comments are that, you know, I

[15:38] appreciate you thinking outside the box

[15:41] because I know that when I've talked to

[15:44] ministers in the past, they said they do

[15:47] not want to always hear that we want

[15:49] something. They want us to come up with

[15:51] solutions every now and again. And I do

[15:53] see that you're proposing a solution,

[15:56] but I think that if the when the Alberta

[16:00] government asks us to or were to ask us

[16:03] to increase our rate, we wouldn't take

[16:04] that favorably. So I don't see that the

[16:08] government of Alberta is going to be

[16:10] taking this as a something helpful,

[16:13] asking them to increase taxes. And I'm

[16:16] very sure that me as a representative

[16:19] for my division, I don't want to be the

[16:23] the front person to be asking for tax

[16:26] increases right now. That won't be my

[16:29] job, especially for another organization

[16:33] that has that has nothing really to do

[16:36] with us. That I mean, they do have

[16:37] something to do with us, but

[16:40] it's bad enough we've got to rate uh

[16:41] advocate for our own increases. I don't

[16:44] want to be doing that for the Alberta

[16:46] government.

[16:48] So, I guess I'm I'm not going to be in

[16:51] favor of this motion.

[16:54] Go ahead. [snorts]

[16:58] Um

[17:00] I guess I didn't ask answer one of those

[17:03] questions. Is is this our wheelhouse?

[17:05] Our wheelhouse is to advocate for um our

[17:08] residents and our business community. Um

[17:10] rural municipalities as was identified

[17:13] in the closing uh the gap report

[17:15] identified that rural uh municipalities

[17:18] have roughly 130,000

[17:21] 130,000 km of road 10,000 km of water

[17:24] and wastewater mains and 8,000 bridges

[17:27] and culverts um to maintain. Uh the

[17:30] funding le levels haven't been there.

[17:32] They've been cut um as I shared last

[17:34] week. Um that does not help our

[17:37] residents. um that does not help our

[17:39] business communities when uh we cannot

[17:42] provide safe means of trans

[17:44] transportation. This also affects our

[17:45] residents through safety issues um which

[17:49] as all of you are aware and heard on the

[17:53] campa campaign trail. There was calls

[17:55] for and Parkland County did advocate for

[17:58] some improvements to the provincial road

[17:59] network because of safety concerns. That

[18:01] money isn't available right now. The

[18:03] grants keep getting cut. Um, this year,

[18:06] 2026, marks the 40-year anniversary when

[18:09] the provincial government um downloaded

[18:12] um the responsibility for bridges to

[18:14] rural municipalities.

[18:16] I'd like to see this 40-year anniversary

[18:20] be a time to celebrate that we actually

[18:23] receive funding um at a level that helps

[18:26] us to assist our residents um and the

[18:29] business community to have u more

[18:31] effective um infrastructure whether it's

[18:35] water and wastewater. So we're not

[18:37] seeing significant increases in those

[18:40] rates which impacts our uh

[18:42] municipalities, our businesses. um

[18:46] funding for infrastructure like

[18:48] broadband um you can you know roads,

[18:52] water, wastewater uh broad broadband

[18:54] internet connect uh connectivity which

[18:56] is huge and has huge impacts for for our

[19:00] municipality and every residential or uh

[19:03] rural municipality if we don't have a

[19:06] robust system in place. Um so this is

[19:08] just a means uh to have uh additional

[19:11] funding provided to uh municipalities.

[19:14] Yeah. And yes I recognize the provincial

[19:16] government also has their priorities and

[19:18] their funding funding priorities might

[19:20] be different from ours but our job is to

[19:22] advocate for the best outcome for our um

[19:26] residents and business community and I

[19:28] believe that this this would do that.

[19:30] Thank you

[19:32] » Councelor Ducette.

[19:34] Um,

[19:36] with the information that you provided

[19:37] to my question, I I think going back it

[19:40] it might have been a little shortsighted

[19:42] in my opinion uh of the provincial

[19:45] government to lower the rate, especially

[19:48] when

[19:49] we have um [snorts]

[19:52] the oil leases that uh haven't paid paid

[19:55] up on their taxes. So, I guess I I'm in

[19:58] agreeance. I I don't want to see the res

[20:01] I don't want to see further costs

[20:03] downloaded to our residents. So I don't

[20:06] see this as being a bad thing to

[20:08] advocate for some recovery of the

[20:11] percentage rate that was dropped in in

[20:13] the past. So um I think I'd be on board

[20:15] with it.

[20:19] » Councelor Jesperson.

[20:23] » I think I understand where you're going

[20:25] from or going or coming from. Um the the

[20:28] thing I struggle with is

[20:32] our corporations that are paying these

[20:35] taxes. Number one, it always goes back

[20:37] to the consumer and we're going to end

[20:39] up paying more for whatever product it

[20:41] is. And uh the infrastructure that the

[20:45] Alberta government decides to upgrade

[20:47] may not be our infrastructure.

[20:49] And uh I struggle with that at this

[20:52] point. And I just I feel like uh the

[20:55] consumer our residents are going to be

[20:57] paying for it indirectly and may not get

[20:59] anything in return.

[21:03] » Go ahead.

[21:04] » Um I would counter that by saying that

[21:08] we'll be paying for it directly. So

[21:11] deferring maintenance on infrastructure

[21:13] and I'll looked for um administration to

[21:16] make comment on this as well. um and

[21:19] it's in the reports um of RMA if you

[21:22] have an opportunity to take a look at

[21:23] some of those reports as well. Deferral

[21:25] of infrastructure maintenance and infra

[21:27] infrastructure improvements does come at

[21:31] a significant future cost um that's a

[21:34] cost going to be borne by our rateayers

[21:36] um and it'll be larger than making sure

[21:39] that there is remedial work being done

[21:41] or maintenance and maybe Mr. Hopkins can

[21:44] speak to to this matter as well. Um,

[21:46] this is about keeping our economy robust

[21:50] and ensuring that our our roads are

[21:52] safe. Um, that our water and wastewater

[21:55] systems do not fail. Um, there's issues

[21:58] with uh uh human health and safety um

[22:02] with failures, catastrophic failures of

[22:05] some of the infrastructure. Um, from my

[22:08] perspective, these investments are not

[22:10] only prudent, they're responsible

[22:12] investments. Um, and they need to be

[22:15] made before th those expenditures grow

[22:17] to an insurmountable rate where we will

[22:20] not be able to attract industry. Thank

[22:23] you,

[22:24] » Councelor Olsen.

[22:28] » [clears throat]

[22:29] » Does administration want to address that

[22:32] last comment first or

[22:35] I

[22:35] » I don't know if there's much else um for

[22:37] administration to add other than the

[22:38] fact that we do agree that um deferred

[22:41] maintenance is obviously an issue across

[22:43] Alberta for infrastructure

[22:45] um and it is contained in in the RMA

[22:47] report. But I think what we're talking

[22:48] about here is less so um county owned

[22:52] infrastructure but provincial owned

[22:54] infrastructure that's within the county

[22:58] and uh can you tell us or anybody tell

[23:01] us if there is something on the books

[23:03] right now at RMA in regards to this

[23:05] because seems to me that we have talked

[23:07] about

[23:11] » Uh to councelor Cooger Johnson currently

[23:14] there's nothing on the books for

[23:15] something like this with RMA um there is

[23:17] advocacy through the closing the gap

[23:19] initiative. Um

[23:21] » But no not focused directly on raising

[23:23] the corporate income tax.

[23:24] » Yeah.

[23:25] » But but advocating to the province to

[23:27] understand the unique needs of rural

[23:29] municipalities when it comes to the

[23:31] amount of infrastructure that is within

[23:33] our borders and that we have to maintain

[23:35] or support maintaining um and just

[23:37] getting the province to recognize that

[23:39] that comes at a cost and it does require

[23:41] an investment.

[23:43] » Okay.

[23:45] Councelor Olsen.

[23:48] » Yeah, and I'll just echo again my my

[23:51] comment on on the close the gap campaign

[23:54] where I believe that there are several

[23:57] initiatives being taken uh very

[24:00] seriously and requiring a a vast amount

[24:02] of work by RMA on our behalf for the

[24:05] infrastructure issues as well as police

[24:07] funding

[24:09] um

[24:11] and the like. So I think for me I would

[24:16] I would like to see us become heavily on

[24:19] board with that.

[24:21] Not that this is not something that the

[24:23] government should be looking at. I I

[24:25] can't imagine that it's not something

[24:27] they wouldn't look at. Um,

[24:31] so I feel like our advocacy

[24:35] energy needs to be directed towards the

[24:39] initiatives on the table currently with

[24:40] RMA.

[24:42] » Thank you. I guess I concur with that

[24:45] that uh I mean I agree that

[24:47] infrastructure deficits are a problem.

[24:50] That's why I'm surprised that well there

[24:52] is it they are addressing it at that

[24:54] level at the RMA level. But I'm not

[24:57] interested in increasing advocating for

[25:01] tax increases for that.

[25:06] » Is there any other comments out there

[25:08] before we go to vote or

[25:11] » Just in closing? I do hope I have

[25:13] support from uh council to move this

[25:15] forward. Um we I think all of council is

[25:18] aware that we do have uh one bridge that

[25:21] was permanently closed. We do have

[25:22] others that were identified as um

[25:26] as a safety concern. Um we start closing

[25:30] bridges, start closing roads. Um that

[25:33] has implications for safe emergency

[25:36] response services. That has implications

[25:38] for uh businesses um throughout Parkland

[25:42] County, including our agricultural

[25:44] sector. That impacts our bottom line. Um

[25:46] that's that um does not reflect well on

[25:49] our ability and any uh municipality to

[25:52] attract further f further investment and

[25:55] and uh businesses into the province. And

[25:58] this is a competitive global

[26:00] environment. We're dealing with many of

[26:02] the businesses now um do not have to

[26:04] locate. They're not married to a

[26:06] specific province or a region in this

[26:09] country. Um so we need to ensure that we

[26:12] can provide the type of infrastructure

[26:14] that supports uh industry as a whole to

[26:17] maintain um our competitive nature and

[26:19] to be able to attract um retained

[26:21] [clears throat] current current

[26:23] businesses and attract new businesses in

[26:25] the future. Thank you.

[26:29] » Okay. Anybody else?

[26:32] » Councelor Olsen. My final comment just

[26:35] surrounds around the fact that

[26:37] um

[26:40] you know I fully understand the

[26:43] the ideology behind the a tax increase

[26:46] here. Unfortunately, we have no

[26:48] guarantee that the 1.5%

[26:52] uh extra tax collected would be put into

[26:55] any other account besides general

[26:57] accounts for this government. Uh I think

[27:00] we've seen that in the past.

[27:02] I just um

[27:06] I'm just not sure that this is where we

[27:08] want to uh expend our energy at this

[27:11] time.

[27:14] » Okay. Okay. So, I guess there's a motion

[27:18] on the floor and if we don't have any

[27:20] further questions or comments, we are

[27:23] ready for the vote. Um is we put it on

[27:27] the floor, didn't we? Okay. So I guess

[27:31] the vote is okay. So

[27:34] all in favor

[27:38] opposed

[27:43] okay the motion is carried

[27:46] » Defeated

[27:47] » Defeated.

[27:49] » Oh defeated. Oh it was a tie. Sorry I

[27:51] didn't see somebody's arm obviously.

[27:54] Okay. So it's defeated because it is a

[27:56] tie. Okay. And that's it everybody. Um,

[28:00] this comes to the close of our meeting

[28:02] already. Um,

[28:06] so I will ask

[28:10] Mayor Shagus to

[28:12] » Just so I will adjourn the meeting at

[28:15] 123.

[28:20] » I didn't see what

[28:23] I was in favor of all three motions.

February 2, 2026 - Council Meeting

Transcript