Alberta Municipalities convention wraps with words from Kenney, Notley

Alberta's outgoing premier and the leader of the provincial opposition party each had the ears of hundreds of municipal heads in Calgary on Friday.

Premier Jason Kenney and Alberta NDP Leader Rachel Notley spoke to about 1,100 delegates from more than 190 municipalities, each talking about the economy, health care and municipal funding.

Kenney, who is in his last weeks as premier, boasted about his government's work on bringing in investment and boosting Alberta's TV and film industry.

He also joked about the positive reception he received at the Alberta Municipalities convention in Calgary.

Notley, meanwhile, took aim at Kenney's government in what seemed like an election campaign speech.

She criticized the provincial government on health care issues, ambulance wait times and the proposed Alberta police force.

"I won't do it," Notley said when talking about the proposal to rid Alberta of the RCMP.

"I think that citizens are frustrated to see their government talking about creating instability and chaos and hundreds of millions of extra cost in our justice and policing system without any kind of meaningful positive impact for regular people," she said.

Municipal leaders, meanwhile, want to know one thing: What will the government look like next month, after a new UCP leader and premier is chosen?

"With the uncertainty in the leadership, we're kind of in limbo now," said Cathy Heron, mayor of St. Albert and president of Alberta Municipalities.

"Everything is kind of on hold, on pause," she said, "but I do believe we made our best effort to let the leadership of the province know what we need to hear from them."

Next year's municipalities convention is set to take place in Edmonton.