As the Calgary Metropolitan Region Board (CMRB) intends to wind down and eventually disband, Mayor Jeff Genung shared his thoughts on the decision and the potential implications is can have on municipalities surrounding Calgary.
The decision to disband was made following a unanimous vote in Chestermere during the Feb. 7 CMRB meeting, where they anticipated ending operations on May 1. The decision falls in line with the Edmonton Metropolitan Region Board announcing that they will be ending their operations on March 31.
The disbandment of both groups was due to a recent announcement by the minister of municipal affairs, Ric McIver, announcing that Alberta will no longer be providing funding for the CMRB, and that the Province would be making board membership voluntary. The province had contributed around $1 million annually to the CMRB and had mandated it prior to McIver's decision.
The municipalities that made up the CMRB included Cochrane, Airdrie, Calgary, High River, Okotoks, Chestermere, Rocky View County, and Foothills County.
“There’s some misunderstanding from people thinking that this was a voluntary board in the first place, but I think it should be made clear that we were told to form this board and create a growth plan,” Mayor Jeff Genung said.
He explained that the group itself was created to follow a Growth Plan, and to have a regional body that would oversee efficiencies between municipalities.
“Just basically get us around the same table,” he said. “So, when that mandatory [membership] piece left and that funding left, […] there’s really no mechanism to keep the regional partners at the table; so the board made a decision to dissolve the board, and just go about our own business.”
When it came down to it, Genung said the decision by the Minister McIver was ultimately a budget decision.
“I could complain about what I that decision was steeped in, but he was pretty clear to me when he said; ‘Jeff, I know how much you worked with the CMRB and believed in the process, [but] this is a budget decision,’ and he just kept repeating that,” Genung said. “So, he was pretty clear on that.”
For the time being, and in the foreseeable future, Genung said that each community will be left to their own devices. He adds that this will be somewhat similar to how it was prior to 2017, with the Calgary Regional Partnership where it was volunteer-based.
“A lot of the rural [communities] decided not to participate, and that made it very difficult to really plan things together and to have a coordinated effort on sharing of infrastructure, etc.,” he said. “We’re basically back to that and the CMRB, in my view, was never about telling someone else what to plan in their area or region; it was more about working together so that we all understood what each other was doing.”
From Cochrane’s perspective, Genung said that he really appreciated that it was clear to the board how important it was to preserve Cochrane’s identity.
“To have a bunch of developments on our boundaries or borders, […] It makes it harder to understand where one city end or one begins, and we were really trying to work to identify where one city end and another begins,” Genung said. “We were really trying to work to identify and define where growth should happen and what type of growth should happen; so we aren’t all fighting over the same thing.
“It was about creating winners, not losers. I though we were really about to get into the good work of promoting the region and working together, and that’s when the news came from the Province and pulled the rug out from under us.”
Although the group is disbanding, Genung said he plans to continue to foster and build on the relationships created through the CMRB. A focus moving forward will be developing an inter-collaboration framework and inter-development plan with Rocky View County,
“In the absence of a regional board, we will have to go back to those,” he said. “So, we will continue to work together and hopefully we can keep the CMRB alive with our conversations with our partners.”
With regulations still in place, Genung said the CMRB is still mandated to be there until the Province repeals it.
“There are plans and different initiatives that we had been undertaking as a board for through the last couple of tears, and we were really making some headway on some true regional collaboration like; economic development, transportation, and different initiatives that would really, I think, pay some positive dividends to the residents of the region,” he said. “So, all of those things will have to wound down and backed off.
“And there’s employees and livelihoods that we’ll have to take care of, and that’s really the work that lies ahead.”
Overall, Genung outlined that he is very disappointed in the decision by the province.
“We were mandated and forced to be at the table, and that was very difficult to work through,” Genung said. “I spent the first term as mayor around those boardroom tables really hashing out a growth plan with all the other communities that belonged to the CMRB, and that was hard work.”
Although compromises were made along the way, Genung believed that the CMRB was making some good progress this term in putting to the Growth Plan behind them.
“It was disappointing to have that come to an end, and there seems to be some partners at the table that are reluctant to be there, and that’s unfortunate,” Genung said. “And with any relationship, you need to have a willing partner, and in the absence of that, we’re just going to have to make the best of it.
“But I was disappointed that all of the work that we had put into it and the progress that we were making is just basically a waste of time and money.”
Without the mandate in place, Genung said it will probably become very difficult for municipalities to work together as a group, but they will strive to make it work.
“I’m optimistic that the future will be bight for Cochrane, and we have a good relationship with Rocky View County and other communities in the region,” Genung said. “So now, we just have to lean on them.”
