The City’s mayor says the newly released 2018 federal budget will not have any major affects on Lloydminster.
The Federal Government announced the 2018 budget Tuesday and with issues like gender equality and paternity leave taking the headlines, municipalities like Lloydminster are not feeling its impact. Mayor Gerald Aalbers says that the federal budget won’t have the same influence as the provincial budgets will.
“The Federal Government affects everybody as a taxpayer on a local basis, but from the municipal level we wait and see where that will end up. In this case nothing really jumps out at me from that perspective for the federal budget.”
Aalbers says the City’s top priority remains infrastructure, along with policing. The feds are scaling back on infrastructure spending from their robust 4-year mandate released in 2016. The Liberals lapsed $2.67 million in infrastructure projects this past year. Aalbers says that when the government meets them with the infrastructure funding they need they can move forward with projects such as the Wastewater Treatment Facility.
“Infrastructure is our leading number one issue in this City. The protection of the residents through policing is the second one when you introduce new laws around the legalization of cannabis as an example.”
The one place where the feds could have full impact is marijuana legislation. Aalbers says that the City will have to pay the policing costs to enforce the laws they create around cannabis. However, for now the City is waiting patiently for more legislation from both the provincial governments on their cannabis mandate.