Provincial Transfers and Financing Municipal Infrastructure in Alberta

Abstract

Municipal finances have been an ongoing public issue in Alberta. See for example, McMillan and Dahlby (2014), Dahlby and McMillan (2021) and Peterson (2021). These issues have recently become more prominent as the Alberta government has adopted a variety of policies that impact municipal finances as well as announcing plans to transition the Municipal Sustainability Initiative program to the Local Government Fiscal Framework. This has created new uncertainties about municipal finances, especially in the context of provincial government fiscal restraint.