Alberta premier says she expects Poilievre to work with provinces to give cities housing cash

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said Friday she has no problem with Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s proposal to give municipalities a building bonus to incentivize housing construction — so long as he goes through her provincial government.

Smith gave a speech to conservatives at an annual networking conference in Ottawa, days after tabling a bill that seeks to block Alberta cities from negotiating deals directly with the federal government.

She said it was prompted by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government announcing funding deals with individual cities like Calgary and Edmonton under its Housing Accelerator Fund.

Smith routinely accuses Trudeau of disrespecting provincial jurisdiction, especially when it comes to advancing policies to fight climate change.

But she said the new housing deals were the final straw.

Speaking to reporters after her speech at the Canada Strong and Free Network gathering on Friday, she suggested the same rule will apply if Conservatives form the next government.

“The policy that we have applies to no matter who is in the prime minister’s chair,” Smith said. “We expect that they’re going to respect provincial jurisdiction and work with us.”

Poilievre has proposed his own suite of measures to speed up housing construction, including offering bonuses to municipalities that build more housing — and threatening to withhold money from those that don’t.

And Poilievre has talked about working directly with municipalities when it comes to building homes.

Earlier this week in a radio interview on CBC Calgary’s The Homestretch, Smith said the Provincial Priorities Act “applies across the board” and that Alberta would reach out to Poilievre to discuss it.

“We believe that if we’re going to get good decisions being made that it has to be a collaborative effort with the federal and provincial governments. It shouldn’t be that difficult,” said Smith.

“I mean, I think most people would understand how absurd it would be if I was going around trying to create unilateral deals within an area of federal jurisdiction. People should be just as perplexed about why the federal government keeps doing this.”

She added that she believes it is “totally inefficient” for a federal government to strike specific deals with different municipalities.

“That is the very definition of red tape,” the premier said.

Poilievre’s office did not directly respond to Smith’s assertion that she expects a future Conservative government to work through her government to deliver housing cash.

Instead, Ontario MP Scott Aitchison, who serves as the party’s housing critic in Parliament, said in a statement that Trudeau has failed on housing, accusing him of prioritizing photo ops by making funding announcements under its $4-billion housing accelerator fund.

“Common-sense Conservatives will reward those who get homes built and punish gatekeepers that block home building,” Aitchison said.