Legal

June 28, 2023 Published by North Alberta Chapter - By Dan Nielsen

Government Advocacy Report

Building on the busy winter season, this past spring did not prove to be any less active for our government advocacy for the Canadian Condo Institute in Alberta.

Building on the busy winter season, this past spring did not prove to be any less active for our government advocacy for the Canadian Condo Institute in Alberta.

Several big events allowed our chapters to highlight and push forward on issues important to the condominium community. This advocacy was focused around the recent provincial election, which we used to highlight the policy changes that would benefit our members and the great community as a whole.

In the lead up to the Alberta Condominium Expo (ACE) on April 29, we invited both the Minister of Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction, the ministry that most impacts condominiums, and a member of the official opposition to speak to our members about their parties priorities to help improve the condominium community. Prior to ACE, we set some expectations of what the condominium community requires to make improvements, sharing a press release asking for each party to make the following commitments:

• Establish a condominium dispute resolution tribunal
• Provide electricity rebates for condominiums
• Implement a condominium building retrofitting grant and green energy program
• Clean up the Condominium Property Ac

We were very pleased that both Minister Dale Nally and MLA Sarah Hoffman were able to attend for our lunchtime program. Both spoke to the importance of those Albertans living and working in the condo industry and that they would work to make policy improvements if they were elected as the next government. Minister Nally indicated that cleaning up the Condominium Property Act would be apriority for his government, while MLA Hoffman indicated that if the NDP were to form government, they would implement the condominium retrofitting grant program we called for. We thank both for their attendance and participation at ACE.

Immediately following ACE, the election was officially called, and the province moved into campaign mode, which allowed CCI to continue our advocacy work. During the campaign, CCI North Alberta worked in collaboration with CCI South Alberta and the Condo Owners Forum (COF), to develop a policy survey which we distributed to each of the main provincial political parties. In the survey, we outlined if and when each party would work to implement our previous calls to action, along with the establishment of a condominium database to help provide access to vital data on condominium demographics that the government currently does not have access to.

We held a media availability on May 25, where representatives of CCI North and South Alberta and the COF, including CCI NA president Anand Sharma, were able to speak to the media about our calls to action, and the commitments that both the ND Pand the UCP made through their submission to the policy survey, andwhen they spoke at ACE. You can read further, and watch the media event on the CCI NA website in our News, Announcements & Events section.

On Monday May 29, the province went to the ballot box, and voted in the United Conservative Party as a majority government, with the Alberta New Democratic Party forming the largest opposition in our province’s history. Shortly after the election, Premier Danielle Smith announced her cabinet ministers, with Minister Nally again being named the Minister of Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction, which will allow for an excellent continuation of our existing relationship. In the coming weeks, the government advocacy team will be reaching out to the ministry, and continue our advocacy work, to ensure the commitments that were made during the campaign period, and that the rest of our policy calls to action are included in the government work plans. 

We continue to work collaboratively with CCI South Alberta and AREA through the Alberta Condominium Management Education Consortium (ACMEC) to try improve the condo manager licensing process. Through the summer months, ACMEC will be hosting a free four part webinar series on what the impacts and benefits of condo manager licensing to those in the condominium community mean. Registration details for these webinars are available on the CCI NA and website.

As we get closer to the September 30th deadline for condo managers to complete the licensing, we are still working with the Real Estate Council of Alberta (RECA) to make improvements to the testing process, and we will be communicating any changes and improvements, as we are made aware of them, so please look for this through the CCINA website and social media channel

Dan Nielsen
Executive Director, CCI North Alberta
Government Advocacy Committee