News | December 9, 2021 Rural Municipalities of Alberta (RMA), Manager of Policy & Advocacy, has shared the following information:
RMA is Raising the Profile of Rural
Read RMA’s newly-released report highlighting the unique characteristics and important role of Alberta’s rural municipalities.
Rural municipalities are crucially important to Alberta’s economic development and provide vital infrastructure and services to those living outside urban areas. In Alberta, rural municipalities cover approximately 85% of the province’s land, and face unique challenges in providing infrastructure and services to industries and residents spread across very large areas.
Despite this uniqueness, rural municipalities are often compared unfavourably to other municipalities in Alberta and elsewhere in Canada in terms of their fiscal performance. These comparisons are often based on inaccurate or misleading indicators. They also do not account for the differences among municipalities in areas such as size, scope of responsibility, level of federal and provincial support, economic activity, and many other factors.
To highlight the limitations of these comparisons and emphasize why rural municipalities are unique both within Alberta and across Canada, RMA has developed a series of member resources. The first resource, titled Alberta’s Rural Municipalities: Unique Size, Unique Responsibilities, is now available. Another resource, position statements, and a website hub will be released later this month.
RMA members are encouraged to read and share the member resource and use it for local advocacy efforts.