A battle is brewing between the provincial government and the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association over criticism of the recent budget.
Global News has obtained a letter from Minister of Municipal Affairs Doug Griffiths to the AUMA president and current Edmonton City Councillor Linda Sloan.
In the letter Griffiths says he was extremely disappointed with Sloan’s criticism of the recent budget.
Sloan had criticized the government for not consulting with the AUMA – something Griffiths called “patently untrue”.
Griffiths was also upset over comments made by Sloan that funds from the Municipal Sustainability Initiative is based on political decisions. He says that is not the case and there is a definite formula in place.
The letter finishes with Griffiths telling Sloan no member of Cabinet or Caucus will attend the AUMA’s breakfast this Thursday in a protest over Sloan’s comments.
Calls to Linda Sloan were not answered Tuesday, and on Wednesday all she would say is “no comment.”
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See the full letter below.
After sending the letter, Doug Griffiths said AUMA head Linda Sloan told him she never made incendiary published comments on alleged pork-barrel funding for cities.
Griffiths decided to take Sloan at her word, and said he and his colleagues will attend an AUMA breakfast meeting in Edmonton on Thursday after all.
But the Edmonton Sun has now released this recording to Sloan, saying “As we’ve seen in the past…those (provincial) grants can be subject to reduction, in some instances they’ve been subject to partisan distribution, so more distributions in certain constituencies than others. And that, that’s just not fair. I don’t think it’s fair to pit communities one way or another based on what their provincial voting record has been.”
You can listen to the full statement below, courtesy of the Edmonton Sun
Sloan is expected to speak to media about this at the AUMA breakfast on Thursday.
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